hello there

but like. specifically the dynamic where hopper hates mileven for what he assumes are super rational reasons, until mike starts dating will, and he doesnt hate it as much as he hated mike dating el. and hes like. did mike become a better person. or is he just a better person to will. and hopper realizing he doesnt actually hate mike, he hated that mike was so blatantly incompatable with his daughter.

joyce loving mike like her own son probably strengthens this divide between the two reactions, too. like shes known mike since he was 3 apples tall and swinging with will at recess because he had no other friends. shes seen mike at his best and his worst. that boy couldnt surprise her if he tried, and trust me, hes tried.

and like. the idea of hopper being so totally blindsided by byler. like will being gay? sure, plausible enough. MIKE WHEELER being gay? what timeline is he in rn. is he being vecna'd. and it takes joyce recounting stories about miwi for hours on end for hopper to start to understand because from his perspective, this asshole girl-crazy thirteen year old started obsessing over his daughter out of nowhere and thats like, his PRIMARY view of mike.

just. byler showing hopper that theres a side to mike hes never met because he didnt know mike when he was 5 and helping will communicate his needs when he was nonverbal as a kid. yknow?

I've seen people headcanon that Hopper would like him way more than Mike because he's respectful and polite. And I think that's sweet and cute but-

Have you seen the way he talks to Ted? Or literally anyone older than him?

That boy is a ragebaiter to his very core and would be a million times worse with a beautiful girlfriend as motivation.

A scene that somehow managed to do the almost impossible:

write a believable, sweet and somewhat light Love Confession scene, that not only shows the audience Steve's feelings but also his growth as a person ("it's someone I didn't even talk to in school [...] it's all just a bunch of bullshit anyway")

somehow combines this with a Coming Out scene, which in my opinion is also perfectly in-character for Robin and gives us a nice callback to a prior scene that led people to believe that Robin had a crush on Steve (#straightbait)

shows us Steve's immediate acceptance of Robin and builds on the friendship they formed and the way they love to joke around (in this case about Robin's taste in woman)

makes us really feel for Robin, a character that was only introduced in that season

and it does all that without any overly dramatic tools. It's just the two of them talking, there is no immediate threat that pushes them both to confess, there aren't even really any tears and only some classic ST soundtrack in the backround but it still makes you feel

They should’ve had us in the dark about the plot with the kids just like they had us in the dark about Will’s whereabouts in season 1.

They could’ve had Max’s storyline be slowly piecing things together by spying, and eventually she figures out how to escape on her own, and she’s able to tell the others when she wakes up.

Claim your “Wonder Twins Deserved Better” ticket here!

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