#so yeah this characterization of Steve always sort of rubbed me the wrong way???

[age-of-moonknight]

“Midnight Sun (Part II): The Dead Don’t Stay,” Moon Knight (Vol. 5/2006), #8.

Writer: Charlie Huston; Penciler: David Finch; Inkers: Danny Miki and Crimelab Studios; Colorist: Frank D’Armata; Letterer: Joe Caramagna

[aelaer]

[1/2] Now this is an actual ask as in asking for help. 👀 I have a problem with Steve and Tony. I spent too much time too early on reading anti/not-friendly post-CW fics about 'Team Cap', and because of that I have been unable to see Tony as a flawed human or Steve as a good person. It's a pattern I've become too familiar with, and even recent stories are often going into that sense. I have been trying for some time now to do something about it, but either the method was bad, or I couldn't

(I tagged a couple people in this post – if you were tagged, the question directed to you is wayyyy at the bottom! Feel free to ignore of course.)

You really hit me with a doozy with this ask. I might offend someone for not thinking the exact same way as them with… everything this topic entails… Steve, Tony, anti-fics. Followers from last year know what happened last time I talked about poor and OOC characterization in fanfic, lmao. Beware The Easily Offended! This Is A Critical Thinking Of Your Hobby Zone! I Am Being Critical Of Specific Types of MCU Fanfic!

Please don’t click the read more button if you can’t handle an opinion that might not match yours. Really. I’m fine with discussing different opinions in a mature manner but if you have issues with people saying they don’t like a specific type of plot, this post is not for you. (The read more button doesn’t appear on the original post for followers using the mobile app, but it works on desktop and in all reblogs. If you don’t see a cut and don’t want to read, just skip it, please).

Yeah. Okay. Moving on. Can’t say folks weren’t warned.

I’ve had this in my drafts for several weeks because of the abuse I got the last time I wrote something critical about certain plot points used in fanfic. I was definitely a bit reluctant to look at this specific topic from an analytical and critical look as I remembered that, but hey, it’s really easy for a coward to use a sockpuppet account and throw abuse. It’s harder to be a minority voice with stark opinions contrasting the popular trend. I’m okay with having a minority opinion amongst the MCU fandom.

(PS - you’re welcome to disagree with my opinions, so long as you’re respectful about it. Remember there are individuals behind the screens!)

Concerning Character Flaws

So the thing about really well-written characters is that they are flawed in some manner. Anyone who thinks Tony or Steve exist without flaws – and I mean real flaws, like arrogance, believing they’re always right, short tempers, and other *real* character flaws that both of these characters have – well, if they don’t think they exist with these flaws, how well do they know the character?

You don’t have to know a character well to be a fan of said character – there’s no rules about that – but if you’re going to write fanfic, and that fanfic entails the character you love against a character you don’t particularly like, I’d say any writer looking to do anything resembling a good job would do their due diligence in figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of both characters before writing the characters themselves. These mental lists of characteristics should be equal for both characters. No, “good abs” is not a character strength if you have no physical aspects in the other character strength column. You don’t have to like a character to still write them well.

Even professionals don’t follow this rule when, say, shows get new writers or comics get different writers, so you might consider me silly expecting those dabbling in fan fiction. But yeah, if an author wants me to take a story seriously as something with quality, I expect the characters to resemble themselves in some manner.

(This level of resemblance varies when you purposefully choose for the protagonist to be evil, be in a completely different time period, etc, but authors who do this *well* still get core personality traits solid, even if morality is out the window or the profession is entirely different. I have a lot of examples from the Sherlock fandom of total AUs that pull this off well – haven’t read nearly enough AUs in the MCU to have a good collection here).

