Chapter Text
Alrighty gang, here we go. We’re starting off really strong, because I have SO MUCH to say about this painting. Not just about how truly devastating it is that Will made it for Mike, but also about how I think Mike should be just a wee bit more confused on how the panting did the opposite of what Will claimed it did.
I know that probably doesn’t make sense, so let me break it down for you:
We’re gonna start by going through the events that are important to this discussion.
Firstly, Eleven tells Mike in the first episode (almost immediately mind you) that Will is “painting a lot” and that she thinks it is for a girl. She also claims he will not show her what he’s working on. She then goes on to say, “I think there is someone he likes” within the same stream of sentences. This implies that Eleven believes the painting is for a crush of Wills. That in itself is so important, since it expresses that he likes someone blatantly.
Second, we see that Will takes this painting he’s been working on, and brings it to the airport to meet Mike. It is implied to the audience that Will intended on giving it to Mike (before Mike decided to be fake at), but Will never did. At this point, Mike is aware that Will is making a painting for someone he likes; At this point, Mike is standing in front of his best friend, who is holding a painting. For him.
Third, Mike and Will go to save Eleven from the bad men. Many MANY things occur between then and the scene in the van. Many opportunities arise where either one of them could have died. However: Will decided that he needed to bring this painting with him on their journey. The thought process behind this decision is unknown, but it is a strange decision.
Nevertheless, Will brings the painting with them. While on their way to El’s coordinates, Mike opens up to Will; discussing his worry about Elevens love for Mike fading. Will decides to use this painting that HE made for MIKE as a way to convince Mike that EL loves him, by saying El commissioned the painting. (Like are we being deadass rn). Will expresses that El needs Mike, and that without him, El would feel like a monster/ freak. It is obvious to the audience that this monologue is genuine to WILLS feelings towards Mike, and that this is not something El said to Will at all.
Now that all of this is out of the way, we can get to the real issues here.
Starting with the obvious: El has literally never played DND, and the painting is all about DND. How on gods green earth did El ask for a painting about something she doesn’t know about? It would’ve been something along the lines of: “Will, can you please paint something for Mike that he will really love? Please make it DND, I know he loves DND, I do not know about DND as much as you. I believe you will do a good job!”
Not only this, but El said “he won’t show me what he’s working on”. However, in the van, Will states: “she commissioned it, she basically told me what to paint”. So now the narrative here is that El commissioned a panting that’s she has never seen, of something she doesn’t know about. You’d think a painting she wanted to make him would have at least had an approved outline by El.
But that’s not all! The painting depicts the party, this being: Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin. El isn’t in the painting. So now the story, or at least what Mike is being told, is that El commissioned a painting of something she knows nothing about, and she’s never seen the painting that she ordered. She also isn't in the painting that she commissioned, even though this painting is supposed to be something to prove her love to Mike.
Somehow, despite all odds, Mike believes Will. Even though his story is a blatant and obvious lie, Mike believes this story he has laid out. I want to give Mike the benefit of the doubt and say maybe he believed the painting El spoke of, and the one in his hands, were two separate paintings. But I need to say that even if that’s the case, he must be very shallow if that’s his first conclusion.
Last thing I wanna speak on for these three events is Will bringing the painting to the airport. El and Will live together. Maybe Mike doesn’t know, but El is Kiley very aware of how many art pieces Will has been working on. In the shot of his room earlier in the episode, it shows only one clear pairing being worked on. So when Will brings the painting to the airport, you think El didn’t notice? Is the audience just supposed to assume that El doesn’t care that a painting she thought was for Wills crush, was actually for HER boyfriend? Just food for thought.
Now I know what you’re thinking: *author, Mike must be really dumb. Thank you for discussing this with me. I’m gonna go now.*
That’s so great, but unfortunately I still have more to say on this topic. So let’s go back to our events, and add to the list:
(Here’s what we’ve touched on, in case you’ve forgotten)
1. El tells Mike that Will is painting something for a crush
2. Will brings painting to airport
3. Will brings painting on their road trip, where he makes up cock and bull story about it being from El
Now, Mike uses the support of Will to confess to El that he “loves” her (which is something I’ll get to another time). During the confession, the audience sees El grimace when he confesses his love. Keep in mind that her facial expressions in the real world mimic those she makes in the upside down. This being said, everyone in the pizza place likely saw this face being made.
Then, everyone from California finally get back to Hawkins after what feels like a million things unfolding. They begin to clean up hoppers cabin, and the audience sees El acting very cold to both Mike and Will. Mike is confused by this, but not as confused as I believe he should be, as he passes it off pretty quickly when Will begins talking about something else.
Okay stay with me now (please): something that NEEDS to be discussed in the fifth season is the fact that nothing Mike is being told makes any sense whatsoever. We (yes, we. This is a team effort not) already established that Mike is being told to every contrasting stories surrounding this painting. Mike isn’t totally stupid, so he’s had to have some sort of realization that these stories do not coincide.
Everyone wants to see the “what painting?” scene. Me more than anyone, believe me.
But something I think is really important to bring up in this season is the fact that Will expressed “Els feelings” about Mike in the Van, and when Mike used what Will said to repair their relationship, El responded with distain. If I were Mike, I would be so confused.
Considering the shows motto is “friends don’t lie”, Mike must have assumed that Will was being truthful about the painting. So, he has no reason to believe that Mike using those words to make amends would backfire. However they clearly did, as she is acting cold to him in the last episode. To him, he has said all that she wanted to hear, but he doesn’t know that a lot of what he said was just the opposite.
All I want to see is Mike talking to someone (ideally Will or El) about how confusing this must be for him.
In conclusion: the painting is one of the biggest plot holes in the story as of current. Who knows if it will be resolved, but if it isn’t, this may be something that haunts me forever. (Just like Jonathan taking pics of Nancy being edited out of the episode)