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Stranger Things 4 *SPOILERS*

Started by Leigh S, 04 July, 2022, 06:27:17 PM

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Leigh S

So, now its over, what did people think of it? SPOILERS**

I thought it was pretty good - characters were fine, though Mike remaained as whiney and useless as previous series.  Loved Eddie and leaning into the Satanic Panic I thought was a good call.  ST is trying to do what Chibnall did with its gay charcters with its metal characters, though.  Dont have a problemw with Eddies demuse, but it could hvve been more meaningful - in what way is he the hero?  Or his death part of that heroism?  If he had kept running, he would have kept the bats occupied longer AND survived - I see the theme they were gonig for, but it lose something in the execution - shame after the Master of Puppets scene.

The ending I didnt grock at all.  OK, so 11 brings ax back from clinical death and reverses the gates opening - but Max is now comatose and her mmind is a blank when 11 tries to look... Then the gates silently open back up a coouple of days later... not so much a cliff hanger as a head scratcher.  Feel liek they';d have been better not having  a fake out "happy ending"  if that's where they were going to leave it?

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it still suffers with a lot of weak story telling that I've come to expect from modern TV.  How did Papa create a "chip" to block Ones powers? How does he know all about how Ones papers work now: "he takes all their memories" How would he know?

How did the Russians transport all those Demogorgons and such to Russia if they didnt have a way to subdue them?

I kind of wish they hadn't gone with the disaster ending - I know theres only one season left, but they were stretching credibility last season by writing everything off to a "Mall Fire" - was there also a hospital fire?

Batman's Superior Cousin

The Duffer Brothers say they will begin writing the final season of Stranger Things  in August.

https://twitter.com/discussingfilm/status/1543979499041202176?s=21&t=zD-td1c54A3CXzmjKpnoJQ

The Duffer Brothers say that Will is going to have a big part and focus in the final season of Stranger Things

https://twitter.com/discussingfilm/status/1544027808426594305?s=21&t=xJiJT972ggHMNT8R0OS4ig

The Duffer Brothers say the final season of Stranger Things  will be shorter than Season 4.

"We don't want it to be 13 hours. We're aiming for more like 10 hours or something."

https://twitter.com/discussingfilm/status/1544039215440207875?s=21&t=bCgeu3tScQkD26Yu1WfI0A
I can't help but feel that Godpleton's avatar/icon gets more appropriate everyday... - TordelBack
Texts from Last Night

moly

Really enjoyed season 4 part 1 but disappointed with the last two episodes

Barrington Boots

Found it a bit like eating a huge pizza in that I very much enjoyed it at the time, but afterwards felt a bit puzzled and sick from excess.

Overall hugely engaging, but in the cold light of day there are a lot of issues: all the stuff in Russia, whilst fun, was pointless and really credebility-stretching. Brenner's return also seemed pretty needless although I'm glad he didn't get away with his redemption speech as the bloke was evil.

I agree on Eddie's ending - his 'I didn't run away' seemed very forced given his job was to stall things by... running away. If he had to be killed off, this would have gone down much better if he had taken a bullet (bat) for Dustin or similar. Then what happens to his body, do they just leave it in the upsidedown?

The ending... yeah, that was not great. All the drama of the rifts opening / Max dying and then an extended happy ending thing (this really dragged, like the ending to Return of the King) and then suddenly it's all grim foreshadowing again. I think they should have stuck with one or the other - the rifts open and the series ends, or we get all the jolly wrap-up and that's it.
Then if I'm nitpicking, I think we saw too much of Vecna - I get they needed a villain with more agency but the more he was on-screen the less scary he got. There's a shot near the end where Eleven blasts him through the air and he's flying backwards with his big flappy feet facing the screen and a daft look on his face and he looked like he'd come out of GWAR, frankly.

I've seen some people saying it's the best series yet but I'd challenge that. For all the above, still the best thing I've seen on TV this year though (I don't watch much tv) and I will watch the next series...
You're a dark horse, Boots.

wedgeski

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 05 July, 2022, 11:28:50 AM
I've seen some people saying it's the best series yet but I'd challenge that. For all the above, still the best thing I've seen on TV this year though (I don't watch much tv) and I will watch the next series...
I enjoyed every second and binged Volume 2, but there was definite weirdness around the ending. I didn't want Max to die (great character), but neither did I want her to be in a 'she died just enough for Vecna to win, but is still out there somewhere' purgatory. Kill her off, or don't. It's a cake and eat it situation. Stop at the cake. And Vecna's Jason Vorhees-like disappearance after being shot out that window was a serious eye-roll. It was all kind of a mess.

