What to expect from Will's arc at the start of S5. ( & how Bychance is a personification of his compound trauma ) v01
I've talked about before how S4 Willelmike essentially follows The Swan Princess' narrative logic. And what happened to Odette when Rothbart tricked Derek into confessing to "Odile", an Odette in disguise he had created via an enchantment? ( they don't call her Odile in this movie, but that's what she's called in the og Swan Lake play )
( HELP I'm sorry this is so dramatic but yeah )
She almost died until Derek was able to rectify his mistake. Derek specifically saying "I make a vow to break all vows" reminded me immediately of S2. Something something about that script talking about Will looking at Mike throughout.
Something something Vecna has been watching every vow mike breaks and every smile will fakes.
HELP ME WHAT IF MIKE GETS VECNA'D and we think we're getting allll this super complex "realization" sequence but instead Vecna's just legit like
HAHRDSOKFOEHW IM CRYINGGGGGGG a funny thought but ( hopefully not ) I hate the idea of Mike's love confession to El being meant for Will. Please don't Mileven 2.0 my Byler, Duffers.
Anyway, I trust them, so I know that won't happen ( squints at them )
Something about Will being forgotten/fading into nothing. Something about Hopper having lost the "spirit to live" .... The Nothing being this force that takes away hopes and dreams ... it's giving birthdaygate. It's giving Will feeling like he's a mistake. Some of this could also apply to Mike ( and I'll ... talk about Mike eventually bc im mustering up the courage. But this is about Will rn )
Now there's only so much I can handle thinking about Will's arc because it's just way too freaking angsty for the payoff to just be "Mike realizes he loves Will and then tells Will he loves him in this super dramatic sequence" as in, again, Mileven 2.0? This already happened in S4, not to mention Will cannot look like a second option. The Duffers aren't perfect, sure, but they're more creative than that. ( I say about the derivative af show lmfao but even that is intention ) So they'll likely do something different.
My first guess is that Will is probably not going to be drawing at the start of S5, just like Mike's love for DMing was suppressed under the weight of his trauma at the end of S1.
In Will's case, the reason is even more specific--it is the medium through which he expressed his love to Mike in S4. And if he's suppressing his love for Mike, then if he does any art at all, his heart won't really be in it/he'd be doing it on autopilot/for Vecna related purposes.
Art is also the way he basically gives himself therapy, so if that's not a thing available to him at the moment, then yeah. My guess is he'll be in a similar position as S1 Joyce after they found Will's dead body and Lonnie showed up.
Joyce ( Will ) had hope that Will ( love ) was alive ( aka there was hope Mike loved him and he wasn't delusional for believing that ).
But the "proof", Will's dead body ( Mike's love confession ) makes it clear.
And when I say 'love' I don't just mean Mike, I mean in general. His hope of finding love at all died in that surfer boy's pizza because the chances ( lmao ) of meeting someone else like him, and bonding with that person, are very low. Hence his belief that he wasn't going to fall in love at the start of S3.
But if, like Joyce, Will still had any hope left, then the lie complicates things. Because chances are, that ...
Mike is going to be mad when he finds out about the lie. And even though Will was right, and El shouldn't have lied, after he'd had time to self-reflect, what was his conclusion?
Just like when Lucas tried to apologize to him in S3.
By the time Will's S5 arc begins, he'd have time to reflect on his painting lie, which he really didn't think through, he just acted on impulse to help Mike when Mike needed him, he's likely thinking;
"Whatever happens, whatever he does next, I'll deserve it."
And what's the worst case scenario in this situation? Mike being mad, and banishing him from the party. Telling Mike the truth would probably only make Mike hate him/be disgusted by him so imho I think Will would literally rather die than tell Mike he loves him.
And how things have gone for him so far, he's expecting the worst. He will be operating on the belief that it's only a matter of time before he experiences the worst trauma ever: officially losing his party, the people who saved him.
So S5 Will's emotional landscape is going to be the equivalent of his S1 self--meaning, Will is going to be trying to survive emotionally now like he tried to survive physically in S1. He'll be doing whatever he could and lived off of whatever water-like substance he could find ( unless the show provides a more supernatural reason for his survival ). So when Chance approaches him I kind of picture it being the emotional equivalent of like ...
And them paralleling Jonnie would kind of bring it home to me that Chance is a personification of Will's compound trauma. Lonnie, to Joyce is something not good/toxic ( Chance is a bully ) but god, she is trying to survive emotionally and needs all the help she can get, AND he is familiar ( Chance reminds Will of Mike, likely. At least at first ). He thinks he's making a choice for himself, but Chance is just using him. It's just an illusion--a lie.
However, the thing with Chance isn't all just another way for Vecna ( metaphorically or directly ) to wear down/exhaust Will--it's also a trial, a test to prepare Will for his final showdown with Vecna and finally Break The Cycle. Being with someone before Mike also gives Will perspective--even if he couldn't be with Mike, Chance is evidence that there *are* other guys like him out there, and he could eventually meet someone given enough time to heal.
This is why I think this storyline IS important for his growth. It offers the opportunity for self-exploration and reconnecting with himself. That way, Byler will feel more deserved. More of a choice rather than Will being Mike's last-minute second option.
I admit this one I'm still mewling over, so if there are any changes I'll post updated versions!
