Spoilers Stranger Things - Season 4
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
I don't think you appreciate how badly I've missed this show! 
I meant to mark the thread spoilers yesterday but completely forgot, so thank you for reminding me.
Even still, I tagged all of my spoilers accordinngly.
I've been a huge fan of the show's score from the beginning and I've lost track how many times I've listened to each one. I look forward to this season's when it comes out (presumably in July).
My idea would be to jump far enough ahead that we'd be getting the new actors playing the kids in their 30s or 40s, with their kids then being the focus. Basically they'd be play the same kind of role that Joyce & Hopper play now.
I watched the first two episodes and so far it's off to a great start.
Man, you gotta feel sorry for poor El.
I hope for Robin's sake the girl she's into is gay too.
Damn, Vecna is really creepy, and his kills are pretty nasty. That kind of thing actually bothers me more than people getting attacked by Demogorgons or Demodogs. I'm very curious what the motive is behind him appearing to make his victims relive traumatic events. It also stood out to me that he said something about joining him before he killed Fred. I'm curious what exactly that meant.
Eddie has been a pretty fun addition to the case so far, and he definitely got one hell of an introduction to all of the craziness that everyone else has been dealing with.
I hope for Robin's sake the girl she's into is gay too.
Damn, Vecna is really creepy, and his kills are pretty nasty. That kind of thing actually bothers me more than people getting attacked by Demogorgons or Demodogs. I'm very curious what the motive is behind him appearing to make his victims relive traumatic events. It also stood out to me that he said something about joining him before he killed Fred. I'm curious what exactly that meant.
Eddie has been a pretty fun addition to the case so far, and he definitely got one hell of an introduction to all of the craziness that everyone else has been dealing with.
That could still be the basis for the Spin Off. The Duffer Brothers talked about a Spin Off and apparently Finn Wolfhard guessed the plot/premise exactly, the only one of the crew to do so.
Makes sense considering that's what It does, too. I bet that was the original inspiration for such an idea.
Well, sort of. The show really doesn't delve into that particular relationship but Suspicious Minds does dig into how Terry had latent abilities that Brenner couldn't truly bring out. He later realized that a child would have a greater chance of having those powers which motivated him to kidnap Jane.
Without going into spoilers, certain things in this season quietly contradict parts of that narrative (especially since we see Brenner's perspective a few times in the novel), which isn't surprise because I don't think the Duffer brothers had any direct involvement with the novel.
The usage of Kate Bush was perfect (as I noted in my earlier post). I'm not the biggest fan of hers but my mom is a massive fan so I heard plenty of her while growing up.
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Watched the first four episodes with my family. I liked that they took the first two episodes to spend more time with the characters rather than jumping right into the action, although I have to admit that I can see why people could make the argument the show would have benefited from tighter editing.
When the pace picked up in the third episode, it was really edge of your seat for two and a half hours.
We are now in the era when I was in high school, so the music brought back a lot of great memories for me. Hounds of Love was one of my favourite albums, so the use of Kate Bush's music here was emotional for me.
One thing that stands out for me is the use of language. Some of the references use slang or sayings that were not in use at the time (although some here might disagree), but the casual use of what are today completely unacceptable homophobic slurs do not appear at all. I have no complaint about that and I understand why those words are not included, but there were a couple of times I noticed that the word f*g**t (or similar) would have been the word that would have been used.
I commented on this with my wife and kids, but my 15 year old twins told me so what--we're watch a show written now and we don't care about that.
El's story is pretty tragic in the opening episodes and I really felt for her. The story really gets the level of bullying and group behaviour that went on in the eighties. Similar to Billy calling the kid at the pool a lardass in season 3, I distinctly remember no adults intervening when bullying happened when I was a teenager. The attitude was really a "shit happens" vibe.
Can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes. I did most of my work for the weekend this morning so I'm hoping to be able to watch the remaining episodes tomorrow with my family.
When the pace picked up in the third episode, it was really edge of your seat for two and a half hours.
We are now in the era when I was in high school, so the music brought back a lot of great memories for me. Hounds of Love was one of my favourite albums, so the use of Kate Bush's music here was emotional for me.
One thing that stands out for me is the use of language. Some of the references use slang or sayings that were not in use at the time (although some here might disagree), but the casual use of what are today completely unacceptable homophobic slurs do not appear at all. I have no complaint about that and I understand why those words are not included, but there were a couple of times I noticed that the word f*g**t (or similar) would have been the word that would have been used.
I commented on this with my wife and kids, but my 15 year old twins told me so what--we're watch a show written now and we don't care about that.
El's story is pretty tragic in the opening episodes and I really felt for her. The story really gets the level of bullying and group behaviour that went on in the eighties. Similar to Billy calling the kid at the pool a lardass in season 3, I distinctly remember no adults intervening when bullying happened when I was a teenager. The attitude was really a "shit happens" vibe.
