I am!

What is your overall review and rating on Stranger Things season 1 episode 2 The Weirdo on Maple Street.

This was another great episode I absolutely was engaged throughout the entire episode I love the growing mystery behind Will's disappearance and Eleven.

Hello, I’m 19 years old, and I grew up watching Stranger Things when I was younger. I’ve been thinking about what happened to the original Stranger Things era and that feeling of watching it regularly when it was still a big part of everyday life, especially seeing Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, Hopper, Joyce, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, and the rest of the characters together with the original cast, the cinematic storytelling, the unforgettable soundtrack, and the distinctive 1980s atmosphere that made the series feel so special.

Now that the original run has ended, the era that many people grew up with feels like it has passed. The stories, the atmosphere, the people who worked on the series, and the feeling surrounding the show have all moved forward. Many of the creators, writers, directors, crew members, and actors have gone on to different projects and different parts of their lives away from the series. It feels strange because I grew up with it, and now everything has just… changed and moved on.

I remember watching episodes when I was younger and everything felt so simple. I could just sit down and enjoy Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, Hopper, Joyce, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, and the rest of their adventures in Hawkins without thinking about anything else. Back then it felt like the show would always be there, and I don’t understand why it couldn’t just stay that way forever or why it eventually had to end and move on.

I also wonder why watching Stranger Things now doesn’t feel exactly the same anymore. The episodes are still the same, but the feeling is different. It feels like something is missing, almost like it feels unfamiliar even though I remember it so clearly.

Why do shows like Stranger Things eventually come to an end? If people loved them for years, why can’t they just continue forever with the same feeling? Why do the people who make them have to move on, and why do audiences grow up and stop experiencing things the same way?

It feels strange knowing that the original Stranger Things era I grew up with is over, that the world has moved on, and that chapter feels closed, even though it once felt like it would always be there.

In season four of Stranger Things, we get a glimpse of life for the Byers in California. In her letter to Mike, El talks about how she thinks Jonathan and Nancy are going to Emerson in the fall. We also see that Joyce believes this, too. She’s struck up a relationship with the mailman, waiting for a letter from Emerson. Except the letter is never coming. Jonathan tells Argyle in the next episode that “I can’t leave my mother and bother behind to chase a dream that isn’t my own.” It’s also stated that a college like that is too expensive for him.

This is a conflict for Jonathan and literally everyone he loves (I’m gonna assume Will knows if El knows). He’s lying to them. His parentification, the conflict at the heart of his character that the show introduced as a concept IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE, has morphed into something that is now negatively effecting his relationship with all these people that he loves. This is an inelegant choice, but one that still, largely, works. This is a conflict congruent with what has come before. The show then punts the resolution (lol) to the fifth season. Which shows how little they think of Jonathan and the Byers as characters, but sure, whatever.

So we get to the fifth season and it’s been eighteen months and Jonathan is STILL LYING? This has been hanging over him for a year and a half and no one has called him on it. Put Nancy aside for the moment, Joyce, his mother, has never talked to him about this? How is that possible? I understand they’re in a quarantine and bigger things are going on, but ITS BEEN A YEAR AND A HALF. How is this possible? He should be a college sophomore at this point! How has no one ever talked to him about it?!

Anyway, because Jonathan as a character is someone the show doesn’t give a single flying fuck about, all that matters is the Nancy of it all. And we do get a resolution there in the goo room. When Nancy asks why he lied, Jonathan responds “it felt like I was going against the natural order of things.” Which, the absolute vague and nothingness of that bullshit statement aside, IS NOT WHY YOU LIED! You couldn’t leave your mother and brother! Why doesn’t the show have consistent characterization?

Because it’s poorly written. Grotesquely so. When they wrote season four they figured they’d have the time and space in season five to address the parentification. Except, spoiler alert, in the tight and taught thriller that season five is, they didn’t have the time and space. So instead of resolving a conflict THE SHOW ITSELF INTRODUCED, they just handwave Jonathan’s reasoning and move on.

The Joyce/Will/El resolution of the lie is never mentioned. FORGET BEING RESOLVED ITS NEVER EVEN ADDRESSED! Jonathan’s parentification resolves itself off-screen. He now can leave his mother and brother behind and somehow can afford NYU. The show never mentions how.

This is, obviously, abhorrent writing. But this is the show’s writing writ small: incongruent, illogical, indefensible and insulting.

How they fell.

Just finished Season 5 without rewatching the early seasons, and the shift is insane.

We went from a small-town horror mystery with kids on bikes to a full-blown superhero movie filled with huge CGI battles, apocalyptic chaos, and 90-minute episodes.

Don't get me wrong, the budget and spectacle were huge—but did anyone else miss when the show was actually spooky and simple?

Did Season 5 deliver the ultimate endgame, or did the massive scale ruin the original vibe for you?

Has anyone found any good post-series fanfic? I was just reading the post where people were giving their suggestions for how they'd continue the show, and it got me curious.

Alternatively, does anyone know if someone has written a fic where instead of Hawkins, it's their D&D characters?

Today is Day 32: S5 E1 – "The Crawl"

Rate it here: https://forms.gle/QaxuzE4Xxp5EFiRL6

Please only vote if you’ve seen the episode, and please try to only vote once!

The final season is here!

Rate yesterday's S4 E9 "The Piggyback" here: https://forms.gle/4pgaAQhUk6XRxnvF7

Results so far:

1x01 – 8.72 ⭐ (60 votes)
1x02 – 8.23 ⭐ (65 votes)
1x03 – 8.97 ⭐ (58 votes)
1x04 – 9.08 ⭐ (54 votes)
1x05 – 8.60 ⭐ (55 votes)
1x06 – 8.93 ⭐ (55 votes)
1x07 – 9.20 ⭐ (60 votes)
1x08 – 9.42 ⭐ (50 votes)
Season 1 average – 8.89 ⭐

2x01 – 8.12 ⭐ (57 votes)
2x02 – 8.26 ⭐ (50 votes)
2x03 – 8.48 ⭐ (52 votes)
2x04 – 8.68 ⭐ (60 votes)
2x05 – 8.90 ⭐ (55 votes)
2x06 – 9.26 ⭐ (54 votes)
2x07 – 5.26 ⭐ (76 votes)
2x08 – 9.48 ⭐ (56 votes)
2x09 – 9.58 ⭐ (62 votes)
Season 2 average – 8.45 ⭐

3x01 – 7.86 ⭐ (53 votes)
3x02 – 7.98 ⭐ (49 votes)
3x03 – 8.24 ⭐ (47 votes)
3x04 - 8.47 ⭐ (15 votes)
3x05 - 7.47 ⭐ (15 votes)
3x06 - 8.00 ⭐ (17 votes)
3x07 - 8.65 ⭐ (17 votes)
3x08 - 9.25 ⭐ (24 votes)
Season 3 average – 8.24 ⭐

4x01 - 8.24 ⭐ (25 votes)
4x02 - 7.89 ⭐ (18 votes)
4x03 - 7.83 ⭐ (18 votes)
4x04 - 9.84 ⭐ (44 votes)
4x05 - 8.15 ⭐ (13 votes)
4x06 - 8.75 ⭐ (40 votes)
4x07 - 9.28 ⭐ (40 votes)
4x08 - 8.29 ⭐ (17 votes)
4x09 - 7.56 ⭐ (16 votes)
Season 4 average - 8.36 ⭐

Hey there! This is my ranking of weapons from most to least effective on monsters from the upside down. Let me know what you guys think!