holy fucking shit, I just saw someone mention that when we hear mike say "eyes on me" multiple times during the MAC-Z scene it could potentially mean that we're getting a pov shift in vol 2
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Alright, if you want Byler hope, read this (PART 1)
This is from elements outside the show (mostly), the actual volume 2 (and how it connects to volume 1) Byler proof I will do later since I canât rewatch right now, and I need more people to have hope NOW since itâll take a while to analyse the whole volume and compile the proof.
I'm gonna do this in sections:
What volume 2 did to expectations
Interviews, articles, the writers, the actors
Characters POV's
The core 4 are outcasts
The time we have left in the finale
Chekhov's gun(s)
Tropes
Vecna... wins?
Part 2
Forgive me if this is all over the place or makes no sense i didn't proofread it
1. What volume 2 did to expectations
Basically:
(i love this joke)
Many people after seeing vol 1 started to change from Mileven to Byler, the die hard haters were starting to see it. "A bad plot twist is an expected one", and people were starting to expect it: woops!
They know weâre not stupid, they know that we would see the obvious arc in volume 1. They have in fact been building it since the start of the show, and they arenât building it down. The whole thing with the UD is the main focus of the group.
So how do we stop this from happening? Focus entirely on the UD and nothing on them! A lot of us are now going: weâve been queerbaited, itâs over. Which is what they want you to think. Is it shit that the way theyâve done this makes it better for homophobes? Yes, unfortunately, but I believe itâs still happening. They didnât get scenes together in volume 2, correct, and I do believe that this whole volume could have been better, BUT, my points still stand.
A lot of people are saying that it simply doesnât make sense for the sudden turn of events, for it to suddenly just, not happen. And thatâs the whole thing: Mike being reduced to Tammy, Willâs love for Mike being reduced to a crush, Will suddenly loosing hope in two fucking hours? Youâre right! It makes no sense! Because thatâs not whatâs happening. This is Will self-sabotaging and trying to lower his own expectations. (see the point on his pov).
2. Interviews, articles, the writers, the actors
Weâve established they cannot spoil, they are under contracts. Weâve established that they LIE. âHopper is deadâ, âWill isnât gayâ, and oh! Both of those happened. Weâve established that articles and interviews are not where we get our proof from, its where we get our doubt from, and lo and behold, that has happened again!
Though I wonât deny that the way they made this has lead homophobes to cheer, they are liars. Finn, who hates Mileven, suddenly shipping it? Noah, who loves Byler, suddenly not caring? Donât even try me. Theyâre all liars.
The people who carefully designed outfits and rooms, all of those details they said meant something, suddenly doesnât? Lies on lies with a side of more lies.
3. Characterâs POVâs
Notice how Byler was okay until after Will passed out? Them hugging, and Mike nerding out about him being a sorcerer multiple times. In the scene where Lucas and Erica are telling their plans, we see Mike and Will come from the other room together. They are fine.
Then, Will goes bye bye. Passes out and is stuck in Vecnaâs mind again, this is also presumably where he gaslights Will into thinking that he and his friends will separate in the future. And after that, thereâs⌠nothing.
Will is an unreliable narrator, we know that for a fact, and I believe Will is lying to us too. He didnât just see that, Vecna isnât that nice. Will saw Mike rejecting him, he saw everyone being homophobic, he got flashbacks from the rain fight, and he saw himself get called stupid. He saw more and he is lying. Lying, like the lying liar that he is when it comes to his feelings for Mike.
And Will has in fact been successfully manipulated by Vecna, he all of a sudden believes itâs not reciprocated, and that is all Vecnaâs doing. He is dumbing his love down to a crush to make the rejection hurt less. Will is, like us, trying to not have hope so the disappointment doesnât hurt as much, he has been disappointed before.
Everything that we are still seeing is Willâs pov, why we havenât seen Mikeâs yet is beyond me â which brings me to that. We havenât seen Mikeâs pov, not one bit of it. We simply donât know. Donât know what he feels, what he thinks, we know nothing. And I hope we see his emotions soon. We havenât seen him in a scene alone, just him. These are characters, they wonât put on a façade for a camera because to them there is no camera. So since he is never alone, he is constantly hiding. His thoughts and feelings are unknown to us.
In season 2, Will doesnât seem that interested in Mike at all⌠this is what we see from Mikeâs pov. To him, Will isnât interested, so I honestly wouldnât trust him either⌠butâŚ
We know now that Mike knows Will likes him. It WILL be brought up, and Mike is smart, he has, or will soon, figure out the painting lie as well. Byler happening is all dependant on Mike now.
Many times weâve seen that other characters povâs are correct, outside povâs. In the s4 van scene, we see Jonathan look in the rearview mirror, and what does he see? Mike looking at Will, Mike is the one looking, not the other way around. In the volume 1 field scene, we see Robin clock Willâs flirting, but at what point did she start looking? She started watching when Mike was talking, she too saw that Mike was the one that was looking. Now, let me present to you this image:
Mike, next to Jonathan, next to Robin. The three people who know Will likes Mike. The person Will loves. The person who âis going to help Will get what he wantsâ. The person who would try to fish information to see if itâs reciprocated.
