Alright, finished Episode 4. My issues remain, though I'm still enjoying myself.
The scripting here is just really rough/on the nose in so many places. The reintroduction of Max is a great example. The flashback scenes with her were very well done, but because for some godawful reason they decided to
show and tell, they're accompanied by leaden exposition. I honestly don't know what they were thinking here, because it would have been so much better with just the visuals and a few quick cuts to the end of the conversation with Holly.
I also really dislike how somewhere between Seasons 4 and 5 the gang somehow transformed into a group of superheroes, complete with a secret hideout, and come up with one harebrained plan after another. How is Murray getting the money to equip them with all this shit? How do they not suffer any legal repercussions from drugging and kidnapping the entire Turnbow family? I think that was the point where I basically lost any suspension of disbelief here. It's not like their plans ever fully succeed, but where in earlier seasons we stumble to one unlikely victory against all odds, here across four episodes we saw three different highly contrived plans. Not only are there just too many moving parts, it's also repetitive, because they keep doing it.
Is it the weekend? Are the boys just skipping school? I dunno, all sense of normalcy seems to have sapped out of the show.
I completely disagree with all of this.
My general point across all of these is that in earlier seasons, the interpersonal coming/of age conflicts (like Max getting introduced to the group in Season 2, or Lucas becoming a cool kid in Season 4) built slowly across the season. Here they just introduce a lot of conflict bombs, which they are defusing one by one, which makes it the opposite of dramatic tension.
Steve and Jonathan haven't been around each other in a long time. Jonathan and Nancy were already having issues in the last season, while the chemistry between Nancy and Steve were rekindled while Jonathan was away. The fact that Jonathan and Steve are fighting each other over Nancy felt perfectly natural to me.
It's understandable, but it's boring, because it's a retread of earlier dynamics. Doesn't help that they're giving Jonathan jack shit to do (yet again). It's also worth noting that Nancy isn't really getting any scenes to speak of with either one of them alone, so it's not like you could really argue anything resembling a love triangle is going on right now.
Dustin pushed everyone away because of Eddie's traumatic death, coupled by the fact that the public still thinks he murdered Chrissy. On top of all of that, Dustin was being bullied by the surviving members of the basketball team who hold a grudge against Dustin because of what they believe about Eddie. Dustin's behavior is entirely believable because he's both a victim of trauma and bullying. I would be surprised if he didn't push people away and was being an ass.
Yeah, but what did that stuff amount to after the first episode or two? Dustin's just surly and fighting with Steve, instead of vibing with him as a friend. The bullies have vanished. He's not interacting with his friends to any real degree.
El and Will both suffered from the same issue: Overprotective parents who are understandably terrified for their children. El is being hunted by the fucking U.S. military and Will is still suffering from his traumatic experiences brought on by Henry. Of course Hopper and Joyce were trying to keep them cooped up as much as possible until El and Will finally pushed back.
And they're both solved now - in fact, El and Hopper were right with each other before the end of the second episode. Again, my issue isn't really with the conflict, but how it was structured - as something that festered mid-season, and is then disposed of once it's time for big plot to happen.
I'd say exposition of the "hunch" variety was necessary, since the characters delivering it--the protagonists more than others--were in the dark about Vecna's plans and the military's actions with the Upside Down, so people would tend to brainstorm/theorize in order to build strategies. From the hospital scene with Mike, Lucas and Nancy, to Mike's plan to remove Derek Turnbow from his home in order to set up the tracking of the Demogorgon, it was all necessary to justify their awareness and actions in the 4th episode. The audience may or may not guess what's happening--or needed to happen, but the characters are caught up in the wave(s) of situations largely beyond their control, hence their need for exposition.
One of the former strengths of the show was the mystery, which seems all but gone now. Indeed, I think that horror (which Stranger Things has dabbled in, though it's clearly not that genre alone) is based on the unexplainable, and the more you try and exposit away what's happening, the less scary anything actually is. Which is part of why this season seems to be leaning into action movie instead.
The hospital scene was one of the absolute nadirs of the season for me. Mike and Nancy's mom nearly died, and their thought is to break in, bother her, and pump her for information. Made them seem not like people, but video game NPCs.
Best part of the season by far is seeing Holly explore the weird, sunlit dream world, since that's something genuinely new and slightly off-kilter.
That "something" is (in part) Nancy's reference to how much Steve changed at the end of S4 when talking to Jonathan. Nancy obviously had or has some lingering feelings about the good (and now maturing) side of Steve, and she's not outright rejecting his closeness or behavior toward her in front of her boyfriend, nor does she really deny Robin's "neanderthal" barb (related to Jonathan and Steve's competitive nature around her). That's the "something" in this soft romantic triangle.
I think you need to read really hard into things like Nancy thinking Steve had a better plan to think she's warming to him in any real way this season. They've not had a single scene alone together. Not had any chance to show chemistry. I know it's hard with such a large ensemble cast, but still.
Will upgrading and unlocking his potential Dragonball Super Sayajin style was awesome!