But a resemblance of character, of capturing the three-dimensionality of a character, is what anti-fics simply fail to achieve. The characters they’re anti against usually suffer cases of Flanderization, if they’re not completely out of character altogether in showing traits that were never displayed in the canon, ever. I don’t know why anyone would be interested in such stories, myself, and remain baffled at their popularity. Is there some sort of enjoyment in seeing such a 2D rendition of a character in what is otherwise meant as a serious work and provides absolutely no sense of proper conflict between two characters? Not for me; it immediately takes me out of the story and when it gets too much, I abandon the story. It’s just not enjoyable for me. Turning a canon protagonist into a strawman is just lazy writing and offers nothing to the writer’s favorite, preferred character.

Concerning Steve’s and Tony’s Flaws

Every real human being has some sort of personality flaw that is decidedly unattractive. Some people are really good at showing it very rarely (and are some of the best human beings), but with these two characters we see them at their greatest heights and lowest of lows. Ironically, they actually share a lot of the same flaws, but display them in different manners in canon:

Both men believe they are the best man for the job and will do it without consulting someone who could actually fight against it - or go completely against them. Tony with Ultron is the easy example here. He’s the smartest man in the world and can tackle the issue of protecting it on its own. Steve, same issue, and his job is “helping Bucky”. *He’s* the one who can handle Bucky, the only one who can handle him - big thing in both WS and CW. If both of them had utilized their friends and allies a lot more, a lot of issues could have been avoided.

Both men are sometimes hypocritical. Steve promotes teamwork in all his speeches but again with the Bucky situation. Just… everything Bucky, man. Tony signs the Accords and immediately goes against them with what he gives to Peter, who most assuredly did not sign them (tangent: if he HAD joined the Avengers at the end of Homecoming, I have no idea how that would have gone since Peter would have had to reveal his identity to the UN and then there’s the whole ‘still a minor’ thing, and yeah, Homecoming’s end scene just makes me go nuts). But anyway, their occasional hypocrisy is one of the most realistic aspects of them because most human beings are hypocritical sometimes.

Both men are sometimes arrogant. Tony’s self-explanatory with his genius-playboy-philanthropist-billionaire. One thing he does not suffer from is low self-esteem in regards to his abilities. His arrogance comes from his genius. Steve’s arrogance lies more in his deep-seeded belief that he is on the moral high ground – and one reason I think a lot of people dislike him so much, because moral superiority is very much a faux pas in this day and age for some millennials and many Gen Z folk. He has a very, very solid sense of what is right and what is wrong, and that rubs some folks the wrong way. Tony is more morally fluid – but he is not by any means immoral.

Both of them have a really solid list of strengths as well. As this ask specifically is looking to find the good in Steve, I specifically Googled pro-Steve articles for you to click at your leisure (and one with both). If you need to go back to canon, I highly recommend rewatching The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, which introduces Steve brilliantly and then lets Steve grow further in the second film.

(Note: I actually prefer Tony to Steve in terms of personal favoritism, but how a very loud segment of Tony fans have treated other characters has led me to be more vocal about the strengths of others, especially Steve and Wanda. So Tony might be in my top 5, but mean-spirited Tony fans have moved me to be a champion of other characters, if only to show other fans that there are indeed Tony fans that do like the other characters and treat them – and their fans – with respect).

Bringing Balance (to the Universe…) Fanfic-Style

This addresses the second part of your ask in regards to the fanfics. And this is where I started running into trouble, too, mostly because, well, just how many Stephen and Steve fics are there? Yeah, exactly. Stephen’s my main guy. So I did some research, outsourcing, and reading.

Here’s two I knew of before cuz Stephen’s in them in some capacity:

Identity Theft by KitKat992 - it stars Peter and both Tony and Steve play integral parts from what I recall. Good story too, very engaging.

A Dysfunctional Senior Year (series) by ApolloLoki97 - this also stars Peter and has a large Team As Family aspect, so it shows the entire Avengers team as just decent people. My favorite part is naturally part 3 because Stephen comes in that one, haha.

