stranger theories

To be honest, no I don't think so BUT I can and will discuss S5 implications anyways (: for context (I'm aware anon added this too), Phineas Gage was one of the first times in psychology people started to figure out brain trauma could be linked to personality change.

I think the purpose of that scene was for two reasons. Firstly, the idea of something happening to your brain leading to a rapid personality switch even though physically you are the same was probably foreshadowing Will's personality switch when flayed. And secondly, I think it might have been showing the idea that we are always adapting to survive which they spoke about later to foreshadow Will having the flayer dust burned out of him, although I think it's more likely just the first point.

If we're thinking about later seasons, I think the theme of brain trauma (physically) having an impact on the purpose has kind of continued, like Eleven in S4. However, I wonder if this is going to be more relevant to Max. The physical trauma of her injuries and the damage to her brain could be blamed for her sudden personality change when she wakes up. Perhaps a way to get Mr Clarke involved (I know they'd use an actual doctor or a Hawkins lab person but I miss him).

Don't know if this makes sense, thanks for the ask anon (:

I'm still not over the fact that people try to use Will dancing with a girl at the Snowball as evidence that he is heterosexual. How can you watch Will rejecting her, looking to Mike in panic and only dancing with her once Mike told him to and think 'wow this is solid proof that this kid likes women'?

And then they call people who think Will is gay delusional.

I think that if Vecna wanted Will to be dead, Will would've been dead in S1. As great at Will is at hiding, we saw those grown men in Russia get absolutely demolished by the demogorgon; Will was a little kid with a gun. He also wasn't eaten by the demogorgon but instead had his airway blocked with a tentacle, ie something he could be brought back from. Personally I am of the theory that somehow the tentacle is what have him true sight as Vecna can make you see things so maybe that linked him to Will so he could flash Will into the Upside Down so he could flay Will. Which raises the question of 'why Will?' which I'll get to in a second.

The previous explantation doesn't the answer the question of how Will got to the Upside Down into the first place. They did mention in S3 that the gate weakened Hawkins meaning that's why the Russians could only open gates in Hawkins, so maybe the gate being so fresh made the boundary between universes really thin for a period meaning that explains the portal in Joyce's wall and also in the tree. I also saw a theory (@willel) saying that Will was always linked to Henry/Vecna and his true sight/universe hopping led him to accidentally flash into an alternate dimension in order to hide now that the boundary was weaker.

My current theory goes as such: Henry saw himself in a young Will. After Eleven opened the gate, the boundary between universes was weakened so he was able to mind hop like we saw in S4 and after seeing the mind of this young child, an outcast for not conforming to societal norms, he decided he'd be the beginning of his uprising against Hawkins. The weakening of the barrier could also explain how it is trapped on the day Will went missing. Anyways, he took Will to the Upside Down and then when he heard that Joyce and Hopper were going to rescue him, he planted the tentacle, giving a psychic connection between him and Will and more importantly, bringing demogorgons to our world through the slug thing.

What Vecna does in his mindscape affects the real world, so using this psychic connection, Will began flashing to the Upside Down where Vecna flayed him so Will could be part of his mind and be the very first soldier in the mind flayer's army. He wanted the flayed to kill everyone but not Will. Will sensed before being flayed that it wanted everyone dead except for Will because Vecna wanted Will to join him, like young Eleven, except with no chance to turn his back on him. After being de-flayed, the reason Will can sense Vecna and the Upside Down is because of that aforementioned psychic connection which was in fact not only from the mind flayer but the tentacle earlier.

So what does this mean for S5? I think Vecna is going to try and go after Will again. Will has so much trauma for Vecna to manipulate him with so I think Vecna might utilize that. The heroes don't understand why he's targeting Will over Eleven, but Will is starting to work out why. And then he confronts Vecna about it and Vecna explains to him, expecting Will to understand his message about conformity.

