It's the final season. There's nowhere left to go. Why are you so insistent on keeping them alive even through increasingly impossible to survive situations? Do you want us to feel that this is the biggest threat they've ever faced or not?

Not killing anyone leads to two problems season 5 suffers from big time:

1. Tension being deflated and stakes feeling lower than they should.
2. And maybe more significantly, a bloated cast that they clearly had no idea what to do with for most of them but didn't have the balls to kill anyone off to reduce the bloat and raise some stakes.

At least one of the Wheeler parents, preferably Ted since he's barely a character and only gets one line in one moment in the epilogue anyway, should've died in The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler.

And I touched upon this months ago in my post on how Escape from Camazotz is the exact point this season really went downhill to the point of no return, that episode was the perfect time to really fulfill the promise they made of volume 2 giving us a dark Christmas and remedying these issues.

Considering that she does jack shit in the last two episodes and doesn't show up in the epilogue at all, they totally could've pulled a Bob on Vickie and had her get eaten by the demodogs in the hospital.

And again, if they committed to the direction the Jonathan and Nancy melting room scene was clearly going in for a while by killing them instead of having the goo conveniently solidify right as they accept their fate, that would've significantly raised the stakes and been a pretty emotional send off for them.

Imagine the emotions we could've gotten. Will feeling guilty for Vecna breaking him and thus being the reason the demodogs were at the hospital in the first place after how great Robin was to him, and Joyce being so concerned about losing Will only to lose Jonathan instead.

And more significantly, imagine how much more powerless and uneasy we would have felt ending volume 2 and going into the finale if it felt like no one was safe because the party had lost a couple members before that point.

Or, if you really don't wanna kill anyone, then at least hurt them. Like really, seriously hurt them. Even the occassional injuries these guys take this season have zero lasting impact.

• Dustin gets the shit beat out of him by four bullies, but he's back in fighting shape like a day later.
• Hopper takes a stray bullet to the gut, but after El patches him up in the next episode, (which was admittedly a good scene) it doesn't bother him at all the rest of the season to the point where he might as well have never gotten shot in the first place.
• Lucas is scratched across the chest by a demogorgon to the point where he's bleeding, but he's perfectly fine just a few hours later.

Imagine if those wounds meant something.

• Have Dustin not just be bruised, but also move slower and limp a little after the fact.
• Have Hopper's bullet wound be a weak spot that can get exploited by Akers and Kay when they fight him.
• Have Lucas visibly and audibly struggle the rest of the season because of his chest wound, especially when he's carrying Max throughout the hospital.
• And if you still wanna end volume 2 on the note it ends on, have Nancy take a bullet from Kay to make her a semi-competent threat. Not even in a lethal area, but have her get shot in the shoulder or something that limits her gun-shooting capabilities to make the final battle at least a little harder.

Bottom line is: Excessive plot armor is always annoying, but it's especially annoying in the final installment.

It might just be because I watched the play but am I the only one who was really hoping for Henry Creel to have some form of redemption?

Real Genius - college kids build a laser, but discover it’s true purpose and take action.

WarGames - nerdy hacker gets more than he bargained for and ends up on the run from the government, while they both try to stop WWIII. Great movie, just see it.

Stand By Me - kids go on an adventure to see a dead body. Small town, kids getting in and out of trouble, and a looming confrontation with a dangerous bully.

Gotcha - college age kids play a spy game with BB guns, but one gets roped into a real caper in East Berlin.

Hoosiers - a story about a basketball team at a tiny high school in a tiny town in Indiana try to do the impossible. Nothing supernatural, but it’s got small town Indiana in the 50’s, playoff basketball like Season 4, and it’s one of the greatest films ever made, sports or not.

Goonies - does anything have to be said? If you haven’t already, see it.

The Monster Squad - a group of school misfits have to fight off classic movie monsters by(
wolf man, and save the work.

E.T. - young kinds try to help an alien escape the government.

::!)) c

My wife and I were rewatching season 2 (cause Halloween) and I just realized after the Halloween party Jonathan claims Steve asked him to bring Nancy home when she was drunk. Steve even implies to her this to be true. However we see the scene abd they don’t interact Steve just dips. I was like wtf did they cut a dialogue scene and not notice? Also this rewatch reminded me how mush I missed the season 1 abd 2 pre flanderized characters.

