#and it's sad bc we know that deep down el is having doubts seeing as mike is incapable of simply writing love in his letters

[chirpsythismorning]

📝 💐 🛼 💔⏪️💭🧊🌄❤️‍🩹

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles

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[wiinevelvet]

things that I loved in season 4

Eleven trying to find herself : It was really good to see her discover her past, discover what links her to the upside down. The huge screentime she had during the show developed her character so much and I think we really needed it. Tbh, I was surprised because I thought, at the end of season 2, that we knew everything we had to know about her and guess what ? absolutely not ! this season shows us that Eleven's character will always be enigmatic and I enjoy this. However, I'm not a fan of what they did to her relationship with Mike but you already know it.

Will being the sweetest boy of the show : like, he is the sweetest,the kindest. He always puts himself on a side to help his friends facing their struggles… it was heartbreaking to see him debasing his feelings towards Mike and pushing him to confess his love to El. just think about it : Will loves Mike since he's a child. try to imagine all the pain he must have felt when mike confessed to El in front of him. Will could have dissuaded Mike to do that in order to keep Mileven separate. But he did not. He encouraged his best friend to confess. I find it beautiful but at the same time, it makes me so upset. Moreover, he asked Eleven if she was okay when he sees her again, he listened to everything Mike was worried about and tried to reassured him, he also worried about Jonathan's mental health (it was obvious Will didn't like the fact that his brother smoke some weed yk). nevertheless, I hope Will will be more selfish during the last season because he deserves to be happy. I don't want him to sacrify his happiness once again.

Jonathan being the only one who really cares about Will. yes, it's sad, bc in season 1 Mike was claiming he was the only who cared about Will ; I guess the show decided to move on lol. I cried a lot when I watched the last episode, because Jonathan was here when Will needed him and it was so moving. I missed their relationship sm in this show. also, I thank Jonathan for being the only one who noticed that Will was in love with Mike. he was so real for this.

New characters being as interesting as some protagonists : I'm not even kidding. while Mike was absolutely boring this season, I appreciated Chrissy, Eddie, Jason (not bc I like him but bc his character is complex), Eddie's Uncle, Argyle, Enzo… Eddie had an amazing development btw. he also helped Dustin to evolve and I enjoyed watching it.

Lucas, Max and Hopper having a huge development is the best thing of the show : I mean it was really cool to see Hopper talking about his past. tbh, I didn't even think he went through so hard things like war, addictions… he really is a deep and sensitive man. I liked the fact he needs Joyce and Eleven to evolve and not the opposite. concerning Max, I loved how her traumas have been tackled in this season. it felt realistic (I wish we had the same for Will's traumas but… anyway lol I'm done of how the Duffers always forget about him). imo, Max is the protagonist of this season and I couldn't stop crying at the end when she repeated « I can't die, I'm not ready »… so heartbreaking ! Lucas was strong and he even found himself in this season which is a good thing because we barely see him in the previous parts of the show.

The way most of the characters are developed by evolving themselves : it's pretty hard to explain but in this season, even if the characters are split in different groups, I think that this time they evolve alone because the threat Vecna represents forces them to face their doubts and their insecurities.

The music : even if I criticize this show a lot, the music is always perfect and makes the atmosphere richier. It's modern but retro at the same time. I love the way music producers mix the synth and the strings in a lots of soundtracks. Well done ! Anyway, that's all for this post but I'll probably write a second part bc I have so much things to say lmaoo

[knownoshamc]

Sadly, no matter how much I want byler to happen I know deep down that it won't 😔 I've been let down way too many times with shows like this. They give hope and then when it doesn't happen we're all shocked and sad and upset.. if they can prove me wrong that'll be great. But I know it won't happen bc the show is too popular and unfortunately the world is still so homophobic. I mean just go on Reddit and you'll see how pessimistic they are on there regarding Will and Mike.

But like just imagine if they did go through with it! It'd be ground breaking! But like I said, I have no hope that it'll happen.

I am you at my “low mood” days (only I never go to Reddit haha). Listen though, we don’t know anything, not until we watch the show next week.

This is one of the shows I’ve been more confident about tbh. Because it’s not like Steve and Eddie, who have a couple of scenes together that could or could not be shippy. It’s a 4 season build up, with character changes that make no sense if they don’t end up together. If the writers just wanted to make Mike straight…they could have still have him have his moments with Will that we love, but they could have given him moments with El that are actually romantic. They could have kept Mike’s behaviour towards his friends the same. They could have given Will any other love interest. In that way, there would be still people that ship Byler but it would still make sense if they were never canon.

The world might still be homophobic, but I doubt a lot of people would stop watching the show if Byler happened. The average person (not hardcore Mlvn fans that are not that many really) doesn’t really care about Mike’s sexuality, I think. For them it could be a surprise, but looking back, maybe they’ll say “ah it makes sense”.

[serendipitousrambles]

Honestly Mileven was never broken up lol You can see it wasn’t serious when you see Eleven face when Max says “ex-boyfriend”. Max obviously got too involved in their relationship and that created unnecessary tension, but deep down they care and love each other. I’m excited for next season bc they will act different and their bond will be much stronger imo

I definitely agree that next season they'll be stronger. After this they've probably realised that no argument is worth losing each other over. Fighting is natural but they worked it out with words and actions, so no doubt when they fight again (which is bound to happen some time in their life as romance isn't perfect) they'll be able to work through it. Arguing doesn't always end in a break up.

