It was fine. I honestly kinda dont like how its the russians who are the bad guys now.
Its like, Movies in the 80s, sure lets make the russian a bad guy.
But whatever, im more disapointed how they went the way the went. Its the mindflayer, again. Like, cant we leave the upside down? There have been shown to be atleast 9 other kids with powers running around, we should do that please. But nope, the stinger at the end teases another Demigorgon.
episodes 1-4 where a stupid slow burn, it was mostly "14 year old drama, the show" I dont watch TV to see petty drama that could be solved if they told the whole story.
And they introduced too many new characters, each having to play a role, so not many got screen time
HOWEVER
Jim Hopper is my favorite character, he grew so much, the speech at the the end made metear up, mostly about leaving people behind. Because im sure im going to have to say goodbye too two very good friends soon.
Poor will, he just wants to be with his friends and play DnD and do nerd gak. But they are engrossed in petty drama and he realizes it is petty.
All in all, im hesitant for season 4, mostly cause this would have been a good end.

I like that the show went with Evil Russians™ as the bad guy, because that fits the period the show is set.

I also like how all the characters were split up and then over time brought back together. It's very well-plotted/scripted, and gives a complete story that could serve as an end (but I hope it doesn't).

Erica was hilarious. I like the "You can't spell America without Erica!" and Dustin's reaction to that.

I feel like this really ramped very far into The Thing's feel, and as one of my favorite movies of all time, I'm good with that. Surprisingly gross at times, with good performances all around.

I assume Hopper's not really dead right?

Nope, Rewatch the scene right after she turns to Key but before it explodes. He isnt on the catwalk. And this show isnt above showing people dying, as shown with Newby last season. My guess is he is the "American" they talk about. He jumped into the hole and came out near russia or something.

If I have one nitpick with the series, it's how Hopper was treated by the writing. He spends most of the series on something of a redemptive arc (with wild swerves into unintentionally comedic levels of dickishness), but until they decided to radically change his character between 2 and 3, redemption was not something he ever needed. For both the previous seasons, he was the guy you could rely on to do the right thing, the archetypal tough cop with a heart of gold who ultimately had everyone's back, and was really ready to step up whenever he had to.

And then just because Eleven and Mike get together, he goes from that to overbearing alcoholic violent psycho. I just don't get it. I know they sort of attempt to explain it in his final scenes, but it's not something I buy. It feels to me that it was characterisation in service to plot. They wanted something to split Mike and El from the satisfactory conclusion of their initial romance at the end of the last season, and they wanted someone to have a redemptive arc/big hero death, so they pulled a complete change in the direction of his character to facilitate that, and as a result he just becomes totally unlikable at times. Killing him at the end of S2, I'd have been a wreck. Killing him after all that in S3, I kind of didn't care.


Other than that though, there was so much good stuff. Robin was a great addition to the cast, and Will getting an actual character rather than being just a plot point was long overdue. That scene towards the end of episode 3 where he tears down the fort and rips up the photos, yeah, there were some tears there. The Eleven/Max pairing was interesting, though I still really don't like Max as a character. Dustin was great throughout as always, and the Suzie reveal in the last episode was some much-needed hilarious fun amidst all the escalating horror.

Horror that I really enjoyed, actually. The shift from shadowy presence to physical, impossible monstrosity for the Mind Flayer was brilliantly executed, and that design was creepy as hell in the best sort of way. Keeping Billy as its human face while slowly building up to the horrifying manifestation of the creature was equally good. Throughout, I though the action was of a really high quality, both in terms of the visual perspective and its capacity to keep up the pace and never bog down the storytelling. The fact the finale managed to one-up all the previous ones without feeling overblown is quite the achievement.


In terms of season four, if it wasn't for that post-credits sting I'd be convinced it was going to change tack and follow up on the 'X-men' episode from last season, but with the return of the Demogorgon I think it might keep going with the Russian angle as the main threat, and the other powered kids will just come into it as a subplot (or be quietly dropped, as I recall people didn't really appreciate that episode too much). Whether its a long wait in real time or not, I do hope the follow-up comes along quickly in-universe, just so they don't end up having to do what this season did and spend the first episode and a half catching us up on where everyone is since we last saw them. If I were a betting man, with the mention of Thanksgiving/Christmas for Will reuniting with the gang, I'd put money on it being another 18 months or so before S4, airing in November or December 2020.

Top 3 Pros:

1. Even though they expand the character roster, I think everyone had a part to play. Didn’t feel like there was any dead weight, though Will was definitely less prominent than I would expect.

2. The splitting of the characters was done well and I enjoyed the chemistry between all the players in each party. I think my favorite storyline to follow was Dustin’s, the Susie scene was gold

3. The Mind Flayer went from Outer God to straight up Thing, with a hint of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and I liked it. They weren’t afraid to go super dark with it either, some very disturbing stuff came from the change and I’m glad they didn’t pull any punches.

Biggest 3 cons:

1. Mrs. Beyers. What the heck happened to the mom who literally goes crazy trying to find her boy? She seemed to give no gaks about where either of them were while she’s off gallivanting around with Hopper and occasionally pulling the “acting tough to get results” schtick.

