Mike Wheeler: Lying About Monsters in the Most Monsterious Town on Earth
Lookahere.
In Stranger Things, when Mike tells Holly “Monsters aren’t real,” I nearly launched my snacks across the room. BRUH. Of course they’re real. You can’t leave that little girl wandering around Hawkins—Hawkins!—like it’s a normal suburb and not the unofficial capital of interdimensional foolishness. The moment the earth cracked open specifically there, the kids should’ve gathered every parent in the living room for a mandatory seminar: “Welcome to the Upside Down 101. Please take notes. Snacks will not be provided because we’re fighting for our lives.”
Leaving the adults clueless is exactly why they’re out here tripping, screaming, and getting dragged into vines like it’s Tuesday.
And TV already gave us the perfect example! In Supernatural, little Sam tells John Winchester there’s a monster under the bed, and John—without blinking—hands that boy a loaded handgun like, “Cool, then shoot it.” That’s the energy Mike needed. Not literal weapons, but at least some honesty, some training montage, maybe a laminated safety pamphlet! Instead he’s like, “Monsters? Nah.” Sir, your whole ZIP code is a monster.
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