[TV/Netflix] Stranger Things (Possible spoilers)

[Dch48]

This season was extremely disappointing. Character development has gone stale and become uninteresting and it was mainly just a rehash of what happened before. It should be the last season in my opinion. The character of Eleven was particularly stale and uninteresting compared to the other seasons but they all seemed like pale ghosts of their former selves.

[Skizzit]

I seriously think people are only up in arms about this because a bunch of SJW’s on Twitter started bitching about him yelling at Joyce over her standing him up. It was real conversation between two people that have known each other for a long time and have feelings for each other, but who are too afraid to confront those feelings.

Different era, different generation, different kind of people...

Can we please stop with the "SJW" nonsense already? Someone disliking something doesn't always boil down to some political correctness crap. Many people didn't like Hopper this season because he was just too one note. As you say, he is a manly guy with a soft side, but this season that "soft side" was largely missing and all he did was angry yelling. It just made him boring to watch. Every single scene just played out exactly the same. Hop want's someone to do something, they don't want to do the thing, Hop yells until he gets his way and then acts like a smug asshole. Repeat. It honestly wouldn't have been too bad if it were not for the way the season ended. You can't have a character just be an ass the whole season to then try and give them the big hero moment at the end, topped off with the emotionally manipulative use of the letter to El. Just felt lazy.

In many ways, I have similar issues with Mike this season. He lost the girl only to win her back without ever actually learning anything or growing as a character. By far the best stuff this season (and in many ways, the entire series) is Steve. In particular his friendship with Robin. Just really, really well done. I also quite liked the stuff with Will and how it showed that not all kids mature at the same pace. While all his friends are growing up, getting girlfriends and such, he it still trying to hold onto his childhood friends and the time they spent just hanging out playing D&D and such. I would actually like to see that continue in the next season. With Will moved away, it would be interesting to see maybe a switch in the dynamics. Maybe his Hawkins friends try and reach out to Will only to find that Will has made some new friends in his new town, maybe even actually finding a new D&D group. Dunno, something along those lines though.

[PACOX]

Yeah, they completely trashed Mike this season. We have to remember that Hopper wasn't raging without a cause, he was trying to protect El by any means. All he knew was that a bunch of Russians involved with the Upside Down were in town and that was terrible for El. He has never been particularly deep or smart. His behavior was cliche but I wouldn't call it out of character.

Billy's dad being just written off ruined what could have been a deeper family arc. We got that but I feel like they sold themselves short or some of it was cut for time...on a platform that doesn't need to cut out stuff for time.

Will finally got some depth but I'm tired of him being 'more connected to the Upside Down than we know' without really giving us anything.

Nancy and Jonathan continue to be time fillers while everything Steve and Dustin touch is gold.

[Yoshingo]

I seriously think people are only up in arms about this because a bunch of SJW’s on Twitter started bitching about him yelling at Joyce over her standing him up. It was real conversation between two people that have known each other for a long time and have feelings for each other, but who are too afraid to confront those feelings.

Different era, different generation, different kind of people...

Or people just find the writing poor, and extreme, almost verging out of character?

Your insistence to try and turn this into a "PC" or "SJW" thing is really strange. Nobody is talking about that, you're yelling about a strawman or at the very least something nobody criticizing Hopper is saying in this thread.

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Billy's dad being just written off ruined what could have been a deeper family arc. We got that but I feel like they sold themselves short or some of it was cut for time...on a platform that doesn't need to cut out stuff for time.

Especially after they wasted so much time on Mrs. Wheeler's dumb side story about learning to love her family and not cheat on her husband. It went beyond the first episode, where it was nothing but an excuse to make Billy go somewhere to get infected by the Mind Flayer, they kept cutting back to that.

Does anybody give any shits about Mike's mom?

[Yoshingo]

I’m not yelling about a strawman, and my comment wasn’t directed at anyone specifically in this thread, which again, was pretty clear.

You were bitching about something that nobody had even brought up. Repeatedly.

I’m not insisting when I say “I seriously think”, and I clearly mentioned it occurring on Twitter, which is also true. People weren’t complaining about poor character development. It was because man yelled at woman, and the character was being accused of “toxic masculinity”. That is SJW/PC nonsense.

And you're still doing it.

Nobody cares that you're upset random people on twitter said something stupid.

[Yoshingo]

It was brought up that he was a jerk, which lead into conversations (on here) about his attitude this season.

Yup and not a single person talked about PC culture or SJWs. Except for you, repeatedly.

We can keep going if you want.

Go whine about sjws on the offtopic forum.

[oplawlz]

It was brought up that he was a jerk, which lead into conversations (on here) about his attitude this season.

And again, stop trying to overdramatize the situation. I’m not bitching and I’m not upset. It was a casual conversation that you’re now blowing out of proportion.

Don't feed the trolls, your meaning was clear.

I actually didn't like hop as much this season either, mostly because he seemed so unstable compared to the first two seasons. Certainly things change over the couple of years since S2 ended, but him coming completely unscrewed just felt a bit off.

