Season Three Inspired Oneshots~

Season Three - El Hopper

El. El was an amazing character this season. Beginning to end. I'm still extremely angry at the Duffers and Netflix for the way they left her character at the end of the season.

Just as I did with Mike, we're going to start at the beginning of the season. This is going to be the format for all of the character analysis things.

I love El in episode one so much. She's becoming a teenager, living a life with a dad, a boyfriend, and friends. No more lab. No more experiments. She's free. She has a birth certificate, she's real. She isn't a secret stowed away in the cabin anymore.

No, now, although she remains in the cabin; she has what she wants. We start off with her and Mike.

I paused as the camera panned over the stuff in El's bedroom. I wanted to take everything into account. Like, the fact that she has a picture of Mike taped up in her mirror. Or the one she has framed, with the little dice that spell his name.

Or the posters with his name on her wall, or the drawing Will made for her. The Unicorn and Rocket Ship on her dresser. All the tapes for her radio.

She's living the life of a teenage girl.

The way she covers Mike's hand with her mouth to get him to stop singing is hilarious. The way her expression goes from utter confusion when he begins to sing to just smiling, close to laughing, it gets me every time.

She's like this with him. He means the world to her. He's her everything. He's her first boyfriend, her first friend. He's really her soulmate. And he loves her so much.

The way she shuts the door when Hopper sees them kissing is the best, and how calm she looks when he busts into the room.

El loves Mike. You can tell. Even while they're talking over walkie-talkie when Mike is biking to Starcourt to meet the others. Saying she wishes she was still with him, still laughing at how red in the face Hopper had become when he caught them and they acted like nothing had occurred.

The way El holds onto Mike, and runs into his arms to have him save her from Farrah Fawcett spray, or The Slammer is hilarious. She knows full well she's killed people but for once she'd rather be the one being saved.

I find it so funny that her and Mike just had to walk behind the rest of the group on their own, not carrying anything so they could hold hands.

In the "Can't fight this feeling" scene, before Hopper comes in for his heart-to-heart 😳they really were making out, like Jesus. She kisses him like her life depends on it.

I loved the way she attempted to be chill when Hopper walked into the room, it was hilarious because she was clearly still dazed but needed to regain her focus.

I adore the way Mike makes her laugh, the way she giggles when he makes smug remarks. But at the same time, the worry on her face when Hopper said Karen called about Mike's nana.

It really shows just how much she cares about him. A shit ton. 

Did Mike really want to lie to El? No. Did he because Hopper went a bit batshit crazy on him? Yes. After El called Mike over him not showing up to her house at the usual time she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Knowing only one other girl her age, although she didn't like her she'd have to talk to her. So she went to find Max.

Max's advice was stupid. I'll say it right here. Obvi my opinion but it was stupid. Max was wrong on every level.

El finding out what her style was made my heart melt, the way she tried on all the different outfits to find the one she liked best was precious.

Her putting the beret on the wrong way reminded me of Rapunzel, when she was trying on the tiara, putting it on her arm like a bracelet.