Lucas Sinclair Is Who I Will Always Turn To When I Start To Doubt Byler

lucas sinclair is who i will always turn to when i start to doubt byler

let me explain…

i would just like you guys to watch this (credit to @/hawkedited on tiktok for this edit!)

this video PERFECTLY displays what mikes relationship is like with lucas. in season 1, dustin says that lucas is mike’s best friend, and he’s right! ofc all three are mike’s best friends, but lucas gets a lot of screentime showcasing what his friendship with mike is like in season 3

we also see some great scenes of will and lucas’s friendship, and honestly it’s similar in a lot of ways. lucas sinclair is the BLUEPRINT for what a normal best friendship is like for both mike and will. (dustin as well, but we just don’t get as many scenes with him interacting with the rest of the party past s1)

they are very sarcastic with each other, and it’s easy to talk to lucas about the most ridiculously boyish topics because he is what both mike and will see as heteronormativity. it’s easy for them to be friends with lucas, because they are truly best friends

but with mike and will, although they are best friends, their friendship is a direct contrast to being friends with lucas. that sarcasm and bickering is nowhere to be seen in byler, because that’s the point! we’re supposed to understand that will and mikes relationship is special. it’s not a normal friendship, and their feelings are deeper than anything platonic.

the way mike speaks to will in soft tones, almost reverent? thats not normal for mike. he doesn’t talk to anyone else like that. so why is will so different? we know it’s not because he “can’t handle sarcasm” because he’s got his own brand of sass, and he and lucas are often being sarcastic and joking with each other in s3.

it’s just the way mike treats will. he truly cares for will on a deeper level than friendship

holy shit look at this beautiful editing I’M TREMBLING, this byeler fanvid is making me cry like a BINCH (credits at the end of the video)

Byler vs. Queerbaiting

Honestly I’m still kind of in disbelief that we saw pretty blatantly romantic scenes between two male main characters in one of the most popular TV shows in the world.

Like, it blows my mind that we got moments like this in the actual show.

Stranger Things Season 4 (2022)

But I’m not exaggerating when I say that the romance building between Mike and Will is something I’ve never seen before.

Cause let’s be real: can you name any huge film/TV franchise that has ever paired two main characters together in a queer relationship?

Like, imagine if Harry Potter had paired Ron and Harry together in the end. Or if Finn and Poe had actually gotten to kiss in the new Star Wars trilogy. It’s just… not something that happens outside of media that is specifically queer-themed, like Heartstopper. Think of Warner Bros. cutting gay dialogue in Fantastic Beasts 3 or the new Black Panther showing a 5-second forehead kiss between two female side characters and marketing that as some kind of amazing queer rep. It’s rough out there for queer representation in media, and even more so for queer characters in huge franchises.

After being promised queer rep in Star Wars, I blinked and almost missed this gay kiss in The Rise of Skywalker that was almost certainly cut for international releases.

But I feel it in my bones that Stranger Things is doing something different with its queer storyline. Here’s why.

Will is confirmed gay and in love with Mike. I repeat: Will is a canonically gay main character in love with another main character in one of the biggest shows in the world. And we have a whole season left to explore this love. This goes way beyond the “Dumbledore was actually gay all along” brand of representation. Also, when has this ever happened before with other famous “queerbait” pairings? Johnl*ck? D*stiel? Kl*nce? Where one half of the couple was confirmed in love with the other? And they were in the middle of an unresolved love triangle?

Homophobia has always been villainized. Lonnie, Troy, Billy’s dad. All horrible bullies painted in a negative light who also happen to be homophobic. So in a show where homophobia specifically has been villainized multiple times since season 1, is a queer main couple really off the table? When the writers clearly care about queer issues way more than just inserting a vague gay reference or gay joke (something that still happens WAY too often in mainstream media)?

Will and Mike have already shared many tender moments together onscreen. Think of “it was the best thing I’ve ever done” or “crazy together” or the “cool, cool” heart to heart or that gay ass van scene. The show doesn’t shy away from putting these two alone in a scene together. Sorry, but to me Stranger Things is already worlds ahead of other huge franchises even when it comes to portraying positive male friendships onscreen. A gay kiss really doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.

Queer characters and their storylines are treated with respect. Robin was given a whole coming out scene that’s one of my favourites of all time. She was also given a whole ass love interest in season 4 when they easily could’ve left her storyline alone after coming out. Will was given a tender moment where his brother affirmed his love and support for him, no matter what. And Will’s love for Mike is treated dead serious and not as a punchline. I know this should be like the bare minimum for queer characters, but for a huge franchise? Again, I’m racking my brain thinking of the last time I saw these kinds of scenes in like Game of Thrones or any Star Wars media and I got nothing.