Will would reject because he doesn't want to harm his loved ones. Vecna would view these loved ones as a weakness of Will and go after them, in particular Johnathan, Joyce and Mike. Especially Mike because that would impact Eleven as well. But even after that, Will would refuse because Will is good deep down and Vecna could never understand that. The parallels between Henry and Will aren't meant to indicate a Will villain arc; it is to show that Will is the foil of Vecna.

I don't know if this makes any sense, it gets a bit off the rails in my S5 theories. Thanks for the ask and sorry my response took so long!

Ok, I don't know if these are unpopular but here we go:

So those are my unpopular opinions! Feel free to disagree with me. Thanks for the ask (:

Like Noah says, Will Byers is definitely 100% gay. He's meant to be gay from episode 1. This is quite a long analysis, as in several thousand of words long (not an exaggeration this took me two and a half hours), but I hope you like it and it's a good recap of Will's sexuality journey throughout the show for all those who already think Will is gay. And I'll talk about my thoughts for S5 a bit.

Just as a note before I begin analyzing the show: the Duffer brothers said that Will's sexuality would be clarified in Volume 2 and all that we saw in Volume 2 clearly was pointing to him being gay which I'll talk about later. They also said in a Collider interview that Will was speaking about himself through Eleven and that they used camera angles to show the duality of his speech. And they are the show's creators. Noah Schnapp said he's meant to be gay but he couldn't say so because of spoilers so if it was his interpretation why would he not be allowed to say it unless he's gay? But in this analysis, I'm going to try and prove to you why that's the case anyways without needing confirmation.

Right off the bat, we have the show's pitch/bible which describes Will as having sexual identity issues.

Now I've highlighted the things here relevant to his sexuality. I think the fact he has sexual identity issues is pretty self explanatory for how that applies to him being gay. It says he recently came to the realization he does not fit the 1980s definition of "normal" and considering this is the sentence after talking about his sexual identity issues, it's clear that's it about him realizing he's gay.

Other things of note is that it mentions he wasn't viewed as normal in the 1980s, a time where it was much less societally acceptable to be gay, and that normal is in quotation marks, showing he is normal but it just wasn't viewed as normal back then. It also says he is able to be himself uninhibited in fantasy, implying he can't be in real life, which I think could be a reference to him being closeted. Either way, this shows that he was planned to be gay from day one.

Now let's break it down season by season. In S1, we see that Will is bullied for seeming gay from the start of Episode 1 in which Joyce mentions his father called him slurs. He is repeatedly bullied for being gay throughout the series. Whilst being bullied for being gay doesn't make you gay, they're clearly planting the idea of Will's sexuality in our heads right from the start, especially relevant when you keep the pitch in mind.

Another thing of note is Will's conversation with Johnathan which was an allegory about being gay. Will's father didn't show up to take Will to the baseball and Johnathan points out he doesn't like baseball and that he shouldn't force himself to like things he doesn't like because people tell him he should, especially not his dad. Whilst this is about Will not liking sports, it can be read as Johnathan telling him that Will doesn't like things that "normal" boys like, but that's not a bad thing and that Will should just be himself. It's also important to remember that Will's dad is homophobic and that Will shouldn't force himself to like things his homophobic dad doesn't want him to like.

We also see a repetition of the word "normal" here. Johnathan says Will's dad is trying to force Will to like "normal things". We saw normal in reference to Will's sexuality earlier, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that this is about that too. Charlie Heaton also said at a conference that he knows Will is gay and that he wants to share that but can't and I get this is in reference to S4, but to me I view this conversation as Johnathan subtly telling Will that it's ok to be gay.

In terms of S2, we see less homophobic bullying. There are a few things to note though. When Will talks to Johnathan about feeling like he's a freak, Johnathan says that being "ordinary" is boring and that you'd rather be friends with someone like David Bowie (who was queer) than someone more dull (in this case Kenny Rogers). This is less clearly about sexuality than in S1 admittedly as it could be in reference to him feeling odd because of his Upside Down trauma, but I still think it's worth noting. Will also develops a close relationship with Mike and when he is mind flayed, Mike's voice is able to get through to him, showing he has a special bond with him.

