#which is pretty funny considering my family's dynamic is more like that of the Byers

[blackcanary567]

I just had a bunch of thoughts about The Wheeler siblings and how they are written in regards to both each other and their parents. Particularly when it comes to their romantic relationships.

(This is a pretty rambling and unstructured but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

(Also; none of this is hate against any of the characters, they all have their reasons for their behaviour, this is just focusing on Mike and Nancy’s perspectives and feelings.)

Mike and Nancy are incredibly similar people, both by personality traits and emotional temperament. They are both proactive, brave, protective, determined, logical, hot-headed, insecure, stubborn and natural leaders. They’re both willing to take command of a situation and lead their friends against the monsters of the Upside-Down. They’ve repeatedly shown a willingness to not only fight for love ones but to die for them to. They both suffer from emotional repression and repeatedly mishand their grief and trauma due to a lack of support system, lashing out at those around them. They both snap and bite back at any perceived slight, even bordering on cruel in their retorts, but are willing to apologise.

Mike and Nancy have limited interactions with each other, most of which are them bickering with one another, and they have little supportive or comforting scenes just like their parents. Often, as dislayed particularly in the first season, their interactions mirror their parents. In the first episode, Nancy leaves the table after bickering with Mike, with Karen leaving the table shortly after her kids while bickering with Ted. In the seventh episode, Ted and Karen support each other while the Dr. Brenner’s people search their house but Karen holds out information to protect her kids, while Nancy is concerned for Mike safety as the lab searches for him they reunite show support for one another through their best friends disappearances, promising not to keep secrets but immediately lie about they romantic interests.

Despite their limited interaction, their storylines each season directly parallel each other’s:

• In season 1, they both seek to find their best friend and gain a romantic interest that helps them, which puts them on the outs with another relationship (Mike looks for Will, finds El and is arguing with Lucas while Nancy looks for Barb, teams up with Jonathan and is struggling with Steve).

• In season 2, they both push aside everything else to help that same best friend (Mike by supporting Will as he’s possessed and leaving his friend group do so, and Nancy by getting her Barb’s parent closure while leaving her relationship with Steve).

• In season 3, they both struggle with finding balance between their needs and their partners, put their relationships in jeopardy (Mike becomes over-protective of El and Nancy gets Jonathan fired trying to prove herself to her sexist bosses), are both ultimately right about the larger danger (Mike is right about the group relying to much on El’s powers and Nancy is right about the rats dangerous) but still apologise to their partners for their behaviour and make amends.

• In season 4, they both find themselves on opposite ends of the same problems; a lack of communication in their relationships which leads to divide but they are both willing to do what it takes to protect their partners and loved one. Mike’s insecurities makes El think he doesn’t love her without her powers, partially driving her to get them back, he seeks her out wishes to aid her and is able to overcomes his fears to help her fight Vecna. Nancy is left on the outs with Jonathan due to his fears of the future, causing her to have tension with a now grown-up Steve, she pushes through her trauma and seeks to kill Vecna but is still left in the dark on her problems with Jonathan.

In regards to their parents, they aren’t just opposites in personality as a result of being raised that way, but are actively choosing and striving to be their (gender respective) opposites.

Ted is laid back, simple, oblivious, and unemotional. He’s completely disconnected from his wife and kids, seemingly unaware of how unhappy his wife is and doesn’t even know where his kids are on most occasions. He has only two one-on-one scenes with his children, with Mike as he ties his tie and with Holly asleep on his La-Z-Boy recliner, seeming to have no relationship with his eldest. He lacks parental instinct and relies of his wife’s intuition, rarely parenting beyond scolding curse words. He makes comments that are the complete opposite of what the plot is detailing (doubting Nancy and Mike being involved in something together, stating that the government can be trusted, asking if Mike would jump off a cliff if his friends did). Ted is completely oblivious to the Upside-Down and doesn’t suspect anything be wrong in his children’s lives.

Mike is extremely loyal, optimistic, passionate and trusting. He’s brave and willing to put himself in danger to protect his friends (fighting Troy to defend Will’s name, jumping of the quarry to protect Dustin, standing up to the people from the lab to protect El, going to the lab with Will and Joyce, standing up to Hopper, going into the tunnels to help El close the gate, hitting flayed Billy to protect El, grabbing El during the Mind-Flayer’s attack). Throughout the show, he is thrust it to the dangers of the Upside-Down, not by seeking it out, but through his loyalty and need to protect his friends. In season 1, he goes searching for Will and finds El, who is already has knowledge of the Upside-Down and is able to (somewhat) explain it to him. In seasons 2 and 3, his concern for Will is what drives him back into fray. In season 4, his concern for El and his loved ones in Hawkins causes him to go searching for the NINA Project. This is also how he processes his grief, he’s reactive and becomes more and more protective of his friends, willing to lash out any perceived harm done to them, particularly when it comes to El.

While he starts off focusing on his friends, as he gets older, he slowly becomes more and more focused on his romantic relationship with El while drifting from his friends (similarly to Nancy with Steve in the first season). In particular, he’s trying to figure out exactly what kind of partner he needs to be for her, trying to be the opposite kind of partner that his father is to his mother. His biggest enemy isn’t the Upside-Down or Vecna but his own fears and emotions.

During season 3, knowing all she’s been through and having lost her once before, he becomes over-protective and borderline possessive of El. His behaviour is called by Max, Nancy and (very poorly) by Hopper, but he doesn’t realise or change until El herself is telling him this and asking him to trust her. And while he does end up being right up the group relying to heavily on El’s powers, he doesn’t say “I told so”, but rather supports El through her fears and tries to reassure her that they’ll come back (inadvertently creating a problem in regards to her self doubt).

During season 4, Mike’s struggling with his own insecurities about his role in their relationship, and as a result, pushes El away and deeper into her own insecurities. Their insecurities are aligned and are a result of her powers. El feels as though she can’t be loved without them, while Mike is scared that he isn’t good enough to loved by someone with them. He voices that he feel unworthy of El’s love and affection, believing her to be better than him (a “superhero”), and that he is scared that by confessing his feelings, it will hurt more if she realise she deserves someone better than him. More specifically, he makes a comparison of his and El’s relationship to that of Superman and Lois Lane’s (El being Superman and him being Lois), stating that “at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter”, implying that she is worthy of such a person and thus, an equal to Superman. This both highlights his respect for his sister (herself an aspiring reporter), and by their similarities, his mother, while he’s comparing himself to his father, an insignificant man unworthy of a “superhero’s” love. A guy who just got lucky. A luck he fears will run out when El realises just how average he is.

