what milevens refuse to acknowledge and will have to begrudgingly accept is that the events leading to the monologue were ultimately propelled by will’s lie about the painting, and a major lie at that. like they can brag about their love confession all they want but it’s an undeniable fact that the monologue wouldn’t have existed without the van scene happening beforehand. it was basically a domino effect of events (foreshadowed by argyle quite literally saying “mike wheeler, your dominoes are gonna fall” before the whole veiled love confession in the van).

mike was being honest? sure, but it would only be because he felt true love from will’s feelings for him (disguised as el’s) and thought that because of this, he could finally give el the kind of love she wanted from him. he didn’t just magically gain the ability to say “i love you”, he needed a key motivator in order to do that, which was ultimately based on a lie. to make this apparent, they wrote in the entire “you’re the heart” dialogue from will right before mike delivered his monologue, as a callback to the van scene and as a way of reminding the audience of will’s speech to mike. but what really makes me believe that the van scene and mike’s monologue are supposed to be associated with each other is the fact that being different and you’re the heart are basically two halves of a whole and form one song when combined.

i realized that all these discussions about whether mike intended to be genuine or was consciously lying in the monologue, don’t actually matter in the greater scheme of things because at the end of the day, mike’s words were majorly influenced by will giving mike this image of el that didn’t actually exist. mike’s last string of hope in saving his relationship with el (which is basically just him being afraid she’d not want to be a part of his life anymore if they truly broke up) happened because will lied to him about her feelings, and although will had good intentions, he had a false perception of mike and el’s relationship and how el truly saw mike. because of this, mike thought that his words were what el truly needed from him.

all of this will come back to bite the entire love triangle in the ass when mike inevitably learns the full truth behind the painting in season 5. because really, there’s no reason for them to make this entire storyline so elaborate if they don’t have something major planned for it. the painting either would've genuinely come from el so that the basis of mileven’s “love” would’ve been more authentic, or they wouldn't have made will lie about the painting and had mike gently reject him so that they could focus on letting him move on in season 5. hell, they would’ve closed the curtains in this plot already and gotten it over with sooner if they didn’t care enough about it. so why are they hellbent on dragging it out into the last season? because something will trigger the lies behind the painting to come out overflowing, and it would have a such a huge impact and actually alter the relationships in the love triangle.

maybe some people still don’t see the byler endgame vision, but you can’t deny that mileven’s relationship was doomed the moment mike was motivated by a lie to confess to el. because it automatically makes his words inauthentic and not strong enough. also, you don’t solve a couple’s relationship problems by heavily involving the second love interest and making him do so much work for them, unless you’re planning on setting up a huge payoff for him as a reward for his selflessness. everytime the writers had the other love interest attribute their acts of love to the partner of the person they have feelings for (like with jonathan telling nancy that steve took her home in order to make her feel secure in their relationship instead of telling the truth), said selfless love interest ended up with the person they wanted. because writing it this way makes the second love interest look more deserving of the love from the person in the middle of it all. because they’re the one shown to exert so much effort instead of their actual partner. this is not me trying to discredit el (because i know very well that she already did so much more than mike when it comes to the dedication put into keeping their relationship going), but more so me trying to point out the writing choices in the show and why they decided to put el in a situation where she wouldn’t be able to do all of what will has done for mike in season 4. why they decided that it would be will who managed to reassure mike and give him the exact kind of love he needed, why it was will who understood mike’s troubles and inner turmoils. it was a matter of showing who’s the more compatible partner for mike. let’s be honest, el wouldn’t have been able to understand what mike needed the way will did, because they were always struggling to actually connect with what the other person was trying to express and be on the same page. but will always connected well with mike. will knew that mike was feeling worthless and inferior, so he emphasized to mike how he was a leader/protector that inspired and guided the party. and mike loved hearing all of that, he was completely enamored and we even see him gulping and breathing hard. mike’s relationship with el was making him feel insecure and unneeded, but will was able to dispel that through one single painting and his own feelings for mike. it’s such a blatant way of showing the contrast between two love interests in a love triangle.

i guess one way milevens could disprove this giant piece of evidence and plotline is them desperately hoping that the painting has “fulfilled it’s purpose” and will never be brought up again, which, unfortunately, isn’t happening because the interview below basically confirms that mike learning the full truth behind the painting and will’s feelings for him will be carried over to the final season as a part of will’s journey, and it being resolved would complete his arc.

in a way, the painting was a plot device, but not to fix mileven's relationship, it was a way of setting up mileven’s inevitable falling out and byler getting together where there’d quite literally be no way out and no other satisfying way to resolve this plotline anymore. it would only make sense if this was the intention because the truth literally heavily centers around will’s love for mike and how deep and beautiful it is, while el’s supposed feelings and words that made mike feel loved didn’t directly come from her and was expressed through a lie. byler was already set in stone through the van scene.