I enjoyed this seasons story overall, but I have to say it felt very unambitious and drawn out. Like the whole thing could have happened in about four eps and left room to actually introduce something new. They spent waaaaaaay too much time building up the flayer army with a lot of unnecessary exposition.

[Stelio Kontos]

It was brought up that he was a jerk, which lead into conversations (on here) about his attitude this season.

And again, stop trying to overdramatize the situation. I’m not bitching and I’m not upset. It was a casual conversation that you’re now blowing out of proportion.

For what it's worth, I even came across articles detailing how "problematic" Hopper's behavior was. And the articles went on about how he was a misogynist.

So yeah, some folks were butthurt.

[Yoshingo]

Because. Nobody. Is. Talking. About. That. In. This. Thread. About. Why. Hopper's. Character. Seemed. Off.

The fact that you STILL don't get that because you want to fucking complain about SJWs is ridiculous.

Christ you are as fanatic about this shit as the people you incessantly bitch about.

Jesus Christ this forum is already ruined enough by people bitching about this, at least keep it contained to the toxic shithole that is the politics forum.

[Stelio Kontos]

Because. Nobody. Is. Talking. About. That. In. This. Thread. About. Why. Hopper's. Character. Seemed. Off.

The fact that you STILL don't get that because you want to fucking complain about SJWs is ridiculous.

Christ you are as fanatic about this shit as the people you incessantly bitch about.

Jesus Christ this forum is already ruined enough by people bitching about this, at least keep it contained to the toxic shithole that is the politics forum.

You've got no problem taking part in ideological bitching as well, looking at your post history. You're far more partisan than Winter Blossom is

She's free to point out what she sees or thinks, who are you to tell a woman what to say or think? Are you some sort of misogynist or something?

[Faltemer]

Let's get back on actual topic. Any further attempts to derail the thread will result in infractions.

[ecospherez]

Enjoyed the season over all, felt a bit more invested in S1 and S2 (apart from that Chicago episode) but still enjoyed it.

I think the Russians have started building within the upside now. We never saw what the Russians were doing in Hawkins with the actual gate just that they were trying to open it. I'm heading more towards that they have gates in Russia (They must do to have a demogorgon there) and they're trying to bridge the gap.

[Jotaux]

I thought Hopper was hilarious the first few episodes, not knowing how to handle Mike and Eleven.

I don’t understand the complaints about him aggressively pursuing Joyce. Being stood up sucks and he has every right to be upset.

[eschatological]

I grew up in the 80s. I think the whole nerds vs. bullies thing is kinda overblown. My best friend ended up a starting OLineman for the football team while I was off doing Speech and Debate.

Just finished this season tonight. I definitively liked it more than s2. I think it had the same quality as s1, but a much different tone. s1 was very creepy, very horror-esque. This one almost felt a bit more scifi, stuck on a dead spaceship with a bloodthirsty alien type of show. The flesh monster even looked like Alien from certain angles. And everyone knew the Russians were the bad guys in science fiction. And yes, it was goofy, but goofy can be good. A few other thoughts:

1. Hopper did seem out of character. He was blunt and no-nonsense in previous seasons, but this season he just seemed irrationally angry all the time. Hey, Joyce stood you up? Congrats, she's a space cadet. He held onto that for a long time, whereas in previous seasons he seemed much more focused.

2. The Hopper and Joyce thing got old reaaaaaaaaaal fast, way before Bald Eagle addressed it in the car. In general, Joyce continues to be my least favorite character. She is so typically irrational in all things always, and it's always to justify moving the characters to where they need to be. She irrationally wants to check out old Hawkins lab, hey, guess they stumbled on the Russian plot. She irrationally wants to check on the kids even though prior to that the kids were just rampantly wandering around town for days at a time (having lived it, it was glorious), hey, they stumble into the mall just in time to blow up Alexi's machine.

3. Mike seemed a bit weak as a character. The drama and tension between Mike and Max over Elle (I refuse to spell it El) seemed.....stupid and forced. Elle did need to be more independent of the boys, I guess, but yeah. Lucas played into this needless drama as well. I often found myself in Will's shoes, just rolling my eyes at it and wanting them to get on with it. It was especially distracting after they knew shit was going down and still were caught up in it, IE with Mike suddenly not wanting Elle to strain herself doing her shadowwalking thing, even though she uses it casually to spy on boys.

4. Steve and Dustin were great, Robin was also a great addition. I thought Robin being a lesbian was done subtly and not at all in your face, so I don't know why anyone would complain about it.

5. Erica was annoying at first, but then she kinda became a badass, and then she kinda faded at the end of the season (which was fine for a newer character). Her best moment was when she shut off Dustin and Suzie, I actually laughed at that one. I didn't even know/remember she was Lucas's sister til she mentioned it.

6. The whole Mayor subplot could have been trashed. I get that it's a nice opportunity to get Cary Elwes in there, but come on.

7. I do like the symbolism of the mall being the center of evil.

8. I wonder if Elle is gonna seriously not have her powers for maybe most of the next season. They do need to tone down her Deus Ex Machina-esque interventions. I don't really understand how the mindflayer extraction from her leg exactly left her powerless, but oh well.

