Stranger Things

[JohnHammondsCane]

sad to say lol. but Max really should not be here
she's sticking out pretty bad.

but hopper, he's such a huge pillar of the group, I'm glad he didn't die in season 3.
not only is he strong physically with all his training, and protection but he's also strong for eleven mentally. I like their bond, he's tough, toughest member of the group.

I love Murray he brings a lot of humor, but he could have gone. ( but he's one of my favorites)

Agreed on Murray. Even his brief appearances in Season 5 are great! Such a great side character

 

[belloq87]

Murray is such a goofy character that it would actually feel too mean and tonally-inconsistent to kill him.

(I find him generally a little too broad, personally.)

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

• Cast is just too damn big. Killing off more major characters in season 4 would've raised the stakes, allowed for a tighter final season. Instead, we get 90 seconds then onto the next group.

I loved ST4 but ST5 has been such a meandering, cluttered disappointment. Reminds me of Supernatural after season 5.

A common response I see is "not everything should be GoT!" But I feel like there's quite a spectrum between that and every (non-new) character having plot armor.

 

[jseal777]

Wife is really wanting to watch this last season but the ship has sailed for me. Not looking forward to the massive time investment for something I truly do not care about anymore.

That's time I could put into finally beating Persona 5!

 

[SeventyOne]

but hopper, he's such a huge pillar of the group, I'm glad he didn't die in season 3.
not only is he strong physically with all his training, and protection but he's also strong for eleven mentally. I like their bond, he's tough, toughest member of the group.

But that's the hero's journey. The Obi-Wan mentor has to die. It raises the stakes, and signals to the young protagonist that "you're on your own now, kid, time to grow up." Hopper being such a likeable character would only reinforce that. Make the party realize they have to live up to that ideal now.

 

[Cwoolboy]

If Hopper was going to die, it should have been in the third or 4th season. It's too late now for the whole "death of a mentor, you're on your own kid" to have any real effect since this is literally the final season. I'm hoping for some deaths, but I fear those who say "Karen surviving the Demo attack signals all our leads are safe" might be correct.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

But that's the hero's journey. The Obi-Wan mentor has to die. It raises the stakes, and signals to the young protagonist that "you're on your own now, kid, time to grow up." Hopper being such a likeable character would only reinforce that. Make the party realize they have to live up to that ideal now.

I get where you're coming from - but I don't think the story has to necessarily follow what other stories have done.

I agree that stakes should have been raised in season 4, but I don't think it needed to be done in a way that countless other stories have done already.

 

[Lucky Planet]

But that's the hero's journey. The Obi-Wan mentor has to die. It raises the stakes, and signals to the young protagonist that "you're on your own now, kid, time to grow up." Hopper being such a likeable character would only reinforce that. Make the party realize they have to live up to that ideal now.

If Hopper was going to die, it should have been in the third or 4th season. It's too late now for the whole "death of a mentor, you're on your own kid" to have any real effect since this is literally the final season. I'm hoping for some deaths, but I fear those who say "Karen surviving the Demo attack signals all our leads are safe" might be correct.

Hopper dying would feel like when Rick Grimes died in walking dead..I understand why it happens but they would leave such a big hole. such a huge huge void .

I saw this, it was interesting

 

[Bort]

The Netflix CGI Slopification is my biggest gripe of this season. Three moments vividly stand out for just looking insanely bad:

1. The opening scene where they rehash what occurred with Will in the upside down.

2. Steve and Johnathan climbing the tower.

and the worst offender of them all….

3. The attempted “one-shot style” scene. What could have been such an iconic moment in this season, to me, loses its luster like 10 seconds in when it’s just chaotic slop going on in the background of the shot. Missed the mark for me.

Aside from that, I’m along for the ride, even if it feels like a never ending story…

 

[Clive]

The Netflix CGI Slopification is my biggest gripe of this season. Three moments vividly stand out for just looking insanely bad:

1. The opening scene where they rehash what occurred with Will in the upside down.

2. Steve and Johnathan climbing the tower.

and the worst offender of them all….

3. The attempted “one-shot style” scene. What could have been such an iconic moment in this season, to me, loses its luster like 10 seconds in when it’s just chaotic slop going on in the background of the shot. Missed the mark for me.

