Stranger Things (Netflix) TV Show • Page 169

I kinda agree with this, though I'm a little more optimistic on how it will turn out in the final season than it sounds like you are. I felt like episode 7's end really painted it the way you're saying and I was pretty disappointed in that, but it seemed like it got walked back a little bit in these two. It seemed like the monsters and the cloud existed before 001 got there, which is better than the 001 created it all story the cliffhanger seemed to suggest. Feels all but certain he's the big bad, but maybe we end up somewhere in the middle in terms of the world building at least. And he did win temporarily, so I don't agree with the ass kicking issue really.
Mixed feelings on the length, but I feel like they pulled it off more than they didn't. Russia and 11 felt a little padded - they could've gone away from the former especially for whole episodes at a time and it might have all worked a little better, but it's not a major criticism from me. And I dug the extended denouement a lot, hate when shit ends 5 min after the final battle.

 

Honestly hate whenever he is on the screen lol

 

It always feels like he forgot he was shooting that day and tried to remember his lines/character 10 minutes before filming.

 

I can’t tell if MBB is a horrendous actor or Eleven is just that shitty of a character

Maybe a little of both

 

I honestly am surprised to see so much praise for the kids acting lol i dont think any of it is that good at all lol. Id say sadie sink is easily the best, but gaten is good because his character is mostly always just exasperated and hyper.

 

I think Schnapp is great but they almost never give him anything to do so it never shows

 

They ran out of ideas for wills character after S1

 

Millie's just fine in Enola Holmes, so it's not her.

At first I thought she was just written in an intentionally infantilized tone, but in "Papa" she speaks really clearly and precisely, but her voice can not sell it.

I think the Duffers have said she's quiet and childlike as result of the trauma and isolation she experience in the lab, but her stilted cadence feels so exaggerated at this point I don't know if it's bad directing, or if she literally can't do a convincing American accent.

 

MBB and Finn Wolfhard are easily my least favorites of the kids

 

It's so funny seeing Mike's big emotional moment in volume 2 and how much his is lacking in comparison to the other kids

 

all i could think of as he was yammering on about loving Eleven was “max is literally dying can you hurry it up”

 

MBB seems more like she emulates other actors she’s seen instead of just acting if that makes any sense. Especially in things I’ve seen other than stranger things.

 

Y'all leave them kids alone

 

Is it punching down if the kid is exponentially more rich and successful than me?

 

Wow. What a hell of an ending.

Eddie’s deaths as rough, even though I was expecting it. Poor Dustin.

I was still devastated and cringing during Max’s death, The “fake out” doesn’t change that feeling for me tbh. On rewatch perhaps it will, but goddamn during that scene I was gutted when her bones started breaking. Lucas’s screaming was soul crushing. Then they made it even worse by her being alive and conscious when she died. And begging not to die and Lucas screaming some more. fuck man.

I do agree that overall there was some extra “fluff” in here that could be cut down on this season, but i truly don’t care that much about all that as long as the overall story is captivating and for me it is. I still don’t quite get the upside down and Henry’s motivations (I mean I do, but also don’t), but I assume we’ll see some more of that next season.
I will say that I was a little let down that the mind flayer IS Vecna. I had my own headcanon where he and the mind flayer were maybe rivals for power in the upside down who had maybe joined forces to get into the real world or something. But obviously their story makes more sense lol.
I have a lot of other thoughts, but I’m kind of all over the place.

 

I like all the kid actors tbh.

 

Oh and obviously the Metallica scene was fucking great/epic. I was waiting for that ever since we saw a glimpse of someone playing a guitar in the trailer. So great

 

Gatens scene with Eddie’s father was fantastic [edit: it’s Eddie’s uncle, not father]
Sadie has been great this whole season
Noah’s acting in the car was also great
Caleb in the house with max/Jason was another high acting point


these scenes “suffered” from writing that was way too overwrought, or the directing they got. However, they were clearly leaning into the 80s campiness/schlock of it all, so I can’t blame the kids for any of it, and it was all clearly intentional

 

Maybe I need to rewatch the reveal with Henry and the mind flayer again because I swear I thought they were two separate beings, that fused/united

 

If I'm understanding the finale correctly, the Mind Flayer was a thing that already existed, but it was basically a shapeless cloud like what was in Russia. Henry came along and made it into the Mind Flayer we've seen in the show and created (harnessed? absorbed?) the hive mind with all the creatures in the Upside Down

 

Ok that makes sense, that the particles weren’t necessarily sentient in its own but gained sentience one it was absorbed into Henry, who was then able to see everything that’s a part of that system

still don’t buy it though, think it’s going to turn out it’s the other way around, where it’s going to be a being that IS sentient that influences Henry and his memories so they can have their Return of the Jedi Vader moment

 

That's what I'm hoping for. Way more interested in the Mind Flayer being an eldritch being that wants to break the barrier between our dimensions than it just being a tool for some guy to destroy the world/get revenge on El

 

All the kid actors are talented as hell, but their performances are only perfect when they're interacting with each other. The Lucas/Max & Will/Mike scenes really punctuate that. I hope they don't separate the kids next season and really lean into the teamwork/friendship aspect of the show.

Also I'm still fascinated by the ending. The portal isn't growing anymore, but if the "earthquake" is leaking Upside Down into Hawkins, how will that affect the world as whole? Can the Demagorgons & Vecna get into Hawkins yet? And if they do, can they leave Hawkins? Is the military going to put the whole population into martial law, and if they do, will Eleven still be a fugitive?

So many questions, incredibly curious to see what happens.

 

thought gaten was particularly horrible while eddie was dying tbh