About Byler and finding signals.
I usually don't post in the main subreddit for unfortunately regrettable reasons, namely the user’s institutionalized homophobia, who censor anything related to the ship Byler in the first place, and the mere discussion of it, be it in the form of memes or theories. This is unacceptable for a fandom of a so-called “show for the outcasts” and well, to any fandom. But anyways, if there is somebody who likes to discuss the series, – and not avoid some chatting, can we start by saying: Why did the creators decide on this ending, the ending of the series as a whole, including romantic relationships, and invest more in queerbatting marketing than in a narrative on par with the previous seasons?
Ah, some might say "it wasn't queerbatting because the show never, ever told us that Mike could have romantic feelings for Will! He only loves El that way! You delusionals..." but, I mean yes it did: the acting, the interviews, the signals all pointed to uncertainty of the matter.
“You guys lowkey dont know what the hell you are talking about! Why can't we just have good friends in the media anymore?” Why do you seem to turn every series character into a gay fantasy?”
Some folks say things like that as if Byler fans were a group of unrelated people just invented things on the show. We are not the official writers of the show, but we are not blind, we are seeing through the same lens you are. Remember that. There were dozens of signals!
Media analysis is literally about pattern-recognition, repetition, visual language, music cues, blocking, parallels, and payoff. By that standard alone, our frustration is understandable — something unusual happened with how Mike/Will was written, staged, and sustained over ten years.
So, why did the creators of the show give people so many clues of a possible romance. If you think I'm completely talking nonsense, I guarantee you that after leaving this post, you'll get it. And here are some of them, objectively pointed out.
1: Why Will's sexuality was something that was present from the beginning of the show, and this was the ending we got?
Like common, no one was in any way satisfied by the epilogue boyfriend. In the series booklet that the creators have done to sell the show out had implicitly claimed that Will's character was a child with sexual identity issues.
So, what was the point of including this sub plot at the show's last seasons and not just focus on the core drama, knowing that Will was going to get rejected in any way, watch out, in the finale of the show. They extended in that direction for the simple purpose of engaging the public in the subject, maintaining interest, which seems pretty stupid I'd say. And I am not a writer. The show had some love triangles. The love triangle on the show between Dustin Lucas and Max, in season 2, when we see that it is clear that Lucas was going to win Max’s heart and become closer to her by the end of the same season. Lucas and Dustin faced some tension but they realized how stupid their fights were, and they became good friends again.
The point is, why not shut down this plot, why not wrap up this story in the fourth season? “There wasn't time for that?” BullshitWhy includes a 10 year long arc of Will being in love with Mike to be rejected in the finale. Duffers we know queer love is unrequited a lot of the time, no need to make Will go through it if your goal is being realistic. Its a show about fucking monsters and alternate dimensions! At least shut it down sooner rather than the last episode! They knew what they were doing. It either was an intentional love story or just a mass trolling.
2: Why make Mike interactions with Will always having those looks on Byers lips?
What me and many others have noticed isn’t imaginary — it’s a deliberate directing and acting choice, and that’s exactly why it’s confusing when paired with the eventual outcome. The "best friends" finale. I'm not saying that visual language is always a reliable source of the narrative's intent, but seriously, why include that? The look on someone else's lips is a common thing people do in real life when they have some kind of interest, mostly physical attraction. Those “looks on Will’s lips,” the pauses, the charged silences — that’s romantic visual grammar. It’s the same language the show uses elsewhere to signal intimacy. It happens all the time since season 2. Kinda suspicious. Really close intimacy that only great friends can share. Well, also lovers.
More incriminating than that, during the exhibition of Back To The Future in season 3, Will and Mike are together with Lucas and Max, Robin and Steve drugged, and Dustin with Erica, which looks like a couple encounters, in the sense they are both pairs of two people. The important thing here is, Will is sensing the Mind Flayer, freezed, in shock, or whatever. Mike notices it cause he’s always taking care of Will, and finally asks what is happening, with of course, a glimpse into his mouth because that's what friends do. Will lies and so we have a frame of Mike looking at him, for then we get Will's reaction, also taking some time to look at his lips. Shared glances at each other's lips, in a consummate silence. Strange this right?
