❝ violet ❞

S1 & S2 Love Triangle Season 1 of Stranger Things ends with a very obvious love triangle between Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. Steve & Nancy have a rocky relationship, as he humiliated her, and Jonathan is clearly portrayed to be the one we should be rooting for, but by the end, Steve & Nancy are still together.

But in 03x2, Nancy and Steve break up, because Nancy can’t say “I love you” (sound familiar?)

And then, Murray implies there’s something going on between Nancy and Jonathan which gets them to finally kiss and get together. By the end of season 2, they’re happily dating.

S4 & S5 Love Triangle. Season 4 of Stranger Things ends with again, a very obvious love triangle between Mike, Will and Eleven. A Wheeler, a Byers and someone else that the Wheeler can’t say i love you too.

Just like Steve, Eleven’s upset that their partner can’t say “I love you” They both share what they need to hear, but their Wheeler love interest doesn’t say it.

The Wheeler finds excuses to STILL not say it.

So again, the parallells are just way too much. Wheelers both can’t say i love you to their partner, who needs them so badly to say it.

There’s some actually fucking insane parallells like these too.

Stranger Things has shown unrequited ‘love’ before, with Dustin’s crush on Max (who liked Lucas) which i feel like it’s a storyline that most people forget. Which it’s okay, since it’s not that relevant to the story, i just wanted to show how differently Dustin and Max’s story is to Mike and Will’s.

🧢👩🏻‍🦰 How exactly were Dustin & Max written?

For starters, the show doesn’t tell us why Max and Dustin would be good together as a couple. They go well as friends, yes, but they do not show a meaningful conversation between them that really shows the romantic chemistry and how much they understand eachother, like the Lumax bus scene.

Dustin only thinks Max is “awesome” because she skateboards, and has the top score in Dig Dug, because he doesn’t know her.

They highlight that Dustin is not in love with Max, hence the Steve scene, where Steve goes “You’re not falling in love with this girl are you?” which to Dustin honestly says no, because he’s not in love, it’s a just crush. Also an important note when writing something unrequited with 15 year olds.

Then, Dustin speaks to Lucas and says “he could feel the electricity” between him and Max, which is him ultimately accepting that Max does not like him back, and instead likes Lucas.

Is he upset about it? Yes, he is, however, it’s not mentioned again in the show after season 2 because he’s over it. In just a few months, he’s got a new girlfriend, and he doesn’t like Max anymore. He got over it quick, because it was just a crush, and he didn’t know her that well.

In seasons 3&4, Dustin is able to act completely act normal around Max, because he doesn’t like her anymore.

Now, while Lucas also liked Max at first, not as much as Dustin, and as he talks with her more and knows her better (hence, them having more scenes) you see Lumax developing.

💙💛 Where does this put Byler?

Byler is written very differently. First, by season 4, Mike and Will have known eachother and been bestfriends for 10 years. (Since kindergarten), so right off the bat, they KNOW eachother. Dustin didn’t know Max.

Stranger Things has so many scenes of Mike and Will to show us just how special this thing between them is. They have a lot of scenes filled with chemistry, showing how much they understand eachother and how they’d do anything for eachother. (Said by Mike, he’d do anything for Will.)

So, they show us why Mike and Will would be a good couple. Something they didn’t with Max and Dustin.

Noah Schnapp then went on to say “You could never really tell if [Byler] was something romantic or just a really special friendship.”

Next, they show us just how much Will’s in love with Mike. (Also confirmed by Noah Schnapp) So, not a crush like Dustin. He’s in love with Mike. The painting and the van scene proves it. It shows us Will’s feelings for Mike, and how actually deep they are.

Will doesn’t say “Mike’s cool because he skateboards” like Dustin says about Max, he says “You’re the heart, and without you we’d (I) all fall apart.” and “You make her (me) feel like she’s (i’m) not a mistake at all. Like she’s (i’m) better for being different.” Basically, that he’s better for loving Mike. Mike makes Will feel like he’s not a mistake.

1. Mike

Angsty, just like him. I feel like all these shows capture his character well, ESPECIALLY Eyewitness.

2. Will

I’d put Eyewitness for him too, i just felt like it captured Mike’s character better, but count that in too.

3. Max

Can’t think of more Max coded shows. She’d like really messed up, but also relatable and angsty. She also loves ‘End Of The Fucking World’

4. Dustin

I feel like since he’s canonically into Sci-Fi and dark media that makes you think in general, he’d love these.

5. Lucas

I know this seems like a joke, i’m promising you it isn’t. Look me in the eye and tell me Lucas wouldn’t love Young Sheldon and Cobra Kai.

This is where text and subtext come in. Textually, yes, Mike is not looking at Will, he’s looking in front of them. However this is very obviously filmed intentionally to at first look like he’s looking at Will, and SUBTEXTUALLY hint that Will’s on his mind.

The camera pans from Will to Mike very slowly, bringing Mike in focus.

There’s already 2 shots where Mike looks outside the window at Hawkins

And they felt the need to make one where he looks LONGING, with Will in front of him? Will also has 2 shots, that happen right after Mike’s shots. Also, important note, El is not a focus at all in this scene. She doesn’t have a single shot, and only appears behind Mike.

You might miss it, and that’s okay, it’s very subtle, but i like cinema and i know how it works, that’s how i could tell.

