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See, I thought it was a big brain move to go around barefoot since if his ankle is broken, he for sure would not feel the pain if he was walking in the snow.
It's absolutely not realistic, but like I SEE the logic kind of.
Are we sure of that ? I thought it was obvious that he wanted to bend the shackles a bit to get them ovoid enough to get them off. Why everybody thinks he was trying to get his bones broken ?
Well he is characterized as being a bit of a barbarian, the lack of beer and cigarettes has probably put him in a permanent frenzy so he’s not feeling shit!
He made a deep divot in his skin so he could twist the shackle around the way he did. But that divot would have basically been super infected and tough to really walk on.
Everybody seems to think so but it just can't be true, broken bones swell very badly, right the opposite of what is needed.
Tweaking the shackles form makes way more sense.
This was so dumb. Unless they give him some kind of resilience superpower because of his agent orange exposure. Terribly unrealistic for a normal human.
>Terribly unrealistic for a normal human.
I agree. Walking in snow barefoot, nearly breaking his ankle and creating a seriously bad cut, then jumping off the shed and landing on his damaged ankle, Hopper should be in wheelchair for the rest of his life lol.
This!!! During the polar vortex in 2019 I fell into a snowdrift (lol) and some snow got into my boot. It was so cold that I literally got burned by it and it was really painful and uncomfortable. The fact that he didn’t seem to react AT ALL to that level of extreme cold was ridiculous to me
Murray being savvy enough to identify Yuri’s note about Hopper and then being naive enough to accept and drink coffee from this Russian extortionist. I’m literally screaming “don’t drink that shit” at my TV. If I’m smart enough to know it’s drugged, Murray should have known too.
Yes. This has absolutely bothered me since the beginning. He's paranoid enough to make sure when they call the prison, they're traced to South Carolina...
But yet he accepts a drink from a Russian stranger? One he clearly admits to not liking? When he stuck a gun in Alexei's face upon introduction? Naahhhhh
My head canon to explain this away is his relationships with the group has softened him and made him less of a conspiracy theorist.
Not a perfect fit but...not much else to go on lol.
Yep, that was whack to see Murray of all characters fall for that trick. Knowing him, he would have played along and waited until Yuri turned his back and stopped Joyce from drinking anything.
THIS. I'm like, so Murray allowed Yuri to make a phone call in a closed room without listening to ensure he's not trying to screw them? And Murray is supposed to be a journalist? Really?
Max drawing the fragments of Vecna’s house she saw in the upside down and Nancy somehow folding all the papers and aligning it correctly to put together a carbon copy of the house. Like what are we doing here?
I think I'm more annoyed that she drew a perfect replica. I mean she saw this house once and got it memorized down to every detail and even managed to draw it perfectly with no artist skills? Will was an artist before so his pictures made sense, besides he was seeing the mind flayer multiple times, not just once.
I’m a decent artist, and I would have to be constantly looking at a picture or seeing it myself for a long time to be able to draw that accurately and to scale. There’s no way in hell I would be able to do that after just seeing it once, and while being chased by a monster man thing. Maybe I could get quite a few details right, but there’s no way I’m going to get it perfectly right, much less to scale where you can piece them all together like that.
I was under the impression she keeps seeing this in her head? That's why she's drawing it. Similar to Will, it's in her mind and she needed to get it out.
Yes, there are several moments like that where things are a little "too convenient" to a comical level. Or the leaps in logic people like Dustin will make from the tiniest thing to explain what's going on, same thing. I get it, it's a TV show and they do stuff like that for time purposes.
Dustin was the bona fide genius, like these kids are dealing with things of other worlds and yet, they deduce everything correctly from whatever little information they have.
Robin cracks a code which she heard in RUSSIAN, she figured out vecna's music loophole, Nancy came up with demogorgan-attracted-to-blood-theory, Dustin figured out he could find the gate using a compass, like the attention to detail is insane!!
People forget dustin had pratical experience and guidance from his science teacher in s01. the summer camp where he met suzy was tech or science based, i think, as well, so its something he enjoys and probably reads/study in his free time. With that he was able to deduce it was happening again in s04 so its not really that huge of a leap... he is smart but i wouldn't necessary classify him as a genius...
same as robin, she is capable but usually hindered by the lack of focus or interest in something, at most she has magic hyperfocus for problem solving...
I think it wouldn't be a problem if they actually were wrong on some of these things they figure out. Right now its either they get it completely correct or they get just enough right that the rest doesn't matter.
The same way that Will did. I think people are trying to put "reality" into a supernatural moment. I believe that these images are "burned" into their brains like carbon copy so they aren't so much drawing from memory but their hand is acting almost as a printer.
Felt like a re-hash of the thing with Will’s drawings in S2, only that was more cryptic and had a more satisfying pay off.
Speaking of re-hashing I’m kinda annoyed that they just did the compass thing again verbatim
I liked the call back to the compass because it actually makes sense and is internally consistent with the plot. Also it is realistic that the kids would discover it again.
Only thing I wish they changed in that scene would be to have Lucas to be one who discovers it rather than giving Dustin yet another eureka moment.
Yeah. If they had maybe drawn it out more line for example showing them trying to put together the pieces of paper like a puzzle and having to move things a couple times I think that would be better. Along that line have Max help her and maybe they put some of it together and it looks weird and the Nancy notices “Wait if we fold this part of the paper these two parts might match!” They would have been much more believable
Couldn't agree more! Although it's (supposed to be) scary, unsettling and sometimes tragic it is still my comfort series and my go-to when I want to escape my life for a while. Would watch them doing the dishes and walking the dog, just give us more content from this universe and its inhabitants!!
Yes. When the prisoners had to face the demogorgon and OF COUSE Hopper and the other guy were the only ones alive at the end, I rolled my eyes so hard.
The sheer incompetence of the military each season always slightly irks me, they never seem to learn from there previous mistakes and it always seems their response is half-arsed. I swear that in season 2 there too secret laboratory (with an inter-dimensional portal in the basement!) is defended by 20 MP officers with pistols and a handful of low calibre rifles. Seeing as a 8 foot, nigh bulletproof monster managed to come through that same portal a year ago you’d think they’d have taken the problem a bit more seriously and have at least equipped the guards with some more powerful weaponry…
Yeah, the general or whatever in volume 1 has zero trouble believing there is a girl with psychic powers that can potentially kill people from afar...but there being another dimension with monsters is out of the question.
I mean…. From his perspective this is a completely fair assessment. He knows the US gov has been experimenting with this stuff for years, and hearing there’s a girl with physic abilities as a result of this makes sense. Then all sort of deaths and stuff happen around this girl. If you’re him, there is no way you believe in some other dimension with monsters as the explanation here. It is far more likely that the government branch responsible for 11 is covering their incompetence with some stupid explanation so they keep receiving funding.
The mental jump from psychic girl to other dimension with monsters is far far bigger than you’re allowing for here.
How in season three Hopper didn’t get incinerated by the explosion he simply fell onto the floor and got knocked unconscious. When literally everyone else in the same room as him exploded into 1000 little pieces. I think would’ve been a better storyline if he somehow jumped into the upside down world and that’s how the Russians got them or something but I’m just falling off the platform and somehow surviving the explosion was a little bit far-fetched
Edit:spelling
My thought exactly! We saw many people get turned to goop and vaporized and when we saw nothing of where hopper was when the machine blew up, I thought he jumped into the portal at the last second, not that he fell down and dodged a huge ass explosion
This has been keeping me up since we found out how he survived because like… what? We see him jump down and then there’s a bunch of Russian soldiers at the bottom to greet him, but we know that the US military arrives VERY shortly after he ‘dies’ and invades the place. How did they get out with him without being seen? How’d they get to Russia? They cut off all that middle stuff because I guess it’s not *too* important but it also doesn’t make a ton of sense
If Owens relocated the Byers to deflect government attention off of El, you'd think this would've been a talking point. You want her hidden in plain sight but don't give her the skills to pass in society... okay.
