Stranger Things 3
Jul. 11th, 2019 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreI just finished watching Stranger Things 3 and I am FULL OF FEELINGS.
It was great, I should begin with that. I like that they followed more the format of S1 with breaking up the storylines so that everyone was in a different movie genre until they caught up with each other at the end.
I will put the rest under a cut so that I don't spoil anyone...
So, movie genre - this time, the bulk of the kids, now young teens, were in the teen movie - with relationship drama, mall montages, and very black and white capital M Monsters.
While Steve and Dustin and the Scoop Troop form their own movie - which is basically WarGames. Where it's a Communist conspiracy, but it's in something clandestine, something that a kid or a teen can discover, and all they have to be is a little bit smarter, a little bit more curious than the other kids and teens, and suddenly their caught up in a dangerous game!
Then you have the adults still in the government corruption/conspiracy genre, but this time with added 80s style Rambo/Die Hard genre... with the cop who goes solo, and breaks the law to uphold the law, and we're OKAY with it, because he is CLEARLY the good guy.
And that's when Stranger Things works best... like in S1, when we had The Goonies, Teen Slasher, and Government Conspiracy. S2... was too all over the place, I felt, and that's where it let me down. Like, do I even remember the plot? I guess S2 was about Steve leaving the Teen Slasher and joining the Goonies, where he fit better given his surprisingly too pure of a heart to continue being in Teen Slashers. And Nancy and Jonathan flirting with adulthood and joining Government Conspiracy a little too early in my opinion... and I don't even know what the rest of the kids were doing... they were more like props for other people's plots, I think. Only Elle had her own storyline about figuring out who she wanted to be in the world...so I guess that was a little "coming of age" who knows.
ANYWAY, this is about S3....
Obviously, I'm super sad about THE DEATH. I just... NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.................. I knew it was going to happen. It was telegraphed by Hopper finally getting a date with Joyce. I was worried it was going to be Joyce, but they played the hug with Will too much for laughs rather than "this is the last time". Still, I am CRUSHED. And now the Byers have moved out of Hawkins. :(
Billy's death I'm more okay with, because he infected the fandom with his presence and suddenly no one was writing me OT3 fics anymore, and they were all writing Billy/Steve fics, which, I GET IT okay, we all saw that shower scene - but I really don't like Enemies to Lovers, and I know everyone else thinks Billy is super hot, but I think he's GROSS, because he's a GROSS ABUSIVE RACIST. And I know that he's an abused child himself, and I do have compassion for him there - and I did cry when he had his final moments of his pain being seen by El and him being able to redeem himself just a little... but for the most part, I'm like "nice motive, still murder" and any pairing he's a member of is a NOTP for me. I'm super sad for Max though, I know they didn't have the best sibling relationship, because he was abusive towards her and a gross racist who tried to beat up her ADORABLE boyfriend ... but yeah, seeing your step-brother murdered in front of you is super sad. At the very least, he didn't become part of the gross goo monster.
It goes without saying that I LOVE the flip of expectations with the Steve/Robin storyline, which turned out to be confirmed Steve+Robin - and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Steve (again, too pure for this world) Harrington didn't react defensively or angrily when his crush shot him down after he confessed his feelings, instead he was just like "OH!... Oh.... Friends Forever then?"
I was kind of hoping that poor Will would find himself a boyfriend, but there weren't even any contenders. Maybe wherever he moves next... but I'm also afraid of him not having his friend group there for support. Again, Mike messed up once during that rain storm, but I just love that Mike is as cool as Steve when it comes to being let in on secrets (and in the 80s, you're damn right that they are secrets until they absolutely can't be anymore). At least Will still has Jonathan... during that fight in the hospital, I was genuinely freaked out that Jonathan would be paralyzed of killed with the amount he was being beat on.
I am still sad about THE DEATH. Ugh, I can't even talk about it. And I'm sad that the Byers have moved away. Are they coming back for Season 4? Do we know yet? They set it up like maybe we were going to. I really hope they do. I'm SUPER CONCERNED, because I've read some internet stuff lately about how Netflix determined that the optimal length of shows is only two seasons and they don't want to pay showrunners more money for later seasons, and... yeah... but Stranger Things is REALLY their flagship, you know? It's what got me to pay for Netflix, honestly. Without it, I would have probably have just gone back to piracy.
Speaking of the main death though - can I just say that I was totally shipping Alexei and that journalist dude - they seemed like they could be such great friends, and that was also taken from me. :(
I should really just stop watching shows where I KNOW they're going to kill multiple people every year. Except the first season, where TECHNICALLY they killed El, but then gave us hope that she was still alive in the end. I don't think anyone else died... unless I'm forgetting someone(?!)....oh, BARB! Geez... but still, that was an expected death that happened early on, sort of like Billy's death - I mean, they even mirrored the being yanked-down-the-stairs shot. Once you're yanked down the stairs in Stranger Things, you're toast. I definitely didn't expect Billy to live past the season. But it's differnet when it's a character that has survived S1... I think all the characters that survive S1 should CONTINUE TO SURVIVE. Is that too much to ask? Yes, yes it is.
