Also, that ancient particle cloud was massive in the upside down, the one in Russia must just be what is need to control the guys in tanks. There’s probably a ton of that stuff 11 is gonna have to remove from One’s body, and it’s been in every creature we’ve encountered before and a lot of humans, definitely Will and Max still.
Really enjoyed the finale. I was surprised they killed off Max for a couple minutes. I’m not sure what they will do with her character in S5 since she’s in a coma and her body is broken.
I was so thoroughly invested in the Max stuff this season. Her arc is my favorite thing the show has done yet because it holds so much thematic weight on its own as a symbol of fighting depression. A lot of people picked up on this with the famous Kate Bush scene. And it's resonated with me a ton. I was gutted when she "died" (and major kudos to Caleb for that performance...he and Gaten showed up). But while her death would have been bold from a story telling perspective, it would have ruined my day from a character perspective. The conflict they showed all season with her character being cursed, escaping death, and then welcoming it again in the final episode would have made her death so downbeat if we're taking her story and Vecna's curse as a symbol of fighting depression/guilt. Honestly, the fact that after all of that we see her bones snap and eyes bleed still feels like a bold storytelling move. I was really moved by Eleven's moment with her. "You're not going" was the perfect answer to everything Max said about wanting to die. And it also felt like a nice companion moment to Max saying "I'm still here" at the end of EP 4. If she was suddenly okay, that would be a copout. But clearly she's not. But she's still alive, miraculously, which I think is beautiful. Basically, I think everything involving Max was perfect this season and Sadie Sink's performance was incredible.
Finished it up this morning, highly enjoyable season. I do kind of wish they fully pulled the trigger on Max's death as that scene fucking gutted me, but I get why they didn't and the post just above is a great reading on it too. So overall I'm fine with it, there were consequences to what happened but her arc can continue
I liked everything about that speech except for the bit about Mike being “the heart” and then that being repeated again later. I’ve never viewed Mike as the heart of the group. Shit if anything that line feels like projection because I’d see Will as the heart more than the others.
Yeah, Mike has not been the main character since Season 1, and even that's pushing it. But it does reinforce the interpretation that Will is in love with him.
Honestly they struck gold with the overall acting ability of all the kids. I will say, even though I enjoy them all and love the show… I constantly feel as though Sadie steals the show. Max is the character that really keeps me wanting to watch the show the most.
A lot of things I didn't enjoy this season. - As someone who really enjoyed the earlier seasons, these long episodes were bloated as hell. Could easily be 2/3 as long if you stick to the story and cut back on needless dramatic pauses and slow conversation. Just because the show is successful doesn't mean you should stretch it out like this - I get the troupe is getting really big but splitting people in 3 geographically separate teams the entire season, down to almost the last minutes was annoying - I wasn't too happy with the whole One is the Mind Flayer thing when he was being set up as a some sort of high patent officer in a dark army. It feels like there is no intelligence or evil in the upside down other than a dude from the normal dimension. And he got his ass kicked so, underwhelming. His biggest superpower is not dying. Hoping there would be something or someone more. - The relationship dynamics this season were lamer and honestly grating. Having the girls and the boys be mad with each other was a lot more fun than getting Steve to slowly replace Jonathan or whatever Other stuff has already been pointed out. My opinion, glad other people enjoyed it a lot more.
Thought the last two episodes were mostly great. I imagine watching this again it'll feel like a good amount drags setting the ending up, but I enjoyed it. Also the Metallica scene rules.