Stranger Things: Too Old For This

[Corvinus85]

The season so far has had a bit of Lord of the Rings inspiration, too.

Walking into Mordor. Who knew such a small thing could cause so much trouble. 

By the way, in the first episode mentions that in the D&D world Vecna was presumed to have been killed by Kas. I don't know anything about D&D, but looking it up online, I can conclude there is clear inspiration from there, as well, regarding the show's events.

Spoiler

https://greyhawkonline.com/greyhawkwiki/Kas

One takes Eleven under his wing only for her to betray him and "kill" him.

 

[Myrddin]

It was pretty meta to have Englund in the show and Freddy Kruger mentioned, but I liked the connection.

[Lord Varys]

I'd say the fourth season is definitely better than season 3. And while evil Russians might be less clichéd these days ... it is still a stupid plotline and the entire story around Hopper in Russia and the drawn-out attempt to rescue him feels superfluous and weird.

Everything else is pretty solid, though. I especially liked their take on the whole Satanic Panic thing.

What I hope this show does before the end is to give some kind of explanation as to why the Upside Down is apparently an empty parallel world of 'our' reality which includes pretty up-to-date infrastructure but no people.

How the hell is it is possible that the hive mind monster is there? This could only make sense if it is a quite recent development in that world ... but how can this be?

Since the final season should finally deal with the monster itself and do away with it for good they should delve into this mystery to a point.

[HexMachina]

10 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I'd say the fourth season is definitely better than season 3. And while evil Russian might be less clichéd these days ... it is still a stupid plotline and the entire story around Hopper in Russia and the drawn-out attempt to rescue him feels superfluous and weird.

Everything else is pretty solid, though. I especially liked their take on the whole Satanic Panic thing.

What I hope this show does before the end is to give some kind of explanation as to why the Upside Down is apparently an empty parallel world of 'our' reality which includes pretty up-to-date infrastructure but no people.

How the hell is it is possible that the hive mind monster is there? This could only make sense if it is a quite recent development in that world ... but how can this be?

Since the final season should finally deal with the monster itself and do away with it for good they should delve into this mystery to a point.

I think they will touch on this because of the points I mentioned in my first spoiler post about Nancy's home being stuck in the time Will first went missing. Its obviously setting something up and as Corvinus mentioned we see 001 fall into the upside down and its just a kind nothingness stormy landscape.

[Lord Varys]

3 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I think they will touch on this because of the points I mentioned in my first spoiler post about Nancy's home being stuck in the time Will first went missing. Its obviously setting something up and as Corvinus mentioned we see 001 fall into the upside down and its just a kind nothingness stormy landscape.

Ah, so you think that perhaps 001's memories kind of created the fake Hawkins there? And it isn't a weirdo parallel version of our world but rather a place which was shaped around the interests of 001 and his obsession with the place? He also lives in that weird Mordor-like version of his own house and stuff.

That could make sense. I was entertaining the idea that the monster may have spawned just recently but considering its many forms that would be very unlikely.

[SpaceChampion]

12 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I'd say the fourth season is definitely better than season 3. And while evil Russians might be less clichéd these days ... it is still a stupid plotline and the entire story around Hopper in Russia and the drawn-out attempt to rescue him feels superfluous and weird.

I don't think for the story the point was to rescue Hopper.  It was to get Joyce and Murray and Hopper together so they can explore the Russian gate.  Probably to set up whatever the final season will be about.

[Lord Varys]

Just now, SpaceChampion said:

I don't think for the story the point was to rescue Hopper.  It was to get Joyce and Murray and Hopper together so they can explore the Russian gate.  Probably to set up whatever the final season will be about.

If they still have a working gate there, this could make sense. But still - I'd not have minded if they had dropped the Russian story. It was one of the more ridiculous elements of season 3.

[Corvinus85]

On that subject, I found it annoyingly ambiguous on how Hopper made it to Russia - he seemed to run for the gate when the machine blew up and we see he was below it, somehow, but  he just ended up below the machine in Hawkins or was the gate more like a wormhole through the Upside Down, which transported him to the Russian base where they had originally attempted to create a gate? If the former, shouldn't he have died, since the explosion of the machine vaporized other people in the room? If the latter, I wish they would have done a better job showing it.

[Jaxom 1974]

I admit I've got to finish part one of this season, so maybe this is already answered, but with regard to the Upside Down...there has to be more to it, right?  That the creatures coming out of it, Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, even calling Vecna, Vecna, means that the main kids are influencing things somehow, right?  Shaping that world.  Normally, I wouldn't think of it that much, and honestly, I don't remember how the Demogorgon was presented in 80s DnD...but it's appearance matched what we saw from the figures that the kids were using for their game, didn't it...?

Essentially, I think the final season will likely play more into how and why the Upside Down exists/works...

[Myrddin]

Season 5 will confirm D&D as a Satanic gateway that uses the children to tear down the barrier between Heaven, Hell, and Earth. If the heroes don't succeed, D&D will return in 20 years to take a beloved franchise, build it up to the defining cultural zeitgeist of the decade, only to sacrifice it on the altar of expedience to bring about the Anti-Christ.

Whew. I'm glad that didn't happen.

[SpaceChampion]

If season 5 takes place in 1987, what pop culture influence will it have?  The Lost Boys?  Predator?  Evil Dead 2?  Hellraiser for sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films_of_1987

 

[RhaenysBee]

I was ill over the long weekend, and watched stranger things from start to finish. Well to the end of the first installment of season 4. 
season 3 was a complete trainwreck, and season 4 is making an effort to fix it which I sincerely applaud but I’m just not sure it will be enough to conclude the season on a high note, because it has not only season 3 but its own self-made issues to make up for as well. 

