sharkk

I found my heart. Mike, oh my god, I found yours too. And it was still beating.

i feel like there's a few signs pointing to byler being endgame, such as robin saying that she had to come out first before asking out vickie, the fact that only mike was in focus when will said "i dont like girls", the fact that they cut to mike's face so often during the coming out scene, and all that jazz.

but honestly? i'm not entirely sure that it isn't just more queerbait to get us to watch ep 8. i'm so disappointed. beyond disappointed. even if by some miracle byler becomes canon, all we'll get is like a few minutes maybe. and that's still incredibly insane considering how they hung so much on the queer storyline last season and this season, especially with the marketing this season. hell, that still feels like queerbait.

and it's also just. lazy writing. i mean this just feels like the inverse of what the riverdale writers did. instead of making them a polycule, the duffers solved all their love triangles by breaking everyone up. which is also insane. i mean sure, make jancy break up. but at least make it clear that they broke up! this is peak lazy writing and not at all what i expected from the duffers, especially in their final season of the show.

oh and dont even get me started on the coming out scene. why was everybody and they mama present??? like. it could've been just the party, joyce, jonathan and el. but noooo. grand gesture: come out to everybody. even kali's involved. nice going duffers. and to top it off, the coming out scene was forced by vecna. nice. very nice.

in any case, i think it's clear to see that they've failed their queer audience immensely. even if they make byler canon (again, highly doubt it), it was still an incredibly large build up for little to no payoff. they heavily hited that byler was requited, that's undeniable, (read: blue and yellow everywhere. blue and yellow meet in the west. in the closet (at rinkomania). crazy together. --to date? how obvious? the fact that the swing scene was the first scene in will's film reel, instead of the rainbow ship or castle byers. and even the part of the fill mreel where will plays dnd with just mike and not the whole party, although ideally his best memory would be with the whole party. do i need to continue?)

who am i kidding i've been losing it since fucking march

CAN SOMEBODY THAT KNOWS MATH CALCULATE WHAT THE ODDS ARE OF THIS BEING A COINCIDENCE?

*mickey mouse voice* OH BOY.

The “L” is missing.

“7” is essentially an upside down “L”.

Notice the “7” in the upper left corner…beside the “love”lace store.

When Will said “it was a seven” it could have been an encoded love message this whole time. One that Mike didn’t understand at first.

The answer to Robin’s question is obvious. Due to the environment these characters live in, gay love needed to be hidden. Will had to mask the true meaning of his message. On a meta level, the show itself also had to hide the true meaning of the message. People won’t like the truth.

When you flip “7up” upside down, it gives you a “dnL”.

Also, while the Russian code was said, the song “Daisy Bell” played. (Credit to @cypherheartnokey for this find)

....wait . there are people who don't think the show is centered around will? there are people who don't think a core part of s5 will be wills culmination as a character?? there are people who don't think the entire supernatural plot will circle back to will???

besides the fact that the duffers LITERALLY CONFIRMED that will is the center of s5...

the show itself literally tells you. that is the narrative they've been pushing the entire time.

the entire first season is about finding will. every single plotline is connected to finding will.

mike and the boys are using el to find will

jonathan and nancy are working together to hunt the monster they believe has taken will and barb

joyce is trying to communicate with will to find out where he is and how to save him

hopper is a cop investigating the case, and eventually he and joyce team up to investigate further into the lab conspiracy, believing it's tied to wills disappearance

a massive chunk of s2 is about wills connection to the upside down. he's being hunted by the mind flayer and used as a spy, causing a lot of the conflict but also leading to the resolution.

now that we know vecna was behind all of that, that open so many doors for will in s5. if you use your fucking peanut brain for 5 seconds you'll realize there are lots of things we don't know surrounding will and vecna that will come to light in s5. vecna specifically sought will out and hunted him down. remember s2?

"It wanted to kill you?"

"Not me. Everyone else."

we're also getting flashbacks of will in the upside down so we can see exactly what happened to him the week he was there. clearly there's something important we don't know about. the upside down is literally frozen on the day will went missing. but will isn't important and won't be a big part of s5?

s3 is the first time will is less significant to the plot. he still has the connection to the mind flayer and his ability to sense it is still relevant to the story and helps push it along. bit still, he had significantly less lines and screen time. much of his story is portrayed as him struggling to 'grow up' and not being interested in romance like the others. there are several jokes that present will as simply being childish and reluctant to grow out of it. which a lot of people found sort of annoying. i remember seeing a lot of people enjoying s3, but wishing will had more depth and importance.

