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  1. #1
    Mighty Member C_Miller's Avatar
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    Default Stranger Things Season 3 *Spoilers*

    Anyone watching today?

    I just finished the Season and I absolutely loved it. I'm going to get into full spoilers, so tread lightly if you want to go in fresh.

    Some of the things that I really liked off the top of my head:

    - This season looks amazing. I'm trying to find some budget information, because it looked like there was significantly greater use of CGI and more artfully rendered sequences. There is a sequence in Episode 6 where Eleven goes into Billy's memories and it may have been the best thing I've seen in a TV show, maybe ever. The perfect blend of being important to the overall plot, emotion and production value.

    - The season made very good use out of aging characters. They didn't beat a dead horse with it, but I loved how they dealt with the growing pains that all the characters were going through. It was most apparent with the youngest group with relationships, characters feeling left behind and not growing up at the same place. I wish it had let some of it marinate a little bit more, especially with Will, but I'm sure there will be more on that later.

    - I felt like with this season, the show finally asserted its own personality. Of course there were references and easter eggs, but Season 1 was entirely E.T. with a girl and Season 2 got more original and with this, it felt like the characters and the storyline were truly allowed to stand on their own two feet as their own thing. That was super vague, but I think it more or less conveys how I felt.

    - The new characters fit seamlessly into the cast. Robin was pretty great as a foil to Steve who felt vital to the series. She's one of those characters who is necessary to the plot that would feel unbelievable if they gave her skills to another character (which would have been super easy). Erica also stole most of the scenes she was in and I look forward to her joining the party for real.


    The only thing I was that I didn't like was how short it was. I definitely get that they wanted to do the 8 hour movie, but 1 or 2 more episodes really could have allowed some of the plot points some room to breathe. I mentioned the growing pains and they were done well, but I think it would have served the plot better if the team spent a bit more time being upset with each other. Will was disappointed that his friends didn't want to play D&D, but there was no time to deal with it because the Mind Flayer came back by the end of the episode. Kind of along with that, I would have liked a bit more of the kids being kids. Maybe a little more time spent in the mall before it turned into Red Dawn.

    I also felt the Mayor storyline was a little under baked. They needed to give a reason for the Russian infiltration of Hawkins to make sense, but by making him played by a semi-famous 80s actor, it felt like he was supposed to be more important than he actually was. I think he was supposed to be the Owens or the Brenner of this season, but he was seriously underutilized and he won't be back next season from the looks of it.


    So yeah, what did you all think?

  2. #2
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    I liked this season a bit more than the second season. It might not have done much to reinvent its monster (as one review that I saw complained), but it was less about the threat and more about the characters. And I think that buidling on the characters and showing the conflicts that they are dealing with was more important than building up the antagonist. And it used a lot of humour and rarely felt too angsty--maybe to the point of seeming too light-hearted at times, but I never minded that.

    At this point with these actors, they had to address the elephant in the room that they are growing up and some of them have moved on while others haven't yet. It's the kind of story that we can all relate to and it gave the season something important to say about life.

    I quite enjoyed Steve and Robin and the fact that for eight episodes we see them going through all this hell in sailor suits. They might have been my favourite characters for this season--I was always wanting to see more of them.

    One question I had at the very end of the series was why the video store guy would insist on referring to the first STAR WARS as "A New Hope." No one I knew, back in the 1980s, would've called it that. From some investigation, I see that George Lucas was already insisting on that title in 1981. But to me that's a very weak name for one of the most important movies of all time and I still can't bring myself to call it that. So the video store guy pushing that seems kind of odd--but maybe we're supposed to deduce something about this character from this detail.

    I never realized that the mayor was being played by a famous actor until the credits roled for episode 8--so I never recognized the actor in the entire time I was binge watching and that never became a problem for me. The only question I had was how his eyes got better--since his eyes were still looking sore in the morning of July 4th but seemed to have completely healed by later in the day--but I can believe that he was wearing make-up to hide his bruises from the public.

    I know that they already are set to do a fourth season, but by the end of this one, I was wondering where it could possibly go. With everything that happened--barring the return of one actor--I feel like the series has already lost a lot of what held it together. By season 4, the only character who will still be a kid will be Erica. Maybe the fourth season will be some sort of reunion at Thanksgiving or Christmas, when everyone comes back together after a long time apart. But it feels like STRANGER THINGS has to come to an end--life is forcing everyone to move on and move away.

  3. #3
    New and Improved hulahulk's Avatar
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    3 episodes in. Lotsa songs. Weird Al!!!!!

