Stranger Things Season 3 (May contain spoilers)

[/dev/null]

On 7/11/2019 at 2:11 PM, apuszczalowski said:

I don't think the show strives to make every detail realistic, but also in the 80's, wouldn't they have been refering to these guys as Soviets, not Russians? Just a minor thing although it might mix up or confuse the younger generation watching it....

 

7 hours ago, BeginnersMind said:

 

No. Most people called them Russians. Calling USSR people Soviets didn’t catch on with the masses. 

 

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

I always remember hearing Soviets when refering to them, thought it became Russians when the Union Split.

 

According my source on American/Soviet relations in the 1980s, they were called Russians

 

 

 

[apuszczalowski]

3 hours ago, shrader said:

I worry that the scope of this show has become too big now.  We now have Russia and a good number of main characters living off in a completely different are (did they say where?).  This show is at its best when it's a bunch of crazy things happening in a small rural town.  Even with an upside down wormhole connecting them to Russia, there's no way anyone should be setting foot  in the USSR on this show.

I would expect that another season would have everyone back together in Hawkins. They didn't move too far away, at the end Mike talks about them getting back together for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I would expect anything happening in Russia would maybe trigger things happening in Hawkins. I saw some theory's that say Hopper might still be alive (he said he is contracted for 4 seasons) but he isn't the American. The American could be Elevens Dad, or even one of the 10 other kids who were at one time in the lab. That might explain the tangent in season 2 to meet Eight. After last season many questioned why they introduced Billy (and Max) and it led to Billy being the one to get possessed first to build the army. Maybe introducing Eight was leading up to her or other one of the the others to being used by the Russians to open the portal on their side.

 

 

5 minutes ago, /dev/null said:

 

 

 

According my source on American/Soviet relations in the 1980s, they were called Russians

 

 

 

As a kid growing up in Canada, we didn't worry too much about them.......

Edited July 15, 2019 by apuszczalowski

[Metal Man]

I really thought that big Russian soldier that kept fighting Hopper was going to turn out to be a robot.

Especially when at the very start he was able to just hold up that other man by the throat until he choked to death. 

[shrader]

49 minutes ago, Metal Man said:

I really thought that big Russian soldier that kept fighting Hopper was going to turn out to be a robot.

Especially when at the very start he was able to just hold up that other man by the throat until he choked to death. 

 

The same exact move that the flayed pulled off a few times.  Hmmm.....

[Metal Man]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

 

The same exact move that the flayed pulled off a few times.  Hmmm.....

 

That is an interesting thought. We see that the Russians are experimenting with creatures from the upside down so maybe there is some cross DNA stuff to make some kind of "super soldier"?

[Doc]

I must break you.

[BeginnersMind]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

I must break you.

 

Yeah that guy was not doing much more than just mimicking Arnold Terminator. 

[4merper4mer]

I was not enthused about S3 after watching S2. I thought it had run its course.  Turns out I liked S3 a lot .  They did a nice job.  I'd be ok with S4 but that would have to be it.  

 

The part I found odd about the end wasn't the "American" part.  They could go several ways with that and it might not even be written yet.  The thing I find strange is that it was heavily implied that the Russians hadn't penetrated the upside down at all and had to move to Hawkins to do so yet they somehow had retrieved and controlled one of the monsters.  That needs some splainin.

[Doc]

29 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

I was not enthused about S3 after watching S2. I thought it had run its course.  Turns out I liked S3 a lot .  They did a nice job.  I'd be ok with S4 but that would have to be it.  

 

The part I found odd about the end wasn't the "American" part.  They could go several ways with that and it might not even be written yet.  The thing I find strange is that it was heavily implied that the Russians hadn't penetrated the upside down at all and had to move to Hawkins to do so yet they somehow had retrieved and controlled one of the monsters.  That needs some splainin.

 

Luuuuuuuucy!

[LeGOATski]

8 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

I was not enthused about S3 after watching S2. I thought it had run its course.  Turns out I liked S3 a lot .  They did a nice job.  I'd be ok with S4 but that would have to be it.  

