Evil byler is a joke!! Also I racked my brain for 20 min and these are like all the possible options I could think of
I don’t want to assume anyone’s sexuality or be parasocial or invasive but +100,000 queer people relate to Finn playing Mike as an in the closet queer character. People with Film theory DEGREES and JOBS wrote essays and articles and made videos. I’ve seen a theory about Ross Duffer’s ex-wife Leigh Janiak being a byler backbone and after their divorce they abandoned the story line.
if that’s the case then Finn and Noah both thinking byler would happen while they were filming season 4 from context and narrative choices alone would make sense, it would explain their seasons 2-4 chemistry, it would explain why we got so many more Will and Mike scenes than any other pairing for those two. If that’s the case then it would have been a direct jab at Leigh to build Byler up in vol 1 just to tear it down in vol 3 like damn that’s cold.
But if it is true then it wouldn’t really make sense for Mike be so in the closet coded at the end of s5… unless Finn was making those choices on purpose to give us queer crumbs (lol queer crumbs)
Make it make sense: do you guys think Finn Wolfhard was actually trying give us Byler crumps in season 5? The way he was eyeing Will’s binder while he cried, the way he kept saying sorcerer and looking at him…
The only problem is that would be a nuanced choice and hard to pull off and with the way he was moving in season 5 towards his ENDGAME relationship I honestly wonder about that boy. Was he acting distant to eleven on purpose to give us crumbs?? Was he directed to do that because of queer bait?? Was it just a director issue? Was it because he and Millie really didn’t want to do their scenes??
Again it would be nuanced and hard to pull off right so then why did he pull off being the ‘best written queer character of all time’?? On accident?? I’m laughing because wtf is going on
It didn’t help that Finn and Noahs chemistry was superior to he and Millie’s. Plus Byler scenes were designed specially to highlight them as a pair, they mirror romantic pairs to the T so I know that also creates this environment where it’s easier to see them romantically regardless of their personal acting performances but I guess I just find Finn’s acting choices to be thought provoking, especially in season 5.
But reading the article about how the duffers never actually had a conversation with Noah about Will being gay… he found out by reading the script and ‘at that point it was obvious’ like… makes me wonder if the duffers would have been smart enough to create a nuanced in the closet queer character and coach Finn through that in season 4.. which again leads me to the was Finn doing it on purpose or on accident dilemma 😭
Maybe all of the queer baiting was just queer baiting… maybe I’m queelusional… maybe I’m quazy… maybe I’m out of my quind