em

Trying to piece together my thoughts on how the writers allowed Will to show vulnerability. But I’d say a part of Will’s writing that doesnt work for me is him only having one big vulnerable moment, while others have multiple. I think its very in character the way he doesnt fully face himself/his emotional repression even when he confronts people and speaks his mind. On the other hand, its a poor writing choice to give a character whose unreliable narration is important to the narrative as whole, and is always written for sympathy, their moment of honesty in the penultimate episode.

The lack of mystery and fear shown through characters is one of the biggest reasons that season 5 failed. It was too rushed and didnt focus enough on the characters we’d been following for multiple seasons, so without seeing the fear theyre feeling, it feels stale. Especially through the wheeler family, buidling hollys characterization through scene after scene of her didnt work for the nostalgia bait because its the opposite of what they did with will; where his characterization is based off his short scenes and other’s love for him. Instead we only see sadness through mike and karen, and anger through nancy. Joyces and Jonathans reactions worked because they had a mix of emotions that bled through every scene they had in s1. Joyce didnt need to face off with a monster to be a fighter. The horror wasnt fighting monsters but also other people’s beliefs about your capabilities.

I hate when people say will was “weak and always needed saving” because part of the horror in the first seasons was the story of a latchkey kid from a poor family, who did everything right, but was kidnapped and sexually assaulted.

Mike achieving his storyteller status once he focuses on his identity and learns to understand els decision in isolation and concluding his leader role through “giving his friends away” to the real world by narrating endings for them