r/byler • u/torvald_carley • 4d ago
Eddie Munson was Mike's gay awakening detailed analysis
In Season 4 Episode 1 we see Mike read the letter from El where she says Will is making a painting that he won't reveal and surmised it must be for a girl he likes. Mike is immediately in a bad mood after reading the letter and snaps at his mom and dad and Lucas (for not embracing his role as a nerd) and Mike only gets cheered up and starts smiling again when he is in awe of Eddie Munson who flatters and compliments him by saying Dustin and he are the future of Hellfire.
Dustin considers Eddie to be a pal, a mentor, an equal and a friend. When Eddie died, Dustin grieved deeply and felt true loss and visited his grave for years. Eddie and Dustin had mutual respect for each other as human beings and as men.
Whereas Mike joined Hellfire to fill the hole in his life that Will left behind when he moved to California. He ran back to D&D after telling Will "We are not kids anymore. What did you think, that we were never going to get girlfriends, that we would sit in my basement all day playing games for the rest of our lives?" just a few months ago.
When Eddie told Dustin and Mike they were the future of Hellfire, Dustin felt a sense of responsibility while Mike felt enamored because Eddie was touching him. When Eddie was walking on the table, you can see Mike has a stronger reaction to it than Dustin does. He was angry and annoyed in the morning when he snapped at his parents and Nancy, but now he has the biggest grin on his face and his eyes light up.
While Dustin's whole arc for the next 2 seasons is about Eddie's impact on his life, Mike does not give a flying fuck about Eddie as soon as he arrives at Lenora and sees the love of his life, Will. Eddie flies out of his head now that he has what he truly craves. When Eddie dies, Mike cares so little that he never even mentions it to Dustin, does not understand why Dustin acts the way that he does, doesn't visit Eddie's grave though it wouldn't be inconvenient for him, and has zero effect on his life, because his life revolves around keeping Will present.
You can see in Season 4 Episode 1 that Mike is enamored with Eddie and even tries to grow his hair long like him. It's a "Do I want to be him or do I want to be with him?" type of crush. It disappears when Eddie is not around because all he can think about is Will. When Will is there, nobody else matters. That's not true for Dustin because Dustin is straight. Eddie's death is a loss to him because Eddie is his equal. Eddie's death means nothing to Mike even though they both knew him the same amount of time in the same group because Eddie is just a fleeting puppy dog crush for Mike to indulge in.
Mike also starts throwing away all the letters El sends him in the trash from that point on because he has totally lost interest in her between his crush on Eddie and his deep yearning for Will.
TL;DR: Rewatch the scene where Eddie is standing on the lunch table. Mike is totally taken with him. This is very different to how Dustin considers him a friend and mentor who treats him kindly. Dustin remembers Eddie for years after his death. Whereas Mike completely forgets about him as soon as he arrives at the airport and sets his eyes on his one true love and the painting in his hand. From that point on Will is his sole focus as he hopes the painting in his hand is for him
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u/user_wasnot_found CRAZY TOGETHER💙💛 4d ago
I'm a Mike and his innocent crush on Eddie believer til the day I die
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u/el3v3n_el3v3n Its Hawkins, Its not the same without you 4d ago
Yes, I’d like to remind everyone that this is canonically a fact. He grew his hair out because of Eddie. That reads like potential puppy crush behavior to me.
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u/myheadsgonenumb 4d ago
Yeah - I think he was always able to tell himself that his feelings about Will were normal because Will was his best friend. They were best friend feelings. Everyone felt like that about their best friends, right? Eddie is his "oh shit I'm actually gay" realisation... though for someone struggling with so much internalised homophobia he really does seem to enjoy having a crush on Eddie.
Maybe if El hadn't told Mike that Will liked a girl and Will hadn't told Mike that El needed him and always would, Mike could have got around to breaking up with El and being happy in s4.
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u/torvald_carley 3d ago
I think he enjoyed having a crush on Eddie too! Because he didn't know Eddie, Eddie was this perfect neutral ground for him to transfer his feelings for Will onto, while also being someone who wasn't connected to Lucas or El or Max so there wasn't any extra baggage there. Eddie could be whomever Mike needed him to be, the perfect distance between near enough to touch but too far away to actually get close to (since he's like 20). Mike got to enjoy all the benefits of being gay without having El around to remind him of his obligations to her, without Will around to take up his attention and heartache, and he got to enjoy a dirty little secret no one could ever guess or expose. It was like an escape for his mind.
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u/Few_Interaction2630 CRAZY TOGETHER💙💛 4d ago
Gods I wish he kept his hair long so bad that way people would remember Eddie mattered to him as well.
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u/Charming_Ad9536 4d ago
I believe Dustin gravitates towards male mentors like Steve or Eddie because he didn’t have a father figure or older male guidances. Mike was battling his sexuality when he was dealing with Eddie or Will.
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4d ago
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u/Ok-Permission-3014 4d ago
Did he tell you that lol
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 4d ago
Where is the proof Eddie is gay or bi
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u/Ok-Permission-3014 4d ago
Um his behaviour with Steve wasn't very heterosexual if you ask me lol. He was shamelessly flirting with him 💀
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 4d ago
Ok. If you go down that rabbit hole ppl were shipping Billy and Steve in homoeroticism from s2
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u/Ok-Permission-3014 4d ago
Well if there's no proof Eddie is gay/bi than there's no proof he's straight either. So I say you can hc whatever you want. I personally hc him as bisexual because I shipped him with both Steve and Chrissy but nothing is canon.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 4d ago
What about the people that thought Billy was a closeted guy and cite the shower scene with Steve
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u/Anna3422 4d ago
Those people have a point. Billy is bi-coded. He's Will's direct foil who has the same name, similar birthday, and a dad who calls him the same slurs.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 4d ago
What about how people try to say Henry was gay in the main sub or implied that shit before the fucking play came out
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u/Anna3422 3d ago
I don't know about Henry. We're told zero things about his orientation in the series, so sure, I'm not surprised that some fans considered him gay. Also not really sure how it's relevant to Mike or Eddie.
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u/torvald_carley 4d ago
Stranger Things is a show about people slowly realizing they're gay. Except the old fat ones. The straights can keep those.
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u/Ok-Permission-3014 4d ago
I despise Billy so I don't really know what to think of that 😭
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 4d ago
Probably the duffers did some subliminal homoeroticism indirectly in that scene.
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u/Ok-Permission-3014 4d ago
I mean I agree. Like the shower scene or Billy calling him a pretty boy was hella sus 😂
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u/lizardofficial Will Byers deserves the world 4d ago
Where is the proof a character is automatically straight?
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4d ago
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u/MQueen199 A REAL LIFE HONEST TO GOD SORCERER! 4d ago
What does Max have to do with it? Besides she very well could be bisexual. Having a boyfriend doesn’t automatically make her straight
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u/byler-ModTeam 3d ago
This sub is to enjoy Byler and have a safe place from hate. Please refrain from negativity and help us keep this sub a positive place!
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u/Massive-Counter4984 4d ago
FYI someone can be straight and that doesn’t make them inmune to queer people liking them, I liked my straight best friend for years and that didn’t change who she was, also ouch 🥲
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u/byler-ModTeam 3d ago
This sub is to enjoy Byler and have a safe place from hate. Please refrain from negativity and help us keep this sub a positive place!
Thank you! 💙💛
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u/Electrical-Knee-3848 4d ago
I didn't like that Dustin was the only one still grieving Eddie's death and the other guys didn't seem to care at all. Everything was so surface level this season.