And to find other stories, I went into the Anti-Accords tag. It was nice to find fics that didn’t have such a love of hypocritical authoritarianism. Aannyyyyway.

Making Sense of Chaos by SparkedtoLife - mind the tags. Seriously, it’s heavy duty. Yet another Peter fic because he’s way more popular than my favorite character, qq. Lots of Netflix Marvel characters too! Anyway, deals with not only Tony and Steve really well (and has a different dynamic with Tony that isn’t IronDad, so that was a nice change of pace), it also deals with the Accords situation very realistically. And none of those are even main plot points. If you can handle the very serious, sensitive subject that is the main plot point, I highly recommended it. It’s a very masterfully done work.

Atlas by nanasekei - Stony. Treats all characters with respect and both Tony and Steve as three-dimensional, flawed humans with some serious self doubts. Also highly agree with the author that Thaddeus Ross sucks and is basically one of the biggest people to blame for Everything Going To Shit.

Homecoming by an orphaned account - Some Stucky. This is a lovely one-shot of things I basically wanted to happen when the team got together again but didn’t. Sigggghhh. Everyone is definitely in character in this one, traumas and healing and all. And look, another person realizes that trusting Ross is a really horrible idea.

Locks Not Replaced by Riverdaughter - first this writer has a Tolkien-based username so yay. Anyway, the fic starts off by Tony realizing that he almost killed Steve during the fight with his repulsors, and it was only Bucky that stopped him. Do people seriously think he’d survive a shot to the face with that power? This is one reason the ‘Steve tried to kill Tony’ people piss me the fuck off. What do you think those repulsors shoot, fucking rainbows? Honestly, guys. Anyway, mini rant over. This fic is great. Author comes in with a Cap favoritism but treats Tony well, and honestly Tony turning a blind eye to everything and ignoring Ross is what I like to think happened in canon (he clearly dislikes the guy). And also I love the Robin Hood parallels. Love love love. I think this fic is my favorite of the ones listed in this section.

Meeting Your Heroes by Riverdaughter - naturally after reading that fic I went to explore more and found this gem. She’s not incorrect in saying Tony wasn’t a good mentor at the beginning - I think he had his own growth after Peter’s actions in Homecoming especially (though even through Homecoming he was trying, just… not always successfully lmao). Anyway love these two together. It’s great.

Photograph by slytherclaw420 - A scene we deserved in Endgame and didn’t get. Sigh. Definite IronDad feels here. Hopeful Steve, rebuilding of a friendship.

And uh, an honorable mention of sorts:

Balancing the Scales by MoonFire1 - I’m not recommending this fic for good characterization or plot. It really doesn’t have either. The fic was written in retaliation for the nasty Tony fans completely trashing Steve’s character. You should only read this if you want to see the argument from “the other side” and if you want to see an anti-Tony fic like you’ve seen anti-Steve fics. Don’t harass the author though. This is presented as a counterargument to anti-Steve fiction, for those interested to read the other sides arguments. I don’t like the nature of the fic, but I loathe that “not Steve friendly” has 30 fucking pages of works with tens of thousands of kudos, so one anti-Tony fic (with a comparatively small three pages under that tag) really doesn’t compare. Ugh. I hate the anti culture in this fandom so much. Loathe it. It’s such a nasty energy! Why would you indulge in such negativity? But as I’ve mentioned before, I appreciate authors aware enough to tag it so I can avoid it. I wish that part of fandom culture didn’t exist, but well, can’t change it. Just can criticize the fuck out of it on my blog. Maybe encourage people to think less one-sided in the process if I’m lucky.

But there’s probably more good characterization Steve fics to be found, so I am forcefully recruiting two people via tag:

If you’re looking to dabble into Stony fics with good-guy-Steve, if anyone would know of any, I’d imagine it’d be @babywarg.

