Duffer Brothers - Blog Posts

Hey duffle bags, way to shat all over Dacre’s hard work on trying to humanize Billy whilst he couldn’t be on set to defend him.

The Duffers, projecting: Billy role is to be the big bad bully to us our heroes and he’s gonna be mean and loud and an overall maniac because he is the reincarnation of all things EVIILL.

Dacre Montgomery, having the heart of gold that he does: *walks on set

With all the revived hype surrounding Billy from the latest S4 trailer, I’m reminded why I will forever be grateful that the role was given to someone like Dacre Montgomery. With all the speculation of Billy not only returning, but possibly returning as ANOTHER corrupted version of himself, Dacre is the only reason why I still have hope for Billy’s arc.

He is the reason why Billy is as complex and nuanced as he is in canon. Judging from past interviews, it seems like the Duffers were content to just let Billy be this two dimensional bully who’s an irredeemable maniac (and possibly still believe he is to some extent). But it was Dacre who humanized him. He understood that no one is simply born evil, that people like Billy have deeper issues going on in their lives. He suggested to add the scene with his dad abusing him and to give him a backstory of how he was abandoned by the only person who loved him. He demonstrated how all that shit twisted a sweet little boy into an angry, aggressive teenager. It would be enough to turn anybody into a Billy Hargrove.

Dacre gave the audience a reason to sympathize with Billy and demonstrated how he still has the potential to become a better person and overcome his toxic ways.

So, no matter what role Billy plays this season (whether it be alive, in flashbacks, or in some monster form), I trust that Dacre will put all his effort to maintain and continue Billy’s character development.

I just think it’s funny how arguably the smartest characters (who are often favorites too because of their ability to see the smaller things and figure them out) all start out as crazy, unrealistic, deranged, insane, analyzing too much, imaginative, paranoid, and, well, delusional. Yet they end up being right. The characters who figure everything out for everyone, only do it because of their “insanity.” (This is mostly about Joyce and Murray, but honestly Nancy too). However, when fans analyze and try to explain the same way (for a show too, not a telekinetic Russian girl, a show written by those very same people who wrote their “delusional” characters to be right) it’s somehow unrealistic and inaccurate? Not needed, when that’s how everything in the show is done? Just a bit ironic (and a slight bit hypocritical to be honest).

Plot twist, anon is actually a duffer they kept hidden away in a cage because they were too good and they escaped and they immediately went to byler tumblr bc only they would listen to something this insane

S5 moment where Will is about to go into the upside down and Mike is the only one who knows, all of them are in battle, too focused to notice. Then the camera shifts between Mike and Will, one leaving and the other staying. Then, as we get a close up on Mike’s face, his realization. There’s a montage, all the times he lost him, it was seven, the Byers taking Will away so El closes the gate, the rain fight, Will moving away. Wait, no, he’s not losing him again, then, he grabs his bike, several Mikes! and What are you doing?! from the rest of the party being screamed at him as he bikes as hard as he can to catch up to Will, the montage finally showing a younger Mike crying as he rides home after he found Will’s body, to now Mike biking towards him. He’s not losing him. They enter the upside down.

holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT ANON.

Analysis: Mike Jumping Off a Cliff in S1

Because it’s all I’ve thought about for the past few months.

TW: suicide mention

(Sorry if everything I’m about to say has already been said.)

Mike jumps off a cliff in episode six. At this point in the story, the majority of the town thinks that Will died by falling from the quarry, and it’s possibly been implied that Hopper originally thought Will jumped rather than fell.

Mike, however, knows Will is actually alive, and he’s dedicating all his time to finding him. He even befriended El solely because he thought she could help him find Will.

Then he got into a fight with Lucas, and their argument, at its core, was about Lucas thinking that Mike isn’t doing enough to help Will. Now, Lucas won’t talk to him.

After that fight, Mike got mad at Eleven and yelled at her, which drove her away. This means he currently has no way of saving Will, and on top of that, El, whom he’s made it his job to protect, is now wandering around, by herself, while people are trying to hunt her down and kill her. It’s likely that he feels he’s failed two of his friends, and to make matters worse, someone else he cares about even blames him for one of these “failures.”

When Troy tells Mike to either jump off the cliff or watch him hurt Dustin, Mike is at a point where he feels that he has no one else he’s capable of protecting. From his perspective, Dustin is the only person whom he can actually help, and keeping others safe is his one purpose. If he can’t save Will or El, he has nothing to live for, but if he can save Dustin by jumping off that cliff, he has something to die for.

Mike also doesn’t even try to negotiate with Troy; he makes no objections. It takes him less than nine seconds to decide to go along with it. Then, he walks slowly toward the edge of the cliff but doesn’t come to a stop until he’s on the edge, and he waits there for twenty seconds before jumping. Based on his body language, I think he hesitates not because he’s still deciding whether he’s going to jump but rather, because he’s scared. I also think the fact that he didn’t try to come up with an alternative to himself dying is a sign that at least part of him actually wanted to die — that he wasn’t just doing it because he felt he had to.

