Spoilers Stranger Things - Season 3

It's good in a cheesy 80s movie kind of way. Pretty much the plot revolves around this "stuff" taken from the ground that's super addictive and delicious that gets sold on the market and it turns people into obsessed psycho/zombies.

It stars Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Danny Aiello, Abe Vigoda, and Paul Sorvino

 

I hadn't heard of it before this thread either. I just looked it up and it's only got a 5.9 on IMDB, ouch.

 

If anyone is interested here's a fun behind the scenes/overview of The Stuff from a channel I've recently become a fan of on Youtube.

 

Honestly, with the Byers clan leaving town, & Hopper out of the picture, in some way, only about half of the principal cast is still in Hawkins at the moment. I have to think in order for the show to keep escalating the way is has been, it won't be entirely centered in Hawkins next season. 008 is still out there (& presumably at least 9 others) There's a whole plot going on in Russia, Dustin's girlfriend in Utah, god only knows where Paul Reiser's fleet is located now (& possibly some of the other experimentees). Sorry, but to keep this train going in the direction it's going, we'll be expanding into the greater world in the near future, me thinks.

Assuming Eleven gets her powers back, I've been thinking about what exactly they are comprised of. We know she can do telekinesis in the extreme. In the most extreme case of her telekinesis, she levitated. This leads me to believe she could probably use that power to straight up fly.

She's capable of fairly extensive remote viewing, & a certain amount of telepathy (while she is remote viewing). I could imagine her being fully telepathic, just by the means she already employs (Sensory deprivation) as in, if she muted her senses, she could telepathically read people who are right there with her, in the same way she did with a remote person like Billy. I also have to think that because of that, she isn't too far from being able to do the thought pushing that 008 did. Am I missing anything?

 

I actually don't see them doing much outside of Hawkins. I think the small town setting is a big part of the shows success. It makes everthing feel more intimate than it would be if the show was more worldly. That is why they have secret goverment project and now Russians come to Hawkins. Jason

 

Funny moment on Fallon tonight but this is why I made sure to binge this early so as to not get spoiled.

 

I ain't a fan of Fallon but that was fun. I absolutely believe Colbert would break out into that song at any given time.

 

Millie Bobby Brown started a NeverEnding Story dance challenge on Instagram...and the Childlike Empress herself responded!

 

I agree and it's about time the show expands its scope.. the Duffer brothers themselves stated that the show has a finite lifespan because how many times can you have the kids deal with monsters during their summer vacation?

They laid the groundwork and i hope they keep this up. Wouldn't it be great if 5 years after Season 4 or 5 they return to the show with the now adult actors and make their own Spinoff show.. i'd imagine that adult Eleven could handle the stress of her powers better with more experience and a grown, adult body.

 

The fact that Millie Bobby Brown wears glasses occasionally just makes her more endearing to me (that kid's going somewhere, mark my words, lol). The Empress' one daughter kind of reminds me of her a little too.

 

Yeah, but what's the alternative? 4 of the main characters are driving out of town for the foreseeable future. Now, the next season will likely be a year later, & maybe they'll put them back in town, after a comparable time span, with some plot device, but there's a good chance they'll have to cover something about what went down with them being away, & honestly, the idea that some "Stranger Things" start to happen only when they come back to be reunited is a little bit lame. Hopefully they have a good plan

About the only legitimate thing that might be a worthwhile cause to have all those people come back, would be that they find out something about Hopper that draws them back, in a year's time. I have to think that if he is even coming back, it'll be because he's been in the Upsidedown since this season's end of events, which means he'll have had to survive there for a year, meaning he'll be one haggard badass survivor by then. (Something tells me if he's coming back, that big old beard that David Harbour has grown might be of use)

Even still, there's so much of what's happened that can't be entirely explained in Hawkins. Where exactly are all the Hawkins National Laboratory people now? Where are the rest of their experiment subjects? What exactly IS the Upsidedown, & what is the next stage of how it will be faced?

Looking at the 3 seasons, each one has dealt with an ever increasing invasion of threats from there. That escalation has to grow again, or the suspense will wither. Maybe the door rips open in Hawkins, but the response will have to involve multiple factors that aren't

Plus, we're reaching a point where we're going to need to start learning more about the Upsidedown. Having a story that involves a main character who had to live there is one way. Finding out more about the shadow groups that are invested in it is another. It'll be a bit disappointment if we get through 5 seasons & still don't have any clue what the deal really is with it

It'll be unsatisfying if it's just some nondescript boogeyman, so they could tell a cutesy story about some 80s kids. As fun as the lighthearted comedy bits have been, the drama & suspense of the paranormal has been equally captivating, & must be satiated too

The fact is, they've already dabbled outside of town, & part of that was to touch on there being other people like Eleven, part was to give backstory on her, & part was to indicate that what's happened in Hawkins has far reaching consequences, even all the way to Russia.

Sure they had to come to Hawkins, but it doesn't end there. In order for the escalation of suspense to continue, something huge will have to happen next time, & that can't be contained in some small town, not when there's multinational government involvement, & people that've dealt with it, out on the loose, or deeply affected by it

A show like this is going to get harder & harder for the Duffers to make, but if they're up to it, it could be something incredible by the time we get a couple more seasons under our belt

Now I agree that the show might have a pretty limited shelf life, if we're married to this small group of kids growing up, but I have to imagine that there will be a season 4 & probably a 5th. By then, these youngsters who were 12 & 13 will be damn near fully adult. At that point, the coming of age bit will be taking a back seat to the fact that they've had this monumental phenomenon they've been dealing with. That's the evolution of this, isn't it?

