random shit

it’d be very on-brand for rnm to just pull a “rick is the smartest guy ever he can just re-invent portal tech” so why haven’t they done that yet? normally the fact that the EXISTING portal fluid is tainted wouldn’t even be a problem because rick would just somehow fix it. my question is will this tie in to rick’s arc? like maybe he’s stalling for some reason or he just doesn’t want to recreate portal tech at the moment? why is this still an obstacle?

in season two, mike is portrayed as childish by his own definition: he has an emotional connection to his stuffed animals, he loves dnd, he’s closer than ever to will (and we all know how he feels about that by now), and although he is focused on el, he’s still involved in his friend group and tries to be there for them. his development (or lack thereof) between seasons two and three are centered around this theme, as mike is always the one talking about how they’re suddenly too old to be doing what will wants to do. post-el’s return, mike forces himself to “grow up,” which goes hand-in-hand with mike’s comphet tendencies, e.g. him telling el that “old people” say they love each other (so now that he’s grown up, he has to say it too).

mike’s character arc in the transition period between seasons two and three is entirely centered around his insecurity now that he is in a relationship with el. obviously i’m not saying el is bad for him, but the relationship itself is. it’s all one big showcase of mike’s self doubt and lack of confidence. in the same way el thinks she needs mike in order to feel valuable, mike thinks he’s nothing if not el’s boyfriend. he basically says this himself in vol2, saying that he can’t even compare to lois lane, a superhero’s love interest. he believes he’s worthless and latches onto el as a way to give himself some sort of purpose.

1. they’ve both been left as open-ended possibilities after volume two, with one character confirmed gay and interested in the other while their love interest’s thoughts are left a mystery.

2. major props to this post for pointing out the parallels between m!leven’s reunion and vickie/her boyfriend’s scene together. i wanted to expand on this, because obviously we’ve all noticed the specific choices made in the camera angles—placing will/robin directly in the middle of their love triangles. why would these decisions be made as obvious as they are if only one couple ends up being one-sided? make it make sense

3. the final scene between vickie and robin says a lot to me because… just…

left and right placement.

audience isn’t quite sure character on the left, gay character on the right? for no reason in particular? got it.

4. might i bring up that neither of our possibly-queer love interests were looking like they were going to have a het relationship (anymore) until volume 2? given el’s “from, el” to mike, mike’s “a fight you can’t come back from,” and so much other break-up foreshadowing, hardly any (actually observant) fans thought mike and el would just pull a s2 stancy and say “nah man that’s water under the bridge” but they appeared to do just that. just like how vickie suddenly had a boyfriend we previously hadn’t known about or expected her to have, m!leven was suddenly just… fine in volume 2? and people don’t think that was intentional?

5. both het couples have essentially “broken up” or had an unspoken, heavily implied separation by the end of volume 2. the same exact flowers mike gave el at the beginning of s4 are decaying in hawkins, and el is the only one shown CLOSELY watching that happen, just like how she is distancing herself from mike, because she is the only one out of the two of them who is absolutely aware it isn’t going to work out. (this may be a stretch but) mike even is shown to be unaware, suggesting that el’s distance is due to her loss against vecna; similarly, he is shown watching the entirety of hawkins decay while el watches their flowers decay. so while el is aware of their relationship ending, mike is still oblivious.

6. both vickie and mike mistreated their queer love interests while in the presence of their het ones! vickie’s “just a girl from band” even though she knew how badly robin’s feelings would be hurt, and mike’s general dumbassery whenever el is around. from the byler fight in s3, his neglect of will in most of s3 (i mean we only had one single “nice mike” scene in the entire season), the skating rink in s4, his idiotic airport behavior, mike has repeatedly been shown to neglect ONLY will when el is around. (and some still don’t believe he doesn’t consider him to be a love interest? ok)