a-strangers-thoughtss

[a-strangers-thoughtss]

Mike Wheeler and his Promise

"It means something that you can't break. Ever."

A huge part of Mike Wheeler's hidden character arc is set up in season 1, episode 2 with this scene right here. It's pretty much the motivation behind many of his actions towards El and Will, can be a partial explanation for his internalised homophobia and explains why he seems like to have a saviour complex.

Narratively, promises are made to be broken. When writers decide to make a promise 'important' and emphasise that this promise cannot be broken, ever, it will always come back to bite that character in the ass. Promises are either made to be broken in stories like these, or they are made to make a character feel trapped. Promises are rarely ever used in a romantic fashion unless the character cannot keep their promise or they feel like they are forced to.

What makes it really seem like Mike and El are a doomed couple to me is that the writers chose Mike to say: Ever.

No word is misplaced in writing a script. There is no such thing as an unintentional line in Stranger Things tbh, and this word in particular means two things:

Mike will always keep his promises throughout time.

Mike will keep his promises no matter if circumstances change, no matter if his feelings change.

There is no reason for this line to be in there other than to foreshadow the fact that Mike will eventually have to eat the words from his naive 12-year-old self. He will eventually regret promising something, but he'll feel like he can't go back. Ever.

The domino effect Promise begins:

*Smiling* "And we can go to the Snow Ball."

*Smiling* "Promise?"

*No longer smiling* "Promise."

This promise was made in order to foreshadow that it doesn't come true right? Because that is often what happens to promises narratively, and of course, it can't come to be because they get separated and Mike thinks she's died.

But.... the promise does come true.

So instead, this promise was made, narratively, to trap Mike. While this seems harsh of course, this young Mike has no idea that what he has just promised to himself is not only to go to the Snow Ball with El (which was a promise made to comfort her here, to make her feel like she will survive). He doesn't necessarily seem happy about making this promise. He seems more... indifferent. Knowing that this is something he just has to do.

Yeah, because this is definitely the actors' expressions and lighting and scenery you want for a first kiss, right?

So not only has Mike promised to go to the Snow Ball with her, he has also promised to save her, he has promised to be with her. And he can't break this promise, ever.

Even when his feelings change:

The writers separated Mike and El and put Mike with Will in season 2 for a reason. They used it to build up a good development of Mike and Will's dynamic of course, but it was also to change Mike's feelings.

It eventually becomes apparent to the viewer that Mike has resigned himself to not finding El. In season 2 episode 2, the last time we see Mike on the walkie, he walks away. Music swells and El looks onwards. Instead of looking happy, she seems disappointed that her bond with Mike is not as strong as she thought.

Mike, after his talk with Will in the same room, has begun to give up.

And over time, he figures out that maybe... maybe finding and choosing to Will's friend is the best thing he's ever done instead. Once he figures this out, he cries, he's not loud, he's not angry. But it's at least the thing to bring Will's message forward.

Then El comes back, and Mike feels like a liar.

I've never really figured out why Mike shouts 'LIAR!' many times towards Hopper when he's clearly projecting as he starts to cry. Until now. It's the guilt that he didn't keep his promise. The promise he had made back when El had almost died, back when El had clearly thought promises could never be broken. EVER. Even when feelings change.

Of course he'd felt pissed at Hopper. Hopper was the one to keep El safe, not Mike, which is not the thing he had promised.

When El returns, Mike says:

"I never stopped looking for you."

Woops, Michael, that's a bald-faced lie, and you know it. But he also knows what a promise is, something that can't ever be broken.

Mike is now committed into this relationship. He's ready to keep El as his girlfriend for many reasons, but the next commitments he makes (i.e. saying 'I love you') are not intentional.

In season 3:

Saying 'I love her' happens on accident, she's never meant to hear. The next time he's asked about it, he fumbles and wants to deny ever saying it. But when El says it back, he realises... oh shit. I really am in this now. I can't escape, even though I know my feelings are different.

In the famous words of Hopper. "I don't want things to change." "[I want] to go back to how [we] were."

Throughout summer, before the Mindflayer, his relationship with El was easy, it was fine. He could deal with this because he can still go to movie theatres with Will and his friends and El can't go out in public. His relationship isn't real, and the fights they have are just 'silly, stupid fights'.

