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Byler: The Underlying Endgame
- Camryn Aitken
- 2 days ago
- 21 min read
By: Camryn Aitken
(Contributions to Season 5, Character Arcs, and Final Conclusion from Maya Doraiswamy)
After the recent release of Season 5 Volume 1, the relationship of Will and Mike—Byler—has been a huge topic of debate among fans. Byler refers to the combination of their last names (Byers + Wheeler) that first originated when fans speculated feelings between the two in earlier seasons. Personally, after watching, I believe their relationship might be one of the most obvious romantic build-ups I've seen within television media. I know, straight up, this might sound crazy. I've personally had my doubts before, but after really putting together all the context clues, I can't see their relationship going any other way than this. The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show, have confirmed again and again that they are extremely purposeful in their cinematographic choices. There are hints through costuming, set design, music choices, and parallels to other films/shows that provide simply too many coincidences to deny.
PLANNED FROM THE BEGINNING
I've heard many people complain that Byler would be completely random, simply thrown out in the last few episodes of the last season. I completely disagree with this. We already know that Will likes Mike, as this was confirmed in Season 4, and has been something heavily implied since the beginning of the show. Now, that leaves Season 5 to reveal if Mike reciprocates these feelings. This is slightly more complicated, as Mike has had an on-and-off relationship with Eleven throughout the show (despite this, I believe Mike is almost more queercoded than Will, but I’ll get more into it later). Overall, I’d argue Byler has been set up since the beginning. While this article certainly cannot cover every detail of their relationship, it’s an overview throughout the seasons of the most important moments building up their dynamic.
BLUE & YELLOW
“When Blue meets Yellow in the West” is a piece of Russian code that was relevant in S3, but the fans have adopted these colors as Byler’s. They constantly wear blue and yellow outfits, Will’s room in California is yellow, and Mike’s room back home is blue. In S4, Blue (Mike) meets Yellow (Will) in the west (California). There’s clearly intentional blue and yellow lighting in Rink-O-Mania, and they're often seen wearing each other's color throughout the Season.
This is a seemingly small piece of information, but it has become extremely relevant to the Byler ship and, in many of the following scenes, can be seen as color symbolism with blue and yellow consistently appearing together.
SEASON 1
It’s established from the initial D&D game that opens Season 1 that Mike and Will are best friends, the closest within the group. Mike is the one who calls Lucas and Dustin on his walkie-talkie and initiates their search for Will where they first stumble across Eleven. Throughout the first season, Mike is the one most concerned about searching for Will time and time again. This is both because he is the unofficial leader of the party, and because his feelings and care for Will (regardless of whether you find them platonic or romantic yet) are clearly very strong.
I would also like to emphasize the moment when Mike, Lucas, and Dustin first encounter Eleven. Because of her shaved head, Eleven looks like a boy at first glance. With Will missing at the same time El has escaped the lab, many parallels are drawn between the two kids. A witness that Hopper interviews confirms that the girl he saw could’ve easily been Will if his head was shaved. This is all ironic because during Mike’s S4 speech to El, he says, “I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you.”
SEASON 2
In season 2, Mike and Will are very physically close to each other; in almost every shot they are in together, often touching or even having an intentional handhold at one point. Towards the beginning of this season, we are given the “crazy together” scene. Mike and Will sit on the couch and talk about the “now memories” Will has been having about the shadow monster. Will tries to describe his visions to Mike, and Mike asks, “Is it all real? Or is it like the doctors say, all in your head?” Will answers, “I don’t know. Just please don’t tell the others, they wouldn’t understand.” Then, Mike states that sometimes he feels as if he's “going crazy,” to which Will agrees, “me too” (still looking straight ahead and not at Mike, clearly deep in thought). Finally, Mike says, “If we’re both going crazy, we’ll go crazy together, right?” “Yeah. Crazy together,” Will responds.
This is a crucial parallel to Jancy—the canon couple of Jonathan (Will’s older brother) and Nancy (Mike’s older sister). Nancy is in the police station and told, “Only love makes you that crazy.” Regardless of the debatable fate of Jancy in later seasons, I find it important to mention that Byler has clear parallels to relationships that are canonically romantic, and that fact alone implies the strong possibility of reciprocated feelings.
Mike and Will have another intimate moment slightly later in the season when they're both in Will's room, when Mike is comforting Will, stating he can be a “spy” for the mind flayer now, and that this is good because they can learn how to defeat it. Will responds by asking, “What if he spies back?” With this, Mike instantly replies, “We won’t let him,” and puts his hand on top of Will’s hand, which stops shaking as soon as Mike touches it.
