Stranger Things

[Rideguy70]

I feel like so many people are over-invested in this show. I watch it, enjoy it for what it is, and then more or less immediately move on with my life right after without much more thought about it

The one thing I will say is that, being an actual gay teen in the 80's with crushes on guys, I don't think anyone would've have moved on from their crush that quickly. And doubtful everyone would have been easily accepting back then, at least not right away. But poetic license, I suppose.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Your guys comments aren't making me want to watch it

Insane that My Hero Academia has a better finale season then Stanger things......you have so much money why was this so hard to finish?

well, you "Have" to watch it, you have come this far lolol.
but I suggest playing a game on your phone while watching it lol
or do a puzzle or something. (no, for real, I'm serious)

This season has been such a chore aside from the fourth episode. This new batch of three episodes has maybe 30 minutes worth of story stretched over three hours while being diluted by new additions to the ensemble that add nothing interesting. At this point, I don't even know if I want to see the finale in theaters (and I've seen many say the same).

and this took 4 years? 4 years ....... in the 90s we would have gotten 4 full seasons with 20 episodes of a show....

 

[pumpkinbot343]

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

Could you elaborate on the “second screen” dialogue thingy, I don’t get it.

I think that is more the result of poor media literacy than poor writing. The first is clearly stated a few times. The second is obvious but works better without being explicit.

Honestly I thought the first scene was just simply Nancy accepts the “non-proposal” but they’re still together at first, given Nancy says he loves him at that scene.

EDIT: on an unrelated topic, something I read somewhere that pointed out something awkward about Will’s coming out is that everybody just stopped what they were doing and were in the room. Having it just be the other three, his mom, Jonathan, and even Jane would have been enough. Plus some of the people in the scene as it is Will barely knows.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

It certainly has become arduous and a lot of my anticipation (I had a lot of it) has been sucked dry. However, there are a few ways that it can be slightly redeemed. In my opinion, there needs to be some kind of bloodbath. As morbid as that is, there’s no way some of these characters can live through to the end without sacrificing whatever credibility this show has left.

Specifically, they need to kill off a few longtime characters and NOT ones introduced this season.

 

[Tobias]

Could you elaborate on the “second screen” dialogue thingy, I don’t get it.

Second Screen writing/dialogue is assuming the audience isn't actually watching the show and their eyes are focused on their phones. (Hence, "Second Screen".) So the writing/dialogue is constantly explaining everything that happened so those not physically watching the show can be caught up.

Instead of "Show, don't Tell", it's Tell everything and repeat it over and over. Which ends up bloating this season to hell and back.

 

[belloq87]

Specifically, they need to kill off a few longtime characters and NOT ones introduced this season.

I think the time for killing off major characters was previous seasons. To do it now could easily feel gimmicky.

They missed their chance to really have an impactful, meaningful death with Hopper at the end of season three.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Shows have been criticized for decades about killing off characters, Stranger things doesn’t do it before the finale and all of a sudden it’s trash and has no stakes.
I still think someone is dying in the finale though…

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Shows have been criticized for decades about killing off characters, Stranger things doesn’t do it before the finale and all of a sudden it’s trash and has no stakes.
I still think someone is dying in the finale though…

I agree - I do think that there should have been at least a few deaths up to this point, but I think people would have complained regardless. Say Steve died in Season 4, fans would have been in an uproar lmao

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

I agree - I do think that there should have been at least a few deaths up to this point, but I think people would have complained regardless. Say Steve died in Season 4, fans would have been in an uproar lmao

I honestly sympathize with the duffers choice to wait this long to possibly kill characters.

Hell everyone knows what happened to TWD after Glen got the bat.

 

[Brian G.]

Maybe don't keep teasing about a "Dark Christmas" or about character deaths. Too much plot armor is going on as we head into the finale.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Maybe don't keep teasing about a "Dark Christmas" or about character deaths. Too much plot armor is going on as we head into the finale.

This is my biggest issue with it. I remember them teasing "5 deaths" before the end of S4 with those deaths being Eddie, Brenner and 3 guys in a helicopter.

