Stranger Things (Netflix)

mid_gen · 8 Nov 2017 at 13:26

Finished last night, really disappointed.

The characters are all paper thin and one dimensional...the only interesting good development on that front was Dustin and the jock combo.

Episode 7 was bizarre....like a producer just had a thing for punk gangs.

I think the main thing that lets it down is that the protagonist is just a faceless nothing that you never learn anything about. The dart arc was lame.

The link between the kids in the lab and the upside down *still* hasn't even been touched on...

The Californian douchebag was a total nothing character.

At this point I'd be happy if they spun off Dustin and the jock with the baseball bat and got rid of all the other instantly forgettable characters.

And WTF does Barbara get a funeral, but Samwise the Hobbit who gets his face eaten off just disappears?

Efour · 9 Nov 2017 at 05:34

Cover up, public Admittance of guilt.

adam cool dude · 9 Nov 2017 at 10:30

Drizmod said:
Just finished watching season 2. It was good but not as good as season one. There was just too much time spent on useless newly introduced characters that came to nothing in the end and they were not needed at all for the story to progress.

Samwise was and they killed him off!

Glaucus · 9 Nov 2017 at 22:44

Good series, but what the hell was the train wreck of episode 7.
Did they outsource the writing.

JediFragger · 10 Nov 2017 at 00:34

Glaucus said:
Good series, but what the hell was the train wreck of episode 7.
Did they outsource the writing.

Tbf, the guy's mohawk was pretty damn cool!

DrToffnar · 10 Nov 2017 at 09:20

Doing a second watch my mah after having sessioned it last Friday with my Mrs. I have to say, appreciating it a lot more this time round. Picking up on some of the more subtle themes and moments that make a truly great TV show.

It still doesn't have that novelty factor of the first series, but it was never going to be able to retain that. The first season took everyone by surprise precisely because no one expected it to be anything more the passable.

With the show runners recognising that Eleven is essentially the shows Ex Machina, there decision to side-line her this season is understandable. But that episode... It adds nothing. The defence that it's world building for future seasons is most likely correct, but the writing in that episode was unforgivably poor to the point where it completely trashes the pacing of the stories 'third act'.

Still, great TV!

ShortWarning · 10 Nov 2017 at 13:17

Glaucus said:
Good series, but what the hell was the train wreck of episode 7.
Did they outsource the writing.

I figured they were just trying to pay homage to street punk 80's movies. It didn't work for me.

eggyoke · 10 Nov 2017 at 23:32

Yeah we just finished it, I can only agree with what most have said already. Didn't quite meet the first season magic and some plot points they put in were simply bad.

Although I see the potential in Madmax's character, they did it in such a bad way that it brought nothing to the group. They spent an entire season on her brother and, although we were expecting him to have his moment at the end, he came to absolutely nothing. Nothing. The only new character I liked was Bob... and he could have served a purpose with his knowledge about electronics and computers in the future.

As for where the show goes next... I'm not sure. I think they need to cut Eleven down because she's too strong and far too powerful. She can kill all the monsters, she can open and close gates, she can find anyone she wants, she can remote view things etc. They're going to have to reduce her ability or have massive consequences for them, like they find out they're killing her or something

Combat Fighter · 10 Nov 2017 at 23:56

Drizmod said:
Just finished watching season 2. It was good but not as good as season one. There was just too much time spent on useless newly introduced characters that came to nothing in the end and they were not needed at all for the story to progress.

Totally agree.

Just binged watched both seasons and season 1 was definitely better overall, but I still enjoyed season 2 too.

Gotta say I love the whole feel of the series as I was a kid growing up in the 80’s and could relate to some much of it. Nostalgia overload!

Can’t wait for season 3!

ElliorR · 11 Nov 2017 at 11:05

It seems I'm relatively unique in the fact I quite liked episode 7, or at least I didn't hate it like a lot of people seemed to do.

ScreamWorker · 11 Nov 2017 at 11:47

loved season two !! im guessing we are going to maybe have a different kid other than 11 as the focus for season 3

Destination · 11 Nov 2017 at 11:57

ElliorR said:
It seems I'm relatively unique in the fact I quite liked episode 7, or at least I didn't hate it like a lot of people seemed to do.

I did not hate it either, i saw it as a throw back to various films of the time, nicely done, so much placement of quotes and bits from other films.
Aliens of course getting numerous homageeees.

I enjoyed the entire series.

Shamikebab · 11 Nov 2017 at 15:58

Episode 7 taken on it's own I thought was good, it's just it's placement in the series and relevance to the things happening around it that didn't work imo.

melmac · 11 Nov 2017 at 16:34

ElliorR said:
It seems I'm relatively unique in the fact I quite liked episode 7, or at least I didn't hate it like a lot of people seemed to do.

I didn't hate episode 7. Some people think it's out of place, but, I think it's leading on to season 3.

krooton · 12 Nov 2017 at 00:32

mid_gen said:
Watched episode 5 last night...meh. It was fun when it was an 80's style bunch of kids on an adventure show and the 'scariness' was secondary. The series has flipped it round though so it's now just a lame horror show. The big crescendo -> abrupt scene change is really starting to grate as it's used every other scene.

Don't get me started on the ridiculous 'map' they create....from hundreds of sheets of paper all with identical straight lines on them....so contrived. Then Samwise turning and......ugh. It's just bad.

Predictable, cheesy, contrived? Yep, sounds like they nailed the 80s perfectly

I loved it, and obviously ep7 and the Max & family stuff is going to feed in to season 3.

mid_gen · 12 Nov 2017 at 07:08

adam cool dude said:
Samwise was and they killed him off!

Didn't get a funeral though did he....poor sod.

JediFragger · 12 Nov 2017 at 21:34

mid_gen said:
Didn't get a funeral though did he....poor sod.

Demodogs got a buffet though

Hiijinx · 13 Nov 2017 at 18:43

Even better than the first season.

Side note - I watched the "behind the scenes" series and couldn't believe both Eleven and Jonathan are English! :O

e36Adz · 15 Nov 2017 at 01:13

I only just heard about this series recently, smashed the whole thing out over the past week. Absolutely loved it.

Salsa · 15 Nov 2017 at 19:36

Episode 7 has almost put me off for good. I switched it off halfway through and dont know if I can bring myself to finish. Some of the worst TV I have seen in a long time and I watched all of Iron Fist!

Dustin has also become a walking caricature of himself too which is a shame as he was quite good in the first season.

/Salsa