You don’t know this person, but @cairistiona7 has actually known me the longest of anyone here on tumblr (half my life! HALF! She even knows my real name :P She betaed a LOTR work of mine a decade ago I ended up never fully publishing… thanks again for all your help there…). Anyway, she’s a big Bucky fan, and Bucky friendships is the best thing. So if anyone would know any wholesome Bucky and Steve stories, it’d be her. (Or really I’d take any of your recs, Cair, as I’ll probably enjoy them as well).

I hope this was helpful to you md, and that I didn’t piss off too many of my followers in the process of answering this lol.

[winters-orbit]

My Thoughts on Endgame: A Very Spoiler-Heavy Review

Yeah we’re talking about pretty much all of it, so buckle up.

Alright y’all, here we go. I saw endgame yesterday, and I think I’ve finally compiled all of my thoughts. So a couple things before I start.

1.      There will be VERY heavy spoilers, like, so many. I have tagged this post with every tag I can figure out about spoilers, and I’m starting this post with stating it. If you have not seen the movie and don’t want spoilers, please do not read this post. I feel I have warned you sufficiently, so don’t get mad at me.

2.      This is going to be a really LONG and in depth post. I apologize, but I need to talk about this.

3.      If I refer to the people making the movie, I am talking about both the Russo’s and Markus & McFeely. I feel that all four of them were involved enough to lump them altogether.

4.      This is likely not going to be a super positive post, so know that.

5.      I may have a few controversial opinions. I’m not here to attack anyone’s opinions personally. These are just mine. I’m totally willing to have a civil discussion about stuff.

Now that we know where we all are. I’m gonna start off with what I thought were the positives.

·        Steve wielding Mjolnir. HOLY SHIT. I think that is literally my new favorite shot in the MCU. Steve standing there with the Hammer and his shield honestly took my comic loving ass’s breath away.

·        A bit of an extension of that last point, but the wide shot of Steve standing there alone, facing all of Thanos and his army? Hot damn? That was such a beautiful shot.

·        Most of the movie before the five years later was what I’m going to sum up as ‘pretty good’, i.e. I don’t have too many complaints.

·        “That is America’s Ass” (do I need to explain this one?)

·        Natasha basically holding everything together for 5 years, just trying to hold herself together when Steve walks in? Wow, break my heart why don’t you.

·        AVENGERS….assemble.

·        Falcon saying on your left

·        Strange looking at Tony before the end and slowly holding up one finger.

·        Scott’s breakdown and frantically looking for Cassie’s name on the memorial (Like, shout out to Paul Rudd’s acting there, cause damn I felt that)

·        Captain Marvel (and here’s where we get controversial kids) was in the movie very minimally

Look, I’m sure there’s some other good stuff that I’m just not remembering. But that’s the stuff that really stuck out to me.

OHHHHHHKAY, deep breath because here we go. I want to start off talking about tone. For me, it was all over the place. Phase 3 as a whole in the MCU has been really tonally off for me. I know this is not a common opinion, because everyone I saw this movie with had the humor really land for them. Still, for me I felt the humor was really off. It always feels jarring to me when they juxtapose death with a joke.

Now that we’ve gotten tone out of the way. Let me go through by characters. Because this movie really suffered as far as characterization and plot. So let’s talk characters first.

Tony:

Gotta really preface this one. I have never really liked Tony as a character. So take everything I say with that in mind. This is going to sound biased.

So- three big things for me as far as Tony.

1.      It REALLY bothers me that Tony would just fuck off for five years. (Look this one is really biased, I can acknowledge that) After being the one to always be about winning no matter what, Pepper even says something along the lines of would you be able to live with yourself? So the idea of him just leaving and not helping even remotely rubs me the wrong way. And apparently all it took was seeing a picture of Peter to change his mind? Idk not sold.

a.      This didn’t really fit anywhere else but I wanted to touch on it because it bothered me. But WHAT THE FRESH FUCK do you mean by reverse the Mobius strip. WHAT. The WHOLE point of a Mobius strip is that there is only ONE side. (Like I know this doesn’t matter literally at all but hot damn does it fire me up for no reason)

2.      Tony & Howard. Let’s discuss. I’m honestly really confused what they (see preface #3) were going for with this interaction. The way I always read the relationship was that Howard was very neglectful and emotionally manipulative. The MCU has never given me the impression that the two had a good relationship. So, what was this interaction supposed to be? Was it supposed to be closure? Idk I have a hard time figuring this scene. If you have thoughts on this one let me know.