The Duffers are obviously trying to make a point by zooming in on this scene. If it was supposed to be interpreted as a friendship scene, there would be no emphasis on the camera shot between their hands holding (if any other “platonic” relationship in the series had this sort of moment, I doubt people would pass it off as “just friends”).
Towards the end of the season, when Mike is trying to pull Will back into reality, he mentions that asking Will to be his friend was the “best thing he's ever done.” This kinda sounds like a proposal to me… Jokes aside, we also see this scene referenced again in season 5, when we get Will's flashback, but more on that later. I would also like to point out that there are no conversations like these (intimate, vulnerable, and deep) between Mike and El. They do not have serious conversations like Mike and Will do, and often are emotionally withdrawn from one another. It feels more natural and comfortable between Mike and Will.
SEASON 3
In this season, the kids are going through significant changes and “maturing” with their romantic interests, and we begin to see that in their behavior throughout the season. As they grow up and their priorities change, a rift seems to be forming within the group.
The season opens with a makeout scene between El and Mike. In this scene, Mike's hands are in his lap, and when Eleven puts her hands on him, he continuously keeps taking them off to belt out in song. If they're supposed to be madly in love, what straight man is really continuously taking his girlfriend's hands off of him? I understand it’s an innocent and endearing scene, but it’s once again an instance where there seems to be a lack of vulnerability between the two.
The movie theater scene follows the Mileven (Mike + Eleven) makeout scene, as Mike leaves El to meet up with Lucas, Max, and Will at the mall. Okay, first, just look at the picture. I see no heterosexual explanation for this scene—why would both of them be looking at the other's lips? They look like they're about to kiss. The camera then zooms in on a scene of both of them literally blushing—something clearly of enough narrative important that they wanted us to notice it.
Other major scenes this season include the Milleven breakup scene and Will and Mike's fight. I believe there is a huge juxtaposition between these two scenes. Mike and Eleven’s breakup is shown and treated much differently than Mike and Will’s fight, and we’re not supposed to ignore the differences. When El dumps Mike at the mall, Mike looks confused, startled, and even a little annoyed, not really devastated and hurt. He even continues lying to her, and doesn't seem to take the matter (or try to) very seriously. El and Max hang out in El’s room, laughing and talking while having a sleepover. El does not seem at all concerned or upset that she just broke up with Mike, honestly seeming happier than we’ve ever seen her with Mike.
Mike and Lucas then continue to ponder the “great mystery of the female species.” Here, they’re just being boys, unsure of how to navigate their relationships. In the process, however, Mike has been neglecting his friendship with Will throughout the season to fully prioritize his relationship with El (an unhealthy co-dependence and toxic relationship develops with El, which I’ll get into later). After Mike and Lucas mock Will’s D&D game, Will runs out yelling, “Forget it!” They try to apologize, but Will still leaves, immediately causing Mike to go after him out to his bike in the garage, where they start to argue. Mike tries to apologize again, saying he wants to finish the game, but Will refuses and says Mike is “ruining our party” so he “can swap spit with some stupid girl,” to which Mike automatically snaps back with: “El’s not stupid. It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
Notice the contrasting imagery from the breakup: the Byler fight is dark and stormy with pouring rain. It’s heated, both of them are emotional, and Will tears up, looking shocked and hurt. Will then says, “I guess I did. I really did,” Mike looks crushed in ways we did not see after his fight with El. This is literal textbook in the closet behavior. Mike, at this point, doesn't even know Will is gay, and it almost seems like he’s deflecting his own problems (and desperation to throw himself into a straight relationship) onto Will.
Just look at the difference in Mike's emotions between these two scenes. With El, he is confused and annoyed, and with Will, he actually looks hurt and upset. While Max and El are laughing, having fun, and looking at pictures of boys, Mike bikes to Will’s in the rain to desperately apologize. Mike apologizes to Will immediately, but not to his ex-girlfriend for a day (which he only does in a half-hearted, empty way anyway). It was clearly more important to him to apologize to Will than El—a single fight with Will meant more to Mike than El dumping him entirely.
Throughout the earlier seasons, we have also seen Mike struggling to apologize to people—except for Will. Dustin forces Mike to apologize to Lucas in Season 1, and Lucas has to explain to Mike how to apologize to El in Season 3. Mike literally bikes to Will's house in the middle of the storm and doesn't even give up when there's no answer at the front door, continuing to look in the back. Nobody has to encourage or force Mike to apologize to Will; he does it on his own, and in a way we’ve never seen him act for anyone else, including his own girlfriend.
