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(?) MIKE INDIRECTLY CALLS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH EL FAKE/BULLSHIT in SEASON 3
ok, i've been thinking about this.
so a while ago I saw this post by the legendary @kaypeace21 where she talks about how the word "bullshit" has been used to describe dysfunctional relationships in stranger things...
Nancy to Steve in s2, saying she doesn't love him and that it's all "bullshit." Later, the two break up because of this loveless, superficial relationship. Kaypeace21 draws the parallel between stancy and mileven, when Dustin calls mileven's relationship "bullshit." (Kaypeace made the image down below, i took a screenshot of it is that ok??? i don't even know sorry if it's not, all credit goes to her. I didn't reblog her post because it was really long and I just wanted to isolate this idk)
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But, also in season 3, we see Mike make this statement about El spying on him after their break-up:
Now, when I first saw this scene obviously I thought it was really funny, but there was also something that felt.. I guess, out of place about it. Like, it's not a typical joke that you hear in your average stranger things episode haha. But then I thought about it and how it stuck out, and how it tied back in to all this "bullshit" talk. Characters refer to bad relationships and generally non-genuine things as "bullshit" "shit" or "stupid" so... I know this is really weird but,
Guys.... I think this might have been Mike's coded way of saying he was afraid that El would find out their relationship is, in fact, actually bullshit. He doesn't want her to know what he was thinking/feeling. He doesn't want her to know that he sat on his couch, lazily complaining, asking how in the world it could possibly be his fault she's mad at him, saying things that downplayed her feelings because she's a girl. That's not what you do when you really love someone, especially if you're Mike Wheeler. We've seen his potential for caring for people, just in all the times he desperately searched for, apologized to, and comforted Will.
And ON TOP of that, later on in season 3 when he's admitting his love for her to the rest of the group, she's in the BATHROOM. Then when she comes out and asks what's happening, he acts all terrified like he didn't just say anything important. Almost like he was afraid, yet again, that she would find out he's lying. One more connection to establish this is that when she's in the bathroom with Max earlier, he is afraid she is "conspiring against him." It was all played off as very humorous, but it shows that in general when she's in the bathroom, he's afraid she's listening to him spill bullshit out of his mouth. .. also... he calls her a spy, and in s2 he calls Will a spy, but that time it's fondly... a spy against the mindflayer, aka the bad guy. I think he's insecure about his lying, and doesn't want El to see him as the bad guy and conspire against him for it as the "spy".
Just a theory, idk if this is true, idk if the writers will make byler endgame, but it's just got me thinking ...
this looks pretty bad for mileven to me...
-------also please let me know if this has been said before ------
Stranger Things
Mike Wheeler × Will Byers
**NOT MY VIDEO**