The Strange Postponement Of Mike And Will's Relationship

The Strange Postponement of Mike and Will's relationship

If Mike and Will had remained as close as they were in Season 2 in the subsequent seasons, the "are they gay?" rumors absolutely would have spread among the General Audience, as they entered their official teen/dating/sexual awakening years.

There have been peculiar writing choices that seem to have no other explanation but to postpone romantic rumors about these two.

The show does it's damnedest to keep these best friends apart. The only interactions hinting at romance we get in Season 3 are their virtual double date with Lumax, and Mike being concerned for Will's well-being one time. These were necessary to reestablish their "good friendness" at the start of the season to set-up their breakup during the Rain Fight.

Then, of course, the Rain Fight happens. Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls." These two effectively break up.

But then there is the strange, interesting choice that there is no resolution ever about the Rain Fight. The apology for not liking Will's D&D game comes from Lucas instead of Mike:

Will had his blow-up with MIKE, not Lucas! And we know that Mike absolutely was DRIVEN to apologize to Will. Maybe he actually did, but it was offscreen. But why not have it ON screen? Why not clear the air on whether Mike thought Will was gay and was being homophobic to Will?

The writers were exceedingly careful to keep attention away from Mike and Will: they have NO conversations during nearly all the rest of the season. They made sure Mike was focused on trying to repair things with El and blurting out "I love her." These two things together kept the Gay Rumors(TM) in check.

Season 4 then dramatizes how they'd grown apart -- specifically, how they don't seem to have stayed in contact and Mike seems to ignore Will.

What a strange thing for the writers to do! Mike and Will had been on good terms.

They soon repair things, but for what?

The Will Counseling Hour:

They literally have no conversations with each other where Will isn't comforting Mike and/or talking about El. To the extent that the GA was annoyed that the California plotline was a "waste of time" and Mike seemed "useless."

The show was putting Byler in a holding pattern. The show established that Mike and Will were friends again, but with a "beard" on Mike: his relationship with El. Will's attempt to talk about a future playing Nintendo and D&D was ignored as Mike worried about El.

The Will Counseling Hour ends only with their very LAST conversation of season 4, when Will shares that he can still feel Vecna and Mike resolves that they will overcome him. The danger of Season 5 bringing them together, along with signs that Mike and El are drifting apart, lay the trajectory for Season 5.

Season 5 will be the first season with Unfiltered Byler(TM) since Season 2.

EVERYTHING that kept the GA from thinking about the possibility of Byler, (1) how young they were in Season 2, (2) their being kept artificially apart and (3) Mike's focus on his relationship with El, will have fallen away.

For the first time since Season 2, the A plot and Mike and Will being close and "a team" will mesh.

During all of this, we will get Season 2 Mike because Will will also be the center of the story and be IN DANGER. It's impossible to imagine Mike being his aloof start-of-Season-4 self. Add to all of this Season 4 hormones: we're likely to see the heart-eyes romantic, Will-Voice-speaking boy in love we Bylers see in the 2nd half of Season 4.

And there's the Painting Lie, which the Duffers have told Finn Wolfhard will "pay off in the end." Mike WILL KNOW Will loves him, and loved him so much as to sacrifice himself for him.

Even if one doesn't accept Byler, one can't deny that there has to be a DIRECT RECKONING over whether Mike returns Will's feelings.

The entire structure of how the show has presented their relationship is building up toward this. The Strange Postponement of Byler had a purpose.

-teambyler

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obsessedwithbyler

1 year ago

thinking about thinking is weird, and cause for an existential crisis.

Tags

mental health

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obsessedwithbyler

1 month ago

my stupid ass JUST realised that Jonathan heard both monologues in s4: wills AND mikes. thats why he looked so fucking pressed when mike opened his BITCH ASS mouth and started confessing his love to el by throwing wills words in her face

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obsessedwithbyler

1 month ago

byler, reblog if you agree

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obsessedwithbyler

2 months ago

I may or may not have just turned my brain 360° while doing a backflip, I HAVE A THEORY.

This'll be a long shot so please be patient until it starts to make sense. Also i tried to use short words. 😇

So lets establish this, Henry(Vecna) goes around Hawkins dressed as a 'gentleman' calling himself Mr. Whatsit. That is a reference to A Wrinkle in Time (AWIT). We have gotten multiple references to AWIT in the show so it's not surprising.

I May Or May Not Have Just Turned My Brain 360° While Doing A Backflip, I HAVE A THEORY.

He's quite literally talking to Holly here

They've got similar powers BUT she is a good person, unlike Henry, which tells me he is putting on a mask and going around Hawkins getting multiple children and getting them to the UD, putting them in a trance and making them go into a sort of 'Alice in Wonderland' world.

You could even say he's sending them to the Camazotz. Another reference to AWIT.

A seemingly perfect world. Which would make sense because in AWIT Mrs. Whatsit helps the main characters rescue people from the Camazotz, but again lets not forget that Henry is just pretending. Pretending that he'll put them into an amazing world, they won't be in Hawkins, the town where calamity has struck down and monsters are roaming free, NOPE.

And this is slowly where we get to the 'action' part in my theory.

So we know that the WSQK radio station is hosted by Robin and Steve, it's more of a LOCAL radio station, specially broadcasting music to Hawkins residents. Now I believe that they're doing this because of the Vecna'ing.

They don't want people to get Vecna'd, they don't want to take that risk of him getting that power again so they play music all over Hawkins radios. Even taking requests just in case it'll help a person get out of the Vecna'ing process.

Oh but now the problem is that children are going MISSING? Including Holly *cough cough*.

So you're telling me, there are multiple children in the UD? OH WHATEVER WILL THEY DO.

The WSQK van has a literal antenna built inside of it. What could it possibly be for? Yup that's right, a large antenna CATCHING radio waves from a large distance. Where will they go with it?

To the UD, hence the photo of Jonathan screaming as they fall with the Van into the UD. (Also the interdimensional signal must be weak so no wonder they got a big ass antenna)

Including the poster saying 'THE RIDE THAT CAN SURVIVE THE UPSIDE-DOWN'

Now, i believe that they'll drive through the UD. Fast, so no creature can catch up to them, since it can survive the UD. And loud, so the children in trances will WAKE UP. (and possibly for distraction, because we know how Eddie distracted all those bats)

OH? Kind of sounds like,

Mike must find his missing sister, going on an adventure into the UD (including the tunnels). The group later discovers that the children are being held in the UD inside of a trance, inside of Camazotz, which has been overcome by the Darkness. (a force that is controlling all the children through mind control)

Also the 6th episode is LITERALLY called :

'Escape from the Camazotz'

Take this as you will.

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obsessedwithbyler

1 month ago

bro what if we had established colours assigned to us within the lore of the show… what if our bedrooms matched these colours and we mostly wore outfits featuring these colours… bro what if we had a fight at a roller rink and we were wearing each others colours to signify that we were thinking about each other and all the lights around us were those colours… bro what if i reached for you and the light behind you was yellow and you were wearing yellow while i was wearing blue and we vowed to defeat evil together no matter what…. bro just imagine

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obsessedwithbyler

3 months ago

bro I can imagine the news articles now,