season 3 is painful because mike was literally right. el engages in fight after fight after fight that nobody else can help with because they didn’t even try to find another way like mike suggested and then el gets injured and then she collapses and then she loses her powers and then she almost dies and then billy actually dies saving her life and then max dies a few months later and then hawkins gets ripped into quarters and then the literal apocalypse happens and it’s like wow i wonder who could’ve predicted this!
mike knows what he’s talking about because he was the one treating el like a weapon in the first season because he was so caught up in saving will but then he saw how that ended with el sacrificing herself for them and he wanted to do things differently instead of repeating that pattern because he’s more able to remember that el is a person now but he wasn’t allowed to affect things because the others were like if you were a REAL feminist you’d support women SACRIFICING THEMSELVES IN BATTLE
Actually I am a fan of how they set up byler (I am queer subtext enjoyer) and yes I am afraid of how they’re gonna execute it, but I won’t complain until I watch it. 🤷🏻♀️
I have said this many times but yes I totally get if the general audience don’t know byler is gonna happen, but the fans of the show, mmmm you just need to connect the dots
controversial opinion but i dont think the duffers set up byler well, lets be real most of the fandom outside of our echo chamber doesn't think byler is going to become canon. and like idk but i agree that they should have at least broken up mlvn and resolved the monologue issue (preferably not include it even) if they were going for the byler route. same for will's importance or even mike's importance for the plot. removing them from the show's main narrative doesn't make a good case for their importance in the story in the penultimate, esp when they received minimum screentime in this season. it's not the audience's fault to think mlvn is endgame or will or mike are unimportant when the way they've been handled were lackluster and when cali plot.... Was Like That. plus they gave it all to el's character lol. ofc ppl gonna think she's the protagonist when she was the one who opened the gate and created vecna and when mike spends the entire season talking about her. redpill but it's not making much sense here when the narrative is criticized in the byler fandom, acting like the writers did a perfect job in terms of setup is just being wilfully blind atp.
i think people not expecting it is the point though. like yeah it’s obvious because when they did the same thing on a smaller scale with nancy’s love triangle at the end of season 1 (her spending most of the season with jonathan them bonding and her and steve fighting but then still being together in the epilogue) most people could see that jonathan and nancy were gonna be together and not one person was called delusional for thinking that. but i really think the juxtaposition is the point, it’s a queer couple so even with a similar storyline people don’t expect it because of heteronormativity etc which is kind of depressing but it’s also what’s gonna make it happening even better…#imho
for the monologue, obviously i don’t ENJOY IT but i don’t hate it because i think it’s interesting for el? whether you think she believed him or not, whether you think she was gonna break up with him in sbp, i think having him tell her he loves her makes it so no one can be like “but if mike had said he loved her everything would’ve been fine!” i like them going all the way in that sense. i think it’s good for us as an audience to have that, this way there’s no what ifs. it makes it apparent that their relationship couldn’t be fixed by mike saying i love you and also that their fight in lenora wasn’t only about mike and about their relationship, like mike never thought she was a monster that was all el, and him telling her that she’s not a monster won’t fix that internal struggle for her. and it also won’t help her grow beyond the monster/superhero dichotomy.
i don’t like will and mike being away from the supernatural plot either but yk i do think it’s because they’re important for the resolution of that storyline and that that’s also supposed to come as a surprise. for mike well i don’t actually know that he is, but i certainly know will is and i think they did set that up pretty well. he’s not in episode 7 but they reveal that the upside down is frozen on the day he disappeared, he’s in hawkins for five minutes but the season ends with him talking about his connection to vecna and everyone and their mother is reminded of the fact that will is a vital part of the supernatural plot. people don’t necessarily think he’s gonna be the key to resolving the upside down and vecna thing for good (no matter what that looks like, i’m expecting it to be both el and will because it kind of is the el show + we’ll fix it together + lucas and erica (siblings) being the mvps of the basketball game and the dnd game that has a lot of foreshadowing in episode 1 etc) because el’s the one who’s always done it pretty much by herself…but it’s also never worked. not for long anyway. i would say that like byler (but not as shocking because it’s not someone assumed to be straight turning out to be gay) it’s supposed to make people go oh why have i never thought of that of course will would be an integral part of the ud resolution this makes so much sense!!! when it happens. and characters also always expect el to be the one to fix it just like they don’t expect byler to happen. meta.
and again i don’t LOVE mike and will’s thing being the conversational roadtrip only in season 4, but i get why they did it like i see the vision. i see where you’re coming from and i agree that most people not seeing byler coming isn’t necessarily their fault (even though i said it’s similar to nancy’s s1 triangle and everyone expected it then. nancy never gave steve an i love you i’ve loved you forever i’ll love you forever, major difference), i really think it’s NOT supposed to be that obvious. even though it is kind of. i get wishing they had broken up mlvn in volume 2 and i certainly would’ve liked not having to see bylers be called delusional 24/7 but i think mlvn breaking up would’ve made byler endgame wayy too obvious and if they wanted it to be obvious to the girls that get it only i think they’ve accomplished that. same with will and the supernatural plot. and everyone is free to not like still, i just don’t think that means the set up isn’t good.
very last paragraph. i don’t think everything they’ve ever written is perfect. i don’t even think every decision that’s been made by the st team regarding WILL’s queerness is perfect like (this is another conversation) having noah deny the gay allegations on will’s behalf a month before having him say oh yeah he is gay it’s obvious is crazy to me it’s no surprise that people feel like it’s an afterthought and like byler is never gonna happen. even though i obviously disagree with them. fin.
Why the audience should be analyzing things, they go by what the setup was in this season. If the duffers wanted to insert will's importance to the story, then they should have put more setup for it and for the audience to realize.
Genuine question nonny do you think that Will and Mike’s scene talking about how he knows how he thinks they need to kill “him”, the fact that he was the one to always sense “ Him” when he’s in Hawkins, sense him AGAIN outside the cabin in what obviously is the beginning of his vecna vision, aren’t setting up Will’s involvement with the supernatural? They don’t keep it hidden. Piggyback Vecna not talking about it and talking exclusively about El (and specifically seeking her power and painting her as his sole opponent, saying she chose to resist, not once talking about how the actual person that was most involved with the shadow was Will) is a choice. Now what that choice means, remains to be seen. But to say that Will’s unique position in the supernatural plot wasn’t obviously said is just false.
