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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Jul 5, 2019 23:31:03 GMT
Some rambling thoughts right now. - Kids, of course, are still the highlights. Brown, Wolfhard, Mclaughlin, and Sink do a lot of heavy lifting. Ferguson was so adorable. Schnapp unfortunately gets the short straw, essentially since he’s just the warning siren a lot of times, but great ensemble work all around. - I absolutely love Steve/Dustin buddy cop comedy, and with Robin offsetting them (and Maya Hawke being this season’s MVP), they were probably the most entertaining sections. Honestly, this season could have been Steve and Robin tripping balls for eight episodes, and I’d have been happy. - Dacre Montgomery stepped up his game. He’s still an imposing jerk for the most part, but I liked how well he played his more emotional scenes where he’s more pitiful. - Ryder and Harbour were along for the ride at points, but their chemistry was really strong, and Harbour’s farewell letter was the single most heartbreaking part of the season. - Editing is tight, and a step up from season 2 in that department. I could never have watched all of season 2 in one day, because of how uneven it could get, but because of how balanced 3 was, I hardly ever noticed how long it was. - I’m not one to knock product placement all that often, especially when it’s the kind of product that I know people use all the time, but here it was getting into Man of Steel territory. I actually chuckled when one of these products became relevant to the plot, it was so tacky. - The effects guys really stepped up theirs game. Some iffy shots here and there, but impressive stuff otherwise. The nasty, icky giant mind flayer genuinely looked Hollywood quality. And what a thrilling, beautiful looking climax. - I’m not sure if I’d call it better than season 1 (it’s hard to recapture lightning in a bottle), but it’s a big step up from season 2, which in hindsight, was sloppier than I remembered. This was tight and lean as hell. - So, how did a demodog survive if the gate’s been sealed? Was that Dart that evolved into the Demogorgan? And who is that American locked in the cell? I doubt it’s Hopper. Could it be one of El’s siblings? Are we ever gonna get around to where the rest are? - I just hope the final decisions don’t hurt the dynamic too much in season 4. I’m glad they’re making big changes and developments, and the characters aren’t gonna be spinning their wheels, but I don’t want them to lose that spark that made the show so charming. I almost felt like this was gonna be a surprise series finale at one point, but I’m really excited for what’s next. Ranking the seasons: 1 3 2
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Post by quetee on Jul 5, 2019 23:32:51 GMT
Season 3 is so much better than two that you wonder how could the same team screw up season two so badly. As for the post credit scene no clue but I'm hoping that American that is referred to is Hopper I'm pretty sure it's Hopper. Hopefully. By the way, you are right about the team aspect of season 3. Worked way better.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Jul 5, 2019 23:56:19 GMT
I'm pretty sure it's Hopper. Hopefully. By the way, you are right about the team aspect of season 3. Worked way better. I don’t think they’re gonna do that. They already pulled a “character disintegrates into dust, but then comes back to life next season” before, with El in season 1. Are they really willing to do the same with Hop?
Then again, Joyce asking him to Enzo’s was eerily reminiscent of Mike kissing El when talking about the Snow Ball. Maybe that’s coincidence, or maybe that’s intentional.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 6, 2019 0:58:08 GMT
Loved season 1 and liked season 2 up until the last 3 episodes when it went badly off the rails for me and tanked the whole season so I was kind of meh on watching this but s3 e1 was a really sweet and tense episode and retains the right balance and tone. Not sure how long it will take me to get through this season but at least I've got something fun to watch this month.....
