#st3 rewatch

[reddiandbyler4life]

today, i was watching season 3 with my mom and we watched the rain fight

when will was destroying castle byer’s she literally said, “why’s he so upset?” i brought up the fact that mike didn’t even go see el after the fight, but he went to find will, and she said it was because he and will were friends for a long time. she keeps insisting that they’re just friends and i’m crashing out

“it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” it sure as hell is micheal

[reo-bylerwagon]

regardless of the obvious reasons why will believes he'll never fall in love, i totally understand the attitude will had towards the whole "falling in love" thing the morning after this specific moment happened

mike straight up choosing violence the second will calls him out

will expecting mike to shake it off and walk with him, maybe properly greet him

mike looking will in the eye as he dodges past him...

... and walks with lucas instead (as will continues to pine after mike).

[multifandom-madne55]

I know people have talked about it, but something we really need to talk about more which I feel was the biggest “in our faces” hint to Byler is Max’s explanation of breakups and what to expect. We literally see that Mike isn’t really that disturbed by the relationship being over for the moment when Eleven spies on him. It feels like a formality that he just has to fix for the sake of it and his apparent straightness. He doesn’t feel bad, he doesn’t come crawling back begging for forgiveness, and he doesn’t care that much or enough. Then we essentially have Byler break up and what follows after that. Suddenly, Mike gets upset. Who does he feel bad about? Will. Who does he come crawling back begging for forgiveness from? Will. Who does he care enough about to go BIKING ALL THE WAY ACROSS TOWN IN THE RAIN WHICH SEEMS LIKE MORE WORK THAN JUST APOLOGIZING TO HIS GIRLFRIEND? WILL. Like?? And Max’s explanation and these Byler scenes happen IN THE SAME EPISODE. How more “in your face” proof can you get??

[byler-alarmist]

Something about Steve and Max looking at boys through binoculars is so special to me

[butter-bubbles]

Not these being the exact same argument about how they’re not paying enough attention to each other lmao, Mike is such a cringe fail boy kisser 😂🤣

Extended analysis of this parallel is linked here (yes this is a shameless plug bc if I have Byler brainrot so should everyone else + it took me like ten minutes to write)

[notevenintheupsidedown]

Over analysing Byler scenes:

Rewatching S3 again to fill the void, and I just noticed that when El dumps Mike, Will makes the same expression as Max—shocked, impressed, kind of trying not to laugh, and even looking a little happy before catching himself. He looks down, then looks up again, still slightly smiling with this bright look in his eyes. I just thought it was hilarious, kinda like he was going “yesssss” in his head.

I’m not saying he was praying for Mileven to break up—he’s beyond selfless and would never want to see his friends hurting. Honestly, I think he was mainly happy because he thought things would go back to normal. But I also think he was impressed and kind of proud of El. They don’t have much of a relationship this season, but by this point, he’s probably gotten to know her a little and might have been in awe of her taking control.

That being said, I do think he was happy for selfish reasons too. With Mike and El spending all summer running off together and kissing—something he was genuinely able to laugh about when Lucas teased Mike—I’m sure there were still moments where he thought, Oh shit, this is real. I really love him. So in a selfish (but very human) way, a part of him was probably happy when they broke up.

It’s also around this time that I think everything really hit him. Not long before the breakup, we have the scene with Joyce where he says he’s never going to fall in love. We all know Will has had feelings for Mike since S1, but with so much going on I don’t think he ever had time to fully process it. Now, with everything slowing down—Mike and El getting together, Will not knowing where he fits in Mike’s life anymore, and puberty hitting—I think this is when it truly sank in. That he fully accepted he’s gay and in love with Mike.

I think he believed that now that they were broken up, he’d get Mike back—and maybe, just maybe, a small part of him had hope. Then we get the D&D scene where he realises things are never going back to normal. Which leads to the insanely romantically coded rain scene, where Mike says, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” As a queer person who struggled with coming to terms with her sexuality and was in love with her straight bff, I can imagine exactly how he felt in that moment. And then Castle Byers scene. He tears up the photos of the Party, but he and Mike are in the center—so when he rips them apart while muttering so stupid, it feels personal. A lot of people have pointed out—which I agree with ‘cause I was the same—that Will has probably humoured the thought that maybe Mike felt the same. The photo was from S2 Halloween, the night Mike told him, “If we go crazy, we’ll go crazy together.” Which, as we know, is basically Stranger Things code for love. The woman at the police station literally tells Nancy about Jonathan in the same S2 episode, “Only love makes you that crazy and that damn stupid.”

