Much has been said about Robin’s speech and how she helps Will accept who he really is, to no longer be afraid of himself and his feelings, and to reconnect with the absolute courage of his inner child. But I hardly see anyone talking about why she did it.
Let’s look at the sequence below:
First she sees the dynamic between Mike and Will and then Robin notices how they interact with each other immediately.
I mean, they’re literally flirting here, and Will is relaxed and smiling and happy with Mike.
But the moment Mike leaves, Will literally panics. And, through Robin’s POV, we see how terrified, nervous, anxious, and probably wondering if he is doing the right thing or ruining everything with the boy he LOVES ABOVE ALL ELSE. It’s Robin who sees the FEAR in Will, fear of being himself, fear of loving, fear of opening up to someone like that.
And here we see her RECOGNIZING HERSELF in the face of this fear. She sees her past self reflected in Will. She literally swallows hard, probably remembering how difficult it was for her to deal with her issues and acceptance alone. Then she decides to try to help him overcome this fear, to accept that it’s beautiful who Will is.
Robin gave the speech to Will not because she saw Mike’s rejection, but because she saw Will’s FEAR about himself. She saw herself in Will and said exactly what she would have liked to hear when she realized she was in love with Tammy. The scene was never about Robin acknowledging the non-existence of any possible relationship between Will and Mike, but rather about her perceiving the FEAR that Will feels/felt for being who he was.
And that’s beautiful.
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT AND WAS THE FINAL BLOW TO OBLITERATE MY BYLER DOUBT THANK YOU OP
Given the dangerous and deeply false stereotype that children are unsafe around queer and black people (because they’re viewed as predators), I thought it was so heartwarming how Mike, Will, Lucas, and Robin were the main ones who were protecting the kids, and how gentle they were
Will Byers I never once doubted you. What a beautifully written character you are.❤️🩹
I can’t stop thinking about stranger things, this show is INCREDIBLE!!!! I can’t even organize my thoughts in a coherent way. I love reading all your takes on here tho<3
This song fits them so well!!!! 😩 ofc whenever I get obsessed with a series I can’t just draw a single fanart. No. No no no. I have to make an entire comic about it.
I like how Leroy’s first instinct when he finds out his son has a crush is to check if she’s black, completely unaware that his grand son is gonna wind up in the worlds weirdest polycule with 6 of the whitest people ever.
