#will byers is a much lesser degree but yeah people try to make him. more flawed in everything that happened (the rain fight and rinkomania

[evie-writes-sometimes]

You've heard of 'people can't handle liking flawed characters and so they woobify them'. Now get ready for 'people try so hard not to be in the first category that they vilify them/make characters worse than they actually are in the name of nuance'.

[lesbianrobin]

☕ stranger things (like the trajectpry of the show)

k first off sorry if i took a long time to respond to this, i fell asleep vjfjvncc. anyways!

in terms of the show so far, i've generally enjoyed the plots and character dynamics that they've chosen to develop and explore. s3 is of course problematic- the sudden shift from "the us government is the bad guy and we can't trust them" to "the russians are the bad guys and we need the glorious capitalist us government to fight them" is... yikes. i don't think that the duffers intended to undermine the show's previous message, i think they were trying to mix things up and introduce a new and exciting threat while staying true the series' 80's inspiration, but the general campiness of s3 combined with the alexei plot was just too much and it almost completely negated the themes of s1+s2.

still, i think s3 did a few things very right. i think mike and el's breakup was the smartest thing they could have possibly done with their characters at this point in the story. the fact is that el has been allowed to go out a little and hang out with her friends for MONTHS at this point, she's been developing her reading skills and experiencing more things, but she hasn't really found any sense of identity in that time because she's so focused on her relationship with mike. mileven straight up wasn't a healthy dynamic as it stood in canon due to this, along with the fact that mike kissed el back in s1 before she even knew what that was or what it meant, essentially making the decision to classify their relationship as romantic for her (which i do NOT blame him for since he's a kid and he doesn't know any better). by breaking them up in s3, allowing el to develop a personal style and build a strong friendship with max, and separating the two of them for s4, they've finally given mileven a fighting chance at being somewhat healthy in the future (assuming that they insist on making it canon/endgame).

as i'm sure we all are, i'm very concerned about s4. i genuinely have NO clue what to expect from the plot- i really hope the time travel theory isn t true, because i think it would tip the show over the line from "sci-fi where you gotta suspend a little disbelief" to "sci-fi where nothing fuckin matters and they do whatever the hell they want," and while i don't necessarily have a problem with the latter, i think it would be too dramatic of a development after what's been established in the show so far. i think they have the opportunity to do something cool, smart, fun, and special, it's just a matter of whether they get carried away by excitement and aesthetics the way they did in s3 or if they're able to pull it back and focus on their characters.

by separating the byers family from everyone else, they're giving joyce, el, will, and jonathan, characters who were all kind of trapped or confined in some way back in hawkins, a chance to branch out, make new connections, bond with each other, and maybe even live a more or less normal and happy life. i personally would really like to see a focus on will and el (and jonathan to a lesser degree) bonding as siblings, and i'd like to see jonathan have his own subplot or SOMETHING going on that has nothing to do with nancy. he's literally never had a fucking friend! let him have a friend! i don't really know what to expect from joyce, but i think it'll be interesting to see how she functions without hopper around during a crisis. she's really strong and smart and fun, and i'd like to see that iron will of hers shine.

my biggest concern about the trajectory of the show is with the show's tendency to split up their ensemble cast for the majority of the season and only show them all together in the last couple of episodes. i think it's a waste of a lot of really interesting dynamics. i've already made a post about the dynamics i want to see in s4, but more broadly speaking i'd like to see them either switch it up more throughout the season or at least choose groupings for the season that are a bit different than what they've been doing so far. it's kind of ridiculous that after three seasons, there are certain people in the cast who we aren't sure have ever actually spoken to each other, or who have only exchanged two lines during a big group conversation. the steve and dustin relationship is one of the most popular on the show among fans, critics, and the general public, and it's the most unexpected!

overall, i think the strength of stranger things lies in its characters. i really hope that the lack of el's powers and the hopper storyline mean that things will be "normal" for a good while before shit kicks into high gear and there will be opportunities to really explore where they are now without hopper, how the kids are doing with the transition to high school, how el is dealing with her new living situation, and, like, whatever the fuck steve and robin end up doing. seriously, where do they come in? my personal hope is that their experience with the russians comes into play and they end up being crucial in figuring out what happened to hopper/where he is, but that might just be my love for them talking. assuming that they stick to five seasons, s4 is gonna be Really fucking important for character development, as it'll essentially be their last chance to introduce and develop conflicts before they're forced to wrap everything up and write satisfying endings for everybody.

so yeah that's about it! i'm excited for s4 and i really hope they make it good gfjfjdjc