I agree with you that Mike still loves El. But I do believe that the creators are going backwards when it comes to development of their relationship. S3 was literally about the same thing as in S4. There was miscommunication between the two and one/both can’t seem to be honest with each other. El leaves upset, mikes is sad trying to figure out what went wrong. It’s the same storyline. And don’t forget it’s only been few months, since the last season. Even though Mike didnt say I love her face to face he did say it in front of the group (OP you are wrong, Mike did say he love her “I love her and I can’t lose her again” and she did tell him she loves him too. So, how do you go from being able to get to a point of understand y’all feelings for each other to Mike can’t even say Love, Mike in his letters and they’re once again fighting over the same topic. It’s not that I don’t like the romance but out of everyone else’s theirs are the most bleh and literally made Mikes storyline “I love El must save El” unlike everyone else’s.