I think either of those are fair takes. S1 was so contained and had such a clear vision of what it wanted to be that it's still easily the most satisfying season to watch, and I can definitely see why many think it's the best but... idk. the more sprawling, ambitious passion project feel of 3 just really works for me. I can't imagine that stunning fireworks scene (just one of my favourite things this year) working in any other season and that's because of all the work they've done building this into a bigger, sillier and yet way more fun world. the confidence in storytelling, visuals, even in the way they keep searching for new and interesting character dynamics just does it for me. it was a mess at points but I adored this season
Karen finally getting to be a mom again like in season one was so satisfying. They really botched her in two and I was petrified of the Mrs. Robinson angle. The fact that she actually chose not to go to the motel was a really big moment for her, and that scene with Nancy was perfect. I want more of her next season again.
Product placement wasn't as terrible as it could have been other than that Coke scene which was so on purpose and when Hopper got Burger King
yeah Karen is awesome and they handled that storyline as well as they could have. loved the Nancy scene as well just saying they should really break up the Nancy/Jonathan dynamic next season and let us see them interact with unexpected characters like they have with Steve. like give me Nancy and Robin shooting the shit, Jonathan hanging out with the kids or something
Slurpee too, but I did feel like that skirted closer to the Eggo side of things where it was blatant but actually made sense for the “outsider loves a super processed American product” gag again. Golden Girls actually made literally the same joke with a Russian cousin back in the day, although I doubt that was meant to be a shout out. The coke scene was screeching to a halt bad though, absolutely. Funnily enough the only food product I found myself craving after all the different hardcore pushing during the season was a corn dog. Never had hot dog on a stick but I would go to a fair in a heartbeat for one. I could ask Murray for the second one I guess...
Finished this in two sprints yesterday. This season ruled, every episode was a banger. Not a ton to add to the conversation right now but this was absolutely the most fond I’ve felt of the show after a season finale
All he wanted was to drink slurpees and watch Looney Tunes. That was honestly sadder for me than Hopper :(
I kinda hated Hopper for the first few episodes. It didn’t even feel like it was him but he came around in the latter half. But overall I liked this a lot more than season 2.
Just finished, really good. Robin makes up for Hopper and Joyce being really annoying most of the season. I'd say it's def better than season 2 but for me you can't top the unknown and the creepiness that season 1 had.
I really felt like this season was the worst in terms of character development. Not a whole lot of progression for El really, and Mike/Lucas' casual sexism being the only main joke they brought to the table this season felt really undercooked. The relationship drama also went nowhere, and Lucas/Max's & Hopper/Joyce's constant bickering just got annoying after a while. Also this season's excessive reliance on fight scenes was really frustrating to me, because it felt like it always distracted from instead of enhancing character drama.
Mike and Lucas were both low points without a doubt. I would love for next season to be stripped down instead of going bigger where we can get back to the actual core group dynamics and give both of them more depth.
I'd disagree with the El thing a lot, she advanced massively in the first three episodes alone in terms of finding her own agency and defining herself outside of Mike and others
Episode 5- holy shit the gore and violence this season is wild. Also all the crazy Russian shit is wild. Alexei seems like a fun character, excited to see him and Murray interact.
I’m happily in the minority because the community here and all my friends love S3, but this did very little for me.