    I didn't think Season 2 was that good. This season seems to have more solid footing so far.
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  4. #4
    Spam Hunter Conn Seanery's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    One question I had at the very end of the series was why the video store guy would insist on referring to the first STAR WARS as "A New Hope." No one I knew, back in the 1980s, would've called it that. From some investigation, I see that George Lucas was already insisting on that title in 1981. But to me that's a very weak name for one of the most important movies of all time and I still can't bring myself to call it that. So the video store guy pushing that seems kind of odd--but maybe we're supposed to deduce something about this character from this detail.
    Wasn't that in response to Steve saying that Star Wars was one of his favorite movies? I think the clerk was trying to narrow down which Star Wars film was Steve's favorite (to which he replied "the one with the teddy bears" or something, implying it was RotJ). So regardless of "A New Hope" perhaps not being as widely known as you're suggesting I think it works here, especially since it was a video store clerk who clearly considered himself a film connoisseur.
    Last edited by Conn Seanery; 07-06-2019 at 08:48 AM.
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  5. #5
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    If such a situation came up back in the day, I don't think anybody would say "A New Hope?" if they were trying to clarify the situation. They would just say the "The first one?" Saying "A New Hope" would just confuse things, because it wasn't something most people would know unless they were trying to score points . If you saw the movie in 1977, you would know it as STAR WARS, because that's what it was at the time. I guess the video store clerk was trying to score some nerd points--but it would be a very special class of nerd-dom. Among cinephiles, we usually like to call the movies by the original names they had (even if that's in a foreign language)--extra points for using the working title. This guy might have been a Lucas-phile. Or maybe the store had the new tapes in stock and they were supposed to always call it that--even if it confused customers. That's certainly on brand for video stores and record stores to humiliate their customers.
    Last edited by Jim Kelly; 07-06-2019 at 01:13 PM.

  6. #6
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    From a character standpoint I liked it. You got to see favorite characters again and they worked their separate angles to finally get back to each other at the end. I think most of the side stories and reasonings for separations worked for the most part.

    Much more screen time for little Erika was genius. She is hilarious and a scene stealer. I mean her screen time deservedly what doubled or tripled from earlier seasons? Well worth it.

    The storylines didn't have time to wander or get boring and there wasn't much filler. I thought they ended up using the 8 episodes really well and they flowed into each other and the various storylines meshed well until they came together in the end.

    Now for the bad...ok after 3 seasons of this town and otherworldly rifts opening and like 30 people dying to that thing this time not including the dead Russians. It strains belief that that entire town wouldn't be abandoned and a huge Military presence take over to safeguard the gate and ensure secret Russians don't come in again.

    Hopper is alive in Russia clearly. A next season they would have to take the show on the road and rescue him I would think. But they are running into an issue here of repeating big bads. At some point they have to up the stakes. What does it take to shut this **** down forever? Can you? Is there a larger purpose on the other side? or are they just murderous monsters no real point but to slaughter everyone every time the rifts open? At a certain point they need to expand the premise or they will quickly be in a rut of storytelling.

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    I wondered if some of the structure of the show isn't to accommodate the availability of different actors. You have this set of actors over here and these actors over there and they don't interact for large portions of the series. The Byers family hardly shared much screen time together.

    So I was wondering if they wrote David Harbour out of the show, just in case he's not available for the next season. He could show up, but not for that many scenes--and maybe only toward the end of season 4. Perhaps they were preparing for his HELLBOY to be a much bigger success than it was. And even if he isn't busy doing more of those movies, he has other irons in the fire that could limit how much time he has for STRANGER THINGS.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I wondered if some of the structure of the show isn't to accommodate the availability of different actors. You have this set of actors over here and these actors over there and they don't interact for large portions of the series. The Byers family hardly shared much screen time together.

    So I was wondering if they wrote David Harbour out of the show, just in case he's not available for the next season. He could show up, but not for that many scenes--and maybe only toward the end of season 4. Perhaps they were preparing for his HELLBOY to be a much bigger success than it was. And even if he isn't busy doing more of those movies, he has other irons in the fire that could limit how much time he has for STRANGER THINGS.
    Which is silly since he is bigger in stranger things than any of them.

  9. #9
    Jesus Christ, redeemer! The Whovian's Avatar
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    I love this show. I like everything about it. The kids are awesome and the 80's references are cool. Sad to see Hopper go. I hope he's alive and got sucked into the other side and ejected back into our world in Russia, but I'm not holding my breath. I do remember the one guard say "leave the Americans in their cell" or something like that. So maybe he still is alive. But if it's not him, than who would the Americans be?
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  10. #10
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    I'm on Ep 5, but the teams of Steve & Dustin and Max & 11 are wonderful.
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    I'm sure that a lot of '80s things in this show had immediate recognition. But the thing that grabbed my attention was the English-Russian dictionary--I have the exact same book sitting on my bookshelf and I got it all the way back in the 1980s.

  12. #12
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    Just finished it, that last episode was freaking great.

    One question though: Do you guys think Hopper is still alive ? At the end we saw the russians opening some kind of cells and they said "no, leave the american" or something like that, and the Russian thug always referred to Hopper as "the American".

  13. #13
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    The Duffer's have said the plan was for 4 seasons and maybe a movie. They said they could stretch the show to a 5th they said but would prefer 4. They have an end in mind.

    This was back when season 2 was announced.

    So it appears we are in the penultimate act or the setup for the finale.
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  14. #14
    Mighty Member C_Miller's Avatar
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    If they can come up with a plan for 5 seasons, I'm cool with that. Director Sean Levy alluded to potentially a fifth season, so I think it may be on the table. To be fair too, The Duffers seem to be relatively open to change when it comes natural progressions once they get writing or even filming. Eleven was only supposed to be around for 1 season. She was supposed to die with the Demogorgon at the end of Season 1, but due to Millie Bobby Brown's performance, they found a way to bring her back. Same with Erica this season. They thought she killed it in Season 2, so they gave her a storyline in this season.

    I don't want the show to go on forever and run out of steam, but if they can come up with stuff, I'm happy to see it go further.

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    If they do a movie with a big budget, then they can de-age the characters to look like they did in the first season, for a Back to the Future type story.

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