Stranger Things Season 5's Tender Character Moment Was Actually A Big Missed Opportunity
Volume 2 finally gave viewers what they wanted, but left a lot to be desired.
No matter how hard-boiled a show is, if it exists, there are shippers of it. Even Stranger Things, which followed a bunch of actual children, had fans wondering who would end up with who by the end. Now, it’s nine years and (almost) five seasons later, and these characters (and especially the actors) have grown into young adults.
In Season 3, we watched Will be heartbroken when Mike says, “It’s not my fault that you don’t like girls,” and then Season 4 showed how moving away from Mike affected Will more than just a long-distance friendship. In the current day, it’s pretty obvious that Will isn’t straight, but in the 1980s, that’s a much bigger deal.
Despite having all the elements for an emotional reveal in the show’s fifth and final season, the reality turned out to be an abrupt, strange moment that felt both out of nowhere and way too late. But just went wrong? There’s no one reason; instead, it’s the result of a number of terrible circumstances. Here’s everything that went wrong with this moment.
Outed By Vecna
When Will pauses the preparations for the final fight against Vecna to come out to all of his friends, it’s not because he’s ready. It’s because he knows Vecna can use his secrets against him. It’s not a typical situation at all, but it’s definitely not the healthiest of circumstances. While Will is coming out on his own terms, it’s not because he wants to; it’s because he feels like he has to, in order to take emotional ammunition away from Vecna.
“Today, Vecna showed me what would happen if I did this, if I told you guys the truth,” he says. “And I know none of that has happened, and Vecna can’t see into the future. But he can see into our minds, and he knows things. And it just felt so real. It felt so real.”
So Will didn’t come out because he was ready to know the truth; he did it to take a villainous It’s A Wonderful Life scenario away from Vecna, so there’s one fewer way to torture him. It’s a confession under duress.
Will’s coming out is motivated by Vecna, but is that the best choice?
The Tammy Problem
In the line that was heard around the world for “Byler” shippers (that’s Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, in case you didn’t know), Will revealed he really did have a crush on Mike as we thought in Season 4. But he phrases it in a very particular way. “I had this… this crush on someone, even though I know… I know they’re not like me,” he says. “But… But then I realized he’s just my Tammy. And by Tammy, I mean it was never about him.”
But why name-drop Tammy when Robin is the only one who knows what that means? It’s a nice way to honor her role in helping him come to terms with this, but we don’t know who Robin is out to. We know she’s out to Steve, but Will didn’t realize she was with Vickie until the beginning of Season 5, so presumedly, none of his friends know either. If anyone puts Robin and Tammy together, it could actually be outing her.
I’m Just Like You
I understand this is 1987, and the LGBTQ community is nowhere where it is now, but one of the most pernicious tropes in coming-out scenes is the “nothing’s changed” cliche. This is leaned on heavily in this scene, with Will saying he still likes playing D&D late into the night and drinking milkshakes, and renting movies.
But we don’t really see Will and his friends do this in Stranger Things. We usually see them saving the world, so this rings hollow, and what does Will's attraction to change any of that? There’s no problem with mentioning that he’s still the same, but spending ten lines being nostalgic about things we haven’t seen onscreen in years feels like Will’s ignoring the biggest point: he’s not the same as he was playing in Mike’s basement. He’s powerful now, and he’s more in tune with what’s going on. He’s not like them. He’s powerful in his own way.
It’s great that Will has so much support, but it made his coming out way less emotionally intimate.
The Writing is Just...Off
The first time I watched this scene, one word came up in my notes over and over again: overwrought. Coming out is a long, drawn-out process, usually beginning with admitting it to yourself, then a loved one, then more and more people. Instead, Will calls what feels like a press conference and delivers this monologue that references things only half the group knows about (milkshakes, etc) or only one person knows about (Tammy), while characters like Kali and Murray are there for seemingly no reason.
It’s not just out of character, it’s also very unrealistic. I know Stranger Things is capable of more because the show has depicted a well-crafted coming-out scene already, when Robin came out to Steve. It’s a little clumsy, only a little rehearsed, and very clearly something Robin has come to terms with herself. Yes, there was truth serum involved, but it’s something she had clearly fully worked through.
With only one episode left, I understand why we couldn’t see the gradual coming out that queer teens often experience, but this just feels so forced both by Vecna and by the writers themselves, and Will Byers deserves better.