But, as Will points out, he is the heart of the party. Even though he has struggled with his own emotions and fears, Mike has constantly stood up for his friends against bullies and monsters, he’s willing to apologise and learn from his mistakes and behaviour. At El’s side as her partner, he is constantly providing her support and comfort when she needs it. He adapts to her needs and is willing to put his own heart on the line for her, confessing his love in spite of fear to help her fight Vecna. Because, unlike his father, he is a good partner, he just has to stop letting his fears control him and be honest with her. The problems, is that by focusing so much on being the best partner he can be, he’s not only neglecting his friends but his own wants and needs. It’s hard to say what exactly those are, as the show tends to focus on what he gives over what he gains, but it could spell trouble in the future.

Karen is a shown as an unhappy housewife in a loveless marriage, who was once rebellious and adventurous, but had been beaten down into that role by sexism and societal pressure. She cares deeply for her children, constantly trying to connect with them but is often (not always) unsuccessful, and is fiercely protective of them, yelling at government officials and dismissing her husband in favour of defending them. She teeters on the edge of discovering the Upside Down and all the tragedes in her kids lives but is always left in the dark through her own reluctance to follow through. She pieces together that Nancy slept with Steve but is shut down, investigates when Mike is behaving oddly and discovers El’s fort in the basement but caves to Dr. Brenner, she tries to figure Mike and Nancy’s involvement with Eddie Munson and the murders but is left without answers. In season 3, she’s presented with temptation, a passionate younger man interested in her, but refuses once she sees her husband and Holly, reminded of her family and her place in both their lives and society.

Nancy is studious, kind, rebellious and approval-seeking, many of her traits contradicting themselves. She’s willing to stand-up for herself and seeks to make an impact wherever she is. Like her brother, she’s brave and constantly fighting to protect her friends (crawling into the Upside-Down, fighting the Demogorgen, releasing top-secret government information to the public, drawing Bruce away from Jonathan, standing off against Billy in his car, diving into the Upside-Down after Steve, trying to kill Vecna). Throughout the show, she isn’t thrown into to danger by association or by someone else telling her, she actively seeks it out through investigation (searching for Barb, looking for Mike and Will with Jonathan, investigating into the rats, investigating Chrissy’s murder at the trailer park). Opposite to Mike, Nancy’s grief reaction is preventive, keeping guns in her room, trying to investigate everything so she can be one step ahead. She doesn’t want to be caught off guard and lose someone else as she did Barb and Fred. She isn’t the opposite of her mother in personality. In fact, she is actually quite like her mother, but she is actively seeks a life that’s the opposite of Karen’s, possessing an unwavering determination to be more than just a woman in people’s eyes. Her insecurities stem from the idea that she isn’t as intelligent as she thinks she is and is destined for an unfulfilling life. Like Mike, her biggest enemy isn’t Upside-Down related but society and it’s expectations for her. Nancy is highly aware of her parents marriage and has no desire to end up as her mother did, so much so that she practically fears it. Both her love interests have similar traits, being caring, compassionate, and, as she has pointed out for both of them, protective (just because she is capable of protecting herself and other doesn’t mean she can’t have someone willing to do the same). This is the complete opposite of her indifferent father, she needs someone proative to keep up with her and support her through her ideas and adventures. More importantly, wants someone to give her emotional support and attentiveness, instead of being completely ignorant to her needs as her father is with her mother.

In season 1 and the start of season 2, she’s dating Steve, who is reluctant to believe her about what she saw in his yard, is rather uncaring towards Barb’s disappearance and subsequent death, and thinks he is doing what best for her by trying to distract her from her grief when what she needs is a solution to help Barb’s parents. Meanwhile, Jonathan presents himself as a far better partner, he understands her trauma, he listens to her, challenges her, comforts her, and is more than willing to fight alongside her (be it against the demogorgen or the lab). Instead of resisting temptation like her mother and going for the path society expects from her, Nancy goes for it and seeks her own happiness.

In season 3, her and Jonathan’s relationship becomes tense due their workplace creating societal resentment on both their parts. She is in environment that doesn’t value her ideas, routinely humiliates her and shows her what her future workplace may hold for her simply on the basis of her gender, where as her boyfriend is able to seamlessly fit into that environment. She is right about the rats, but Jonathan doesn’t believe her until Will is brought into things. They make amends, Nancy apologising for her behaviour towards his struggles as well, and work together again before Jonathan moves away. There’s clearly an impact left on her in season 4 by his doubts.

By season 4, Jonthan and Steve’s roles in their relationship with Nancy are reversed. Jonathan has become distant while he believes he is doing what’s best for her, a distance which Nancy notices and is unsure of the cause, wondering if it’s just them being a thousand mile away or if he’d meet someone else. Suddenly, Steve shows up at Fred’s crime scene and is exactly what she needed when Barb went missing. He doesn’t stop her from going to the library to investigate out of doubt merely stops her from going alone for her safety. He actively seeks to be her partner to question Victor Creel, he’s voluntarily become the big brother figure of a bunch of kids he has no family relations to, he throws himself into danger first so no one else has to, and he’s there for her after she is confronted by Vecna. His doubts about her theories come from a lack of solid evidence, but he’s still quick to cave and trust her her intuition. He openly shares his dreams and future plans with her, seeking her approval instead of making a decision for her. Steve’s grown up and become someone she could have a future with.

Nancy is stuck between a rock and a hard place, with two men trying to be what’s best for her and both of whom can potentially fulfill what she needs in a partner. Optimistically, Jonathan is seeking to ensure her dreams come true while Steve is asking whether both their dreams could become reality. Pessimistically, Jonathan is making a decision regarding both their futures without her input or knowledge and Steve’s desire for a large family could shatter her career plans.

On the other hand, she has also found a non-romantic partner in Robin, who is able to not just keep up with her, but actively help her similarly to Jonathan in season 1. However, as opposed to Jonathan seeking to help his brother, Robin’s involvement is purely based on coincidence and her own drive. There’s no shared trauma bonding them, rather their intelligence and opposite personalities clashing together, yet complimenting the other’s. Where as Nancy is logical and has rigid structure to her thinking, Robin’s creative and knows to think outside the box. Where as Nancy is able to use her the structures of femininity to her advantage, Robin is able to break free and warp the structures of masculinity to her advantage. Robin is willing to give Nancy control as a leader and support her through that while still being on equal footing. They’re learning to work around each other and concede where the other excells. In Robin, she’s found someone who can understand her struggles in society and doesn’t wish to be confined by it’s standards, for one reason or another.

Holly represents both sides of her family due her young age. She sees the Demogorgen in the wall and the Mind-Flayer in the trees, but can’t properly voice this and is lulled into ignorance by her mother’s comfort. She’s present for Nancy, Max and Dustin’s conversation about Vecna and the Creel house but his distracted by her Lite Brite and comforted by her sister and Dustin when frightened by the idea of Freddy Kreuger. She is simply too young to take a stance on the dangers of Hawkins and could very well continue of blissfully unaware like her parents or become involved like her siblings.

