Stranger Things: Should We Like Mike?
This semester, I’m helping to teach a seminar on Stranger Things. Yes, I get to do cool things like this and get paid for it. Yes, I am very grateful for that opportunity. I get to watch a show I’ve really enjoyed, this time with a critical eye to see what’s happening, how it all fits together, and why. As I’ve rewatched the episodes for the third, fourth, and sometimes fifth times, I’ve been very impressed with how well it’s put together and how successfully it works, with only a few plot lines or episodes falling flat. (We shall not speak of The Lost Sister, until class, when I’m very much going to speak about The Lost Sister.)
As an aside, I’m sure some of you are wondering why, exactly, it’s worthwhile to study a Netflix show in college. Insert snide remarks about how it’s a waste of time and indicative of what’s wrong with higher education. My answer is that analyzing anything gives you great practice in analyzing other things. If you can make an argument about something and then back that argument up with evidence, you get that much better at doing it in other areas. By starting with something fun and entertaining like Stranger Things, you have an easier onramp to repeating the process with more complicated issues. In another area, if you’re looking to become a storyteller, parsing a show out helps you to see what they creators are doing that makes it work, which in turn helps you do the same thing. In the course, I’m specifically taking time to discuss “College 101” elements like how to succeed in college, what sort of support structures exist for students, and how they can learn skills like time management. But anyway.
As I’ve rewatched the show, one of my least favorite characters has definitely become Mike. (He’s Eleven’s eventual boyfriend, if you’ve forgotten.) He is consistently whiny, self-centered, and obnoxious to everyone around him. True, he does go through some difficult experiences, like thinking his best friend is dead, and that justifies some of his actions, but many other characters in the show go through much worse and come through shining. (Dustin and Steve are two great examples.) Mike, on the other hand . . . pretty much stays Mike. But we’re clearly not supposed to dislike him. He’s not handled like Billy or the bullies. He’s clearly one of the Good Guys, and yet any scene he’s in, I’m automatically less inclined to like it, just because he gets so annoying.
Note that I don’t think this is any fault of the actor at all. Finn Wolfhard does a great job portraying the character as written. My question, then, is whether Mike is intended to be a likable character, but the creators failed at their intent, or if he’s intended to be a dislikable character on purpose.
As I’ve watched the show, I currently believe in Season One, the intent was for Mike to be a likable character. He’s the equivalent of Elliott in ET. He believes in Eleven when others don’t. He faces down the bullies in the gymnasium. But he still ends up being dislikable. The way he lies to others but insists on everyone else telling him the truth. The way he so quickly turns on Eleven when he thinks Will is dead. The way he treats Dustin and Lukas. He just, overall, doesn’t come across as a kid I’d like to spend any time with. So in the first season, I’d say it’s more a case of we were supposed to like him, but the writers/creators failed at the goal.
That said, I think in the later seasons, they purposefully lean in to Mike being an annoying twerp, even though he’s still on the side of the good guys. Hopper’s interactions with him in the first half of Season Three show this very well. Mike’s reduced to a punch line of sorts, and it’s clear the constant Eleven/Mike liplocking is supposed to be annoying. So the creators took what wasn’t working in the first season and turned it into something that works somewhat better in later seasons. (Even if I still dislike Mike almost every time he’s on the screen, and I would have preferred they . . . just make him a more consistently likable character.)
But I realize that’s just my thoughts on the matter. Those of you who have watched the show: do you like Mike as a character? Why or why not? I’d really like to hear your thought processes.