Neither did the Henry/'001' retro-fit work for me, despite raising the stakes nicely for Eleven. He's a much less interesting villain than the Mind Flayer, which it now looks like he...tamed? Captured?

I'm also a bit confused by the world-building. My assumption is that[spoiler] Eleven created the upside-down as a snap shot of Hawkins when she killed Henry the first time[/spoiler], but what's its relationship with the world that she actually sent Henry to when she defeated him? Is the upside-down the bridge between the two? And which one of them is bleeding into Hawkins, now? Or am I wrong, and they're the same thing, or something I just missed entirely?

Sincerely, confused of UK.

sintec

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 05 July, 2022, 11:28:50 AM
Overall hugely engaging, but in the cold light of day there are a lot of issues: all the stuff in Russia, whilst fun, was pointless and really credebility-stretching.

Yeah definitely the weakest of the plot strands. It didn't really add much to the overall story and there were several moments that were completely implausible. I mean I'm not looking for realism from a series like this but it works better when they layer the incredible elements onto a believable real world setting (which I think the earlier seasons did much better).

Can't help but feel a good editor could have trimmed at least 30 mins out of those final 2 episodes without losing anything important. There was several scenes which were over long and just dragged and yeah the whole ending couldn't decide if it wanted to be happy ending or perlious cliff-hanger. Pick one and stick with it.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

#6
Quote from: sintec on 05 July, 2022, 12:15:51 PM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 05 July, 2022, 11:28:50 AM
Overall hugely engaging, but in the cold light of day there are a lot of issues: all the stuff in Russia, whilst fun, was pointless and really credebility-stretching.
Yeah definitely the weakest of the plot strands.

The problem with the Russian plot, was I never had any sense that Hopper was in real danger. He was always going to get back to 11, otherwise why not just leave him dead? The whole thing was kind of a pointless divergence.

This show had suffered from diminishing returns in seasons 2 and 3, but volume 1 of season 4 was a big improvement. There were echoes of Nightmare on Elm Street there, with the monster going after depressed kids instead of sleeping ones. They even went as far as getting Robert Englund in.

Volume 2, however was a bit of a mess with its pacing and editing. The teenagers were getting hentai'd for about an hour of the finale's run-time and the ending was a dragged out schizoid mess with too many false climaxes. Did Peter Jackson direct this?

Vecna/Henry Kreel/01's exposition did nothing but make him less scary. I would have preferred if 11 discovered his backstory in a wee vision quest or something. It would have given her something to do other than cry and have angry psychic tantrums.

The Master of Puppets bit was goofy but cool, or "metal" if you prefer. Hopper swording up the demogorgon was fun.
You may quote me on that.

Dandontdare

Quote from: wedgeski on 05 July, 2022, 12:13:30 PM
I'm also a bit confused by the world-building. My assumption is that[spoiler] Eleven created the upside-down as a snap shot of Hawkins when she killed Henry the first time[/spoiler], but what's its relationship with the world that she actually sent Henry to when she defeated him? Is the upside-down the bridge between the two? And which one of them is bleeding into Hawkins, now? Or am I wrong, and they're the same thing, or something I just missed entirely?

My take was that [spoiler]Eleven blasted him into some unformed chaotic dimension containing a big nasty entity, but it was Henry/Vecna who shaped it into an upside-down version of Hawkins[/spoiler]

Agree with the consensus that it was fun ride, but an ending that left me a bit deflated.You either need an unequivocal win which you invert in the next season; or a grim defeat which is to be tackled next season (like they did with Infinity War/Endgame). This thrilling victory, immediately followed by portentious doom was .. unsatisfying somehow.

Barrington Boots

I had originally thought Eleven was the one who created the upside-down, but it looks like it was Vecna who shaped it into a Hawkins replica, although I don't know why. Tbh I think the more explanation we get around what the upside-down is, the less cool and interesting it is.
You're a dark horse, Boots.