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redb0o · 11 months

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A crammed-in closet full of all my S5 Byler theories/nuggets/wishes

Consider this messier than Monica's secret cupboard. I'll be using images of other characters creatively, so please come prepared and select your Suspension-of-Disbelief Goggles carefully:

Player 1 - The Pince-Nez of a Pathetically Uncool Pizza Parlour Fool

Player 2 - Bomb Disposal Intern Goggs

Player 3 - Gran's Walmart Bifocals

Player 4 - The IT'S IN MY MOUTH! SHIIIIIIIT! Spectacles

Here we go!

Theory #1:

Inspired by this post on the symbolic meaning of the upside-down couch in the final heart-to-heart

I agree with so much of this theory. As well as great character work that rounds out Mike and Will's journey in s4, where we see them closer than ever, + Mike and El not speaking, the symbolism here (light and dark, upside-down couch, Mike sitting down first) surely hints to events of s5.

I particularly love the idea of Will being Mike's light in the darkness, both literally and metaphorically: Will leading him to safety, and Will guiding him towards the life he truly wants. The death grip underpins the former in true Stranger Things style, so...

... I can picture Mike over a cliff somewhere (the quarry? A Vecna-vision-quarry?) with Will gripping his hand trying to haul him to safety.

I can also picture...

Theory #2:

10 + 10 = 20!

Although arguably, they have four 10s here, so 40. So perhaps it really is going to be just Mike (get it, Mike!) or just Will (most likely) who destroys Veccy C once and for all. But I really hope it's both of them together.

So will it be...

...Mike going first into the Upside Down, and Will following him? Or, equally as possible, Will going first, to finish his unfinished biz alone, and Mike immediately following. Bonus points if it's a Romeo and Juliet style scenario, where Mike disappears on a mission, everyone thinking he'd been taken -> Will finds out he's gone and 'follows him' into the Upside Down, but -> Mike was still in the Rightside Up all along, and returns to base camp to find Will has gone to the UD... and thus Mike follows HIM in. This would work excellently with the whole 'Wheeler didn't waste a second' set up, which needs paying off!

and this miscommunication back and forth would also be reflective of Romeo and Juliet's death, but they could eventually subvert the star-crossed lovers trope by ensuring both Mike and Will live. it would lend the R+J imagery throughout the show new perspective, too, especially as regards to Mike and El, because in these two scenes:

it's only Romeo, Romeo Montague, a.k.a Mike, who is referenced. And Will is present narratively both times, but hidden in plain sight.

And the other R+J reference is here:

The s3 opener has some very interesting camerawork that aims to exclude El when the famous 'star-crossed lovers' lines are spoken by Dustin. She moves in and out of frame in a way that feels very deliberate, because the camera is handheld/moving too. So the cameraperson was excluding her deliberately here. And we also see Mike looking up the hill, not talking to El in this moment but instead gazing at Will, seemingly lost in thought.

Let's take a closer look:

'Parents would never approve', while Mike and Will are in focus. It's giving Suzie's disapproving traditional father.

(This is the entire actual shot, with El cut out of frame)

El returns into shot right at Dustin says 'Shakespearean'. But then, the camera cuts her out of the frame by moving to the left once more...

... just as Max reiterates with 'Shakespearean?'

And suddenly El has disappeared entirely again, with the camera highlighting Will in the centre of the frame, and Mike's gaze following him up the hill.

We follow Mike's eyes here, trying to see him and El and why they are pulling back. We the audience try to hang on to both Mike and the party, stopping them from being pulled apart within the frame...

...but then Mike gives up walking, and falls totally out of frame too, just in time for Dustin to say the words:

Star-crossed lovers. And now our camera is looking at Max and Lucas instead (although Will remains central and in focus). Could it be them, too? Could Lumax have a tragic fate, destined to be in love and to die for each other?

Or could Mike and Will be the star-crossed lovers after all? Kept apart, but then revealed not to have been star-crossed or fated to die after all, with the trope subverted? I do also like the set up of Mike and El being the star-crossed lovers fated to be apart - and her disappearing from frame does suggest she may die at the end - but this is just food for thought. If anyone has more convincing subtextual evidence of El being Juliet, please let me know, but as for now, the opposing families/ways of life of the Wheelers and Byers (plus smalltown boy agenda) could well support Mike and Will as the sons of the Montagues and Capulets respectively.

(Disclaimer: sincere apologies if you're reading this, Billy Shakespeare - I hope I'm not completely misinterpreting your oeuvre)

And if Mike does go after Will into the Upside Down, then...

Theory #3:

Will will be caught up in some vine system somewhere, echoing events of s1 - perhaps even in the library again! - and picture this: a side-profile shot of Vecna pouring over Will, breathing in his face, and suddenly the tip of a blade enters the frame, coming to rest sharply against the vines of Vecna's neck. A voice snarls something like 'let him go' or 'don't touch him' and it's a total Sam saving Frodo moment of epicness as the camera pans back to reveal Mike holding Hopper's sword, an expression more venomous than anything we've ever seen in his eyes.

