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MAYA SAID WHAT

At the start of the scene in episode seven where everyone is getting prepared for the final battle, we have Mike and Robin talking about the bomb that they will place in the upside down. For this bomb they will use a record as the timer, when the record ends the bomb explodes.

Now in this scene they show us that Mike built the bomb and choose a record of the "Butthole Surfers", Robin tells him that this is not the right record, Mike gets annoyed and tells her that since he built the bomb he should be the one to pick the record, here how the rest of the conversation goes

Robin : Yeah, you can pick the record. You just have to follow one simple rule, which is pick a good record.

Mike : This is a great record !

Robin: But as far as save-the-world soundtracks goes, this one's lacking.

Mike: What would you pick?

Robin: The Replacements. I can't not think of better records.

Mike: Okay, enough, Lester Bangs, okay?

But wait wait wait one second, who are The Replacements, and why would they be mentioned, just like that for fun ? I don’t think so,

So since I didn’t know who they were I looked them up wondering if they realised any records in 1987, the year that season five is set in.

And oh would you look at that, they did !

And so I clicked on the title of the album, and guess what the cover is, OH WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT BLUE AND YELLOW

(one version is paler than the other and I couldn’t find which one is the original one so have both)(there is also a blue and green version)

Now after seeing that I just HAD to listen to the songs and three stuck out to me.

Since I have this theory that Will will be put in a trance by Vecna and that Mike will get him out of it, since we know that Will is going in the upside down but not the abyss to help and that Mike built the bomb and will probably be the one to install it, and since Mike and Will have been together the whole season (I’d like to remind you guys of Mike saying "I’ll stay with Will" yeah that won’t change now) they will probably set it up together or something, we’ll see.

Anyway with that in mind here are the songs that stuck out to me

For me these could play during season 5 I think that we might hear multiple of them since they will be playing the record as a timer.

But out of these three the song Skyway fits particularly well for a let’s say scene where Mike could maybe try to get Will out of a trance by finally confessing his feelings to him.

Now I’m not saying that this is what they will play it’s just a theory according to what the characters said, so I would like to have your guys opinion on this.

Also shout out to my mom who noticed that Robin mentioned a group after telling Mike his record wasn’t a good soundtrack to save the world, because I hadn’t noticed !

Edit : here’s the whole album if you guys want :

Byler is endgame, in fact after what I saw in vol 2 it’s the only possible outcome I see for them. (This is very very VERY long so just be prepared)

1. Robin and Will’s second discussion

During this scene in episode 5 we have Will asking Robin if after she accepted herself because of the video tape, which he just experienced, he asked her if it was when she started going out with Vickie, her answer is no she tells him that before that she told someone about her, she came out to someone (that should remind you of a scene in episode 7), she came out to someone with some liquid courage from the Russians drugs, and she was accepted, accepted for who she really is no lies just the truth. Will is doing the exact same thing by coming out to his friends and family, he’s following in her footsteps, yes he does call Mike his Tammy but I’ll talk more about that later, he’s following her footsteps, first he accepts himself, then he tells someone about his secret, and so the logic would make it that the next step is getting together with the one he loves, Mike.

I really do believe that if they weren’t going to make byler canon they would not have made this dialogue like that, Will wouldn’t be asking her how she got with Vickie he would be asking her how she got over Tammy, and that’s not what happened in this conversation did it ?

2. Will’s coming out scene

First of all I want to say that I personally (as a queer person myself) loved this scene, and the most important thing about this scene is that it’s, yes about byler, but mostly about Will, I obviously will cover the byler part of it but please do keep in mind that this scene is about him, about Will, about how HE thinks things are.

So the thing that put most of you guys into let’s say panic and disappointment is the Tammy part of it when really it doesn’t prove anything, it actually makes sense, like I said that scene is about Will and about how he thinks things are, and in Will’s POV ? Well yes he believes Mike is straight and that he doesn’t have a chance to be with him. Will is an unreliable narrator, which mean that everything he says is about his own experience and how he thinks things are but it doesn’t mean he’s right about said things, him being an unreliable narrator means that we can’t take his words for the truth, it’s HIS truth but that doesn’t mean it is THE truth.