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Post by DeepArcher on Jul 6, 2019 3:45:58 GMT
Alright so I just finished the season and I definitely have some thoughts so here we go... So this is probably an unpopular opinion coming right off the bat but I actually thought this was a significant step-down from season 2 which itself was a significant step-down from season 1. I honestly didn't realize until the recent posts in this thread that the second season was so comparatively unpopular, I honestly thought that the consensus was that the second was preferred to the first (not necessarily on this board but just in general) but it seems I was way off-base ... and I'm kinda surprised too, while I think the second sure is flawed its first stretch of six episodes is virtually perfect from what I remember and close to the same level as the first, it's only in the last third that I felt it stumbled a bit and lost its mojo but overall it was a very good "sequel." But anyway this post is supposed to be about the third season not the second so let me shut up about that. Regardless, it's pretty clear to me that this is a series that's gotten progressively weaker with time, and while it's certainly far from being a bad show it is a show with bad scenes which was not the case three years ago (and at least when there were bad scenes in the second season it was pretty clear it was just certain story elements *cough* *cough* not working and weren't scattered as they are here) ... it's basically devolved from the more modest "cult following" sci-fi nostalgia trip it started out as, got over-popularized and is now fan service-driven storytelling that all too often feels like a CW show with really high production values. Obviously the true strength of this series has always been its characters (also the true strength of any great TV series but that's a bit of a different conversation) and the character work is at the weakest it's been this season. First of all some of these characters have taken outright 180's that I'm not sure I can get behind ... the most obvious example is Max who is presented here as like a polar opposite of the character she was in the second season. There's a great little moment in the second episode where she's struggling with her skateboard to show that she's out-of-touch with her former personality which shows a clear indication that the writers haven't totally forgotten her personality but then it never gets explored again. So maybe we are supposed to believe that her former personality was just a result of her insecurity, and now that she is accepted within this group of friends she can start acting like more of a, for lack of a better work, conformist, and if that's what we are supposed to believe it doesn't sit right with me at all ... and if on the other hand we're supposed to believe that her spending all her time with this group of people has just diluted her own personality and sense of self as a person then that's a problem and it doesn't get touched on as one so it's disappointing. I loved Max's friendship with El so much but otherwise she has nothing to do and in general the handling of the character was disappointingly poor. And then in this same ballpark we have Hopper who seems to have been totally sent off the deep end because of ... Mike?? I guess maybe we're supposed to see it as a growing estrangement from El that's caused his personality shift so much (and perhaps to another extent his frustration with unrequited(-ish??) feelings for Joyce, etc.) but again that's something that goes kind of ignored until like the very end of the season and regardless he acted way too extreme ... he acts legitimately insane at points and it felt too out-of-character from the Hopp we know for me to buy it. And then the next biggest blunder within the main cast might is probably Erica, who is, um, main cast now, which again is pretty obvious fan-service, a pretty unnecessary promotion for a fan-favorite minor character from the second season. My problem is that she's basically just this Lyanna Mormont meme character, you know, where every one of her lines feels like it was tailor-made for fans to screenshot and then tweet. Yes she's very funny but she's almost too funny to be even remotely believable as an actual human being. And when you think about it she's really only minorly consequential to the plot and with some very slightly re-writing she coulda been cut-out altogether and the season wouldn't miss a beat ... though there's this moment with her in the season's final montage that almost kinda justifies her inclusion in general and makes me wish they had just presented the character differently because it's clear what purpose she's supposed to have in the greater narrative, it'd just be better if she acted like an actual person. Otherwise many characters didn't seem like they were acting like themselves or more specifically just didn't feel involved enough. I think this show's getting to the point where the ensemble is so big they can't balance it as seamlessly as they did in the first season and because of it some characters really get under-represented and maybe that's why they couldn't really feel true to themselves ... Will has some great moments in the second and third episodes especially but is almost a non-entity otherwise which is frustrating because he's always been one of their best characters and yet always goes under-used because of his plot convenience, Lucas really had nothing to do and honestly neither did Mike other than being a piece of shit (who grows into a bit less of a piece of shit?). And Jonathan and Nancy have just become increasingly unlikable after being great in the first season, they have some stuff that's just unwatchable at this point and I've never really bought their romantic chemistry as well as I did their bickering friend, sexual tension-filled chemistry in the first season which is pretty ironic as I'm pretty sure the actors are dating in real life lmao ... The Steve and Dustin combo is still great stuff which leads me to the true highlight of the season which, obviously, is Robin. I think if I had any complaint about her it would be that she almost fits within the show too perfectly which would be a weird thing to complain about ... while many aspects of the season felt like they were sort of losing their grasp on what made the show so great, it was a new character who felt the *most* Stranger Things in a way. Maya Hawke is great, I had never seen her in anything before and I have to say the resemblance to her mother is absolutely uncanny (not that that's important...), and the energy she brought to what was easily the best storyline of the season (at least through the first half) was perfection. I actually kind of saw the reveal of her sexuality coming, maybe because it was hinted at early on but I can't remember, but mostly because I was thinking about how the series didn't have any openly gay characters yet and considering the main audience they're serving I sort of had a feeling that it was about time they did that so figured it'd be her ... anyway I thought it was a nice subversion to not have her hook-up with Steve and instead their friendship is one of the strongest dynamics in the series at this point. It was a bit disappointing that they sorta gave her nothing to do in the last couple episodes but, again, that kinda happened with quite a few people. Oh, but the reveal of her god-taste in movies was maybe even better than Jonathan's god-taste in music in S1. And while I complain of fan-service and do think that's this season's Achilles' heal summed up in one term, there are actually times when they use that fan-service kind of cleverly. I think the biggest example comes in the premiere with Billy and Mrs. Wheeler, a partly-funny, partly-annoying follow-up to a funny scene at the end of season two that fans loved so much so of course they have to exploit that for more laughs. It had me rolling my eyes just how much they were doing this, and then use this story element ultimately to set-up the ending scene of the premiere which is the moment that basically acts as the catalyst for the plot of the whole season ... so they used this bit of fan-service to actually get the plot in motion which is clever and certainly much better than the dreadful ways that other TV writers (*cough* GOT *cough*) have handled the same type of thing. There's also a certain degree of self-awareness to certain scenes that I really enjoyed, the one example I'm thinking of in the seventh episode when Hopper is telling Joyce "we don't know if [redacted for minor spoilers] is showing up because you yelled at them and then hung up the phone" which I found funny because that's how so many interactions in this show have always played out and it's always suggested that it's effective, but this one time they sort of poke fun at the fact that there's really no guarantee that outbursts get what you want despite how the show always treats it that way. (Of course so-and-so does show up so I guess it was maybe a bit pointless but still I thought it was a nice touch.) The inclusion of the Russians kinda reached some absurd Red Dawn levels right from the get-go ... and I thought Chernobyl was bad lmao ... and then it was even more frustrating when the massive arrival of the U.S. military in the season finale is presented as a salvation but I mean what are ya gonna do I guess. It's a far cry from the government skepticism & critique of blind pro-U.S. Cold War mindsets that was so great in the first season. This is our 4th of July season so I guess it has to be patriotic now? They don't overplay this element at all so I kinda don't think it was their intent, but, still, the depiction of the Russians was silly as hell (at least there were some good moments with Alexei). Ultimately though the essentials that have always been the crux of this show, the pacing, the creativity, the humor, the catharsis, is all still really on-point. It's never been lacking in entertainment value (other than 2x07...) and that certainly doesn't change here. I think the peak of the whole season would have to be ep. 4 "The Sauna Test," the ending sequence of which is maybe the most terrifying this show has gotten and immediately strikes me as its standout set-piece for sure. There was good action all around, some things I actually thought could've been milked further, especially the Hall of Mirrors bit in episode 7 which I definitely wanted more of, and honestly the season's climax as well which was very strong but I wanted a bit more from it (or more of it, I should say). The visuals are on-point and that climatic sequence in the finale is definitely a highlight ... there's a particularly beautiful shot in that sequence that only lasted like 0.1 seconds which was a bummer. The very end had me bawling even though I'm pretty confident that Hopper is still alive ... his "death" happens almost too suddenly for me to buy that it was legit, we didn't actually see him getting vaporized as we did many of the others in the area and there were no remains where he was standing (whereas I think there were for the others, but I could be wrong on that one). I know most people are expecting that he's the "American" referred to in the mid-credits scene which I very much think is possible (it obviously must be someone) though my immediate assumption was just that he got locked on the other side of the portal and became trapped in the Upside Down. After all there are quite a few ways in which this finale mirrors the first season's finale and certainly one of them is the way in which Hopp's fate clearly mirrors what happened to El then ... so yeah I'm pretty convinced he'll be back, and a "rescue" mission of sorts makes too much logical sense as a way of putting plot in motion for the next season. Regardless, the voiceover of his speech in the last scene was pretty beautiful ... even if still not enough to convince me that it was a true sendoff for the character! As I said the pacing is perfect and their careful plotting of the entire season arc is just as clever as ever. I loved the payoff with Suzy even if their musical number moment got a bit overplayed, and there were just a lot of moments where plot breakthroughs came down to small details that were incurred earlier, like the specific placement of objects in a room, etc. things like that. Very classic Stranger Things in that regard and it's always great how they pull it off so cleanly and can keep the plot in its constant motion with that type of storytelling. And of course I love that even once shit really hits the fan later on that of course they still find time for those moments that they just let breathe, lots of rather extended character moments at times you normally wouldn't expect. The Steve/Robin scene in the bathroom in episode 7 is a pretty obvious example of this, it's a pretty long moment right in the middle of a very fast-paced episode and it's also one of the best moments in the season handily, it's just great that they let that interaction be so organic and gave it the proper time to land the way it did. That kind of balance they're still managing very well, which goes a long way even if we're at the point where a handful of those individual scenes are just outright not working and many of their writing tropes are growing a bit annoying and overplayed.