[mitchmarnier]

why do you hate stranger things 3 so much?

Okay so it’s been a year but I’ll admit, I still don’t think I’ve ever been REALLY able to express what it is about the third season of Stranger Things that just made it so-bad but I’m gonna try. Like short answer? For a show that got it’s whole thing from the importance of family and friends, season 3 shoved all of that aside for poorly written romantic relationships. Long answer?

There’s many things but I think that the biggest thing is that even with a pretty decent “main plot” Stranger Things 3 started off almost immediately from the get out with no chance of actually being good, because right away none of these characters were still in character with who we fell in love with, you know?

Joyce Byers, who at a serious base of her character, was an amazing and extremely dedicated mother spending seven out of eight episodes seperated and unconcerned about her children even when she’s suspicious that something was going on. Her kids don’t reach out to her either, even when the literal world seems to be ending around them which is very weird for both Will and Jonathan who are super super aware of how vital and active Joyce has always been in this fight and they don’t even wonder out loud for second why she isn’t there.

And Mike- oh, Mike, sweeties, my dude, I am so sorry- has, sure, always been kind of a little prick. Very stubborn and kind of struggles to see things from other people’s point of view but there was so much more to Mike Wheeler than having a crush on El. Something just does not sit right with me that I’m supposed to believe that Mike threw down on sight for the entire first season for El’s right to be considered a friend to Lucas and Dustin and then apparently, basically, actively took part in the season three concept that she.... didn’t have any friends, and wasn’t friends with anybody except him, and that she never actually became friends with Dustin or Lucas after Mike fought them so goddamn hard about it. It doesn’t make sense! AND NOT TO MENTION, that Mike sent two seasons- two- with an obvious view that saving Will or protecting Will was the most important thing to him and it still took what like? Four episodes for Mike to realize that something was wrong with Will and even then he continuously undercut it and I don’t know who that was but it wasn’t my Mike Wheeler.

LUCAS WOULDN’T BE LIKE THAT. Aside from the whole weird thing where they set up Lucas and Max has been an actually great relationship and then they brought back that season with a showcase that Lucas and Max basically break up once a week and fight continuously to the point where they both think that’s the most normal thing in the world.I just think that- and I know I’m not the only one- is that I am glad that we got a call back to the season one throwaway line that Mike and Lucas are best friends because outside of Dustin saying that, we never really saw it. Lucas seemed to really have little to no patience for Mike at any given point, and I get that, I totally get that. Like, season one they had the same goal- save Will- but they both wanted to go about it in a completely different way (i.e Lucas didn’t really want to waste time on the girl with the superpowers they found in the woods, because he thought their time would be better spent actually looking for Will) and then in season two, Mike runs around being a total dick to the girl Lucas likes and fucks off in end of episode four without word about it and has progressively tried to keep Lucas and Dustin from what’s going on with Will for the most point (because he doesn't trust Max and he was right in believing that Dustin or Lucas would tell this total stranger about Will’s trauma.) and I totally digressed here, but because I was glad to see Lucas and Mike being friends in season three, the concept was highlight they just- went about it so so wrong. Because Lucas has never been shy about telling his friends- and especially Mike- that they’re being fucking idiots. I cannot imagine Lucas actually encouraging Mike to pursue this crack scheme of chasing after El post-break up. Especially not the way it went down, which Mike immediately accepts that El has dump him and it’s over and then Lucas convinces him that it’s not. It very much does hold roots in the poor writing of the Lu/Max relationship this season, but Lu/Max was written the way it was so that they could have Lucas in Mike’s corner and Max in El’s corner to validate and uplift the horrible Mi/leven relationship arc this season in which Lucas for sure would not be in that spot whatsoever if it wasn’t for the poor writing of Mi/leven since the second they left the Snowball. Lu/Max is very much a support piece in Mi/leven rather than its own relationship, and yet Max continues to get her own storyline this season (as... yeah... as that storyline was) but Lucas became a casualty to Mi/leven this year, and only slightly differently to the way Will has been a casualty to Mi/leven... and Mike has been a casualty to Mi/leven. If your main relationship continues to assassinate and rip dry the characters both inside and around it, then it’s really time to take a step away from that relationship and determine if its working or if you just suck at writing for no foreseeable reason.

And like, I guess it’s fair to talk about Max here since it’ll be any easy transition in the sense that- Max Mayfield a casualty to Mi/leven. Like that meme with the people holding hands and it says “my character survived the Mi/leven relationship of 1985” and its Max Mayfield and Dustin Henderson. NOT TO SAY that Max’s character isn’t all over the board, it is a lot harder to decide what Max would or wouldn’t do regarding Mike and El. Because.... we never saw anything with the Max/El relationship outside of Max wanted to know her, and El absolutely wanting nothing to do with that because Mike smiled at her one time and El saw it. Mike and Max is actually a different story, and the more complicated relationship I guess? El/Max was good, even if I didn’t agree with all of the advice that Max gives El (particularly the we make our own rules concept, I fucking hated that and I’ll get there. Oh, I’ll get there.) BECAUSE Mike and Max are just... the Sharpay and Gabriella of Stranger Things. They feud all season for whatever reason, they make up and find common ground at the end, and then it starts back up and they hate each other with no explanation to the understanding that they found. And it wasn’t funny, there wasn’t anything about their rivalry that was funny or amusing or even really served a purpose outside of the fact that they needed to showcase the whole Lu/Max and Mi/leven crap so Mike and Max could be friends because the couples needed to be against each other so Max already needed to hate Mike prior to El coming to her for advice, and therefore the rekindling of their potential friendship at the end of season two was re’cont for that purpose. And it really wasn’t necessary because Max would have had enough going on without being in the middle of the weird Mi/leven break up, and losing her boyfriend. I think a huge like, obvious issue with Max is that season two Max left a lot to be desired. Understandably, season two was a lot bigger than the Duffers had time for so they ended introducing characters (Billy and Max) that we didn’t get to develop in their introductory season enough that where they ended up in season 3 was logical or sensical at all because Billy did nothing except be an evil piece of shit two years until the end where he decides to stop himself from killing this little 13 year old white girl and dies and suddenly he’s a hero who sacrificed himself for the greater good when he really didn’t. And seeing Max horrified and traumatized to him does make sense to an extent, she has known him and lived with him for a large chunk of her life and seeing that happen to anybody would be traumatizing. And people don’t get to determine how someone would react to their abuser dying, because you are not that person and you are experiencing what they are experiencing. HOWEVER, Max did not receive enough explanation from a writer or viewers’ POV for her defending Billy or believing Billy could be good to make sense when she spent almost all of season two avoiding her relationship with Lucas because she knew that Billy was racist and violent and horrible. Max grieving and being traumatized over Billy’s death and quite literally seeing his body, but her actions up to that point didn’t make much sense because not enough writing went into Max as a character since the beginning because she is a victim of the classic Too Many Characters, Not Enough Screen Time to Share.

