#byler van scene

[impartygirl]

Age Accurate Van Scene

good morning again bylers!! close ups + comparisons below cut!!!

+ mike not blurred in the back!!

hes right behind me isnt he... ANYWAYS. i fucking hateeeee wills shirt, how i drew it, how hard it is to draw, just... UGH! wills my all time favorite BUT TAKE THAT GODDAMM SHIRT OFF.

i know im a yapper but this is my 2nd time tryna draw them realistically (-ish) n i thinkkk its okay?? whatever. hey siri play boys dont cry on Spotify

[bylerpining]

[sallx-blr57]

There's no way that Mike isn't gay...

(and the fact that they take an ALL DAY FILMING THAT SCENE tells me everything I want to know...)

Like??

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT HE IS STRAIGHT.

[thewisewill80sbyers]

STRANGER THINGS 4 || Chapter Eight: Papa {4x08} Will's speech about Mike being ''The Heart''

[byler-com]

Y’all moved on too fast mentally I’m still here

[s1llycleric]

I TOTALLY FORTOT TO POST THIS YESTERDAY BUT I FINISHEF THE PAINTING REPLICA !!!!

[chasing-clovers]

cause of death, *checks autopsy* finn wolfhard’s microexpressions in the van scene

[humblebumble069]

Byler can scene redraw (cuz i just realise di never drew it before)

Ah, they're so gay🥳

[booksandpaperss]

to me it’s less of a “Will loves Mike the way Mike wants to be loved” and more of a “Mike wants to be loved the way he’s always felt loved by Will and he didn’t consciously realize that’s what he was searching for until he realized he could already have it in the van scene” yk

[the-ultimate-l1fef0rm]

Happy 2 year anniversary to the Byler Van Scene‼️‼️ RAHHHH 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[bylerpining]

what was actually going on in mike's head during the van scene

[theoriginalbylergod]

The Map and The Painting

Ohhhh boy if there's one thing about me it's that I'm gonna pick up on some poetic symbolism that honestly maybe wasn't even intended but I'm gonna talk about it to my heart's content anyway!!! Considering how the Duffers talk about the van scene though... And how long they spent filming it... Maybe it was intended. Who knows? I certainly don't!

The Map = Mike's relationship w/ El

The Painting = Mike's relationship w/ Will (obviously)

When the van scene opens, Mike is holding a map. He is looking at that map. This is the map they're using to get to the coordinates of NINA. This is the map they're using to find El.

Mike is holding this map while he vents his insecurities regarding his relationship with El. He looks and sounds dejected. He looks and sounds lost. He is holding a map, a navigation tool, and yet he is lost.

[I wish I had photos but I do not, so just go watch the scene for yourself if you wanna be reminded of just how much is going on in this poor boy's head.]

If this map is a representation of his relationship with El, that would mean this relationship makes him feel lost. Which isn't a stretch considering that is literally exactly what we see in their relationship time and time again. Mike loses himself in this relationship. He becomes someone we barely recognize in s3. And then in s4 we see that he doesn't know how to navigate his relationship with her. He's insecure, he feels inferior, he is completely in the dark about what her life is actually like. He's lost.

[This would not be the first time El is associated with a navigation tool. Specifically navigation tools that are broken/not serving their intended purpose. In s1 she tampers with the compass and leads Mike, Lucas, and Dustin on a wild goose chase. Her intentions were pure, she just wanted to keep them safe. But still, she's associated with a "broken" compass. She broke it. She's the reason they veer off the path to finding Will. (not hating on her for this, like I said, I know her intentions were pure, but that is what happened.) Of course, in the case of the map, the dysfunction is entirely symbolic, and likely not even an intended interpretation. I'm just a little insane.]

He's rambling and he looks lost, and he gives up. He cuts his ramblings off, apologizes, and calls his feelings stupid. Will lets him know that he doesn't have to be sorry. So he tries to continue, but he's at a loss for words. He doesn't know how to describe everything he's feeling. He doesn't even know where to begin.

"I don't know... I just... Uhhh..." // "You're scared of losing her"

Slowed to appreciate Finn Wolfhard's talent

Will says that, and Mike's demeanor completely shifts. He looks like he feels seen for the first time in a long time. We know he's been lost, but we also know he's been hiding. He hasn't wanted to be found. But Will just got pretty damn close to finding him, and Mike doesn't look scared. He looks relieved. He looks amazed that Will was even looking to find him in the first place.

Mike doesn't deny what Will says. He confirms it. He's vulnerable because Will makes him feel safe. So then Will gives him the painting.

This is when Mike sets aside the map in favor of holding the painting.

The map is formal, mature, grown up. Like how he feels he needs to be. He views his relationship with El as a necessary step to growing up. As a necessary step to leaving his childhood, and his childish feelings behind.

"We're not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?"

The painting - Will's painting - is reminiscent of the kind of map you'd see in a fantasy world. A scroll that holds the secrets of the universe. The key to defeating evil once and for all. The kind of map you'd find in a fantasy game. The kind of game you played with your best friends. Before everything got so scary. Before everything got so complicated. Before you grew to be afraid of who you are. Before you were forced to grow up. Before everything changed.

"Yeah. I guess I did. I really did."

Mike holds the painting with so much care. He unrolls it with so much care.

This isn't anything new from Mike. We know how much he loves Will's art. How much he respects it. We've seen this before.