Aside from that, I’m along for the ride, even if it feels like a never ending story…

The visuals are shockingly bad.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I hate the Steve and Jonathan dynamic so far. On the other hand, I’m happy they brought Kali back since it didn’t make that particular episode a total waste of time.

Hopper should have been axed back in… Season 3? Haven’t watched the previous seasons for years. Given Max’s trauma arc in previous seasons, I think keeping her alive was a wise call.

 

[Lucky Planet]

The Netflix CGI Slopification is my biggest gripe of this season. Three moments vividly stand out for just looking insanely bad:

1. The opening scene where they rehash what occurred with Will in the upside down.

2. Steve and Johnathan climbing the tower.

and the worst offender of them all….

3. The attempted “one-shot style” scene. What could have been such an iconic moment in this season, to me, loses its luster like 10 seconds in when it’s just chaotic slop going on in the background of the shot. Missed the mark for me.

Aside from that, I’m along for the ride, even if it feels like a never ending story…

some of the dialogue and some of the effects felt like ai lol
( I remember Jurassic world felt like ai at some parts of it as well, some parts were so terrible)

 

[jseal777]

You know how boring you have to be for me to not be excited about having Winona Ryder on my TV?

 

[TheCodeMan95]

The new 3 episodes are quite a bit better than the first 4 imo, few spoiler thoughts:

Spoiler

Sadie and Caleb are still by far the best kid actors. The scene when Max finally wakes up was incredibly well done.

Will's "coming out" scene was really sweet and done very well.

Nancy and Jonathan's scene on the table was very good as well.

Still shocked that no one has died yet. Either the finale is going to be a bloodbath or.. just no one is going to die lol

 

[Brian G.]

Just seems like a lot of running in place so far. The finale has A LOT of heavy lifting to do but I fear it’s gonna be exposition overload, but enough fan service that will have fans overlook any shortcomings.

 

[Jerroddragon]

It sucks to hear they are still running their wheels, this has been my issue with the series since season 2.....they could cut 1/3 if not more of the series and it still works because they feel like they have to hit X amount of episodes of the lengths of the episodes must be X long

 

[Clive]

Really dreadful stuff. I can't believe they forced the Stranger Things writers to adopt "second screen" dialogue patterning. The visuals look awful.

 

[rageofthegods]

We cannot let Netflix buy WB dawg they're gonna make Denis Villeneuve rewrite Dune 3 this way next.

 

[Legacy]

Just… exhausting…

 

[DOOMBOT]

Everything with Dustin is an absolute highlight this season. Going from one of the sweetest dorkiest characters, into them effectively being "Punished Dustin" flows surprisingly seamlessly with how the character has been thru the whole show, especially with how his relationship with Eddie impacted him. I really love that his rocky relationship with Steve from Season 4 carries into this season and isn't just layered over or forgotten. They both clearly care a lot about each other, but are very stubborn and have grown to become very different people than the versions of themselves that met years ago. I'm very satisfied with where their arc together ends up by the end of this batch.

I'm also really satisfied with Lucas' arc so far. Saw someone point this out recently, but Lucas has always styled himself after Steve, since he was the one to save them in Season 2. This leads to him trying to be a cool kid and school athlete in S4, styling his hair and working out; only to find exactly what Steve found out in S1: that the jocks and cool kids are awful friends and awful people, reaffirming his loyalty with the dorks.

Spoiler: Spoiler talk for S5 Lucas arc

Unlike Steve though, he is never actually successful in saving the people he cares for. He very nearly loses Max multiple times. He wasn't able to save the kids from the Demogorgons in the tunnels in S5A, the way Steve did for him. Both Eddie and multiple of his jock friends die against Vecna. But despite every loss, he keeps consistent and he doesn't waver in his dedication to his loved ones. And in the end, the wrap-up of the incredible "Running up that Hill" sequence, the best scene in the show, is Max realizing that it wasn't really Kate Bush that made her resist death and fight to
live again and again, it was her loved ones. And specifically, Lucas' consistent love and attentiveness through everything. I think that's a great way to put a bow on both characters' narratives.

Lots of messiness this season. Lots of moments of genuinely poor writing and unfinished visual effects. But also just enough genuinely great moments and character-driven scenes to keep me going, and for me to be satisfied enough with Stranger Things as a finished show.