Pumpumpkin Archives

Im 23!

Born in ‘02

She/her

I’ve been in fandoms for as long as I can remember. I watch a lot of Anime, Tv shows, trying to get into movies more, and I love reading as well.

My biggest passion is writing, poetry, fiction, essays etc etc

And I love writing analysis, which you will find a lot of on this blog

Mike gets his own house in Hawkins and it becomes the place weary party members retreat to to recoup.

Mike is always home writing, always there, always a steady presence.

Nancy stays first. She had been renting a unit downtown since moving back to work at the herald, but after visiting mikes house once, she decided it made a lot more sense to move there. She stays for a few months, months of clearly not being gratified by her work at the paper, before Mike convinces her she needs to leave Hawkins in order to move forward. She leaves a month later.

Dustin is next. It’s the break between semesters and his mum is away staying with family and he doesn’t want to be home alone. He seems fine. Great even. But it doesn’t take long for Mike to realise he’s lonely. By the time Dustin leaves, he’s back in contact with Suzie and gushing about her intelligence like they’re 14 again.

In the fall, max shows up unannounced and alone. When he asks about Lucas, she says they both needed to spend some time alone. It’s been just them for years, even the healthiest couple needs to spend time alone. Mike thinks, alone with me? But keeps it to himself. She’s a quiet guest, except for when they bicker. But he starts to think that might be what she came here for, when he sees the smile on her face afterwards every time. Three weeks in she tells him her eye sight is fading. Two weeks after that she leaves with the intent to tell Lucas.

I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but this is how it feels as a queer person having watched the end of season 5.

Maybe I will express how I feel in a more direct way, but for now I think this represents it perfectly.

He tells me he can’t spend time with me because he’s working on a play. 

It’s for you,

he tells me.

looking down at his papers,

not looking at me.

I’m writing it so you can watch it. 

The play will be separated into three acts, he says.

the last will make you see,

I wrote this play for you. 

When the play is finished,

he doesn’t let me see. 

he invites a crowd,

And places me as one of many.

Before and between each act,

he stands front and centre.  

He points to me and declares,

I wrote this play for you.  

During the intermissions,

different people take the time to approach me. 

We are the same,

they say,

and I think this play is about me too.  

The night is cold,

and I grasp their hands in mine. 

It is,

I tell them,

he says he wrote it for us.  

People close by us in the crowd hear us and laugh.

This play is not about you,

they say,

this play was never about you. 

The final act begins,

and I can’t wait to see myself on the stage.  

He told me this play was about me,

he told me to wait and see. 

When the curtains close,

the crowd turns to face me. 

Don’t you see now,

they say,

you were wrong to think this play was about you. 

The ending proved that it never was.

Everyone is laughing.  

Everyone is pointing.

They are saying,

Look how wrong you were.

But I only came because he told me it was for me. 

I’m trying real hard to prepare myself for the worst case

But I just can’t 😭😭

I believe in byler endgame

I touched on this in my last post but I really think this needs to be expanded on.

Stranger things is a story about trauma.

It is a story about different kinds of trauma, and how different kinds of people carry that trauma.

This last season has made it especially apparent that this is at the heart of stranger things.

Think of what Max says. She is stuck inside a world made up of traumatic memories, and she says when you are stuck you only have three options

End your life

Accept your fate

Escape

This is a metaphor for how people deal with trauma.

Number one is self explanatory. Number two means letting your trauma define you in your life, essentially, being stuck in a world dictated by traumatic memories. And number three, being able to live a life not dictated by your trauma, being able to move forward.

This same sentiment is also mentioned by Mike in episode one of season five. When el says what will we do after all this is over (the traumatic event), Mike responds that in his campaigns the party moves away and starts again because too much has happened where they are. Mike is describing the third option you have after experiencing trauma, escape.

The counter to this is Kali telling el they will not be able to escape their trauma, they must choose the first option, to end their lives.

The more I thought about this, the more I realised that this exploration of how one deals with trauma is actually explored through all of the characters.

Jancy, I would argue, let themselves get stuck on the second option, accept your fate. In each other they found comfort because they each deeply understood the others trauma, but it was that understanding that kept them shackled to that trauma. They started to feel stiffled by each other because their relationship centred around their trauma, it stopped them from being able to move forward.