 

[LPCaptainDeath]

I wrote an essay on why NONE of the characters in GoT matched their expected arc or ending... I would not write an essay on Stranger Things.
Anyone expressing disappointment should've checked their brains at the door and exchanged it with popcorn and candy. I'm not saying it's your fault for being invested, but i am saying that it's your fault for holding either of these things to the same standard.

1. STORY and ADAPTATION: Game of Thrones was actually interesting literature for 20 years before it became Good TV to eventual slop. Stranger Things has only ever been as interesting as the (netflix) zeitgeist warrants. There is a reason people still talk about how much GoT bit the dust and HBO is trying to redeem it with the House and Knight individual series. This same sentiment will not be shared with Stranger Things no matter how hard anyone tries to push it and no matter how disappointed people are going to be with whatever ending we get. GoT had the actual books to play their strongest scenes and characters off of. ST has always just been aped-Stephen King (Carrie v IT v Stand By Me(The Body) v Desperation v The Mist v The Institute v The Talisman v Black House and more). GoT WAS the media across all media. ST is the fanboy of the media pretending to be a middling TV show.
These are not the same.

2. EXPECTATIONS, HOPES, and DREAMS: Game of Thrones had FRANCHISE arcs where Stranger Things pretty obviously only has seasonal arcs that move to the whim of whatever the Duffers choose. These characters are only as fresh or as interesting from season to season where they go back to the drawing board and try to decide what to do with them in the next season. No matter how much the Duffers talk about having wide and worthy aspirations, it was not nearly as progressive as they make it sound and their spin off show idea for Kali should be example of that. GoT had a roadmap. GoT had literal prophecies to uphold and make example of and just about ruined more than half of them and didn't adapt the rest. Stranger Things has theories and fan-fiction. These expectations are different out-the-gate and shouldn't be held to the same standard. Game of Thrones made promises and botched them. Stranger Things has had hearsay and hype a party to publicity stunts. GoT could have and should have delivered but didn't. Their graph shows an upward trend that crashes drastically in the finale. Stranger Things has always been up and down, up and down, up and down, as ironic as it sounds and all the surprise-pikachu-face anyone has in regards to their expectations that it would suddenly refuse to change now, on the fifth season (when it's always been the exact way it still is), is kinda telling that some of y'all are taking this more seriously than it ever should have been.

3. AUDIENCE and MEDIUM: DUNE... Stranger Things is not. With DUNE to GoT, however, we have a compelling argument for (actual) literacy. GoT has a pretty clear YA to Adult audience mirrored only by its choice in medium by that of HBO. It had sex, death, and actual stakes. Stranger Things has death... sure but i wouldn't call it stakes if it's as predictable and stereotypical as it has been. We have one character introduced nearly every season that ends up out by the end. Barb and Benny in S1, Bob in S2, Billy(exception of being introduced in S2 for this purpose) and Alexei in S3, Brenner and Eddie in S4, and whoever "B" they want to kill in season 5 on top of Kali, as if it couldn't be choreographed any more obviously. Even if she DOES make it out of S5, it still doesn't matter because it means so little to the overall story. Billy and Eddie have left impressions to like two individual characters but it's hard to argue that either had a series or cast-wide impact. This cannot be measured to the strategy and wit of what it meant for the world to be arguing about a chair while the apocalypse was quietly happening in the background of GoT. When Ned died at the end of season one, its impact is felt all the way to season eight. This is what good writing is. "The medium is the message" to quote Marshall McLuhan and Netflix is not HBO, no matter how much it fails to try to be. Kids watch Stranger Things because it's fun for the whole family like Goonies by way of X-Men and Something Wicked This Way Comes. I would not let my imaginary kids watch GoT. These audiences are not the same. If y'all were expecting GoT or DUNE at the gate, y'all sold it before it even started. This isn't Breaking Bad, y'all. I didn't think anyone needed to say that.

FAM, please.

(edit: I loved Game of Thrones and abhorred the ending with a disdain i will never relinquish. I like Stranger Things and still do and probably will even after i watch the finale in theaters on Wednesday.)