I cannot and I will not say that either destiel or byler were worse queerbaits than the other – overall the situations were very different and its impossible to compare either of them to any degree that says one is worse than the other and there is absolutely zero reason the destiels and bylers should be fighting we were both queerbaited man can we stop fighting about which one was worse 😭😭
I would have rathered they never brought up byler *at all* than whatever the fuck they pulled with Will and Byler in the final episodes
with Destiel, while it was fuxking abysmal what they did to Cas and oh my gpd he came out as gay and immediately fucking died.
I rather having abysmal Destiel and brutal treatment of Cas ans absolutely zero reaction from Dean at all 😭 than not having Destiel at all
and maybe I only feel that way rn bc stranger things finale just came out whereas spn finale is five almost six years old now and ive had time to let that one sink in even if ive only officially watched it like. yesterday. but I knew what I was getting into whem it came to that. I didnt know what I was getting into when it came to byler. I was sure it was going to be queerbait bc IVE PLAYED THESE GAMES BEFORE. but I fully did not expect the treatment of it to be. genuinely nothing. nothing. one abysmal coming out scene and one conversation that Will's actor had to FIGHT to get in.
but also destiel didnt have any follow up *at all*. Dean cried bc Cas fucking died but he didnt even tell Sam or Jack what happened beyond "Cas is dead"
but at the end of the day, at least the show explicitly said it was Dean that Cas was in love with, and didnt narrow it down to "just his Tammy." they put some actual weight onto the confession AND UT DIDNG HAPPEN TO A ROOM FILL OF PEIPLE HE HAREDLY KNEW
I think it also comes down to the fact that we expected it from Supernatural. Supernatural had consistently treated its queer characters poorly throughout the entire show. whereas Stranger Things had higher expectations because Robin was the only queer character in the show and while she had not gotten a love interest until season 5, she had been treated fairly well by the writers until whatever tf the utter lack of rovickie was happened in season 5 – it was expected of supernatural. it's awful that it had to be expected, but it was expected.
it was not expected of Stranger Things which had been playing its cards fairly well until the final season.
I have a lot of complaints about both and maybe my opinion will change after five years of the stranger things finale being out – but yeah enjoy the ramblings of a mad man. im so mad about both. im so. tired of queer people being treated horribly in media.