It's a pity they have struggled to find more for the Byers to do. Jonathan and Joyce were exceptional in the first season both story and acting. They were the real heart of the show.
Spoilers Stranger Things - Season 4
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
I enjoyed the (part) season, even though it took me a while to get through it. I don't really like watching more than two episodes of something a day and I found the runtimes a bit daunting.
The Hawkins stuff was the best storyline and pretty much justified its runtime. 'Dear Billy' was the best episode as it worked as a metaphor for depression rather than just moving the overall plot forward (but it did that too.) Sadie Sink was the standout performer of the season.
The Eleven stuff and especially the Russia stuff dragged at times, but both had satisfying endings at least.
Mike was a right dick to El after she split that girl's nose. I mean the bully was obviously making her life a living Hell and somehow got 100+ kids to publically bully her, El's response was pretty understandable. I think the last we saw of Mike/Will/Jonathan was Argyle getting stoned with Susie's sister in his van and that seems like a weird not to end their story on! It feels like they're just there to give El a ride back to Hawkins. I wish the surprisingly confident CIA guy had lived longer and they'd had an extende team-up with him.
The Hawkins stuff was the best storyline and pretty much justified its runtime. 'Dear Billy' was the best episode as it worked as a metaphor for depression rather than just moving the overall plot forward (but it did that too.) Sadie Sink was the standout performer of the season.
The Eleven stuff and especially the Russia stuff dragged at times, but both had satisfying endings at least.
Mike was a right dick to El after she split that girl's nose. I mean the bully was obviously making her life a living Hell and somehow got 100+ kids to publically bully her, El's response was pretty understandable. I think the last we saw of Mike/Will/Jonathan was Argyle getting stoned with Susie's sister in his van and that seems like a weird not to end their story on! It feels like they're just there to give El a ride back to Hawkins. I wish the surprisingly confident CIA guy had lived longer and they'd had an extende team-up with him.
...and like Mike, they're more of an accent to the series, rather than a focus--there because audiences see them as main characters, even if they're not used in that way. One can assume that will change when the remainder of the season airs in July, but the only thing that would add some sort of change to the Mike situation is if 11 really breaks up with him and means it (with no reconciliation as in the end of season three).
After seeing S4, I decided to do a bit of a rewatch until it comes back in July. Even though I'm enjoying this season, it's kind of stunning just how much tremendously better that 1st season was compared to any that followed. Almost every character has had less going on since... except Murray. Somehow, since he showed up in season 2, Murray has more going on as he goes along 
It's also pretty hilarious just how right he is about everything in hindsight 
You know, it's been so damn long, I'd actually forgotten Hopper's other officers, & hadn't even realized the smarter of the 2 was the guy who's now sheriffing... chiefing? captaining, we'll say captaining. I'd forgotten both those actors completely, & thought Hop's replacement was a new guy.
BTW, WTF ever happened to 008? She's just still out there?
It's also pretty hilarious just how right he is about everything in hindsight You know, it's been so damn long, I'd actually forgotten Hopper's other officers, & hadn't even realized the smarter of the 2 was the guy who's now sheriffing... chiefing? captaining, we'll say captaining. I'd forgotten both those actors completely, & thought Hop's replacement was a new guy.
BTW, WTF ever happened to 008? She's just still out there?
Good question about 8. I had expected her to return this season in some capacity. I guess there are still two episodes left, and her mind warping powers could actually be an asset this season---although the cast is already bloated enough.
Yeah, I was really hoping Eight would show up.
I did notice that they were very careful not to show or visually refer to Eight in any of the flashbacks. I guess she ran away at that point, which makes me wonder about the development of the program.
When Terry tried to get Eleven back, she found her and Eight in the Rainbow Room and it was just them. Eight later said that at some point Eleven was moved to somewhere else which prompted her to flee. But the mere presence of their numbers suggest there were at least eight other children already around at that time, most of whom we meet in the flashbacks. The history of One demonstrates that Brenner doesn't reuse the numbers.
So why wasn't Eight with the rest of them? Was there some introductory phase that the children had to go through first before being moved to the main section? Certainly not based on age considering some of them (including Eleven) were pretty young at that point.
Also curious how Eight's powers are based on illusions without any form of telekinesis while all of the other children appear to only have telekinesis. Is that why she wasn't there? I would think that Brenner would be interested in illusions, too, even if they're not the recreation of One's powers. When Eight was introduced, I had the presumption that there would be a gamut of different powers among each of the Hawkins Lab children, but perhaps I was just jumping to conclusions I wanted to see while setting myself up for disappointment.
That said, Eight being such an outlier from everything else is curious and I wonder if there's more to the Hawkins Lab history yet to be told.
I did notice that they were very careful not to show or visually refer to Eight in any of the flashbacks. I guess she ran away at that point, which makes me wonder about the development of the program.
When Terry tried to get Eleven back, she found her and Eight in the Rainbow Room and it was just them. Eight later said that at some point Eleven was moved to somewhere else which prompted her to flee. But the mere presence of their numbers suggest there were at least eight other children already around at that time, most of whom we meet in the flashbacks. The history of One demonstrates that Brenner doesn't reuse the numbers.
So why wasn't Eight with the rest of them? Was there some introductory phase that the children had to go through first before being moved to the main section? Certainly not based on age considering some of them (including Eleven) were pretty young at that point.
Also curious how Eight's powers are based on illusions without any form of telekinesis while all of the other children appear to only have telekinesis. Is that why she wasn't there? I would think that Brenner would be interested in illusions, too, even if they're not the recreation of One's powers. When Eight was introduced, I had the presumption that there would be a gamut of different powers among each of the Hawkins Lab children, but perhaps I was just jumping to conclusions I wanted to see while setting myself up for disappointment.