Another scene I want to highlight is Mike’s interaction with Will in comparison to El as Will and El are about to leave Hawkins. Mike and Will are essentially talking about D&D, when Mike asks with panic and worry in his voice: “Well, what if you want to join another party?” Will replies, “Not possible,” flashes a quick smile, and then walks away.
Then, we have the Mileven scene. Eleven reminds him of that day at Hopper’s cabin when he “talked about his feelings” (during which he blurted out he loved her). Mike looks at her, confused, saying he doesn’t follow what she is saying, and that it was so long ago he doesn’t remember. El walks up to him, puts her hand on his face, and says, “Mike, I love you too.” Mike looks extremely puzzled, not how you would want someone to react when telling them you love them for the first time. Mike's eyes are also completely open during this entire kiss scene, and he doesn't reciprocate it whatsoever (not to mention the entire scene is in front of Will's open closet).
Also note that there is a glowing light in the closet, specifically bringing your attention towards it (and lots of yellow present).
SEASON 4
Season 4 focuses on showing us Mileven’s relationship issues, Will’s growing feelings for Mike, and that Mike is clearly struggling with something internally. I first want to start with the seriously awkward reunion, when Mike has just arrived in California to meet El and Will. Will goes up to hug Mike, and Mike rejects the hug, friendly punching Will on the shoulder instead. Mike completely brushes off reuniting with him, and Will is understandably upset. This reunion scene heavily parallels the reunion scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was on the posted inspiration board for Season 4. Ron, Hermione, and Harry all reunite at Hogwarts, similar to how Mike, El, and Will are reuniting in California. El is Harry, Will is Ron, and Mike is Hermione in this parallel. Hermione and Harry excitedly run to each other and share a big hug, just like Mike and El do. However, Ron and Hermione’s greeting is incredibly awkward. Although Ron looks very excited to see Hermione, just like Will looks excited to see Mike, Hermione hesitates when going to hug him and stops herself, just like how Mike stops Will from hugging him. Ron & Hermione act awkward in this greeting scene because they like each other (but both believe it could never be reciprocated), and they end up together!!
Mike and El are totally off in their own world, and Mike pays no attention to Will, making him a miserable third wheel. After the bullying disaster at Rink-o-mania, El disappears to hide, and Mike and Will look for her. As they look around, Mike lashes out at Will, blaming Will for El not telling him what was really happening, instead of the person who actually lied to him—his girlfriend. Mike says Will should have told him El was having trouble, and Will says he didn’t know El was lying to Mike. Mike replies, “Which is why you were a douche all day?” and it’s completely uncalled for. Mike is taking this out on Will for no apparent reason, other than his internal frustration (in my opinion, though, this whole arc signifies Mike’s struggle to handle feelings for Will that he doesn’t understand). Mike actually uses the word “sabotage” to describe what he thinks Will is doing to his relationship with El, blaming the whole mess on him, when in reality, the only sabotage being done to this relationship is by Mike and El themselves. Mike is actually trying to ignore Will all day, and this isn't natural for him or his character's normal behavior. We’re supposed to notice that Mike is acting weird and that something has shifted in Mike’s demeanor towards Will since their move to California.
Will begins to say that Mike isn’t interested in anything he has to say, pointing out that Mike has only called a couple of times all year, while El has an entire book of letters from him. Mike responds that that’s because El is his girlfriend. Will asks, “And us?” Mike then responds with this:
Will is literally not saying anything to Mike that indicates that he's thinking about them in a more than platonic way—but Mike, emphasizing that they're friends twice, clearly does. May I also note that after Mike delivers this line, a song called “In the closet (at Rink O Mania)” starts to play—what other explanation is needed?
Mike and Els' fight shortly follows after in this season. El is angry that in all of Mike's letters to her, he addresses them “From Mike” instead of “Love Mike.” El asks if Mike loves her anymore, claiming he never says it anymore. Mike responds, “I say it,” but he still can't say it then, not even to save his relationship. This scene has a pretty big parallel to one of the next conversations between Mike and Will. Mike thanks Will for knocking some sense into him when he was being a “self-pitying idiot” earlier (when they were in Jonathan’s room, and Will comforts Mike while upset). Will jokes, stating, “I didn’t say it.” He smiles. Mike then says, “You didn’t have to.” He also smiles. This is SUCH a big parallel between Mike and Els' fight. The fact that Will “didn't have to say it” but still provokes Mike to say what Will deserved to hear in that moment directly contrasts Mike’s inability to say what El wanted from him.
