Stranger Things (Netflix) TV Show • Page 167

my takeaway from this season would definitely not be "these guys are scared to take risks" but maybe that's just me lol

there was some ridiculous stuff, but it wouldn't really be an accurate homage to the things it's homaging if there wasn't

 

To be fair, I’m not saying it’s as dumb as that. It reminded me of that because she was dead for a whole two minutes before she’s brought back to life. I wasn’t a fan of the execution, but I did think Eleven going in her mind was effective.

 

so do we think that Max is going to be blind if (when?) she wakes up? Maybe she'll be able to "see" where Vecna is better than the others? Just spitballing

 

Now THAT would have been a gut punch

Best part about next season being in the 90s is that thrash metal will have given way to death metal so hopefully the soundtrack will be even better

 

Yeah I think she's blind

 

Her lack of sight allows her to see things how they really are. It will be a “They Live” homage. She has a 45 minute, uncut fight with Vecna.

 

Critiques:
This season had a really padded and drawn-out beginning, but an absolutely killer ending. I think if they shifted the episode ratio between parts to 6:3 instead of 7:2, and adjusted story beats to fit, it could've felt a lot better-paced. Especially because it felt like they were backloading all of Mike & Will's emotional growth into the final episodes which gave their arcs really unearned conclusions

I also think the tone of this season is by far the most inconsistent-- shifting the levity and comic relief to a couple comical characters (Yuri and Argyle) really made those parts of the show feel unbalanced and distracting. In the Hawkins arc, Steve, Robin, Eddie, & Dustin all managed to bounce one-liners off each other and show sensitivity without any of them being flanderized as "the funny one" but Argyle in particular only existed to be a tone-deaf annoyance, which is a shame, because the actor clearly had a lot of enthusiasm for the role.

Also, this season has the least nostalgia-bait, for better or worse. It seems to pay a lot more homage to the alternative/horror media of the 80's than previous seasons, but I find the Freddy Krueger lamp-shading and Cold War aesthetic a lot less endearing than the Farah Fawcett hairspray and New Coke gags of previous seasons.

The main kids don't engage with each other that much? For a show predicated on a 6-person friend group fighting to protect each other, it feels like some of these kids have no rapport. You think there'd be a scene with Will & El reuniting with Dustin and Lucas at the end, but I don't think the show really drew any attention to their interactions at all, if they even occurred. Max almost exclusively talked to Lucas this season, and all of Mike's dialogue after Episode 1 seemed was annoyed or awkward. I think him admitting to liking pineapple pizza off-screen was the only genuinely positive emotion Finn Wolfhard successfully expressed all season/

Likes:
This is the most visually stunning season, and it didn't miss a single beat. Every shot was engaging, and you could feel the impact of the increased budget.

The story and lore is GREAT! This was definitely the first season where I actually left feeling like I had more answers than questions. Understanding what the Upside Down is, why it was being studied, what role El played in it all, and the human motivation behind its evil made me appreciate the past seasons more.

The soundtrack was impeccable, and specifically the use of Kate Bush, Metallica, and Journey really made their respective scenes great.

As much as I hate the idiot antagonist trope, Jason really added an additional layer of tension to the story, and showed the typical Hawkins citizen's reaction to the chaos in a way that hadn't been previously explored. Unfortunately his death was so sudden and out-of-pocket that any emotional depth he had was immediately flattened in his last scene, but it was still funny, so I'll let that slide.

The set-up to the next season was incredible, and managed to give the main plot threads closure without tying everything up in a neat little bow.

 

they're 100% setting up a Search for Spock thing next season with Max's "soul" right? too much talk of how 001 consumes his victims and they're "still with him" for there to be no payoff there

 

Haha I know I wasn’t trying to dunk on anyone. I just HATE the Chewbacca scene. Like, more than I’ve hated anything in my life.

 

sucks that her bones all stayed broken lol thats all that i was focused on in that moment

i hope the stoner pizza kid is gone next season. my god i couldnt stand him.

 

i wish they hadnt done the stupid month break for the last 2 episodes, i was mostly completely underwhelmed by the first 7 episodes and i think if i had these last 2 then i would have enjoyed it more. I think ultimately they did a good job with the ending even if the death fakeout was lame. I was so convinced that steve was gonna die, i am honestly a little shocked they didnt do it. Eleven and Hop reuninting was the best part. Also really liked the final shots of them standing on the hill overlooking the town.

kinda feels like the final season has to pick right up where this leaves off, no? Another time jump would be weird given the circumstances.

 

Journey “with Steve Perry”. As if there’s any other Journey

 

Anybody else think Max really came back to life because Vecna inhabited her body or is it just me. I mean she’s hurt really badly and Will pointed out so is he. And then Eleven went into her mind and didn’t see anything maybe because it’s not her mind anymore?

I thought maybe they were setting up Will to be bad next season with his speech about Vecna never stopping but I don’t think they’d do that.

Overall I loved this season. Thought they really made good use of all the extended time. Loved Eddie. And of course he had to die. What was he gonna do, go back to Hawkins and go to prison for murder? It’s probably regency bias but I think “Papa” has been my favorite episode.

Loved the subtle Star Wars references like when the military had their shootout was kinda reminiscent of the opening of A New Hope. And Murray’s “I got a bad feeling about this”. I know that’s not 80s but still.

Lastly, do we know how the hell the Russians are so good at capturing and managing Demogorgons. I feel like that won’t even be a thing next season because everyone is back in Hawkins and it seems like it’s going to be all out war. And while we are at it, what was the purpose of the research with all the kids? Did they ever explain that?