Ha. The relationship between El and Will really needs to be it’s own point before I even get into them as characters. It’s so... It doesn’t make any sense to me why Will and El are like that. And I guess it does or it can trace back to Mi/leven. The idea that Mike purposely kept El from having any friends and Will would have been a victim of that, and the fact that Will very obviously likes Mike and that showcases in him... not like El??? because they’re dating. But I’m not sure how I’m supposed to believe that Will and El don’t have a connection? El saved Will’s life t w i c e and I’m supposed to believe that he hates her because she’s dating Mike and therefore that doesn’t matter to him and he calls her by a number instead of a name and he overly just seems extremely indifferent towards her at best. But I actually do believe, the lack of an Will & El dynamic is (besides being a totally missed opportunity) was like... blank brained of the writers, I think they genuinely just didn’t think about it because they were really caught up in the relationship drama this season they just didn’t bother to develop El and Will. Which is dumb, because of the whole “we’re supposed to believe that Hopper & Joyce are a good ship” but also supposed to believe that Will and El have never spent any time together AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WOULD BE L I V I N G TOGETHER at the end of the season and they still nothing to give them any relationship growth at all, and if anything took away what little potential hits of a dynamic they had from the first two seasons. For the sake of what does not sort of look like a queerbait of Mike/Will OR best case scenario (still bad!) a love triangle between the three characters.

For a show that had two seasons dedicated to the importance of Will Byers, it was kind of weird to see him so shoved aside this time around. And this isn’t to take away from El’s importance. It’s not an argument over her being the main character- although I think it’s important to note that they original plan for this show was for her to die in season one, and while I’m glad she’s alive and they changed that, we can’t deny how that decision itself would completely alter the path every single character (especially characters like Mike and Will in particular) would have made. BUT FACTS ARE, this entire show started because of Will. That is something that cannot be argued. The Vanishing of Will Byers was the kick off of this entire thing, and every single main character aside from possibly Steve Harrington, are in this fight because of Will Byers. Not because of El. And yes, El is most definitely the ~stranger thing~ and the titular character of the show, it’s fucking ludicris to try and imply that Will is not pretty much as just as important as El. And so for season three to undercut everything about that and use Will as detection device (that only gave you about 15 seconds warning) and have his actual emotional storyline dropped in the 4th episode and only come up again in the sense of refusing to even hear apologies from Lucas or Mike, is the epitome of bullshit.

I’m just going to start off here by saying, I like El, I do. BUT- I’m very aware that El is a victim of her surroundings. She doesn’t have much of her own personality, she has from the beginning allowed herself to simply accept what other people tell her and do that. Say that, repeat it. The Best Time for El as a character was with Kali and her deepest moment of like, personal reflection is when she said no to going with Kali because she needed to go back to Hawkins and save her friends. That really set up a lot of really good growth for El, the idea she was becoming her own person and that she could move forward as herself, who she is, who she wants to be. And I understand the trauma behind her and why she has such an unstable sense of self but it was still disappointing to watch her revert back to following by example in her personal life while continuously forced to be seen as leader in any situation. She follows Mike’s example in the beginning, with Hopper and being super obnoxious but she’s also very quick to jump back over to Hopper’s side when addressing Mike later and burshing off what he’s trying to tell her (i.e your father threatened my life and I didn’t know how to proceed from that point and I’m sorry I lied to you) and she also word for word quotes Max a lot. Including situations which the boy she’s supposedly in love with expresses his discomfort in her. When El reveals that she’s gone into the the void and watched the boys doing whatever, Mike quickly jumps to point out that those were “against the rules” aka personal boundaries that have obviously been set between Mike and El for a reason and she shoots back that she makes her own rules, like Max said about a pretty different situation nonetheless, and invalidates what Mike is trying to say in that moment again. It also doesn’t really sit right with me that she plays dumb with Mike in that grocery store will he is clearly having trouble declaring love for her (which says a lot about how Mike feels) and then bringing it back up three months later, and using it as a justification for kissing him and declaring love towards him after he has said he didnt even remember the conversation she’s referencing from three months earlier and she does not say “I love you” she says “I love you, too.” Which is so very different, because it is her literally acknowledging that she sat there and played dumb (not didn’t understand, which is totally different, but did understand and wanted and enjoyed him struggling to say something) and they threw it back at him as a validation of their relationship- yet it was something he was unable to say to her. I think a big issue with El, is that she has somehow become somebody above being criticized for her actions. What was wrong with Mi/leven this season is not 100% an issue with Mike Wheeler, El very much had a hand in that destruction and with how the season ended, I don’t doubt that she was will  have an even larger hand in the problems going forward because El is smart, and she understands shit, but she pretends that she doesn’t when it’s works for her. Being around Hopper and to even greater extent, the things she lived through in the lab, El is very aware of how to manipulate people and it’s a behaviour she is going to have to unlearn. She might not even be completely aware of just how wrong it is but nobody is going to tell her what she’s doing because I don’t even think it’s realized that she’s doing it and fandom itself chooses to ignore that she’s done it.

And I don’t know how a show that could create the iconic character growth of Steve Harrington is also writing all these other character development blunders, full stop.

[kaypeace21]

Mike Wheeler and other queer subtext

How come no one ever talks about how just changing one word in his speech  makes what Mike said to Will sound like a marriage proposal?

“And I asked you to be my {friend} and you said yes ... you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done”.

Is it just me? I mean think about all those speeches in the shed. Jonathan talks about the day their dad left (the same guy who called Will homophobic slurs) and lets be honest him thinking his son might be queer, may have been one of the reasons he left. Jonathan even mentions that ‘castle Byers’ was built after their homophobic dad left, the place where Will felt the most safe while in the upside down as he sang ‘should I stay or should I go’ was that place. He sings the same song Jonathan played for him when Lonnie didn’t show up for visitation and Jonathan told Will “He’s trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn’t like things because people tell you you’re supposed to ... especially not him.”

What makes Will feel safe is the antithesis of his father.Lonnie left when Jonathan was 10 so will was about 7 or 6 (maybe)? And it was on Jonathan’s 10th birthday when he was first taught how to use a gun, and was traumatized because he was forced to kill/shoot a rabbit to be “more of a man”. SO why does Will know how to shoot a gun when Lonnie wasn’t in his life at 10 years old ?! Can you imagine how much more shit he forced Will through (compared to Jonathan) if he thought he was queer and was forcing him to ‘man-up’?! 