but we now know that that's not the whole truth. all of that, him being annoyed and disinterested by romance, just wanting to play dnd with the party, and fighting with mike was all subtext leading into his sexuality and the fact that he's in love with mike. that's been confirmed by actors and the duffers themselves. though will's sexuality was always hinted at, it wasn't meant to fully come to light until s4. so they tried to pass it off as will just being childish. they tried to pass of mike and wills conflict as only being about dnd and growing up. a prime example of this is will tearing down castle byers after his fight with mike. he rips the photo of the core 4 as the ghostbusters down the middle, aka where he and mike are in the center. that is easily passed off as just being about the friend group. people BELIEVED that it was just about the friend group, and that there was no way will was in love with mike. but it's now literally confirmed that he is. like it's insane how many people never even considered that as a possibility. people literally just tune out parts of the show they don't immediately find interesting. i've seen so many comments on byler scenes, for example "it's not my fault you don't like girls", saying "wait i don't remember this scene when did he say that??" people just don't pay attention or think deeper than surface level, which in this case is okay because wills sexuality was meant to be something you slowly realized. the problem comes when people just start denying its significance and refusing to see it for what it is.

if you take in all of will's story with mike and whittle it down to "stupid gay crush on best friend" i don't know what show YOUVE been watching. did you forget that will only remembered his mom and mike when he was possessed and lost his memory? that mike recounting the day they met was enough for will to break through and communicate while possessed? that will puts mikes happiness before his own? that will has literally said he needs mike and always will?

it's not a crush that will can just get over. you know we actually have an example of a simple crush and it's dustin and max. how did that work out? dustin got over max very quickly and it's no biggie. he didn't go on a monologue about how he needs max and always will. he just thought she was cool and pretty.

also, the show spends so much time getting the audience to feel bad for will and want to see him happy. you are SUPPOSED to like him. you are supposed to have empathy for him. will is written to be extremely gentle, kind, and selfless.

will is too nice to say anything bad about anyone, even after being viscously bullied and called slurs for years. even by his own father, WHO HE STILL CANT TALK BAD ABOUT!!!

no matter how much will suffers, he remains kind and selfless. he gave a girl his tonka truck knowing joyce couldn't by him another one. mike says they shouldn't give up on looking for him because will sacrificed himself in dnd to save the party. remember the whole thing in s2 about joyce getting on will for constantly apologizing even when he did nothing wrong? there is no point to that besides evoking empathy for him!!!!! he is sweet and sensitive and doesn't deserve any of this!!!!!!!!

and about bylers being delusional for thinking will and mikes relationship will be a big part of s5 and the culmination of everything in a show about monsters killing people, here's a quote from shawn levy, who has directed many stranger things episodes

"People talk about mythology and The Upside Down, and all that is huge, but the magic of S5 are the characters who find sense of belonging with other and through that connection, become heroes."

everyone loves the stranger things relationships until they're queer. when they're queer suddenly there's no time for romance in a sci fi show, the writers actually suck, and they're just baiting. lumax and their love for each other was a core plot of the season where the big bad was trying to kill her all season. there is an entire plot point about max's memory of kissing lucas at the snow ball saving her life. in a show like this, there is time for relationships and supernatural stuff because they are interwoven when the time comes. they can do the exact same thing with byler in s5. s5 is going to be the longest season thus far. there will definitely be time for relationship development.

so yeah. call me delusional but i don't think the show will end with wills feelings for mike unresolved or with them just evaporating. given everything we know about s5 (relationships and finding belonging being an important factor, noah and finn constantly filming together, leakers saying will has a love interest) and everything we already know about the relationship formulas in ST, literally all the signs are pointing to byler. the only rebuttal people have is calling us delusional because the writers just wouldn't do that. if you actually push past the heteronormativity and consider the fact that the duffers do want to represent queer people in a way that doesn't reinforce the idea that we can never find love or be happy, things will start making a lot more sense.

i'm sorry to have to say this about mike but mike is a character presumed straight who hasn't been super relevant in the supernatural plot for 2 seasons now, just as long as will. his significant plot points are related to el or will. relationship development. and unlike will, he has been an ACTUAL asshole!!!! lots of people stopped liking mike as much after s2 because of his personality change. (ofc i still love mike, but there's been multiple plot lines about mike being a dick for no reason and apologizing for it) but no one has VISCERAL hatred for him like they do will byers. not saying mike deserves hate, cause he certainly doesn't, but the problems people have with will, they only have with will. any other character doing it is fine. 2 seaons of wills feelings for mike is boring and distracting but 2 seasons of mike having the same 'i love you' problems with el isn't?

i'm not saying the sudden hate for will is because it's now clear that he's gay but im kind of saying it

some people can't sympathize with queer issues because they don't care about queer people. they don't empathize with queer people. queer issues bore them.

also the point/overarching story of stranger things isn’t inter-dimensional monsters taking over the world. the themes go way deeper than that and the moral of the story goes way deeper than that and half the time, all the monster shit are metaphors for the deeper themes

Gwen: I’m a girl

Her dad: of course, I love and accept you, what do I need to do to help you with this

Gwen: I’m also spider woman

"chai čaj"

miles: only the ambulance ride

hobie: that wasn’t an ambulance ride, i drove you

miles: but i heard a siren?

hobie: that was pavitr