#also thinking about how filming being postponed could mean plotlines slightly shifting just because they're going to be writing later

[chirpsythismorning]

I am going to be honest, I want a quick Mlvn breakup and a quicker Byler buildup/it going canon BUT I also think it is very fitting for Mlvn's breakup to take place in the later episodes. E1 is literally into action, El's focus seems to be on Max and she doesn't break up her relationship issues with Mike for that reason. I just cannot really see El coming at Mike and bringing up her relationship issues or breaking up with him with everything else going on in these first episodes. It seems very likely that she'd just ignore the topic and would want to focus on Max and the fight that is coming to Hawkins. Her breaking up with Mike could potentially happen in EP3 or E4 when she feels ready to talk or when Mike finally brings up the argument when the time comes. Ofc they will have to focus on relationship issues too but I just think it doesn't fit in the early episodes to go for a Mlvn breakup.

It really does depend on how the first two episodes go down I feel like.

I doubt they're saving the time jump for smack dab halfway through the season. I just don't think mid-point would be enough time to have left to finally jump into the time difference. And I also doubt they'll devote up to 5 episodes to directly post s4, bc in all reality, they probably want to have the aged up cast be doing as much footage post-time jump as possible.

Along with that, they did say that early s5 would be fast paced. They revealed that s5 opener was pretty much set in stone, and that the first 2-3ish hours are pretty fast paced and they have a plan.

And for those reasons I do think we're in for an early s5 time jump.

Which means if we're looking at them having a plan and getting to work within like 1-3 hours, i'm going to guess that whatever happens at that 3 hour mark is going to be massive, leading to the time jump, into a setting where Mike and El are most certainly broke up.

This doesn't even have to do with byler purposes.

Mike AND El deserve closure on their relationship as soon as possible. Fans that love Mike and El don't need to be wasting their time watching s5 El scenes thinking she's holding out hope for Mike or this or that. She did not like his monologue, as it was quite literally the opposite of what she wanted to hear. So why leave that truth up to interpretation for half the last season? Why not let El speak for herself, allow the audience to digest it and accept it, so they too can focus on El focusing on Max.

I think if they were going to do a whole other half season of them being together along with them still being together post-time jump, it would make their point of having El distance herself from Mike at the end of s4 sort of moot?

I do truly think the next time they hang out or talk, she's not going to want there to be this present assumption they are still together because of what he said at Surfer Boy. I think that after what happened at the hospital, Mike might have started to convince himself that she did feel all those things for him and that his love for her saved max and it's miracle worthy. But then she's ignoring him at the cabin and that's not exactly great for that interpretation of things...

Being in a relationship means there is going to be an expectation that they want moments of privacy to be alone together and they're going to be gravitating towards each other in group settings and stuff... and that's just not happening, s4's ending made that more clear than anything else arguably.

So while I do think that El is going to be focused on Max, having this ambiguity most of the season that Mike is like in the back of her mind and stuff would take away focus from El finally having an arc compeleltely seperate from Mike and with the audience finally being able to let go of Mike and El. Because arguably, a big part of the reason fans can't let go of it is because they are convinced El wants and needs Mike romantically, irrefutably, and she still feels this way at the end of s4. But that is not the case. And with this being the very last season, the whole season needs to feel cohesive and not like a back and forth fake out for love triangle reasons.

This is why I think they've always made a point to have conflict between couples early in the season, because then it allows you to give the other part of the love triangle a chance without feeling guilty about it.

For example, Steve and Nancy technically never broke up. They went through almost an identical situation as Mike and El did, where Steve asked her to tell him that she loved him and she couldn't, followed by them just not seeing each other for the rest of the season and her showing up at the end with Jonathan by her side. They had a talk about it and Steve seemed to understand. They didn't need to say out loud I break up with you, for both of them to know it was pretty much over. Arguably it was even more over in Mike and El's case, because El actually sent Mike a letter without the word love, making it pretty obvious where she stood in their relationship.

And this is sort of how I understand the break-up in s5 to go down, where it's not even really a break up? Like are they even technically back together? Following the approach they went with jancy in s2, arguably, all that needs to happen is Mike and El having a moment alone, with Mike struggling to try to be who she wants him to be (bc he still probably assumes she wants him that way) and her just confronting him that they both cut the bs... I'm praying PRAYING for an I'm not stupid final parallel from El to Mike.

