#but if that happens i fully expect Duffers to just kill Steve in the end so anyways 'none of that happened. moving on' mode

[corrodedbisexual]

I'm so used to having a ship so far detached from canon it's a whole other universe I actually forgot how ship wars can be where there's some actual canonic "endgame" relationship potential and the fandom doesn't just exist in a perpetual delulu state of selective amnesia reinforced with collective headcanons

[kaijuscientists]

stranger things s4v2 spoilers under the cut

So we watched the episodes last night and i’ve been processing after being a little less upset.

yes, most of the rant is going to revolve around Eddie.

So my main issue is that Eddie died in vain.  His death ultimately meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.  It was only to prove to himself that he ‘wasn’t going to run’ this time. 

To be the hero instead of ‘the freak’

Bestie, you should have run it’s normal to run away from demon bats

And it’s all in vain, and in the end, he’s the only one of the main characters to die in the fight against Vecna. That is probably what pisses me off the most.  The duffers were saying “oh there is going to be five deaths, prepare to suffer cuz your fave is going to die.”  and most of, if not all of us knew that meant Eddie was going to be one of the five.  It’s obvious.  The duffers do not know how to create that tension with out introducing a character that is beloved (Bob, Alexei) and then killing them for the drama of it.

But when everything was said and done, none of the main cast was left permanently dead.  Max died, then El brought her back, she might not wake up, but shes alive.  Eddie just, bleed out in the upside down, with Dustin by his side.

All to try and stop Vecna from opening the gates.  And then Max died and the gates opened anyway.

So, Eddied died in vain, the thing they were trying to stop happened regardless and he really. did. not. need. to. die. 

I’d really but less upset if literally any of the other main cast had also died in the fight.  Like, max should be dead, i feel like steve, nancy or robin, one of them at the very least should be dead (if not all of them, why didn’t the vines kill them right away if vecna knew the plan and what they were coming to do?????). In russia, i was fully expecting one of them to bite it, most likely murray, but nope they all survived.

And then, after everyone's out of the upside down, no one even cares that Eddies’ gone?  No one mentions it, grieves over him? They didn’t think to tell Mike when he got there, that Eddie had lost his life in the fight? does annyone else in helfire care?

the only people that show any emotions of it at all are Dustin and Mr. Munson.  Everyone one else in town still thinks he’s a cult leader and a murderer.  I dunno, just feels wrong and bad that Eddie sacrificed himself for a town that hates him so much.

and i’m assuming they just left him in the upside down. 

He died for nothing and i’m just upset about it.

He just wanted play d&d and graduate high school.

[ladylannisterxo]

That bothers me more than it should when everything involves Billy Hargrove.. Like I know he's a controversial character which is definitely something I enjoyed about this character. Not because of how Dacre's appearance is - him being attractive is a bonus to be, but I enjoyed him as a character because of how Dacre brought this character to life. Any other time unexplained events happened to people, the group helps those people. But Billy? No. They'd rather just kill him every chance they had.

Woof. I popped OFF with this ask so I'm throwing it all under the cut because I just. couldn't. help. myself!

Hard agree. Like 1000%. I have only ever been able to watch S3 the one time all the way through because each time I try to do a rewatch, I get SO frustrated over how little everyone seems to care about him.

And it's funny cause like when I first saw S2 and he rolled up all 'rock you like a hurricane' style, I barely batted an eye. I was more preoccupied with Steve cause let's face it, S2 is a GREAT season for Steve. Hell, S2 is a great season all around. But then I convinced a friend to watch the show and I got a chance to do a rewatch of S2 and what's so incredibly fascinating is that when you watch it the first time around, you're like, "yeah, this guy's a dick" and you side with Max hella hard because why wouldn't you? But then the Duffers gave us that scene with Neil and when you go back and rewatch KNOWING that that scene is going to come back around, EVERYTHING he does up until that point starts to make sense and you're left with that feeling of 'Oh'.

I think the biggest problem, especially with antis, is that they view Billy as such a black and white character, very surface level but you just can't do that with him. He's not a dick just to be a dick, he's a dick because that's what has been ingrained in him since, most likely, day one. I mean, let's think about it, Billy has probably never known a moment of peace, not even when his mom was still around. Neil wanted to make sure Billy was a rough and tough boy; the biggest, meanest, scariest, loudest thing in the room and if he ever fell short of that then he was worthless. But, of course, he could only be those things OUTSIDE his household because inside, well, respect and responsibility and all that jazz. Very contradicting of Neil if I do say so myself.