Will is in love with Mike, that was confirmed in the following season 4, and he was settled to be developing this crush later than the season arrived. It's not like Will just realized he had romantic feelings for Mike only in season 4 after moving to California. It was a build up thing, something the show always planned to do since the season 2 production. And suddenly, in season 3, Will, the gay character, replicated the strange habit of his straight friend too. If that wasn't a smart move to indicate any possible validation of each other's mutual interest, or really just aesthetically admiration, I'm just confused. Truth is, ambiguity was used as a tool — and then overused it. That 's undeniable.
3: Why couldn't Mike Wheeler hug his best friend in season 4?
In Stranger Things season 4, Mike’s behavior toward Will can feel painful to watch, but it’s mostly about emotional confusion and lack of awareness, not rejection or cruelty. He doesn’t avoid Will because he dislikes him — he just doesn’t know how to handle the emotional tension inside himself. Acting differently around Will than around others. Will gets it, and so the Rink O’ Mania talking becomes justified.
The airport scene is a good example: Mike kind of hugs Will, but it’s quick and awkward, because he’s emotionally closed off and distracted, not because he doesn’t care for him. He is clearly embarrassed. And the reason is, we really never get to know… But could that be a way to hide his own unpronounced feelings for Will?
Remember. El in the first minutes of season four has her letter read by Mike, when she mentions a painting Will’s taking some time doing. She says it is probably for a girl, because he acts like he is in love with someone. We all know by now who Will was in love with.
I think Mike had his switch up in s3, or earlier, in season 2, – is not like he didn't care about will, it's that he cared too much, and that scared him since that was seen as wrong at the time. so, he pushed Will away, and just decided to get closer to El. Even if he also has feelings for her. That could genuinely explain how distant Mike chose to be while confronting his best friend. The feeling that his passion isn't what Will also thinks.
4: What really makes you crazy, if not love?
When Mike tries to confess his “love” to El he says: " You know… They do say it makes you crazy", which in his mind sounded like a romantic statement, but it failed the target making Eleven just confused.
Now in season 2, during the infamous crazy together scene, Will is with Mike in his basement, so devastated by the Upside Down trauma he just got away from. He is speechless, scared and incredibly self contained. While feeling that way, he gets the courage to finally put his thoughts out. Not to anyone else but his best friend. Will explains to Mike about what he saw in the Upside Down trance. Mike points out the possibility that Will is overthinking things but then, he acknowledges about the absurdities he's seen in the first season, which means he is not struggling so much on believing in him. He then talks about how Eleven was comprehensible, just like Will is, and that she would believe in him and not reject what he has watched.
Mike is really devastated about El's false death. “Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy”. After some seconds, Will recognizes that he feels like he’s going crazy as well. That nobody seems to understand him at this point in his life, his insecurities, or the right way to protect him against those living nightmares. “Hey Will, if we both going crazy, we’ll get crazy together right. “Yeah, crazy together”. Sweet moment. One of the most sincere from the entire show, in its best season, imo.
5: What was the point of yellow and blue being colors shown so much?
Im referring to the intentional color grading we have between these two characters, Will and Mike, with colors blue and yellow a point out to them. Also, sorry if I'm being stupid but I really don't recall seeing anyone mention that blue and yellow were the color the creator used to identify Mike and El in season 3. Which are a couple. A romantic one.
In the same season, Will and Mike can be seen in this color, with Mike even wearing Yellow while Will wears a white and blue shirt. Let's also remember that music is a big thing on the show and " The First I love You" and "The First Lie" are two songs made by Kyle Dixon too. What is so curious to me is that the music also indicates byler, at least, possible.
6: Is music a reliable source of hints?
According to a post I have encountered on Tumblr by user aurorabyler:
"The First Lie" is played during the scene where Jonathan and Nancy hook up in season 2 following Murray’s encouragement. It’s a reference to Nancy not being truthful about her feelings towards Steve and could have a few double meanings, including the LIE literally being Nancy and Jonathan sleeping together (hence, LYING together), as well as Jonathan’s trust issues that Murray talks about".
