The fact that the Duffers didn't make Max a pick me girl makes me want to kiss them on the mouth. They easily could have fallen into the trope of her putting down other girls and hating on anything feminine, but they didn't.
She's sarcastic, skateboards, goes by Max rather than Maxine, and hangs out with little boys and yet she is so excited to meet El at the end of S2! She doesn't see El as competition she sees her as a friend! During
S3 we see that Max is an actual feminist icon as she encourages El to find herself outside of her relationship with Mike. We see Max's feminine side which she is not at all ashamed of.
And the fact that they made El and Max so close after El's initial jealousy toward her in S2 feels so special to me. All of S2 Max just wants to be a part of the party, specifically she wants Mike to accept her into the party (because he's really the only one gatekeeping lol) and Max fully realizes that the reason why Mike doesn't want her in the party is because he misses El and doesnt want to feel like they're replacing her.
So it would have been so easy, made sense even, for Max to be jealous of El or to resent her. Especially after El is cold to her when they first meet. But she isn't and she doesn't! Idk I just love Max a lot and I will always be grateful to the Duffers for not Ginny Weasleyifying her.
Now, I’m not saying I’m right but hell…I would 100% be pleased if Mike got Vecna’d and it went a little like this, alternating between 17 year old Mike and Mike at his age in certain memories.
12 y/o Will leaves on his bike in 1983, 17 y/o Mike tries to chase after him, to stop him, and as he runs past us it flips to 12 y/o Mike, and he’s running right off the cliff at the quarry. El doesn’t catch him this time.
12 y/o Mike hits the water, but he isn’t hurt. 17 y/o Mike swims to the surface, disoriented. Something bumps into him. It’s Will, his body floating eerily in the water. “It’s not Will, it can’t be,” echoes from the shore. We get an over the shoulder shot of 12 y/o Mike, who’s picking his bike up and running away. Here? We get the cut teary bike home.
12 y/o mike opens the door to his house, but instead it’s the lab, and Will is screaming for him. Mike, now a 13 y/o, runs, trying to get to Will. When he opens the next door, it’s his garage and he’s 14 and he’s yelling The Infamous Line at Will, watching his best friend’s expression ice over.
When it cuts back to Mike, he’s 17, and this time, instead of watching Will leave, he reaches out to pull him back. As soon as his hand meets Will’s arm, it’s rink o mania, and it’s Will who’s getting Vecna’d. Mike is watching uselessly from the DJ box. Will’s levitating, his eyes are bloody, the disco ball behind him shining like a halo. “You can’t save me, Mike, you never could,” 15 y/o Will croaks out as his bones snap.
Mike’s scrambling onto the rink, skating towards Will at top speed, tears pouring down his cheeks as he watches Will fall to the floor, and as he reaches Will’s mangled body— September sunlight. Children laughing, trees rustling. Two boys on a swing set.