Whew. Very mixed thoughts and will post more tomorrow. Though overall it was cool. Also that was definitely Eddie’s uncle? Unless I’m wrong but I saw several posts referring to him as his dad.
Some other thoughts as I’m waking up… 1. People keep asking why Eddie went back out there and saying it was dumb and etc. but remember as far as he knew, the others were still trying to kill Vecna. He was just trying to buy them more time 2. I’ve realized over the past week or so that Vecna has both the power of telekinesis like El, but can also put visions into peoples brains like 008 can. Maybe that’s why we were shown what 008 can do back in season 2, to prep us for that ability. But Henry/001 did directly mention 008 this season, so I wonder if she makes a come back next season for the big fight
I feel like people understood why Eddie did it in that moment from the characters perspective. But that doesn’t make it not stupid for the audience who knows better or make it feel less pointless. From a viewer perspective, it was pointless and lost a character a lot of fans seemed to like. It’s yet another newly introduced likable side character who gets killed in their first season while the main characters are practically untouchable. Adding on that they seemingly took a chance and killed Max, just to immediately roll it back to maybe being blind and paralyzed in a coma? Which is at least something the audience can see as consequences for a main character. But a lot of people still didn’t think it was enough. Max does differ from the Hopper fakeout, and El from season 1, but I think all of this considered just leaves some viewers frustrated that they lost Eddie for no real reason other than to have a death. He didn’t actually buy anyone any time. He died fighting, but it wasn’t a fight he needed to fight. Even understanding that he thought it was, doesn’t change the pointlessness of it for the viewer. Maybe it wasn’t dumb of Eddie, but it was dumb of the writers for not making it a very clear action that helped save someone’s life or bought time to enable someone else to do their part. Instead we are left with feel frustrated at the whole thing. Personally, I’m glad Max didn’t die, but I hope she doesn’t just become a puppet for 1 or anything. If they’re gonna immediately resurrect her, I want her to be healthy and of her own mind. I was never a huge fan of Eddie. I have no complaints, just didn’t resonate with me, but the Metallica scene was rad as hell. I think Hopper should have stayed dead. I said earlier I can only assume he has a critical role in the final season, otherwise it all feels very silly to keep him alive. I think, like Jason has said, that I don’t actually want any of the kids to die. And El resurrecting Max absolutely fits in this world. Though, I do think they were setting up Steve to die. Which was weird when he basically had no specific part of the final plan in the finale. I can only assume it’s setting it up for s5.
I think the first season is still my favorite. The far simple story is just so unbelievably effective. But I do love the whole show, so I really can’t argue with anyones pick outside of maybe season 2.
Yeah, piggybacking off the season 3 talk, I feel like one of the big things the seemed to be missing for me in season 4 was the sense of fun. I thought season 3 struck the perfect balance of fun and horror. And I'm just more of a fan of the hyper-stylized version of the 80s from that season too. We got that a little with the Rink-O-Mania scenes, but it didn't last long.
I love it all, but Season 3 is my least favorite overall for the same reasons I like it so much. It's fun and bright, but it's a little off kilter from the rest of the series for me.
Honestly hard to separate my top 3. But probably S3 > S1 > S4 > S2 Season 3 just had the best ending I think. And was the most fun.
I recently rewatched Seasons 1 and 2 and I ended up liking Season 2 a lot more than I remembered liking it before.
All three seasons held up really well on my rewatch. Even better than I expected tbh. I'd go 1 > 3 > 2 but they're all close. Not sure where I'd put 4 yet. It has some of the strongest stuff they've done and also some of the weakest.