And yeah I don't think either of them really thought it was serious. El's sad face when Max corrected her to ex boyfriend kind of shows she probably didn't really mean it. But also they don't act broken up other than slightly hostile to each other (but ultimately relying on each other when it's counts). Even Mike himself said they were just taking a break. It wasn't a serious break up, I think both knew they were going to get back together at some point. They couldn't walk away from what they have, not after everything.

Max just got caught up and thought if breaking up worked with Lucas it should work with them. But she's just a kid and not exactly good with relationships herself. She probably just assumed they'd be the same since Lucas always came back after she dumped him. Mileven has a different relationship but Max doesn't really know that so we can't really blame her for just trying to be a friend. They're just kids.

But absolutely no doubt has this made mileven stronger

[chirpsythismorning]

Some of the evidence supporting Mike not being in love with El is brutal. No, but seriously.

In s3, when El's leg is injured, instead of Mike putting his arm around her waist, allowing him to take some of the weight off her injured leg, he puts his arm around her shoulder, basically having the exact opposite affect of taking the weight off of her, instead just adding more weight for her to have to carry.

Now, I’m not coming at Mike here, I’m actually coming at the writers, because this choice here has everything to do with them using this gesture to signal Mike’s lack of feelings for El, even at the expense of realism.

I say this bc any person with common sense, including Finn and everyone around him and Millie filming these shots, would've known it looked unnatural for Mike to be adding more weight onto El as opposed to taking some off of her.

This means that what Mike did here, Finn was directed to do, and therefore it was for a specific reason.

And we know they could have easily made the opposite choice, because they show us Max AND Lucas doing it.

See how putting an arm around El's waist looks so much more natural? Because homegirl is injured and clearly needs help taking weight off her leg to qualm some of the pain she's experiencing there, which is why Max and Lucas are shown here doing it the correct way.

And so, why can't Mike do the same? Why are the writers making a point to show Mike being incapable of simply taking some weight off of El, instead doing the exact opposite?

I don't think it's as deep as Mike not being able to do something intimate, and that's bc, again we see Max and Lucas doing it.

I honestly think what they're trying to convey with this choice here, is that Mike thinks he's helping El, when he is in fact doing the opposite despite his best efforts. The implications of that and how that sort of aligns with their romantic relationship and what it leads to at the end of s3, going into s4, is pretty spot on.

I do think Mike thinks he's doing the right thing by being with El instead of voicing any doubts at the end of s3, because he is under the assumption that she is in love with him. I do think he believes he is indebted to her and that this is the least he can do after everything they've been through together, which has mostly been riddled with romantic pressures and so continuing that instead of disputing it seems like the only option anyways. Not to mention, he does care for her deeply, so it's not hard to imagine that he's a teenage boy confusing deep care for love (he literally tells us this is his problem when he can only say care and not love to El's face... but that's a whole other conversation).

Still, when it's all said and done, Mike's not actually doing El any favors by being with her romantically, if that is not what he truly wants.

Because that's the sad truth about all of this, which is that you would never want someone to be with you just because you want them. If you knew that they truly couldn't have those feelings for you, you'd want to know, right? You don't deserve someone just because you have deep feelings for them. And I think there's so many layers to this idea, bc many people are capable of not giving Byler a chance bc they truly believe Mike could never return Will's feelings. Will also feels this way atp, so though it hurts, he rips the band aid off, because he would never want Mike to be with him just out of pity or something. No one would want that. And so it all really comes down to who Mike truly loves romantically and wants to be with. And the right thing to do, even if it hurts someone, is to be honest, because being with them just bc you think that will make them happy is never going to be enough if you aren't truly feeling it, or worse, feel it for someone else.

We see how Mike's inability to be honest with El at the end of s3, leads to a season of Mike feeling deeply insecure and undeserving of the love El has to offer him, and even though he does try, he always comes up short. Despite Mike putting up this front that they are the perfect couple, the details are telling us something is off. And it gives him away.

Another example that I think is very similar to this loaded gesture from Mike to El in s3, is the scene in s4 when they hug in the airport.

Common sense ppl, picture this: You're reuniting with your long distance girlfriend. Then suddenly, she runs up to you, with her arms wide open, and instead of opening your arms wide to embrace her properly, you take the bouquet of flowers you brought her as a gift, and shove them against your chest just as she approaches to hug you, effectively squishing the present you got for her (a pretty delicate present at that) for no reason other than to... what exactly?

Like?? El isn't even squishing the present Mike, she's trying to hug you, dude! Your gf is trying to hug you properly and you threw the gift you got for her in between you so you could throw in a careful! x3??

Again, this has less to do with Mike's thoughts and reasoning behind this gesture in a literal sense, and more to do with the simple fact that this is a narrative choice! Mike is not a real person! There are real people sitting down and writing this and actors are having to do multiple takes to act it out. What feels natural for a situation is going to be what is often chosen 9 times out of 10, because of realism and wanting the audience to see stuff happening that is believable. That 1 time though, when it's not being done the way it would usually be, is usually because there's a specific reason for it.!

So the question really is, not why is Mike doing this, but why are the writers having Mike do this, and what message are they trying to convey about Mike's feelings based on his behavior, in these moments where he's just not capable of committing to El genuinely, one way or another?