Mainly, though, I think Will was just super happy in that moment because, to him, El breaking up with Mike meant he’d have Mike and the Party back—that things would go back to how they were before when they spent all their time together. Of course, he later realizes that’s not going to happen, and then we get the rain scene and Castle Byers…

BUT anyway, it just made me laugh seeing his reaction. I can totally imagine a little voice in his head going: “YES 🤸‍♂️ hahaha sorry Mike, but YES WOW.”

[evilbookworm]

haha my friend thinks hopper died

[touch3d-by-ang3ls]

watching the castle byers scene again after reading a shit ton of analyses and noticing the only time will byers has ever said fuck.

brb gonna go hang myself

[yesimtrashforit]

I was rewatching season 3 of ST with my brother (the one who is NOT on Tumblr) just for funsies and he knows I ship Byler. When the scene came on where Will says "I'm not gonna.. fall in love" I legitimately had to pause because that part makes my heart ache.

My brother looked at me like "you need a moment?"

"No I SWEAR IM FINE"

"Bro you're not-"

[willbyersenthusiast]

El’s face while Mike is talking about Hopper in the sauna test is PRICELESSSSSS

[petrichor102]

You know what trips me out about the rain fight?

What I remember from when I first watched it—like the very first time I watched ST3... for some reason, I thought that conversation went very differently. I was so caught up in being unimpressed with Mileven, and pleased with how realistic it was that they were being so loosy-goosy about their relationship. I thought, Meh, they're kids. It's normal.

Anyway, by the time we got to the rain fight... I remembered Mike saying said "It's not my fault you don't like girls" a lot more gently than he actually did, almost like he whispered it in confidence. I remembered him saying it like he always secretly suspected and accepted that Will was queer and didn't expect him to care about girls; and Will was surprised at him saying this. So, I thought everyone hated Mike because he got boring, and sidelined, and made an assumption so casually about Will that "wasn't true" that hurt their communication as best friends. It made me sad to see him getting so much hate because Mike is usually my favorite character in the show.

See at the time, I thought Will was like Jonathan: sensitive but straight or ace (Yeah, I was as dense as a brick before I went to film school. I blame it on the ♠️ in me). I thought he was upset that now Mike has "wrongfully" accepted that he was queer or just not normal, too, when he "wasn't"; he just wanted to spend time with his friends again and they were growing up without him.

So, you can imagine my surprise the second time I watched it, and I realized he actually said

as if to say "Why can't you just be normal?" Because it was so out of character! Why would they do that to Mike? That put several pieces together about why I read that everyone hated him. I was like, but... ST2 🥺.

Then I rediscovered Byler, well after I was resolved just to think Will was ace, and I was like,

Oh.

Ohhhhh.

Why would my brain f😭k with me like that?

[galactiicpup]

i'm big time on the "Karen is Alice Creel" train and when the fucking mind flayer possessed Billy — Vecna. HE KNOWS THAT'S HIS SISTER WHEN SHE CONFRONTS BILLY. I'M FIRM IN THIS BELIEF NO MATTER HOW CRAZY I SOUND.

[reo-bylerwagon]

so like... did he pack the will the wise costume knowing he'd ambush them with a campaign or... does mike just like keep the costume in the basement??

[lesbylertruther]

NAH cause milkvans claim they want the best for El and that’s why the ship mitochondria but i rlly don’t think so

notice how much happier el was when she dumped mike… she was so much more happy and carefree, as she should be at that age. and the second they get back together, they’re both miserable again. i just don’t understand how milkduds can think that’s healthy.

mike and el are not happy together. they lie and don’t communicate and most importantly, they’re not in love. a healthy happy relationship is built on honesty, communication, trust, and love. none of those factor into melvin’s relationship.

i’d like one milkshake to give me an analysis and convince me that their relationship is healthy without just saying “they’re canon”

anyway, fuck macarena byler endgame 💪🏻🗣️💥

[byler-alarmist]

The Very Curious Consistency of Elmax Wearing Yellow and Blue on their Wrists

I first noticed it in S3. El wears the blue hair tie that used to belong to Sara Hopper as a bracelet. Max wears a yellow watch. These respective accessories stay consistent despite their many outfits:

But that only started in S3, right?