Bonus points if, when Mike is preparing to follow Will into the UD originally, Jon or Hopper try to stop him, and he gives them a look just as dark and dangerous. A new Mike they had never seen before - someone desperate and careless with his own life. It's Mike to a T, and it's also a beautiful development of the devotion his character always had to Will, except now, they're no longer kids. It's just as this youtuber said:

But of course, this doesn't mean that Vecna himself will be afraid of Mike. But that's even better tbh, because the audience would recognise how careless Mike is with his own life and what this means for his mental health. Following a good few episodes of finally being in his pov at the top of the season, this would be the nail in the coffin for truly understanding just where Mike's head is at, especially with regards to Will - to living without Will.

So Vecna grabs Mike too, and this leads to theory nugget number #4:

Both Will and Mike will be restrained by Vecna in a place where they can see each other but not touch / reach each other. They will be tormented together, not by Vecna showing them their worst fears, but another kind of nightmare: forcing them to live, via vision, the life they could have had. They will see themselves happy together, and they will be sharing a mindspace, sharing a vision - each realising the extent of each other's love in real time, and also realising that it's too late. Vecna already has them. Just as they fly at each other, clutching and struggling to hold on, vines wrench them apart, holding the other them just out of reach...

How do they get out?!?!?!

And lastly, theory #5

Picture the cliff again. Or some sort of drop or fall. Perhaps involving the dragon/thesselhydra/Lover's Lake/a gate.

Will will be taken, floating or falling into the realm, and Mike either snatches up his sword to cut off some heads, leaping into the abyss and not caring whether he lives or dies, OR, he follows Will over the edge (not letting him go and falling too, or leaping after Will)...

...and they freefall.

Imagine the possibilities with cinematography: juxta-positioning flashing shots of fabric and hair and hands grappling at terminal velocity intercut with black. In and out, in and out, the air rushing past them, deafening them, Mike falling just behind Will. Then: a super-slow-mo shot, eerie in its sudden silence, confused expressions and squeezed-shut eyes as Mike finally finds Will, somehow, in the air. They grasp each other, and Mike looks around in awe. They've stopped in mid-air. Will opens his eyes too, gasps - El!- but no. Mike shakes his head. It's not El. It's Will.

He's holding them, feet above the lake/rift/abyss. Powers activated, etc etc, he saved their lives. So cheesy, but so Stranger Things.

And talking of the abyss... what if all these creatures didn't come from the Upside Down at all? What if the Upside Down isn't just another dimension, but truly a shadow vale, as Dustin said? A dark reflection, a void, a place where all the hate and abominations of nature went, all the subconscious and id and terrible thoughts made real, a place where creatures are mistakes or accidents or mutations of what is meant to be? A diseased town, a creature without a face. Because what is the Upside Down but a gap between worlds? A void en route to another dimension, a tear in the fabric of time and space?

El opened the gate by accident; it happened due to a lapse in concentration, a curiosity borne of something other than the task she was assigned. She disobeyed the rules of the establishment, and something 'bad' happened. But it was an accident, a very human slip of focus. Perhaps the gate tore because she was distracted, like a half-made thing, a half-formed world was accessed, a diseased version of Earth. What is the function of the Upside Down otherwise? If Henry is telling the truth that he shaped the UD, why not make it better in every way than earth? Why not make it a communist paradise or some shit? Why rule over a disgusting realm? They made an artistic choice by casting a charismatic and traditionally handsome actor as the villain.

The only downside of this abyss theory is that it reflects negatively on disfigurement, and I'm a bit tired of villains having deformities and the demonisation of 'abnormal' appearances. But that said, disease and abhorrations in nature will always be somewhat demonised, because, at their root, our fear/disgust response exists for survival reasons: to warn us of something out of the ordinary and potentially dangerous. However, seeing as the Duffers love outsiders, their message seems to be one of acceptance and curiosity about the other, the alien, the unknown, rather than a message that supports the validity of this disgust response.

Mini theory (#5.5)

Bonus bonus points for there being a scene where Mike explicitly chooses to prioritise either Will or El. Explicit could mean symbolically, not necessarily him saying 'I choose you', but going after them/running to them first. After 4 seasons of Will and El switching places within Mike's life - gone, found, missing, returned - who will he choose?

It would be such an organic way of showing where his heart truly lies to see his instinctual, knee-jerk reaction when they're both in equal danger. He's arguably already doing this, but s5 will ramp everything up to 11 (pardon the pun).

Quadruple bonus points if both Will and El actually witness Mike make this choice, too. We've only got one season left, people - they left it this long to get Mike into gear, it's their fault if they'll be strapped for time! We're in the finale now, it's gonna be - it's gotta be - brutal.

Come on, Duffs - I want a little heartbreak! Raise those stakes! Kill a few heroes! Burn this house to the ground!

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