And this is why I think the Duffers really screwed up with his character because had they not gave us that scene with Neil in S2, it's possible that Billy would have been just "that dick" that was there to cause problems but they made him relatable, they made him a deeper character and I'll tell you, not understanding why a parent (mother or father) doesn't love you the right way or accept you for who you are is one of the HARDEST things you can go through as a kid. Especially because you spend SO much time walking on eggshells and trying to understand what it is YOU'RE doing wrong when in reality, it's not you, it's 100% them. And it takes years to fully understand that and so killing Billy the way they did in S3 just destroyed his character arc and he never got a chance to grow and "redeem" himself (if you will) which antis have such a fun time yelling about but it's like, how can he grow and redeem himself when he's not given a chance?

We don't know really what happened in between S2 and S3 so it's hard to say how he grew as a character but by the end of the first episode of S3, he's already taken by the Mind Flayer and then that's it for him for the entire season. And then with just a little love and some kind words, he's able to break free and sacrifice himself to stop a monster from hurting another kid, like the way he's been hurt his entire life. Idk, I just don't understand how anyone expects him to be perfect when the Duffers didn't even utilize him to his fullest potential. It was such a waste of a potentially fantastic character arc (one that could have rivaled Steve's had they done it right) but it was also a waste of Dacre's talent. I mean, the man BROUGHT it in S3.

Tsk smh... anyway, we love and support Billy Hargrove on this blog. This got out of hand but I had THOUGHTS and EMOTIONS and ahhhhhhhh!!! Will never be over how DIRTY they did my boy!!

[sweetmoons]

Stranger things season 3 review

Sorry about how long this is tumblr mobile doesn't allow me to put in a read more link. I want to preface this by saying that this is my opinion and if you don't agree with me that's totally cool and I'm open to discussion but if you're rude I'm not even going to reply. I also want to establish some things that could make me biased: I've been a will 'stan' since season 1 along with also shipping byler/byeler during season 1 so I will say that when it comes to relationships I'm quite biased but I'll try my best to support everything I think with facts. I'm gonna separate all my thoughts into parts sorry if it gets supper long.

Acting:

Okay I just wanted to get this one out of the way first. The acting was amazing this season as usual and Millie really did a great job on El's character. I have no issues with the actors so everything in this review is targeted towards story.

Main plot:

Before going into specifics about characters I want to address the actual main plot of the show. So how I would explain it is Russians are in Hawkins cause they've figured out about the other dimension and want to open the gate for military use (I think?????), while this is going on the mindflayer is possessing a shit load of people to create a huge monster to kill El cause as far as the mindflayer know shes the only one who can kill it. Alright that's the base of it but there are some issues I have with the plot. First off I feel like it's very all over the place, the past 2 stranger things seasons have had multiple factors going on at once but the common theme between them is that they all had one major focus season 1 was finding Will season 2 was figuring out what was wrong with Will then saving him, but I really can't pinpoint what the motivation is this season. Each character it seemed had a different driving factor that just happened to lead them all to the same place where they didn't know what the fuck to expect. [This is not necessary to read so if you want to skip go back to where its normal text but I just want to point out what I mean by them not having a common goal. Nancy and Jonathan's driving force was Nancy wanting to find answers for a news story she was doing. Joyce and Hopper's driving force was joyce thinking something fishy is going on and hopper tagging along with her. El, Max, Lucas, Mike, and Will's driving force is the fact that Will senses that the mindflayer is still alive. And lastly Steve, Dustin and Robin's motivation is pretty much "my job sucks let's see what this Russian radio frequency I found means" which sounds about right for them] That frankly gave me a vibe like I was being pulled in ten different directions while watching the show. I didn't really feel like there was any order and it felt all over the place like it didn't know what to do next. It almost feels like they had a beginning and an end and just shoved through the middle and filled it with random shit. My second issue with the plot is why are the Russians suddenly the only enemy and we're just cool with the American government that we are aware tested on people??? Why did our enemies just switch and why dont we get an explanation of how the Russians know about the gate? The last thing with the plot I'm gonna touch on is the mindflayer/big bad monster made of molten people. So I just wanna say uhh I'm full on confused when it comes to the mindflayer. So it's never established if they closed the gate and accidentally trapped the mindflayer in their world or if the Russians opened the gate and let it back in because if it's the first one I don't see the point in adding the whole Russian story line. Also what exactly is the mindflayer and what are its powers because it completely changed between season 2 to season 3. If the mindflayer can posses multiple people why was Will the only one possessed in season 2 and how come he was able to with stand and over come the mindflayer so much easier than everyone else in the show? That shit just threw me for a loop. Alright I think that's all my concerns with the main part now let's get to the fun stuff.

Relationships:

Hooooooo boy do I have opinions on relationships.