Other things worth noting: the scene of Will at the Snow Ball. A girl comes up to Will and asks him to dance. Will starts to say no and looks at Mike instead of the girl. Mike indicates that Will should dance with the girl so he does. Ie he's liking something or rather someone because people tell him he should, not because he actually does. It said in a script that Will was looking at Mike whilst dancing but I don't know if this is a legitimate script based on this tweet. However it does mention that it's the season 4 scripts that aren't legitimate, not S2, so I'll post them here anyways.

Now onto S3. This is where Will's sexuality gets brought to the forefront a lot more. Will seems to be pretty jealous of Mike and Eleven's relationship and whilst it's partially about all of his friends having girlfriends, Mike clearly means something more. He was very excited to hear Dustin's girlfriend and he doesn't seem to have any issues with Lucas and Max being together. Will is being left out by everyone, not just Mike, which shows me that Will is interested in Mike. Will also looks quite pleased when Mike and Eleven break up.

This brings me to the iconic "it's not my fault you don't like girls" scene. I'm aware Mike's motivation in that scene may have been rooted in Will being immature, although that's not how Will took it. If you see the reaction on his face after Mike said that, it's much more personal than just that. It's also important to remember that Will has been bullied for his sexuality for years and now he feels as though his best friend has thrown him out of the closet before he ever got to fully accept he was in one.

Afterwards, Will looks at him and Mike and says "stupid" in reference to his own thoughts because Will knew deep down that he liked Mike but understands that it could never work out (not getting into if Byler is possible because this is about Will's POV). He rips up photos of him and Mike together. If this was a guy and a girl and one of them was insulted and started ripping up their photos whilst saying they were "stupid", it would be viewed as romantic, but I guess that's besides the point.

Will kind of falls into the background after this scene beyond the occasional neck tingle. I know there's other stuff you could mention, but I think with that I'm going to move on the season that solidified that Will is gay if the earlier seasons didn't do that as well.

At the start of S4, Will is acting weird and Eleven thinks this is because he has a crush. He's making a painting that he won't show Eleven so she thinks it must therefore be a romantic thing for a girl he likes. And yet Will brings the painting with him to the airport to give it to Mike. Also at the airport, Will looks overjoyed to see Mike and goes in for a hug with Mike which is not reciprocated leaving this sense of awkwardness. This could be platonic but remember that Eleven who isn't as socially observant thinks that this is because of a crush he has, ie a crush on Mike.

It is also mentioned that Will has a crush in his character description for this season, showing how they are very intentionally planting hints that Will Byers has a crush on Mike.

There are other things to note in this first episode. When a girl tries to hit on Will, Will is very clearly uncomfy with this action and he pulls his leg away and pulls a face, showing again that Will isn't interested in girls. This isn't about this specific girl too because it would be completely irrelevant to show that Will dislikes a random girl who is never brought up again, meaning it has to be there for a purpose. Will's hero this season is shown to be Alan Turing, a computer scientist who was also a gay man and persecuted for being so. He also has a poster for the song Boys Don't Cry and the lyrics seem to match up pretty well with him being unable to tell Mike his feelings and something I'll mention a bit later on.

This may seem random, but remember that every detail shown is most likely intentional. The poster isn't there to fill space, it's because the song has meaning to Will. I believe this is meant to refer to Will wanting to tell Mike his feelings but that he knows it's pointless and that Mike only cares about Eleven. If it wouldn't damage their relationship, Will would share his feelings to Mike which he clearly wants to do but is unable to because he doesn't want to lose his friendship with Mike but he's used to sharing things with Mike hence the van scene which I'll talk about in a minute. To reiterate, this post isn't about Mike, it's about Mike from Will's POV.