Basically, it can be argued El already broke up with him, or at least wanted a break and so her acknowledging her side of things and how she felt, now after years of not being able to really speak for herself (like literally), she finally can, and addressing how she feels about everything is something that needs to be done sooner than later.

El doesn't need to be in silence with the audience assuming her thoughts for her, any longer than necessary at this point. And she can focus on Max before during and after all of that, with the audience being forced to accept that there is no room for ambiguity in where she stands in the situation.

And I think Mike is obviously going to be confused.

And I think Will is probably going to be trying to give them their space assuming they want privacy.

And it's all going to be very tragic and epic basically.

But with the time jump likely happening earlier in the season than later, I think that we're due for an early milkvan breakup for the obvious reasons, but also because both of those characters deserve closure instead of living in uncertainty any longer.

Not to mention, byler getting together after like a few days or a week after mike and el broke up, would be uncomfy. It's just not ideal when they have the affordance of a time jump right there that they can take advantage of, give Mike and Will a little more slow-burn (depending on where they're even at I'm scared someones going to get stuck in the UD or something like JESUS).

To me it all just makes sense when you consider a bunch of other factors beyond just El needs to focus on Max. Bc... Yeah no shit and she doesn't need the audience thinking she's focused on Mike when she's not...

Like let's give El her independence arc and have it be for real and not with this cloud of she needs romantic love to feel fulfilled dragging her along. Romantic love is wonderful and beautiful, but for women it is always always framed as peak endgame for us, when we are more than that and we deserve some stories that focus on those other aspects of ourselves as being enough to make us whole, especially when the person we want to love doesn't love us the way we want to be loved, and so we're just settling for a love for the sake of an idea, and not how it actually makes us feel.

And I also think it's likely that we're looking at byler being stuck together at least 2+ episodes by themselves, and that's likely to be middle season, and Mike and El will definitely need to be broken up at that point to appreciate those scenes...

For now I think it's very likely that the break up will happen either in 5x01 or 5x02. If it happens later than that, then I think it's likely that we'll get a flashback revealing they've been broken up for a while and it'll make us rethink their previous scenes a little bit differently.

I also think it's likely that no matter what happens, there's a big possibility Will and maybe even the others won't be clued in on the break up right away, but especially Will. And that will cause him to distance himself and lead to a convo where he's basically confronted by Mike frustrated over Will avoiding him, with Will revealing that he'd thought that's what Mike wanted, for Will to give him and El space... And Mike, already broken up with El at this point's reaction to that... would be interesting. Because obviously that's not true. Maybe that could lead up to their 3rd and final boss fight?

I do believe we're getting a s5 fight (Will packed a blue shirt for himself in his backpack, which he has in Hawkins), but I also think it's going to end differently than the previous two..

On that note, when it comes to the byler aspect of it, it really is crunch time. Each season has to make you feel a certain way about things. I don't think it would make sense to have s5 be exactly like s4 for half of the running time, and then switch up halfway through, to like okay NOW it's obvious Mike and El aren't in love and Mike and Will are on their way. The WHOLE season needs to make us feel that way, so that we can appreciate it as like a whole experience.

Like I said, they could get away with it being 5x02, maybe 5x03, but I do think that they need to give off a vibe of 'we want you to be rooting for Mike and Will' as early as possible, so people can register it, agknowledge it and then have the capacity to appreciate it the way they intend, all in time for them actually getting together. And 1-2 episodes near the end isn't enough time for that. And having too much ambiguity for Mike and El simultaneously as they're building up Mike and Will's obvious endgame, would be just unfair to all of them, but especially El.

Please give us an I dump your ass part II and have them laugh crying bc it's something Max said...

Now that I think about it. Max being in the hospital could make Mike feel a little bit in agreement with how Max felt about his actions in s3... Like it's not like he would be resentful or arguing with a person in a coma right? If anything he'll be thinking even more critically of his behavior with El when he doesn't have Max there to call him out for it...

Thinking thoughts...