3.      Alright, Tony doing the final snap. We gotta talk. I know this was more of an MCU thing. Like I get that Tony started the MCU so it fits that he would be the one to end this arc. But I am just personally really mad that I don’t think Nebula got the closure she deserved as a character. I guess you could argue that killing her ‘alternate timeline’ (oh don’t worry, we’ll get to that) self is ‘closure’ but she didn’t even get to try and fight Thanos. After everything he did to her, and after killing Gamora, I felt she deserved something. Basically, Tony performing the snap made no sense in context of character arc (like everything in this damn movie), and it should’ve been someone else.

a.      I’m not sure how I feel about Tony dying. Not sure it worked for his arc but I’m sort of happy that this will be a moving on for the MCU.

Steve:

I wish I could articulate through text the incredibly deep and long sigh that I just gave. Steve they did you dirty.

You know what we’re talking about, but let me say it anyway with a couple Fuck’s just to let me vent. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE ENDING. HOW THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN. HOW THE FUCK DID THEY THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY RUIN HIM LIKE THAT.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that I’ve gotten that out of the way. Let’s talk about this a little more calmly. I’m so disappointed. I feel like everyone else has done this in more detail and since I’ve already be working on this for like an hour, I’m going to try and summarize this.

Steve’s entire arc was about moving on from whatever bad things have happened in the past and still being a good person.  It’s about learning how finding new people and having new experiences can help you grow from whatever has happened to you in the past. It is so incredibly frustrating to watch them throw that away. Peggy and Steve never dated, at least as far as what the MCU showed us. Peggy died, she had a good fulfilling life. She moved on. She tells Steve later that she has no regrets about her life, only that he didn’t get to live his.

Beyond that what about Bucky, Sam, Natasha, even Fury and Tony, and the rest of the Avengers. So he just threw all of those relationships away?

Side tangent. Bucky should’ve been the new Cap. Don’t get me wrong, Sam Wilson is incredible and I think he’ll be great. But damn they did Bucky just as dirty. I think it makes more sense to have Bucky be the new Cap. Bucky is also a super soldier. He has a form of serum and could actually do what Steve did. Sam is not a super soldier (as far as the MCU) and he, while still an incredible fighter, just isn’t as powerful as Steve was.

Anyway, I’m bitter, I’m mad, and I’m so incredibly disappointed that this is the message they went for as Steve’s farewell to the MCU.

Thor

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy. What did they (I’m including Hemsworth this time too) do to you Thor. I feel like I must preface that I did not like Ragnorok. However I did think that the character arc they had for Thor was good.

Two major things:

1.      We gotta talk about the weight. This is another thing where I just don’t get where they were going with it. They have completely destroyed whatever character the MCU was trying to build. Why has the fucking GOD OF THUNDER been reduced to a constant punchline? Wow.

a.      Also yeah, we also gotta touch on Fornite. Fucking yikes Marvel. That is not going to age well. This is just super cringe worthy and another one of those tone issues I was talking about.  

2.      He left Asgard?????? The Fuck? After everything that’s happened he’s just going to dick around with the guardians?

a.      Don’t get me wrong Val is going to kick ass

b.      Also let me tell you, I am not looking forward to Thor being in guardians 3. I literally cannot stand the interactions between Peter Quill and Thor and I am dreading the next guardians now.

Other people have definitely gone into further depth when it comes to Thor so I feel like it’s been covered.

