Finished Stranger Things
Jul. 6th, 2019 02:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyWatched it with Eva, have a few loose thoughts floating around....
1. I maintain that Hopper was the worst option for long-term custody of Eleven. The only other parent who knew about her, Joyce, should've stepped up and told him that she needed more freedom, more education in order to prepare for entering school next year (which has got to happen), and more interaction with other people. It's tough when her situation means she does need a little bit of overprotection, but he veered too far in that direction. Something, something, dead daughter - and I don't think I'm wrong in my suspicion that his daughter who died (and he couldn't protect her from that) was much younger than El, either.
2. OMG the creepy melted-person-and-rat monster was soooooo creepy.
3. Really wish that instead of whimpering in terror El had stopped to ask "So, seriously, why do you want to end everything? Could we maybe just open the gate and send you home? You gotta be homesick, right? We'll give you some ice cream for the road." I always want the villains to monologue about their motives.
4. On the one hand, the plotlines took too long to intersect. On the other hand, I think that's the only way the writers knew how to handle all their characters. And, in fact, they pretty much dropped the ball when it came to Lucas and Will. Sure, Will's actor got a lot of practice in grimacing nervously and touching his neck, but... those two didn't have much to do throughout most of the show. And it showed. I'm not sure how this could've been improved, but I hope it is if there's another season.
5. JFC, would people stop opening doors to the upside down? Maybe there's some other level they can break into instead?
6. In my head, SPOILER wasn't shot and lives on, happy and anonymous with his prize. THIS IS MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT.
7. Okay, singing in the middle of an apocalyptic event is ridiculous, and I'm not sure it was a great plotting moment, but nevertheless I picked Finn up and soared him around the room like the little luck dragon he resembles. (Last time Jenn called him that Eva, who has never seen that movie, thought she said fuck dragon and was very confused.)
8. Those Scoops Ahoy uniforms are surprisingly attractive.
9. I don't think Eva even remotely understands how much Robin was risking in that conversation with Steve. Lucky Eva.
10. Yay all those jerks at the newspaper got what was coming to them. I'm not sorry, not even a little bit.
11. In my mind, that little kid who left the fair to join the flesh monster was actually a very short adult who was also evil. I BELIEVE THIS.
12. El and Will will be better off away from Hawkins. Too much happened there, and El needs to be in school, with other people. (I mean, school is gonna suck, sorry, but she has got to interact with other people more.)
1. I maintain that Hopper was the worst option for long-term custody of Eleven. The only other parent who knew about her, Joyce, should've stepped up and told him that she needed more freedom, more education in order to prepare for entering school next year (which has got to happen), and more interaction with other people. It's tough when her situation means she does need a little bit of overprotection, but he veered too far in that direction. Something, something, dead daughter - and I don't think I'm wrong in my suspicion that his daughter who died (and he couldn't protect her from that) was much younger than El, either.
2. OMG the creepy melted-person-and-rat monster was soooooo creepy.
3. Really wish that instead of whimpering in terror El had stopped to ask "So, seriously, why do you want to end everything? Could we maybe just open the gate and send you home? You gotta be homesick, right? We'll give you some ice cream for the road." I always want the villains to monologue about their motives.
4. On the one hand, the plotlines took too long to intersect. On the other hand, I think that's the only way the writers knew how to handle all their characters. And, in fact, they pretty much dropped the ball when it came to Lucas and Will. Sure, Will's actor got a lot of practice in grimacing nervously and touching his neck, but... those two didn't have much to do throughout most of the show. And it showed. I'm not sure how this could've been improved, but I hope it is if there's another season.
5. JFC, would people stop opening doors to the upside down? Maybe there's some other level they can break into instead?
6. In my head, SPOILER wasn't shot and lives on, happy and anonymous with his prize. THIS IS MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT.
7. Okay, singing in the middle of an apocalyptic event is ridiculous, and I'm not sure it was a great plotting moment, but nevertheless I picked Finn up and soared him around the room like the little luck dragon he resembles. (Last time Jenn called him that Eva, who has never seen that movie, thought she said fuck dragon and was very confused.)
8. Those Scoops Ahoy uniforms are surprisingly attractive.
9. I don't think Eva even remotely understands how much Robin was risking in that conversation with Steve. Lucky Eva.
10. Yay all those jerks at the newspaper got what was coming to them. I'm not sorry, not even a little bit.
11. In my mind, that little kid who left the fair to join the flesh monster was actually a very short adult who was also evil. I BELIEVE THIS.
