#st s4 vol 1

[auchaczer]

happy ending </3

[bluescluesboos]

Go For It, Mayfield!

[foreverautumn89]

[babygirlharrington]

i’ve come to the conclusion that wayne would text eddie like this in a modern au. no i do not take criticisms

[mrkeatingsblazer]

Fuck it I don’t care anymore I’m a Eddie Munson fan and I ship steddie

[angrydino42-and-avathecannibal]

Hot take: stranger things is overrated

yes I know that I’ve posted stranger things related content however I am planning a video on everything I hate about the show. And spoiler: it’s a lot. I love the monsters, but some of the things that happen are… nonsensical. This is my opinion however and I respect if you disagree.

I’m going to get cancelled for this aren’t I? Well, you can’t get cancelled if you never had a large following in the first place, and I can take a cancelling as long as my personal details don’t get leaked or something… plus I don’t have much dirt, beside some people who I wish to never speak to again but I can easily explain what was happening then so whatever. I will admit that stranger things season 3 was a banger and although there’s some things that are shit about that season it’s way better than s1, s2, s4a and s4b. I have a lot to say about s4a and s4b oh my god

[iero]

is this when i admit that I have never seen stranger things ever? is it any good? should I start watching it?

Ever?! Never even tried it?! Just kidding anon. That's valid. I think it is a good show that's definitely worth at least giving a try! It's very hyped and very popular for a reason. Personally though? It's one of those shows where, sadly, the seasons that follow season 1 don't compare (In other words, s1 is the best season in my opinion), but that's not to say that the other seasons AREN'T good. They're still great and enjoyable! It's kind of one of those shows where you can't stop watching in my opinion. But, anyway, give it a try if you can (and if you want to)! Let me know what you think if you do start watching anon! :)

[kneeanderthal]

the awful balancing of story lines in season 4 always makes me tweak out a bit

[doriandrifting]

Byler Parallels/Mike’s Lie

(Mild Spoilers for Rebel Robin and Lucas on the Line)

I’ve read all but one of the ST Books, and the writers of those always talk at the end about working with the Netflix team. I’m pretty sure they’re given certain scenes to put in the books and/or aware of Byler, because there’s no way some of these things are coincidences. For one, Robin ends up at prom watching her crush dance with a boy while Cyndi Lauper plays and then goes to dance with someone else. Meanwhile, in S2, Mike ends up at the Snow Ball watching Will dance with a girl while Cyndi Lauper plays and then goes to dance with El.

Then in Lucas on the Line, whenever Lucas mentions Mike being upset, he never once mentions just El. It’s always, “Will and El.” Plus we get this interaction:

Mike emphasizing “Love” when his big conflict with El is that he won’t even write it, let alone say it to her? Lowkey funny that I did find a Milkvan’s post about this, and they were all using it as proof that he did say he loved El in his letters, even though El literally tells us and shows us that he didn’t! Mike also starts off this interaction by saying break was fine and not crazy (“Only love makes you that crazy.���) Then Dustin starts talking about his relationship, and Mike piggybacks off that, and Lucas only seems to notice Mike’s better mood then despite that they’ve been talking for awhile. Almost like Mike’s lying and puts on a happy face. And then he immediately changes the focus to Lucas before anyone can comment on what he’s said.

And it’s just too specific to be a coincidence. I mean the line literally stands out as a massive lie, and it was definitely meant to! The book came out two months after the S4 Vol. 1 fight and the last third of the it is scenes from the show, so the writer was definitely aware of the storylines of S4. They knew anyone reading it would be like, “…huh? He never wrote her a love letter. That’s bullshit.”

[lordystrange]

”I don’t think they’re gonna break up Mileven. Mike and El have such a strong connection. Also Will’s arc doesn’t need romance in it, he just needs to get rid of his trauma.”

I just saw this comment on tiktok under a byler edit, and I NEED TO make an analysis. It’s gonna be good. So read it!