Bruce

I don’t like it, I don’t have a solution, but I don’t like it.

Natasha

Damn I feel like a broken record, but Nat they did you dirty. She did not deserve to die. Like I said in the positives section, she literally held the Avengers together for FIVE years when it was very clear that Tony and Bruce had fucked off and Steve was busy helping individuals. I think she was pretty damn redeemed. Like shit the whole series is her trusting people and finding a family in the Avengers.

Clint

Aight so let’s get it out there. Clint is one of my favorite characters of ALL time. Yeah I’m biased. I will never deny that. I have been bitching since 2012 that the MCU has destroyed Clint. This movie is no exception. I’m kinda just talking about the whole soul stone scene here. As soon as I saw that it was Clint and Nat going to Voromir, I knew Nat was dying. I literally gasped in the theatre and covered my mouth as I quietly chanted no no no no no. My friend sitting next to me didn’t get it but I wasn’t about to tell him. Both of them deserved so much better and yes I’m hardcore Clintasha and have been since 2012. So them fighting over who was going to sacrifice themself absolutely destroyed me.

So thanks Marvel, I hate it.

That’s the O6. I don’t have major thoughts on every secondary character, but I do on one.

Scott

Hot damn, this is really personally to me. But why is Scott always portrayed as an idiot, the butt of a joke. The man literally has a MASTERS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. As someone who is about to get an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering this really pisses me off. Just because he doesn’t understand quantum mechanics he’s treated like a joke. AGHHAHGHAGHAGH

Alright folks let’s do it. Let’s talk plot.

I’m of the opinion that time travel is never good for a series. It opens to many doors and makes to many confusing problems.

I cannot stand how they’ve defined the rules of time travel in this. They actually just made it a get out of jail free card and then they broke them anyway? I’m honestly just tired and confused at this point.

What happened to Loki when he disappeared with the space stone? How did Thanos come to a future where he was already dead when the Doctor Strange movie implied you can��t travel past your death?

Why were we denied seeing everyone snap back into existence? You really denied us all those reunions. So much of the movie was slow and quiet, why couldn’t that have been too.

How the fuck did none of them die when Thanos blew up Avengers headquarters?

What are the implications of all the timelines they created (oh wait the movie decided that all established movie time travel rules are dumb because we want to write without concern)? A 2012 where Steve knows about Bucky but Hydra thinks he’s on their side? What did Hank Pym do when he found out a bunch of his particles were taken? Was Howard different as a father because of a talk he had with that same son? How the fuck are Peter and all his friends still the same age?

Marvel you simply cannot do shit like this. You can’t throw out established rules simply because your story wouldn’t work without changing them. NEWS FLASH that means your story is shitty. Get better at writing or don’t use time travel. You can’t ignore stuff like butterfly effect. Or simply disregard changing your own past. You can’t just say ‘alternate timeline’ and solve it. Are you opening up the MCU to the multiverse? Or is this just a contrivance for your plot to work.

In conclusion TL:DR there was a good movie in here somewhere. But the plot was so riddle with holes and mistakes. They threw out character in favor of fan service. All of the years of work that was put in to build these characters is now out the window. I hope you’re happy Marvel.

Agree with me? Cool. Don’t Agree? Cool. I’m glad some people actually like the movie. Is this everything I wanted to say? No, I’m probably forgetting something. But here’s a lot of how I felt.

[diarythebookwyrm]

Thoughts on Stranger Things 3

So Stranger Things 3 aired almost two weeks ago. I binge-watched the entire season on that Friday afternoon/evening/night. Naturally, that meant I had to take some time to sort through what I had just watched. I have since sorted through my thoughts and decided to share them.

Below the cut, because this is gonna get long and I don’t wanna spoil anybody who hasn’t caught up yet.

So...first, some character thoughts.