We see more of Will being jealous of Mike and Eleven in the scene at Rink-O-Mania. The theme of Rink-O-Mania in the sound track is called "In the closet" which whilst being a reference to Eleven crying in a closet could easily be about Will sadly watching as Mike skates away with his girlfriend. When Will and Mike fight, Mike says Eleven is his girlfriend and Will says what about us which compares him to Eleven in terms of his relationship with Mike which again could be platonic but the sheer amount of details challenge this.

Fast forwarding ahead because this is getting long, I'm going to talk about The Van Scene™. Remember that the Duffers said Will is talking through Eleven in this scene as you read the analysis, although I won't be referencing that as I'm trying to prove it with content in the show. Will decides that it's time to show Mike his painting. He says Eleven commissioned this painting but we know that's a lie because earlier Eleven said that Will would not show her the painting and that she thinks its romantic.

Why would Will lie about someone commissioning the painting, especially considering that person has romantic feelings? Because Will wants to tell Mike how he feels so he does it through Eleven. Will makes a speech about how Eleven feels about Mike but this is through the painting which again, Eleven did not commission. If it's not obvious enough, I'll change the pronoun from she to I and change Mike's feelings about her to Eleven just to make that clearer. Again, this is from Will's POV so don't come after me!

This is not about milkvan because it mentions being mean and pushing Mike away and Eleven was not pushing Mike away. She wanted to be closer to him which is quite the opposite. Anyways, after that speech Will smiles at Mike before turning away and crying into his hand because he didn't want Mike to see him crying. Why would Will be crying if this wasn't about Will knowing he'd just pushed Mike to Eleven whilst liking Mike himself. This brings me back to Boys Don't Cry, the song on Will's wall that I mentioned earlier.

I think that song could be referring to this moment. Will smiles at Mike whilst talking about Eleven because he's trying to hide his feelings and by crying into his hand, he is hiding the tears in his eyes. He tries to hide it because he doesn't want Mike to realize that he likes him because he's not "meant" to like Mike. The soundtrack in this scene is also of note as it is a blend of the songs "The First I Love You" and "The First Lie" because it is the first time Will has said his feelings to Mike out loud but he also lied about them by saying this was what Eleven felt like, meaning it was also the first lie he told Mike.

Finally for S4, we have the scene in Surfer Boy Pizza in which we have the final allegorical Will and Johnathan conversation to talk about. Johnathan noticed Will earlier and knows that Will was upset because he is in love with Mike and later on when Will is sadly staring at Mike being happy with Eleven, Johnathan takes the opportunity to tell him that if Will has anything he wants to tell him, Johnathan will be loving and supportive of him. The scene is meant to be Johnathan subtly telling Will it's ok to be gay, just like in S1. And I know I'm not meant to talk about actor confirmations, but this scene was confirmed to be about that by both Noah Schnapp and Charlie Heaton and they were directed to do it that way.

It's pretty clearly about Will's sexuality and lots of queer people with supportive people in their life can relate to someone telling them that if there's anything they want to share then it'll be expected. Will bursts into tears and hugs Johnathan. If this was about anything else, why would Will be so moved by it? Will feels deeply ashamed of his sexuality, referring to himself as a mistake for not being "normal", so he's very impacted by Johnathan letting him know that whatever he has to share, it's ok with him.

All of this to me shows that Wil Byers has been intended to be gay since Season 1. In terms of S5, I think that Will is going to come out based off of all this proof and since it's the last season and Will is clearly meant to be gay, it's going to happen now. I think we'll either get a quiet scene with a family member, especially Johnathan or a more explosive one with Mike where Will yells "because I love you" and then there's dead silence afterwards. Or both. Either way, I think Will's sexuality has been very well written and I have faith that the scene will be good, especially considering how much I loved Robin's coming out scene.

Hope this helps to convince your friends that Will is canonically gay. Don't know if this is what you wanted, but thanks for the ask anyways!

Hello folks, here's a very teeny plot hole from S2 of Stranger Things that I noticed!

In S2 episode 1 (MADMAX), Steve has written an essay and Nancy is reading it and critiquing it. The scene is meant to establish Steve is struggling in school and that his relationship with Nancy is seemingly going strong. It is mentioned that he used a game he played against Northern as a metaphor for his life. Anyways, I paused the show to try and read what he says and I found a small plot hole.