 

Lol the russian involvement is going to end up being the biggest unanswered question.

I like your Max/Vecna mind theory though.

 

also, they intentionally made Robin’s crush look like molly ringwald, right?

 

I like One’s deeper origins, revealing the cloud as being controlled by him and also used to control the monsters I didn’t see that coming. I love knowing the endgame is unleashing an eldritch hell on earth. Still don’t know enough about his mom, or why 11 could open portals but One couldn’t.

But also a lot of the long dialogue scenes just dragggged on. There were three times I guessed the next line word for word. They don’t have to be like reinventing the wheel, but I wish they took some risks with these characters like they’ve been taking with the plot and lore.

also, 11 is such a threat that military snipers are killing every scientist that escapes, but when they have a chance to kill her they have to do a double check if it’s ok for five minutes? The military stuff always felt over the top, I think they just wanted to do gun scenes and a helicopter crash, it’s just so ultra violent in comparison to everything else, and 11 has a growing body count that’s really being ignored.

 

The military stuff is like the least violent part of the show lol

 

I'll just say the ending was certainly not what I was expecting. It surely got depressing and even more bleak for the next season. Season 5 has to be the end right?? I say we get it October 2023. For some reason I enjoy the season releases near Halloween and not Memorial day/ July 4th like the last 2 seasons.

Also; I never realized my life's dream was to shred Master of Puppets on top of a trailer in the middle of apocalypse

 

they’ve said repeatedly next season is the last

 

So, yeah, was way off about Steve. In retrospect now, it’s kind of funny that they left it off with him being horribly attacked and made a big thing of his wounds and how much pain he was in, and then these last two it was basically like “never mind” lol. Quick recovery I guess. If anything, I’m glad he lives on because he’s a great character and I really, really like his relationship with Robin. It’s just the sweetest.

My wife is not a fan of the actress who plays Vickie because she didn’t like her in Anne With An E. She was hoping that when Robin and Steve were at the shelter at the end that the writers were hinting she could move on from Vickie with the girl they brought all the supplies to, but then Vickie showed up from the back of course.
As far as dangling threads go, I’m very curious about the point they made of showing Nancy’s last journal entry in the Upside Down being the day Will disappeared. Also wondering over what exactly the “cloud” is if they’ll dive into that a little further. Yeah, Henry has manipulated it to his advantage up to this point, but it was there before he got there so what exactly is that thing (let alone what exactly is this dimension itself that El sent Henry to)?

I think I agree that Vecna/Henry/One will use Max in some way as a vessel next season, but I don’t believe she is entirely gone. They made a point of Henry using hatred and anger to fuel him, but the one emotion he doesn’t comprehend is love because he is, in fact, a monster. Love is what pulled Max from Vecna’s grip in the first place. Eleven’s love for Max is what helps Eleven bring her back from death in the end. Max is currently “gone” because she’s comatose, and I do think Vecna will potentially use that void to his advantage, but I’ll make a safe prediction that Max’s love for her friends will override his control and she’ll return.

 

I certainly can't see them just having Sadie lie in a hospital bed all season. everyone is singing her praises after this season, rightfully so. they'll find a way to bring her back

also I feel like Caleb is gonna do a lot of heavy lifting in the final season lol, he really stole this whole finale. can't get his delivery of ERICA HELP out of my head

 

My friend sent me the Netflix trailer for season 1, which I actually had never seen. The story looks so small compared to the scope of the show now, and the Amblin Entertainment vibes are really strong. I felt weirdly emotional watching it.

 

I was wondering what the people in Hawkins thought happened during the earthquake because I had to think it was weird for Eddie’s dad to be hearing from Dustin about he was a fighter until the end and that he didn’t run away from - an earthquake? Or did he think he was referring to the bullies?

 

I was wondering about that too. Like, “what do you mean he fought to save the town?”

Guess they’ll all find out soon enough. Maybe even ol’ Ted will finally wake up. Hey fuck you, Ted.

There are some character interactions I’d like to see next season. Will and Robin would be interesting to me. Also more Robin and Steve and Robin and Nancy and also more Robin. It’d be nice to get more Eleven and Joyce because, before this season started, I was excited to see Eleven have a mother to interact with but then they immediately separated them so. Time to introduce a love interest for Will since he knows there’s no future there with Mike and he’s got his brother’s support (that was a lovely scene). Also let Will do more next season. I always feel like he kind of gets sidelined from the main group. The scenes between Lucas and Erica left me wanting more sibling interactions between them. They’ve really been through some shit together and I’m so glad they’ve made her a full fledged member because she’s such an awesome addition.

Bring Eddie and Chrissy back to life and let them live together happily ever after, fuck it lol. “This is for you, Chrissy” really got me like man what could have been. Those two actors had good chemistry together.

 

Will and Robin actually interacting feels like something that needs to happen, they'll really be missing a beat if they don't do that

I have to guess the dynamics of the kids will be insanely different if we ever actually get them all together in one plotline again. I mean Dustin and Lucas must have aged 10 years this season with all the traumatic shit they saw while the other two were on a roadtrip. I feel like they've been inching towards just making Dustin the full fledged leader for so long they may as well just play that card

then again it seems like the fucking apocalypse is happening in this show. I wonder how much time we'll even have for the small scale character stuff next season? like Robin said the stakes of their love lives feel pretty small when the world is ending