Can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes. I did most of my work for the weekend this morning so I'm hoping to be able to watch the remaining episodes tomorrow with my family.
Was up past 4am last night to blow through this and it was such an amazing set of episodes - i just love this show and the vibe. Now it's only a month until the second part, which will go by fast.
Many questions have been answered but also many new ones created such as the purpose of the government program Dr. Brenner ran ( just research or an even more sinister goal?). What is the endgame of the entire show? I'd be a bit disappointed if it just were the villain of the season formula - i hope there is more.
Many questions have been answered but also many new ones created such as the purpose of the government program Dr. Brenner ran ( just research or an even more sinister goal?). What is the endgame of the entire show? I'd be a bit disappointed if it just were the villain of the season formula - i hope there is more.
Some concepts need to reach a natural conclusion. Everything does not need or warrant a "next generation". Stranger Things is one of those concepts, and the way this season is unfolding, it points to the spooky shenanigans coming to an end, thus allowing the characters to get back on the road of a normal life.
Since they take so much from King adaptations, they should end with the adult voice of one of the characters, explaining the future of the principals--only they ended up tragedy-free.
Brenner says it was somehow similar to the way a person suffering from a stroke can forget how to speak/walk/etc. So I guess the idea is that she overloaded herself so much trying to fight the mindflayer while already exhausted and badly hurt that she literally broke something in her brain. We know the power causes nosebleeds as a matter of course, so it's plausible an extreme case of using it might cause brainbleeds.
My big seemingly unanswered question is:
How the hell did the Russians have time to capture and kidnap Hopper when their whole installation was surrounded by US forces? And if they were still present in strong enough numbers to be able to do that and still had some secret exit that wouldn't be seen, why didn't they also capture *everyone else* with him? Joyce and Murray were wandering around down there, too.
Eleven didn't have her powers at the end of season three. You're thinking of season two when she closed the gate. Joyce shut down the machine that closed the rift because Eleven couldn't, which is why Billy's sacrifice was so important.
As for Hopper,
As for Hopper,
I was bummed out my theory about him escaping into the Upside Down was wrong. For a moment, I thought I was right and the Soviets were hiding there, too, which is how they eluded U.S. troops. So yeah, a bit of a clumsy handling there, unfortunately.
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I'm pretty sure Eleven did use her powers at the end of season three. Against the giant mind-flayer, not to close the rift, but she used them. (Of course they were clearly gone by the very end of the season when she tried and failed to get the stuffed bear or whatever it was off the shelf while she was packing.)
I just rewatched the season and she used them against the Mind-Flayer at Hopper's cabin and again at Starcourt when she extracted the remnant from her leg. But after that, she couldn't use them. She tried moving the car but it only jostled. Later on, she tried her Coke can experiment with no success. She couldn't fight the Mind-Flayer when it arrived at Starcourt.
Right, but she did use them against the monster, and continue trying to use them even in her weakened state
which is seemingly what led to her losing them.
But they've already said they're planning on doing at least one spin-off, so clearly some things will be left open in some way after the end of Season 5.
Watched Episode 3 this morning.
Definitely feels like things are really starting to pick up now.
I'm curious to see if we find out exactly what Owens is going to do make the case against El disappear.
So it looks like the stuff with the Upside Down goes all the way back to the '50s at least. So apparently whatever connections it has to Earth go back quite a bit before Brenner's expieriments with El and the other kids.
It also looks like we're setting up a conflict between Ownes and the military, would could add an interesting wrinkle to the story. Do we know exactly who Owens works for?
Damn, those basketball players are really horrible.
We already knew from the trailers that Max was going to be targeted by Vecna, but that was still a pretty shocking way to end the episode.
So it looks like the stuff with the Upside Down goes all the way back to the '50s at least. So apparently whatever connections it has to Earth go back quite a bit before Brenner's expieriments with El and the other kids.
It also looks like we're setting up a conflict between Ownes and the military, would could add an interesting wrinkle to the story. Do we know exactly who Owens works for?
Damn, those basketball players are really horrible.
We already knew from the trailers that Max was going to be targeted by Vecna, but that was still a pretty shocking way to end the episode.
Well, sure she tried to use her powers but she couldn't actually use them at Starcourt other than to pull the piece out of her leg. She was out of the fight at that point. That was the purpose of her attempt and failure to crush the Coke can.
That's not inherently true. The show can easily conclude with no loose ends with this story but still have an opening for a spin-off.
That said, the only possible loose end I could see is some deeper meanings and possible creation of the Upside Down (something I addressed in my review a page ago), but that's not important for the nature of the Hawkins story.
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