(Something I love about the way this is filmed is that it feels reminiscent of scenes in fantasy movies where the protagonist has found some ancient map or scroll and is unrolling it. I really can't know for sure if this was intentional, but it's the feeling I get from it. I don't have a scene to compare it to because I cannot for the life of me think of one, but I know I've seen scenes like that before. And this feels like that)

Once he's looking at the painting itself, he lights up. He has this childlike wonder about him.

Something that we haven't seen from him in a while.

And it's no surprise that this painting is what lights that spark in him again. I mean just look at it. It's their childhood lovingly painted by his best friend. It's Mike and his three best friends, the people he's been through hell with, fighting a monster. Something they have real life experience doing. But in this painting it's not scary, because it's an echo of their adventures before the monsters were real. Before everything changed.

Will points to the shield. The shield has a heart on it. The shield also conveniently looks like an arrow that is conveniently pointing to Will the Wise. Our eyes naturally follow this, at least mine do. Like they're following a map. And if my eyes did that, then I'm pretty sure Mike's did too.

In the same way the literal map is leading Mike to El, the painting acts as a figurative map that leads Mike to Will.

Mike looks dejected and lost while holding the map. He talks about his insecurities and expresses that he feels inferior, and that he's not needed.

He lights up when holding the painting. Will uses the painting to tell him that he's wrong about himself. That he's a leader. That he is needed and he always will be. He looks as if maybe he's on his way to finding himself, and in the process, finding Will.

So when his last significant interaction with Will in s4 is him reaching into the light to grasp his shoulder and reaffirm that they're a team...

And when he ends the season with El walking away from him, and instead of following her, he chooses to stay by Will's side. Ready to face whatever comes next as a team. Ready to fight the monster. With his convenient little pocket arrow conveniently pointing to Will...

Well it's not really a surprise, is it? This is exactly the path that the figurative map that is the painting is leading Mike down. The path it is leading the audience down. We haven't gotten to the destination yet, but we have a pretty good idea of where we're going.

Mike however? I'm not too sure if he's fully aware of what he's stumbling toward.

[androgynouswizardbanana]

The way finn keeps emphasizing how it doesn’t make sense that Mike didn’t realize Will was sad during the van scene has convinced me that Mike did understand and they’re just pretending he didnt until season 5 comes out bc his reaction is a spoiler

[sandinmybed]

happy one year to ST4 volume 2 and happy one year to finn wolfhard's eyebrows 💙💛

used my travel watercolour set, painted this in a hostel in Berlin fun fact! it took 5ish hours? scroll down for the scale, he's pretty teeny

[untangling-my-headphones]

I think the 'Mike is in love with whoever the painting is from' isn't as shallow as just he loves whoever got him a present. The painting has always been more than just a painting it's a symbol for Will's love for Mike which we know as an audience but Mike doesn't. Which is why it's even a question at all.

The painting shows genuine care for Mike and acceptance of who he is (a dnd playing nerd), it shows him as a protector (which he's always tried to do), it's shows him as cool (again which he's always tried for), it shows that someone has thought of him enough to either commission or make him a super thoughtful gift. The painting literally is the way he wants to be loved.

Then there's Will's speech which goes along with the painting and again wouldn't even be under scrutiny if Mike knew for certain who it was from. He's told it's from El and that all of Will's words as well as the meaning of the painting is from her. He thinks El sees him for who he is and loves him for it (not that she doesn't), he thinks El sees him as a protector, he thinks El sees him as cool. Mike particularly thinking El needs him as a protector is the outlier because though she's needed his support she's not needed his protection since s1. Plus with the arc El went on this season that all would seem very counterproductive.

(Will also says a lot of things in his speech that is clearly from his perspective and doesn't apply to El at all which again will be messing with Mike's perspective on his and El's relationship)

If the painting were from El it creates a whole new context from Mike's point of view. El would have commissioned the painting before he got to Cali meaning before their fight. El would have loved Mike exactly the way he wanted and and he couldn't say it back. He thinks El needs him and loves him that much that telling her he loves her would help her save the world. We as an audience though know who the painting and the speech is from, we know that El doesn't need Mike the way he believes she does in that moment. But Mike has no other reason to believe Will was lying.

I don't think Mike is going to find out the painting was from Will and immediately think he's in love with Will and dump El. I think it'll be more like he realises that the feelings he got from the painting and Will's speech and the feelings he felt for the person who thought all that weren't for El. That El doesn't love him like that and he can't love El like that. It's more of a gateway to Mike examining his feelings.

So it's a little more complicated than 'Mike being in love with whoever the painting is from' it's more so 'Mike wants the love the painting represented' and he thinks it's from El but we know it's not.

[thecelestialsyzygy]

Every time I watch the van scene I think... Jeez Noah really is the strongest soldier cuz I would fall in love on the spot if someone looked at me the way Finn playing Mike looked at Will in that moment. I would have had to cut the cameras, quit my job, packed my bags, and moved countries if I were in his place. There's just no way I would have made it through that scene and returned to normal life afterwards.

And don't get me started on Noah saying he's going to play Will a little differently now that he's out and comfortable in himself... I say I'm ready but I know the moment I see any byler interaction on screen in S5 I'm going to actually pass out. Between that fact and Finn being the king of micro-expressions, byler is going to hit different in the BEST way, I just KNOW it. I'm seriously soooo done for.