#I’m a byler shipper at heart but it wasn’t the main focus sorry

[heyitspersephone]

Thinking about stranger things again now that the strikes are over and how, narratively, it would be way, WAY cooler to have Mike get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5

It’s just something about the way Mike’s trauma is never addressed or handled in any way?? Like, he hugs his mom twice and then when he was depressed in season 2 and 4 nobody did anything (his parents scolded him for his behavior in s2 ig but that’s not support). His best friend went missing leaving from his house, he watched his body get pulled from the quarry, watched El (in his eyes) kill herself stopping the demogorgon, watched Will be possessed, saw Bob die, was in Star Court when everything went down, saw Billy die, had his best friend move away, was SHOT AT (and really too few people talk about the shooting in Cali bc omg??), buried a body, and watched the apocalypse start. And that’s just off the top of my head.

(And yes I’m aware that the other characters (especially Will) are traumatized too but I will get to my point in a second just hold on)

The plot is geared towards this idea that Will and Henry have to have some big face off (and they should, in my opinion, but I don’t think it should be in a possession, or at least not the the Vecna kind of possession, yk?) but that makes it all the better, writing wise, to have mike be the one in danger. Will was helpless and hiding in s1, I think Will should get his big strong moments in s5 where he gets to be the hero of the story.

It would just be a lot more fun to work with Mike being Vecna’d than Will, because what are we going to bring up with Will’s visions? His dad? His sexuality? The events of s1 from his perspective? It would be cool to see, for sure, but we already know most of that. Mike, on the other hand, has a number of untapped things, like jumping off the quarry, why he’s so hesitant to tell El he loves her, how someone who was smart and kind enough to take El in in s1 and come up with the spy and sauna plans in s2 and s3 could turn into the oblivious asshole that he was in s3 and s4 (he needs therapy, ik, I still love his character but I want to explore the reasons he went from his s2 characterization to his s3 one)

It would be a very interesting parallel, I think, to explore Mike’s thought processes in this way, especially with all of Mike’s repression business (bc whether you ship byler or milkvan he is repressing his feelings HARD. Like, beyond his inability to say I love you there’s the fact that he doesn’t bring up the apparent many times he called pre-s4 during the Rink O Mania fight?? That literally would’ve absolved him of guilt in that argument since he WAS reaching out to Will the whole time? Hellooooo????).

Anyways, this all brings me to my main point: Vecna targets isolation as much as he targets trauma and guilt. The whole party was traumatized by the events in s1, s2, and s3, but Max was the one targeted. Plus, Henry went for Fred, Chrissy, and Patrick (I think his name was Patrick) instead of going for the perceivably easy targets that the mcs would make (ik narratively that would’ve made it more boring but shhh), so why Max and those three specifically? They were isolated. Lucas and Erica have each other, Dustin goes to Steve and Robin, Will and El have each other and Jonathan and Joyce, Nancy probably goes to Jonathan, and who does Mike go to?

No one. And don’t say Nancy because if those two have heart to hearts then I’m the next coming of Christ. Max separated herself from the Party in the aftermath of her grief and guilt over Billy, and it feels quite obvious that Mike was doing the same (like I said, he has repression issues). So Mike is traumatized, alone, and guilty (be it Will getting taken from Mike’s house, losing El in front of him multiple times, the many deaths he has witnessed, or the internalized homophobia angle), which makes him more of a target than Will, in my opinion (or at least an easier one, especially given his tendency to put himself on the line during fights (quarry, most of s2, s3 mindflayer fight), which would set him up on the suicidal ideation path)