This season absolutely cemented in my mind exactly which characters are my favorites and which I couldn’t care less about. This is particularly true of the two main characters who just rub me the absolute wrong way; Jonathan Byers and Mike Wheeler.

Now, I’ve had issues with Jonathan since season one. Let’s explore why that’s the case, shall we? Within the first half of the season, Jonathan not only stalked Nancy but took pictures of her naked and having sex without her knowledge or consent. That’s already pretty damned creepy, but it gets worse when you remember that Nancy is a minor. Jonathan’s pictures count as child pornography by the modern definition. Yes, this is in the 80s, but that doesn’t make it any less creepy. Yes, he and Nancy have “shared trauma” after being in the Upside Down for a short time, but that...is not enough to build a relationship on??? Then the way he and Nancy do end up together is sketchy at best.

So...yeah. Jonathan is not my favorite character.

As for Mike...

Mike, Mike, Michael, Mikey. He is my absolute least favorite of the original Party. Why? Because he’s a selfish, entitled little asshole. I have two younger brothers; one five years and one ten years younger than me. I’ve lived in a house with a 13-15-year-old boy when I myself was 18-20. It was...a trial, to say the least. But Mike takes the typical early teen boy angst and dials it right up to thirteen. Not eleven; thirteen.

In this season, that was just emphasized even more than the past two seasons for me. His behavior towards Hopper has always been a bit of a pain for me to watch, but this season it just got worse. Just because Mike is El’s first boyfriend, he acts like that means he’s entitled to all her time and attention. Hopper was completely justified in flipping out the way he did.

Which brings me to Hopper’s characterization this season. I thought it was perfectly in line with the man we’ve spent so much time with so far. For one thing, this is the mid-to-late 80s. 

Let me put that in perspective for everyone. My dad was about Steve Harrington’s age in the mid to late 80s (my mom was about Nancy’s age). My dad was a bit of a...snark as a kid. My grandfather was and still is a very down-to-earth and straight-shooting man. He did not put up with my dad’s bullshit. Full stop. End of story. Hopper is similar to my grandfather in that respect. The scene where Hopper gets Mike alone and then lays down the law? My grandfather would have pulled that if he had a daughter with a snarky, disrespectful asshole of a boyfriend.

Hopper is also raising a teenage girl for the first time. His daughter died before she ever reached her teen years, so Hopper is figuring out what is the best method for handling things like a first boyfriend or a girl’s nights at the house. This is a man who spent years after his daughter’s death living as a confirmed bachelor who was a bit of a slob because he was also self-medicating with alcohol. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t actually follow through on the thought to kill Mike.

Joyce was, as always, my favorite of the parents. She’s a wonderful mother who is just trying to keep shit going for her boys’ sakes more than her own. I can’t really blame her for wanting to move out of Hawkins after what happened with Bob. Did that mean I enjoyed that plotline? No, of course I didn’t. But that doesn’t mean it was a bad one.

Murray was...Well, Murray. I did like his interactions with Hopper and how he’s the only person who actually was calling Hopper by his first name.

Nancy’s plotline in this season...it felt a little weak to me, I’ll be honest. Ever since Nancy and Jonathan got together last season (which...again, I think that was poorly handled from the start), Nancy has not been my favorite person. Am I saying she should have stayed with Steve? Absolutely not. It’s very clear that Nancy was not nearly as invested in that relationship as Steve was. I honestly think that if Nancy were not in any relationship, her story might have been a bit better written. As it is, she just feels like she’s filler alongside Jonathan while Steve actually grows as a person.

