Stranger Things (Netflix) TV Show • Page 137

Kate Bush saves lives

 

Three episodes in and I find this Spicoli dude Jonathan hangs out with to be super lame.

 

Spoilers for episode 7: Quite the intense/deep speech to be giving a 10 or 11 year old test subject. Took me out of it a bit.
As for the majority of the rest of the season, I think there are some really great moments in here, but I kept wanting more of certain storylines (Hawkins.. minus the basketball team), and less of others (California and Russia).

I'm struggling to see how the Russia storyline matters to the overarching story of this season, other than "Everyone loves Hopper, so we need him in the show."
Definitely looking forward to everyone inevitably coming together in the final episode.

As it sits right now, I think I'd go 3>1>4>2.

 

No Argyle slander in this thread, must keep things schmackin'

 

I mean, not every character needs to be super important or serve some bigger story, but Argyle only exists story wise to be a driver and weed supplier for Johnathon. If Johnathan’s car was working there would be no need for him to be involved.

He’s comedic relief, which is a fair role for a character to fulfill even if it’s their primary reason of being involved. But if you find dumb stoner humor only mildly amusing, the shtick gets old quick.

I won’t totally bash him, as even Steve started out as a seemingly stereotypical popular jock asshole. But even in the midst of that there are some hints he is much more than that and we’ve seen him prove that that is true in a lot of fun endearing ways. Argyle seems to just double down on weed being the answer for everything. Maybe they’ll do something more with him. So far he’s just not a very satisfying character for me.

 

I haven’t been able to stop listening to “Running Up That Hill” since, either. Top 3 needle drop in all of Stranger Things for me, and may ultimately end up at No. 1 (up there with “Heroes” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” of course).

I think my thoughts on the season are pretty much in line with what everyone else has been saying: The core group in Hawkins investigating a murder mystery is by far the best part of the season, and one of my favorite core storylines from the show’s entire run. Every time we have to leave Hawkins for Russia, I’m deflated a bit. And I’ll give them credit, Hopper, Murray, and Joyce are all likable enough characters that the actors have ensured that storyline doesn’t make me want to completely zone out, but everything happening in Russia has only further cemented my opinion that Hopper should have died at the end of season 3. With Hop off the board, I think that also had the potential to strengthen the storyline of what is happening with the group in California. I actually would have liked to spend more time with Will and El in California navigating life as outcasts in mourning in a John Hughes setting. I think they could have definitely tied in the Cali gang more intrinsically with what is happening in Hawkins, as well. For example, we know Will is an incredibly smart kid and a member of the AV club prior to what happens in season 1—seems pretty believable that after all that he’s been through, moving away to California, and having a hard time making friends that he would find solace by spending his time on computers. Why not have Will be the one hacking into computers and cut out the Suzy of it all? And Will is the emotional through line of the first two seasons, so it’s kind of a bummer to see him sort of wasted in seasons 3 and 4 as someone who is just sorta there observing what everyone else is doing the majority of the time.

That probably reads as if I’m more down on this season than I really am, but I think as a whole it’s been pretty damn fantastic.

 

Give us more Eddie. Best new character by far.

 

I’m torn. I think his dynamic with Chrissy was interesting and could have been fun to see progress to being legit friends and see how that effects the rest of the school. The whole king freak nerd and the queen cheerleader being friends.

but obviously the show had very different stories for them and there’s no going back to that.

what they did with Eddie was alright. I think he was a bit more interesting when the rest of the group was able to fully join up with him and his actions involving the water gate are solid.

but with that said, I think he’s been in just the right amount.

 

finally finished this and there's so much to process idk where to even start lol

first four episodes were definitely on another level and the following three had some problems. but if this sticks the landing it still might be my favourite season based on that strong opening and the highlights afterwards. like man that Hopper monologue in episode 5 broke me. they remembered how to write his character again!

 

It really hit me hard in my rewatch ahead of this season how bizarre and out of character Hopper seemed for large portions of season 3.