Furthermore, as I’ve seen a few other people point out (and I can’t find the posts but one of them had eight screenshots of the various moments), Mike is always the one getting in the way, so it would be a strategic move for Henry to target him to get him out of the picture. Mike was the one that found El and got her involved in saving Will s1, he was the one who came up with the spy plan and called out the ambush in s2, he was the one to monologue Will out of his possession s2, he was the one with the sauna plan for Billy in s3, he was the one trying to help El get the strength to fight s4 (even if the monologue sucked ass it’s the intention that counts). As much as people like to hate on Mike, he is in the leader position most of the time when the party is grouped up (barring his mental health struggles slowing that down beginning of s3 and throughout s4, but he’s still capable of it). He’s the idea man, and he’s the one whose character’s foundations were built on the desire to keep his friends safe, so it would be a very fun plot line to watch him be the one targeted in s5. Like Will said, as lovestruck and cheesy as he was, Mike is the heart of the party when he’s on his A-game, so Henry should 100% be trying to keep him in the issues he’s been struggling with.

Obviously, Will and El are the Targets with a capital T for Henry since they’re the ones that got away or whatever, but I think Mike is a weakness of Will’s (and El’s tbh but also I think they need to have separate character arcs and I don’t exactly ship milkvan) that should be exploited.

TL;DR: Mike should get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5 because it would make sense in lore and be a very cool way to resolve his character arc

[timingmatters]

Opinions on ST S3 (I’m on mobile so I can’t do a cut below im sorry shdjdj)

I loved mileven and think this season explored very well Mike’s abandonment issues with El ( a product of s2) and how overprotective he was of her. He definitely had a point over people being careless with her powers and treating her like a machine. Max wasn’t right saying he treated her like a pet, because he really doesn’t, but she was right on him not trusting her knowing her limits. She knows how to take care of herself and Mike had to understand that. I loved that although their break up was over a dumb misunderstanding thanks to Hopper pressuring Mike and Max misunderstanding him, it ultimately helped them grow stronger as individuals and a couple. And Max also gave El the opportunity to explore herself as an individual outside just her powers or boyfriend. I def think Mike wanted to be sort of like an anchor to her, and El thought so too, but she had to learn to be her own anchor and Mike had to learn that although he wants to protect her, she also has to be on her own. Love when the issues relationships have are to make them stronger as a couple and not cheap love triangles. Which I felt the same with Jancy. He has always understood her, but for the first time he learned that he also has to speak up when OTHERS underestimate her. He has always just let her do her thing but theybare learning to work as a team not only during missions but throughout life in general. Overall i loved mileven and jancy and think their development was realistically done and they still had their cute moments (their moments at the last minutes of the season were incredibly cute and heartwarming). Lots of people didn’t like this season so much but i loved it. However I still got things that I disliked or would at least like to see on s4 because we didn’t get to see during this season.

Things I would have liked to see and hope s4 brings:

- Will was pushed to the side, and while I’ve seen people that hated it, I sort of enjoyed it?? I love Will but both previous seasons have focused soso much on him so it was nice for him not to be the main point suffering and just sitting bck and having a normal teen (gay) boy crisis and helping his friends.

- HOWEVER I did think friendships were pushed to the side. It wasn’t for no reason, it was a storyline that had a climax and even a resolution, but even so friendships had little time to shine and they are the heart of the show so I’m hoping for more next season. Especially Mike and Will, I’m not a byler shipper but they definitely have a very very strong bond and I wanted more. S4 has a lot of potential on that because clearly Mike knows Will is gay (if we are going down that path which it genuinely looks like it!!!) and I think him being a support for Will when coming to terms with it could be such an amazing storyline. Hell, they have (what for me is as friendship) AMAZING chemistry together, one of the ultimate best scenes on s2 was Mike recalling when they became friends to get Will back. Hope we see more of that in s4.