This isn’t just about shipping and subtext—the narrative and cinematography support Byler. So I watch The Witcher on Netflix and picked up on a lot of gay vibes between Geralt and Jaskier, but I also recognized that Yennefer was Geralt’s love interest and the subtext probably wasn’t gonna lead to anything. And that’s fine! But Byler? Yeah, we’re way past the point of subtext. Mike canonically makes Will feel like he’s not a mistake. Will’s feelings made Mike light up and feel validated and special and important in a way his girlfriend was never shown to make him feel. You would have to be insane as a writer to not have these two end up together. And I trust the writers! And as for the cinematography, see the gifs in this post.

Do I think Mike and Will’s love story is going to be perfect representation? Of course not. I have issues with how Will’s coming out was delayed until the last seasons. I’m also guessing the love story in season 5 is gonna be a little clumsy and cheesy, tbh. But who fucking cares! This is mainstream queer rep and I’m totally here for it.

Shit no wait no shit wait shit waiiiit????

Are you telling me that the ‘it was a seven’ in season one was setting up SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING the origins of “friends don’t lie” and why it’s such a huge deal to Will to not lie to Mike even if it works against him? So they actually set up the van scene in that exact moment??! Except in the van scene he lies for Mike even though it STILL works against him. To show how important Mike is to him. That it’s never actually been about lying or not lying. It’s about Mike.

Actually Mike. Friends do lie. When they’re in love with you.

Ohdjsjxhrb

That is all.

one particular mileven argument i’ve been seeing around lately is that we can’t just compare byler and mileven because obviously friendships and romantic relationships are different and you can overall trust your best friend more than your girlfriend...which is all fine and dandy if they hadn’t written their storylines in season 4 the way they did but unfortunately, you have to look at the larger context.

at this point will isn’t just mike’s best friend, he’s in love with him, so that puts him into the role of a potential love interest. at surface level, maybe all of their heart to hearts and intimate conversations in season 4 were just about will being a good friend to mike. but as soon as they canonized will’s feelings for him, it wasn’t just about friendship anymore and they’ve gone beyond platonic territory. in a fictional show where writers have a purpose for every plot point and narrative, you have to look into what message they intend to relay to the audience. why would they make mike spend the entire season having intimate conversations with his gay best friend who happens to be in love with him and emphasize how he’s more open and vulnerable with will? why show how much will understands and comforts mike better than anyone else? why develop and show the depth of byler’s relationship and put a lot of care into their connection while at the same time, showing the cracks in mileven’s relationship and making mike spend the rest of the season away from el?

the thing is, you have to understand writing and narrative devices. when there’s two love interests in a love triangle and the writers are working to develop and resolve the plot between these characters, it’s important for them to show the contrast between the two love interests and their relationship with the person in the middle of the triangle, so that the audience can understand which relationship dynamic works better. they have to establish enough development and foundation for who they choose to make the person in the middle end up with.

and is it pure coincidence that they’ve been making both byler and mileven have one major fight each for two seasons straight while mike and will’s fights are always in relation to mileven? well, if you compare them, then it’s obvious what they’re trying to convey.

these scenes are framed the way they are to show the contrast between the impact and the outcome of byler fighting vs mileven fighting and how mike handles conflict with will vs with el. the mileven breakup, which is comedic and bright, ends with mike looking confused and annoyed more than anything while making no effort to go after el and needing constant push from lucas just to talk to her. the byler rain fight, which is serious and gloomy, ends with mike looking absolutely remorseful and heartbroken and shouting for will to not leave. he instinctively bikes across town in the pouring rain just to apologize to will. in season 4, mike enters both el and will’s rooms with the intention to resolve his conflicts with them. his attempts to fix things with el end in a massive fight instead because they weren’t on the same page and failed to understand each other. his attempts to fix things with will were successful because they understood each other and were on the same page.

so...its safe to say that you’re meant to watch byler scenes in the context of mike being set up to get together with the most compatible romantic partner for him, and vice versa. besides, most of the reason and basis for romantic relationships in media comes from the characters’ dynamic when they were still friends. heck, they did the same thing with jancy in seasons 1-2. nancy was the most emotionally vulnerable and soft with jonathan than with steve, even though they were just friends. jonathan was the one who took care of nancy when steve wasn’t there for her and he got her to open up about her inner turmoils, and that’s how people knew she was better off with jonathan. so if people who watched season 2 compared nancy’s relationship with jonathan vs her relationship with steve to prove how jancy works better, were they just going to get shut down because “obviously jancy was a friendship and stancy was a romantic relationship and they aren’t the same”? do you now realize how stupid it sounds? because somehow it’s easier for people to infer that jonathan was being contrasted with steve as a better love interest for nancy, but they can’t apply the same logic with will and him being a potential love interest for mike.