"The First I love You" plays during Robin’s coming out and also El saying I love you to Mike, which appears confused in season 3. My favourite detail here is that the word “love” in the song is not capitalized. This may seem insignificant, but when you look at the ENTIRE stranger things soundtrack pre season 4, no other words have been in lowercase. This was intentional, both for Mike/El’s awkward, strangely non romantic kiss, and Steve/Robin’s love for each other, which is not romantic at all, since Robin is a lesbian. It starts out as one-sided for Steve and then we obviously see their amazing friendship".
"There’s no way this is not intentional. In season 4 vol 2 when Will gives Mike the painting, he confesses to Mike but covers it up with El’s name. He then turns away from Mike and cries, muffling the sound with his hand. It’s been emphasized throughout the show that Will is unable to lie to Mike. Literally season 1, episode 1: “It was a seven. The demogorgon, it got me.” Lucas encourages Will to not say anything to Mike since he didn’t see the roll, but Will physically cannot lie to him. This theme is seen with the two again and again throughout the show. Will never lie to Mike. EXCEPT, in this scene in season 4 (...)’’
That's why their relationship is so strong. Because of the protection they secure for each other. In season 2, in the basement, Will asks Mike to lie to his other friends, Dustin and Lucas, about his trance seeing the Mind Flayer. Will's character was made to not like lying, to Mike, especially, for some reason and that is also a clue. Moving on:
"Will covers up his feelings. It’s a weird halfway point. He lies to Mike for the first time, and he can’t bear it, combined with all his other feelings for him. THE SONG THAT PLAYS DURING THIS SCENE, BEING DIFFERENT, has the exact same melody as BOTH THE FIRST LIE AND THE FIRST I LOVE YOU".
Another thing important to mention: there's another song that connects different couples on the series by music. The song: “On The Bus” appears twice, during one scene between Lucas and Max heart-to-hear on top of the bus, while in season 4, the same song is played with Will and Mike heart-to-heart scene, in Will’s bedroom. Is this really just a coincidence? Or signals?
7: The signals that we caught were never real?
Will asks Robin how she knew Vicki wanted to date her. Robin says Vicki sent her subtle "signals" such as a brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow, or a shared look. That's exactly what happens in season 5 vol. 2?! What thee hell, Wheeler?! Lets not forget the subtle lip glances, and the brushing of hands are all signals intended for Will to decode, these small "easter eggs" are signals for the audience too. She’s provoking us to be aware of the show's subtle writing.
Reddit user “callacrow” did a really clever observation about the season 5 “signals”:
“When Robin says the line "I like dick." and we cut to Lucas and Joyce looking at Robin, then, because it isn't supposed to be too obvious, we cut to Will and Mike glancing at each other. So their reaction to hearing "I like dick" is to look to each other, which is also coincidentally one of the three signals Robin instructs Will (and us, the audience) to look out for. Shared looks??!
"Speaking of signals, we have seen all three of them demonstrated in Mike and Will's dynamic. The shared looks are ever present. Mike at Rink O' Mania sits between Will and Jane while only making contact with Will's knee. My absolute favourite though has to be in the finale when they're walking side by side and bump into each other seven times exactly”.
Now, the visual contrast, the difference in dialogue and the differences in Mike’s facial expressions, behaviour towards Will and El here, in season 3 is such a revelation.
During the rain fight, Mike is clearly bad at having a discussion with Will. When talking to El and also, discussing, he doesn't understand her anger, he does not feel any remorse for being a bad boyfriend to her. He does not apologize to her in that scene but he does with Will. All the time. He feels awful about making Will sad, he feels remorse for being a bad friend. He recognizes his mistakes as being distant where he shouldn't. But with El, he seems to be in denial. Imature.
With El, Mike says “They say it makes YOU crazy” and YOU have to fight,” whereas with Will, he says “WE’ll go crazy together” and “WE will fight this together.” He sees eleven as separate from him, but he sees him and Will as a real team. That's not a made up thing, that is what happens in the show. No bullshit but real events.