Now, the fact that this scene takes place at the quarry, of all places, is obviously significant. It could have happened anywhere in any way — Mike didn’t have to jump off the same cliff everyone thought Will fell/jumped from, toward the same water they’d found Will’s “body” in. But the writers wanted it to be clear that Mike jumped primarily because he felt guilty for not saving Will and that while other characters tried to make it seem like Will’s “death” was an accident, Mike’s own death would have been on purpose — a suicide. Hopper’s lines to Joyce, “Our working theory right now is that Will…crashed his bike. He…made his way to the quarry, and, uh…accidentally fell in,” were designed to contrast Mike’s purposeful jumping from the cliff. The audience is supposed to wonder why a twelve year old boy was so willing to kill himself.

Speaking of the police’s theory of how Will died — if it had been correct, and if Mike had died too, the boys’ deaths would have almost completely matched up. Both Mike and Will would have abandoned their respective bikes in the woods to run from a posed threat; both of them would have gone straight to the quarry afterward; both of them would have fallen/jumped from the edge, and both of their bodies would have been found in the water below. These parallels would not exist if they weren’t important.

Bonus: the camera shots after Will and Mike (and Dustin) leave their respective bikes parallel each other:

Additionally, in season two, episode one, Ted says to Mike, “So, if your friend jumps off a cliff, you’re gonna jump too?” He’s paraphrasing a common expression because he has no actual fatherly wisdom to give, as per usual, so I initially thought this was a throwaway line only meant to remind the audience how useless he is. However, while the line does serve that purpose, it’s not a throwaway from the writers; it has a point to it.

Mike knew, when he jumped off the quarry, that Will himself hadn’t actually jumped or fallen from it, but regardless, it’s plausible that, at the time, he was thinking about Will and the fact that Will’s fake body had been found there. And if Mike had died that day, the town likely would have assumed he did it because he wanted to “join” his friend by dying in the same way he did.

“So, if your friend jumps off a cliff, you’re gonna jump too?” is intended to remind the audience that Mike has some major issues, which have yet to be resolved.

STRANGER THINGS VOLUME 2 SPOILERS!!!!!!!

As much as I love Eddie and didn’t want him to die I don’t think he should come back in season five. With Barb, Bob, and Billy their deaths meant something because they died and stayed dead. Characters were allowed to actually work through mourning and have meaningful scenes and memories of these characters because their death wasn’t a fake out. The fake deaths of Dr.Brenner and Hopper were meaningful until they were brought back, then the plot felt incomplete. If they bring Eddie back it will feel so weird because it will seem like the duffer brothers were scared to commit to a death.

i will stop watching it for real

i don't care if 'one person isn't going to change anything' i dont wanna watch this show anymore

some of you will come at me for saying this but i think they should've stopped at season 4, today's ep could've been the finale. they already explained a lot and i think continuing it further is only going to bore the fans. at least im bored.

and i'll never forget what they did to eddie. they could've used the same 'im not a hero' line without killing him off. he could've been a real hero, he would've save the others and live. imagine eddie running to dustin telling 'i did it this time! i didn't run! who's the freak now suckers? I'M A GODDAMN HERO' or something like that. WE WERE ROBBED AND HE DESERVED BETTER!

the duffers are paying for my fucking therapy bills

how the fuck did they hype this character to the max only for them to kill them off immediately

the writing was so fucking cheap and predictable i wouldn’t be surprised if people stopped watching it all together after this season

Stranger things 4 (vol2) ?

It broke me. And I was crying while watching it but now I'm just really mad and confused.

(1.) Like WHY did they do that to Will? He deserved better. Will was sobbing like not even a metre away from Mike but he didn't care? Also, we know that he painted that for will and not because eleven wanted him to (like she said something how she thinks its for a girl) and then Will tells Mike it's about Mike and Eleven? Really? Anyways stan Jonathan he's a real one. But seriously, the duffer brothers did Will and especially Mike so dirty, he didn't have a character development, he did that backwards. Also to Jonathan, he also deserves none of this. Let Will be happy for once tho.

(2.) Why are the duffer brothers pushing Nancy and Steve again?? Let the two rest for goddamn, Steve didn't try to forget her for like season 2-4 just for them to come back. If they would have kissed I would have been more pissed. Nancy's and Jonathans relationship is literally over, neither of them trust each other I think. Jonathan with that college thing and Nancy with Steve.

(3.) also, what's that with Robin, Nancy and Vickie? No wonder that Maya loves Ronance more than anything. I kind of thought Vickie would be a good character but she's like a copy of Robin? I mean sure, some people act the same but why couldn't they write Vickie a little more.... like an own character? I kinda like her tho, but it's a little weird to me idk. That whole queerbait thing with Robin and Nancy makes me sick. Anyway.

(4.) Eddie. I love you. They did him SO dirty. At first I didn't really get the hype but now I understand everything, he is the moment. They really filled Eddie, a new character in, just for him being killed off so no mayor character can die. No one besides Dustin was sad over his death. No one. Like he was just some random guy and not their friend. Eddie died just for him being seen as a villain to the town. Fuck off.

At least Hopper and Joyce are fine.

So all in all, fuck this season. Max deserves better. And the queerbaiting ugh. I really expected better tbh. It was great, but so many things that make me mad.