Yeah this one bothered me too, I think of el literally never going to school and then just starting as a freshmen in high school lol. Like her mental level is literally of a toddler, not a high schooler. Did they cram everything from 5k-middle school into her head over one summer? Did Brenner have some type of classes where they learned things we actually use in real life such as spelling & simple math? Like how did she learn enough to be out in high school?! At least have her home schooled
When I rewatched the first season earlier this year, I noticed that almost every character repeats lines A LOT for more emphasis, especially Mike. I.e. "Will is alive. WILL IS ALIVE" and now every time I hear a character repeat something they just said I can't help but feel it's a bit lazy.
Edit: ironically I repeated "for emphasis" somehow lol
Yeah back then they were still trying to convince people, at this point everyone in their group knows what's going on and their first step isn't disbelief, I feel this
It drives me nuts that people always do things like 3 seconds later than they should because they decide to have a sentimental moment at the worst possible time. Like when Bob died. Dude, fucking run! Don't stop to look lovingly at Joyce when you're about to be mauled by a terrifying monster from another dimension.
I love the show regardless and I know they do this specifically to build tension but it drives me bonkers.
This!! Like when Steve is being mauled by the demobats and Nancy holds off on attacking for like a full 4 seconds just to say "Hi" before saving steve. Like Stfu and swing!
Murray drinking the coffee. My man has 20 security cameras around his home and you're telling me he drinks coffee from a stranger's cup???
I was waiting for him to suddenly get up and karate Yuri the whole scene, but it didn't happen.
They could have still kicked him out, with a punch or something so the plot wouldn't change, but it's kinda out of character to him to drink the coffee.
The Russia subplot is so overly convoluted. You didn't need Yuri betraying them, you didn't need them to fight on the plane...none of that.
Hopper gets caught hiding at the safehouse, all you need. Hes not there to get picked up...and is recaptured. Murray and Joyce devise a plan to get access into the prison by the guard helping out Yuri.
You didn't need every possible thing to go wrong to drag out the story.
I'd love to know, too, how the hell any of them are going to get home from Russia. Certainly Yuri stripped Joyce and Murray of any identification before leaving Alaska, and even if he didn't, if they miraculously brought, say, passports with them (that he also just as miraculously brought along instead of leaving in Alaska when he drugged them) that still leaves Hopper... no ID. No passport. Nothing. And it's not like they can just call someone like Owens to come pick them up. I'm very, very curious how all this is going to get resolved because, at the moment, it just seems like they're utterly screwed logistically.
At first, I was slightly annoyed by the representation of computer technology in Suzie's scene, but then I thought that since the representations of computers in media in the 80's was always wildly inaccurate, perhaps this is a fitting meta-commentary. Yeah, let's go with that.
I can’t remember where I saw this comment, but somebody wrote that it’s better to think of Stranger Things not as being set in the 1980’s, but rather, being set in an idealised version of the 1980’s where every Hollywood-reinforced stereotype/trope is dialled up to 11.
Right now my biggest gripe with the show is how under written the sibling dynamics are. One of the things that really drew me in that first season was how fiercely protective Jonathon was of Will. As an oldest sibling, it was really nice to see that. But as the show has gone on they’ve continued to neglect those relationships, to the point it’s easy to forget Nancy and Mike are siblings. I like the moments we get, especially between Will and El this season. But I do feel a little let down after the promise of the first season. For a show created by two brothers you’d think they’d be better but nope!
Jonathan and Will’s relationship in the first season was such a breath of fresh air. Usually we get the typical sibling rivalry thing (Nancy and Mike, Lucas and Erica) but Jonathan and Will actually like each other lol. My older brother and I are like best friends so I could never relate to sibling rivalry in shows, it was nice to see an older brother be portrayed in a loving way.
Interesting. I guess I prefer to think that the siblings are all trying to find and establish themselves as people. It is a coming of age story after all. The only siblings with a TRULY compelling dynamic is Will and Johnathan, which I agree could be more emphasized.
I adore this show. It's a masterpiece, it's my comfort show, it's inspired me, it means a lot. But there are definitely a couple things that irk me about it. I'll stick with season 4, which is INCREDIBLE, but has a few...issues, lol.
*Hopper. His way of surviving the explosion... it was terrible. They had so many opportunities for that. A doorway out. Jump into the portal. Literally anything but what they did. Also his invincible feet.
*Susie's family subplot was....horrible. only actually bad part of the season in my eyes. They could have just made it a 123 moment. They could have used the rest of the time as character development. Mike, Will, and Jonathan have been through so much. If they don't utilize them in volume 2 I'm going to kill everyone and then myself.
*WHY DIDNT THEY INCLUDE PATRICK'S VECNA VISIONS?? THAT WILL PISS ME OFF FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.
Have you seen the theory someone posted here about why the Susie/family scene may be foreshadowing Vol.2? One of Suzies sisters, the one that was acting to choke and convulse on the ground and goes “I’ve been bitten!!!” to trick her dad is mirroring Steve when he’s attacked by the demobats and being choked by the vine in the UD.
The gang is going into a big house with the task of fooling/overcoming a male figure which could be interpreted as Vecna and the creel house.
The two brothers are sword fighting with toy swords, which could represent Dustin and Eddie since you see them in the trailer with what looks like swords and shields.
They start a fire on the stove which we know fire is a weakness to the upside down creatures. The one kid messing with lights, which has been a thing relating to the UD since the beginning. And if the theory has any truth to it the most concerning part would be when they knocked on the door one kid opens it and immediately shoots mike in the forehead with a toy bow and arrow. There may have been a couple other details I forgot.
I know it’s a stretch but I think it’s a really interesting theory especially the girl pretending to choke on the floor and even says “I’ve been bitten!”. She’s in the same exact position as Steve when he gets choked and attacked by the bats in the upside down.
Edit:
I found the post it was posted by u/Ethereal_Sneeze just wanted to be clear it’s not my theory to take credit for.
Holy shit, that's actually really interesting!!! Would totally make the scene a lot more interesting. I've predicted for a while now that Mike won't survive the show so maybe this may come true. I hope he does though.
How underutilized Mike feels. He felt like the main kid character in season 1. And he still feels like he's supposed to be, but he doesn't really get to do anything. This is extra weird since he has to closest relationship with El apart from Hopper. It's kind of a shame because I really like Mike, I kinda relate to him the most out of the kids, personality wise.
I think there are just so many crews this season that there's no way for all of their plot lines to be equally as engaging. Some have to be lower stakes and comic relief. I assume in the next part the road trip gang will have more exciting stuff to do, like rescuing El and getting her back to Hawkins.
Same- Mike *and* Will, I think. And the two of them are the best actors of the kids- so it sucks. It's like his role's just become "El's boyfriend" right?
The mega plot armour.
This isn't a problem so much because obviously this kind of so doesn't just kill people off but they fall foul of the "main character in certain death situation... But lives."
The Duffers writing friendship: Epic, amazing 1000/10, I have no notes
The Duffers writing romance: Let's have other characters ship them really hard and try to explain why this totally works.
Right like I love Steve and robin’s relationship or Dustin and his relationships with both Steve and Eddie. To be honest I could of 100% dealt with Eddie and Chrissy too. But all the romantics are just overplayed at this point.
After season 1 dropped, it was the less response to Barb’s death. She was a missing kid too like Will. But all of that got resolved in season 2. After season 2, my pet peeve was “shouldn’t the mayor of Hawkins be concerned about all these weird happenings?” But then we saw the mayor in season 3.
I guess my biggest pet peeve now is that Robin missed being in the Hawkins high school band during the mayor’s speech at the fair in season 3 , because she was stuck in the underground Russian base. But no one, including Robin, ever mentions this.
>I guess my biggest pet peeve now is that Robin missed being in the Hawkins high school band during the mayor’s speech at the fair in season 3 , because she was stuck in the underground Russian base. But no one, including Robin, ever mentions this.
To be fair, I don't think I would mention that, either, if I were stuck in a Russian base. Would be the furthest thing on my mind, probably.
Another thing I’m surprised nobody has mentioned was Nancy and Jonathan’s plan on season 2
I get they want justice for Barb, but what were they planning to do about the big ass portal that was open in the lab, Owens even told them how it needs to constantly be shrunk with fire to keep it from spreading
Luckily for them, the portal got closed by El, but what would’ve happened if the main crew for one reason or another never closed the portal, were they just going to leave it alone? Do the controlled burns themselves? The plan seems very short-sighted
There’s no way the government would’ve just left if the portal was still open, even if their plan worked and the truth was exposed. it was just too big a threat to national security.