It's very hard to read because I couldn't find screenshots anywhere so had to use a low quality video off of YouTube and even in the show it's very blurry due to the lighting, but it says "Its the championship game" (the wrong spelling of it's is down to Steve, not me). As in whoever wins the game wins the championship. However, in S4, Steve's date tells him it must be frustrating that the school has a chance of winning the championship after he has left, which is odd because they had a chance of winning the championship ship game when he was there.

However later on in that scene he compares the game to his grandfather in the war because "we both won". Meaning Steve not only was in a final but he won it. But it says in S4 that no one has won the championship title for 22 years until Lucas came along, meaning this can't be true as Steve was meant to have won it in 1984 only two years prior.

Does this matter? No. Has someone probably noticed this before me? Yes. Could the championship game mean a random game in a championship? Maybe, although by saying it's "the" game makes me think it is. Other things I noticed on the letter was Steve spelling we're as were and hear as heir. His grandfather is called Otis and fought in 1945 (39 years ago) on an island during WW2. Also Steve attempted a riskier three pointer shot in his match instead of a safer one.

So there you go! Follow for more pointless observations I guess (:

I mean regardless of Byler, Mike cares deeply for Eleven. He became seriously depressed after she died and misbehaved as a cry for help from his parents. Even if his feelings weren't romantic, a kid just watched a close friend of his die in front of his eyes, that's not something you stop caring about. So I don't think that him calling her has to be romantic nessecarily. Mike and Eleven clearly have a deep bond, deeper than Eleven with Mike's other friends, as well.

I joke about how he was just happy a girl wasn't repulsed by him but in all seriousness, Eleven had a huge impact on him and they have a very deep bond with each other. Like Will said in S4, they need each other, and I don't think that has to be a romantic thing. As you said, I think that Mike never felt these feelings with a girl before so over her absence he thought it had to be romantic. So that kiss at the end of the season was part of the excitement of Mike being able to hang out with one of his best friends again which he could've easily interpreted as romantic feelings.

In terms of him realizing his feelings for Will, I always headcanon it as him working it out around S3 when he was actually able to be with Eleven more and not when she was absent. Because when you look at their relationship after that point it feels kind of superficial to me. They just make out a bunch but they don't have that connection that stood out in S1 and S2. If not for Byler, I'd guess it's because puppy love loses its charm after you grow up and because their wasn't that tension of if they'll be able to be together anymore. That could be poor writing or it could be an intentional choice that Mike is starting to work out their relationship isn't going to work so he forces himself into it when it's actually more disingenuous now they're spending more time together.

In terms of the Snow Ball scene, if he was jealous of Will I don't think he'd think it was romantic, he'd probably rationalize it as jealousy he gets to be with someone in public when he can't be with Eleven. And because they're best friends and it's easy to muddle up strong platonic feelings for someone of the opposite sex and romantic and because he no longer felt as jealous because he was distracted by seeing Eleven, he was able to be happy and move on.

Obviously this is just my interpretation of events. I did think they (Mike and Eleven) were cute romantically in S2 I'm not going to lie but I think it's overshadowed by Byler that season and later seasons kind of changed my view on their relationship. I don't think S2 is bad relationship writing if megalovania is canon as it can be explained both platonically and romantically. I don't think if it's meant to be romantic that it was well written in S3 and S4. That's just my thoughts on the matter!

Thanks for the ask, anon.

Yeah, I don't think a Suzie Dustin breakup is on the cards, but that's still a sad line. Steve's life was based around popularity and then Nancy, but with her gone, Steve had to figure out who he was for himself. He loved her a lot but ultimately she didn't love him and lines like this honestly remind me why I don't want them to get together again.

