The writing for Will felt so flat in the finale and I don’t think it was the acting, it was the writing. Surely Will would have PTSD from the Upside Down, at the very least a flashback but he just seemed…fine? Then on top of that, to make him sympathise with the man that has been haunting him since he was 12 years old, who by definition sexually assaulted him just felt so icky and disgusting.

And for them to skip two years into the future, to miss out on writing grief scenes just made it feel emotionally flat. I refuse to believe the Byers and Hopper would be able to move on from El’s death so easily, it would have been nice to see them at least speak about her or have pictures of her around the house. Even just some quick dialogue “I wish El was here” when they’re taking graduation photos or being sad about having to pack away her things in the cabin when Hopper and Joyce are talking about moving. But…nothing. Joyce doesn’t mention her at all. Hopper barely mentions her aside from when he’s talking to Mike.

Like, my disappointment isn’t even just about Byler, I’m just disappointed that we were promised such a grand ending to tie everything together and it just felt flat and rushed. I also felt stupid watching the finale, the writing just felt so simple for concepts that are so big. It felt like they were treating the audience like we were stupid, as if we wouldn’t have more questions that still aren’t answered, as if we wouldn’t notice the dozens of plot holes.

That was probably the flattest ending ever. Not even an actual epilogue boyfriend, not even holding hands, no settling down with a partner. Like okay, no Byler, that’s disappointing but whatever but Will’s ending objectively sucked. Why does every other character in the show get to have a reciprocated love interest but him. Like the Duffers claim that it’s a show about Will so…where’s his proper ending? Why does the supposed main character get less screen time than a side character?

It’s not just another random ship, it’s not like most queer relationships shown on screen. It’s not made for the sake of representation like Heartstopper (although I love it dearly) where it has a cast of queer characters, it’s not fetishised like most BL/yaoi shows, it’s not made into comedic relief like sitcoms. It would be a pure, slow-burn, realisation of feelings in the biggest show in the world. The impact that a ship like Byler would have is bigger than people think.

Most Byler shippers don’t view it as just another ship, they don’t sexualise it, they don’t want it because of a fetish. We want it to happen because of the impact it would have. Think of the millions of queer people in the world that haven’t been able to see a storyline they can relate to, think of the millions of queer people that live in countries that still consider love to be a criminal offence.

Same-sex marriage was only legalised ten years ago in the US. Only around 40 countries in the world recognise same sex marriage. Just think about that. Think of the scared, terrified queer people and teenagers in countries where their feelings are considered ‘unnatural’ and ‘disgusting’ watching two teens experience pure, innocent teenage love on their screens.

That is why Byler is so important to so many people. So the next time you want to hate it (reiterating that it’s okay if you don’t ship it, not preferring it vs hating are different) just think about it for a second. Why do you hate it? Fandom aside, why do you hate the idea of two teenage boys being in a relationship?

Argue with the wall of you disagree