Social life sucks

Finns songs are not about Byler and its weird to attach everything they do to Byler. Its also really weird to claim hes coming out as Bi because of one lyric.

And the people who go on about Finn being Noah's gay awakening and that he definitely had a crush on him at some point is so strange.

In season 1 hes willing to literally die for Dustin, he diplomatically apologizes to Lucas, spends the entire season fighting for Will, and protects El/ shows her life outside the lab.

In season 2 hes stuck to Wills side like glue. He only really drops the ball with Max because he didnt want a new party member so soon after El was gone. He called El the entire time and then devised numerous plans to save Will and close the gate, while also being concerned for Els safety.

In season 3, he is accused the most of being a bad friend/ ignoring them. But thats not even true. He hangs out with the whole party at the movies, and then shows up for Dustins surprise. He leaves early because of Els curfew (even if the timing was exaggerated) that doesnt make him the devil. Its summer and this is the most time he gets to be with his gf after her being missing for an entire year. Then El dumps him because he lied, something he never even intended to do, he was just afraid of Hopper. And while hes reluctant he does end up playing DnD with Will. The he yells at Will (pretty reasonably in my opinion but thats for another day). He then spends the rest of the season trying to win back El, advocating for her safety and stating she needs to put herself first, not finding Billy. Then he apologizes for being possessive in the supermarket.

In Season 4 most of his mistakes are nothing more than a combination of being insecure and the distance. Will complains Mike isnt reaching out enough, he then argues that Will coildve reached out more too. Mike however later explains why he didnt reach out as much, stating Hawkins just didnt feel the same without him. Stating that he lost his best friend. Will makes no attempt to explain why he also didnt reach out more. Mike apologizes and states they'll continue on as Best friends and thats the end of their troubles.

El gets upset Mike doesnt say "I love you", shes feeling ostrizidsed and outcasted enough with just the bullying. On top of that, she still feels like a monster from her time in the lab. This causes her to need that validation from Mike. Mike drops the ball in the bedroom and then later explains to Will that he is insecure, that because of his own insecurities he belives El will realize she doesnt need him anymore. So saying it out loud, would make that day inevitably hurt more. He then explains all of this in the speech to her at the end, making is very clear he never viewed her as a monster. This is also the end of their troubles as its never brought up again as an issue therefore its resolved right there.

"Oh I hate how he yelled at El at the quarry when they thought Will was dead, and he said 'what's wrong with you?'" You mean youre mad this 12 year old boy who believes his best friend is dead and also believed this girl knew he was alive is upset and yelling because of that???? Not to mention he later brings El back to the basement and then calmly explains why her "lying" to them hurt him.

"Oh I hate how toxic he was in season 3 and how he yelled at Will and lied to El." You mean you hate how Hopper threatened him and so he was too scared to go see El and then also didnt want to tell her, her father threatened him? Youre also mad he yelled at Will because Will did not care about his relationship troubles and then proceeded to force him into playing DnD at the Crack of dawn??? Once again he also takes accountability for lying to El and being possessive, and he also calms down immediately after yelling at Will.

"I hate how toxic he was in Season 4." The season 4 Mike hate also confuses me. Like he is not a demon because he struggled to verbally say 'I love you' when he has canonically always struggled with verbalizing his feelings properly. Usually lashing out before reigning it in and apologizing. WHICH AGAIN HE DOES in season 4. Hes also not a demon for getting upset that El didnt tell him she was getting bullied so therefore hes going to be confused when she seemingly wacks the shit out of someone he believed to be her friend. (You can claim he shoudlve known but canonically he didnt. So its really a moot point.) Plus he attempted to get the music shut off.

And this one pisses me off the most. "He reminded her of Brenner" No tf he didnt. The flashback that they cut to has nothing to do with Brenner, and everything to do with El believing she massacred all her siblings. I.E the violence she just demonstrated against (what's her face, i forget) directly mirrors her standing over all her siblings dead. If Mike truly reminded her of Brenner in that moment we wouldve focused more on Brenner in the flashback. But no we focus on El and the dead bodies because her main problem that Seaosn was her feeling like a monster.

You can say Miks should've handled the aftermath better sure, but demonizing him because he lashes out like any 15 year old in a fresh relationship is absolutely bonkers to me. He was never a toxic boyfriend and El doesnt need independance from him. Mike has never hindered her independence and he takes accountability for the times her hurts her.

The show is about monsters and alternate dimensions everything else is secondary.

No we weren't going to get five different scenes of El trying out new things and experiencing life. THERES A MONSTER TO FIGHT.

No we weren't going to see Will get a boyfriend in seasons 4 or 5. BECAUSE THERES A MONSTER TO FIGHT.

No they weren't going to break up Mileven to push Byler in the final 4 episodes of the series. THERE IS A DEMON TO FIGHT.

It doesnt matter that Steve was a baseball coach instead of a basketball coach or that Nancy dropped out of college. THEY JUST SAVED THE WORLD.

No we didnt need confirmation on what happened to Argyle, or Suzie, or Enzo. THE WORLD HAS TORN APART.

The show is 8 sometimes 9 episodes a Season. No they werent going to use that precious time to show the kids being kids for 4 of those. The show would be pretty boring if everyone was happy for the entire show.