They must become the superheroes they've read about in their comics. Wonder Girl. Zombie Boy, Chief Badass, The Sarah Conner mom, etc... Isn't that where we're going? That's bigger than Hawkins imho

 

Well, that's a problem for the series; in modelling it on the "small-towny" motif Stephen King has used (to death), the action never branches out, as the basic concept is not meant to be so expansive. Taking the characters to parts unknown will beg the question: "why are these kids and a couple of adults the point people--the center of the action?" If the problem spreads beyond Hawkins, the Duffers will likely struggle to justify why the lead characters must be involved, and realistically, how long would the government tolerate what are essentially rogue actors (the heroes) running around knowing THE biggest secret in the world.

 

Will and Eleven has pretty forced them to become the center of all of this.

Yeah, there's also really only so much you can do in a small town, especially if the scope of the show is going to continue growing.
Oh, and as for the other kids Hawkins Lab experimented on, the current comic miniseries, Six, deal at least a few of them.

 

Well, I'd say Eleven & Will are special persons with a connection to the events, that is inseparable imho. Where ever this goes, it's feasible for those two to be involved, & anybody associated with them, by virtue of proximity, being that they're family or intimate parties. Will is linked to the Mindflayer, & Eleven is bred to combat it (Or at least it seems that's the case)

Plus, I never really said they need to take the characters to parts wholly unknown, nor abandon Hawkins altogether, given how integral it is as a focal point of the invasion, but it is certainly going to be nearly impossible to lock the series there, & entirely keep it as a small town feel. They'll have to branch out to some degree

Plus, as the events closed in Hawkins, choppers are flying in, man. Clearly the town will be under a pretty intense scrutiny. It's kind of a miracle that they move ahead a few months & don't have much to say about it, & the Byers clan is just leaving of their own accord. It's pretty well an international incident, in the heart of America, during the cold war lol

A giant creature trashed the mall & Russians were exposed, & a mayor ousted. Even if they arrange a coverup, it's still a trashed mall, ousted mayor & strange government people descending on the town. Twice now, they've covered up this craziness, & those 1st two deals weren't nearly as publicly catastrophic

We are off the rails here. If the next season doesn't reflect that, it's kind of silly

 

Hmmmm, silliness is kind of one of the points of the series, isn't it? It has always been a 1980's cinematic "romp" and asks the viewer to roll with the idea and enjoy the ride.

 

I really don't think it's possible for Hopper to survive the upside down for a year. There doesn't seem to be any vegetation or clean water there, and that's without even mentioning the pissed off mind flayer that he's literally powerless against which also has an army of demogorgons.

I agree they'll have to explain more about the Upside Down, and him getting stuck there for a short time could theoretically be one way to do it, but if they actually claim he survived there alone for a year that would honestly be a jump the shark moment for me.

 

Got a question. How much do we really care about the upside down? It looks cool but in the end isn't it just the place the monsters live? I feel any answers will just be tons of science technobabble. Jason

 

They never really intended to explain it in the first place, IMO. It was just a plot device.

 

Yeah, Eleven and Will have a natural connection to all of the Upside Down goings-on, but the series is going will need to explain how the others happen to find their way into major monster events for the third time. Its one thing if Will & Eleven seek their help, and even if they do, it will start to come off like Jaws 2, where the new shark just so happens to hunt at Amity, and conveniently threatens Brody's kids which sends him right back into another shark fight. In other words, ST needs some believable explanations for a reunion or it will come off like a bad, "just because" sequel.

Perhaps it would make more sense for the government (represented by Paul Reiser's character) to finally engage with the people who have fought these threats over and over again. Not necessarily draft them into some kind of service, but in the wake of two major incidents, there has to be a true meeting of the minds/joining forces. The kids cant go Scooby-Doo-ing around and walk free forever.

That is what i'm getting at with the kids being recognized, but that does not necessarily mean the series has to expand beyond Hawkins, unless they hard sell the idea that after three years of investigating, they have confirmed that the Upside Down has only one access point--that town.

Yep.

 

I'll admit, it's pushing it to have him survive there, but it could be done. It's a wholly unexplained realm. I mean, some of the buildings have working LIGHTS. We honestly know next to nothing about it. There could even be people there, in hiding

Mostly I'm just saying that if Hopper is survived at all, where else could it believably be? It's entirely possible he's gone, but I see it being hard for the show to move forward without their male lead, & something of a glue for the show, especially this show, which owes so much to its cast dynamic, & I think it's unrealistic that he'd have been moved to that Russian holding cell, so easily after the events that happened.

I doubt it's him in that cell, & if it turns out to be him, that's a bigger jump the shark moment IMHO, because this part of the story takes place in a fictional version of our world, & our world has rules, logic, history. It's absurd to suggest Hopper got whisked away to a Russian installation, so soon after everything went to shit for them in Hawkins

Whereas, the upsidedown can have its own logic, written specific to their story, as of now. They have a pretty clean avenue for creativity down there, if they use it wisely

But they need to give us something, because much of the premise is that American shadow government & now Russian military are trying so hard to either get there, or close it off, or study it, etc... that there must be a rationale. Plus, it's not just a strange place that monsters live. It's some alt-universe of their own, with mirrors of their buildings etc... having no explanation will be rather unsatisfying imho

This last season did more to paint them into corners than either of the other 2, with all that Russian stuff. It's not as easily forgotten a loose thread as Eleven's one-off episode with 008, which I'm still hoping ties in at some point too.

They have set up things with Russians that we need to be addressed, for good or ill, and part of the show is a mystery intrigue, which centers around this alt-universe