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morton
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Post by morton on Jul 6, 2019 5:54:50 GMT
Just finished it. Excellent season. Way better than 2 and on par with 1. Everything from the writing to performances to visuals are spot on. I like it that folks were divided into little groups and each one had a task and finally unite at the big battle. Super engaging with an emotional ending. The whole season has a 'Red Dawn' vibe to it and there many callbacks to the 80s classics as usual. More of team work this time to beat the Mind Flayer than just Eleven and i appreciate that. Which also helped to add more characters to the roster and Robin is my new favorite character. It's a bummer that she is interested in women when Steve was showing signs that he likes her and they has great chemistry. There's a post credit scene which showed a Demogorgon in a Russian base in Russia but why Demogorgon again? I really loved the Red Dawn vibe of it too, and of course The Terminator vibe. Although I found Grigori tiresome after awhile. Just too one note, and he didn't have the charisma of Arnold Schwarzenegger at all. The Duffers have said as much. But they’re open to a season 5. They should actually take a cue from IT and have it where season 4 is the last and let the kids age and then reboot it and have fight them when they are older... like college age. I hope that they do something like this because I'd like to see where all the kids end up even if it's just in an epilogue. Some rambling thoughts right now. - Kids, of course, are still the highlights. Brown, Wolfhard, Mclaughlin, and Sink do a lot of heavy lifting. Ferguson was so adorable. Schnapp unfortunately gets the short straw, essentially since he’s just the warning siren a lot of times, but great ensemble work all around. - I absolutely love Steve/Dustin buddy cop comedy, and with Robin offsetting them (and Maya Hawke being this season’s MVP), they were probably the most entertaining sections. Honestly, this season could have been Steve and Robin tripping balls for eight episodes, and I’d have been happy. - Dacre Montgomery stepped up his game. He’s still an imposing jerk for the most part, but I liked how well he played his more emotional scenes where he’s more pitiful. - Ryder and Harbour were along for the ride at points, but their chemistry was really strong, and Harbour’s farewell letter was the single most heartbreaking part of the season. - Editing is tight, and a step up from season 2 in that department. I could never have watched all of season 2 in one day, because of how uneven it could get, but because of how balanced 3 was, I hardly ever noticed how long it was. - I’m not one to knock product placement all that often, especially when it’s the kind of product that I know people use all the time, but here it was getting into Man of Steel territory. I actually chuckled when one of these products became relevant to the plot, it was so tacky. - The effects guys really stepped up theirs game. Some iffy shots here and there, but impressive stuff otherwise. The nasty, icky giant mind flayer genuinely looked Hollywood quality. And what a thrilling, beautiful looking climax. - I’m not sure if I’d call it better than season 1 (it’s hard to recapture lightning in a bottle), but it’s a big step up from season 2, which in hindsight, was sloppier than I remembered. This was tight and lean as hell. - So, how did a demodog survive if the gate’s been sealed? Was that Dart that evolved into the Demogorgan? And who is that American locked in the cell? I doubt it’s Hopper. Could it be one of El’s siblings? Are we ever gonna get around to where the rest are? - I just hope the final decisions don’t hurt the dynamic too much in season 4. I’m glad they’re making big changes and developments, and the characters aren’t gonna be spinning their wheels, but I don’t want them to lose that spark that made the show so charming. I almost felt like this was gonna be a surprise series finale at one point, but I’m really excited for what’s next. Ranking the seasons: 1 3 2 Agree with everything especially all the product placement. It didn't bother me before, but just too much and too on the nose this season in a few instances. I'm pretty sure it's Hopper. Hopefully. By the way, you are right about the team aspect of season 3. Worked way better. Definitely! While I enjoyed Season 2, the groups just felt too disconnected, but this season I felt that the writers really worked on making sure that each group's storyline meshed a lot better than in season 2. Hopefully. By the way, you are right about the team aspect of season 3. Worked way better. I don’t think they’re gonna do that. They already pulled a “character disintegrates into dust, but then comes back to life next season” before, with El in season 1. Are they really willing to do the same with Hop?