 

The part I found odd about the end wasn't the "American" part.  They could go several ways with that and it might not even be written yet.  The thing I find strange is that it was heavily implied that the Russians hadn't penetrated the upside down at all and had to move to Hawkins to do so yet they somehow had retrieved and controlled one of the monsters.  That needs some splainin.

That clip was in the future.

 

My theory: 

Hopper gets stuck in the upside down. He eventually finds his way out in Russia and a monster chases him through the portal. The Russians capture them both.

[BeginnersMind]

6 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

That clip was in the future.

 

My theory: 

Hopper gets stuck in the upside down. He eventually finds his way out in Russia and a monster chases him through the portal. The Russians capture them both.

 

I think Hopper is done. They have too many characters and need to thin the herd. Uma Thurman’s kid was a good new character. 

 

The thread I hope hope they pull more next season involves all the other number kids. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by BeginnersMind

[Logic]

I thought this season was mostly dog****.

I was a big fan of seasons 1 and 2. I anticipated season 3 with great excitement. It was a total letdown from my point of view.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

By and large, my main complaint is that the camp/silliness factor was turned up to 11 (heh) this year. It took away my ability to suspend my disbelief. Yes, I realize we're already talking about a show whose main subject matter is multi-dimensional monsters and telekinesis, but they ventured too far astray in to the realm of unbelievability this season.

The whole deal with the kids in the Russian base? I mean...really?! No one else found that over-the-top and silly?

The Terminator knockoff character that they just never explained other than "he's a Russian bad guy!"?

The turning of Hopper into an over-the-top cartoon? The wasting of both Will and his Mom as characters. Will, despite having all this depth and backstory to him, is just used as the "my hair is on end, the monster's near!" trope. His mom, despite ALSO having depth and backstory and being played by a very capable actress, is basically just THERE in season 3. What's her purpose?

The climactic battle in the end was paced weirdly and wasn't very exciting. And presumably the entire city saw this giant monster and/or heard the fireworks and loud noises coming from the mall? Where were the police the whole time? The National Guard, the army? Bueller? Bueller?

Again, I realize this is just supposed to be a fun little sci-fi show. Previously, though, it had attained a great tone and had successfully mimicked the "small town kids fight a supernatural force while coming of age" outline of The Goonies, ET, etc...This year, though, I felt the tone and pacing were uneven, the writing and directing were hit and miss, they mishandled some major characters, and they ventured too far afield into silliness and camp. There were good parts (the sassy little girl, the New Coke bit, the Neverending Story song, etc), but I disliked more than I liked.

I'll check out the start of season 4 to see where they're going with it, but they really lost me this season.

[YoloinOhio]

55 minutes ago, BeginnersMind said:

 

I think Hopper is done. They have too many characters and need to thin the herd. Uma Thurman’s kid was a good new character. 

 

The thread I hope hope they pull more next season involves all the other number kids. 

They teased that and never went back to it 

30 minutes ago, Logic said:

I thought this season was mostly dog****.

I was a big fan of seasons 1 and 2. I anticipated season 3 with great excitement. It was a total letdown from my point of view.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

By and large, my main complaint is that the camp/silliness factor was turned up to 11 (heh) this year. It took away my ability to suspend my disbelief. Yes, I realize we're already talking about a show whose main subject matter is multi-dimensional monsters and telekinesis, but they ventured too far astray in to the realm of unbelievability this season.

The whole deal with the kids in the Russian base? I mean...really?! No one else found that over-the-top and silly?

The Terminator knockoff character that they just never explained other than "he's a Russian bad guy!"?

The turning of Hopper into an over-the-top cartoon? The wasting of both Will and his Mom as characters. Will, despite having all this depth and backstory to him, is just used as the "my hair is on end, the monster's near!" trope. His mom, despite ALSO having depth and backstory and being played by a very capable actress, is basically just THERE in season 3. What's her purpose?

The climactic battle in the end was paced weirdly and wasn't very exciting. And presumably the entire city saw this giant monster and/or heard the fireworks and loud noises coming from the mall? Where were the police the whole time? The National Guard, the army? Bueller? Bueller?