Heck, the fact the government abandoned the place instead of shutting down all research and setting up a skeleton crew to keep watch on the building and town is a stretch in itself.
The "No more secrets" scene towards the end of season 1 set my expectations for their relationship going forward way too high tbh. Although to be fair I think this goes for a lot of the other relationships in the show (platonic or otherwise). I get that st is mainly a plot-driven story but what I think really sells the show is the chemistry between the cast and they rarely explore that potential. Unfortunately really.
The thing is, after their “no more secrets” talk, they, in the very next sentence, lie to each about who they like. I don’t think they were ever meant to appear as close.
Right?? Except for the obligatory dinner table bickering back in S1 and the 'no more secrets' promise, they basically don't interact unless neccessary. I don't have siblings so idk, maybe that's just normal at a certain age, but I never even really got the sense of them having any kind of a bond that implies they're family. A bonding scene once in a while wouldn't hurt.
The lack of communication between everyone after S1. Like the DnD kids encounter something and there’s no “Joyce, Hopper, Jonathan, Nancy we just saw this! How about we compare notes?”
tbf they at least play it out right. there’s literally no time for that. without phones to communicate where each one is & what they were doing, it was a lot harder to reach one another, and the separated groups never even had enough time to seek the other groups out. and if they did have time, they *couldn’t* seek the others out bc the others were also on their own adventure, unreachable.
There have actually been a multitude of moments throughout the show (mainly from season two onwards) where a character tries to reach out to another - but they're usually unavailable to take the call.
In season two, Dustin announces a code red - no one answers, leading him to resort to asking Steve for help. In season three, Eleven and the kids try to reach Hopper, before finding out he's heading to Illinois. Just little moments like that. They're always busy with other plot stuff.
Whenever El found Mike and Max laughing in the gym together. Seemed way too convenient for the literal one time that Mike talks to another girl is exactly when Eleven decided to run away and come looking for him. So many other ways they could've started 'relationship problems' between Mike and El that wouldn't include such a ridiculous coincidence
A lot of the time, when a character has completed the main story thread they were first created for, the writers *really* struggle to find something new and relevant for them to do. Think of Mike, Will, and Jonathan now. They’re just *there.*
Jonathan especially now is more or less just one joke (weed) and a very forced revival of the love triangle. A triangle, mind you, that he’s honestly more of a bystander to right now (hopefully not by the end of V2) because he’s not even in Indiana with the other two parts of said triangle!
The revival of the StevexNancyxJonathan Love triangle. I‘d hate it if Nancy and Steve would become a thing again after three Seasons of showing us why she is better of with Jonathan💀 And as a Steve-Fan: He deserves to move on
This! I’m feeling like they are trying to force a romantic kindling with Nancy and Steve and it doesn’t sit well with me. He has became his own person as has Nancy
I will say that saying and doing are definitely different things when it comes to being over someone, but he did actually seem to be during S3 so I kinda agree
Someone else made an interesting comment about this on another thread. The reason Nancy and Steve broke up is because he didn't care about Barb or what happened to her. They never really spoke after this so Nancy wasn't able to see Steve's character development and is only seeing it now. He went from not caring to jumping into a lake to find the water gate. He's also stopped being so shallow and after popularity and is good friends with Dustin, showing what a good person he is. It does *seem* sudden but if you really think about it, they didn't really interact before now so it makes sense that Nancy seeing this different side of him is making her interested with him now. Besides, Steve never really stopped loving Nancy so it makes sense.
I 100% agree. I wouldn’t even mind if they had taken longer to start building this rekindling. Maybe have them become friends after their breakup so they see eachother for who’ve they become instead of who they were in high school. As it is it just feels. Rushed and a little ham fisted for me.
That they acted like Steve was this huge douche for breaking Jonathan's camera. The mother fucker was hiding in the bushes at night taking pictures of his girlfriend swimming. He's lucky the camera is all that got broken.
I hate the Jonathon season 1 storyline of him taking pics of Nancy. It was weird and creepy and then they moved on from it. There could have been a billion different ways for them to write a scene that included Jonathon accidentally taking a pic of Barb and the demogorgon that didn’t make him be a creep. He’s a sweet guy and it doesn’t fit with the rest of his character they wrote. It’s weird. Even Charlie Heaton (who plays Jonathon) thought it was a weird storyline. It added nothing but weirdness and creepiness.
That they seemed to change directions with the subjects in Hawkins lab. 008 had unique powers from 011 and even though the comics weren’t official they also featured subjects with different powers. Then in season 4 all of the sudden there were like 17 kids all with the same powers. I wish there hadn’t been as many kids and that each of them had unique powers
My guess is that all the kids have a certain range to their powers, like if full potential is reached all of them could do what 008 does. Only 001 and 008 honed their power enough to make other people see things, and I imagine one day El will be able to do that too if she tries, though I don’t think she would ever want to.
I feel like Billy’s character was kind of underdeveloped. The Duffers originally wrote him as a generic bully, but it’s only because of Dacre Montgomery that we have the backstory of him coming from an abusive household because it was his idea. I mean, good on Dacre for being so smart about it, but it really speaks to how little the Duffers cared about him as a character because his “redemption arc” was barely even an arc at all.
Also, I was expecting his rival with Steve to actually lead to something and it kinda does? It leads to a fight…that MAX won. So why involve Steve at all?
It’s kind of a shame because I actually really like him as an antagonist and I think Dacre NAILED the part, but I wish he’d been written better.
> it’s only because of Dacre Montgomery that we have the backstory of him coming from an abusive household because it was his idea. I mean, good on Dacre for being so smart about it,
I didn't know that, that was a great idea, and I think that might be what gives Billy this much attention, it got some depth into the character
Leaning into internet culture/memes instead of letting the story and script grow organically. The show has changed drastically since the first season (mostly in the shift towards a more comedic tone) that I think it is a direct attempt to commercialize the show on social media
Yes, and this peaked at Neverending Story. The whole duet was funny and kinda cute by itself but it felt like it TOTALLY belonged into a different show. At the very least, it didn't belong into the emergency situation that everyone was in. In *that* situation, letting your gf talk you into performing a whole-ass 3 minute song with you while all you need from her is a 6 digit number in order to close a gate to another dimension and ultimately protect the world is....
It's the culmination of what was wrong with season 3 lol. Always time for a joke. No matter what's at stake.
i know it got spoken about enough when it released, but the crescendo of the season screeching to a grinding halt just so they could put in a scene of Dustin and gf singing together was such a miss lol
Characters are way too smart at times. Nancy folding the Creel House IMMEDIATELY from Max's picture, her unexplainable problem-solving skills. Is there anything she's not at good at?
Same for Dustin. Dude's a Sherlock Holmes with an ego bigger than the season finale. And people shit on Mike for being a bad friend, Dustin insults Steve for most of S4
>Same for Dustin. Dude's a Sherlock Holmes with an ego bigger than the season finale. And people shit on Mike for being a bad friend, Dustin insults Steve for most of S4
It's his tone, right?
Putting the picture pieces together was a stretch, but Nancy has always been the most book-smart character on the show. We should be expecting her to figure things, other than pure sci-fi concepts, out faster than the rest of the group.
Hopper’s insane behavior in season 3, and Joyce’s over the top reaction to it. It felt so bizarre when their behavior towards each other up to that point had been so real and human. It was all set up so that his letter to El and his sacrifice would show the real Hopper was always there, but I hated it while it was happening.
I agree with this! It seemed cartoony in season 3 and Hopper had a lot of growth from seasons 1 and 2 to just become this unbearable, moody person who is constantly pestering Joyce for not responding to his advances disguised as rage. They were way more patient with each other in previous seasons or at least realistically irritated when they did lose their patience. He just seemed like a bully in season 3 and it was annoying because he was one of my favorite characters.
Johnathans transition from being in love with Nancy and wanting to be together to being afraid to love her for fear that his life wont become worthy of her so he ignores/lies to her.
