Not a lot of people talk about this scene anymore, because there is the whole "I called you every night for 353 days" and the snowball moment.
But this scene is the start of the mileven bond. Before this, Mike didnt fully trust el and el didnt fully trust mike. But after this scene, with the makeup and him slipping up by saying she was pretty, was the start of it all. Mike started to understand he had feelings for her and el did too, but didnt know how to express it by her low social levels. And this scene was THE CUTEST thing on tv ever
And look at lucas and Dustin's faces, after this scene they really start to realize theres a lil romantic air going between them
Like seriously, look at their faces lol 😂
(And does anyone else think that when they were introducing el to Mr Clarke that Mike was about to say she was "eleanor, my girlfriend" but then Dustin and lucas step in to say cousin and Mike gets a lil disappointed... no, just me?)