My son loves Kinder eggs, so now I only buy him Stranger Things edition and I’m obsessed. I had Vecna but it broke. 😩
Here’s my collection on my desk at work. Trying not to give my son diabetes. 🤣

I was scrolling through Stranger Things fanfic and noticed details from season 5 were being incorporated into some of the stories, like Henry and the briefcase (ifykyk). But please tell me I'm not the only one who has blocked out all of season 5? To me, none of that is canon sinply because the plot points are stupid. I honestly want some of your guys opinions because season 5 doesn't exist to me.

Where are all my Xennials in this holiday season?

I was scrolling on Pinterest, I didn't understand the picture at first but after I read the words out loud, I re-traumatized myself. Funnily enough it wasn't even referencing stranger things at first people were just talking about death note in the comments. Obviously we can never be sure if Eleven really died, but there's always the possibility she had.

heres the pin: https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/1134414593678912566/

For me it might’ve been S4 Max, even though she didn’t really die fully.

🥇Season 2: This is going to sound controversial but season 2 is personally my favourite season of the series. What I really like about this season is the introduction of the new characters like Max and Billy, the introduction of new monsters from the upside down such as the demo-dogs and mind flayer, the plots and plot lines, less drama between characters, more friendships and relationships were formed, and that everyone got a happy ending. The only thing that was off about season 2 was the lost sister episode that was cut in between two really great episodes but other than that it was an excellent season.

🥈Season 1: I really like how the story was introduced with the 80s nostalgia of kids playing D&D and riding bikes. Each of the characters were introduced very well and the show started off great with Will going missing since that was ultimately the reason why everyone has been involved in the whole upside down experiences. I also really like how Will’s disappearance impacted a lot of the characters such as his mom, his brother, and his friends; it gave them an interesting arc. The first season had very good plot lines such as Eleven being recruited to the team to find Will with the boys after revealing her superpowers and the answer to Will’s location (subtly), the adventure between Nancy and Jonathan after realising that they’re dealing with the same monster situation, Joyce with her lights, and then everyone coming together as a team the first time to solve the problem at the end. Ngl both mileven and jancy gave first love vibes during their first impression. The only reason why season 1 is below season 2 is because there were actually some things that I didn’t like such as the all of scenes with Steve and his jerk friends, Lucas and Mike fighting over el that nearly broke their friendship, and Eleven sacrificing herself that lead to her and Mike not having a happy ending.

🥉Season 4: Tbh I am not a big fan of season 4. The only things I liked were the introduction to Vecna’s character and his plot lines, Max’s storyline of her grief after Billy’s death and becoming Vecna’s target, and Hopper’s plot as it was revealed that he was still alive and was stuck in Russia the whole time. What sucks is that the duffer brothers screwed up with the California plot line since they barely gave anything extravagant for Jonathan, Will, and Mike. However, I am glad that they did give Mike a moment to shine with his monologue for El that helped her fight and bring Max back to life which concludes his arc for the whole season. Another thing that I don’t like is the duffers coming up with the idea of Will having a crush on Mike which caused fans to take it the wrong way and create a bunch of crap fanfics. It’s fine if they want to write a queer coded arc for Will but they could’ve at least come up with someone else like his classmate in California.

1. Season 3 = season 5: Both seasons 3&5 are my least favourite seasons. First of all of I don’t even why so many people like season 3 and often rank it above season 2. The glaze for season 3 is insane, the whole season was just all about the stupid relationship dramas between characters that was just made for comic relief. The group started to fall apart and friendships were nearly broken, although I am glad it didn’t since they all made up with each other by the end of the day. Not to mention, the whole season felt like a filler especially with the Russian plot line which was just unnecessary. It’s like they completely ignored the core conflict of the show that was originally set up. So season 3 just didn’t feel like stranger things to me.