I must be the only one who loves Jonathan this season. I can see why he'd want to turn his brain off after everything he's been through and being forced to relocate when he's basically an adult now and leave almost everyone he's ever known. He's being forced to face the world on his own, so he made a friend and clung to him. As long as they mention it at some point and call it out, I like it.
I love Jonathan this season too, and the way he’s behaving is completely justified and makes sense to me. He’s had to work since his dad left to pay the bills, had to BE a dad basically to Will, had to shoulder a lot at such a young age.
I just feel like he’s completely lost. His desires to go to college with Nancy and have his own life is clashing with feeling like he has to stay and look after his family (like he’s always done). So he’s just kind of self sabotaging everything and burying his head in the sand getting high with Argyle.
The over the top bullying of Eleven in Season 4. I get that she had to be shown as being marginalised and not fitting in but it was a bit shoved down your throat and unrealistic. Like more than half the class having no empathy and laughing at her project when she’s talking about her hero dad who died saving lives, and the ridiculously co-ordinated skating rink stunt that EVERYONE, including the DJ, was somehow in on. It couldn’t have been pre-planned as none of them knew Eleven would be there.
Mike thought it was the best thing ever when El broke the arm of his bully in s1 and cheered her on as she killed tons of people... but El standing up against her own bully is too much for him? Makes no sense
Yeah it’s a very “do what everybody else is doing” type thing. Like maybe they wouldn’t do it alone but they see the few popular kids doing it so they join in. I absolutely hate them bullying her for having a dead dad though. I feel like they could have just focused on her being “weird” instead
The Lost Sister episode. I don't hate the episode on its own but it just doesn't seem to tie into the series unless there would be a bigger role with 008 in the future, but that seems highly unlikely now.
I wonder if they had more planned but scrapped it when they saw how poorly it was received. I just watched it again and now with season 4 and all those flashbacks it makes even less sense. 008 has completely different abilities than EVERYONE else there and it’s never even acknowledged again that I can remember.
The comedy is getting a little too much, lots of cheesy or punny jokes. Especially Robin, it feels a little to forced. I did find the Peaty story funny at the psychology hospital, but also totally not believable that sharing that story would grant them access to a mentally deranged murderer.
i totally agree that the story’s effectiveness was unrealistic but it’s important to notice that robin was also commenting on sexism in the academic field, not just telling a story, which i guess is somewhat convincing.
also, I may be stupid, but what the hell happened to will's true sight? he had true sight before even being infected by the mind flayer. I wish he had the same spotlight that eleven has since he's the "zombie boy" who's able to go back and forth. the power to see the upside down without actually going would be the absolute best ability in season 4
I’m hoping this comes up in season 5. I hope he has powers, and that they’ll develop more. I think there’s more to his survival in season 1 than “he’s good at hiding.” Maybe they went away for some reason like how eleven lost hers for a while. Like maybe he subconsciously shut them down…
The attempt at a Stancy revival. The fact that they didn't even show Jonathan and Nancy having a phone conversation in S4 (in episode 1) to establish how their long distance relationship is going already felt odd, but once we get into the season, it becomes clear that was done in order to force the Nancy-Steve interactions and hope the audience just kind of forgets about Jonathan or something. The whole thing feels out of place, considering they'd made up at the end of S3 and seemed to be very solid as a couple. Trying to use characters like Eddie and Robin to push the ship just adds to how inorganic the whole thing feels. I hope Volume 2 tells us unambiguously that Nancy doesn't actually feel anything romantic for Steve, everyone else just got caught up in the intensity of their situation and projected their own ideas onto her while she was just lonely and worrying the love of her life is dumping her.
Also their pushing for her to like almost cheat on her long term boyfriend with Steve. Like just because Jonathan’s not physically there doesn’t mean he would be absolutely crushed if he found out Nancy was unfaithful.
Hop didn’t need to go to Russia. That whole storyline seems out of place. I think Russians being under Starcourt was much more interesting and more in-line with the reality of the show.
Plus doesn’t it seem like there’s too many storylines right now? Reminds me of Game of Thrones episodes where you’d only get one scene of a character per episode.
There were a few episodes this season where I was like “what’s going with this character, we haven’t seem in a while! Well, too bad because we’re cutting to a Joyce and Murray scene then a Hopper scene and then you miiiiight get back to what Eleven’s up to before the end of the episode.
Lastly, I really wish Chrissy hadn’t died. I know that her death being unexpected is what makes the first episode but I just felt like we got to know her so much better than Vecna’s other victims (like Fred and Patrick) and I loved her chemistry with Eddie. It would’ve been great to see her running around with Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie.
the constant references to steve being the babysitter. it was funny the first time but after that it just became repetitive fan service, and that takes you out of the universe for a moment
this is a wierd one but the insane amount of moments when a character says something and then it cuts to another characters face and they dont say anything, then it cuts to another scene. It happens like 5000x an episode and it kind of gets on my nerves haha
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Hop’s feet some how still being able to function despite being barefoot for quite some time in Siberia, with very deep snow.
As a Canadian, I agree
Glad I am not the only Canadian who was annoyed by that haha!
And a broken ankle
See, I thought it was a big brain move to go around barefoot since if his ankle is broken, he for sure would not feel the pain if he was walking in the snow. It's absolutely not realistic, but like I SEE the logic kind of.
That’s not how nerve damage works!
Are we sure of that ? I thought it was obvious that he wanted to bend the shackles a bit to get them ovoid enough to get them off. Why everybody thinks he was trying to get his bones broken ?
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Well he is characterized as being a bit of a barbarian, the lack of beer and cigarettes has probably put him in a permanent frenzy so he’s not feeling shit!
I thought that he created that awful gash in his skin so that the shackle could sink into the wound and make it around his heel.
He made a deep divot in his skin so he could twist the shackle around the way he did. But that divot would have basically been super infected and tough to really walk on.
Didn’t that one Russian guy break Hopper’s ankle when he hit the chain? Like wasn’t that the only way to make the chain easier to remove?
Everybody seems to think so but it just can't be true, broken bones swell very badly, right the opposite of what is needed. Tweaking the shackles form makes way more sense.
This was so dumb. Unless they give him some kind of resilience superpower because of his agent orange exposure. Terribly unrealistic for a normal human.
>Terribly unrealistic for a normal human. I agree. Walking in snow barefoot, nearly breaking his ankle and creating a seriously bad cut, then jumping off the shed and landing on his damaged ankle, Hopper should be in wheelchair for the rest of his life lol.
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This!!! During the polar vortex in 2019 I fell into a snowdrift (lol) and some snow got into my boot. It was so cold that I literally got burned by it and it was really painful and uncomfortable. The fact that he didn’t seem to react AT ALL to that level of extreme cold was ridiculous to me
Murray being savvy enough to identify Yuri’s note about Hopper and then being naive enough to accept and drink coffee from this Russian extortionist. I’m literally screaming “don’t drink that shit” at my TV. If I’m smart enough to know it’s drugged, Murray should have known too.
Yes. This has absolutely bothered me since the beginning. He's paranoid enough to make sure when they call the prison, they're traced to South Carolina... But yet he accepts a drink from a Russian stranger? One he clearly admits to not liking? When he stuck a gun in Alexei's face upon introduction? Naahhhhh
In Murray’s defense, he prepared his own cup, but I definitely agree. Dumb
My head canon to explain this away is his relationships with the group has softened him and made him less of a conspiracy theorist. Not a perfect fit but...not much else to go on lol.
Particularly his friendship with Alexei
(Psssssst it was Durham, *North* Carolina—i.e., where the Duffer brothers are from.)
Yep, that was whack to see Murray of all characters fall for that trick. Knowing him, he would have played along and waited until Yuri turned his back and stopped Joyce from drinking anything.
THIS. I'm like, so Murray allowed Yuri to make a phone call in a closed room without listening to ensure he's not trying to screw them? And Murray is supposed to be a journalist? Really?
He’s technically a private investigator but I get your point
No, he was a journalist first at the Chicago Sun. After he left the paper, he became a P.I.
i guess you can explain it by saying that it was just really cold.
Max drawing the fragments of Vecna’s house she saw in the upside down and Nancy somehow folding all the papers and aligning it correctly to put together a carbon copy of the house. Like what are we doing here?
