I hear you on the satanic panic but it is kind of difficult to ignore between the time period its set in and whats going on in the town.
But yeah, it didn't really go anywhere past leading up to breaking Max's walkman at the crucial moment.
Yeah, I don't mind including it in general, but they made it seem like it'd end up being a much bigger deal, and it just kinda...wasn't. I was half expecting Jason to show up in the house, threaten the kids, and then get ripped apart by Vecna or something. I mean, I guess...technically he did, but still, it just felt like kind of a waste of a storyline and characters. what happened to his other goons?
The Talisman is a good read. I read it about twenty years ago but I never did get to the sequel. I think where King tends to go off the rails Straub's contributions balance out Kings idiosyncrasies pretty nicely.
The performances by the young cast this season, especially the core group of friends from S1 only cements my faith in their talent. It was impressive enough to see a well crafted story about kids in S1 and the fact that each of them could genuinely act. By now their growth as actors really shines this season and I know each of them will go on to have enormously successful careers after the show has ended.
I think the potential is there for them to have good careers. But a LOT is going to depend on their taste, their respective agents, and their own personalities in real life. They're all immensely talented, but we all know talented actors can still implode or take roles in stuff that ends up being crap and end up branded as box office poison because of it (fairly or not).
As for Mike's arc with El this season I don't think it was dependence in their relationship so much as Mike still being a nerdy kid in high school and recognizing that the cute girl with super powers could do better than him. If anything it was more an issue of him pushing her away as a defense mechanism to avoid getting hurt. If she did break things off then at least in his mind it would lessen the pain.
He never struck me as being needy. Far from it. He was always the leader of the group and the one who forged his own path to which others followed. I thought his arc, though more simple than the other characters this season, was very realistic. I think many people have experienced dating someone they felt was out of their league and often do stupid things to push them away to reinforce their personal insecurities, instead of recognizing their worth or value to the other person and respecting them enough to make up their own mind.
Unlike so many of the 1980s tropes where the nerdy kid wins the girl but has to sort of keep her in the dark to other options for romance for fear of losing her, Mike turns that idea on its head by building her up and believing in her as a person but he also doesnt prevent her from having male friendships either which could potentially take her away from him if she were to develop feelings for one of them. Frankly that's one of the most refreshing things about this show. Instead of Mike idealized El, he treats her like a normal person without talking down to her or making her feel like a freak of nature. He doesn't put her on a pedestal, despite his admiration for her either. He accepts her as she is, flaws and all. That's the type of person you want in your life romantically speaking.
I've been aware upon rewatching certain older movies how often there was this trope of men being somewhat controlling over letting their love interest being independent for fear they may lose their lady to a more viable option. While those stories can and do work this aspect hasn't aged well and inadvertently exposes an uncomfortable insecurity of the protagonist for being unintentionally misogynist.
Instead of being confident that despite their physical appearance or wealth, or strength, or sexual prowess, or intelligence perhaps not matching an ideal that the woman they love will still choose the nerdy guy, despite any perceived deficiencies. Sadly the men have to actively suppress any chance for the woman to meet other men who might be a better match for them, even if it's just when walking around in public.
It's an unfortunate flaw in the writing of some of these older stories but on the flipside one that modern stories have over corrected for too, which is how we end up with Mary Sue tropes that get equally exhausting. The ideal place is to be somewhere in the middle and thankfully Stranger Things handles this problem with excellent writing that paints the characters realistically.
Even the best romantic comedies know how to balance this problem. The nerdy guy trusts that his supermodel girlfriend loves him for his personality and that is enough to keep her from straying in the end. That shows maturity on both their parts because he's respecting her independence and she's choosing him of her own free will.
Hell, this is part of what made Eddie so loveable as a character too. He treated Chrissy as a person and not just as the hot cheerleader, which makes Jason that much more of a creep and his mission to avenge her feel so disengenuous. He may have loved her but its clear she couldnt go to him with her problems and suggests their relationship was fraught with shallowness, all while not having to expressedly state that.
Jason doesn't hate Eddie so much as he hates himself for not being there for his girlfriend and he's jealous that she had a male friend. Jason wasn't avenging Chrissy, he was projecting his failure to be there for her onto everyone else which is what made his death a relief for the audience and the protagonists. If anything he's the antithesis of Mike. While Eddie wasn't necessarily a romantic interest for Chrissy, it still showed his empathy as a character by being a true friend to her when she needed help.
This show excels at writing genuine friendships. Just one aspect among many that has propelled it to being one of my absolute favorites.
Yep, no arguments there. I suppose it was just weirdly phrased dialogue because I also didn't ever really see their relationship as being about dependency. Still, yikes on the dialogue and the trope.
That kind of stuff always boils down for me to one simple fact: "She picked you, you schmuck!" I mean, first, "leagues" are nonsense. Attraction is ephemeral and unpredictable, and while yeah, "like finds like" a lot of the time, those similarities may not be immediately apparent. Regardless, if someone is into you, I think you ultimately have to just trust that...they're into you. But, that's based on years of experience, and it's still a common thing to have people feel insecure in their relationships because they see the other person as somehow above them.
The Jason/Chrissy thing felt more like people stepping into roles and playing out those characters as they're "supposed" to, which as you note, is what made his revenge feel hollow and all about him, rather than about her. That fits for the character, though.
It's a testament to their acting skills that nothing felt false in fact almost felt ad-lib at times which again makes you love these characters more and more..
Four Seasons down and not a duff(get it) episode or one that felt like a filler. Every sentence seems to either mean something to the gangs friendship or to propel the story along..
I think there might be more death on the cards to test the
Hell Fire Clubs metal.
Yeah, I think we're gonna see more character deaths. Frankly, it's kind of a miracle we haven't seen more up until now. I mean, there was Barb in S1, but that hardly counts because she was barely around long enough. There was Bob in S2. S3 had Hopper "die" but we all knew that was a fakeout. I'm not so sure with Max, though. Like, I could see her "come back" and then die for real, in the sense of her spirit returns to her body, but then lets go and departs. And I could see Steve buying it, too. I mean, his confession of his imaginary future has big "When we defect, I will go to Montana!" vibes. Robin, I suppose could also buy it. And Hopper...man, I feel like he's on borrowed time. That would also fit in terms of the tropes of his father/daughter relationship with El. He raises her, protects her as best he can, he's always there for her, but one day...it's time. And nothing lasts forever. And hell, I could see Will or Jonathan dying next season. Some heroic sacrifice thing, or Will being corrupted by his connection to the Upside Down again or something.
Plus, with the stakes raised as high as they are at the end of this season, having everyone make it thru unscathed would be satisfying, but also feels unlikely.