Steve was so in love with Nancy but I think he needs to become his own person. In my opinion, Steve's dating life is heavily based on validation. He'll hit on pretty much any girl and also initially didn't like Robin because she wasn't cool in high school, showing how his perception of dating is just based around his own reputation, popularity and validation. He gave that up for Nancy, but it wasn't for himself and instead he based himself on validation from her. I feel like this need for validation could also be a result of his implied parental neglect, although I don't know if that's a reach.

I think that's why I want him to move on from relationships entirely. He has so so many good platonic relationships in his life and he cares about so many people. In S3, I thought he was moving on from Nancy and realizing that all his issues around validation and popularity were bullshit and then maturely handling a rejection from a girl he never thought he'd like. But then in S4 he's just doing the same thing? I kind of feel like the writers view Nancy as a reward for his character progression, but I feel like the whole point is he should try to be a good person for himself, not because he wants validation.

That's kind of why I don't get why St*ncy shippers ship it for Steve because it's not good for his character at all. Sorry if that's not what you wanted, anon, and thanks for the ask (:

I feel like it was a mixture of the two. First of all, there's the argument that the Upside Down is a hive mind meaning Vecna probably would've been in control of the demogorgon in the first place. But there's little details that make me feel like it was Vecna directly without him using something to get in the way. For example, the lights flicker when the demogorgon is around but they get brighter when Vecna is around because Vecna is a human (Will made the lights brighter too) and when Will was taken the lights got brighter but they flickered when Barb was taken as far as I'm aware.

Although they flicker when Vecna uses his powers too, I think he uses his psychic powers before he took Will into the Upside Down. When Will is at Mike's house, the porch light flickers. This wouldn't be the demogorgon as it's way outside of its hunting range and also he doesn't tend to stalk his prey. The TV is also static-y, just like Max's pre Chrissy, the one at the diner pre Patrick and Victor's radio. Eleven uses static to infiltrate people's minds, so I believe at this point was when Vecna selected his target.

But then that raises the question of why? First of all, it could just have been a random kid. But Will has been targeted across all of the seasons, not to mention he brought the demo slug into our world, developed true sight and got mind flayed. I think Vecna selected him as a target possibly as a bit of projection. He selected Eleven before because I believe he saw her being persecuted for something she couldn't control and that she wasn't conforming as well, which is similar to what he experienced as a kid. Maybe when he saw Will getting bullied for not conforming to societal norms he thought he might want to join him? I mean mind flayed Will did say Vecna wanted everyone dead except for him. Perhaps after giving up on Eleven, he turned to Will and targeted him instead.

That's why instead of just being eaten, Will was found with a vine. Vecna knew he was going to get saved so planted the demo slug in him and decided Will would be his agent to blur the lines between Hawkins and the Upside Down. I also wonder if Will was actually going into the Upside Down as he didn't disappear in our world. Stuff that happens in Vecna visions clearly affects you in real life so maybe he got flayed in a manufactured vision and then real life by extension? He could clearly sense the Upside Down pre flaying and that to me seems very reminiscent of Max sensing that she was cursed by Vecna.

So those are some of my thoughts. Thanks for the ask, anon (:

I disagree with this take. The mindflayer was always chief of the hive mind, yes, but the mind is Henry Creel/Vecna's. You can tell this from Will in S4 saying how he still feels what he thinks, in reference to Vecna, meaning he was part of the Vecna mind hub. I don't think he invented the mind flayer but if you recall, in S2 the mind flayer was described as kind of a virus that clings onto a host cell. So Vecna didn't invent the virus, but he spreads it and chooses the hosts with the downside that he feels the pain of the host. I'm not sure why we didn't see it looking in S1 considering Will was surprised by it in S2, but I assume Vecna was maybe testing it out on other stuff before he used human targets.

They're not working together because the mind flayer never had any mind or drive of its own. It just was chilling in the Upside Down but Vecna realized he could manipulate and spread the dust around. The dust has Vecna's mind however because it is part of the hive mind. Hope this explanation made sense!