One of the most notable scenes between them in season 4 is shortly after this, during the van scene between Mike and Will. Mike begins to go off on a little tangent about how he knows El will be okay, but that he’s worried she won’t need him anymore: “I keep telling myself that, but…I don’t believe it. I mean, she’s special. She was born special. Maybe I was one of the first people to realize that. But the truth is, when I stumbled on her in the woods. She just needed someone. It wasn’t fate. It’s…it’s not destiny. It’s just simple dumb luck.” This also contradicts what Mike says in his speech later about loving her the first time he saw her. So, if this is how Mike really feels, and this is the “truth” (as he literally says), then that whole speech was a lie, or, at the very least, has clear cracks.
Then, we get to the moment where Will finally shows Mike the painting, which he lies about, saying El basically commissioned it. Will then begins to state how El is always going to need him, and how she's been lost these last few months without Mike. Will is VERY OBVIOUSLY talking about himself here, and his relationship with Mike. In short, Will is pretty much claiming that he feels like a mistake because he’s gay, but that Mike makes him feel normal, better than normal—that Mike gives him the strength to keep going. This is a very queer-coded love confession. However, Will frames this conversation solely around El, claiming that this is how she feels, literally trying harder than Mike to keep his relationship with El together (see more about this in the character arcs section at the end). Might I add that this scene literally took 12 HOURS to film to get perfect, and we can see how important a scene this was to their plot. Also, the Duffer brothers have stated that this scene is going to pay off later in Season 5. Now what could this possibly mean…
As I have mentioned before, parallels play a huge part in this show. One specifically that I want to highlight is the Byler parallels to Rovickie (Robin + Vickie). In all these scenes below, Will is meant to be Robin, Mike is Vickie, and El is Vickie's boyfriend at the time.
Obviously, these scenes are supposed to be paralleled to represent romantic potential between them. Why would the directors clearly parallel Mike and Will between a couple (the only other queer couple, specifically) that later becomes romantically canon in Season 5, if not to show their eventual endgame?
Another scene that I want to highlight is Mike's speech to El, where he finally says to her that he loves her. However, he only says this while El is fighting for her life in the Upside Down, literally being strangled to death. Mike telling El he romantically loves her is entirely inconsistent with everything we’ve seen from Mike so far about not being able to tell El he loves her. In his speech, Mike says, “And I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you,” implying love at first sight. As I have stated earlier, the Duffer Brothers have claimed that they don't believe in love at first sight. And who is Mike fooling, anyway? Mike's speech also seems to pull slightly from Will's speech in the van. Mike has years of opportunities to tell Eleven he loves her, but he waits until her life’s in danger, and only proceeds with a love confession after Will encourages him, using the phrase he said to Mike in the van scene…
I feel as if Mike knows that this is what El needs to hear to have the courage to fight, so that she can save herself and Max. He's trying to do what he thinks he has to, what he thinks he should.
Lastly, I want to point out the final shot of Season 4. In this field shot, Mike and Will are standing next to each other, like every other canon couple. Each pairing is so starkly far apart from the others, it’s hard to see how this could imply anything else besides a romantic future for Mike and Will. El is clearly the furthest away from the couples, at the front by herself, giving her an independent sort of shot.
SEASON 5
After an 18-month time skip from the end of Season 4, we see in the latest season that there has definitely been a shift in Mike and Will's relationship—or, at least more obviously, in the way Will views their relationship. To begin, this season is essentially focused on Will learning to accept himself and coming to terms with who he is, meaning his sexuality. This especially starts us off when Will sees Robin kissing Vickie. This is the first time Will actually sees a relationship between people of the same sex, giving him a first glimpse into something that he likely never thought could be possible for him, or at all, until now.
One of the only times we see Mike and El interact so far is on the rooftop in Episode One, The Crawl. During this, they don’t seem to have much romantic tension anymore—in my opinion, there’s been a strong shift in their dynamic to a much more platonic way of interacting. In some ways, I agree with a lot of the speculation that the two of them have possibly already broken up off-screen (or rather, never got back together after Season 4) going into this season. If this is the case, it would be crucial in order to set up Mike and Will’s relationship in these final episodes. After a brief conversation between Mike and El, the moment ends as Lucas jokingly calls them “Lovebirds,” to which they both seemingly react in a disgusted way (again, strong contrast between their previous and constant displays of affection).