Mike and Eleven: What the FUCK was that???? It was literally painful to watch. I do think some of their moments were cute especially in the first episode but after like halfway through the first ep it just became painful to watch. This isn't just me saying this because I'm not into mileven I'm saying this because I genuinely think it's bad writing. I really do think Mike and Eleven should have discovered themselves and developed their characters more before putting them in a fully committed relationship. Also Mikes whole character was the fact he was dating el and it was really disappointing.

Lucas and Max: This might be an unpopular opinion but I feel the exact same about Lucas and Max I do about Mike and El which is really disappointing cause I really do love Lumax. Everything felt so awkward and I just wanted them to stop fighting over romance bull shit and just be friends.

Eleven and Max: Their relationship single handedly saved this season and made it enjoyable to watch (other than a couple others). Their friendship is exactly what they both need and I'm glad they confided in one another.

Will and Mike: Strap on boys cause I'm about to go off. WHAT IN THE LIVING FUCK WAS THIS SHIT. Mike was acting completely out of character. He went from loving and caring about Will to making him an after thought for the entire season. Will fucking followed him around like a puppy being ignored before he snapped and quiet frankly I'm glad he snapped because he doesn't deserve to be treated like that but right after he snaps Mike goes back doing the SAME THING DUDE. WILL IS STILL AN AFTERTHOUGHT. They have been friends since kindergarten, befriending will is apparently the best thing Mike has ever done, Mike would not leave will's side the entirety of season 2, but now he like doesn't pay attention to will half the time. This is lousy writing and I'm sorry to say it but the duffers cant seem to write relationships well, unless this is on purpose and this is planned for Will's future character arc because it definitely wasn't for Mike to progress as a person because he fucking DIDN'T. They just really fucked Mike's character this season because he was only concerned about El the whole season and it was soooooooo frustrating.

End:

I have more little things I think but I'm cutting this short before I piss myself off way too much. I did enjoy watching this season because I just adore seeing the characters and also the like 3 byler scenes we got had me living. Obviously this is just what I think and I want to hear what you all think too, please keep it friendly.

[rigginsstreet]

what changes would you have made in st season 3? briana essay writing skills COMMENCE :)

*REALISTIC changes lol

first of all, in the words of the late great biliam hargrove: nobody tells me what to do.

second of all, the fucking stupid ass music number that got my mens killed is absolutely going the fuck in the garbage can where it belongs

i really didnt have a lot of problems with this season as far as what everyones individual plots where. like, i LOVED joppers arc (until the fucking end), i liked jancys (though i feel like they really didnt do a lot in terms of it. i thought we were gonna get way more in terms of the sexism nancy faced at work. it just... felt weak. and all we saw from jonathan was him developing his pictures. i just needed... more)

im not interested in the kids so whatever they were doing i couldnt care less about BUT i will say will shouldve been more involved with the mindflayer stuff like... besides the whole neck tingles business (mindflayer asmr) he really took a back seat and that just.... doesnt make any sense to me.

instead of that fuck ass billy and karen nonsense that time shouldve been used at the beginning to actually SHOW us max and billys development and where they stood as siblings rather than just shoehorning in her crying about him once he was possessed. 

and dustin being away from the party still makes no sense to me. i know everyones got a hardon for steve and dustins bromance but im not one of them and that entire subplot in itself was the most boring thing to me this season like i truly could not have cared less about that about that either. and honestly now reflecting back on it.... the whole notion of a secret russian facility being under the mall and these dopey ass kids just stumbling into it is so hokey but whatever

billy and eleven absolutely needed more scenes. i was fully expecting to have like... a deeper connection between the two of them. i was expecting for us to get eleven going into billys mind and being able to actually talk to him and interact with him and us seeing that billy was struggling trying to fight this thing inside him that he has no fucking clue what it is and hes so scared. speaking of which, i was also expecting to see scenes of billy at home struggling with trying to keep this a secret because he has no idea whats happening to him. like... dacre fucking crushed it with all the acting he did showing us how billy was struggling in such subtle manners, dont get me wrong. but i think we needed more of that on a bigger scale for his ending to have any actual payoff.

also the fact that you have billy being possessed, living in a house with an abusive father, and we got NOTHING of that ?? what ??? bad call. BAD call.