”I don’t think they’re gonna break up Mileven.-”Let’s start with the first sentence because it’s the easiest. I’m just gonna say, that it’s a good thing that this person doesn’t need to do the thinking for the Duffers.

”-Mike and El have such a strong connection.-” Now this is interesting. Where have we seen their strong connection? In season 1 I did see a connection between them, but that was pretty much it. They don’t have a lot of conversations, especially deep ones. When Mike in s3 tried to explain to El about love making people crazy, he couldn’t even say the word and El clearly had no idea what he was trying to say. ≠ strong connection. In s4 we had the ily scene, where Mike tried to connect with her using his experience being bullied, but El bluntly dismisses his experience. El the shares her feelings about their relationship and Mike calls her ridiculous. ≠ strong connection. And I vaguely remember in vol 2 how El was determined she needed to get to Hawkins right that second, and Mike didn’t understand her worry at all. ≠ strong connection. (Bonus: during the series we get many deep convos, heart2hearts, and shared looks of understanding or judging with Will and Mike. = strong connection.)

”-Will’s arc doesn’t need romance in it, he just needs to get rid of his trauma.”

A couple of things to pay attention here. Firstly the latter part, because you can’t just get rid of your trauma. You have to learn how to live with it. And yes, El has trauma too.

Now let’s see about the other thing. Throughout the series, we see Will going through traumatic experiences, but at all times, having the support of his family and friends. Apart from Lonnie, he has the best family in ST. Joyce is an amazing brother and Jonathan the best brother. What Will doesn’t have tho is a romantic relationship. And he’s the only one. It would be even homophobic to just leave him without one.

El on the other hand was raised in the lab, got kissed by a boy 5 days since she broke free, was hiding in a cabin for a year, and almost immediately after she had to jump into a romantic relationship with Mike. We see in the show, that El grows personally most when she’s not with Mike. (S3 with Max, S4 getting her powers and memories back) What she has lacked tho is a real family, because she even lost Hopper in s3.

Now which story do you think is better?

1. A story about a boy with a family wanting a boyfriend but not getting one and a girl with a boyfriend wanting a family but not getting one

2. A story about a boy with a family wanting a boyfriend and getting one and a girl with a boyfriend wanting a family and getting one

Let me clarify: If Will doesn’t get the love of his life, he’s arc hasn’t led anywhere. If El doesn’t get to become independent and finally start a life with a family that loves her, her arc also hasn’t led anywhere.

So, independent El and Byler Endgame it is!

[angelwithnightmares]

Remember how mad everyone was exactly one year ago and I had more hope than ever AFTER s4 was finished. 🙈

Maybe that was because I was new to the Byler fandom and I thought Will would be rejected in vol 2 before July 1’st but because of the van scene, the ending scene and the veiled confession (+ the really bad monologue from Mike to El) I just couldn’t see a rejection happening anymore. Byler is so endgame and I have never lost any confidence since that day.

[chirpsythismorning]

I’m not going to get my hopes up, but if Netflix has to have an answer by October, when do you think filming will start then?

Hypothetically if the strike is over in Netflix's case by Oct or in general for all the studios, filming for ST would start up shortly after that. They've been ready to start filming since June, so they're pretty much just in limbo waiting rn.

There might be some cast members in the middle of something when the strike ends, so that doesn't mean every single cast member will take a flight to Georgia and be there the day after the strike to start filming. It will happen in waves, where some who are available at that time will get all their arrangements in order and make the plan to start filming while others might need a few weeks to get everything in order.

Sometimes filming happens out of order, especially with scenes that are really time consuming for VFX in post production, but still I do think that the priority will be either those scenes or scenes from the first few episodes. Those episodes are the most fleshed out script wise and they're also the episodes we're going to see sooner than the later ones. In the case they decide to split it into two volumes again, having those earlier episodes finished sooner than later allows them to then be able to edit them sooner and have them complete for releasing. So if the premiere period rolls around, and they're still behind on some parts of Vol 2, they'd be prepared to release Vol 1, with extra time to focus on the rest. Pretty much the same thing happened for S4, where Vol 1 premiered in late May and then they were still editing Vol 2 in time for it's early July release.

