I was bored, so I decided to write this today.

Okay, I'm not going to lie here by saying that Mike Wheeler isn't one of the driving forces of Stranger Things and a very important character. He's played by the teenage heartthrob of Finn Wolfhard (who I honestly don't think is cute whatsoever but we're not here to talk about that). I'm here to say that Mike is portrayed as the best person ever sometimes, but he falls short from that. He is also slightly glorified.

In the long run, Mike is an okay character. He's the kind of kid in season one who gets roped into something so far that he's in over his head, yet he stays fiercely loyal to his friends and opens his home to Eleven even if he isn't allowed. He was willing to die for Dustin when they were attacked by Troy, even before he knew Eleven was going to be there to save him. He was brave and loyal and a good friend, and those are all amazing character qualities.

Needless to say, he was an okay kid.

At the same time, though, Mike isn't the best person. When Eleven went missing in season one and we see the effects in season two, Mike is still grieving. I get that - when you get attached to someone like that and they are suddenly ripped away from you, it can be troubling and can leave someone broken and hopeless, but that was absolutely no reason for him to take it out on Max.

To put this into perspective, let's look at other characters from other books/other characters from Stranger Things. Take Harry from Harry Potter, for example. He was treated like crap in his childhood, yet he turned out okay. He was loyal to his friends and wasn't ever one to use that as fuel to attack others. He grew from how he was treated and didn't treat anyone the same way. Another example is Will Byers. He was verbally abused as a kid, called a faggot and queer by his own father for crying out loud, and he was the sweetest, nicest person in the group. He was the problem solver - he never wanted anyone hurt. Both of these examples are extremes, of course, but still - Mike had no reason to act how he did towards Max. It was uncalled for.

All in all, Mike is the prime example of someone who takes their sadness out on another person, and because that happens in all of season two, it really started to annoy me. He was alright in season one - in fact, I really liked his character, but his development in season two ticked me off. He was still loyal to his friends in the long run, but that came back to bite him in the butt when he went as far as to exclude someone from his group when Lucas clearly cared. Lucas let Eleven in even if he didn't want to in the end, and we see Mike acting the opposite towards Max. He was forced to let her in, though, because of everything that happened, even if he was petty about it.

That concludes my spiel on why Mike shouldn't be glorified. When people glorify him, I do have reasons for it, but pertaining to season two, he was just a jerk. Plain and simple. He had absolutely no reason to take his pain and inflict it on someone else.

Hope you enjoyed this!