Then again, Joyce asking him to Enzo’s was eerily reminiscent of Mike kissing El when talking about the Snow Ball. Maybe that’s coincidence, or maybe that’s intentional. I was thinking about that too. While I don't think Hopper is gone, I think it would be too much like El's "death" in season 1 if the audience thinks he turned to dust, but then he really survived. I'm wondering if they bring him back with some kind of time travel. I know time travel is a very tricky thing to use, but I thought that there were hints to it with Back to the Future being the film that the Scoops Troop saw and that Steve and Robin made references too, and then Hopper's letter talked about how you can't stop/change time which I took to mean "they'll go back and stop/change time to save Hopper somehow.". Alright so I just finished the season and I definitely have some thoughts so here we go... So this is probably an unpopular opinion coming right off the bat but I actually thought this was a significant step-down from season 2 which itself was a significant step-down from season 1. I honestly didn't realize until the recent posts in this thread that the second season was so comparatively unpopular, I honestly thought that the consensus was that the second was preferred to the first (not necessarily on this board but just in general) but it seems I was way off-base ... and I'm kinda surprised too, while I think the second sure is flawed its first stretch of six episodes is virtually perfect from what I remember and close to the same level as the first, it's only in the last third that I felt it stumbled a bit and lost its mojo but overall it was a very good "sequel." But anyway this post is supposed to be about the third season not the second so let me shut up about that. Regardless, it's pretty clear to me that this is a series that's gotten progressively weaker with time, and while it's certainly far from being a bad show it is a show with bad scenes which was not the case three years ago (and at least when there were bad scenes in the second season it was pretty clear it was just certain story elements *cough* *cough* not working and weren't scattered as they are here) ... it's basically devolved from the more modest "cult following" sci-fi nostalgia trip it started out as, got over-popularized and is now fan service-driven storytelling that all too often feels like a CW show with really high production values. Obviously the true strength of this series has always been its characters (also the true strength of any great TV series but that's a bit of a different conversation) and the character work is at the weakest it's been this season. First of all some of these characters have taken outright 180's that I'm not sure I can get behind ... the most obvious example is Max who is presented here as like a polar opposite of the character she was in the second season. There's a great little moment in the second episode where she's struggling with her skateboard to show that she's out-of-touch with her former personality which shows a clear indication that the writers haven't totally forgotten her personality but then it never gets explored again. So maybe we are supposed to believe that her former personality was just a result of her insecurity, and now that she is accepted within this group of friends she can start acting like more of a, for lack of a better work, conformist, and if that's what we are supposed to believe it doesn't sit right with me at all ... and if on the other hand we're supposed to believe that her spending all her time with this group of people has just diluted her own personality and sense of self as a person then that's a problem and it doesn't get touched on as one so it's disappointing. I loved Max's friendship with El so much but otherwise she has nothing to do and in general the handling of the character was disappointingly poor. And then in this same ballpark we have Hopper who seems to have been totally sent off the deep end because of ... Mike?? I guess maybe we're supposed to see it as a growing estrangement from El that's caused his personality shift so much (and perhaps to another extent his frustration with unrequited(-ish??) feelings for Joyce, etc.) but again that's something that goes kind of ignored until like the very end of the season and regardless he acted way too extreme ... he acts legitimately insane at points and it felt too out-of-character from the Hopp we know for me to buy it. And then the next biggest blunder within the main cast might is probably Erica, who is, um, main cast now, which again is pretty obvious fan-service, a pretty unnecessary promotion for a fan-favorite minor character from the second season. My problem is that she's basically just this Lyanna Mormont meme character, you know, where every one of her lines feels like it was tailor-made for fans to screenshot and then tweet. Yes she's very funny but she's almost too funny to be even remotely believable as an actual human being. And when you think about it she's really only minorly consequential to the plot and with some very slightly re-writing she coulda been cut-out altogether and the season wouldn't miss a beat ... though there's this moment with her in the season's final montage that almost kinda justifies her inclusion in general and makes me wish they had just presented the character differently because it's clear what purpose she's supposed to have in the greater narrative, it'd just be better if she acted like an actual person. Otherwise many characters didn't seem like they were acting like themselves or more specifically just didn't feel involved enough. I think this show's getting to the point where the ensemble is so big they can't balance it as seamlessly as they did in the first season and because of it some characters really get under-represented and maybe that's why they couldn't really feel true to