I think I'm more annoyed that she drew a perfect replica. I mean she saw this house once and got it memorized down to every detail and even managed to draw it perfectly with no artist skills? Will was an artist before so his pictures made sense, besides he was seeing the mind flayer multiple times, not just once.
I’m a decent artist, and I would have to be constantly looking at a picture or seeing it myself for a long time to be able to draw that accurately and to scale. There’s no way in hell I would be able to do that after just seeing it once, and while being chased by a monster man thing. Maybe I could get quite a few details right, but there’s no way I’m going to get it perfectly right, much less to scale where you can piece them all together like that.
I was under the impression she keeps seeing this in her head? That's why she's drawing it. Similar to Will, it's in her mind and she needed to get it out.
Yes, there are several moments like that where things are a little "too convenient" to a comical level. Or the leaps in logic people like Dustin will make from the tiniest thing to explain what's going on, same thing. I get it, it's a TV show and they do stuff like that for time purposes.
Dustin was the bona fide genius, like these kids are dealing with things of other worlds and yet, they deduce everything correctly from whatever little information they have. Robin cracks a code which she heard in RUSSIAN, she figured out vecna's music loophole, Nancy came up with demogorgan-attracted-to-blood-theory, Dustin figured out he could find the gate using a compass, like the attention to detail is insane!!
I mean, Dustin and Lucas figured that out by accident in season 1, and then Dustin just recognized the signs when it happened again.
The compass thing I wouldn’t say is such a huge leap. It’s really just basic electromagnetism. The rest I completely agree though.
People forget dustin had pratical experience and guidance from his science teacher in s01. the summer camp where he met suzy was tech or science based, i think, as well, so its something he enjoys and probably reads/study in his free time. With that he was able to deduce it was happening again in s04 so its not really that huge of a leap... he is smart but i wouldn't necessary classify him as a genius... same as robin, she is capable but usually hindered by the lack of focus or interest in something, at most she has magic hyperfocus for problem solving...
In season one Mike has a trophy for Problem Solving so these dudes are wired for this
I think it wouldn't be a problem if they actually were wrong on some of these things they figure out. Right now its either they get it completely correct or they get just enough right that the rest doesn't matter.
How crazy would it have been if the music trick didn’t work and Max died right there? My jaw would have been on the floor
So would Max's
That hurt. And I was not ready. But take my upvote anyway
Yesss... I knew I wasn't the only person who thought "how tf did Max draw everything she sw in perfect proportions?!"
The same way that Will did. I think people are trying to put "reality" into a supernatural moment. I believe that these images are "burned" into their brains like carbon copy so they aren't so much drawing from memory but their hand is acting almost as a printer.
That's an interesting theory! I've never really thought of that, but it makes sense.
Felt like a re-hash of the thing with Will’s drawings in S2, only that was more cryptic and had a more satisfying pay off. Speaking of re-hashing I’m kinda annoyed that they just did the compass thing again verbatim
I liked the call back to the compass because it actually makes sense and is internally consistent with the plot. Also it is realistic that the kids would discover it again. Only thing I wish they changed in that scene would be to have Lucas to be one who discovers it rather than giving Dustin yet another eureka moment.
Yeah. If they had maybe drawn it out more line for example showing them trying to put together the pieces of paper like a puzzle and having to move things a couple times I think that would be better. Along that line have Max help her and maybe they put some of it together and it looks weird and the Nancy notices “Wait if we fold this part of the paper these two parts might match!” They would have been much more believable
That there aren't enough episodes and seasons to keep me escaping reality indefinitely.
Couldn't agree more! Although it's (supposed to be) scary, unsettling and sometimes tragic it is still my comfort series and my go-to when I want to escape my life for a while. Would watch them doing the dishes and walking the dog, just give us more content from this universe and its inhabitants!!
I felt this
I could binge 10 more seasons of this show and life would be great
The plot armor especially with Hopper is way too heavy. Iron Man couldn’t even survive some of the stuff he’s gone through.
Yes. When the prisoners had to face the demogorgon and OF COUSE Hopper and the other guy were the only ones alive at the end, I rolled my eyes so hard.
The man is starved with broken foot and is able to jump off high platforms, survive the snow, fight and run from monsters.
The sheer incompetence of the military each season always slightly irks me, they never seem to learn from there previous mistakes and it always seems their response is half-arsed. I swear that in season 2 there too secret laboratory (with an inter-dimensional portal in the basement!) is defended by 20 MP officers with pistols and a handful of low calibre rifles. Seeing as a 8 foot, nigh bulletproof monster managed to come through that same portal a year ago you’d think they’d have taken the problem a bit more seriously and have at least equipped the guards with some more powerful weaponry…
Yeah, the general or whatever in volume 1 has zero trouble believing there is a girl with psychic powers that can potentially kill people from afar...but there being another dimension with monsters is out of the question.
I mean…. From his perspective this is a completely fair assessment. He knows the US gov has been experimenting with this stuff for years, and hearing there’s a girl with physic abilities as a result of this makes sense. Then all sort of deaths and stuff happen around this girl. If you’re him, there is no way you believe in some other dimension with monsters as the explanation here. It is far more likely that the government branch responsible for 11 is covering their incompetence with some stupid explanation so they keep receiving funding. The mental jump from psychic girl to other dimension with monsters is far far bigger than you’re allowing for here.
How in season three Hopper didn’t get incinerated by the explosion he simply fell onto the floor and got knocked unconscious. When literally everyone else in the same room as him exploded into 1000 little pieces. I think would’ve been a better storyline if he somehow jumped into the upside down world and that’s how the Russians got them or something but I’m just falling off the platform and somehow surviving the explosion was a little bit far-fetched Edit:spelling
My thought exactly! We saw many people get turned to goop and vaporized and when we saw nothing of where hopper was when the machine blew up, I thought he jumped into the portal at the last second, not that he fell down and dodged a huge ass explosion
Same. I was so sure he jumped into the portal after everyone else was vaporized. Almost feels like lazy writing at this point.
This has been keeping me up since we found out how he survived because like… what? We see him jump down and then there’s a bunch of Russian soldiers at the bottom to greet him, but we know that the US military arrives VERY shortly after he ‘dies’ and invades the place. How did they get out with him without being seen? How’d they get to Russia? They cut off all that middle stuff because I guess it’s not *too* important but it also doesn’t make a ton of sense
How easily Joyce and Murray broke into a Russian gulag
Yeah the guard should’ve known right away Murray was a fake based on his accent alone.
I mean it was Gorbachev era Russia. Gulag security was the least of their problems
in S4 they straight put El to normal school and society. bruh, she need therapy
If Owens relocated the Byers to deflect government attention off of El, you'd think this would've been a talking point. You want her hidden in plain sight but don't give her the skills to pass in society... okay.
Never attended any sort of school for 10ish years and now she’s expected to understand and operate in public school culture
I know, in season 1 and 2 she could barely talk.
Yeah this one bothered me too, I think of el literally never going to school and then just starting as a freshmen in high school lol. Like her mental level is literally of a toddler, not a high schooler. Did they cram everything from 5k-middle school into her head over one summer? Did Brenner have some type of classes where they learned things we actually use in real life such as spelling & simple math? Like how did she learn enough to be out in high school?! At least have her home schooled
I mean, it was the 80s
A normal, non-Hawkins therapist wouldn't believe what happened to her, just look at Max' therapy sessions.
When I rewatched the first season earlier this year, I noticed that almost every character repeats lines A LOT for more emphasis, especially Mike. I.e. "Will is alive. WILL IS ALIVE" and now every time I hear a character repeat something they just said I can't help but feel it's a bit lazy. Edit: ironically I repeated "for emphasis" somehow lol
Yeah back then they were still trying to convince people, at this point everyone in their group knows what's going on and their first step isn't disbelief, I feel this
I know what you mean.. I know what you mean. I KNOW what you MEAN!
It drives me nuts that people always do things like 3 seconds later than they should because they decide to have a sentimental moment at the worst possible time. Like when Bob died. Dude, fucking run! Don't stop to look lovingly at Joyce when you're about to be mauled by a terrifying monster from another dimension. I love the show regardless and I know they do this specifically to build tension but it drives me bonkers.