OH, WAIT

(She took off the watch for the dance, but the cuff of her sleeve is still yellow!)

But it ended after S3, right?

OH, WAIT

Curious.......very, very curious........

[butter-bubbles]

S3 Mike's Reaction to El's Love Confession...

Okay, so I'm not sure if someone's commented on this before (probably), but while I was suffering from chronic Byler brainrot the other day, I had a revelation about why Mike's confusion after El's love confession makes no sense when applying the "he has trouble processing his emotions" theory the GA likes to use to explain all of his weird behavior.

So I, like many, thought that all of Mike's weird behavior in S3 could be chalked up to him being a cringy, toxically masculine preteen boy going through his first relationship when it came out. The love confession, in particular, felt like we were treading the oft-familiar (and tired) territory of "teenage boy having a hard time with his first girlfriend's first I love you."

But here's the thing! That explanation makes no sense, because Mike was ready to confess three months prior during the mall scene between him and El. Sure, he was struggling to actually say I love you, but he was still very playful and sweet about it; at the time, there were no reservations about the sentiment just the fear of saying the words for the first time and, possibly, being rejected.

We know that Mike has pretty low self-esteem (directly illustrated by his many confessions to Will in S4 about not feeling like enough for El/feeling like discount Lois Lane) and ties up a lot of his self-worth in El liking him back/reciprocating his affection, so it makes sense that he would struggle to say the words for the first time in this context. It's uncertain, and her rejection would be devastating for his already low self-esteem.

So when El confessed first, it should be a relief right? I mean sure, a few months have passed and the adrenaline of the life-or-death situation is long gone, but if he truly loved her he would be elated by his returned affections, right?

But he's not! In fact, he visibly looks confused and hesitant, like he's thinking, What the hell was that?

It's almost like he regrets saying I love you (romantically) in the first place, and just hoped she forgot about it. Especially since he feigns not remembering the confession in the first place, like he was hoping his stupid and impulsive confession had slipped her mind, because then he could delay saying I love you for longer. And sure, maybe you could say he was scared she would reject his confession since she was about to leave for California, but then the fact that she didn't wouldn't have produced that reaction from him.

But okay, maybe you could argue he was feeling conflicted about the fact that she was leaving, and was grieving the distance that was about to form between them.

... Except we have a direct parallel to prove that that's not the case. Because just before this scene, the exact same scenario happens with Will, and Mike's reaction is the exact opposite of his with El.

In that scene, Mike is "testing the waters", so to speak, by leaving space for a new party in Will's future. But when Will professes that he's not joining a new party, Mike makes this expression:

So in this parallel situation, Will is reassuring Mike that no one will replace Mike's importance in his life through the promise that he won't find a party. Just like how El affirms that no one will replace Mike's importance in her life through the "binding" I love you confession.

But with Will, he looks ecstatic -- elated -- by his guaranteed place in Will's life. Because it's important to him that he remains first place in Will's life. Whereas with El, he's confused as to why her guarantee doesn't bring him the same relief. Because his desire to be loved by her is secondary to his need to remain important to Will. In fact, it feels more like shackles than a release -- which should tell you enough about their relationship.

As a side note, this also explains a lot of Mike's weird behavior in the airport scene. With El's letter about Will's painting (and thus new love interest) in mind, he's upset that Will's promise from last scene was a lie. Because Will doesn't lie to him, and promised Mike would remain as the most important person in his life, and yet here he is bringing a girl's painting to what should be his very important reunion with Mike. Mike's been trying to call him all year, and yet Will's been more focused on painting for a girl, and then has the gall to blame Mike for the deterioration of their friendship? Of course Mike is upset!

So, in summary, no, Mike's strangely bewildered expression after El's love confession can not be explained by being caught off guard or sad she was leaving. It was because he likely regretted saying it in the first place, hoped she had forgotten about it, and/or no longer felt that way about it. And this is proved through the direct contrast/ parallel between Will's promise and El's confession.

They both served the same purpose, but had different outcomes. Because Will's promise matters to Mike whereas El's confession doesn't matter like it should to Mike.