2. Hopper. Ok the final speech Eleven reads got the waterworks going, but the rest of the time he was just a booze-soaked psycho who’s only reason for existing seemed to be beating people up.

3. Am I the only one sad to see Alexei die? I loved that guy. Especially after he befriended Murray. It was great to see the crazy, off the grid cold war survivalist realize that the Russians were people just like him (well maybe not JUST like him ) and I think a little “3 months later” scene with him helping Alexei integrate into the US and Alexei getting the escape he wanted would have been cool. Oh well...

I liked the addition of the Russians, its very fitting for the period.

For the criticism of Hopper's character, has everyone forgotten that for the last two seasons in addition to being the Jerk Ass Cop with a Heart of Gold, he's also been a bit of a booze drenched ass who's first response is to throw punches? Season 1 every time he ran into something he couldn't talk his way through he would resort to knocking someone out, its also when his booze was at its height. His need to be in control of everything was one of the driving conflicts between him and Ele in Season 2, and ultimately the whole reason we got that awful stealth pilot about the other powered kids. So he's always been overbearing in terms of Ele and what she does, she's his surrogate (and after season 2 legal) daughter. She's also a replacement for the daughter he lost, because he couldn't control things (thanks cancer or what ever it was). His being controlling makes sense. Its also meant to serve that old trope of the worrying dad.

Im sure he'll be back from the dead in Season 4 (and hope that's the case), can't think of any other American that would make sense for them to have. Plus he wasn't shown being evaporated. Also, while the Russians are in America, he is the only one they referred to as THE American.

Steve and Dustin continue to be among my favorites and I felt Robin was a good addition to the that dynamic.

Plenty of minor quibbles (whereas Season 1 was borderline faultless there a lot of little things they could have done without in Season 3). They avoided the pointless "Episode 7" issue from Season 2 which is great New characters were generally good (loved seeing Bald Eagle have a bigger role, and Alexei was adorable with his Slurpee. Erica felt...a bit forced, but was okay. Robin was a good add. I agree they went a little overboard on some of the characters writing, particularly in the earlier episodes. Loved the Russian involvement - this is kind of what Stranger Things does...takes reality and makes it charming/interesting. The lab was over the top for me and I would have rather seen it smaller and under a distant farm, etc...but i know the mall was a big part of the storyline. Now here's where I might ruffle some feathers. This should have been the last season. The closing/ending was great...Hopper should have really died, and the "lol, just kidding" ending ruined the really poignant and well done ending scene. I thought that was a huge miss. I should mention I didn't even want a Season 2, as I thought Season 1 was so incredibly perfect I just knew it would all be downhill from there. While Season 2 (again, skipping Episode 7) was fine, and Season 3 was a bit better...I don't want to see Stranger Things fall victim to the usual trap of too many seasons. This season ending would have been enough and perfect. Soooo I'm back to fearing about a Season 4+ now.

I can't remember who said it, but it was mentioned that the demodogs "disappeared" when the gate was closed during season 2.

So when we see a demodog in the last scene, are we to assume that the Russians have another portal open? And that the mindflyer is back (6 mo later?).

Are we sure we're getting a Season 4? They'd have to start aggressively filming as all the young characters will be going through growth spurts I'm sure.

No, not really, its a demigorgon. You actually get teased in in the series.
Erica asks how big one was while looking at the cage in the base, dustins says "9ft" and that is how big the cage is, she also has a cattle gun, not something they are likely using for prisoners, so they captured one, put it in the cage and took it to russia

I rather they don't cause EL still hasn't resolved much of her storyline, with her losing her powers and knowing her sister is still out there (and hopefully we learn if there are any others out there). Will needs to face up against his fears and start acting like a real person. We also have Steve needing to resolve his storyline and finally become a self actualized person, and robin confronting her feelings towards both men and women. Then we have Dustin and his friends finally resolving their issues with one another.

Then Joyce needs to resolve her storyline about her guilt about will and losing her now two loved ones.

Plus the main bad guy from season 1 is disappeared we have no idea where he is and what he is doing. Plus we have this huge supernatural arms race between the US and the USSR. Which will be interesting to see.

Dustin: she seems cool
Steve: she's really not

Also that they didn't set up the obvious, I see it coming a mile away, Steve-Robin romance they teased. Always nice to subvert lazy storytelling.

So who exactly are the Soviets broadcasting that (unencrypted, unsecured) 'code' - that two kids who didn't pursue further education 'cracked' in less than a day - containing directions to their super-secret underground base to?

Why is the radio-operator broadcasting from the food court, right next to a ride with extremely recognizable music? Or, why is the Soviet equipment picking up that ride's music from a kilometre or more under the ground? The Red Army was notorious for bad radio-discipline, but for whatever reason they didn't send unecrypted messages to the Wehrmacht with instructions on how to find them. Not even the Abwehr were that stupid.

What did Robin's sexuality add to the story, aside from some obvious tokenism? Sure, it headed off the predictable Babysitter's Club romance, but is that really laudable? Are we really praising them because they didn't take the cheapest, laziest route to a 'plot'?

Why did Hop's IQ drop to about 70?