Just because you personally believe that calling El Jane is the moral thing to do doesnt mean thats what happened in the show. Your opinions on how people should be treated after trauma are completely irrelevant. Her name is El because everyone else called her that and she introduced herself as such.

It simply doesnt matter that you believe she should be called Jane because it "humanizes" her more.

Just like how it doesnt matter that you think El shouldn't have been in a relationship with Mike because of her trauma and upbringing. The show expresses that she loves Mike and understands that love as romantic so you believing that she doesnt understand romance is irrelevant when the show, shows that she does.

Mike never had internalized homophobia, viewing his character through that lens and using that to justify/explains his actions makes no sense. Everything he does/says is always explicitly explained, there's no reason to claim hes lying when hes not. The show tells us hes not. Getting upset when people dont agree is just annoying when thats literally never been true.

It also doesnt matter that you think Will wouldnt be in a bar at the end of the show because he had an alcoholic father. Just because thats not how other people would react doesnt mean thats ever been something that bothers will. Canonically hes never expressed issues with alcohol so being upset he went to a bar mischarcterizes him more than him actually being in the bar.

Caring, gentle, empathic, and selfless. Is how I've seen people describe Will even stating that hes the most caring on the show.

This is more like the description of Lucas though, and thats been clear since season 1.

In Season 1 Lucass character is by far the most concerned with finding Will. With Mikes time being split between protecting El and finding Will. Lucas only suggests they rehome El because he wants to get back to finding Will immediately. Why does he blow up at her in the junkyard? The same exact reason, he thinks shes sabotaging their mission to find him, so he blows up. However what he does after proves he is much more capable of being empathetic then Will is.

Lucas scopes out the lab on his own, and reports back that they are coming for El, even while being mad at her. Then HE apologizes first, getting down to her level and gently explains he was wrong. He then gracefully accepts Mikes apology.

Season 3 is where the difference between these two characters really matters, as in Season 2 Will hardly has a stroyline that isnt tied to him needing to be saved. Though the major points include: Lucas being gentle with Max and sneaking her out when he knows Billy will get mad, talking her through the risks of knowing everything, standing up to billy, and not rubbing it in Dustins face when he and Max do get together. (Though thats a weaker point) Will gets some points for being okay with Max tagging along and the CloseGate thing.

Season 3 Will spends his time wanting to play DND with his friends, much to their annoyance. For the most part thats fine, but its when El dumps Mike that we see Wills priorities. He does not care even a little bit, nor does he try to empathize for a split second, going immediately into "can we play dnd now?" Will also hardly cares about Dustins radio or the fact Suzie didnt call. At dustins disappointment he leaves and says "maybe tomorrow we can play dnd or something fun". Yes Lucas leaves aswell but he doesnt make it about himself or what he wants to do.

Lucas however, talks Mike through the breakup and tries to help him get El back. When Will forces them to play DnD he complies along with Mike until they call the girls. While Mike biked to Wills house, Lucas is the only one that follows up and actually apologizes for the whole situation. What does Will do? Takes no accountability for the fact that he couldve at least tried to be a bit more understanding.

In Season 4 Lucas takes full responsibility for him and Max's breakup, stating he should've looked harder. He also calmly and carefully explains to fhe boys why the basketball game means so much to him. Then later, when he realizes the team is about to hunt down Eddie, Lucas immediately rushes to their aid. And of course he goes with Max and protects her from Jason.

This contrasts Will in Season 4. He does not stand up for El, nor does he try to understand anything from her side. Then during Will and Mikes argument Will puts all the blame onto Mike for not reaching out. He then let's Mike take the brunt of the blame for their fight and their distance, though they are equally at fault.

Will Byers does not view El as his sibling at all.

They GENUINELY never talk to each other. He only says their her brothers to get info on her but them shows little to no care for her the rest of the show. Like they actually dont have a single one on one conversation on the entire series besides their roller rink sass off.

Will Byers only one on one interactions come from him crying over HER getting bullied after he just stood and watched, and then being antagonistic in the roller rink. Then they hug.

I truly dont think they actually care about each other. Not in any way that's indicates they actually feel like siblings. Steve and Max have more conversations in season 4 alone then El and Will have in the entire show.

Everyone on that show has trauma but he is the only one who's actions are dismissed because of it.

Nobody gives a shit that Mike was too insecure to say i love you, they just claim he was toxic and manipulative.

People were flaming Dustin for acting out because of Eddie.

But when I say maybe Will should've done something for El in season 4. Suddenly im crazy.

He was rude to her and dismissive, even if you say "Oh he was bullied, what was he gonna do for her?" ANYTHING??? Mike jumped off a cliff for Dustin, Lucas stood up to Billy, and to Jason. Will couldnt even understand why El would lie to mike.

Saying "Hes going to be mad at you" is a crazy thing to say to seomone whos already struggling to tell the truth. Now hes just making her feel worse for hiding things, even though he literally understands hiding emotions.

The writing there is shit and just makes Will look like an asshole. Especially because its revealed in the van scene that he understands hiding emotions so people dont view you differently. So why couldn't he just say that to El?