Robin told Will that she would only have had the courage to talk to Vickie if she came out, which she did, to Steve. Guess what Will did, he came out. Guess what Mike is probably going to do since he knows now everyone supports them, come out. The acceptance -> coming out -> confession pipeline is happening to both Will and Mike.
Dare I say the confession has already happened? When Will was staring at Mike when talking about his âcrushâ. Dare I say Robin and Jonathan will encourage Mike to confess once he comes out to them by saying he likes Will. Dare I say we will have two confessions from both, the second one being a proper confession to the other while theyâre alone.
4. The core 4 are outcasts
It is a show about outcasts for outcasts. If Byler doesnât happen then this is simply untrue.
[Reading the s1 character sheets] So we have⌠a gay character who is called slurs right⌠a racial minority who is called âmidnightâ yes⌠a nerd called âtoothlessâ who has a genetic condition that affects him physically uh-huh⌠and âfrogfaceâ who⌠uhâŚ?
[Looking back and fourth between the character sheet and the writers] Uh.. so that oneâs just, like, uglyâŚ? Thatâs why heâs an outcastâŚ? Heâs just⌠ugly? UhmâŚ
I said this before and Iâll say it again: Heâs an outcast because he is queer, not because he is fucking unattractive. (which isnât even true)
5. The time we have left in the finale
Two hours, 40 minutes of which are an epilogue, meaning there is 1 hour and 20 minutes for them to solve EVERYTHING. The same amount of time that some movies have â movies where we get backstory, the actual problem, the solution, and the aftermath.
We have time, we know that in moments of panic or right before those moments, a talk between two characters is pretty much guaranteed. There is plenty time, and it wonât be rushed.
6. Chekhovâs gun(s)
Thereâs more than these but these specific two things that have been introduced but not ended yet that are very important are: Painting lie, avalanche. The gun needs to go off, if it doesnât, why is it there?
The painting lie will be addressed, it is the first time Will confessed to Mike, even if it is under the lie of Janeâs feelings. You are going to bring in âsnowball -> avalancheâ, throw a couple snowballs in my face, then just use the force to stop the avalanche? Donât think so bud.
7. Tropes
Childhood friends to lovers, slowburn, cyrano (Will trying to get mileven back together), love triangle, forbidden love, forced seperation (Byers moving to Cali), forced proximity (timeskip), hidden truths, unrequited love (though it's not)
I mean, i can go on and on.
But, one thing that is obvious is the trope where "well evil man says this because he's evil but he's evil so he's clearly WRONG! and love wins yay" - this ties to my next point, but basically: Will in the coming out scene is convinced it won't happen. Which... means... it... will... happen...
8. Vecna... wins?
Are we forgetting that Will not getting his boy will prove Vecna right? Is that what weâre doing? Proving the abuser correct? Proving evil wins? Is this actually what weâre doing? Incorrect, we KNOW Vecna wonât win, we know that, we also know that everything he says is utter bullshit to place fear into people.
This is what he does, he scares people, and it works. Place yourself in Willâs shoes, your demon abuser comes back and â doesnât tell you â SHOWS you that you will be rejected and everyone hates you⌠damn, yeah, I have no hope on the love of my life anymore either.
Vecna WILL be defeated, and he will be defeated because of love.
9. Part 2
I reached a limit so i had to delete a whole section... moving on... All this aren't from scenes in the show but outside of it, yet there's still proof. Obviously the show itself has more, truer, proof, and these are the three (+one) topics Iâll do in part 2 of this (though many other people are already analysing and itâll be done before I do this, Iâll still compile everything in one post later on)
- Things in volume 2 that lead to Byler
- Things from volume 1, and what connects to volume 2
- Seasons 1-4
- What it happening VS not happening means for Mike and Will's characters (section i had to delete bc of space, will add this in part2)
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as someone who initially defended the decision to line up the s5 release with the major holidays (back when i believed it would be good), Iâm now thinking about the way they intentionally got our hopes up, knowing that they would be crushed at a time of year thatâs already so difficult for many queer people.
so many of us struggle with unsupportive familiesâeither being around them or feeling the pain of estrangementâand for many, that pain is most pronounced during the holidays. young queer people, especially, often have no choice but to spend these days surrounded by family that ranges anywhere from close-minded to outright abusive.
the decision to build up fansâ hopes and expectations for so many years, encouraging speculation and insisting that the small details were meant to be analyzed, was misleading. the intentional air of mystery, and the refusal to dismiss the possibility, was strategic. the choice to continue building those hopes up so high at the very end, just to let the other shoe drop on christmas day, is blatantly cruel.
they told us in an interview on christmas day that they had never intended to take the story in that direction. if they always knew, they could have said it before the final season started. they could have said it three years ago. they could have said it seven years ago. they chose to hide it until the very end because they wanted our views, wanted our speculation, wanted our attention and apologism and support.