 

The whole El storyline this season was pretty boring, tbh

 

the Cali storyline has been a drag, but this went insanely hard. genuinely did not see it coming at all and love how the entire tone and even camerawork totally shifted to that action movie vibe. Noah's screaming was really selling it too, goddamn that kid is a great actor. maybe they'll find something interesting for him to do before the show ends!

as it fucking should. but really I feel like that's been coming for awhile. Dustin is pretty much the only character who had meaningful interactions and dynamics with pretty much every major player, at this point. Gaten is so great at playing off literally anyone else in a scene, he earned this

yeah it's bad either way but really really jarring when you watch the show all in one go. coming right off the heels of that gut punch moment in the car with El in the s2 finale where he finally acknowledges why he's so angry and starts to process it, and they come back with this comically angry buffoon version of him for s3. honestly an absolutely baffling decision especially since his curse monologue here pretty much just picks up where he left off in s2

 

I'm wondering if they're going to keep Vecna/One around as a primary antagonist. I mean he seems like he should be the show's endgame final boss. I can't see them doing another antagonist in future seasons that feels like a bigger deal than him. I hate comparing things to Harry Potter but it almost feels like he was written specifically to be the Voldemort to Eleven's Potter.

 

I see your point, but the show does have Dustin, I think, say that Vecna is like a general for the mind flayer. Obviously, the kids can be wrong, they do not not that he is One or what that would even mean. But so far, the show has made their theories and ideas about what’s going on be fairly accurate.

If that is true indeed true, the ultimate bad is still the mind flayer. What is the dynamic between One and the mind flayer? We don’t know yet. or has the mind flayer been actually under Vecna’s control? We just don’t know enough yet.

 

curious about that too. the Duffers always said the Mind Flayer was their big bad and Dustin’s theory certainly supports that, but 001 seems like a much more interesting final villain with his personal connection to El

I almost feel like they're lampshading Dustin’s theories being wrong, with all the talk about his ego this season. there's absolutely a possibility that the Upside Down was enpty when the first gate opened and 001 created the whole thing, fits with his talk about reshaping the world and removing humanity from it. the Mind Flayer looks like a giant spider and those are 001's favourite creatures. the revelation about the UD being stuck on the day Will got trapped is clearly huge too, but I can't figure out how just yet

 

The timeline is confusing to me. And what caused what to happen. Tbf, the season isn’t over. So it could be clarified in the remaining 4 hours.

upon the first viewing, I thought that El opened the gate the night she escaped Hawkins lab. Making it 1981. But now that I’m rewatching I realized that they tel us that the massacre and opening of that gate occur in 1979. So, it seems that Vecna is created as we know him as now and the gate is opened and his body in the real world dissolves into the gate?

2 years pass and the night a demogorgan comes out of the gate, El escapes the lab, and Will is taken. Then the upside down either stops in time or ceases to match the real world moving forward. They do reference that it’s the past, but I don’t think it’s clear exactly what’s happening with time here yet. Did the upside spend two years recreating and matching what occurred in the real world and then stopped the night Will was taken? Or has it always existed simultaneously in the past? If it’s the past, how can they communicate simultaneously between each other through lights though? Or has the upside somehow always been a creation of the day that Will was taken and is a point in time that has no real past or future?

I guess I’ll leave it at that for now. I think answers are coming, for now we wait.

 

I saw this earlier today when I looked it up on YouTube.

As you can see that comment has 500 replies, the next highest comment response is like 150. I wonder how many plays it’s gotten since Friday.

 

Loved the Kate Bush scene

 

If I saw it, you have to, too.

 

I'll pass on that one

 

After watching episode 1, I do feel like the extended run time was unnecessary and this was pretty slow at parts. But holy SHIT at those last 10-15 minutes, the show embraced horror a lot more than I thought they would.

 

The length never bothered me the whole season. I’m sure others feelings on it will vary.

Funny that the show kind of comments on how we experience time in the first episode.

 

I've watched all 7 episodes and there were really only one or two moments that felt slow or made me say ugh. I think they earned this runtime 100% and paced things out fantastically. It felt to me like a (very) long movie with intermissions, as far as pacing, rather than episodes.

 

That’s definitely more where I fall on it.