is it so crazy to think that the writers intended to show how much will is the right person for mike because mike is the most comfortable being emotionally open with him, and will obviously knows exactly how to reassure him with his insecurities and fears and knows his core self more than anyone else? is it so crazy to think that will is obviously being contrasted to el as the better love interest for mike because he listened to his inner turmoils and was there for him in a way el wasn’t shown to be? because let’s be real here, we get virtually zero scenes of mike opening up to el the way he does with will and receiving comfort from her the way he does with will again, most of the scenes where we see mike feeling the most reassured and validated and loved was with will. the van scene was the most obvious instance of this contrast because mike literally just expressed how he felt useless and inferior in his relationship with el, but will made him feel the exact opposite by emphasizing how important he was and calling him the heart. none of those sentiments came directly from el, they were all will’s. no matter how much will tries to attribute his feelings to someone else, mike was still getting that unconditional love and appreciation only from him.

and again, this isn’t to diminish el as a character or paint her as the bad guy for not being there for mike as much as will was, it’s to point out the choices the writers decided to make with these character’s arcs, why they decided not to allocate scenes for mike to actually get reassurance and comfort from his gf instead of constantly only getting it from his best friend. why they chose to separate them for the entire season, why the only conversation they had afterwards was interrupted before they could actually have a meaningful and serious talk. you could argue that el was busy having her own self discovery journey and obviously couldn’t be physically present for mike, but their scene together in surfer boy pizza should’ve been enough proof that they had every opportunity to just insert a scene of mike and el having an actual heart to heart, and yet they still cut it short and decided to do away with it anyways. that’s just how things were written in season 4, and it’s becoming undeniably obvious that byler is being written as the relationship with a stronger connection, understanding and trust between both parties.

Mike Wheeler Apologist Mode: activated

Did someone say breakfast analysis? 

Like Mike and Will’s conversation at Rink O Mania, this breakfast time sequence is full of paths untravelled. The conversation between Mike and El could have gone so many ways, and initially I instinctually sided with Mike. But actually, neither of them are ‘right’, and it’s a testament to the duffers’ commitment to writing realistic coming of age tales that rarely is a character solely in the wrong. 

Miscommunication is the first thing introduced in s4, to humorous effect. It’s such an important part of relationships, and it’s a difficult thing for many people to get right, usually due to personal reasons rather than because they don’t work as a unit. I never understood the films where couples shouted at each other or threw plates and hairdryers - I’m looking at you, The Parent Trap (1998). Forever an iconic film - and that soundtrack negates any criticism tbh - but where was the respect and understanding? Wouldn’t you try to understand or even listen to the person you love, even if you disagreed with them? 

Well, Mike does try to do this. He tries. 

The whole sequence is so interesting - let’s start back at the breakfast table with Will. 

This is a beautiful but bleak scene visually - it’s very dark, but we have the bright pop of yellow orange juice contrasting the blue in both of their shirts. Blue x yellow is everywhere as always. And if you pay attention to the mike x will chronological timeline as a whole, you’ll notice that many moments between them are dark-lit or shadowed in some way, even when its not dictated by the plot. They are trying to tell us something by making us feel a certain way. (Over the course of s4, the lighting in mike x will scenes becomes drastically beamier, more dream-like and romantic. It’s really not subtle at all if you watch their timeline chronologically, but there’s so much other plot that you don’t notice it amongst the other stories at first).  

We don’t see what went down the night before this breakfast - we don’t know where Mike slept, or if there was a spare room, etc. It doesn’t seem important at the moment, but it is: the groundwork has not been laid for us to know exactly how bad the situation is. Jonathan makes light work of their ‘moping’, and clearly thinks they should both buck up and go see a movie. 

Jonathan’s blasé attitude combined with Will’s more sombre one confuses the audience: who are we meant to sympathise with here? Was Jonathan too high to see how bad it got at Rink O Mania? Did he even come inside, or just pick them up outside and only get hearsay of what went down? Is Mike justified in being afraid of El, or is it really not a big deal like Argyle said? Perhaps we aren’t supposed to know. It’s all about character perspectives. There is no right answer. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the gravity of situation. 

So the events have already been downplayed by Jonathan. Later, Will says to the police that it was an accident - is this a lie they have all agreed on? Is Jonathan in on the lie? He tells the police cuffs aren’t necessary. 

Will’s point of view at the breakfast table is one of still orbiting the action.

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