while we were theorizing and making excuses for the growing cracks in their writing, they were planning on fucking us over at the last possible minute. it didnât matter to them that we loved their characters, that we believed in their potential, that we cared about their story in a way that writers aspire to bring out in an audience.
crafting volume one the way they didâmike and willâs soft interactions, the complete absence of overt romance between mike & el, the snowball-to-avalanche conversation, âhow obvious?â, 'a shared look, a bump of an elbow' literally shared between them the very next episode, will unlocking superpowers to save mikeâs life, mikeâs words (and willâs love for him) playing a key role in discovering those powers, the volume finale literally closing on their shared lookâit was written this way, intentionally, to feed audiencesâ false hopes that their story would lead somewhere.
if the writers intended to end mike and willâs story the way they did, then the vol. 1 buildup should have reflected that. it was strategic writing meant to string us along until the very end.
knowing how much audiences had invested in these characters and their relationship makes what they did, at best, a tasteless choice (or rather, a long series of tasteless choices).
but the writers had to have known the way their queer audiences were treated by the wider audience at large. gay viewers, and those who supported byler especially, were openly hated and harassed by homophobic members of the GA for years. we were mocked for wanting a canon relationship that spoke to our experiences, and called delusional for hoping for it.
they knew the level of vitriol that their (primarily young, primarily queer) fans were subject to, and decided to bait those fans anywayâfinally crushing our hopes at a time when many of us were already hurting, when so many of us were looking for something good to believe in.
they paid lipservice to the ideas of nonconformity, of overcoming societal expectation, of finding love and connection in unexpected places, of finding difference in strength.
but when it came down to it, they didn't really believe in any of that. they chose to vindicate the people who hated us. they chose to treat our characters as props, tortured and sidelined and used to prop up other characters' 'normal' relationships.
they never saw us as anything but viewership and engagement numbers.
we may never be anything more than a joke to them. but the truth is that all the potential we saw in this show came from us. the magic came from us.
we were not wrong for hoping or for caring. we saw something beautiful because we are capable of creating beautiful things. and i would rather have been wrong with all of you than to have been visionless and right.
one day we will be the ones writing the stories, and we won't have to settle for bait and crumbs. until then, please remember that you're not alone, and you're not wrong for being different. keep caring, keep hoping, keep making art. we are going to be okay.
Robin Buckley who when she first meets Steve (and not Steve âThe Hairâ Harrington or King Steve, but simply Steve) doesnât understand why on earth he lets these children bully him. It's impossible to not recognize little Will Byers (zombie boy, they called him), but she's a bit lost in the dark concerning the rest of them.
About one week after they started working together, four of them come in, and while Robin can't really stand Steve Harrington, she's starting to come around to Just Steve. Then the kids come in, don't even bother to ring the bell, just all clamber up to the counter and start laughing. Most surprising is the way Steve just stands with his hands on his hips, adopting the most 'mom' pose Robin's ever seen. They call him Popeye and make terrible jokes and Steve entertains them all, even buys their ice cream for them. Then they convince him to let them sneak through the backrooms so they can watch movies for free.
"Why do you let them push you around?" Robin asks one day, and Steve holds up an indignant finger.
"I do not let them."
"You so do."
"It's not my fault. I can't help it."
Robin calls him a wuss and a dingus. Then she meets Dustin Henderson, and somehow understands even less. The kid could not be less like Steve if he tried. Weirdly, this is the kid that Steve has the closest bond with; the one he has a nerdy handshake with and will happily clamber into any one of the empty booths and entertains all his whims. Then there's Russians, and then she's pouring her heart out to Steve fucking Harrington of all people, and then Billy Hargrove dies.
She starts to commiserate when they start at Family Video. After the Byers move, Dustin, Max, Mike, and Lucas, will pop into the store on Saturdays or if the store is empty. They'll throw their bags behind the counter and harangue Steve while Robin cackles. Sometimes they'll bug her too, but they all know that Steve is who the kids come for. He coaches Lucas basketball, makes an effort with Max, even if it's just letting her into the backroom to nap somewhere she knows she's safe, with someone she knows will keep her safe, and Dustin is almost always around.
She comes in one day to find Steve bent over a Player's Handbook, and she can't help but burst out laughing when he goes bright red.
"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up," he grumbles, slamming the book shut. "Henderson won't stop riding me about joining them for a game." Robin teases him relentlessly and Steve scoffs.
Months pass. The Upside Down comes back. Eddie Munson dies and takes a piece of Dustin with him.
Then Robin drags Will Byers away from the Squawk on Crawl 37, and she feels something settle in her chest. Something that will run rampant one night later when she watches a Demogorgan snap in pieces in front of her. Then, months following, Will starts to pester her, and before she knows it, she's opening her very own copy of the Player's Handbook.
Because, goddamnit, it took 2 years, but she finally gets it. Steve can't help but smirk when he sees her poring over a character sheet.
