they are polar opposites, charlie representing kindness, pure imagination and childish naivety, and mike being his bitter, edgy, whimsiless counterpart. they both often question wonka, but while mike's questions show his distrust, charlie does trust him and wants to know him closer (do you remember being a kid? when did you try your first candy?) (someone here pointed out how mike side-eyes charlie while he questions wonka ... as in "he's asking the right thing, answer him wonka") but their differences never lead to real rivalry!

mike is shown to be the worst of the kids yet he never bullies charlie unlike the others BECAUSE they barely interact we'll never find out what do they actually think of each other...

even the "candy doesn't have to have a point" dialogue ... is it more about tvbucket than it is about wonka? they wouldn't pass the wonka bechdel test where they have an interaction unrelated to wonka all THREE of them are narrative foils...

"happy valentines day guys"

- wooden bucket

“Charlie, I’m right here. I’m right in front of you. Time and time again, I keep trying to reach out and help but you just run away and act like nothing is happening.” Mike holds the notebook in his hand, the writing on the pages is clearly not his, too neat.

Charlie stays silent, he won’t respond, he won’t even try. He just looks away, trying so desperately not to look at the other for fear it might hurt him.

“I don’t want you to just live in radio silence. I want you to be okay, okay? I need you to talk to me- to Violet or Veruca, even! Just talk to us. Please.” He’s practically pleading, almost tearing up in such a non-typical-Mike way that Charlie almost wants to laugh.

Any other day this would be reversed, Charlie would be chiding the other about opening up and communicating clearly. instead of letting his anger bottle up and overflow. Any other day, Charlie would be sitting there ignoring his own hypocrisy.