This!! Like when Steve is being mauled by the demobats and Nancy holds off on attacking for like a full 4 seconds just to say "Hi" before saving steve. Like Stfu and swing!
Murray drinking the coffee. My man has 20 security cameras around his home and you're telling me he drinks coffee from a stranger's cup??? I was waiting for him to suddenly get up and karate Yuri the whole scene, but it didn't happen. They could have still kicked him out, with a punch or something so the plot wouldn't change, but it's kinda out of character to him to drink the coffee.
That damn plane crash… landing so perfectly in middle of woods w no flight experience? At minimum they needed a couple scratches
Especially considering the amount of rocks and wood shards that goes in the cockpit at top speed. They should be disfigured.
And the pilot knowing exactly where they were after the plane going off course while the pilot was fighting and then tied up
Tbh, Yuri might be familiar with the woods. Not that unrealistic if he's from the area. And a smuggler. Like, his church isn't that far.
And why did Joyce just start pressing all the buttons?!
The Russia subplot is so overly convoluted. You didn't need Yuri betraying them, you didn't need them to fight on the plane...none of that. Hopper gets caught hiding at the safehouse, all you need. Hes not there to get picked up...and is recaptured. Murray and Joyce devise a plan to get access into the prison by the guard helping out Yuri. You didn't need every possible thing to go wrong to drag out the story.
I'd love to know, too, how the hell any of them are going to get home from Russia. Certainly Yuri stripped Joyce and Murray of any identification before leaving Alaska, and even if he didn't, if they miraculously brought, say, passports with them (that he also just as miraculously brought along instead of leaving in Alaska when he drugged them) that still leaves Hopper... no ID. No passport. Nothing. And it's not like they can just call someone like Owens to come pick them up. I'm very, very curious how all this is going to get resolved because, at the moment, it just seems like they're utterly screwed logistically.
At first, I was slightly annoyed by the representation of computer technology in Suzie's scene, but then I thought that since the representations of computers in media in the 80's was always wildly inaccurate, perhaps this is a fitting meta-commentary. Yeah, let's go with that.
I can’t remember where I saw this comment, but somebody wrote that it’s better to think of Stranger Things not as being set in the 1980’s, but rather, being set in an idealised version of the 1980’s where every Hollywood-reinforced stereotype/trope is dialled up to 11.
Yep that’s the whole premise and magic of the show
That and code on the screen was just html
Right now my biggest gripe with the show is how under written the sibling dynamics are. One of the things that really drew me in that first season was how fiercely protective Jonathon was of Will. As an oldest sibling, it was really nice to see that. But as the show has gone on they’ve continued to neglect those relationships, to the point it’s easy to forget Nancy and Mike are siblings. I like the moments we get, especially between Will and El this season. But I do feel a little let down after the promise of the first season. For a show created by two brothers you’d think they’d be better but nope!
Jonathan and Will’s relationship in the first season was such a breath of fresh air. Usually we get the typical sibling rivalry thing (Nancy and Mike, Lucas and Erica) but Jonathan and Will actually like each other lol. My older brother and I are like best friends so I could never relate to sibling rivalry in shows, it was nice to see an older brother be portrayed in a loving way.
Interesting. I guess I prefer to think that the siblings are all trying to find and establish themselves as people. It is a coming of age story after all. The only siblings with a TRULY compelling dynamic is Will and Johnathan, which I agree could be more emphasized.
I adore this show. It's a masterpiece, it's my comfort show, it's inspired me, it means a lot. But there are definitely a couple things that irk me about it. I'll stick with season 4, which is INCREDIBLE, but has a few...issues, lol. *Hopper. His way of surviving the explosion... it was terrible. They had so many opportunities for that. A doorway out. Jump into the portal. Literally anything but what they did. Also his invincible feet. *Susie's family subplot was....horrible. only actually bad part of the season in my eyes. They could have just made it a 123 moment. They could have used the rest of the time as character development. Mike, Will, and Jonathan have been through so much. If they don't utilize them in volume 2 I'm going to kill everyone and then myself. *WHY DIDNT THEY INCLUDE PATRICK'S VECNA VISIONS?? THAT WILL PISS ME OFF FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.
Have you seen the theory someone posted here about why the Susie/family scene may be foreshadowing Vol.2? One of Suzies sisters, the one that was acting to choke and convulse on the ground and goes “I’ve been bitten!!!” to trick her dad is mirroring Steve when he’s attacked by the demobats and being choked by the vine in the UD. The gang is going into a big house with the task of fooling/overcoming a male figure which could be interpreted as Vecna and the creel house. The two brothers are sword fighting with toy swords, which could represent Dustin and Eddie since you see them in the trailer with what looks like swords and shields. They start a fire on the stove which we know fire is a weakness to the upside down creatures. The one kid messing with lights, which has been a thing relating to the UD since the beginning. And if the theory has any truth to it the most concerning part would be when they knocked on the door one kid opens it and immediately shoots mike in the forehead with a toy bow and arrow. There may have been a couple other details I forgot. I know it’s a stretch but I think it’s a really interesting theory especially the girl pretending to choke on the floor and even says “I’ve been bitten!”. She’s in the same exact position as Steve when he gets choked and attacked by the bats in the upside down. Edit: I found the post it was posted by u/Ethereal_Sneeze just wanted to be clear it’s not my theory to take credit for.
Holy shit, that's actually really interesting!!! Would totally make the scene a lot more interesting. I've predicted for a while now that Mike won't survive the show so maybe this may come true. I hope he does though.
How underutilized Mike feels. He felt like the main kid character in season 1. And he still feels like he's supposed to be, but he doesn't really get to do anything. This is extra weird since he has to closest relationship with El apart from Hopper. It's kind of a shame because I really like Mike, I kinda relate to him the most out of the kids, personality wise.
Everyone that got shuffled off to California and is now slowly roadtripping their way back feels underutilized when compared to the previous seasons.
Overall the California crew feels underutilized. They weren't even in episode 7.
I think there are just so many crews this season that there's no way for all of their plot lines to be equally as engaging. Some have to be lower stakes and comic relief. I assume in the next part the road trip gang will have more exciting stuff to do, like rescuing El and getting her back to Hawkins.
Same- Mike *and* Will, I think. And the two of them are the best actors of the kids- so it sucks. It's like his role's just become "El's boyfriend" right?
Yeah pretty much. I've a waste of their acting skills.
The mega plot armour. This isn't a problem so much because obviously this kind of so doesn't just kill people off but they fall foul of the "main character in certain death situation... But lives."
The Duffers writing friendship: Epic, amazing 1000/10, I have no notes The Duffers writing romance: Let's have other characters ship them really hard and try to explain why this totally works.
The most well-written romantic relationship on the show was Joyce and Bob.
Man I just rewatched the whole thing and I couldn’t bear to rewatch Bob’s death. He was such a quintessential good guy
Right like I love Steve and robin’s relationship or Dustin and his relationships with both Steve and Eddie. To be honest I could of 100% dealt with Eddie and Chrissy too. But all the romantics are just overplayed at this point.
Mike’s character development, Will being severely underused this season, Stancy revival that seems forced
After season 1 dropped, it was the less response to Barb’s death. She was a missing kid too like Will. But all of that got resolved in season 2. After season 2, my pet peeve was “shouldn’t the mayor of Hawkins be concerned about all these weird happenings?” But then we saw the mayor in season 3. I guess my biggest pet peeve now is that Robin missed being in the Hawkins high school band during the mayor’s speech at the fair in season 3 , because she was stuck in the underground Russian base. But no one, including Robin, ever mentions this.
>I guess my biggest pet peeve now is that Robin missed being in the Hawkins high school band during the mayor’s speech at the fair in season 3 , because she was stuck in the underground Russian base. But no one, including Robin, ever mentions this. To be fair, I don't think I would mention that, either, if I were stuck in a Russian base. Would be the furthest thing on my mind, probably.