So then, what Joyce says before Jonathan’s speech about his “rainbow ship” and “being proud” isn’t just an overt hey look Will’s lgbt+ ! Its makes narrative sense given what the family knows and we’re supposed to put 2 in 2 together.

So the fact that Mike’s speech about how they first met, is RIGHT AFTER Jonathan’s speech about their dad leaving is interesting? So let’s think about this ; WHY does Lonnie think Will is queer? Speaking from personal experience , to most straight people if you aren’t an ‘over the top stereotype’ (nothing wrong with that, by the way) no on believes you even if you say it to their face (although that may be more of a queer women problem, but I digress.) My point is Mike met Will at age 5, BEFORE Lonnie left. And I sort of gather that Will & Mike were probably very close (especially because they probably weren’t taught yet what was considered normal-friendship behavior), and Lonnie got suspicious about how close they were. In other words, Mike was the literal catalyst for Lonnie leaving! I mean if as teens, they are still more affectionate than what the 80s  deemed ‘acceptable’ who knows how they acted before being conditioned to be told what was considered ‘wrong’ and ‘not wrong’.

Essentially these stories tell us a chronological order of events: Mike and Will meet. Lonnie gets suspicious of their bond and his abuse escalates as he tries to ‘fix his’ “queer, fag” son, but he eventually gives up and leaves . Joyce even says  “You never cared about him” (because he wasn’t straight), when she learns Lonnie wasn’t mourning for Will’s death but simply using him to make a quick buck. However, Will  feels safer and happier without such a toxic individual in his life and his mom does everything to make up for the damage he’s caused- as she tries to support her son’s sexuality  .

Will and Mike being ‘suspiciously’ close actually makes a lot of sense if you look at what other characters say about the 2 in season 1. When Will went missing in s1 , Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just ... want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide” it’s so heavily queer-coded and it makes me feel like she suspects something because she was around to see the interactions between the 2 we never did).

Even his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”. If you rewatch the scene Karen doesn’t make eye contact and literally freezes at the comment and blinks rapidly (She’s clearly uncomfortable). Bisexuality wasn’t really something people believed in so it’d be kind of funny to think Mike’s parents thought he would turn out to be gay the whole time because of his interactions with Will.

Also, how come no one talk about that binder? You know the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings. Think about that! Will has been giving his drawings to Mike for years! And Mike not only accepts them but treasures them so much he keeps every single picture Will’s ever given him . When Will is believed to be dead, we see Mike look through the whole binder, he even gently strokes the drawing of the cleric, probably thinking he’ll never get another pic from Will again. Also when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,  there’s no romantic lyrics in the song except one lyric “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” and this is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded XD

Hell, even when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea that will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is physically assaulted (like a gay-bashing) . It’s supposed to subconsciously hint he has feelings for both of them. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El , Mike says to “ignore them” but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed . 2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront , as his friends are in the background , and the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally) and El protects him in the end. Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” thanks to El saving him . Nancy even says says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve ... Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

And since this devolved into me talking about the Duffers making Mike bi since the very beginning. Lets not forget when El was in her wig , he called her “pretty” and she looks at the mirror happily restating the word “pretty”. And after she lost her wig and broke Troy’s arm, at the police station he says “ Her head’s shaved she doesn’t even look like a girl”. And in the same episode, El looks in the mirror sadly and asks Mike “Still pretty?” And he say “Yeah, pretty, really pretty.” And they almost kiss! Note that 3 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care he still wanted to kiss her! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. I’m not saying Mike has a thing for quiet-brunettes with super powers, and daddy-issues but ... wait that’s exactly what I’m saying. XD

I mean in season 1 when El asks him the difference between friends and crushes, Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns by using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrasses himself because he can’t articulate the difference. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’. 

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone. You know someone that you like”

 El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh ... uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

And I mean the dance- we’d be here all day with all the hints! But, Will’s first instinct when asked to dance with a girl (who’s wearing a rainbow hairclip)  is to look at mike and say “I.. uh, don't”, and then after Mike forces him you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what. why’d I do that ?’ After this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. They have 2 scenes of Mike moping - one where he's moping about El (and she shows up immediately to convey he was thinking about her) and another moping scene of him just looking at Will dancing with a girl.

Sorry for the rant but there’s just SO much subtext, a lot of which I didn’t even mention (like all the scenes that directly parallel byler and mileven ) and I’m really curious about what will happen between the 3 in later seasons, I want it to be July and until we get a teaser or something I’m going to bother people with content 😂  

[lightsandlostbells]

so, overall, what did you think of season 3 of stranger things?

It took me a while to answer this question because I had to sort out how I felt about this season! I guess if I had to narrow it down to an overall opinion: enjoyable, but very messy. Had some of the series’ best moments but also, while I was watching, I had far more grumbles and gripes than the previous two seasons.

I’ve never really been hung up on whether this show is derivative or plays too into nostalgia or w/e. Plenty of media does that. And despite all the time I’ve spent dissecting micro-expressions and weighty silences in European teen dramas that are filmed for the cost of a candy bar … I am way into genre films and TV shows. I love monsters and superheroes and spectacle! I watched Stranger Things the weekend it premiered because I love ‘80s movies about kids on bikes having adventures, I eat that shit up. So I don’t expect this show to be a hardcore deconstruction and re-imagining of those tropes (though that sounds like a pretty great show), I’m fine with it being what it is: a solid, spooky sci-fi/horror throwback series. What matters most is whether the story and characters work. Personally, I would say whatever criticisms you can make of S1 and S2, they had heart, and unfortunately I think some of that heart was missing from S3. Much of that, IMO, comes from sidelining some of the familial relationships that were at the center of the narrative in S1 and S2, like the Byers family and Hopper & Eleven, and to some degree the important friendships like the party, although there were other friendships introduced in this season so that wasn’t as glaring. It’s not a surprise that one of the best-received parts about this season, Steve and Robin’s friendship, is also responsible for one of the most heartfelt scenes Stranger Things has ever done. 

There was also a way larger emphasis on comedy in S3. Comedy is probably my favorite genre, and I did laugh at a lot of humorous moments in this season. But I also felt like there was more comedy for comedy’s sake, like long sequences created intentionally to make the audience laugh. Whereas in S1 and S2, I can’t remember any scenes like that? The comedy was more understated and came from character personalities and relationship moments rather than joke set pieces. That’s perhaps another reason why S3 felt like it had less heart.

My hope for season 4 - and I am assuming there is a season 4, because apparently this show did mega ratings for S3 - is that they don’t add more major new characters (except love interests for the gay characters, go ahead with those, lol) and instead focus on the existing cast,  which is already a very strong ensemble, yet many of the characters have gotten pushed to the sides. I would love if they added to the episode count: a lot of Netflix series drag out their seasons, like they have enough story for 10 episodes but have to stretch it out to 13, but Stranger Things has the opposite problem. I feel like if they had 10 (or 11, ha) episodes they could have more time for breather moments and more space for character arcs. This season was really fast-paced in my opinion, and although that’s a positive in many respects, I missed a lot of the down time.