If the strike is officially over and all filming in the industry amongst these studios has been green-lit to return, let's say October 1st, then it's likely by mid October they would be starting filming again. Or if it was mid October that the strike ended, then maybe filming would be starting by the end of the month. If it's late October, then probably early November for filming to start. The transition won't take months, at most a couple of weeks.

Again, they were ready to start filming in June and they don't necessarily need every single actor to have their schedule free in order to start. They just need actors who have scenes alone or with other actors who are also available who they also happen to have scenes with in order to start filming. It is unlikely that whatever schedule they had planned originally for the cast back in June will be identical post-strike, as that will all presumably shift to accommodate everyones new schedules at that time of the year and going forward.

This is all a hypothatical scenario. Regardless of if the strike ends in October or September or god forbid January, which is when the Emmy's are being postponed until, Filming for ST5 would take a matter of a couple of weeks to set up and begin, and would then continue for the next 12 months following, give or take.

[howtobecomeadragon]

When and how did you start shipping Byler? 💚✨

Hi!!! I was a late joiner. I thought Will was gay ever since his reaction to being asked to dance at the Snowball. I was very much so in the GA, and hadn't really looked much into the ST fandom on tumblr though. I was on reddit when the s4 trailers came out. I was rolling my eyes at people brushing off the Alan Turing poster (it was definitely the major vibe on there in spring 2022 that people speculating about his sexuality were being weird and he was just traumatized and didn't want to grow up. Most people on there did NOT want Will to be gay), but I had no idea he liked Mike pre-s4. In fact, I saw a reddit post speculating about this guy being Will's love interest and I was all on board. He was given a big spotlight in the trailers for actually just being an extra!!!

Pre-s4, I thought Mike and El were an annoying but given fact of the show.

Then, everything changed when I watched the airport scene. That threw everything for a loop for me, and then when the Rink O Mania fight happened, I was reeling over Mike's "we're friends." Will's yearning was just too much and Mike and El's relationship felt off (he couldn't say "I love you" like helloooo) and you know what? It was more of a thought of "they couldn't POSSIBLY be setting Will up for just unrequited love and heartbreak after everything" and "this doesn't make narrative sense" that propelled me to look on tumblr after finishing vol 1 a couple days after it was released.

I read a post about the Upside Down being a metaphor for the closet and never looked back. It just clicked and everything made so much sense from there. I read all the big theory posts going back years, I read the byler slides, and I've been here ever since!!

[wheelercurse]

hi sandy! i saw your post yesterday and wanted to ask - do you think that if season 4 had come out all at once, more people would have seen where the byler storyline is heading?

i feel like what you said is correct, that most people who shipped byler between vol 1 and 2 lost hope specifically bc they were expecting something different from vol 2 instead of what we got (with mike piggybacking off of will's feelings), but people who didn't ship byler until volume 2 could see where the story was heading more easily since they weren't burdened by any sort of disappointment from volume 2 not giving byler the resolution they expected. i'm one of those people that didn't watch s4 until after volume 2 aired, so when i watched it i was surprised that so many people lost hope bc of volume 2 since for me (as a complete GA member at the time), it was the thing that finally pushed byler into the territory of something that could actually be canon.

imo that if the season had dropped all 9 eps on the same day, fewer people would have seen the monologue as a sign that mlvn is fixed and more people would treat the will/mike/el triangle on the same level of seriousness as the jonathan/nancy/steve triangle instead of automatically assuming that mlvn is endgame and will is going to be rejected.

i also think that they would have realized more easily that the painting plot was unfinished, since the month-long wait between volume 1 and 2 made it seem like will giving up the painting/his feelings was the conclusion of that storyline rather than just another step (iirc even the duffers described vol 2 as baby steps). if we'd gotten all 9 eps at the same time, it would have been so much more obvious that this story wasn't over. what do you think?

