Stranger Things (TV)

All non-Nolan related film, tv, and streaming discussions.
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Visually it's the best season... but it's also a season of missed opportunities and repetetive threats.

The combination
of the flayed and the Russians
made for a great opportunity to use paranoia. But unfortunately that went nowhere.
The Russians were bad simply because they were Russians. None of their motivations were revealed or established. And the flayed
always acted out of the ordinary so there was never any suspense over who could be one of them. I think if one of the kids were revealed to be them, it would have made for a much more exciting turn of events.

Another issue I had is also connected to tension as the threat never felt like posing a serious danger. I hate the trope where the more powerful bad guy always throws the protagonist around the room for no reason, instead of just killing them. It just feels like lazy action direction and there was a lot of it in this season.

I liked the virus aspect taking over the town. With it
possessing Billy first, just before his "date" with Mrs Wheeler
, it made it feel like something sexual and relevant for that time period. And as I mentioned before, the fair and the mall, made for a great background for a lot of the scenes. The callbacks are a nice touch. But I think it's well overdone for this show to introduce some more serious stakes. They had almost the right amount of gore
(although I'd prefer they'd go even more into Cronenberg disgusting transformations, infecting people that weren't already "evil" and making it a gradual thing)
but unfortunately none of the scares.

radewart wrote:
July 9th, 2019, 9:09 pm
Anybody else think the big bad Soviet that Hopper was constantly fighting was a homage to Schwarzenegger circa "The Terminator"?
DUH... Even if it wasn't so obvious, it's also referenced in the show itself.

I agree with the rest of your post.

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Watched episode 1 and 2, and I feel like I know exactly how this season is going to end.

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Bacon wrote:
July 10th, 2019, 7:08 pm
Watched episode 1 and 2, and I feel like I know exactly how this season is going to end.
Which is where?

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The same way 90% of
1970's/1980's body invasion/dopple-ganger movies go.
I have faith in the Duffers to make it entertaining even if it's predictable.

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Season 3 is not even the best of them all, but it also transcends the slightly disappointing season 2.

I'd compare it to Gunn's Vol. 2, in that there doesn't seem to be much more story left to tell really, but the progression of these characters and interactions between them are the key ingredients.

Also
Never Ending Story
scene is an instant classic.

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Master Virgo wrote:
July 11th, 2019, 7:02 pm
Also
Never Ending Story
scene is an instant classic.
:clap:

Also, I kind of agree...this show is more about the characters than anything to me.
Hopp's letter and Steve/Robin bathroom scene are such gems.
Last edited by Allstar on July 11th, 2019, 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Just watched episode 1.
So Mike is a little shit now. I’m annoyed by how “crazy” they’re trying to make Hopper, like it’s beyond your typical “dad struggling with his rebellious hormonal teens” territory

Also, I know this is an equal parts nostalgia trip and coming of age tale, but like, I don’t want to watch kids make out multiple times in an episode lmao

ALSO. HOW MANY TIMES WILL THAT PORTAL NEED TO BE CLOSED

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Ruth wrote:
July 11th, 2019, 7:09 pm
Just watched episode 1.
So Mike is a little shit now. I’m annoyed by how “crazy” they’re trying to make Hopper, like it’s beyond your typical “dad struggling with his rebellious hormonal teens” territory

Also, I know this is an equal parts nostalgia trip and coming of age tale, but like, I don’t want to watch kids make out multiple times in an episode lmao

ALSO. HOW MANY TIMES WILL THAT PORTAL NEED TO BE CLOSED
Well,
Hopp is not your "typical" Dad, he's going through PTSD for various reasons on top of having lost a child and El is not your typical teen. He's terrified of losing her.

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Season 3 was just an absolute blast that almost never felt boring to me, which season did suffer from, for me at least.
Maybe the first few episodes of s3 were a slight bit of, ehh, let's get things rolling now...
But when it gets rolling it goes faaaaaast and tons of fun in my opinion.

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Hopper is a toxic and troubled guy and has been from day 1. I like that ST3 is willing to let a messy character seem so ugly at times. Adult level problems for one of the two main adult characters feels fair.

For what it’s worth, he’s a much cooler version of a lot of my friends dads including my own.


-Vader

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