Also, I think every season has taken place over like a week maximum, not including the epilogues, and like … you can make the story last longer than a week! Not everything has to go to hell in like a day or two.

Some more specific opinions underneath, obviously lots of spoilers.

First of all, I gotta say, I feel like a weirdo, because so many of the reviews for this season are like A RETURN TO FORM AFTER A DISAPPOINTING SECOND SEASON and UP THERE WITH SEASON 1 NOT THAT CRAPPY SEASON 2 THAT NO ONE LIKED and uhhhh … I liked season 2 just fine? It’s probably my favorite. There are things I don’t like about it, but the stuff I love is stuff I really, really love. Hopper and Eleven’s relationship, for instance. Steve and Dustin teaming up and Steve Harrington becoming a guardian to four children. Those are not just great elements to the series, but directions that I think only a second season could have taken - Hopper and Eleven’s bond wouldn’t have had half the weight if they weren’t established as traumatized, broken people in S1. Steve Harrington becoming a babysitter would not be nearly so delightful if we had not known him as the popular douchebag stereotype from S1 - if he were just a cool dude hanging out with kids from the get-go, the impact wouldn’t be as great. After S1 used Will Byers as a MacGuffin in S1, S2 gave Will a much larger role and that little actor acted his ass off. His performance generated a lot of genuine suspense and chills. There was Sean Astin being lovable! Paul Reiser’s character being a surprisingly good guy! Yeah, there are big flaws in the season, and you can argue it’s too much of a repeat of S1, but to me it was a version of S1 that made the characters more specific and interesting. I’m just … genuinely baffled by how it’s supposed to be demonstrably worse than the others. Because of the Kali episode? I didn’t think that one was terrible, either. I think it broke up the momentum of the chaos at Hawkins Lab, and Kali’s friends were obnoxious, it’s certainly not the greatest writing of the series, but as a whole the episode is like. Fine. It’s fine. It’s mediocre, not atrocious. It’s not the worst thing ever. It doesn’t ruin anything about the story or direction or the series. Most importantly it’s easy to ignore or skip on a rewatch if you don’t like it. The backlash was way overblown.

My biggest disappointment with season 3 was Hopper. Whaaaaaaat. Whaaaat did they dooooo. 

Hopper in previous seasons is a flawed, messed-up human being, but I always knew where he was coming from. When he yelled at Eleven in S2, I still got why he did it. In this season he felt cartoonish. The overprotective paternalistic dad trope is annoying BUT I might have been less bothered had they connected it more to Eleven’s lack of experience with the world, less RAWRRRR KEEP BOYS AWAY FROM MY GIRL. Or if Hopper had not demonstrated like, actual rage toward Mike and we just saw him fuming about it to himself or venting to Joyce, if he was trying to keep that shit under control. (I did laugh at him singing “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” in the car, I gotta admit.)

But his attitude toward Joyce was what really bummed me out. I’m not into this show for shipping reasons, but I low-key enjoyed the possibility of Joyce and Hopper hooking up based on previous seasons. This season felt like they were writing a completely different dynamic for them, one that was much more aggressively obnoxious. I think their intentions were clear - they were going for a Sam-and-Diane relationship, something that was referenced early on in the Bob flashback - but the problem is that their relationship was not like that at all in S1 and S2. When I think of Joyce and Hopper from those seasons, I think about him supporting her after Bob died, or listening to her concerns about her son, or working together to find Will. They didn’t have this combative dynamic! Frankly watching giant-ass Hopper yell at tiny Joyce was viscerally unpleasant. (Side note but in the first trailer there was a shot of Hopper running at the Fun Fair with someone else who I assumed was Eleven, but no, turned out to be Joyce, Winona Ryder is just that tiny next to David Harbour.)

Also, considering this season ended with his death (and we all know he’s not really dead but OK) it’s such a waste that there were few Hopper&Eleven moments! Only the finale brought some quality content on that front. But otherwise their relationship was out of sight, out of mind for almost the whole season, which wasn’t a great choice, both to maximize the emotional impact of the ending, and to expand upon their situation post-S2. I mean, it’s been months since then, how has their relationship changed now? Hopper’s letter talked about the stuff he enjoyed doing with his daughter - why didn’t we see any of that on screen this season? It could’ve helped with the Mike angle, too, like show Hopper and Eleven watching TV together and laughing and having a good time, and then the phone rings and it’s Mike and suddenly Hopper’s watching TV alone as Eleven’s now focused on her boyfriend, we see his disappointment, etc. 

Scoops Troop - Now they were a delight. They had such a ludicrous story but for the most part it worked due to the characters playing off each other and because the writing/acting/directing embraced the silliness. 

Steve Harrington is easily one of the best characters on this show. I fucking love that guy. He’s consistently entertaining, he’s had possibly the best character growth out of anyone in the series, he’s evolved from a stock ‘80s asshole stereotype into someone who’s funny and sympathetic and likable. He’s this amazing blend of the ridiculous with the heroic. Steve and Dustin were great together, as they were last season, and I’m cackling that Steve acquired YET ANOTHER CHILD under his supervision without even trying. But the MVP of the season was the Steve & Robin friendship. Holy shit do I love that relationship. Holy SHIT.

Robin herself is a terrific new character, smart and funny and once you know she’s half-Uma, you can’t unsee it. I was loving her already and then the bathroom scene happened and I YELLED. I was so utterly overjoyed. If they had made Steve and Robin hook up, honestly … I would’ve been fine with it, like this show doesn’t need more heterosexual romance but at least they had a fun dynamic, but man, the friendship angle was so so superior. It’s a type of relationship that media is lacking, and the specific circumstances of this friendship made it genuinely moving to me. I keep wanting to write like a meta post devoted to just this relationship because I just have so many emotions about it! But they play well off each other as a comedic duo and as an odd couple friendship, and they’re really what each other needs, IMO. Steve needed this close friendship more than he needed a girlfriend; in this season he’s clearly adrift and we’ve seen the kind of shitty friends he had in like season one, is Dustin the best pal he had at this point? And I love Steve & Dustin but Steve needed a good friend his own age. Robin is a lesbian in small-town Indiana in the ‘80s, and she was clearly full of fear that Steve would hate her if he knew, and for him to accept her so easily, not even making a big deal about it? That’s kind of life-saving, really. I can’t wait to see more of them, if Netflix wants to make the half-hour Clerks-esque spinoff about them working in a video store and shooting the shit, I would be 100% down for that.