Again, I realize this is just supposed to be a fun little sci-fi show. Previously, though, it had attained a great tone and had successfully mimicked the "small town kids fight a supernatural force while coming of age" outline of The Goonies, ET, etc...This year, though, I felt the tone and pacing were uneven, the writing and directing were hit and miss, they mishandled some major characters, and they ventured too far afield into silliness and camp. There were good parts (the sassy little girl, the New Coke bit, the Neverending Story song, etc), but I disliked more than I liked.

I'll check out the start of season 4 to see where they're going with it, but they really lost me this season.

I feel it has always had that element to it from the beginning, purposefully. But it was turned up a notch this season. 

[shrader]

15 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

I was not enthused about S3 after watching S2. I thought it had run its course.  Turns out I liked S3 a lot .  They did a nice job.  I'd be ok with S4 but that would have to be it.  

 

The part I found odd about the end wasn't the "American" part.  They could go several ways with that and it might not even be written yet.  The thing I find strange is that it was heavily implied that the Russians hadn't penetrated the upside down at all and had to move to Hawkins to do so yet they somehow had retrieved and controlled one of the monsters.  That needs some splainin.

 

Here's the thing that bugs me.  If closing the gate kills the mind flayer, how was it even there in the first place?  They closed it in season 2, so it should be dead at that point.  Is it the Russian experiments that leave another gate open just enough for it to remain alive?  If that's the case, we'll see it back again next time.  I hope that's not the case though, I'd like to see a new kind of monster as the big bad next season.

[Logic]

11 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

I feel it has always had that element to it from the beginning, purposefully. But it was turned up a notch this season. 

Yeah. 

I feel it went from the good/intentional kind of silly to the "this is ridiculous and not in a good way and I'm just rolling my eyes" kind of silliness. 
 

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

 

Here's the thing that bugs me.  If closing the gate kills the mind flayer, how was it even there in the first place?  They closed it in season 2, so it should be dead at that point.  Is it the Russian experiments that leave another gate open just enough for it to remain alive?  If that's the case, we'll see it back again next time.  I hope that's not the case though, I'd like to see a new kind of monster as the big bad next season.

I think it was dormant, not dead when Season 2 ended.

[apuszczalowski]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

They teased that and never went back to it 

I think they have plans for that arc that they will go back to, possible that one of them is the American in the Russian prison being held to help them unlock the gate. I doubt they were created just to give  Eleven a lesson or a turning point in her development. Or to the extreme extent that they were trying to set up a spin off that failed miserably.

 

Season 4 could have them playing a bigger role, possibly due to Eleven struggling to get back her powers and maybe needing someone who has them to help another attack?

 

Everyone Questioned why Billy was brought in last season and his role which didn't seem to be needed and he ended up a big part of season 3 giving them a villlan character to kill off (some say that it was originally after the first season supposed to be Steve in that kind of role but people liked him too much and they changed his character).

 

 

3 hours ago, Logic said:

I thought this season was mostly dog****.

I was a big fan of seasons 1 and 2. I anticipated season 3 with great excitement. It was a total letdown from my point of view.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

By and large, my main complaint is that the camp/silliness factor was turned up to 11 (heh) this year. It took away my ability to suspend my disbelief. Yes, I realize we're already talking about a show whose main subject matter is multi-dimensional monsters and telekinesis, but they ventured too far astray in to the realm of unbelievability this season.

The whole deal with the kids in the Russian base? I mean...really?! No one else found that over-the-top and silly?

The Terminator knockoff character that they just never explained other than "he's a Russian bad guy!"?

The turning of Hopper into an over-the-top cartoon? The wasting of both Will and his Mom as characters. Will, despite having all this depth and backstory to him, is just used as the "my hair is on end, the monster's near!" trope. His mom, despite ALSO having depth and backstory and being played by a very capable actress, is basically just THERE in season 3. What's her purpose?

The climactic battle in the end was paced weirdly and wasn't very exciting. And presumably the entire city saw this giant monster and/or heard the fireworks and loud noises coming from the mall? Where were the police the whole time? The National Guard, the army? Bueller? Bueller?

Again, I realize this is just supposed to be a fun little sci-fi show. Previously, though, it had attained a great tone and had successfully mimicked the "small town kids fight a supernatural force while coming of age" outline of The Goonies, ET, etc...This year, though, I felt the tone and pacing were uneven, the writing and directing were hit and miss, they mishandled some major characters, and they ventured too far afield into silliness and camp. There were good parts (the sassy little girl, the New Coke bit, the Neverending Story song, etc), but I disliked more than I liked.

