#reddit rambles

Not only is there a likelihood that the main couple will be gay, it will come after years of these fans assuming that the cliche, safe straight ship was going to sail from start to finish.

If you look at the "predictions" these individuals have for season 5, which honestly have less to do with narrative direction and more to do with what they want, you'll always catch a certain undertone to what they're saying:

"The heterosexual, white male audience is the default for media. We will allow the wlw ship, so long as it has limited screen time. We will accept Will surviving, and even allow him to have an acceptance arc. But you will not receive queer rep at the expense of a ship that we are nostalgic for. The straight male audience is the one that matters, and we will be represented by the main couple in the show."

My favorite is when they’re asked what they hope for Mike and El in s5, only to list off qualities of Mike and Will’s dynamic. I legit saw someone say that they hoped they finally took the time to talk through their problems (oh so you’re admitting they never do..) and that we’ll actually get to see them be a team…

Like, do you hear yourselves?

I would actually like to read off their play by play of how they imagine s5 going down. Not just their wishes but like what they literally imagine happening over the course of the season, episode by episode.

And I’m talking the confident milkvans ones that are like super hostile about it. I wanna see what they hypothesize will happen in early s5 related to Mike and El… I don’t think I could keep it together if it is anything along the lines of them instantly making up and being happy for the rest of the season… 😳🤣

They just don’t realize how dumb that sounds.

S4 created conflict and hasn’t settled it. It was considered the beginning of the end, meaning those parts are going to fit perfectly together. If Mike and El were lacking romantically more than ever before in s4, don’t expect that to change much…

And gentle reminder that rewatch value is everything. If milkvans have to skip 3 eps in s1 bc they’re not together or fighting, skip all of s2 bc they’re separated, skip most of s3 bc they broke up in the second episode, skip most of s4 bc they separated in the third episode…. What does that fucking tell you?? They are not being prioritized for rewatch value, that’s what. Whereas byler is. (Bylers also are capable of watching milkvan scenes religiously… I can’t say the same about milkvans being capable of handling more than one second of rewatching a byler scene. And it’s bc they know if they watch it the mental gymnastics they gotta go through to convince themselves nothing romantic is going on is near impossible…)

Byler endgame is going to make the rewatch for the entire series hit, while milkvans, even with a hypothetical endgame would probably watch s1 and s5 and say the rest doesn’t matter. Do they think that’s how the show is supposed to be watched?

With one season left, they should have been hoping that monologue wasn’t in s4, but instead s5. Bc now how can those two one up that? They simply can’t. It was put there to show that they’ll never progress beyond this point. Nothing will ever top it. This is as good as it gets and yet, they still lost. What should that tell you?

What are they gonna just repeat that monologue in s5, but have mike say it 20x and THIS TIME it works?? Yay? Like there’s literally nothing satisfying about that in the least.

Can’t say I wish bad for ppl that simply like Mike and El and are bummed that they’re starting to lose hope. That as a basic idea is like whatever. I don’t like seeing ppl sad. Even if I told off a milkvan directly, seeing them like feeling depressed afterwards, does make me feel bad.

But when it comes to the hostile ones, people literally resorting to harassing directly with complete strangers unprompted and threatening to dox, over people merely theorizing? Like?? Was it ever that serious?

If we’re so delusional and we’re just setting ourselves up for disappointment, why not wait to say I told you so when it’s all said and done, if you’re so sure? Why dedicate so much of your time trying to discourage people on the other side? Unless it somehow qualms doubts you have?…

What makes this whole situation such bullshit, is that if this were a queerbait situation, you still shouldn’t be out here being hurtful like literally spouting off how you can’t wait for people to experience getting queerbaited? Like it’s fucking weird? The prominence of queerbaiting is literally referring to show runners taking advantage of fans, making them think it’ll happen, even encouraging it, and then ripping it away, usually ending in a bury your gays situation. That is the norm in the industry and it’s only now within the last few years starting to change in mainstream.

The hypocrisy of it all, is that they think we should just accept what they believe is the only possibility, queer-bait. But you know if the roles were reversed, which they inevitably will be when s5 drops, they’re going to be playing the victim, saying nonsense like if queerbaiting is bad then so is straightbating!! and it’s just going to be so out of touch and pathetic.

It’s not the same. Whatsoever. And the fact that they can’t see that, that one result is lazy writing and one is epic subversion, and are literally making a mockery out of the situation, convinced they’re right bc they have history on their side and gays should just be used to never getting their way and THATS okay to them?

Bylers trying to show this to reddit:

As a Mike stan, it's so unpleasant to read those stupid ass takes...

Mike is so complex and flawed and that's what makes him one of the best characters.

All of them are complex!! We're supposed to question them and their actions so we can figure out what it means for them and the overall story.

But the thing about Mike is that, the story is directly avoiding explaining everything that's actually going on with him, ie. Mike apparently noticing Will's every move at Rink-O-Mania, but the story not letting us see that... And so people watching casually are understandably just very prone to disliking Mike, because they have so little to go off of.

Post s4 a lot of bylers were coming for Mike, but that started to shift when we realized his POV was largely missing compared to previous seasons, and that there's a reason for that.

But it wasn't just bylers, plenty of casual fans will go on Reddit even still over a year later, and bring up their distaste for Mike and/or Mike and El's relationship, and how it's stemming from the fact that they don't know the truth about what is actually going on. They are confused. And they don't like what they are seeing based on the conclusion they have come to.

And instead of being met with actual evidence that explains Mike's behavior beyond the superficial, they get chastised by active fans in the sub. UGH it's so obvious. It's not that difficult to understand! That's the kind of stuff they say to casual fans every single day coming on there for answers after watching the show and sensing something off. Like, it must not be that obvious if not only bylers are acknowledging the elephant in the room, but even random casual fans are out here simply looking for some clarity, consistently.

And the way they talk about Mike, they talk about him in a way where it's obvious they don't actually know what he's genuinely going through. They conflate him to being in love with El and insecure because she's better than him. And their biggest defense is that all teenage boys go through that? Like, what are we even talking about right now?

On a show as complex as Stranger Things, they go from giving us the protagonist's POV in the first two seasons, to almost removing it entirely, causing the bulk of their audience to be confused bc there are pieces missing... You'd think that was probably intentional? Probably to keep a secret going, seeing as explaining exactly what Mike was thinking throughout s3-4 would sort of give the surprise away?

Every season has to get better than the previous. The stakes for season 5 are MASSIVE. And many are going into it completely misunderstanding what Mike is thinking and feeling. All it would literally take is informing them to change that and make the show come full circle perfectly.

I think they intend for the show to be rewatched and rewatched again and again. And you're not going to be able to rewatch ST from the beginning if you don't like Mike Wheeler. And that includes him and all his flaws that go beyond just the palatable that they've been willing to reveal up to this point, but also the truth behind it the Duffers have been so tight lipped about, with intentions to save it for the end.

If they're keeping us in the dark about Mike's true feelings and most of the audience hates him rn based on misunderstandings, then yeah, there's a really good chance they'll do what they can to clear up that confusion. There's a good chance they'll want to do what they can to make all of those moments in previous seasons easier to appreciate Mike's complexities and what he was going through more, and while most had no idea or even denied it as being a possibility in the first place when confronted with it back then.