Okay, I'll stop blathering now, this is so incoherent. Let me know what you thought in comments! If you have watched.... if you haven't watched, why did you read this?! :P
It was great, I should begin with that. I like that they followed more the format of S1 with breaking up the storylines so that everyone was in a different movie genre until they caught up with each other at the end.
I will put the rest under a cut so that I don't spoil anyone...
So, movie genre - this time, the bulk of the kids, now young teens, were in the teen movie - with relationship drama, mall montages, and very black and white capital M Monsters.
While Steve and Dustin and the Scoop Troop form their own movie - which is basically WarGames. Where it's a Communist conspiracy, but it's in something clandestine, something that a kid or a teen can discover, and all they have to be is a little bit smarter, a little bit more curious than the other kids and teens, and suddenly their caught up in a dangerous game!
Then you have the adults still in the government corruption/conspiracy genre, but this time with added 80s style Rambo/Die Hard genre... with the cop who goes solo, and breaks the law to uphold the law, and we're OKAY with it, because he is CLEARLY the good guy.
And that's when Stranger Things works best... like in S1, when we had The Goonies, Teen Slasher, and Government Conspiracy. S2... was too all over the place, I felt, and that's where it let me down. Like, do I even remember the plot? I guess S2 was about Steve leaving the Teen Slasher and joining the Goonies, where he fit better given his surprisingly too pure of a heart to continue being in Teen Slashers. And Nancy and Jonathan flirting with adulthood and joining Government Conspiracy a little too early in my opinion... and I don't even know what the rest of the kids were doing... they were more like props for other people's plots, I think. Only Elle had her own storyline about figuring out who she wanted to be in the world...so I guess that was a little "coming of age" who knows.
ANYWAY, this is about S3....
Obviously, I'm super sad about THE DEATH. I just... NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.................. I knew it was going to happen. It was telegraphed by Hopper finally getting a date with Joyce. I was worried it was going to be Joyce, but they played the hug with Will too much for laughs rather than "this is the last time". Still, I am CRUSHED. And now the Byers have moved out of Hawkins. :(
Billy's death I'm more okay with, because he infected the fandom with his presence and suddenly no one was writing me OT3 fics anymore, and they were all writing Billy/Steve fics, which, I GET IT okay, we all saw that shower scene - but I really don't like Enemies to Lovers, and I know everyone else thinks Billy is super hot, but I think he's GROSS, because he's a GROSS ABUSIVE RACIST. And I know that he's an abused child himself, and I do have compassion for him there - and I did cry when he had his final moments of his pain being seen by El and him being able to redeem himself just a little... but for the most part, I'm like "nice motive, still murder" and any pairing he's a member of is a NOTP for me. I'm super sad for Max though, I know they didn't have the best sibling relationship, because he was abusive towards her and a gross racist who tried to beat up her ADORABLE boyfriend ... but yeah, seeing your step-brother murdered in front of you is super sad. At the very least, he didn't become part of the gross goo monster.
It goes without saying that I LOVE the flip of expectations with the Steve/Robin storyline, which turned out to be confirmed Steve+Robin - and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Steve (again, too pure for this world) Harrington didn't react defensively or angrily when his crush shot him down after he confessed his feelings, instead he was just like "OH!... Oh.... Friends Forever then?"
I was kind of hoping that poor Will would find himself a boyfriend, but there weren't even any contenders. Maybe wherever he moves next... but I'm also afraid of him not having his friend group there for support. Again, Mike messed up once during that rain storm, but I just love that Mike is as cool as Steve when it comes to being let in on secrets (and in the 80s, you're damn right that they are secrets until they absolutely can't be anymore). At least Will still has Jonathan... during that fight in the hospital, I was genuinely freaked out that Jonathan would be paralyzed of killed with the amount he was being beat on.
I am still sad about THE DEATH. Ugh, I can't even talk about it. And I'm sad that the Byers have moved away. Are they coming back for Season 4? Do we know yet? They set it up like maybe we were going to. I really hope they do. I'm SUPER CONCERNED, because I've read some internet stuff lately about how Netflix determined that the optimal length of shows is only two seasons and they don't want to pay showrunners more money for later seasons, and... yeah... but Stranger Things is REALLY their flagship, you know? It's what got me to pay for Netflix, honestly. Without it, I would have probably have just gone back to piracy.
Speaking of the main death though - can I just say that I was totally shipping Alexei and that journalist dude - they seemed like they could be such great friends, and that was also taken from me. :(
I should really just stop watching shows where I KNOW they're going to kill multiple people every year. Except the first season, where TECHNICALLY they killed El, but then gave us hope that she was still alive in the end. I don't think anyone else died... unless I'm forgetting someone(?!)....oh, BARB! Geez... but still, that was an expected death that happened early on, sort of like Billy's death - I mean, they even mirrored the being yanked-down-the-stairs shot. Once you're yanked down the stairs in Stranger Things, you're toast. I definitely didn't expect Billy to live past the season. But it's differnet when it's a character that has survived S1... I think all the characters that survive S1 should CONTINUE TO SURVIVE. Is that too much to ask? Yes, yes it is.
Okay, I'll stop blathering now, this is so incoherent. Let me know what you thought in comments! If you have watched.... if you haven't watched, why did you read this?! :P
