All of the Stranger Things memes about the final season’s central relationship drama have us thinking about Parks and Recreation. Online, folks have been diving right into Stranger Things 5. Will and Robin’s friendship is one of the best parts of these four episodes on Netflix. But, we can’t help but notice the similarities to Parks and Recreation’s most iconic throuple. Namely, April Ludgate, Derek and Ben.
Basically, April had a boyfriend before Andy Dwyer. That boyfriend, derek, also had a boyfriend, and his name was Ben. (If this all feels like “Hot Fuzz”-era The Killers, you’re on the right track.) The image of April holding hands with Derek, who is holding hands with Ben is still a delightful sight to behold on the beloved NBC sitcom. Ben and April don’t particularly get along, you see.
In this season of Stranger Things, some fans have already begun joking about a similar dynamic between Will and Mike developing with Eleven. She’s going to discover Will’s big crush on her boyfriend at some point. (At this point, she’s probably already aware. There’s been some chatter on the web about how Mike basically has a type. (Slight spoilers for Stranger Things 5’s fourth episode!)
Will and Mike’s interesting love triangle situation
All of this leads to an interesting question as it relates to Stranger Things 5. It’s clear that will probably isn’t going to be reciprocated by the time the credits roll in the last episode. If we take that understanding as gospel, where does that leave our newly empowered friend in his journey through Hawkins, Indiana and beyond? What does the future look like in this past that looks so close to our own?
Robin has played a massive role in providing a sounding board for Will as he tries to figure out how to process all the stuff that’s happened to him in the last four seasons of the show. He’s not probably going to get Mike, And we’ve still got those long teased gruesome death sequences on deck as well. So, we don’t even know if Will is going to make it out of Stranger Things 5 unscathed.
Netflix’s Tudum caught up with both Noah Schnapp and Maya Hawke to talk about their long awaited conversation about being queer in these spaces in the past. Schnapp’s character needs someone to lean on, and in his moment of need, Hawke was right there waiting and ready.
“Will was really this shy, very insular kid who wouldn’t open up about anything. He was scared to share his feelings and felt like he didn’t belong and he was wrong for being different,” Schnapp explained. “And through the years of being on the outside and being excluded, and being slower to grow up, he realizes that that’s kind of his superpower.”
He added, “And that’s one of the themes of our show: what makes everyone so special and beautiful and unique are their differences. When Will finally realizes, ‘I accept myself, I love myself and what makes me different and unique,’ he really flourishes.”
(Photo Credit: Netflix/Peacock)
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