A symbol crucial to mention here is the use of light: during the rooftop scene, the sun is setting, a signifier of a change in/end of their relationship. Meanwhile, as Mike and Will later talk in the field, the light is clearly shining on them, almost as if it were the beginning of a promising relationship.
Emerging in this season, Will and Robin’s newfound dynamic (which I absolutely love) has been incredibly important in helping Will’s internal struggles with sexuality and understanding his relationship to Mike. Firstly, the mere fact that Will asks Robin for advice on how she knew Vicki was romantically interested signals a change. I really don’t believe that’s something he would ask with seemingly genuine intent on figuring out whether Mike reciprocates feelings if he were still with El. She’s basically Will’s sister, and even despite his growing feelings for Mike, Will helped push the two of them together all throughout Season 4 (claiming his painting was commissioned by El, pretending his talks towards Mike are El’s thoughts, and so forth). I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but once again, I wouldn’t be surprised if the way they set up this relationship is with Mike and El already being broken up.
Continuing with the dynamic between Will and Robin: Will asks what signals he should look for to know if somebody likes him back and wants to date, and Robin blatantly tells him what we as the audience should now be watching for. Every one of these signals has, both throughout the show and this season alone, come true between the two of them, often actually initiated by Mike himself. Robin also then mentions that a ‘snowball’ eventually becomes an ‘avalanche,’ strongly implying that a lot of these small signals we’ve seen between them will likely grow into something more.
Now, onto the field conversation. Mike and Will are in the back together while the rest of the group is in front of them. Here, we can see some of Robin's signals come into play in a more literal sense. Behind them, the signal tower is in clear focus, symbolizing the literal “signals” between them and their newfound relationship. Mike literally intentionally bumps into Will's shoulder as they're walking, and Will then glances at Mike, then Mike glances at Will a second later. Later in this scene, Will playfully shoves Mike, and Mike awkwardly smiles and walks off without another word, leaving Will alone. Mike wouldn't react so awkwardly if there weren't underlying feelings here, because he doesn't react like this to anyone else's touch but Wills.
One of the most important moments in this season so far is the Tammy Thompson talk. Now, a lot of people have speculated that Mike is equivalent to Tammy in this case, which would mean Will must essentially come to terms with unreciprocated feelings. I don’t necessarily agree with this—I think the talk was about Will, regardless of Mike, learning to accept himself and his sexuality and gaining the understanding that he already has all the “answers” within himself. I wouldn’t say this means Mike parallels Tammy, since the point of this conversation was for Will not to be dependent on whether or not Mike reciprocates feelings. If anything, I think this is setting up his character to be in the emotionally developed place that he needs to be for his own self-acceptance, and to set up his relationship with Mike in a healthy way that doesn’t build off the co-dependence we’ve seen between Mike and El.
Next up: the pipe burst scene. It sounds like a silly metaphor, I know, but I think it’s important to point out. When Mike and Will are struggling to fix the pipe together, they are, quite literally, trying to stop everything from bursting out (in very close proximity, might I add). There are stakes in the situation that cause their actions, of course; however, I still can’t help but view this as a metaphor for their feelings finally surfacing this season and being unable to contain any longer.
The last topic to cover for Season 5 is the ending of Volume 2 (one of, if not my favorite, scenes in the entire show). We see Will’s videotape here, which was, simply put, such a great monologue that established the impact Mike has had on Will’s life as a source of emotional growth, self-worth, and belief in who Will is meant to become, alongside Will's powerful realization that he "already has all the answers" within himself. I’ll delve into more of this later, but Mike is essentially a driver of Will’s arc in the same way he hurts that of El’s. Finally, at the end of the episode, we see Will gain powers. This was such an incredible moment and extremely significant in terms of Will’s character arc of acceptance. The episode concludes with a slo-mo of Will wiping his blood off, but not just from any perspective—from Mike’s point of view. When Robin describes first falling in love with Tammy, she says, “I mean, the first time I saw her, oh my God, like, time slowed down. It was like a scene from some lame-o movie. You know, her hair blew in the wind, and she just looked perfect. So goddamn perfect.” Between the described slow motion and “movie scene,” it feels suspiciously familiar to this exact moment. Besides, if this isn't a look of pure adoration and awe at the “superhero” Mike always knew and encouraged Will to be, I don’t know what is.
