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faramirsonofgondor · 3 months

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Mike Wheeler Is Traumatized

I know a lot of people equate Mike distancing himself from Will & the rest of the party to him just being an asshole, growing up, or internalized homophobia, but I think it has to do with his trauma SO MUCH. A lot of people ignore that by the end of season 2/the beginning of season 3 Mike is probably the only child who has seen so much gore (besides El, and possibly Will). Like even Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan did not have to see what Mike saw in the lab. While I’m not trying to say Mike has more trauma than the rest of the kids, he definitely has a lot different trauma.

In Season 1, all the of the kids (I’m including Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve as a part of the kids because they’re still teens during seasons 1 & 2) have seen the demogorgon but they don’t really have to see the aftermath of what it does. They know on some level that their life is in danger, but they don’t know exactly what the demogorgon is capable of, just that it took Will & killed Barb. Although Nancy & Jonathan do see the deer getting eaten, it’s not really the same thing as a human. El is really the only one with the knowledge of what the demogorgon is and what it can do, and even then she doesn’t really have all the full facts. I’d say that the goriest thing the kids experience by the end of S1 is El killing the agents and even then it probably wasn’t as impactful because they probably saw those agents as bad guys (because they were). So maybe the goriest thing was Will’s body, but again, they only saw it from afar and then found out that Will was still alive not even 24 hours later. While Wild’s experience in the upside down was definitely traumatic I’m not entirely sure if it can be classified as gory because we don’t know the full extent of what Will experienced.

Then we get to Season 2. All of the younger kids on some level witness Will’s possession, but Mike is the only one who gets to see the full extent of it, and he’s consistently the one who finds Will first during his episodes. He’s the one who witnesses Will’s seizure while Bob, Hopper, and Joyce are still on their way out of the tunnels. He’s also privy to a lot more information than anyone else regarding Will’s experiences with the Mind Flayer. I think Mike himself wasn’t even aware of this fact, because when speaks to Joyce it almost seems like he’s under the assumption that Will told her about the Mind Flayer, when in reality she pieced it together herself. Will also gives Mike insight into his worries about being controlled by the Mind Flayer, but he doesn’t seem to tell anyone else. Now back to Will’s seizure and subsequent hospitalization, when Mike is first presented with idea that Will might forget him, it’s a lot to handle, because it’s not something Mike can fix, but then Will does remember Mike and Mike is relieved. And it’s Mike who Will turns to, who Will tells that he has an idea on how to stop him. It’s Mike who realizes a little too late that it had all been a trap and that there’s nothing they can do to stop it.

Somehow, miraculously, Mike, Will, Joyce, Bob, Hopper, and Dr. Owens make it to safety. But not before Mike has witness thousands of demodogs eating people alive, tearing them apart - people who were only trying to help Will, people who probably had friends and family of their own. And now they’re all stuck, and it’s only a matter of time before the demodogs get to them. Yet, somehow, they make it out, and they’re only waiting for Joyce and Bob when Mike hears her scream. Can you imagine how horrifying it would be? To be the only kid in a situation like that? Mike probably didn’t even know if Joyce was okay or not until she got outside. Can you imagine what was going through Mike’s head? Not to mention, had Joyce actually been hurt, then Hopper would’ve been the only adult left in that situation- and he went back inside. Those few moments must have been so fucking terrifying, because if Hopper died, then who was left to protect them?

I also honestly think in part that Hopper leaving them might’ve been a contributing factor to Mike’s blowup at Hopper - obviously Mike was upset that Hopper hid El, but his breakdown seems to be deeper than that. Hopper has been telling Mike since Season 1 not to get involved, that he’ll handle it, etc. but then Hopper and Joyce leave the kids at the end of S1 and the party ends up losing El, so when confronted with the fact that Hopper had abandoned them again, even momentarily, probably made Mike lose so much of his trust/belief in Hopper to keep him and the party safe. Finding out about El was just the final nail in the coffin.

Anyways, back to Will’s possession. Mike was also the only party to be there when they were trying to get through to Will in the shed. Mike had to witness Will scream that Mike was lying, to let Will go, etc. I think that all of this combined is what really causes Mike to distance himself from Will and the others, not only the fact that he had witnessed such brutality and gore, but also that he feels partially responsible for it. He truly had lost his innocence in a way the rest of the party hadn’t experienced, and the only one who understood on some level was El (because she felt partially responsible too) and that’s why they latched into each other so hard. I also think that’s the reason why Mike insists of ditching his childhood in Season 3, because it was D&D that had sort of started this whole thing to begin with, and it was Mike childlike belief that they would make it out okay, that supporting Will would be enough to stop the Mind Flayer, that made Mike feel like he should’ve done more in the aftermath of Season 2.

However, I would also like to point out that Mike seems to have other trauma that’s not related to the Upside Down that contributes to this behavior as well. Mike has been punished multiple times for not conforming or for acting out throughout the series. When Mike stands up for Will during the assembly in Season 1, he’s pushing back against idea that Will’s alleged queerness should be met with violence and bigotry. While this may have felt rewarding in the moment, this eventually leads to the Quarry scene in which Mike is forced to essentially jump to his death. Despite El saving him, I think this impacted him more than the show lets on. While I don’t El or Dustin fully grasped the implications of this scene, I think for Mike it cemented the belief that any having any perceived queerness was a threat to both his and Will’s safety. And it wasn’t just about him being queer - really it was about Will’s perceived queerness. I think that’s why after this scene we see Mike pushing so hard for romance between himself and El AND for romanced between Will and other girls (pushing him to dance with a girl despite seeming unhappy about it, trying so hard push the whole ‘teen summer romance’ and getting girlfriends thing during season 3). When it comes to sexuality Mike doesn’t just see conformance as a way to stop bullying or as the way he would actually like to behave, he sees it as necessary to protecting both his and Will’s life, because its really saying something that the closest Mike’s been to death wasn’t because of the Upside Down but because of two bigoted preteens. Not even full grown adults. Mike probably already knows some of what Lonnie was like, so the idea that the rest of the town might start to catch on, that someone older might try to hurt them probably plagued his mind at least a little.

I’m honestly a little scared for Season 5 because while I do think Mike started rejecting conformity in S4, Eddie’s death and the whole mob mentality towards Hellfire might set back into his Season 3 mindset of trying to fit in as much as possible. I guess I’ll just have to find out when S5 comes out and I pirate it which won’t be for a while.

Anyways pushing past Mike’s conformity towards sexuality, Mike also does get punished for acting out in S2 and he has to get rid of a bunch of his childhood toys. So Mike may associate getting rid of his childhood with punishment. So maybe when Mike tries to push away from his childhood in S3, it’s really because he feels like he has to be punished (for not saving Will on time, for not warning anyone fast enough, for not seeing through the Mind Flayer’s plot, for being a child and having hope only to see that it’s dangerous to hope, that life can be so harsh and unforgiving).

Anyways, if y’all want me to talk more about this (I have ideas about how this connects more in S3 and S4) or anything else just lmk!

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