and the season needed more focus on the fact that billys just a kid in all this. hes a PERSON. i’ll keep ranting about this but the fact that NO ONE tried to figure out a way to help him.... it was literally just “is he the mindflayer? welp. gotta kill him now i guess”. so gross. like even the people who hate billy and are still like “are we supposed to feel bad for him?” I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN TO YOU THAT HE’S A HUMAN BEING AND HE DOESNT DESERVE TO FUCKING DIE JUST BECAUSE HE WAS MEAN SOMETIMES! THATS NOT HOW THE WORLD WORKS TIFFANY! but anyway

the fact that steve just rammed into billys car and left him to die in a fiery blaze.... is so out of character to me? lmfao like literally all you needed to do was have steve ram into his car and then notice its billy and have a typical steve harrington freak out like “oh my god. OH MY GOD?” wouldve loved to see SOMEONE struggle with the fact that yeah everybody hates billy but like... you cant just let him die ??? lmfao that is truly the most infuriating part of this entire season. just...nobody fucking cared. even if only for max’s sake. nobody fucking cared it was her brother going through all this. trash. all of them. it also wouldve been nice to see billy apologizing to steve and lucas in his final moments too like nobody rushed down to console max? lmfao okay.... fake ass friends

im also upset that hopper dies after being away from eleven the entire season like.... ugh. like i said, i loved joppers arc and their scenes (along with billys) are by far and away my favorite this season but...it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth the way hopper went out. i mean, his death overall does feel wrapped up like i think the duffers handled it a helluva lot better than they handled billys but...the fact that hopper was the first parent el had that treated her right and took her in and gave her a home and stability... and they barely had any time together leading up to his death... i dont like it.

also the whole flayed plot went pretty much nowhere like..... all these people get infected or whatever just to be led to their deaths to turn to goo and like.... oh... kay ??? the trailer made it seem like they were some type of zombie agents idk i expected something more chaotic to take place. what we got just felt anticlimactic to me.

this season as a whole just left me wanting more. and not in the “oh i cant wait for season 4!” way. but in the way “couldnt yall have done something else with your time?” way. i think this season really couldve benefited from having one or two extra episodes. or maybe even just longer episodes. AND WITH THE TIME YALL DID HAVE WE DIDNT NEED BILLY AND KAREN AND FUCKING MUSICAL NUMBER THE END

OH! and the mayor kline shit.... what? that shit felt like it went nowhere too like...that definitely needed to be explored more. i dont even remember what is reasoning was to be in bed with the russians. wasnt it just about money? like.... he wasnt even really involved ? the fuck was that about. no bueno. 

but most importantly billy should have been at scoops to taunt steve about his sailor uniform if the duffers had just given me that i could forgive everything else but they didnt so here we are the end

AND I STILL MAINTAIN STEVE SHOULDVE BEEN MORE INVOLVED IN BILLYS PLOT CONSIDERING HE WAS LIKE THE ONLY PERSON BILLY REALLY INTERACTED WITH IN S2 BUT OH NO, THE DUFFERS CANT LET PEOPLE KNOW GAY MEN EXIST. imma stop.... imma stop.

[engagedtobefree]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I 100% understand and respect the criticism around Eddie’s death and Will’s sexuality/being used as a plot device. Will has been really going through the ringer since s1, and to only make him a plot device to serve Mike and El’s relationship...if I was queer I think that would also feel like a slap in the face for me too. The Duffer Bros will really have to work on Will’s story arc a lot next season to make up for it, which they at least said that his arc was far from over, so we will see. I think some people want him to end up with Mike or anyone really, just as long as it’s someone, but honestly, I don’t think that’s what’s best for him. Considering it’s the 80′s and from what we’ve seen of Will’s struggles, I think the best outcome for him - aside from no longer using him as a plot device for a straight relationship - would be to fully accept who he is and to let his friends in on what he is coping with, something he has always struggled with in general. As for Eddie, I personally feel split on his death. I can see good reasons as to why they did it, but can also see good reasons as to why they should have kept him on. But it did stay consistent with their habit of introducing a loveable new character just to kill them off, though Eddie’s death definitely hit the hardest as he was the most loveable.

Some of the relationships do feel forced this season, like the love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan, though I am curious how that will play out. Mike and El’s relationship feels super juvenile, which makes sense considering they’re only meant it be like 14/15, but they could have done more with that I think, keeping it realistic but still making it interesting for all audiences, and idk, it just missed the mark. I honestly thought the hug between El and Will was way more interesting and heartwarming than anything happening between El and Mike. Max/Lucas, Joyce/Hopper, and Vickie/Robin are all good, so hopefully those don’t get messed up too. 

Idk, I think tumblr is always really harsh on shows/movies/tv media (and just anything in general at times tbh). Not sure why that is the widely-accepted expected atmosphere on here whenever something new comes out. Again, some things in the show, definitely problematic and should be addressed, but a lot of what I see just feels nitpicking and criticism over the smallest things at times (not just in regards to ST). Of course our own projections are likely to come out and influence our own perspective of what we are viewing and how we’re interpreting it, but it would be really nice one day to see something come out where tumblr doesn’t automatically want to condemn it and rip it to shreds.