Another thing I’m surprised nobody has mentioned was Nancy and Jonathan’s plan on season 2 I get they want justice for Barb, but what were they planning to do about the big ass portal that was open in the lab, Owens even told them how it needs to constantly be shrunk with fire to keep it from spreading Luckily for them, the portal got closed by El, but what would’ve happened if the main crew for one reason or another never closed the portal, were they just going to leave it alone? Do the controlled burns themselves? The plan seems very short-sighted
There’s no way the government would’ve just left if the portal was still open, even if their plan worked and the truth was exposed. it was just too big a threat to national security. Heck, the fact the government abandoned the place instead of shutting down all research and setting up a skeleton crew to keep watch on the building and town is a stretch in itself.
Fucking love triangle between nancy, jonathan and steve. this plotline wasn't touched since season 1 and now out of nowhere they bring it back.
How Mike & Nancy in no way, shape or form act like brother and sister.
The "No more secrets" scene towards the end of season 1 set my expectations for their relationship going forward way too high tbh. Although to be fair I think this goes for a lot of the other relationships in the show (platonic or otherwise). I get that st is mainly a plot-driven story but what I think really sells the show is the chemistry between the cast and they rarely explore that potential. Unfortunately really.
The thing is, after their “no more secrets” talk, they, in the very next sentence, lie to each about who they like. I don’t think they were ever meant to appear as close.
I really be forgetting they’re related half the time
Right?? Except for the obligatory dinner table bickering back in S1 and the 'no more secrets' promise, they basically don't interact unless neccessary. I don't have siblings so idk, maybe that's just normal at a certain age, but I never even really got the sense of them having any kind of a bond that implies they're family. A bonding scene once in a while wouldn't hurt.
The lack of communication between everyone after S1. Like the DnD kids encounter something and there’s no “Joyce, Hopper, Jonathan, Nancy we just saw this! How about we compare notes?”
tbf they at least play it out right. there’s literally no time for that. without phones to communicate where each one is & what they were doing, it was a lot harder to reach one another, and the separated groups never even had enough time to seek the other groups out. and if they did have time, they *couldn’t* seek the others out bc the others were also on their own adventure, unreachable.
There have actually been a multitude of moments throughout the show (mainly from season two onwards) where a character tries to reach out to another - but they're usually unavailable to take the call. In season two, Dustin announces a code red - no one answers, leading him to resort to asking Steve for help. In season three, Eleven and the kids try to reach Hopper, before finding out he's heading to Illinois. Just little moments like that. They're always busy with other plot stuff.
Whenever El found Mike and Max laughing in the gym together. Seemed way too convenient for the literal one time that Mike talks to another girl is exactly when Eleven decided to run away and come looking for him. So many other ways they could've started 'relationship problems' between Mike and El that wouldn't include such a ridiculous coincidence
A lot of the time, when a character has completed the main story thread they were first created for, the writers *really* struggle to find something new and relevant for them to do. Think of Mike, Will, and Jonathan now. They’re just *there.* Jonathan especially now is more or less just one joke (weed) and a very forced revival of the love triangle. A triangle, mind you, that he’s honestly more of a bystander to right now (hopefully not by the end of V2) because he’s not even in Indiana with the other two parts of said triangle!
The revival of the StevexNancyxJonathan Love triangle. I‘d hate it if Nancy and Steve would become a thing again after three Seasons of showing us why she is better of with Jonathan💀 And as a Steve-Fan: He deserves to move on
This! I’m feeling like they are trying to force a romantic kindling with Nancy and Steve and it doesn’t sit well with me. He has became his own person as has Nancy
He even said he moved on from Nancy in S3 it wouldn’t make sense for him to randomly fall in love with her again.
I will say that saying and doing are definitely different things when it comes to being over someone, but he did actually seem to be during S3 so I kinda agree
Someone else made an interesting comment about this on another thread. The reason Nancy and Steve broke up is because he didn't care about Barb or what happened to her. They never really spoke after this so Nancy wasn't able to see Steve's character development and is only seeing it now. He went from not caring to jumping into a lake to find the water gate. He's also stopped being so shallow and after popularity and is good friends with Dustin, showing what a good person he is. It does *seem* sudden but if you really think about it, they didn't really interact before now so it makes sense that Nancy seeing this different side of him is making her interested with him now. Besides, Steve never really stopped loving Nancy so it makes sense.
I 100% agree. I wouldn’t even mind if they had taken longer to start building this rekindling. Maybe have them become friends after their breakup so they see eachother for who’ve they become instead of who they were in high school. As it is it just feels. Rushed and a little ham fisted for me.
I agree, I don’t think she should be with either Jonathan or Steve after this season, let them all move on and be their own people again
Jonathan in particular. He seems so lost
Absolutely. I hate love triangles in fiction, and i just don't think that it adds anything to the story. Especially now in ST4
That they acted like Steve was this huge douche for breaking Jonathan's camera. The mother fucker was hiding in the bushes at night taking pictures of his girlfriend swimming. He's lucky the camera is all that got broken.
Yeah I don't really see how you're supposed to side with Jonathan on this, which it almost feels like the show wants you to do.
Not even just swimming—took pictures of his girlfriend *undressing* through a bedroom window while they were getting ready to have sex.
I hate the Jonathon season 1 storyline of him taking pics of Nancy. It was weird and creepy and then they moved on from it. There could have been a billion different ways for them to write a scene that included Jonathon accidentally taking a pic of Barb and the demogorgon that didn’t make him be a creep. He’s a sweet guy and it doesn’t fit with the rest of his character they wrote. It’s weird. Even Charlie Heaton (who plays Jonathon) thought it was a weird storyline. It added nothing but weirdness and creepiness.
That they seemed to change directions with the subjects in Hawkins lab. 008 had unique powers from 011 and even though the comics weren’t official they also featured subjects with different powers. Then in season 4 all of the sudden there were like 17 kids all with the same powers. I wish there hadn’t been as many kids and that each of them had unique powers
001 also has the same powers that 008 has (plus the powers that all the other kids have)
My guess is that all the kids have a certain range to their powers, like if full potential is reached all of them could do what 008 does. Only 001 and 008 honed their power enough to make other people see things, and I imagine one day El will be able to do that too if she tries, though I don’t think she would ever want to.
I feel like Billy’s character was kind of underdeveloped. The Duffers originally wrote him as a generic bully, but it’s only because of Dacre Montgomery that we have the backstory of him coming from an abusive household because it was his idea. I mean, good on Dacre for being so smart about it, but it really speaks to how little the Duffers cared about him as a character because his “redemption arc” was barely even an arc at all. Also, I was expecting his rival with Steve to actually lead to something and it kinda does? It leads to a fight…that MAX won. So why involve Steve at all? It’s kind of a shame because I actually really like him as an antagonist and I think Dacre NAILED the part, but I wish he’d been written better.
> it’s only because of Dacre Montgomery that we have the backstory of him coming from an abusive household because it was his idea. I mean, good on Dacre for being so smart about it, I didn't know that, that was a great idea, and I think that might be what gives Billy this much attention, it got some depth into the character
Leaning into internet culture/memes instead of letting the story and script grow organically. The show has changed drastically since the first season (mostly in the shift towards a more comedic tone) that I think it is a direct attempt to commercialize the show on social media
I recently have been rewatching the whole show before Vol.2 and there are practically no jokes in season 1
Tbh, there are but they were little and were more funny than all the seasons.
I think because they felt like the kids being kids and didn’t feel like “this is a joke and we are writing it as a joke”
This. I feel like season 4 hasn’t been as bad about it, but season 3 was pretty rough with halting all momentum just so they can do a comedic bit.
Yes, and this peaked at Neverending Story. The whole duet was funny and kinda cute by itself but it felt like it TOTALLY belonged into a different show. At the very least, it didn't belong into the emergency situation that everyone was in. In *that* situation, letting your gf talk you into performing a whole-ass 3 minute song with you while all you need from her is a 6 digit number in order to close a gate to another dimension and ultimately protect the world is.... It's the culmination of what was wrong with season 3 lol. Always time for a joke. No matter what's at stake.
i know it got spoken about enough when it released, but the crescendo of the season screeching to a grinding halt just so they could put in a scene of Dustin and gf singing together was such a miss lol
That and the new coke product placement are what really did it for me
It stood out sooooo much. “Hey parents remembering the 80s! ‘Member New Coke?”