Thanks for the ask, anon (:

Mike Wheeler analysis

Ok so I thought about how I'm going to do a Mike character analysis, so I'm going to break down his character season by season in chronological order. I'll be talking about his traits in general alongside his relationships with Will and Eleven. This post is not the 'definitive' Mike Wheeler, just my interpretation of him and his character. You guys can feel free to disagree! Also just a warning: this post is very long. Seriously, it's the longest post I've ever written.

Season 1

From the beginning, Mike is shown to be the closest thing the group has to be a leader as they all gather at his house and he's the dungeon master. Him being dungeon master shows that he is imaginative and creative which is reminiscent of Will. Him and Will have more in common that the rest of the group and it's clear that Will is very comfortable around him as he tells him that the demogorgon got him. At the beginning of the series, we see him and his friends getting bullied. Mike and the rest of the group don't seem to fight back against this. The first episode ends with Mike meeting Eleven in the forest.

You can see Mike is a caring person as he immediately takes in Eleven and is more friendly towards her than his other friends. He gives her shelter and food and tries to come up with a plan. This is when we start to see Mike's protective instincts kicking in. Mike knows that he's in danger keeping El but he doesn't care as he's brave and wants her to be safe. After finding out Eleven may be able to help them find Will, he teams up with her. He's very headstrong and refuses to be told he's incorrect as he is being protective of Will.

As a parallel to him earlier in the season not standing up for himself, Mike immediately calls out the bullies when he feels that they are insulting Will. This isn't a 'defending a dead child's reputation' thing because at this point, Mike doesn't think Will is dead. He clearly cares a lot about him and is angry at the homophobic bullies, leading to him knocking him over and humiliating him. Mike defends his friends yet again when he jumps off of a cliff to stop the bullies from hurting Dustin. Mike will do the right thing for people he cares about and he's clearly a great friend.

At the end of the season, Mike kisses Eleven. I don't really view this as romantic. Eleven had the vocabulary of a two year old and had literally no idea what was going on most of the time. Mike and her never really had any romantic moments together before Mike kissed her. She was pretty much the only girl Mike was close to and I think that he thought his platonic feelings and protectiveness which he felt for all of his friends was romantic because she was a girl. In reality, they're just good friends.

Season 2

At the start of Season 2, Mike was struggling with the loss of Eleven. Even though I don't ship them, he did really care for her and losing a friend like that is a lot to handle. However, like we saw with Will, Mike refused to believe she was gone when everyone else accepted it.

Mike is still very caring and protective over Will. They clearly have the closest relationship out of the group. For example, when Will is going into therapy Mike notices that he seems quiet but Lucas says he's always quiet. This shows that Mike notices and understands Will in a way that his other friends do not. When Will is having visions, Mike is the one who notices and comforts him.

After a particularly bad episode, Will and Mike go and hang out in his basement. Will shares his feelings with Mike because he feels as though Mike is the only one who can understand him. Mike admits to Will that he thinks he's going crazy too. This is an important moment for Mike. Mike is tough, brave and protective but is rarely emotionally vulnerable. He and Will are able to open up to each other in a way that he can't be with his other friends. After Will gets possessed, Mike immediately comes to his side as a result of his protective and caring instincts. Mike was the only one of Will's friends to stay with Will all of the time, even pausing his attempts to reach Eleven after 353 days in order to be by his side.

Speaking of Mike's relationship with Will, when Will seems to have fully succumbed to the possession, we see Mike again letting down his guard and being more emotionally vulnerable with Will. He tells Will the story of how they first met and says it's the best thing of his life. As I said earlier, Mike is usually pretty guarded so it shows how much he cares about Will above other people.

Eleven returns and Mike is angry at Hopper for hiding her. This is understandable, but not nessecarily romantic like a lot of people make it out to be. This is very fitting with Mike's protective and caring nature that we've seen towards his friends. Of course you'd be angry after losing someone you cared about. When they went to the Snow Ball together, they shared a kiss which, again, could very easily be him confusing platonic feelings for romantic ones. Mike is not in touch with his emotions and is guarded, so he probably doesn't fully understand or think about the reasons why he likes Eleven beyond a pretty girl interacting with him. Now onto season 3.