I have some mixed feelings about Erica because I think she could have benefited from getting the same humanization as the other kids (and I’m going to leave the discussion of racial tropes gently by the side at the moment but … yeah). The other child characters are played more like actual people with vulnerabilities, which has been part of the show’s appeal since the first season, and Erica was more like the sitcom kid who always has a snarky quip ready; however, she did make me laugh and I like that they tapped into her being a nerd, I wish they’d explore that in future seasons with the character. “I’m ten, you bald bastard” was one of my favorite lines of the season, I lost my goddamn mind. 

Billy - Lmao, so Billy in S2 was the woooorst. This dude had ZERO redeeming qualities. His abusive dad creates a smidgen of sympathy, I guess, but Billy goes so far beyond normal teenage assholery that it didn’t make a dent in my opinion of him. You can redeem someone like Steve Harrington, first of all because Steve actually feels regret and works to correct his mistakes, but Steve also didn’t go to a point of no return in the first place. Billy did, for me. Physically and verbally abusing his younger sister? Attacking a black middle-schooler for the crime of being in the same room as his white sister? What a piece of shit.

With that in mind - I have no problem focusing on him as a villain this season, I really don’t. It justifies his inclusion in S2 other than as a human antagonist who’s ultimately not really connected to the main plot, as it retrospectively establishes him as an even greater threat in this season. I also think the actor did a good job with the material he was given. However, ultimately this dude’s arc was underwhelming. The thing is … I can tell they were trying to show Billy struggling with the Mind Flayer, but Billy is so lacking in any positive qualities that it’s kind of like, where does that struggle even come from? Yeah, even the worst people aren’t going to be wild about having a monster from another dimension hijack your body and use it to collect people for spare parts, but this is the same dude who was about to run over Mike, Lucas, and Dustin on their bikes last season for absolutely no reason. He beat Steve to point of unconsciousness and could’ve put him in the hospital. He assaulted Lucas. So I really need some evidence of Billy’s moral compass because it is not inherent and there’s in fact plenty of evidence that it doesn’t exist. I’m not very enthusiastic about redeeming a racist, abusive creep, but I also think if you’re going to go for him helping Eleven at the end … you have to show some current potential for goodness, not just “used to be a nice kid.”

A really glaring omission: the lack of any family/home scenes with him, Max, and their parents this season. We left off last season with Max telling him to leave her and her friends alone. How is their relationship since then? Is there still a lot of friction? Is there a tense peace? Has their relationship improved in any way? We really needed to see that follow-up. I get that Max crying over Billy this season makes sense in that he’s still her family and we can still have love for those who hurt us … but I also feel that we needed something between them to justify her pain, like even just the potential of their relationship being a fraction better, or the suggestion that Billy used to be OK to Max before he went full asshole. And I think we really needed to see Billy’s dad being currently abusive in this season - tbh, missed opportunity that the dad didn’t get flayed like, out of revenge (which would have been both satisfying and horrifying), missed opportunities for suspense when we think Billy might serve up Max and her mom to the Mind Flayer, etc.

Another missed opportunity: drawing parallels between Billy and Will. Both are possessed by the Mind Flayer. Both had shitty dads calling them homophobic slurs. Both could be read as gay (I’m not hungry to claim Billy as LGBT representation or invested in this interpretation but his scenes with Steve in S2 admittedly have that sweaty homoerotic dick-measuring vibe, if you want to take it there). Their names are both William, FFS. The difference is that Will is a sweet and gentle kid surrounded by loving family and friends who fought to save him, and Billy is a violent, cruel dude who probably doesn’t have any real friends, just shallow connections. You could show how the Mind Flayer could more easily possess and manipulate someone like Billy, but that wasn’t really explored.

Also, is anyone going to dwell on the fact that like … Max is living with an abusive man as her stepfather? He’s shown hurting Billy’s mom. Does that not concern anyone that he is very likely to attack either Max or her mom? 

Oh, and thank God they didn’t take the Billy/Karen thing all the way. In retrospect, even weirder considering Billy’s mommy issues. 

Joyce - I get that it’s a big leap downward in emotional investment to go from “must save my son” to “fucking magnets, how do they work” but I liked that she had her own investigation that wasn’t full of emotional turmoil. Winona forever. 

Mike - Everyone is ragging on him but I think he was less terrible than people are making him out to be. He was bratty in a teenage way, but he wasn’t the worst kid ever. I didn’t take his now notorious line to Will (“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls”) as something intentionally cruel or homophobic, just something that came out wrong and that he instantly regretted, and he and Lucas did seem genuinely apologetic over the D&D game and went over to Will’s in the rain out of concern. And the reason he lied to Eleven was because SCARY ASS HOPPER threatened him??? Also, his concern over Eleven overexerting herself was not misplaced, lmao! It really took that long for anyone to go, “Hey, should we be worried about the amount of blood coming out of her nose? Should we be concerned about the effects on her brain?” Sure, Eleven has the final say in whether or not she uses her powers, but tbh… she didn’t have a normal upbringing and her view of her powers is probably skewed. Like, would Eleven have enough basic medical knowledge to be worried about brain damage or nosebleeds, or would that just be the norm to her? Is she making these decisions with a full grasp of the potential consequences? Anyway, I don’t have a more negative opinion of Mike after this season. 

Eleven - I loved Eleven a lot in this season. I don’t know if it did a ton for her character arc, but it’s nice to see her slowly develop into more of a normal girl. And the season was rough for her in terms of getting her ass kicked, she goes through so much mental and physical pain! In the end she loses her dad and her powers!

Of course one of the bright spots was her and Max becoming friends! Not gonna lie, there was something a little … simplistic about some of that depiction of friendship for me - just that so much of it was SHOPPING and GIGGLING and BOY TALK, girls being GIRLS, when Max has been portrayed as a tomboy and Eleven is a telekinetic kid raised in a lab, that maybe their interactions shouldn’t have fit the mold quite so much - but it doesn’t truly bother me because they were so sweet and fun. I loved them tracking down Billy together and I appreciate that their friendship carried throughout the season, that Max was the person shown carrying an injured Eleven along with Mike, Eleven comforted Max after Billy died, etc. That was a definite sore spot of S2, the girl-on-girl jealousy and Eleven flat-out rejecting Max’s friendly introduction, and I do think they took that feedback into account for the better here. I also like that Eleven was clearly taking cues from Max, the more “worldly” of the two about boys and clothes and teenage attitudes in general - it gave their friendship a more specific shape.