Another important point of this is Will reducing his love for Mike as a simple crush even tho we all know it’s not just that. Now I think that whatever Vecna showed him is I more important than what Will said, while yes he did show Will his friends turning his back on him and all that I also think that he focused on the fact that Will thinks Mike doesn’t like him when he in fact does, Will saying Mike just his crush looks like a way for him to protect himself and to even tho he’s supposed to say the truth, he’s still lying about something, and that will be in my opinion very important, because Will thinks Mike doesn’t love him and that he’s trying to get over him by calling him his crush and his Tammy when in reality Mike DOES love him and he does reciprocate his feelings.

3. Mike Wheeler, part 1

Will being an unreliable narrator means that we don’t know what is Mike’s reaction to all of this, except if you analyze his face and his reactions (I won’t be able to put images to show what I will be talking about so I will describe as well as I can) So during the whole volume we were shown that Mike constantly chooses to be with Will or constantly mention him, especially in the scene when Will is unconscious and he tells Robin and Lucas to go to the hospital to get Max, he tells them "I’ll stay with Will" that’s what he’s done the whole volume, every time he can, he goes with Will, he wants to stay and be with him, and the scenes where he isn’t ? Well I noticed that even if Will’s not there or even if the conversation is not about him he will bring him up. Here is one example, in the milkyway scene in the cabin, he brings Will up when they are talking about all of them having a happy ending he ends the conversation with "and it starts with getting Will back".

3. Mike Wheeler, part 2

Mike’s reaction to Will’s coming out scene, he’s one of the character that is shown many times during that scene (with Jonathan and Robin), he can be seen in the group shots but he also has his own shots where he’s the one we focus on. But let’s start with the obvious, the fact that it’s him, it’s Mike who interrupted Will’s first attempt to come out to Joyce, it could have been anyone, any other character, Robin, Lucas, Hopper, anyone but no it’s Mike who interrupts them, Mike. During the coming out scene we have many main party group shots and two of them stuck out to me. The first one if when Will says he’s doesn’t like girls, it cuts to the og party on a couch in front of a window with Mike being the one who is the closest to the camera so the viewers put more attention to him, and we’re looking at Mike’s reaction here, he looks up towards Will slightly raises his eyebrows blinks multiple times and sits straighter, the other time is when Will is talking about having a crush one someone and says "even tho I know they’re not like me" it cuts to the group where Mike has his mouth open, swallows and is looking up and down at Will, the camera is still on them when Will says "But then I realized" and it cuts towards Will again when he starts talking about Tammy. But there are also multiple times where we have a big shot on Mike and Mike only, "so I push you away, and for the rest of us we just drift apart more and more and more" this line is the first time we get a closer look at Mike, Mike who is looking at Will without blinking and he’s swallowing, then one more when he gets up to go hug Will. But for me, the most important one is when Will says "I’m ready to show him I’m not afraid anymore" this line cuts from Will to a slow zoom in on Mike who’s in front of a window with bright light behind him to Will again, Mike is nodding and Will is too, when Will says he’s ready to show that he’s not afraid anymore Mike has a determined look in his eyes and he. is. nodding.