Season 3

Season 3 is more of the same with Mike. He is constantly with Eleven, abandoning his other friends and Will to be with her. We see that he still is observant about Will and cares about him a lot as he notices Will is acting weirdly at the cinema in a way that his other friends don't. He also stares at his lips for some reason. Will and Mike are more distant due to Mike's obsession with Eleven, but you can see through scenes like the one mentioned that he still cares a lot for Will and has a deeper emotional connection with him.

Mike and Eleven make out a lot, to the dismay of Hopper. Hopper gets Mike to stop obsessing over Eleven and instead of opening up (like he does with Will), Mike uses lies in order for Eleven not to break up with him. He doesn't really understand what he's meant to do in a relationship beyond just smooching unlike Lucas and Max who have a sort of cycle they go through. He follows Lucas' advice which doesn't work, leading to a break up.

They're both inexperienced and their relationship seems very movie puppy love-esque and it never really evolves beyond that. After they break up, Mike doesn't seem to want to be with her for her personality or his love for her. He just wants to be able to say he has a relationship. It's all very superficial and it feels like they only date each other because they feel like they should rather than because actual romantic feelings.

Even when Mike confesses he loves her, it's because he doesn't want her to die which could very easily be a platonic thing. And then when they try to talk about it, Mike cannot open up and will go around a lot of stuff to avoid saying the word 'love'. When Eleven says I love you too and kisses him, he looks very blank in comparison to him looking overjoyed after talking to Will, the only person Mike opens up to in the show.

This season I think that Mike is vaguely realising that he doesn't love Eleven (or girls). They just seem to be together for convenience and not because he actually loves her. We see more of Mike being overprotective and caring towards her but as I've established, he's like that to all of his friends. He just assumed it was romantic because she was a girl and that's how it should be. The only person he's truly comfortable and himself around is Will but this season, he's a lot more guarded and rude towards him. This could be because Mike doesn't want to think about his feelings towards Will and instead is just obsessing over the one girl who shows him attention.

Season 4 Volume 1

Because season 4 is not finished yet, I'm going to keep this shorter. Mike is now in high school and is trying to find his place but like before, he's still doing stuff because he should and not because he wants to. Eddie says Mike used to dress like whatever his mother chose him, but he's still trying to emulate a style of someone he's not; Eddie. He's wearing his Hellfire Club t-shirt and he's growing his hair out to look like him. I think this might be a little crush of his as he clearly looks up to and admires Eddie in a manner we've not seen with Mike before. I think by this point, Mike knows deep down that he's gay and is trying to ignore it and act like someone else to avoid confronting it.

When Mike goes to California, he seems kind of uninterested in everything. He's distant from Will, not affectionate with Eleven and he can't open up to anyone. Eleven and him fight because Mike is unable to say that he loves her. Their relationship is falling apart. Mike feels like he should say he loves her just to make her happy but he can't. He says this when he opens up to Will yet again, the only person he can be vulnerable with. Later on in the season, Will speaks to Mike about how it's scary to open up (because he's gay) and this really gets to Mike. Mike is unable to be open and vulnerable and I think that through Will he's able to connect with himself emotionally and realize things about himself.

Conclusion

Mike is brave, protective, headstrong and moral. He cares deeply about his friends but seems to confuse platonic feelings for romance. The reason Mike and Eleven's love never evolved because it was never love for Mike. He dated her out of obligation and never was able to open up to her. He clearly has a close relationship with Will and he is the only person he can be himself around because he is gay and has romantic feelings for him.

This post was super long and is definitely not the definitive Mike, just my interpretation of him. If you view Mike as bi or in love with Eleven, that's fine, but this is just how I personally think Mike is written (and it seems to fit with his characterization throughout the series). This isn't one of my theory posts in which I say what I think is going to happen, it's my personal interpretation of a character and his arc throughout the show.

Thanks for the ask, anon.