Dustin as well has been living in option number two, accepting his fate. Eddies death hurt him so badly and the trauma of him dying made Dustin accept that death was inevitable. Dustin worried so badly that Steve would die, that he pushed him away so that he could try to prevent it from happening, and prevent it from hurting if it did.

Hopper is haunted by the trauma of his daughter dying, of feeling like it was his fault. And he too is stuck on acceptance, that he is the curse, that he causes bad things to happen to the people he loves.

Joyce as well has been hindered by the trauma of feeling like it’s her fault Will was taken. Her life still revolves around that feeling that the trauma surrounds, that she should always keep a watch on will.

Robin as well talked about the trauma she experienced from realising Tammy liked Steve.

And wills trauma which this is all centred around and I think will be addressed more in the final.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the jancy breakup. And I thought it made no sense at first. But the more I think about it, the more I see how it ties into the broader themes of the show.

Stranger things is about trauma. And in particular I think we will see that it is about learning how to de centre trauma in your life.

At the start of season 5 when el asks Mike what they’ll do after all this is over, he says in his campaigns the party always moves away to some other land and starts again because too much has happened where they are.

I think the real tragedy that this presents is that it’s not just about places, but about people too.

Jonathan and nancys relationship revolved around their shared trauma. That’s not to say they don’t love each other, they do. But in order for them to be able to build a life not dependent on that trauma, they need to let go of one another.

It’s bittersweet for sure.

I think this is also why eleven will leave by herself or with kali at the end. Not only does she likely need to go into hiding, but she also needs to find her self independent of who her trauma made her into. This idea is already interjected into the plot. Kali notes hopper and Mike calling her eleven and insists that her name is Jane. Els trauma is strongly tied to the relationships she has formed with everyone in Hawkins, so I think she will have to leave them behind in order to move forward.

As for byler. This is where wills film tape tells us everything we need to know. Will was imagining a time in his life when he felt completely free, and completely himself. Before the trauma, before the repression. Wills story is about returning to who he was before all of this changed him, and Mike was there.

Will and Mike know and care about each other independent of all the trauma they have been through, and I think this will become apparent by them leaving Hawkins together.

The only way they could manage this is by genuinely changing the story to say that will just had a crush on him the whole time.

But that’s terrible writing if they actually mean what they said. Because clearly Will loves him.

But that’s not even really the point. Even if Will did realise or decide that it was just a crush on Mike and he was just kind of projecting his insecurities onto him, I still find it hard to believe they could continue being close friends after that.

The sentiment is nice. I guess. But if you want to talk about realism I don’t think that’s very realistic.

And besides all of that. Will does love Mike. And Mike knows now

Do you really think he’ll do nothing about that. Do you really think Mike would just be like, I don’t mind but I don’t love you back we can still be best friends.

I’m sorry but let’s be so serious for a second. I don’t think any friendship, particularly one like the one between Mike and Will, would survive that.

So if that is what the duffers do, I think they are the ones that need a reality check.

There are two wolves inside me. One still truely believes byler will be canon and that it’s the only thing that makes sense, and the other doubts the duffers writing abilities.

But I really just find it hard to believe that after everything, the duffers would suddenly flop in the last four episodes.

I choose to believe in logic, not poor writing, so let’s get into some reasons I think byler endgame is the only conclusion that would tie everything up.

The first thing I want to talk about are questions that will be left if byler isn’t canon. Because there will be a lot.

-why did they sideline mikes character if not to withhold his pov on purpose

-why was Mike being weird at the airport

-why go so in depth into byler relationship

-why give Will false hope. I don’t care if it’s “realistic”, no other characters had to go through this even when they had unrequited feelings.

There’s probably a lot more but I’ll stop for now.

Now I want to mention some things from vol 2 that suggest set up for the last episode.

The first thing I’ll mention is something I haven’t seen anyone else mention.

When Mike and el are talking on the bathtub, el says, this isn’t like one of your campaigns you can’t write the ending

To which Mike responds something like, this is our story and we can write the ending, me, you, Lucas, Will and Dustin.

I think this exchange is significant to the set up of the final episodes.

El directly references dnd and says this is real life and in real life you can’t write what happens,

And who is it that writes what happens in a dnd game?

The dungeon master. Aka. Mike

The players may be the ones to do all the actions along the journey, but in the end, it is still the dungeon master that decides the ending.