9. My biggest complaint always: the lack of communication between characters. Nancy and Jonathan are chasing down some story, as soon as that rat showed up I'd think they'd tell everyone clued into what happened last year. Dustin and Steve RUN INTO A TERRORIST PLOT OF RUSSIANS IN THE MALL, and they don't tell anyone but Steve's co-worker? Oh hey, you can't raise the guys on the radio? USE A FUCKING PAYPHONE AND CALL THE CHIEF OF POLICE WHO KNOWS THE CRAZY SHIT THIS TOWN HAS BEEN THROUGH AND WOULD PROBABLY BELIEVE YOU. Oh, Hopper has a line to the government and only calls them at the last minute to mop up? Okay. Joyce has a second son? What? Does she know this? Hey, the guys figure out that Billy is somehow possessed by a mindflayer? Time to rope everyone else in. That should be your first step. You shouldn't just try weakly once on the radio to raise them, then give up. Maybe Elle could have told Nancy and Jonathan that Hopper was heading to Illinois (a state she's been to last season btw) and they coulda deduced that he was going to see Bauman, considering he sent them to Bauman last season.

10. I liked Billy. Tough to see him go out. Even tougher to see Hop go out. Especially during that dramatic letter read. I too think he probably jumped in the portal, but I think it would be pretty cheap to put him in that Russian cell next season. Unless it is like someone theorized above, that the Russians built a low tech base in the Upside Down (I thought the credits were fading to the Upside Down, personally, and not "Kamatchka.") But they did specifically call out it being in Russia, unless Kamatchka isn't a real city and could conceivably be a name for a base. IDK, I don't know Russian.

11. Some questionable decisions, as usual for the genre. Trying to hole up in the cabin when you're facing a discreet, singular monster and there's woods all around? Seems like a bad idea. You can just scatter in the woods. Hell, it has to rip up trees every time it needs to move off a path. You couldn't figure it out before Nancy did that Billy saw where you were? Especially when he was like "I see you now?" You never thought of splitting Elle up from the rest of the group and getting some surprise on the flayer? Oh, Hop, you always go for the double tap to the head, man, come on. If Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland can figure that out, you should know it by now.

Lots of ad placements in this one. Burger King, Coke, 7-11 all over the place. No one went to Burger King in the 80s, everyone knows that. McDs reigned supreme, and I say that as someone who prefers BK to McDs now.


But again, I still liked it a lot. A strong 8 from me.

[Dwarfhamster]

I love Hopper’s personality. Don’t know why people are suddenly upset with the character. He’s always been a bit of an ass because he’s very direct. He’s real and doesn’t think about PC culture and offending people, which is accurate for a person living in the 80’s. He’s a manly guy with a soft side, but if he’s upset, he’ll let you know it.

Exactly. Our heroes aren't perfect, and that's OK.

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3. Mike seemed a bit weak as a character. The drama and tension between Mike and Max over Elle (I refuse to spell it El) seemed.....stupid and forced. Elle did need to be more independent of the boys, I guess, but yeah. Lucas played into this needless drama as well. I often found myself in Will's shoes, just rolling my eyes at it and wanting them to get on with it. It was especially distracting after they knew shit was going down and still were caught up in it, IE with Mike suddenly not wanting Elle to strain herself doing her shadowwalking thing, even though she uses it casually to spy on boys.

I get that it's all opinion and subjective and all, but I think this is just teenagers being teenagers. Needless drama, inability to communicate effectively, jealousies, misunderstandings, being possessive and protective. Just stupid teenage drama and I think it was handled well. A bit over the top? Maybe, but for drama's sake in the series.

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snip!

Pure savagery, pointing out the hypocrisy.

[Shadowferal]

Does anyone think the fact that Hopper is a Vietnam Vet have anything to do with his personality?

[Ihavewaffles]

It was ok, could have been better, didn't like the woke aspects creeping into the 80's nostalgia...Why would the Ruskis just broadcast n why in their own language to draw attention?..

Lol Joyce funko pop figure...makes fun of the show
https://s1.thcdn.com/productimg/1600...6765750204.jpg

"ICE CREAM FOR LIFE!"
Mall burns down..

Oh man, the product placements...though it's old brands, I loved that shelf with all the cereal...

[jstnw89]

It was ok, could have been better, didn't like the woke aspects creeping into the 80's nostalgia...

What were the woke aspects?

[Ihavewaffles]

What were the woke aspects?

Is this a serious question?

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Enjoyed the season over all, felt a bit more invested in S1 and S2 (apart from that Chicago episode) but still enjoyed it.

I think the Russians have started building within the upside now. We never saw what the Russians were doing in Hawkins with the actual gate just that they were trying to open it. I'm heading more towards that they have gates in Russia (They must do to have a demogorgon there) and they're trying to bridge the gap.

If they have gates there, why would they open one in the US?

Maybe they moved the demogorgon to Russia from the US

[jstnw89]

Is this a serious question?

Yes, I'm genuinely curious what they were