So apparently Bylers and Midlevens can agree that if the Duffers want to write a smart and good ending, they would make Byler endgame. The only difference is that Bylers fully know the Duffers are capable of writing (and will write) that smart and good ending while Midlevens are just hoping that the Duffers are too dumb and too bad of writers to write that smart and good ending.
(If you have to cling onto the belief that the writers are too dumb and too bad at their jobs in order for you to have hope in your ship...that is really embarrassing!!)
Idk, i think it would make sense for Joyce to forget too because she was already grieving Hopper's ''death'', so she was already preoccupied even beforethe package. Also we have to consider that Joyce could not even realize what was going on with Will, El or Jonathan. She most likely did not realize El's bullying, she couldn't realize Jonathan was smoking, is it really that far-fetched to think that she must have forgotten abt Will's birthday?
I mean, even if it's not some secretive supernatural plot like memory stealing... the characters forgetting Will's birthday would make sense, especially when Will is very isolated on his own and no one knows what he is going through, Jonathan only realized it later on because of Will's van convo, but even Jonathan admits he was preoccupied with other stuff and has been distant. So... I think them forgetting abt Will or his birthday in general tracks even in 'natural' standards without some supernatural memory issue going on.
Hi anon! Thanks for the ask. You are certainly free to see it that way, but it doesn't really track for me personally, and here's why.
It's been eight and a half months since Hopper had "died". While I'm sure Joyce still had moments of sadness, she likely wasn't grieving him daily anymore. At least not to the point were it was interfering with normal activities. She had successfully moved her family all the way across the country, and was able to find a job to provide for them. So in my opinion, I don't think she was so grief-stricken still that she would forget her son's birthday.
For your other point, you are right that she probably didn't know about El's bullying, and she definitely didn't know about Jonathan's smoking. But here's the thing about those two examples - El and Jonathan are actively trying to hide those things from her. Will is not trying to hide his approaching birthday. That's a huge difference. So while her not being able to realize things her kids were hiding from her might prove she's not at the top of her game, forgetting a date she's celebrated 14 times before is a whole other level. Thanks again for the ask!
AND ON HIS BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!! ON HIS (now once again, canon confirmed) BIRTHDAY!!
Making Will Byers go from this:
to this:
in less than five seconds should be a felony in all 50 states. In fact, I'm sure it must violate nine different kinds of international law, the Treaty of Versailles, and the Paris Peace Accords. Mike Wheeler, you BETTER have had a good reason for this, or I'm reporting you to all the authorities.
I've seen people say they thought the circles were boobs, balls, or eyes. My nerdy ass when I first saw it was like "hmmm, there's a tiny bit of overlap in the circles, could it be some sort of Venn diagram?"
Please note that I have not watched, nor do I intend to watch, even one episode of Dawson's Creek. I'll be counting on you guys that have seen it to tell me what's going on lol.