[MusicallyInspired]

Actually so far I'm liking it even more than season 1. Season 1 was good but I wasn't head over heels for it like everybody else seemed to be.

[Danukem]

MusicallyInspired, on 13 July 2019 - 08:58 PM, said:

Actually so far I'm liking it even more than season 1. Season 1 was good but I wasn't head over heels for it like everybody else seemed to be.

I'm deducting points from later seasons because they keep repeating themselves in certain ways.

[Aristotle Gumball]

Kinda feels like self parody to me, based on the first and second episode. Getting a bit too goofy.

[MusicallyInspired]

First and second are definitely not what excited me. A lot of pop songs and movie references. Thankfully it picks up after that. Man I really enjoyed episodes 4 and 5.

[Aristotle Gumball]

Will hold you personally accountable if it doesn't pick up. But I'll keep watching then. Everything else sucks even worse.

[gemeaux333]

Sure, 99% of whatever is on Netflix sucks (The magic school bus, i think to you) I even hesitate to watch Tidelands (it is said its a mix of Ocean Girl and True Blood...)

[gemeaux333]

I bet that the relation between Steve and Robin will be sort of like Rikki/Zane in H2O

[Aristotle Gumball]

Finished episode 6 and while it did pick up, I still think it's way more silly. Almost to the point where you can't accuse them of sloppy writing anymore because the tone is so different. Season 1 was amazing and really original; this feels like they're just milking the franchise. I don't get the hate for season 2 either. It was better than this. Russians in the 80s with technology from the year 3000 and Nickelodeon kid's show dialog. I also love how fast they figure things out from random clues.

Still good enough for mindless entertainment, though.

[MusicallyInspired]

I like how far out it is. It's just way more fun of a season whereas season 1 was so dark and dreary. I simply don't remember a whole lot from season 2 other than the horrible El subplot. But I remember season 1.

Though it does lose points for subverting my expectations in episode 7 and leaving my favourite character this season awkward and pointless.

[Danukem]

thricecursed, on 18 July 2019 - 10:03 AM, said:

I don't get the hate for season 2 either. It was better than this. Russians in the 80s with technology from the year 3000 and Nickelodeon kid's show dialog. I also love how fast they figure things out from random clues.

I agree about the Russian silliness. The underground complex would have been have been one of the largest man-made structures on earth, and we are supposed to believe they built it in a year by smuggling in boxes that were part of mall shipments? Completely ridiculous. However, I felt that season 3 had enough other things going for it to lift it slightly above season 2. The reason I don't like season 2 is it contained an episode that was complete garbage. The one where Elle goes off with the gang of wannabe X-Men made me angry. It was badly written and didn't belong in the series at all. And the showrunners know it was a mistake because they hardly acknowledge it now.

[Aristotle Gumball]

I don't think you're meant to take any of it seriously anymore, which is the problem I have with it. Hopper's still awesome, though.

[MusicallyInspired]

I just think it's in a different phase of 80s nostalgia. This one is the overblown silliness phase. It feels a lot more fun like The Goonies now. I really don't mind it. Kind of refreshing.

[Danukem]

MusicallyInspired, on 18 July 2019 - 01:46 PM, said:

I just think it's in a different phase of 80s nostalgia. This one is the overblown silliness phase. It feels a lot more fun like The Goonies now. I really don't mind it. Kind of refreshing.

You're right that it might be intentional. However, I will take E.T. and Poltergeist over Goonies any day.

[MusicallyInspired]

I never liked ET and I never saw Poltergeist.

[gemeaux333]

Do you believe there will be a special christmas episode ?

There is the whole scene between Steve and Robin, and even if the message seems clear I like to say "never say never" :

[MusicallyInspired]

There's zero chance present day Hollywood/TV is going to go back on that.

[gemeaux333]

I actually meant that their relation could evolve in something like the relation between Rikki and Zane in Jonathan M. Shiff's "H2O: Just add water", minus the on-again/off-again part

[MusicallyInspired]

Never saw it so I don't get the reference.

[Danukem]

gemeaux333, on 20 July 2019 - 06:39 AM, said:

Do you believe there will be a special christmas episode ?