12. El and Will will be better off away from Hawkins. Too much happened there, and El needs to be in school, with other people. (I mean, school is gonna suck, sorry, but she has got to interact with other people more.)
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Date: 2019-07-06 10:32 pm (UTC)Mine too!! Overall this season didn't really give me many emotional gut-punch moments like season 2 did, but that one was really hard to take.
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Date: 2019-07-07 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-07 02:21 am (UTC)1. I maintain that Hopper was the worst option for long-term custody of Eleven. The only other parent who knew about her, Joyce, should've stepped up and told him that she needed more freedom, more education in order to prepare for entering school next year (which has got to happen..
Agreed. Joyce is clearly the best parental choice -- and the only one who appears to step up. She also knew what to tell El regarding Mike. I think in the long run, El is going to be better off with Joyce, far away from Hawkins. I was really happy with that development and rooting for it. (Half afraid they'd be stupid and not do it.)
On the one hand, the plotlines took too long to intersect. On the other hand, I think that's the only way the writers knew how to handle all their characters. And, in fact, they pretty much dropped the ball when it came to Lucas and Will. Sure, Will's actor got a lot of practice in grimacing nervously and touching his neck, but... those two didn't have much to do throughout most of the show. And it showed. I'm not sure how this could've been improved, but I hope it is if there's another season.
Nods. Too much focus on romantic banter. As a result various characters got a bit lost.
Jonathan got a little lost -- the writers seemed to forget that he was also Joyce's son and she would be concerned about him too. I also felt that Lucas and Will got lost. Too much focus on the El/Mike romance, and the Joyce/Hopper romance...and the bickering.
I think the writers got a bit overwhelmed with all the characters and POV's.
There's not going to be another season apparently. It was announced that this was the last season during the whole "we'll stop making Stranger Things, if Netflix stops Good Omens" -- part of the joke was this is the last season for both, there aren't going to be more. (I'm annoyed, because the end credits left it open-ended.)
In my head, SPOILER wasn't shot and lives on, happy and anonymous with his prize. THIS IS MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT.
Sigh. Yes.
I don't think Eva even remotely understands how much Robin was risking in that conversation with Steve. Lucky Eva.
Yep. I forgot for a moment -- but you're right. In the 1980s -- that was a VERY dangerous conversation, particularly with someone like Steve and in a place like Hawkings, Indiana (actually it's not exactly safe in small town, Indiana now. Which is why she really struggled with it, and may not have done it -- if it weren't for the truth serum.
Yay all those jerks at the newspaper got what was coming to them. I'm not sorry, not even a little bit.
Do we know if it was all of them? If so, yes. And oh yes, I looked it up, Jake Busey played the nasty blond newspaperman who got exactly what was coming to him. I was so happy to see him get taken.
El and Will will be better off away from Hawkins. Too much happened there, and El needs to be in school, with other people. (I mean, school is gonna suck, sorry, but she has got to interact with other people more.)
Smartest thing Joyce ever did. Very happy with that portion of the ending.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-07 02:40 am (UTC)1. The Duffer Brothers are planning on another season, and everybody is talking about there being one or maaaaaybe two more seasons. (And Gaiman has been talking a lot now about how he and Pterry planned out a second Good Omens book but never wrote it, which is IRL foreshadowing if I ever heard it.)
2. I'll say for Steve, though, good job stepping up and deciding consciously to NOT be an asshole. You've been come an actual, likeable person! And you won a prize! Your prize is friendship, the benefit of which is friendship!
3. IT WAS ALL THE NEWS CREW EXCEPT ANY OTHER WOMEN IN THE OFFICE.
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Date: 2019-07-07 02:54 am (UTC)2. Yeah, Steve really has the best arc. He goes from douchebag to a likeable person, who is a bit of a clutz. I can see why she goes to bat for him at the video store. He's put friendship above his own ego or base desires. The first sign was befriending Dusty last year, now Robyn.
3. Were there any other women in the office? I guess there were, I remember them being mentioned, we just never saw them.
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Date: 2019-07-07 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-07 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-07 04:53 am (UTC)And like, what is so great about the Upside Down that makes you want to risk life and limb to get there? Mountains of gold? No. Never ending power source? No. WHY are you going there?! First time, curiosity, sure, but have you seen what comes out there?
The flesh monster was very creepy. The show definitely keep upping the bystander body count.
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Date: 2019-07-07 05:14 am (UTC)