That said, Eight being such an outlier from everything else is curious and I wonder if there's more to the Hawkins Lab history yet to be told.
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I think there’s a good probability that, given the 8 thread in season 2 did not get the best reactions, it’s sitting nice and comfortable under the writer’s room floor rug and will stay there in perpetuity.
I've worried that might be the case. A shame because I've always loved that episode and still find the strong ill reaction it got odd. I get why but I still think it's weird.
That said, I'm still hoping we'll get more of her story and why she appears to be an outlier (in universe).
That said, I'm still hoping we'll get more of her story and why she appears to be an outlier (in universe).
That's probably true, & it leads me to think they hadn't fleshed out where they were going until the next season. That said. I don't think the problem people had with that plotline was 8 herself. It was that the world was becoming too big, & after S1 people we're enamored with the goings on in Hawkins, which is why in S3 they built them a mall & kept it all right in town for the most part.
I suppose that's possible, & while I fear there won't be, I'd like some kind of mention of it & her going forward. It could be something as simple as they all have varying degrees of all these psionic abilities.
In season one & two, 011 doesn't just display telekinesis. She also uses astral projection or remote viewing & enough telepathy to locate people, & her ability to broadcast Will Byers on the walkie-talkie is something of clairvoyance. In this season, 001 is clearly using telepathy & mind manipulation on the kids like Max, from inside the Upside-Down, & when he kills them, he might be exhibiting a form of energy consumption.
That kind of tracks with how Will & Barb were being fed on in some way, when they got abducted back then. Some of these new victims are being shown around the Upside-Down in a similar state... which could mean he's using them to survive there, or to try to become more powerful than 011... or not lol
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The reason to introduce her certainly seemed to be intentionally setting up a future aspect of the story, so regardless of the reception of that one episode it doesn't really make sense to just drop it like they have. As for 8's powers, based on this new episode I am wondering if she does have telekinesis and perhaps other powers, but she escaped the lab before she was able to develop them properly.
I was asking this the other day if Kate Bush had any reaction to the scene, and I found this on reddit just now. She loved it.
Finished the first half of S4.
That last episode with the Vecna 'reveal' was pretty dang good. Can't wait to see where they run with it in July!
That last episode with the Vecna 'reveal' was pretty dang good. Can't wait to see where they run with it in July!
Do you have a link to the post, i.e. how do we know it's actually Kate Bush?I was asking this the other day if Kate Bush had any reaction to the scene, and I found this on reddit just now. She loved it.
It's not just telekinesis we see them use but telepathy and astral projection too; both Ten and Eleven are shown doing remote viewing (believe it or not, this was an actual thing both the Yanks and the Soviets experimented with around this time, for espionage purposes of course.) Indeed this is what Eleven was doing when she first saw the demogorgon and created the portal. She later did so again to find Will (and what was left of Barb.) Plus One's ability to enter a person's mind, make them see visions and hallucinations sounds exactly the same as what Eight can do, only bent to malicious purpose.
I think all the subjects have the same potential in terms of what they can do (wilfully access a higher dimensional plane), it's just as with any skill, there's variance in their aptitude. Eleven could most likely do what Eight does if she trained at it. Telekinesis just comes more naturally to her since she mostly draws on raw emotions (positive and negative) and that is most conducive for directing a physical force.
I think El's strength isn't in her powers, it's always been in her. Her sheer tenacious willpower. It's what makes her a psychokinetic battering ram.
https://www.katebush.com/news/stranger-things
She posted on her website. I think that's a good indication.
Kate Bush must be happy as hell right now, she's a fan of the show, her song is climbing the charts with little extra effort involved and she's getting exposed to an entirely new generation previously unfamiliar with her.
Or, & this is just me theorizing, prior to 010 & 011, the project focus was more on mind manipulation & telepathy, as we see with 001 & 008's more frequented powers, BUT after some incidents, like 008 escaping (Probably with mind manipulation) & 001 ending up doing something that made it necessary to install an inhibitor in him, the lab decided maybe honing those kinds of powers... not the best plan for a containable group, & then afterward focused more on telekinesis & astral projection... Not that it would matter much, once they begin to independently self-actualize, like 001 & 011 are doing right now
I think it's a simple matter of the lab testing for aptitudes across the full range of ESP abilities; indeed the term ESP is rather apt because these aren't all separate powers, it's an extra sense. The ability to perceive a higher dimensional planes, and then interacting with the physical world through said planes.
To put it in simple terms; people with functioning eyeballs don't have various "sight powers" like a "see colours power", or "depth perception power". It's just a sense that enables one to do various things with that ability, gathering information from the environment and interact with it. For eyesight, it means being able to see colours, to be able to reach out and grab and object, roughly knowing instinctively how far away it is, recognise shapes, detect movement, even communicate with someone through eye contact.
El's and the others are like that. They're not the X-Men: they're Jedi.
All the inhibitor in One probably does is prevent him for being able to focus enough to use his sense.
I actually did know that, which was something Suspicious Minds covers (the real experiments).
Those are good points, particularly Eight's malicious, untrained intent and that's I hadn't thought about.
Hopefully that aligns with the Duffers brothers' thinking and will be explored later on.
Well, you didn't say that!https://www.katebush.com/news/stranger-things
She posted on her website. I think that's a good indication.
But thank you.
Yeah, I've been thinking about that, too. I would be curious to watch all of the flashbacks in chronological order to see how well the fit with each other. I suspect you're right that he hadn't seen those particular powers from her...although he seems to be aware of the Upside Down after the Massacre based on the way he looked and touched the wall (undoubtedly they have the security footage of what Eleven did to One).