I think it’s also very significant that the state of milevens relationship is still ambiguous. If they were together, and byler were not going to end up together, then they would have made it clear by now.

The only reason to keep it uncertain is to also make the fate of byler uncertain. Meaning they are either queer baiting us until the end, or they are preserving the plot twist.

One of my biggest proofs for byler endgame are the creelby parallels.

You’re telling me Henry was taken over by the mind flayer because he was convinced patty turned against him,

And now Will has been shown visions that were apparently terrifying, where everyone left him.

Not showing those visions will saw definitely lessened the emotional impact of them. Which is why I think we are going to see them, but they aren’t going to be exactly what Will described.

We’ve already seen vecna messing with wills memories that involve mike. During sorcerer he showed Will the van scene, only this time Mike didn’t turn to look at him. It was the exact same scene, but Mike didn’t turn his head. I refuse to believe this is a continuity error.

And Mike. There are so many things about Mike which are set up to be addressed. His pov is still being withheld, with his last scenes in vol 2 being him realising that will “had a crush on him”. Which sets it up still as Mike receiving information but not yet doing anything.

What we know about Mike this season is that he has returned to his role of being a leader, someone people can follow and look up to, just like Will told him he could be. Mike is also using his persona of Mike the brave to keep going even when he’s scared.

We haven’t seen Mike actively express any of his fear yet. When his parent got hurt and holly was taken he held it together even when Nancy didn’t. When the kids were taken we didn’t see him actively blaming himself, even though that would be a very Mike thing to do.

Mike comforts others this season over and over again. But thanks to Finn’s amazing micro expressions, we can see Mike is holding his own fears and feelings back in order to do this.

He is being Mike the brave, so that he can lead everyone else into battle.

But holly had holly the heroic, and there came a time when holly had to confront the moments she hasn’t lived up to the persona, and to finally fully commit to it.

I think Mike will have a moment like this as well, where his bravery is put into question and he finally does something that makes him truely brave.

And what has Mike not been doing?

Expressing his feelings. To anyone.

What’s my grand theory?

I think it’s actually pretty obvious. Especially when we remember that this season takes inspiration from a wrinkle in time.

Mike will save Will with a love confession.

I think that the exotic matter is in someway tied to will and his trauma, particularly from the day he was taken.

In order to separate from the exotic matter, Will needs to combat it with positive energy. Which is actually a thing in wormhole theory btw.

This part is maybe a bit out there. But I can’t stop thinking about how the door unlatches the night will is being chased by the demogorgon.

I think there’s a chance they will interact with time and realise they will have to set all the events in motion in order to prevent them from happening (kind of like how the time turner works in Harry Potter).

The narrative purpose of this would be Will coming to terms with what has happened to him, and realising he keep on living without having to be define by that trauma.

It would be a very self sacrificial moment, maybe if vecna was trying to convince will he could stop it all from happening to him. But Will has been shown to be a selfless character over and over, and if presented with this choice, knowing it would mean that they win in the end, he would let himself be taken.

I want to make one last mention of a Twitter post from the stranger things writers that has been bothering me for years and still has not been addressed

This. Drives. Me. Insane.

They better bring this up.

But I have a theory for it that is too good to be true.

The thing that confuses me most about this post is the date card they provided. Which is the night Will went missing.

You know what I also can’t stop thinking about. The backpack will was wearing, and how it fell off in the upside down and is likely still wherever he dropped it.

So my theory. Which is too good to be true. Is that the night Will went missing, Mike put this note in wills backpack along with a mixtape. And they will find the backpack in the upside down with these items in it, which will never saw.

This also would explain all the Merch with the tape on it that says for will, coz, what is that.

Maybe the tape isn’t even music, Maybe it’s Mike recording the rest of the campaign that they didn’t get to finish that night, who knows.

But this plot line would also provide deeper context into mikes character. And it could even lead to vecna taunting Mike about how if he really had been Mike the brave and just given it to Will that night, then maybe Will would have never been taken.

There’s a lot of claiming of responsibility in stranger things, will in particular right now feels like all of this is his fault. I think it would be really interesting to expose Mike as also feeling like this is his fault.

Those are just some of my thoughts on byler endgame.

I genuinely do think it still makes the most logical and narrative sense, so even though I am afraid of being crushed, I’m going to hold out hope.