(btw, i love your analysis so much!! hope you have a great day ❤️)

Hello, Rae!!!

I agree with you; I think more people would have seen it coming or at least taken the love triangle with an unambiguous ending like the j*ncy/st*ncy's one.

Actually, I understand why casual viewers don't see byler coming because they probably forget some things about the story and the characters, especially when they take years to release a new season. But if you're a fan and rewatch the show or think more about it, you are more familiar with the characters and their arcs, so it's easier to see where the story is leading. And it was just a month between volumes, but some people probably forgot details, especially about the Cali plot, because some complained that nothing happened. When the point is that the most essential part of the plot was to develop Mike and Will's inner conflicts.

And definitely, I wouldn't have lost hope that easily if I had watched it entirely, too, because, like you said, I thought the painting's plotline ended with the van scene and the monologue. The waiting made me believe that I would get a resolution. But when I pondered more about it, I realized that it was pretty intentional all the loose ends, and they were gonna close everything up in the last season (including the painting's subplot)

p.s: I'm glad you enjoyed my analysis!!! Have a great day too <3

[emblazons]

I always thought it was weird that the thing Melvins defaulted to when they saw July criticism of Mike is "you're just mad your ship didn't happen" or "So Byler not being canon makes Mike a bad character? Stay mad." Because there's a large middle ground in between "Byler canon in vol 2" and "Mike ignoring Will crying in the van and saying his life started that day they met El in the woods."

If they weren't intending for Byler S5 endgame (which we know now that they are) then there is so much they could have done that didn't fit into one of those two extremes and still was written well, and so seeing all the (at the time) valid criticism be dismissed as just bitter shippers being bitter never sat right with me.

(I’m assuming this is in regard to the answered asked I linked in a couple of posts before this, so forgive me if I’m mistaken lol. That’s what I had in mind answering this).

Honestly? When I first walked into this fandom I didn’t even realize the things you listed were mlvn “talking points” until I saw them repeatedly in comments from vitriolic antis obsessed with ‘defending’ their ship / tearing down byler 😭 the first time I saw someone try to use me being critical of the writing to say that somehow meant mlvn endgame I laughed aloud, because the fact is (dare I admit this lmao) I was sold on those two breaking up more clearly after vol ii than I was Byler happening in S5 ☠️

That said—it is curious even now that people think engaging critically / having (at least somewhat objective) criticism for your media somehow means you don’t like what you’re criticizing, considering that (at least for me) it was the total opposite. It was my love for ST that made me invested enough to dig into why what happened in vol ii with WillElMike went down in the first place—and I’ve always been a firm believer in the “the most respectful thing you can do when engaging with an artist is to take their work seriously,” which was the respect I showed The Duffers by making an attempt to make sense of the “mess” they presented in Vol II.

To this day I think there might have been a few ways to make clearer their intent without giving the entire plot away—and I think The Duffers realize it too, considering they’ve admitted to hearing feedback from S4 and clarifying / reworking some things in S5 (if someone had that I’d love a link. I’m like 80% sure it was something for TUDUM) even though they do play stuff close to the chest. It’s not bad to admit a few things could have been clearer/tighter or even that it’s probably not great that it took most of even their most dedicated fans several months of reframing to make sense of their work, but I digress—the duffers aren’t perfect, even though they’ve written a great story + have a clear setup moving them into season 5. And that’s okay!

I’m more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now that I know what their intentions were—which is why I always tell people to listen to the creators more than the actors when it comes to understanding wtf is going on. When you listen to how they write / what they think about what’s going on, it becomes a lot clearer 1) where their interests lie and 2) what they are trying to get across in both the action and the subtext—which is how most bylers got to the sentiments we have now.

Thanks for the ask!