But then she says she loves him too and now what? He realises this is real, he can't go back on what he's said again. Because no matter what, a promise can't be broken.

Now:

He has to reject childish things and pretend to be 'normal' (but only around El).

He has to keep away from Will, who has the potential to break his promise to El forever.

He still can't say 'I love you' because of this great big commitment, this potential for change, and El clocks him, despite his best efforts to keep up the same relationship he was trying to have in season 3.

When he no longer has the threat of this great big PROMISE looming over him, when he feels that El has no broken up with him through that note signed 'From, El', he now suddenly has the ability to act close to Will. When he's confident that El's safe and that they just need to get back to Hawkins, he's able to express how he really feels.

He can finally, finally work with Will without feeling guilty.

That is, until El's in danger again. Until Argyle reminds him of the ramifications of his girlfriend being missing, reminding him of the promise that he's always made.

That's when this intimacy with Will suddenly feels taboo again:

The next time he needs to make a commitment towards her, it's through pressure. The bottom line is, Mike likes being a hero, he wants to be a saviour, but he was never ready for it to feel like this.

When Will reminds him that he's the heart of the Party in Surfer Boy Pizza, he believes that it could never be Will that needs him, but that Will's telling him that it really is El that still needs him. And that she always will.

So he holds her hand, exactly like he did back in season one, and makes his Promise again, this time, knowing that he's trapping himself.

Now, instead of a naive kid, he's a teenager, he's changed, despite not wanting to. He's resigning himself to a life without truly being able to express his feelings. He's not just some kid going to the Snow Ball with a girl that he cares about, he's promising to love her, knowing he's trapped himself in this promise again.

After all, he's already promised to save her, and if he thinks saying 'I love you' will save her, he's gotta do it no matter his true feelings right?

In season 5, someone, someone needs to tell this poor boy that he does not need to keep his promise. El needs to tell him about her growth, what she has learned from her time at the lab---that is, that she does not need Mike to love her, which she seems to have understood. She has already accepted that her lover won't arrive at the train station.

And Mike should realise that saying 'I love you' did not in fact save El. It was the reminder to fight, that Max is in trouble, that there are more important things, bigger than their relationship, that allowed her to escape the vines.

So when Mike hears that he no needs to keep up this promise, that he no longer has to hate himself for being a 'liar' to someone he cares so much about, that he can open himself up to happiness and understanding again, he'll probably feel pretty complete.

What do you think?

[a-strangers-thoughtss]

nina “i licked it so it’s mine” zenik

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I’m reading Ruin and Rising and I just have to say that I hate the Darkling more than words can describe

This man is pure evil, and I don’t want to hear anyone out here defending him bc he’s just actually a disgusting human being

Sir I don’t care if you’ve been traumatized for thousands of years and never got the chance to be good but like, no. You just don’t do the things that he does????? This man is DISGUSTING

Like, spoiler warning, but EXCUSE ME???

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They all live together and Matthias is alive and everyone is friends and they are happy

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Claim your "I was a Byler before s5 came out" here

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No cuz I was terrified they weren’t gonna end up together.

I literally skipped ahead when I started CK because I needed to know that they got together before I got too invested

Im pretty sure my exact words to my friends were, “You need to tell me that Jesper and Wylan end up together in the second book or I think I’ll cry.”

i think it’s kinda funny bc i’ve seen a lot of people who are starting soc asking if wylan and jesper and going to end up together

like it’s funny in an ironic way, but it’s sad that it’s a question they have to ask

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oh my favorite trope? two people who go through something so unique and agonizing and entirely beyond words that they have no choice but to create a bond that transcends all other types of love, thus acting as the sole point of understanding for the other person in a world that cannot fathom what they’ve been through

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I can’t sit in a chair :D

reblog if ur bi, ur not biphobic, or ur best friend is a beautiful valid bisexual

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Jesper: No better way for a child to learn how to spell than by having to save a man from hanging to death

Wylan: *Confused and horrified* Pardon??