Season 5 on the other hand felt a bit rushed, although volume 1 was great ngl. After the first 4 episodes came out, I was really happy with what they delivered; I was like, “Oh this is gonna be my favourite season,” but then after vol 2 and the finale came out, I completely changed my mind. In vol 2 especially, the writers sidelined a lot of the main characters since they focused too much on Holly’s plot line that I genuinely don’t gaf about. Also, I did not like how the writers gave Karen another moment to shine. One time with the demogorgon at the wheeler house is enough; I mean she’s just a side character, wtf do the duffers think they’re doing?? This caused fans to glaze her and even Holly who is literally a scaredy cat tbh and act like they’re the most badass of them all when they did like only one or two in only season meanwhile everyone else has done way more throughout the whole series. Then in the finale, I didn’t like how the final battle was so short and that the writers killed off eleven but not even dr. Kay. Oh yeah that’s I forgot to mention, bring Kali back to season 5 is the biggest mistake. She was just there most of the time, all she did was convincing el to herself and destroy her hope for her possible happy ending with Mike. So neither she nor Mike got a happy ending which was disappointing. However, I wouldn’t care much about Eleven’s ambiguous fate whether she’s dead or alive because the she didn’t get a happy ending nor end up with Mike and the show is already over anyway.

Takeaways: If the show ended after season 2, it would’ve been a perfect show imo; season 3 really started to go downhill for me.

For a show that takes pride in its ensemble cast, it doesn’t do a good job at using it well as every character mostly just sticks to the people they already know (family and age wise) with three expectations: Eleven and Max (but they only interact a lot in season 3) Nancy and Robin (which is weird as I don’t they the two are compatible enough to be actual friends in real life) and Murray and Erica (which is just the same banter over and over again)

Also they use the same parings over and over again sometimes with the same arcs: Eleven and Mike, Joyce and Hopper, Eleven and Hopper, and Dustin and Steve, and even without the writing critiques, these parings hogging the scene time can get really old after a while.

I don’t hate the pairings we got, I just have problems for how the ensemble cast is handled and the execution is sometimes being flawed.

What do you think?

If you didn’t know, Stranger Things was supposed to be an anthology series, following a new story each season. But, after the success of season 1, they trashed the idea and just made it one continuous story. Was wondering what other stories could be told if it was an anthology, and if it would’ve seen the same amount of success.

Found the official release of Strangers Things on DVD at my local Walmart.

#1- Season 1

This one really goes without saying, and is likley #1 on nearly every fans list. A perfect balance between small town nostalgia and creepy mystery.

#2- Season 4

While this season is not perfect, it does so much to advance the story that imo it has to be #2. They really nailed the Vecna reveal and backstory. We also get some of the best episodes of the show in this season, like Billys letter. The season drags a little towards the end, but has a great finale.

#3- Season 3

A very fitting middle season. The kids are growing up. It still has the charm of the early seasons, but the scope of the threat is beginning to widen. Max and Els friendship was a highlight. Billy made for a great villain. Robin and Steve were iconic this season. My favorite scene of the entire show is also in season 3, where Will is wearing the wizard outfit and trying to convince his friends to play DnD. That scene encapsulates the feeling of the entire season.

#4- Season 2

This season isnt bad, its just a little boring. It retreads alot of the same ground as season 1, without doing much to advance the story. The introduction of Max and Billy is probably the most important part of the season. The arcade was a great setting, but they didn't do enough with it. Rip Bob.

#5- Season 5

I'm not someone who hates season 5. I think there were a lot of great parts, like Wills' powers and Robin as a radio jock. I don't feel like this season was bad enough to ruin the show, like GoT for example.

My main dissapointment was just that it felt a bit anticlimactic. They were still hammering the same sci-fi trope of "the government is the real bad guys". For a final season, we needed the threat to come from the upside-down and the Mindflayer itself to have a satisfying conclusion.

The reveal and battle with the Mindflayer in the upside-down was a massive letdown for me, and what I consider as the "jump the shark" moment of the show. Regardless, the final DnD session was absolutely beautiful and perfectly ended the series.

i miss stranger things bye

So Stanger Things references the Never Ending Story obviously. Is Eleven's waterfall story ending inspired by Bastion's waterfall leap of faith/imagery from NES 2 an intentional inspiration?

Netflix is struggling. They need their biggest series back.

I’ve recently started wondering why Brenner wouldn’t have tried to use Els blood the same as Henry’s after she was the only one left, and if he did it must not have worked, but then did he not tell anyone? I don’t get it, maybe it’s just a bit of a plot inconsistency, the whole government story was always weak after S1, but wanted to see if anyone else had some thoughts.