Steve, as always, is continuing to grow and develop in ways neither Nancy nor Jonathan has in the course of the show. When we first meet Steve, he’s the hot man on campus, the popular jock, etc. etc. etc. Did he do and say some problematic things? Yes. But, I would like to remind everyone of just what kind of dumbasses we all were at seventeen. Do you remember being seventeen? I do. I was a bitch. And it’s very clear in season one that most of Steve’s assholery comes from having shitty friends as much as anything. He had a point about Jonathan being a creep, and while breaking the camera might have been extreme, it was certainly justified. I think the worst thing he did was helping with spray painting Nancy “The Slut” Wheeler on the sign, and that was clearly more something that Tommy H. came up with. He even stayed behind to help clean the graffiti up. Was Steve an idiot in season one? Yes, but I still loved him even then because I saw potential and he has more than lived up to that.

The rest of the Party along with Max and El remained pretty firmly where they had been in my estimation before season three with only Max and Will moving slightly higher up on my list. Lucas has never been my favorite, but neither is he my least favorite. Dustin is my son and I will protect him. Will has grown on me and I just want to bundle him up in a blanket and feed him cookies. El is, as she always has been, a badass. Max wasn’t necessarily my favorite last season, but I didn’t dislike her, and she’s certainly grown on me with this season.

Robin and Alexei are darlings and I love them both dearly. Erica...yeah. Those of us with younger siblings either are like “yeah, been there” or find Erica a bit too close to home to enjoy. I’ll let you judge for yourself where she falls.

Now for the one character I never thought I would ever feel sympathy for: Billy. When Billy entered the show in season two, I hated him. I hated everything about him, and that was kind of the point. We were supposed to hate him. What I think is a great credit to both the writers and Dacre Montgomery’s portrayal of Billy is the fact they did invoke sympathy from me this season. Billy has still done awful things, but as I watched him become the pawn of the Mind Flayer, I actually felt sorry for him. Dacre was amazing in this role, and I’ll never forget the scene where El and he are facing off in the Starcourt Mall. It’s one of the most poignant scenes in the entire series, as far as I’m concerned.

Moving past the single characters and into the relationships:

I...have never shipped Mileven or Max/Lucas. Why? Because they are children. Mike and Eleven are about 12-13 when they meet, so...for me, the idea of shipping children has never sat well with me. It’s part of why I don’t actively ship series-era Kataang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. By season three, Mike, Eleven, Lucas and Max are about 14-15 which...is better, but not by much. I’m twenty-nine, so for me, those are babies. Also, they’ll grow up and probably have other loves in their life. Shipping children that young is problematic because most people don’t stay with their first love forever. It’s considered healthy to have multiple early loves, and I think that’s part of why I was so adamantly against Mileven this season.

I’ve already addressed some of my biggest issues with Jancy from last season, and I mentioned that I just felt like they were filler this season. Also, Nancy talking about “what if I just...don't let you go” made me facepalm so hard. Again, Jonathan is one of Nancy’s first loves. Few people stay with their high school boyfriend for the rest of their lives. True, it was certainly more common in the 50s-80s, but that doesn’t mean it’s something that should inspire great shipping material. Nancy is at least 17 or 18 in season three. She’s still figuring out what she wants out of life, and so is Jonathan. Making them out to be this great romance that will last forever is just...weird?

Jopper...Jopper broke my heart this season. I’d shipped it on the side since season one, but put it on the back burner when I saw how happy Joyce was with Bob. This season, it just reminded me why I love the dynamic between Joyce and Hopper. I’m so sad that they’ll never have that date at Enzo’s, and I wish the writers would stop making Joyce watch the man she thinks she could settle down with die horribly.

The plot:

I knew the Mind Flayer was going to be the Big Bad, so that was no surprise. What was surprising was the army of the Flayed, and I rather enjoyed that. The Russians were a wonderful addition as far as I’m concerned. I loved the way it was handled, both comedically and dramatically. It makes sense to me that if American scientists discovered the Upside Down, the Russians would have too. I mean, this is the end of the Cold War after all. America and Russia were constantly racing against one another to find the next great discovery first.

Overall, I loved this season. It was not a let-down in any way for me, apart from the focus on certain characters that still irk me. Also, I’ll just be in my lovely house on the river Denial quietly shipping Jopper.