- some people said this season had too much Eleven. Sadly, I agree. I won’t complain bc like I said I get it and enjoy it. Also understand she’s sort of the main character, but truly a lot of characters didn’t get much of an arc and Eleven was given tons of screen time. Characters like Lucas barely had a storyline apart from just being there and I would have enjoyed for of them, especially considering his little sister almost died by the hands of the russian gov, like I can’t believe he didn’t at least have a big brother moment where he freaked out for her safety

- Max and Mike. I think they could be such friends. I understand, again with the abandonment issues Mike had where he came from being harsh to her, and obviously her not standing for that bs. But they could be such good friends and I thought they would at least have a talk towards the end to get a redemption arc on their friendship. If I was truly disappointed by something on this season it was probably that, I hope next season they become better friends and we get to see it

- On the same note, I wished we had seen El bonding with also thei other boys not just Max. On s1 she had developed strong friendships with Dustin and Lucas, and her friendship especially with Lucas had a rocky start so it would have been good to see them bond more. And Will who is lowkey her brother. Will had a rage moment and called her dumb and that’s just?? Only solved thro the friendship moment with the boys?? But he never attempted to actually bond with her and like shdhdj she saved his ass a lot and I hope s4 brings siblings moments with them (and Jonathan).

- Karen being a pedophile sucked ass and I’m disappointed I honestly wanted so much for her shdhhdhd. I CRAVED for her to be as involved as Joyce but they just made her a pedo with bad taste :/

- I understand how Max still sort of loves Billy even though he was her abuser. When the abuser comes from family is complicated like that. Still, I don’t think the redemption arc he had was enough to make me truly care for him. The moment with El and his mom’s memories at the end was a beautiful directing work and incredibly well acted, sadly, because as a viewer I don’t care much for him it wasn’t as impactful and emotional as I think they aimed for. Had he at least TRIED to touch on his past abusive and racist behavior, apologizing, blaming his dad, literally anything, I would have felt A LITTLE bad for him. But just because he lost his mom in a sad way doesn’t mean I will care for him lmao. And I can’t believe after making a point of his dad abusing him with homophobic slurs and showing those had an impact on him, the idea of him being gay was never explored. That honestly kinda shocked me.

- Hopper was an ass to Mike point blank lmao. I always find it creepy when dads in prom pics take pictures with their daughters’ dates and their guns as a “threatening” moment. I got the same vibe from Hopper during the first episodes which sort of ruined how I viewed him. ESPECIALLY after s2 when he holds Mike as he is having a breakdown over Hopper not telling him El was alive, he should be a lot more understanding towards Mike. Hopefully when he gets rescued from the russians in s4 Mike will be there to help him and they will bond

- again, MORE FRIENDSHIP PARTY MOMENTS. I truly loved the Dustin/Erica dynamic and Dustin/Steve, but the heart of the show will always be the party and I was sort of sad to see how little screen time Dustin had with the other kids.

- lastly, s2 went on a whole thing over other people like Eleven that were experimented on, and the promos for this s3 had a whole thing over Will having powers/being a key (which never happened all he did was feel a cold on his neck shdhdj). So I’m hoping s4 explores more on the power origins while El tries to get them back, and perhaps Will gains powers. And thus also introducing other people who were experimented on, not like in s2 where that storyline never merged, but also having the others involved.

Despite all the things I complained about, I understand the choices that were made with storylines and screen times for each character, and I did truly loved the season. I think Mileven’s issues were realistic regarding what they have been through and I loved them still seeking for each other and holding on to each other the moment things go badly. I did loved Mileven this season and hope they have learned and will be more stable on s4 and give us more cute moments. I feel the same with Jancy. I hope if there’s any relationship that gets more focus next season is lumax and jopper and hope they get drama and development while jancy and mileven just chill and have cute moments asjdjdjdj. Also hope Will gets a boy love interest!!!!! I loved Robin and her dynamic with Steve. They have an amazing friendship dynamic but i also understand not wanting to leave Steve forever single and alone unless s4 introduces him a new love interest and Robin remains as his bestie. On the same note, since s1 all I want is for Jonathan and Steve to be besties. Shhdhdjd still gonna hope for it for s4. I HOPE THE EVERYONE GOES TO RUSSIA TO SAVE HOPPER THAT WOULD BE COOL.