I Don’t Know Why My Mind Insists On Making Me Sad, But I Just Can’t Stop Thinking About Max In S3

I don’t know why my mind insists on making me sad, but I just can’t stop thinking about Max in S3 being SO in denial about Billy being the new host for the Mind Flayer or ANYTHING being off about him. Even when El, someone who knows MUCH more about the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer, claims something odd is going on with Billy, she persistently tried to rationalize all the weird things discovered.

Such as when they found ice bags in his bathtub:

Max says that they were “probably for his muscles or something [cause] he works out like a maniac”.

Even if Max really believed that it was some weird workout thing, if I found my sibling’s tub full of ice, I would have definitely been more weirded out; she was mostly dismissive about it.

Or when El said that Billy seemed wrong when they found him at Heather’s house, Max reassures in a humorous way:

“Wrong is kind of like his default, but it’s nice to know he’s not a murderer, because that would have totally sucked”

Despite seeing that Heather was indeed ok, there was still the BLOODY WHISTLE found in her brother’s room. And she was adamant that, as long as Heather didn’t seem harmed in any way, it was enough to disregard ANY suspicions of Billy doing wrong.

Or the Party points out how weird it is for Billy to be fully covered from head to toe at the pool

Max: I don’t know, he looks pretty normal to me.

Lucas: Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?

Max: I mean it’s a little weird….

Max knows Billy better than anyone in Hawkins. She KNOWS that Billy shows off his body any chance he gets. It is NOT normal to dress more conservatively out of the blue.

It is only during the Sauna Test that she couldn’t deny the fact that Billy is, without a doubt, the new host.

It is so heartbreaking because we can tell that their relationship has improved from where it was left in S2 (when she nearly crushed his nuts with a spiky baseball bat).

I can already imagine that between S2 and S3, they came to a sort of truce. Their relationship wouldn’t do a complete 180 of course. But it would be the type of truce where they would try to be less hostile towards each other, keep their tempers in check, and minimize the arguing between them. That would eventually lead to them having a mutual understanding and respect of each other.

Billy and Max share a lot of similarities (both are headstrong and outspoken) and been put in the same miserable situation (moving away from their home in California), that once they were able to put their bitterness towards each other aside, they formed a kinship and found out that, hey, maybe having this little shitbird/asshole as a sibling isn’t so bad.Their relationship was finally improving and on the path for the better.

Until the Mind Flayer put that progress to a screeching halt.

Alright, I’m done with my depressing rant.🥲