Famous stranger things theorizer, user kaypeace observation: "I already pointed this stuff out, in my youtube vid- mileven vs byler parallels". "But for those who haven’t watched it- I'll mention it here. I just find it funny. Cause, the parallels between the fight & breakup show Mike loves Will (not El) and Will loves Mike and El doesn’t (mileven’s ‘love’ is just empty words- actions speak louder)". "Mike has drastically different expressions after their fights and the difference in weather and music selection ,convey how Mike is feeling. He looks regretful with Will, and almost annoyed with El dumping him. Mileven breaks up to upbeat music on a sunny day (the break up being in front of a crowd and a joke) vs the morose music and the storm shown (with just Mike and Will fighting ). We are supposed to take the Byler fight seriously and the mileven one as a joke".
She also mentions this parallel: Will saying he never cared about having a girlfriend but he would love to stay with Mike for the rest of his life vs Max saying that El doesn't need Mike while they hang out in Maxine's room. In the same scene "El is happily reading comics as Max says she shouldn’t hang with Mike all the time vs Will upset and throwing his comic on the floor at Castle Byers”, after the rain fight. "Mike immediately apologizes to Will and runs out in the rain to do so vs Blaming El, waiting for her to call him and apologize. And burping and laughing about cheese (+ never apologizing for lying to her)". Hum…
On episode one of season 4, "Suzie Do You Copy?", Mike and El are referred to as “star-crossed lovers” which is just an interesting choice of words of the writers about the show's main couple, Mileven. This phrase has been used as a reminder that the romantic couple is destined to fail, foreshadowing it is really doomed , they will in any hypothesis have a good ending, no matter the circumstances… Mike and El have been compared as Romeo and Juliet a few times in the show, which just confirms everything I've just shown here.
Romeo and Juliet are called star-crossed lovers because their astrological symbols are not compatible; Shakespeare establishes this early on, and his contemporaries in the audience would have immediately understood and gone "oh, dear,_ that's a shame... this will never work."
In moments of emotional stress: Will sensing the Mind Flayer, Will panicking,crying, Mike’s reaction is: to turn toward Will before anyone else, lowers his voice, softens posture, maintains eye contact longer than with El in parallel scenes, takes Will for himself, like Will’s stability is his responsibility. Like a great friend would do, a good friend. Yes, but also?
They were put closer to each other in the last scene of season 4, with other couples of the show. C’mon now! Wasn't that intentional? Was that supposed to be interpreted by the audience as simply a decision made at random. With no reason?!
All the characters’ outfits have details with meanings. According to stachaser, a Twitter account:
"I think it's interesting that the stylist from st says that they always put triangles on Robin's clothes to symbolize her as a queer person, and in s4 Mike having a triangle on his clothes (...)". "The pink triangle was a symbol that the Nazis forced homosexuals to wear in concentration camps to be marked and after the war the LGBTQIA+ community reappropriated the symbol (mainly, in the 80s)". Also, a reader pointed out that quote: "And they said that they sewed this outfit SPECIFICALLY thinking of Mike and only for him to wear". Seems like so much attention was put on clothing.
Now, to wrap up this discussion with the final nail in the coffin, here's an interesting mini-analysis by bylersmother:
"He has a Jack Kerouac poster in his damn bedroom—a bisexual writer. If he likes Jack Kerouac, then he likes Allen Ginsberg too, who was openly gay and Jack’s best friend. He knows the Beat movement, which was against conservatism and conformity.In his works, Jack talked about attraction and passion for other men—and not only that, but also about the religious guilt of feeling it, which could very well be a sign of Mike’s own internalized homophobia.
Mike, canonically, likes works, music, and literature that go against the norms and standards of society at the time. He canonically likes songs that make fun of fragile masculinity. The band he likes so much has an explicitly queer name, and its songs do too. He appreciates Jack’s works, which talk about desire for other men. None of that is there by accident. Those elements are carefully chosen to fit together and make sense with the character’s personality".
