Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4!
Mike’s rousing speech of love to Eleven in Stranger Things season 4 is so much worse for Will than it seems. The beginning of volume 1 sees Eleven finally bring up the fact that Mike has never said that he loves her. She brings out stacks and stacks of letters to prove her point, all of which are bluntly signed off “From, Mike.” Clearly, it’s something important to her, and it’s also something that Mike has struggled with verbalizing for a few seasons of Stranger Things. It finally comes out in his speech to her, but it unfortunately also hurts Will.
Will’s love for Mike has been building for a while now, but it becomes apparent in Stranger Things season 4. His speech to Mike about being the heart of the group and disguising his real feelings by feigning talking from Eleven’s point of view is heartbreaking to watch. Will has always been a true friend. Thus he doesn’t stand in the way of his friends’ relationships and compartmentalizes his own feelings for their benefit. However, Mike’s speech to Eleven undoubtedly hurts him, and it’s made worse by one specific line from Mike.
Mike’s speech to Eleven is powerful enough to spur Eleven to fight Vecna, with her regaining new confidence after Mike tells Eleven he loves her. This speech, while a key moment for the couple in Stranger Things, is like watching Will’s worst nightmare. Not only does he have to watch the boy he likes confess his love for someone else, but the context behind one of Mike’s sentiments is gut-wrenching. Mike tells Eleven, “My life started the day we found you in the woods.” What makes this worse for Will is that specific day was when he was discovered to be missing.
Mike’s Eleven Speech Reveals How Much He’s Changed In Stranger Things
Over the course of Stranger Things, Mike has overlooked his friends more and more in favor of his girlfriend, Eleven. In season 1, he jumped off a cliff to save Dustin from bullies. Then in season 2, he was the only one who was permanently by Will’s side when Lucas and Dustin were chasing Max. However, when Eleven came back at the end of Stranger Things season 2, Mike was then completely smitten by season 3. He became distant from Will and only wanted to talk about girls. All Will wanted to do was reconnect and bond over Dungeons & Dragons. In Stranger Things season 4, Will says that Mike has barely called, even though his best friend lives in a completely different state, and it’s easy to imagine that Mike’s phone calls to the Byers household were mainly for Eleven.
Mike being so blinded by his girlfriend as to say something so self-centered shows how far he’s strayed from the season 1 Mike, who would do anything for his friends. Will was fighting for his life in the Upside Down, and contrarily, Mike himself has stated that his life at that time had only just started. Will’s trauma in Stranger Things has increasingly been swept to the back of Mike’s mind, almost as if he takes it for granted that his best friend is, miraculously, alive and well after everything he’s been through.
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