I'll check out the start of season 4 to see where they're going with it, but they really lost me this season.

There are always plot holes in shows that most are willing to over look and end up getting blown out of proportion in hugely popular shows because of how people think the show is a masterpiece because they like it so much.

 

But as for your paragraph about the police and military involvement, In previous scenes and seasons, Hopper contacted the military and they wouldnt get involved because either they thought he was a nutjob or the lab was government run and secretive. He did contact them this season and wanted to wait for them to arrive (if they actually would), Joyce didn't want to wait for them. And 1/3 of the Hawkins police force was on this case already dealing with it. There was only Hopper, the 2 younger officers and the older woman in the office.

[shrader]

24 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

Everyone Questioned why Billy was brought in last season and his role which didn't seem to be needed and he ended up a big part of season 3 giving them a villlan character to kill off (some say that it was originally after the first season supposed to be Steve in that kind of role but people liked him too much and they changed his character).

 

I think you're giving them too much credit on Billy.  I get the impression that they're doing this a bit on the fly and they don't have much in the way of plans that bridge across seasons.  Billy's redemption was so rushed thanks to the complete lack of any character development.  If they were planning on going that route, that could have at least planted a few seeds in season two, but there was nothing.  He ultimately wound up being one step above the cannon fodder that was Gary Busey's kid this season.

 

I don't want to make it look like I didn't enjoy the season, because I did.  The interactions between their main characters have been a blast, but they could gain from developing a few background characters as well.  There's a few too many red shirts in this show.  They'd probably gain from killing someone out of the main group next year (I saw this assuming Hopper will be back).

[GETTOTHE50]

a bit disappointed. to use another family guy reference, this season 'insists upon on itself.' they were enjoying themselves way too much in the beginning. the fun finally started to kick in when the elevator dropped and when billy got trapped in the sauna. it didnt last too long though. the spooky poltergeist-like suspense wasnt there like it was in the previous 2 seasons. 

[Mark Vader]

I just finished it last night. My thoughts....

 

Overall, i enjoyed it, although Seasons 1 & 2 are better.

 

@Logic Yes, the silliness was ratcheted up high, especially everything involving the kids and the Russians. It had it's entertaining moments, but I was laughing at the situation more than I was laughing with it.

 

The bickering between Joyce & Hopper got very old quick. I did not buy the idea that they could be a couple, and Hopper just seemed creepy about trying to win her over. I almost wish that Joyce had tried to hook up with her kid's former science teacher. I forgot his name.

One more thing about Hopper that I did not like is that he came off like a big cliched oaf instead of a serious cop. His confrontation with the mayor was silly and he was doing a lot of yelling. I did not like him this season.

 

The kids age did not detract from the show at all. I still liked them and they did a good job. I thought it was a heart breaking moment when Will started to destroy his fort. After the way Mike & Lucas were real jerks to him about the Dungeons & Dragons campaign, it was a very sad moment.

 

The character of Robin was a welcome addition. She and Steve played off of each other beautifully. I also love that Steve & Dusting have a bond together. They are fun together.

 

Then there was Lucas' sister, Erica. Oh man....I was so hoping that she would get killed off somehow. She was an arrogant, unlikable, obnoxious piece of crap. It was painful to have to listen to her and watch her make those weird looking faces. UGH!

 

I liked everything involving the Mind Flayer. Possessing Billy and essentially taking over other people was a good approach. The effects were very impressive too.

 

They sure seemed to amp up the gross factor. Was it necessary to have so much of that? When John cuts into Eleven's leg?! Yikes!

The rats and people turning into goo were trippy effects, but boy it sure got more disgusting.

 

So, the Demogorgon is still alive?

 

@shrader I agree with that the scope of the show feels too big with them adding Russia into the whole mix. I like the small town feel of it a lot more.

 

If there is going to be a 4th season, where do they go with it. It sure seemed like it was over. Aside from that last scene in Russia.

Are they ever going to get back to "Papa", and if he is still alive?

 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Mark Vader