SETTING ANALYSIS
The settings of Mike and El’s room give key insight into their dynamics as well. Towards the beginning of Season 4, we get a zoom in on Els' little shrine she has, dedicated to all things Mike. This is different from Mike's basement, which is shown in Season 3, containing essentially his own shrine—not of El, but of Will's drawings (Mike also has an entire binder of Will’s drawings that is shown in Season 1). Additionally, we are shown more than one scene of Mike crumpling El’s letters, compared to her treasuring his letters.
Now, Mike's room has lots of little symbols in it. Specifically, though, when Mike is reading El’s letter, we see him positioned in front of his OPEN CLOSET with a “ONE WAY” SIGN POINTING INTO THE CLOSET. Like, obviously, this was a choice by the set designers to put that specifically in this place. We can also see that in his room, there is nothing particularly from El, and no indication of her at all. Even in his basement, there is no connection to El either (but there's definitely Will's drawings..)
During a later scene in Season 5, this closet is also literally destroyed by a demagorgon. It is the only thing in Mike's room that gets destroyed out of everything else. They didn't have to have Ted come flying through his closet, but the directors deliberately framed the scene to go this way.
CHARACTER ARCS
Mike and Will’s relationship is obviously something I’m hoping for as a happy ending, but I also find it to be the perfect way to conclude all three of their character arcs.
Regardless of the question of Mike and Will ending up together, I still strongly believe that Mike and Eleven should not end the series together. While Eleven is amazing as an overall character, her relationship with Mike is, quite frankly, the worst part of her story. She starts the show with almost no socialization, lacking the full skills to speak English, let alone jump into a relationship with the first boy she meets after escaping the lab. In Seasons 1-3, we see how their relationship develops into extreme co-dependence. Then, in Season 4, this starts to unravel a bit, where their lack of honest communication, Mike’s emotional withdrawal, and El’s growing insecurity make it clear that their relationship no longer functions (if it ever did) as a source of mutual growth. Throughout the show, we also see El as someone with difficulty finding her own sense of self, seeming to mimic the person she’s closest to (Mike for the majority of the seasons, Max for part of Season 3, and somewhat Hopper for Season 4). As of the latest season, El is more focused than ever on enhancing her powers and following through with defeating Vecna, and I’ve honestly loved seeing her get to focus on her training, have her own unique look, and define herself outside of her relationships. Having this entire build-up on becoming her own person, only to end up with the boy she's been co-dependent on for pretty much the entirety of the show, would only strip her of the independence she’s finally found and reverse this crucial character development.
Focusing on Will, from the analysis of the Tammy Tompson monologue, we already understand his arc to be one of self-acceptance. In strong contrast to El, Mike is not a hindrance to Will’s growth—if anything, it would affirm that Will is “worthy” of love. This is an idea he must first accept on his own (which we see affirmation of in his gaining powers), but Mike’s reciprocated feelings would only further this, not hurt it. The idea of ending up with Mike has never been something he needs to let go of; rather, it's always been something he never thought could be possible for him. The truly perfect ending for his arc would be proof that he's not only worthy of self-acceptance but worthy of reciprocated love.
Lastly, with Mike, his arc mainly revolves around struggling with emotional vulnerability, insecurity over being needed, and his growing into his role as a leader. Ending up with El, someone whose arc is learning not to rely on others, is inherently incompatible with his desire to be needed (which we saw in Season 4). In general, Mike and El’s relationship has always seemed to bring out the worst in Mike, making him insecure and closed off towards those around him. There’s a huge difference in compatibility with Mike and Will’s arcs, which I think is best summarized as truly balancing each other out: Will brings out the genuine, emotionally vulnerable, and leader-worthy parts of Mike, while Mike has always encouraged Will to be his authentic and strongest self (because of Will, Mike is his leader persona of "The Heart," and because of Mike, Will is his sorcerer persona of "Will The Wise").
CONCLUSION
Together, Mike and Will are at each other’s best. They are a satisfying conclusion to each character arc, a culmination of five seasons’ worth of extensive symbolism, and the perfect ending to the series. Stranger Things is ultimately a show about people who are (in a very literal sense) “strange.” It brings together a mix of outcasts with characteristics often deemed too weird and unfit for societal norms. To have a storyline like Byler’s in a show that is so deeply focused on rejecting social conventions while simultaneously being a part of mainstream media means something. Stories centered on difference and on representation not only deserve space in media—they deserve conclusion.