This Post By Mikesbasementbeets Is Still On My Heart. Ive Been Stuck On Mike Trying To Connect With El

This post by mikesbasementbeets is still on my heart. I’ve been stuck on Mike trying to connect with El about being bullied—

—and he gets shut down with “No. You don’t.”

Mike didn’t defend his experiences.

El was hurting, yes, and for many good reasons (one being her failing relationship with Mike), but she did invalidate him. She was there in s1 to see some of the bullying Mike (and by extension Will, Dustin, and Lucas) went through and even took action when she recognized Troy and his friend were awful people. El humiliated Troy in the gymnasium, prevented Mike from falling off a cliff prompted by Troy, and even proceeded to break Troy’s arm afterward.

El didn’t understand what the bullying was about then, but she was well-aware that these ‘mouth-breathers’ weren’t good and opposed them. She knows what bullying is. The writers could’ve had El reference this, as Mike did with “you’ve seen it” because that was clearly meant to open a communicative door to relate. They could’ve had her say that she understands and knows Mike went through bullying that hurt him too (and put him in fatal danger) while also expressing her personal frustrations (‘From Mike’ and the way he views her included), but this didn’t happen. To push it further, she also says “I am different.” On one hand, yeah. She is different. She wasn’t the average little girl with an average living environment. She’s not at all the average teenager either. She’s trying to catch up and have normal experiences. More than understandably, it’s upsetting and frustrating for her that she isn’t.

But this invalidation—“No. You don’t.”—is feeding the part of Mike that tells him he is inferior/ lesser than. What does he say to Will in the van? That he’s worried El will realize he’s just some random nerd who got lucky that Superman got dropped on his doorstep. Mike belittled himself there. Him expressing this to Will obviously shows he feels comfortable confiding those insecurities in him. It shows the obvious contrast as to why Mike didn’t further comment about his own experiences with El too. It also shows Mike’s view on himself. El is still on a pedestal in his mind, and, to himself, he is far beneath her. He may have confided his insecurities to Will, but he is still belittling himself (and very heavily differentiating himself from El) at the same time. By doing so, by making himself insignificant in comparison to El, Mike is invalidating himself. In comparison, he thinks his own traumas are lesser than.