Spoiler

Did you just… have to make Joyce and Murray crash-land an ancient military airplane exactly in half a day’s walk from the exact village they wanted to get to, show? Like did someone hold a gun to your head? Did you need to? Did you want to? Just… why would something like this happen? Just tell me, why, show, why? 

Hopper’s self-healing superpower is not really worth  mentioning at this point  because it doesn’t top the game of thrones level plot armor that didn’t kill him while every other operator was obliterated near the machine.

I honestly don’t know what Eleven is doing. Her entire storyline is a plot device. To keep her from the group and thus create obstacles and hardship for them, and to retcon the creation of the OG gate. Eleven’s storyline has actually been boring/annoying since season 2. 

you know what… the only thing season 4 is doing right is addressing the group dynamics of the gang. Which had been the og strong suit of season 1. The group. The characters, the interactions and the relationships. And that it sometimes -not very often at all, mind you, just in barely enough instances - allows itself to sloooooooow the fuck down and lets the actors act. David Harbour’s prison monologue was Hopper’s best moment since season 1. 

 

[dbunting]

Binged this over the last week, and like someone mentioned above, doing it this way does blur the details unlike GOT were we had a week to rewatch and analyze every damn little thing to death.

I love this season so far. When I love a season I sure as hell don't want less of it so I don't understand the wanting shorter episodes. Why would I want less of what I like? That said if something was to be cut... Russia = Dorne.... just quit it. Unless there is some earth shattering reveal we had to be in Russia for this is just annoying. I mean how did Hopper do that to his foot and then walk, run, and fight on it? 

Like most

Spoiler

I knew the orderly was 001 pretty much from the get. But when watching the scenes my mind was telling me that 11 was somehow mirrored to Vecna because of the way the bodies were broken was so obviously the same as what we were seeing in Hawkins. It didn't hit me until the reveal that 001 was Vecna and that 11 created him years ago. She truly is the cause of all this death and terror.

I like the way they are handling the OG's as they were called. They are getting older and have different interests and will grow apart some and the show at least addresses that reality.

Overall I'd say this is a huge improvement over last season and one of my favorites.

[Corvinus85]

7 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

If season 5 takes place in 1987, what pop culture influence will it have?  The Lost Boys?  Predator?  Evil Dead 2?  Hellraiser for sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films_of_1987

 

I suppose it will depend on when during 1987 the story may take place. There other non-horror fantasy movies to draw from or at least make reference to like Princess Bride or The Witches of Eastwick. It does seem like 1987 was a year for vampire movies, so that may be a central theme. I feel like they've already touched on Hellraiser with Vecna's portrayal.

[RhaenysBee]

Do we think they will mention/incorporate a certain 1986 event given that the plot begins in March? Maybe they just want to tick off spring after having a summer and two autumn seasons. It’s a weird balance because it’d be rather artificial if they completely ignored it, while simultaneously running a Soviet storyline. But incorporating it into the plot or even have it interfere with Vecna or Eleven’s powers would be very thin ice. I don’t know, maybe the events of the season will conclude before April 26, which would likely be the safest route. 

[Nictarion]

There’s supposedly going to be a time jump for the final season. 

[Werthead]

On 6/2/2022 at 4:48 PM, Corvinus85 said:

On that subject, I found it annoyingly ambiguous on how Hopper made it to Russia - he seemed to run for the gate when the machine blew up and we see he was below it, somehow, but  he just ended up below the machine in Hawkins or was the gate more like a wormhole through the Upside Down, which transported him to the Russian base where they had originally attempted to create a gate? If the former, shouldn't he have died, since the explosion of the machine vaporized other people in the room? If the latter, I wish they would have done a better job showing it.

It looks like the gate closed and the surviving Russians found Hopper and took him back to Russia.

How? The same way they got into the middle of the United States and built a massive base with a multi-mile tunnel thousands of feet below ground in just a couple of months between Seasons 2 and 3.

Quote

There’s supposedly going to be a time jump for the final season. 

I think that's the idea they've floated. But to be honest it's probably not necessary, the youngest castmembers are now 18-19 and the oldest are 22 (of the younger group), so they're not going to have another massive growth spurt between seasons.

[dbunting]

8 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

Do we think they will mention/incorporate a certain 1986 event given that the plot begins in March? Maybe they just want to tick off spring after having a summer and two autumn seasons. It’s a weird balance because it’d be rather artificial if they completely ignored it, while simultaneously running a Soviet storyline. But incorporating it into the plot or even have it interfere with Vecna or Eleven’s powers would be very thin ice. I don’t know, maybe the events of the season will conclude before April 26, which would likely be the safest route. 

It would be interesting if it got tied in and made sense. Could use the adults that are already in Russia for the plot.. still, get out of Dorne and leave it behind.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, dbunting said:

It would be interesting if it got tied in and made sense. Could use the adults that are already in Russia for the plot.. still, get out of Dorne and leave it behind.

That's a good point. I'm also surprised nobody's mentioned the Challenger disaster, which was only a few weeks earlier.

[ljkeane]

8 hours ago, Werthead said:

I think that's the idea they've floated. But to be honest it's probably not necessary, the youngest castmembers are now 18-19 and the oldest are 22 (of the younger group), so they're not going to have another massive growth spurt between seasons.

They should have had a time jump before this season. There's nothing about it that couldn't have taken place about two years down the line rather than the six months they've gone with and the young actors are starting to look a bit dubious for the ages they're supposed to be.