4. Why ?

Now that I told you guys my thoughts on precise scenes I want us to ask ourselves why ? Why would they do that and not something else, why would they talk about Tammy, why would they show Mike’s reactions to some lines and only Mike’s ? I believe I know why, byler is a plot twist and a plot twist is something we haven’t seen coming, but now imagine you are the one making this show, it’s the last season, after that it’s over and you have this big plot twist to put two characters together, but there’s a big part of your fandom who has it all figured out, but it’s supposed to be a plot twist, what would you do ? Maybe you would just continue your plot anyway and yeah it won’t be that big of a plot twist anymore or maybe you would do something to throw that part of the fandom off track so that even them, the ones who thought they knew it all are surprised, I think it’s what they did because if byler is in fact not canon then multiple scene in this show just don’t make any sense, in season 5 volume 1 the scene where Mike and Will are trying to contain a leak, with water being known and used as a metaphor for feelings for years in many many shows, season 4 with the painting that was in fact not used to bring a relationship back together because Mike’s monologue failed and the fact that they are broken up (if the scene where Mike says "friends don’t lie" and El answers with "I’m not lying" and then they talk about them having a happy ending as a group didn’t show that to you then I don’t know what will because they won’t explicitly say that they are not together anymore). And many more scenes in all of the seasons that just wouldn’t mean anything and make any sense, they are writers, it’s their jobs they wouldn’t write so many things for nothing. One other thing, I personally never expected Byler to be canon in volume two, for me it just wouldn’t make sense, they are doing a slow burn ? They are doing it all the way, many many of you would disagree and say that this is bad writing and that they should have made them canon before, I don’t think so, making them canon in episode 7 wouldn’t make sense after what I saw in volume 2, for me in volume 2 they closed the questions on the supernatural part of the show, we have our answers for that, but our questions about the characters, any characters, are they answered ? Are they resolved ? The answer is no, no because even tho this is fiction the show is still realistic. They are trying to prevent the end of the world, the god damn end of the world. Let them do that AND THEN let them close their characters arc, according to me this makes perfect sense, closing their characters arcs before the ending, before the big battle, that is what would be rushed. After that ? They can do whatever they want and that includes making byler canon because after that it’s over, they’re losing the audience because of a decision they made ? Who cares it’s over it’s the last episode, making byler canon in episode 7 when they still have one episode left ? Nuh uh. Also I want to mention the Duffers interview, I will not believe anything they say until I’ve seen the ending, for me they are just trying to throw us off track.

5. Okay but now what ?

Now we still have one more episode left, an episode that is two hours long, TWO HOURS, it’s literally two episodes in one if you look at the length of the other episodes this season and it’s plenty of time to put two characters together, look at Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter (which Byler paralleled in season 4) they only got together in the last hour and a half of the last movie. Same with the Duffers favorite ship (I don’t know that much about it sorry) who I know is a queer ship and the characters only got together in the finale, all of this just makes so much sense.

But anyway here is my final byler theory on all of this : I think the thing that is gonna come the closest to what’s going to happen is churchgate, Will is going in the upside down to fight and help Jane/El for this final battle, he won’t go into the Abyss because like he said it’s too dangerous because of the hive mind so he’ll just go into the Upside Down. But as we know it’s never gonna be that easy. From what we saw this whole season I believe that Mike will choose to stay with Will, Will is gonna fight Vecna, that’s a fact, and during that final battle between them (Will and Vecna) Will is gonna start to struggle, struggle a lot paralleling El at the end of season 4.

I believe that Finn said that Mike is gonna have another monologue this season and that (that I know for a fact) the painting will be brought up because "it’s gonna pay of in the end" and because it is known and was said that Mike knew that Will was lying about the painting but he just didn’t have the key to understand why, but now ? Now Will came out now he has the key to understand all of this, all of what Will said in the van in season 4.

So Will is gonna be in a trance and almost die, but Mike, Mike who now knows that Will having feelings for him too is a possibility, he’s not going to stand there and do nothing, no because remember what Max said at the beginning of episode 7, to escape Vecna’s mind she didn’t need music, she just needed Lucas, Lucas the most important person to her. And so Mike will talk to Will he will tell him that he knows, he knows about the painting just like Nancy knew that Jonathan didn’t really apply to Emerson. He knows about the painting and he feels the same way, he always did, and this time Mike’s monologue about his feelings is gonna come from him, no one will push him to confess, not like Will did in season 4, no this time he has to admit it, he can’t lose Will. And this time, it’s gonna work because his feelings are true, they are sincere, the first time he was lying to himself, lying to El and they failed, but now ? Now he’s being himself no more lies no more hiding, and this time it’s gonna work, Will will weaken Vecna making it the first step to ending this war. And after that if we’re lucky, in that same scene it will end with finally FINALLY Mike and Will kissing.

Even tho I’m so sure I’m right about this, I know that yeah I could still be completely wrong, that no byler will not be endgame and everything but like I said it would make no sense, like absolutely no sense. So here I am with my Byler confidence as high as ever happily waiting for the finale of my favorite tv show. I tried my best to write my thoughts about all of this so I hope this makes sense !