themselves ... Will has some great moments in the second and third episodes especially but is almost a non-entity otherwise which is frustrating because he's always been one of their best characters and yet always goes under-used because of his plot convenience, Lucas really had nothing to do and honestly neither did Mike other than being a piece of shit (who grows into a bit less of a piece of shit?). And Jonathan and Nancy have just become increasingly unlikable after being great in the first season, they have some stuff that's just unwatchable at this point and I've never really bought their romantic chemistry as well as I did their bickering friend, sexual tension-filled chemistry in the first season which is pretty ironic as I'm pretty sure the actors are dating in real life lmao ... The Steve and Dustin combo is still great stuff which leads me to the true highlight of the season which, obviously, is Robin. I think if I had any complaint about her it would be that she almost fits within the show too perfectly which would be a weird thing to complain about ... while many aspects of the season felt like they were sort of losing their grasp on what made the show so great, it was a new character who felt the *most* Stranger Things in a way. Maya Hawke is great, I had never seen her in anything before and I have to say the resemblance to her mother is absolutely uncanny (not that that's important...), and the energy she brought to what was easily the best storyline of the season (at least through the first half) was perfection. I actually kind of saw the reveal of her sexuality coming, maybe because it was hinted at early on but I can't remember, but mostly because I was thinking about how the series didn't have any openly gay characters yet and considering the main audience they're serving I sort of had a feeling that it was about time they did that so figured it'd be her ... anyway I thought it was a nice subversion to not have her hook-up with Steve and instead their friendship is one of the strongest dynamics in the series at this point. It was a bit disappointing that they sorta gave her nothing to do in the last couple episodes but, again, that kinda happened with quite a few people. Oh, but the reveal of her god-taste in movies was maybe even better than Jonathan's god-taste in music in S1. And while I complain of fan-service and do think that's this season's Achilles' heal summed up in one term, there are actually times when they use that fan-service kind of cleverly. I think the biggest example comes in the premiere with Billy and Mrs. Wheeler, a partly-funny, partly-annoying follow-up to a funny scene at the end of season two that fans loved so much so of course they have to exploit that for more laughs. It had me rolling my eyes just how much they were doing this, and then use this story element ultimately to set-up the ending scene of the premiere which is the moment that basically acts as the catalyst for the plot of the whole season ... so they used this bit of fan-service to actually get the plot in motion which is clever and certainly much better than the dreadful ways that other TV writers (*cough* GOT *cough*) have handled the same type of thing. There's also a certain degree of self-awareness to certain scenes that I really enjoyed, the one example I'm thinking of in the seventh episode when Hopper is telling Joyce "we don't know if [redacted for minor spoilers] is showing up because you yelled at them and then hung up the phone" which I found funny because that's how so many interactions in this show have always played out and it's always suggested that it's effective, but this one time they sort of poke fun at the fact that there's really no guarantee that outbursts get what you want despite how the show always treats it that way. (Of course so-and-so does show up so I guess it was maybe a bit pointless but still I thought it was a nice touch.) The inclusion of the Russians kinda reached some absurd Red Dawn levels right from the get-go ... and I thought Chernobyl was bad lmao ... and then it was even more frustrating when the massive arrival of the U.S. military in the season finale is presented as a salvation but I mean what are ya gonna do I guess. It's a far cry from the government skepticism & critique of blind pro-U.S. Cold War mindsets that was so great in the first season. This is our 4th of July season so I guess it has to be patriotic now? They don't overplay this element at all so I kinda don't think it was their intent, but, still, the depiction of the Russians was silly as hell (at least there were some good moments with Alexei). Ultimately though the essentials that have always been the crux of this show, the pacing, the creativity, the humor, the catharsis, is all still really on-point. It's never been lacking in entertainment value (other than 2x07...) and that certainly doesn't change here. I think the peak of the whole season would have to be ep. 4 "The Sauna Test," the ending sequence of which is maybe the most terrifying this show has gotten and immediately strikes me as its standout set-piece for sure. There was good action all around, some things I actually thought could've been milked further, especially the Hall of Mirrors bit in episode 7 which I definitely wanted more of, and honestly the season's climax as well which was very strong but I wanted a bit more from it (or more of it, I should say). The visuals are on-point and that climatic sequence in the finale is definitely a highlight ... there's a particularly beautiful shot in that sequence that only lasted like 0.1 seconds which was a bummer. The very end had me bawling even though I'm pretty confident that Hopper is still alive ... his "death" happens almost too suddenly for me to buy that it was legit, we didn't actually see him getting vaporized as we did many of the others in the area and there were no