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And if I talk about Wylan and Kaz what then....what if I start talking about Kaz having the residual need to protect wylan because he sees himself in the sheltered kid who dragged himself out of water an orphan and a survivor and utterly alone in a world that will kill him the moment he turns his back...what then ....AND then if I talk about wylan and Kaz being the true character foils because every time Kaz looks at wylan he sees a version of himself that made more honest choices, maintained his integrity of character, and when wylan looks at Kaz he sees himself but a shade more bleak, a day more starved, a bruise more beaten ....... AND THEN since the "nina and Matthias being the same person on opposite sides of the war i.e., you guessed it, character foils," has been already talked about in canon, what if we start talking about jesper and inej, both ripped from their home, both wishing the only thing they could do is go back, both having given up a piece of themselves to survive in ketterdam WHAT THEN. I'm so normal !!!!!!! I'm so normal about this series!!!!!!!!

[a-strangers-thoughtss]

Mmmm thinking about Wesper again

Jesper definitely having a crush on Kaz for a little while and then getting together with Wylan,

Wylan… who is heavily paralleled with Kaz throughout both books.

Wylan being incredibly kind and understanding towards him aswell as literally covering for his fuckups and red headed… like his father

Jesper finding someone who can match his crazy while also keep some of his more stupid decisions in check Find someone who can help him regulate his addiction and calm him down when he goes too crazy

Wylan who hasn’t had really anyone pay him an ounce of positive attention in years getting together with someone who litteraly constantly flirts with him and pays attention to him (see Jesper helping Genya give him his face back)

Jesper who never faults him for his dyslexia and instead actively helps him by reading to him

Jesper who pushes him out of his comfort zone and brings out the more adventurous and bold version of himself. Who doesn’t judge him and instead actively encourages him to take up more space.

Uggggg they make me crazy

I love their dynamic so much bc they are so different and similar at the same time

Like they have these little things in common, both have complicated relationships with their parents, both feel like fuckups!!!!

It’s just that they have such different versions of their issues that complement eachother so well (and this goes for Kanej and Helnik aswell)

While Wylans dad is an abusive ass who actively attempts to injure and kill him, Jespers father genuinely loves him and wants to protect him so much that he discourages the use of his powers (the things that could get him killed).

Jespers mother dies when he was young saving a child while Wylans mom’s death is faked when he is young because she is attempting to protect him. (They are both absolutely amazing)

Wylan feels like a fuckup because his father constantly told him how much of one he was for something that was out of his control, and he doesn’t feel useful at all.

Jesper feels like a fuckup because he makes bad decisions and actively puts himself and Colm in danger regardless of the fact that his father wants him to be safe.

Different circumstances, similar feelings

Maybe I’ll go even more in depth into this later, and I’m sure people have pointed these things out before but I just need to say them too bc it’s making me crazy.

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Wylan: If we were frogs I would share my lily pad with you

Jesper: 😍🥰😘

Kaz: *Regretting the day he hired these two fools*

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So I might be very late to the party, but I finally read 6 of crows and Crooked Kingdom

(they’ve been sitting on my shelf since July and my friends have been attempting to get me to read it since last year)

And it’s safe to say that I have an intense love for each and every one of them 😔 considering I finished both books in around 5 days, give or take.

It looks like the ST obsession is taking a back seat 🕺

I’m also very pleased to say that I predicted all of the main relationships within like 2 chapters of both characters being introduced soooo

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does this fucker ever not have something to complain about

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the byler kiss will be so good that the kiss alone will be enough to prove mike and el never really loved each other in that way.

the audience will immediately catch the difference in the passion and chemistry. i mean come on... this is years of pining we are talking about. YEARS. mike was in dire need all of s4. he's NOT gonna fuck up his one opportunity to finally kiss his lips. will's been waiting far long and gone through so much just to finally have this moment, so of course he's gonna take in as much as possible.

mike won't set up a wall between him and will the way he does with el, his eyes won't be open. he will be inviting and accepting.

a small peck and a nervous laugh does not feel enough given the long build up, both from the audience's perspective and the characters themselves. they're gonna make out and will get messy. they just have to. and if it does go further, it will most likely just be implied the way it was for jancy. seems reasonable given the age they're gonna be in s5 and will's whole coming of age story going on.

i need the duffers to put their whole duffussy into this shit. give the gays what they want

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do you think Mike has some sort of PTSD from Will biking away in S1 Ep1 and him not following and then Will getting abducted?

Because in S3 (idk the ep) when they have the whole rain fight, Mike IMMEDIATELY follows after