Every Minewt Counts

...but the story makes him fall in love with a girl, a girl who was always destined for something greater, a girl who was always better off without him anyway...

...and the story continuously puts the character and his partner together in numerous, almost queercoded scenarios—even more so because the character is often headcanoned as bisexual with the partner being headcanoned or confirmed as gay...

...only for the story to conclude after years of running, with the character and the girl sharing a kiss, and the girl sacrifices herself for the betterment of everybody, and the character is left in mourning for the rest of his life...

...i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's annoying that it's happened twice. it's absurd that these shows, nearly a decade apart, have done almost the exact same thing in almost the exact same pattern.

except, stranger things took it a step further. they had cinematography (ex.: the countless parallels to endgame couples, the 8mm film framing), costume design (ex.: mike's outfit paralleling robin's), scriptwriting (ex.: the painting), song choices (ex.: heroes by david bowie, [tender, emotional music playing]), the canon establishment that will byers is gay and has always been in love with mike wheeler—only to use those very feelings to continuously uplift the straight, toxic relationship that should've never existed in the first place. why did they even bother with all of this? to string along their very outspoken queer audience and laugh in our faces?

and this is supposed to be the show about uplifting outcasts.

You can pinpoint the moment he realizes it too

"A tribe of villagers are under threat from an evil force."