remains where he was standing (whereas I think there were for the others, but I could be wrong on that one). I know most people are expecting that he's the "American" referred to in the mid-credits scene which I very much think is possible (it obviously must be someone) though my immediate assumption was just that he got locked on the other side of the portal and became trapped in the Upside Down. After all there are quite a few ways in which this finale mirrors the first season's finale and certainly one of them is the way in which Hopp's fate clearly mirrors what happened to El then ... so yeah I'm pretty convinced he'll be back, and a "rescue" mission of sorts makes too much logical sense as a way of putting plot in motion for the next season. Regardless, the voiceover of his speech in the last scene was pretty beautiful ... even if still not enough to convince me that it was a true sendoff for the character! As I said the pacing is perfect and their careful plotting of the entire season arc is just as clever as ever. I loved the payoff with Suzy even if their musical number moment got a bit overplayed, and there were just a lot of moments where plot breakthroughs came down to small details that were incurred earlier, like the specific placement of objects in a room, etc. things like that. Very classic Stranger Things in that regard and it's always great how they pull it off so cleanly and can keep the plot in its constant motion with that type of storytelling. And of course I love that even once shit really hits the fan later on that of course they still find time for those moments that they just let breathe, lots of rather extended character moments at times you normally wouldn't expect. The Steve/Robin scene in the bathroom in episode 7 is a pretty obvious example of this, it's a pretty long moment right in the middle of a very fast-paced episode and it's also one of the best moments in the season handily, it's just great that they let that interaction be so organic and gave it the proper time to land the way it did. That kind of balance they're still managing very well, which goes a long way even if we're at the point where a handful of those individual scenes are just outright not working and many of their writing tropes are growing a bit annoying and overplayed. It seems like I enjoyed it much more than you did, but I think you're the first person here to comment about Hopper's behavior. Ugh, that letter at the end while being touching and reminding me of the old Hopper did not do enough for me, lol. He was just so gross with how he acted towards Joyce all throughout the season but especially at the beginning, and the drinking and driving. The thing with Mike I can sort of understand because Mike was a little shit that should have respected Hopper, but still both Mike and Hopper were both gross. At least Mike got better by the end. I wasn't feeling Hopper until he sacrificed himself and we got the letter I still love David Harbour though. I agree about Nancy and Jonathan somewhat like I didn't buy Murray's speech at all last season about them, or this season about Hopper and Joyce. While I was okay with them this season and last season, I just feel like maybe it's time for them to move onto college now. At least it makes sense to me for Steve to be stuck in Hawkins, but Nancy and Jonathan should be able to get into college easily. I wonder if the show will do the whole "there was never any talk of a college or university being in Hawkins or very close to Hawkins, but suddenly there's a Hawkins University," and of course Nancy and Jonathan will attend it together.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Jul 9, 2019 0:17:46 GMT
Season 3 is already breaking records in terms of viewership.
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Post by quetee on Jul 9, 2019 0:42:28 GMT
Season 3 is already breaking records in terms of viewership. Damn, I knew it was going to be huge.
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Post by quetee on Jul 9, 2019 0:57:36 GMT
Was it just me of did the boy who played Will have a major growth spurt in final episode? He just looked bigger. Looks like they got more money to do special effects this year.
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Post by Viced on Jul 9, 2019 1:10:18 GMT
Was it just me of did the boy who played Will have a major growth spurt in final episode? He just looked bigger. Looks like they got more money to do special effects this year. Lol yeah... he absolutely towered over Winona in the finale out of nowhere.
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Post by Viced on Jul 9, 2019 1:20:27 GMT
Me during the NeverEnding Story scene:
Overall, this was comfortably the best season of the show for me. Still had its share of goofy shit and plot contrivances... but I was totally into it in a way that I never was with the first two seasons. The basic idea of the Russians was kind of goofy, but I think they pulled it off well enough. And I think they did a great job with the different character plots mixed together throughout the season culminating in them all joining together in the end.
Steve Harrington and Robin are comfortably the best characters on the show. Winona was totally wasted and Harbour seemed like he was playing a Chris Farley character for most of the season.
Finale was great shit... hope they can keep it at this level and wrap it up well with the fourth season.
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Post by JangoB on Jul 9, 2019 2:08:51 GMT
Season 3 is my favorite so far. This was some pretty damn great candy-colored pop entertainment with the emotional last episode easily being the highlight of the entire series. The effects have gotten insanely better, the cinematography is bursting with colors and the pacing is just so damn enticing. I had a wonderful time watching these eight hours.