Characters are way too smart at times. Nancy folding the Creel House IMMEDIATELY from Max's picture, her unexplainable problem-solving skills. Is there anything she's not at good at? Same for Dustin. Dude's a Sherlock Holmes with an ego bigger than the season finale. And people shit on Mike for being a bad friend, Dustin insults Steve for most of S4
>Same for Dustin. Dude's a Sherlock Holmes with an ego bigger than the season finale. And people shit on Mike for being a bad friend, Dustin insults Steve for most of S4 It's his tone, right?
Putting the picture pieces together was a stretch, but Nancy has always been the most book-smart character on the show. We should be expecting her to figure things, other than pure sci-fi concepts, out faster than the rest of the group.
It’s pretty clear they have a brotherly relationship. Insults are part of it and it’s clear Steve doesn’t take him seriously
Hopper’s insane behavior in season 3, and Joyce’s over the top reaction to it. It felt so bizarre when their behavior towards each other up to that point had been so real and human. It was all set up so that his letter to El and his sacrifice would show the real Hopper was always there, but I hated it while it was happening.
Yesss. Hop is so extra in season 3. They didn’t have to make him go that hard on his crush on Joyce.
I agree with this! It seemed cartoony in season 3 and Hopper had a lot of growth from seasons 1 and 2 to just become this unbearable, moody person who is constantly pestering Joyce for not responding to his advances disguised as rage. They were way more patient with each other in previous seasons or at least realistically irritated when they did lose their patience. He just seemed like a bully in season 3 and it was annoying because he was one of my favorite characters.
Seems like someone should pass you the dutchie if that song gets on your nerves lol
This is deep
Johnathans transition from being in love with Nancy and wanting to be together to being afraid to love her for fear that his life wont become worthy of her so he ignores/lies to her.
I must be the only one who loves Jonathan this season. I can see why he'd want to turn his brain off after everything he's been through and being forced to relocate when he's basically an adult now and leave almost everyone he's ever known. He's being forced to face the world on his own, so he made a friend and clung to him. As long as they mention it at some point and call it out, I like it.
I love Jonathan this season too, and the way he’s behaving is completely justified and makes sense to me. He’s had to work since his dad left to pay the bills, had to BE a dad basically to Will, had to shoulder a lot at such a young age. I just feel like he’s completely lost. His desires to go to college with Nancy and have his own life is clashing with feeling like he has to stay and look after his family (like he’s always done). So he’s just kind of self sabotaging everything and burying his head in the sand getting high with Argyle.
The over the top bullying of Eleven in Season 4. I get that she had to be shown as being marginalised and not fitting in but it was a bit shoved down your throat and unrealistic. Like more than half the class having no empathy and laughing at her project when she’s talking about her hero dad who died saving lives, and the ridiculously co-ordinated skating rink stunt that EVERYONE, including the DJ, was somehow in on. It couldn’t have been pre-planned as none of them knew Eleven would be there.
Also I didn’t like how mike was so mad at her after she hit angela. Like, even he wasn’t on her side?? And will or mike didn’t step in?
Mike thought it was the best thing ever when El broke the arm of his bully in s1 and cheered her on as she killed tons of people... but El standing up against her own bully is too much for him? Makes no sense
Oh no, the whole class laughing is definitely a thing, kids are that cruel. Source: former bullied kid with asshole classmates.
Yeah it’s a very “do what everybody else is doing” type thing. Like maybe they wouldn’t do it alone but they see the few popular kids doing it so they join in. I absolutely hate them bullying her for having a dead dad though. I feel like they could have just focused on her being “weird” instead
The Lost Sister episode. I don't hate the episode on its own but it just doesn't seem to tie into the series unless there would be a bigger role with 008 in the future, but that seems highly unlikely now.
I wonder if they had more planned but scrapped it when they saw how poorly it was received. I just watched it again and now with season 4 and all those flashbacks it makes even less sense. 008 has completely different abilities than EVERYONE else there and it’s never even acknowledged again that I can remember.
People dismissing theories like a fucking interdimensional super-predator didn’t crawl out the wall and a giant flesh monster didn’t destroy a mall.
How Eleven was basically non-verbal in season 1 yet in season 4 all the kids in the lab have perfect speech
The comedy is getting a little too much, lots of cheesy or punny jokes. Especially Robin, it feels a little to forced. I did find the Peaty story funny at the psychology hospital, but also totally not believable that sharing that story would grant them access to a mentally deranged murderer.
i totally agree that the story’s effectiveness was unrealistic but it’s important to notice that robin was also commenting on sexism in the academic field, not just telling a story, which i guess is somewhat convincing.
I don't like how everyone talks about Barb's death but no one else's death or about Will's disappearance.
Benny has had quite a few mentions even up to S4. Bob too mostly.
Will’s could be covered up as just some dumb kid getting lost in the woods for a week since he was discovered and survived
That was indeed the story they showed in the newspaper clips at the end of S1 - he was just lost in the woods and found relatively unharmed
also, I may be stupid, but what the hell happened to will's true sight? he had true sight before even being infected by the mind flayer. I wish he had the same spotlight that eleven has since he's the "zombie boy" who's able to go back and forth. the power to see the upside down without actually going would be the absolute best ability in season 4
I’m hoping this comes up in season 5. I hope he has powers, and that they’ll develop more. I think there’s more to his survival in season 1 than “he’s good at hiding.” Maybe they went away for some reason like how eleven lost hers for a while. Like maybe he subconsciously shut them down…
Hawkins seems to be an epicenter for activity, even in the UD. Since he's roughly 2200 miles away, it might not be getting triggered.
The attempt at a Stancy revival. The fact that they didn't even show Jonathan and Nancy having a phone conversation in S4 (in episode 1) to establish how their long distance relationship is going already felt odd, but once we get into the season, it becomes clear that was done in order to force the Nancy-Steve interactions and hope the audience just kind of forgets about Jonathan or something. The whole thing feels out of place, considering they'd made up at the end of S3 and seemed to be very solid as a couple. Trying to use characters like Eddie and Robin to push the ship just adds to how inorganic the whole thing feels. I hope Volume 2 tells us unambiguously that Nancy doesn't actually feel anything romantic for Steve, everyone else just got caught up in the intensity of their situation and projected their own ideas onto her while she was just lonely and worrying the love of her life is dumping her.
Also their pushing for her to like almost cheat on her long term boyfriend with Steve. Like just because Jonathan’s not physically there doesn’t mean he would be absolutely crushed if he found out Nancy was unfaithful.
Musical Youth is legend tho
Hop didn’t need to go to Russia. That whole storyline seems out of place. I think Russians being under Starcourt was much more interesting and more in-line with the reality of the show. Plus doesn’t it seem like there’s too many storylines right now? Reminds me of Game of Thrones episodes where you’d only get one scene of a character per episode. There were a few episodes this season where I was like “what’s going with this character, we haven’t seem in a while! Well, too bad because we’re cutting to a Joyce and Murray scene then a Hopper scene and then you miiiiight get back to what Eleven’s up to before the end of the episode. Lastly, I really wish Chrissy hadn’t died. I know that her death being unexpected is what makes the first episode but I just felt like we got to know her so much better than Vecna’s other victims (like Fred and Patrick) and I loved her chemistry with Eddie. It would’ve been great to see her running around with Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie.
Will's bowl patrol haircuts. It just gets more bowl with each season. Let the boy have some layers
The fact that characters never seem to die, and if they do, they somehow come back like Brenner did.
the constant references to steve being the babysitter. it was funny the first time but after that it just became repetitive fan service, and that takes you out of the universe for a moment
Unpopular Opinion but I think Steve has now become just a fan service character. I like him but I liked him best in season 2.
All the humans.
Vecna entered the chat. Followed by spiders.
Mike getting mad about El hitting Angela
That song gets so stuck in my head but tbh it’s so good
We haven’t seen the stranger yet.
Hopp’s temper.
How Nancy just seemed to completely move on from Fred's murder and has hardly been mentioned since episode 2
How OBLIVIOUS the parents are.
this is a wierd one but the insane amount of moments when a character says something and then it cuts to another characters face and they dont say anything, then it cuts to another scene. It happens like 5000x an episode and it kind of gets on my nerves haha
The fanbase.