I cannot WAIT to see her living with the Byers family next season. Like if they don’t spend significant time on that dynamic, it will be the biggest disappointment. There could be 8 episodes of just boring mundane Byers domestic scenes and I would love it, please inject it into my eyeballs, Duffer bros. I want to see her bonding with all of them, trying to fit in at school, attempting the most normal life she’s ever had. Also lmao, she and Will can finally have a goddamn conversation??? I hope they’ve been withholding that relationship because they were planning to go all out with those new sibling vibes in S4. They are the two characters who have been most traumatized by the Upside Down, we deserve to see them connect.

On that note, I have a lot of thoughts about Will in this season! Mainly - underused as FUCK. After all that trauma of being possessed by the Mind Flayer last season, they barely utilize this connection in the second half of S3. Even his Spidey sense hardly came in handy??? Now that was really weird, IMO, because the least they could do was have that feeling alert the others or be useful, but lmao it was practically pointless. 

It’s weird because I’m not sure if they just don’t know what to do with Will if he’s not being a victim (which is stupid because there’s plenty you could do with him), but at the same time, he has one of the most poignant subplots of the season. From the reactions I’ve seen, Will feeling rejected and left out as his friends move on really resonated with a lot of viewers. But then this thread is abandoned after episode 3, for the most part. Will cries and destroys the place that represents his childhood, a place that was created specifically in response to trauma (mentioned in S2 that he and Jonathan built it after their dad left), this is very rich emotional territory … and then the show’s just like ehhhhhh moving on. He’s just hanging out in the background and touching his neck for the rest of the season. 

And now I gotta talk about that other thing with Will.

I am so confused by what the Duffer brothers are trying to accomplish with Will’s sexuality, because on the one hand it seems like they have a really clear idea about it and on the other hand they’re just like¯\_(ツ)_/¯  The thing is … it seems very obvious they have always thought of Will as gay. This is blatant from the original pitch from the show as well as one of the S2 scripts (the only one that’s available publicly, so who knows what else they’ve written). I accept that people have different interpretations, but The Line this season is far from the only textual support for Will being gay, and I think it makes for a much, much stronger narrative if you read Will as gay in addition to not wanting to grow up as fast as his friends and being stunted from trauma - that is an entire meta post in itself, though. 

What gets me about the ~ambiguity is that the Duffer brothers planted the gay hints in the first place! They are absolutely not there by accident! Like I’m not speaking for the teenage actors but lmao, the adults involved in the writing and directing of this series absolutely fucking knew how that “not my fault you don’t like girls” scene would be interpreted, especially considering fans were debating Will’s sexuality from the beginning, based off the many homophobic comments leveled at him in S1. There have been TV shows where fans latched onto gay “subtext” that was likely unintentional, but this isn’t one of them. 

IDK, man, it’d just be nice to have some confidence in where this is going. I loved Robin and the bathroom scene made me think that yeah, they might do a decent job with Will’s sexuality, something I might have doubted before. Under no circumstances do I expect a Skam S3-style coming out arc for Will, but I’m also uncertain if I should expect anything from the show on this front at all or if they’ll play it coy to the bitter end. Though I guess I’d still take the ambiguity over giving him a female love interest after everything. Lol, that would be a giant oh-fuck-no.

Real talk, though, let’s discuss what an utter waste it would be to not write a scene where Joyce tenderly accepts her son when he comes out to her. You really aren’t going to bring that instantly iconic moment to life, assholes? You’re not going to provide that for Winona Ryder’s and Noah Schnapp’s Emmy reels? MAKE IT HAPPEN, BASTARDS.

Nancy and Jonathan have a reputation for the most boring plots but they’re fine, w/e. I’m not deeply invested in their romance but I don’t want to fast forward their scenes or anything. Nancy is an underrated character; she’s extremely proactive and always has been, and I enjoy watching her shoot things. I think the best thing they could do for both characters, though, is to separate them next season, not just physically but storyline-wise. Jonathan would be best in a subplot involving his family, because he’s at his most likable as a son and brother, and Nancy should either go off with Mike (a sibling relationship that is VASTLY undeveloped), or she should team up with Robin. I mean it, Nancy and Robin would be a power pairing, let me show you my manifesto. Both are smart young women who are good at solving mysteries. Would Robin think Nancy is a priss after Nancy unloads several rounds into the latest demogorgon chasing them? Would Nancy find Robin a refreshing alternative to the crushing suburban conformity that she claims to want to avoid? Oh, the possibilities. Meanwhile, Steve tags along in the background, all like OH SHIT, my lesbian BFF and my ex-girlfriend are in cahoots! 

Lucas and Max were playing relationship counselors to Mike and Eleven through much of the season. Max still had a fair amount to do, but Lucas needs a meatier subplot next time. I feel like they’re not sure what to do with him? I would like to see him and Erica interact more since their dynamic so far is one-note. 

There is one hell of a conversation to be had about the Evil Russians of this season, but I’m really not the person to do it. 

Also about the depiction of capitalism this season. That’s more thinkpiece-y than I am equipped to do right now. 

The product placement is something that should bother me more but I’m just like … shrug. Except that New Coke bit because that was an actual mood-breaker. 

Could have done without Russian Terminator guy. That was a blatant ‘80s homage so I get why he was there, he just wasn’t all that interesting. And was that guy supposed to be superpowered or something? Was he getting jacked on Upside Down steroids???  What was his deal???

Alexei/Murray was the true OTP of the season, let’s be real.

The trend of lovable, doomed minor characters continued with Alexei. Props to that actor for making you root for the guy. He even made me kind of love Murray? I was very WTF over that guy encouraging two teenagers to fuck in S2, and I’m still not into his habit of telling people to bang even when they’re adults, but I guess he just needed a sympathetic Russian buddy to win me over. 

There were a ton of moments where I felt like the characters made stupid choices as opposed to earlier seasons. Will getting dragged into the Upside Down in the first 10 minutes of the series is an impressive example of a horror movie character doing everything right and making good decisions - a 12-year-old, no less. And he was still overpowered by the demogorgon so it’s not like making good decisions will always save you! Whereas this season I was like LORD some of these characters are drinking dumbass juice. 

There was also so much silly stuff happening, like things that are even more far-fetched than previous seasons, but I just kind of went with it. Yeah, of course there’s a secret Russian base under a shopping mall. Sure.

This season is objectively disgusting in terms of gore and yet I was fine with it? And I’m someone who was repulsed by Barb’s corpse in S1. The Mind Flayer being made of people was some nasty shit but effective horror. I felt bad for the poor little rats :( Oh, and the flayed humans, too. Some of them. Was sad to see Mrs. Driscoll bite it but FUCK those cartoon misogynists from the newspaper. 

Visually beautiful! Starcourt Mall is an amazing set and I’m rather sad that the mall was destroyed, although that was basically a foregone conclusion. Some great cinematography, too. On a purely aesthetic level I had a great time just blasting this season into my retinas.

I have had the motherfucking NeverEnding Story theme song in my head for almost two weeks and I’m suffering.