Amph The Stranger Things thread (Tag All Spoilers)

I didn't like what they did to Hopper. He was just a ball of toxic masculinity the whole season. I also hated the Red Scare ****. I get it, they pay homage to the 1980s, but uncritically copying and pasting the ridiculous politics of the era was a bad look. Wtf was with the Russian Darth Vader/Terminator anyway?

My favorite plotline was Steve and Co. It was more interesting that Eleven saving everyone from the monsters again by shouting and waving her arms. I thought there was going to be an army of "flayed" going after them at the mall instead of just the goo monster. That would have been better. Billy nearly killed them all by himself. The climax seemed comparatively easy.

 

...the Morganstern version isn’t real.

 

This review +1

 

Yeah, I agree that they took Hopper in a bad direction. His and Joyce's constant bickering was annoying af.

 

I think I already said I really disliked Hopper in the first episode because the actor seemed to be dialing it in. Maybe he had eyes on other prizes. Oops.

But yeah, the character was one that the kids could look up to. Now, not so much, and that’s a shame. It would probably be easier to take if he was this way from the start.

I don’t even think the Magnum stuff was well utilised, and that’s probably the biggest crime.

 

I haven't watched the first two seasons since they premiered, but I remember Hopper being a flawed but decent guy. Now he's ruining his adopted daughter's (when did that officially happen anyway?) first relationship, screaming all the time at the woman he's supposed to be attracted to, acting like a dumb bigot, and threatening or beating up every adult male who makes eye contact. And then at the end of the season it's revealed he wrote down something kinda nice... but never said it and decided to sabotage Eleven and Mike instead.

 

The book of the book!

 

The Season was alright, though a bit bland. They are overdoing the homages to the 80s. Just pasting different clichés from the era. The Soviet plotline was absurd.

 

Season 3...I thought was a mixed bag. Great when good, but a lot of stuff that felt a bit indulgent, and what they did to Hopper is...er...apparently we're meant to conclude he suffered a major head injury last season, since he was borderline deranged for a lot of it. There's a lot more subplots and some work better than others. I enjoyed Billy's role much more this time around, Murray and Alexei were fun, and I liked the Mind Flayer finally running around in the flesh--so to speak--but I do hope they focus things in for next time. I ramble on in more detail here: https://reelnatterings.blogspot.com/2019/07/season-spoiler-overview-stranger-things.html

 

I guess I'm in the minority on this, but I don't see the issue with Hopper's characterization throughout season 3. It's not that dissimilar from Season 2, is it?

Season Two: He has a fear of losing Elle, just like he lost his daughter. He becomes overly controlling and lashes out (in anger) when she hints at stepping beyond the boundaries of his control.
Season Three: He has a fear of losing his moments with Elle, and sees Mike as a threat. He becomes overly angry at Mike in an attempt to to keep that away.

In addition, the man clearly - clearly - has undiagnosed mental health issues. He lost his daughter at a young age, and - as was the norm for the time - never got any counseling or help for his mental state. He's undergone "substitution" methods to replace the presence in his life, allowing for a greater mental decay, and no real "acceptance" of his loss. Everything that potentially happens to him re: Eleven he is also living with that happening to the memory of his daughter.

And now let's add to that his perception of what happened when he had the date/not-date with Joyce. Even in today's day and age - when we've seen advancements in how men treat women and handle rejection (or implied or assumed rejection) - we still see reactions like Hopper's (and then some) after he gets "stood up" at the restaurant. It furthers his downward spiral. He has anger issues, he is battling depression and other mental health issues, and he starts drinking heavily to compensate for both of those things, and before he can process any of it, he gets beaten up by a Russian.

So, considering all these factors ... exactly how did you all want Hopper to behave?

 

I loved Russian Terminator. If you're gonna do a bunch of 80s homages you *have* to throw in an Arnold Schwarzenegger reference, and in that sense Russian Terminator was perfect.

 

I saw they were all in their super awkward teenage phase, El was suddenly speaking normally and totally clowning her boyfriend, and I quit after two episodes. Wasn’t interested in the Russians or Billy, either.

The Neverending Story makes me want to pick it back up, but nah.

 

Yah that was basically my favourite stuff. Although didn't he display telekensis when talking to the mayor in the whirly ride (by closing the door) and then never did it again when it would be critical? Eh, maybe. Anyway, Russian Terminator guy!

Other moment that stuck out to me was Billy vs. El at the pool and she throws the weight at him and he does a Bench Press of Evil to break out of it which was a very jock thing to do.

The monsters were actually great this season, better than Season 2, if only because I'm a huge fan of The Thing and it was basically The Thing. The teaser at the end of the season featuring an original monster was okay, I guess, but I'm down for more original freakiness.

 

I’m hopeful we get a return of 8 in season 4.

 

I agree with everything you wrote here Hopper seemed in Character and clearly has some undiagnosed Mental Issues also a drug and drinking problem this was brought out in the first scene of the show in season 1!

Hopper adopted 11 at the end of season 2 they basically lived together for the entirety of season 2 If you haven't seen the whole series In a big binge watch I recommend binge watching the whole thing!

 

Season 4 is happening.

 

Personally, I took the tag line as a "We're not in Kansas anymore" type of thing, but if they're physically moving the location, it makes sense with all the buzz and negative publicity around the town as of Season 3. Also, certain characters moved out of town so I'm all for multiple locations, especially those overseas.

 

I wasn't really a fan of season three. I thought it veered to much on the side of being humorous (borderline campy) and therefore lost a lot of the drama and horror aspects for the first two seasons.

And I wasn't really looking forward to seeing the fourth season until I saw the tweet of the title of the first episode of season four.

 

I felt the same way about season 3.

 

I miss season 1 and 2 vibe I hope they go back to it and god please no more flayed people that story was done amazing in season 2 and not great in season 3 I didn’t like the whole flayed town thing, it’s supposedly starts filming soon I really hope we get a Christmas 2020 release date waiting till 2021 spring sounds a bit ridiculous also we just had a summer season and I feel this show works better In the winter or fall that’s when I rewatch it. Also think it will mean the upside down would spread into Hawkins but yeah there’s been a lot of wizard of oz type clues that I saw posted about but slut of people didn’t pick up on