Well, I'd love to believe in Byler. And I do, no matter what my eyes have seen. We discover Will's sexuality in season 2, on several occasions, most notably at the snowball dance, when he dances with a girl wearing a rainbow hair clip. That's foreshadowing of his real sexuality. SUBTLE but REAL. And the rainbow is a symbol that is essentially associated with Mike Wheeler. I don't believe in coincidences in fiction. Even if Mike Wheeler is not a gay dude, he's definitely queer coded.
One or two ambiguous moments? Fine. Ten years of: parallels, mirrored dialogue, romantic and visual grammar, symbolisms, music callbacks, refusal to clarify is strange at least? That crosses the line. You can deny it if you will. But it 's an impossible task lol.
8: Is it possible that the relationship between Mike and El was a substitution of the relationship of Mike and Will?
If you look closer at the show’s main story execution, it's possible to see a ton of parallels between Will and Eleven’s characters. The way their appearance is confused in the first season, – with all the missing boy story, - they both were confused by others as the same person. One was called a freak, the other one a weirdo. They both had electrodes on their heads at Hawkins Lab being studied there. In the same episode they were both stuck in the Upside Down screaming for Mike's name. They both have powers. They both used morse code to communicate. Walkie-talkies. They both had abusive dad and miserable lives. Eleven and Will. Some parallels between them are in the dialogue also. Because El looks like a boy, as stated by many others in the show, it gives Mike an opportunity to project his feelings for Will (or for boys in general) onto El. Troy says; "She doesn't even look like a girl." Benny says; "You think you can steal from me, boy?" And Benny's friend says; "At lunch, there was this boy..."
With Will's disappearance in season 1, Mike developed a closer relationship with Eleven. This could be explained by Will's absence being transferred to Eleven because, somehow, the connection created between the two mirrored Mike and Will's previous relationship. And the fact that this closeness turned into a strong romance is quite interesting. Because if Eleven wasn't in the picture, couldn't this strong romantic relationship have developed between two other characters? You know who I'm talking about, right? No one has ever mentioned that but I think it's a really credible analysis.
Also, why make Will messing a mileven scene??
9: What was the point of the coming-out scene in vol. 2?
It is a writing mistake in my opinion. All season 5 is so laughable and bad that it hurts. The coming out scene, although not bad, is not good either. Looking for signals. Will has been doing this since season 2. The show confirms signals are real, not imagined
By accepting yourself Will felt free to tell everyone who he was. Will accepts that he is gay. Robin explicitly names the hope in him. And, indirectly to the audience. Will comes out emotionally to Mike via the painting. The scene is staged as a confession, regardless of the name substitution. This is a textbook coming-of-age love arc structure.
What happens in vol. 2 is not "growth" — it’s retcon via emotional minimization. This is the part that breaks the story. In less than 24 in-universe hours: Will goes from hopeful vulnerability to self-erasure. He reframes his love as: "It was never about anyone else but me". That line doesn’t resolve nothing. It's unimportant because the fact we already know Will accepts — it invalidates the arc we just watched. The looking for signals arc. This is not: healthy acceptance, realistic closure, maturity. It is bad narrative containment.
They can do whatever they want, but nothing will change the fact that Mike is implicitly queer. He’s the only character—along with Robin and Will—who has queer references inside the series. In fact, he has even more references than Robin and Will, who are canonically part of the community. He knew community terms back in the 80s. He defended a queer punk rock band (Butthole Surfers) that used queer references both in its name and in its lyrics.
He has a Jack Kerouac poster in his damn bedroom—a bisexual writer. If he likes Jack Kerouac, then he likes Allen Ginsberg too, who was openly gay and Jack’s best friend. He knows the Beat movement, which was against conservatism and conformity.In his works, Jack talked about attraction and passion for other men—and not only that, but also about the religious guilt of feeling it, which could very well be a sign of Mike’s own internalized homophobia.
"I don’t care if you disagree or insult me. I’m not going to see it because my notifications are turned off. So you can cry and seethe in my comments or in the quotes—I don’t give a damn. Nothing is going to change the fact that Mike is, yes, implicitly queer. Mike was never made official as a straight character, so considering him straight is also a headcanon".
"He never rejected Will—he never even knew about Will’s feelings. The Byler ending was left totally open to the audience’s interpretation, as was Mike’s sexuality".
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