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Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Day 35: D&D Substitute Scene . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

The D&D substitute scene, aka the scene where Mike and Dustin attempt to persuade random people into being Lucas's replacement, is packed full of queer coding for Mike -- alongside the small shot we get of his bedroom, this scene is supposed to be filled with subtle hints about Mike's character arc this season, particularly about him questioning his sexuality.

The first episode aims to show you what conflicts Mike has in his life before he goes to California, otherwise him acting weird in California would have little context (in a writing sense).

The first part is when Mike bursts in to find Nancy -- when I first watched this back in 2022, girl I thought he was SOOO weird for just standing there and looking around. I figured it was super unnecessary and awkward (maybe just a goofy thing to get a laugh), but they wouldn't have included that for no reason.

Like ^^?? There was no reason for the shot of other people and the whole room unless it for the purpose of showing little details. At first when I decided to examine the scene, I didn't really expect to find anything at all, but if u look closely in the first picture, there's literally a pride flag on one of the items on the table.

Of course, you can't only rely on this little detail for queer coding because there are also other aspects of this scene that we must consider:

At the beginning Mike looks completely frozen in place, like he hadn't been expecting this many people or he's embarrassed. They all look around at him which is supposed to symbolise (imo) his thoughts about the pressure he's feeling to figure himself out, or how seen he feels, in terms of his queerness. (bear with me it all links)

There is ticking in the background, which is supposed to emphasise how long Mike is taking to look around the room.

Nancy is literally in the middle of the room -- How did Mike not see her immediately?

Ergo, he was distracted by something and looking at other people. Mike's literally questioning his sexuality at the beginning of the season anyway, carrying on from the end of S3. The people in the room are all staring at him as if to say -- "who are you going to choose" or something.

You might think this is a reach that Mike is looking at them carefully and considering, but the camerawork literally emphasises the fact that Mike is looking around at these people very purposefully:

Mike looks around first ^

The camera pans quickly like it's supposed to be from his perspective. This is one of the only scenes in which we get his pov in the whole season. And when we do, it's literally Mike panicking about questioning his sexuality. (And for all the bisexual Mike truthers out there, this is definitely proof on that front too, I mean look.)

Okay brace urself because the next part with Mike in it is the most classic 80s-referential queer coding I've seen in my life. Idk why I ever watched this scene without getting the feeling that something is gay about this boy, anyways:

Remember this random extra in the background of Will's solo shot? Super unnecessary to wear this shirt right?

This is supposed to be queercoding for Will, which makes sense because he is canonically confirmed gay in S4, but this hilariously links back to this scene in episode 1:

Wrestling is a contact sport - and this is the very first shot of the next Mike scene, rather than Mike himself. This is basically supposed to kind of highlight the uhhhh queer things that are going on in Mike's head, which is even more interesting when you look at the shot facing Mike:

Not them literally having pairs of men in the background of this shot - it's not even just men by themselves which would be queercoding in itself, but they're all in pairs, as in a M/M couple - i don't get how this was needed unless it's for the purpose of showing Mike questioning his sexuality. If you think about it, the writers and creators chose which parts of the school Dustin and Mike went to pick up a substitute, and it's not just random that they not only decided to put Mike in this situation but have men in tight wrestling gear in the background cmon--

If you think about Dustin being in this scene, it really doesn't make any sense anymore.

Oh yeah and this otherwise unnecessary 5 second POV shot of boys doing this (on the right) definitely doesn't mean anything for what Mike's sexuality is sure yeah yeah...

For the next part, Mike goes to a science lab, which...you might think I'm going to rattle off about this being a symbol for him wanting to 'experiment' with his thoughts and feelings (AND I COULD DO THAT) but this scene doesn't even need me to say much, especially when they have shots like this in it:

There are many things about this scene that imply queercoding:

On one side of Mike there are only boys (particularly two of them), and on the other side there are two girls. I again have to justify myself and say that this isn't just a coincidence. That should be queer coding for a questioning 15 year old boy enough but...

There is literally a sign in the background saying "Women in science" to further highlight the difference between the two opposing sides in Mike's head. This could be bisexual proof, but in my opinion...

The set designers set up a light coming in through the window for a reason. You could try and say it was to make the scene look nicer, but it's clearly lighting up which side Mike prefers, while the side he doesn't is in the shade.

Also there's something about him saying "That's just bullshit media propaganda" whilst being put in a very queer situation that gets me.

The boy at the science table also says "60 minutes begs to differ", which is a very specific line and typical of the time period. The date is 21st of March. Now, if you're well-versed in the lore I'm sure you know where this is going:

The last aired 60 minutes show according to the date - was about the AIDS crisis in America, particularly about the gay community in San Francisco. I'm sure I don't need to say anything more about this significance.

After the guy says that, the experiment goes up in like sparks and flames and I'm sorry to be so so on the nose (though that's kind of the show's fault) but....

I don't know why else they would have had those flames be so prominently in front of Mike's whole torso and head, revealing him to be there after the flames die down if not for this double meaning.

All in all, if we consider that this short scene has this much packed into it, I really can't question the capabilities of the directors and writers to subtly queercode a character (if he is canonically queer next season). Within a minute, Mike is shown to look frozen with pressure as he questions his sexuality, directly put in the pubescent context of gay thoughts (lol), and put in the middle of two options to show which one he has a preference for.

byler

byler

i cant be the only one scared for the teaser

like i KNOW the duffers are going to trick us with mileven

EDIT: WAIT THE BYLER TAGS TRENDING

Made with this picrew

okk hear me out.....

Thinking about them again - I love when people depict them resenting the other for not rekindling their contact by calling first, while they were both also actively not doing that.

no bc if in season 5 we get flashbacks to Mike constantly reassuring and comforting will throughout the show I'll actually cry

Of course Milevens, this was but a friendly hand hold

YESSS MARCH 22ND GATE ISTG

hoping for the teaser on wills birthday !!

hey y'all make sure to vote 🤩🤩🤩

Just curious, kinda new to the Tumblr tag so I wanna know what we're dealing with yknow?

If Byler doesn't become canon I will delete my tumblr

Not bc I ship it, but because the site will become unusable