There is the whole scene between Steve and Robin, and even if the message seems clear I like to say "never say never" :

Having Steve in a steady relationship would somewhat undermine what is entertaining about his character. This way, he can continue girl-chasing but also have a quasi-girlfriend so he doesn't seem pathetic. Introducing Robin was a clever 3-for-1 on the part of the Duffer bros. One, she's an interesting new female character in her own right, two she checks the LBGT box thereby shielding the show from attack for not being inclusive, and three the quasi-girlfriend thing. It's heavily implied that Robin wants him as her wingman -- that doesn't seem like an actual lesbian thing but whatever.

The closest we could get to Steve / Robin would be if they got into a threesome with one of Steve's girlfriends. Even then, some people would frown on this.

[gemeaux333]

It shows that she have a crush on him even if she don't assume it, especially when you look at the scene where they both apply to a job at the end of episode 8, she try to help him but he make her job even harder... so where do you think she find the will for her endeavour ?

On the other hand, he reminds me one of the most famous characters of the most famous french sitcom and its sequels

[----]

Trooper Dan, on 20 July 2019 - 01:24 PM, said:

Introducing Robin was a clever 3-for-1 on the part of the Duffer bros. One, she's an interesting new female character in her own right, two she checks the LBGT box thereby shielding the show from attack for not being "inclusive", and three the quasi-girlfriend thing. It's heavily implied that Robin wants him as her wingman -- that doesn't seem like an actual lesbian thing but whatever.

This.

ANd there is also Will who IMHO represents the "oppressed" gay character. It was implied by his friends that he doesn't like girls (it could also mean that he isn't interested in them yet). But I just re-binged season one and two and Will was mocked by the bullies for being gay (still only just a label some bullies put on him).

[gemeaux333]

Yes, the consensus is that Will is just not yet interested in girls... just as Robin was not yet interested in boys !

[Danukem]

fuegerstef, on 21 July 2019 - 12:31 AM, said:

This.

ANd there is also Will who IMHO represents the "oppressed" gay character. It was implied by his friends that he doesn't like girls (it could also mean that he isn't interested in them yet). But I just re-binged season one and two and Will was mocked by the bullies for being gay (still only just a label some bullies put on him).

The bullies might have been onto something, but, at that age in real life it would be far more likely that he's just a quiet kid who gets teased a lot. In a modern TV show, though, if you mention in any way that a character might be gay, they practically have to be gay or the show will be attacked by twitter mobs. Who knows? My personal preference would be that the sexuality of the character simply never comes up and is left a mystery. If he is gay, one upside of that for Mike is that he doesn't have to worry about Will making moves on Elle (which would be easy enough since --spoiler-- they are now in the same household).

[MusicallyInspired]

Sexual preferences never being brought up would be the best we could hope for. But then media interviews would pressure the actors and writers to give a quote for "what they think" it is and they will, of course, give the current politically correct response which is "yeah sure maybe!" like Finn and Poe in Star Wars.

So much for being an 80s throwback lol.

[----]

Speaking of Star Wars (which reminds me of all the tie in novels it has ... ): I just bought the Stranger Things novels and the first comic.

The comic is good from the drawing style ... and it is said to tell what what happened in the Upside Down in Season one (haven't read it yet). It tells Will's story and how he survived in the Upside Down and stuff like how made the lights in our dimension flicker.

And I am looking for the novel about Hopper's days in New York and how that drove him back to Hawkins (I will probably start that tommorow).

[gemeaux333]

Some peoples thinks (thanks to an easter egg) that the soviet facility under Hawkins belongs to Umbrella Corp...

[gemeaux333]

Season 4 episode 4 have certainly the best scene of the entire series, the one with Max regaining control after Vecma / One have completely taken over her, with the song "running up that hill" from Kate Bush, the whole scene with a neat execution
btw a great/touching character devellopment for Max

[Sangman]

Season 4 has been pretty great so far, about on par with season 1 I'd say. What I disliked about season 2 and even more so 3 was too much attention to teenage drama, and dumb humor in places where it didn't really fit. Season 4 seems to have fixed that (well, there's still some teen drama, but it's not quite as obnoxious) and is much better for it.

[jkas789]

Sangman, on 30 June 2022 - 03:26 PM, said:

Season 4 has been pretty great so far, about on par with season 1 I'd say. What I disliked about season 2 and even more so 3 was too much attention to teenage drama, and dumb humor in places where it didn't really fit. Season 4 seems to have fixed that (well, there's still some teen drama, but it's not quite as obnoxious) and is much better for it.

Gonna have to give it a shot.

[MusicallyInspired]

Do so. I was really impressed. Expectations were low.