It felt like the silliness got a bit amped up in S3 with more broad comedy than before and especially with all the Russian stuff which to me (for obvious reasons) felt particularly funny in its cheesiness but I don't mean any of that as a bad thing - I was smiling throughout! The only part in which it was maybe a little bit overdone was with Hopper whose abundant OTT comedic moments occasionally felt slightly out of character.
Other than that, everything about S3 worked as awesomely as possible.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 9, 2019 10:06:09 GMT
Well......um, this show goes wacky at the end the last 2 seasons - but definitely a step up from s2 - and at least it was funny, sometimes hilariously so this time but at the very end it was aces and moving too.
It's not scary the way season 1 was - can't really see how people think 3 was better than 1 at all - but it was very sweet and Steve and Robin who is the alternative-80s version a teen-dork ScarJo were clearly the MVP's.
I'd actually watch them in a whole spin-off solving crimes and talking about bullsh it and talking about the differences in their movie tastes.
7/10
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Post by hugobolso on Jul 9, 2019 18:35:51 GMT
After a so so disappointing GOT elephants finale.- It's a pleasure to see Stranger Things. Probably the best of the 3 seasons. Why simple, is fun and I love the bright colours, are scary too. Things goes wrong in sunny day or in neon bright lights, in a big Mall or in a amusement park. That's new.-
I've seen 7/8 chapters of S.3.-
My only complaint, is that I'm tired of LGBTBQ Neflix additions in series. Don't get me wrong was cool and fresh in season 3, but I hope this will not expanded in the next seasons.- I don't want a Sense 8 orgy with the kids in Stranger Things 5.-
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Post by jakesully on Jul 10, 2019 16:27:42 GMT
Finished it yesterday and loved it. The Duffer Bros are 3 for 3 for me. I was very satisfied with this season (especially the finale) .
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Post by hugobolso on Jul 10, 2019 18:43:54 GMT
Finished and loved it. Since Episode 3 until the end there are 3 separated groups Group 1) Joyce, Hopper, Alexei and Bauman Group 2) Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica Group 3) the rest Eleven, Mike, Max, Jonathan, Lucas, Will and Nancy Drew.-
Love the humour, love the chemestry and love the colours.
After a dissapointing season 2, Joyce is leading character again, and a very funny one.- Fortunately this season isn't Eleven season. Thanks God!!!
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jul 13, 2019 19:04:18 GMT
Well I wasn't expecting to cry today, but here we are...
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Post by ibbi on Jul 13, 2019 19:29:02 GMT
I didn't like it that much. I mean season 1 is one of the best things I saw these past few years, and aside from episode 7 I really liked season 2 as well, but... I mean this definitely had its moments. The whole Steve/Robin/Dustin subplot was awesome, and I did find the Hopper/Joyce stuff good as well, but how ridiculously over the top Hopper was in the first few episodes was just stupid, and I don't really recall Mike being this annoying before either.
Felt less urgent to me too, I was far less hyped episode to episode and didn't feel the need to binge the entire thing in one go like I definitely did the first 2 seasons. I guess at least part of that can be attributed to the fact that unlike both the other 2 seasons that were pretty definitively self contained (aside from slight teases at the end of the first that could have worked perfectly well whether they were followed up on or not) this one pretty much ends with a To Be Continued feel to it. Feels almost incomplete.
Really went up and down a lot for me. Need to rewatch it, the end of the last episode was obviously very good, but it didn't really make up for the stupidity of his characterization in the opening couple.
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Post by Pavan on Sept 30, 2019 18:33:45 GMT
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Post by quetee on Sept 30, 2019 18:46:39 GMT
Ugh...........no release date.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Sept 30, 2019 19:03:49 GMT
A little early to start building hype, methinks.
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Post by stephen on Sept 30, 2019 19:05:17 GMT
Hot take: Riverdale is a much better show than Stranger Things.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 30, 2019 19:33:29 GMT
Hot take 2 : Marianne, the French Netflix horror is a much better show than Stranger Things too and nobody on this board of horror fans seems to have gone through with it except me - wtf!
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LaraQ
Badass
English Rose
Posts: 2,297
Likes: 2,833
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Post by LaraQ on Sept 30, 2019 19:52:05 GMT
I hope Maya Hawke is back for season 4.She was a really good addition to the show.
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Post by Pavan on Dec 11, 2019 8:02:43 GMT
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