The Duffers frame it like that on purpose, something they said in an interview. They wanted every shot to be perfect.

Yet he noticed everything Will did, while his main focus on these scenes was painted out to be Eleven.

He blamed Will for not telling him El was having problems, because he didn’t notice himself. And he was more upset because Will didn’t talk to him.

Which is why: He later takes responsibility for it.

The way that they end in the previous season, is the way they will start the next season. Let me explain:

Season 2 ended with the Snowball kiss, means they ended in good terms, so Season 3 starts with them kissing. Yet, still not really good for eachother, as they’re upsetting everyone around them because of the fact that they’re not setting boundaries and making time. (Hopper, Will, Dustin)

Season 3 ends with Mike kissing El with his eyes open, and standing still as if he just realized something. (And later, he looks at the Byers house and hugs Karen, paralleling when he found out Will was ‘dead’, so it was about Will.)

So season 4 with Mileven starts:

1. Eleven is lying to Mike about her time in Lenora. 2. Mike can’t say “I love you”. 3. Mike’s really queercoded bedroom. 4. Mike throwing away El’s letters while she has a Mike shrine in her room with all his letters. 5. El’s upset that Mike doesn’t write “Love, Mike”

And season 4 ends with:

1. Mike lying in his monologue. 2. El knowing he lied, as she side eyes him, they’ve barely spoken and she paralells season 3 when she KNEW he was lying. 3. Mike initiating physical touch with Will. 4. Not even a talk after Mike’s love confession. 5. THIS ending scene, where Mike is standing with Will next to all the canon couples, and El is standing alone.

So no, Season 5 is not starting with a happy Mileven scene, considering El is upset with him. It’ll most likely start with them being distant or already broken up. It’s pretty clear where this couple is going to go.

It’s been established how much Will loves Mike, how much he’s actually in love with him. That boy has been in love with Mike for about 3 years, and they have a 10 year friendship before that. Discrediting all of that to make him ‘fall’ for someone new in the last episodes of Stranger Things just doesn’t make sense, is really bad writing, and doesn’t align with anything The Duffer Brothers and Stranger Things writers would write.

It’s stupid. We’ve also established that Will doesn’t like getting with someone he doesn’t love. He’s not that kind of person.

Take this scene for example. (S4EP1) Will could’ve easily gotten with this girl, to prove he’s “not” gay, and used her as a beard. (Like Mike does with El) but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t because he loves someone else, and he doesn’t want to waste her time. That’s who he is as a character. And by this point in the story, he’s accepted himself for being gay.

They put this scene in to show not just Will being gay in my opinion, but to also emphasize just how much he loves Mike.

LOOK at what he painted for Mike, which he then said “comissioned by El” to save Mike’s relationship, basically letting him go, because that’s how much HE LOVES HIM.

It’s so out of character for Will to completely throw this, and their 10 year old friendship out the window just for him to move on in a week with some random NPC.

The Duffers said “It’s Will’s emotional arc that ties this season together.” for S5. Why would they say this just to make him fall for someone in the last episodes? It’s bad writing.

Keep reading.

“I just saw my ending and i thought “Ohhh” and i walked away very slowly.”

What’s going on? We know Millie can’t say El’s dying, but that was the CLOSEST thing to it she could’ve ever said. I realize El might just not have a happy ending, and not die, yet i feel as her only happy ending is NOT dying and NOT being hunted down (because of all she’s been through.)

Next, THIS scene from the epilogue. Mike and Hopper are crying. The only thing that brought them together, was Eleven. They fought about El in season 3. This scene looks like they’re looking back, like they’re reminiscing at something. Or, at Eleven.

I’ve seen so much theories of Mike maybe talking about Karen or a parent’s death, yet i don’t think that’s what’s happening. Mike could’ve talked about the death of a parent with anyone. Joyce (who knew Karen), Dustin (who also lost a parent), but it’s NOT anyone, it’s Hopper.

We already know Mike and Hopper have a strained relationship, so why is Mike talking about something so personal to Hopper out of anyone?

And they look like they’re having a deep conversation. This isn’t about Mike’s parents. (Who again, Hop barely knew)

In Chapter 8, Season 1: The Upside Down, El sacrifices herself to save everyone else.

And Episode 8, Season 5 is called The Rightside Up. The opposite of The Upside Down. And we know El was never supposed to come back, as Stranger Things was supposed to get a new set of characters for season 2.

We KNOW she’s ready to sacrifice herself for her friends (and now her family), because she’s done it before.

And i think it makes so much sense for El to sacrifice herself, as we see just how hard Vecna is to beat. They’ve closed the gates 2 times, and Vecna keeps opening them up. I’m not sure just what El will do to close them forever, but she will do something, as Vecna will probably never stop until she’s dead.

Next:

A “DS” was found on Stranger Things 5 set, and this is what an ex extra said. Major character death? We’ve seen everyone in the epilogue except for El, which leads me to my next point:

El wasn’t at the graduation scene.

While the whole party (including Max, but i couldn’t find the sc) was. We know El is in high school, since she was in Lenora. So why didn’t she graduate?

Anyways, i don’t want El to die because i’ll be shedding tears for the next 6 years, but i really think that’s what’s goikg on here.