Stranger Things

Ebola

Ebola

No Cure For Love
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Jun 1, 2016
I would like to start off by saying Stranger Things is not as good as some people claim, BUT it is far better than the majority of shows right now.


In my opinion, it is not the best way to introduce people to the multiverse concept, but I have no major problems with its consistency except for one problem at the ending.

Just finished the last episode of Stranger Things, and I was right on target in predicting there would be a parasitic infection element at the start of the series. It does have When They Cry elements, but at the same time it’s totally different.

I can understand and accept how Will is a kid who is either too scared to tell anyone, or doesn’t understand coughing up a parasite isn’t normal, but, at very least, the chief of police, Will’s mother, and the survivors of the government facility were totally aware of the high potential for infection and knew there was a lot of biological contamination, so why the fuck do they seemingly not give a shit about infection control and just leave Will in a standard hospital room and let everyone kiss and hug him right after being raped by a blood-loving demon from another universe they know nothing about and could not be killed even after being hit with hundreds of bullets?

Aside from this, my only other complaint is the fact that this is all presented as if there is only one “Upside-Down” metauniverse, and only one Hawkins, Indiana; and only one of each character, and only one demon – because the many-worlds interpretation multiverse theory was proposed in 1957, and Stranger Things took place in 1983. I suppose they made the choice to avoid introducing more than one parallel world to make it easier for people to follow.
 
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I'd just caveat before this post that I really enjoyed Stranger Things, and think it really nailed the 1980s film atmosphere as well as having some really good acting. However, I do think there were a lot of issues with the consistency.

Warning, massive sperg out below:

Until episode 4, everything was pretty spot on. All the characters acted how you would expect to characters to act, and everything that needed to be justified was justified. However, from episode 5 onwards, I think the writing became a bit too loose.

At the end of episode 4, Jim has just found that Will's body is fake. He believes at this point that the government facility kidnapped Will, and that they potentially killed the diner owner (from episode 1) to cover their tracks. While beating him up, the state officer told him something like 'they'll have us both killed', and Jim notices a shady looking car watching them. He also knows at this point that the government facility was heavily guarded, and was explicitly told when he was investigating there that cameras watch all the grounds and would have seen anyone entering.

So, knowing that the government facility is heavily guarded and has no qualms over killing innocent people, what does he do at the start of episode 5? He drives straight to the government facility, breaks in with some wire cutters, manages to walk right up to the door to the lower levels, is only met by two guards who he easily dispatches, then makes his way to the portal thing before finally being caught.

There is so much wrong here. The government would probably be tailing him after he was seen asking too many questions and beating up the officer. The child's body would have had more protection. He would have been seen on the cameras entering the outer perimeter and been intercepted by guards before he even got to the front door. The lower levels would have had more permanent protection, not two overweight dudes with pistols.

After that, he is captured and wakes up in his house, finding a listening device. Again, while I can understand why they didn't kill him (don't want to create panic in the town, he could have told others where he's going etc.), the government would have put more effort into following him. They know that at this point he knows about the portal. However, the only surveillance they put on him is one listening device (which he breaks, which again they should know about and react to). If they'd have followed his car (which, as we saw with that shady black car before, they have the ability to do), the government would have known he was colluding with Joyce, and could have followed him to the kids when they started working with them.

And again, in episode 7 (I believe), there's another major blunder in the writing. Jim and Joyce decide to get intentionally captured in order to get access to the portal to get to Will. This time they are captured quickly, lightly tortured, then after giving up the location the Eleven, are given guns and are allowed into the portal.

However, again, there are major issues with this. The government, after being told where Eleven is, instantly set off while setting Joyce and Jim free. Surely they would check if the information was correct first before letting them out? I also think Jim giving away the girl's real location is a bit out of character, but I suppose that's up for debate. Dr Brenner says he let them into the portal rather than just killing them because they wouldn't survive anyway, but, if he believes they'll die anyway, surely it's quicker and easier to shoot them then take any risks?

There are a few more minor examples of this happening, like Dr Brenner not just killing to the other kids when they captured Eleven, or Nancy and Jonathan splitting up in the woods then Nancy crawling into the portal alone for no fucking reason.

So yeah, I just think there are a couple of examples of people acting completely out of character, or events being too fortuitous or unbelievable to really happen. Like I said, I really enjoyed it, but these moments shook my suspension of disbelieve a lot. I hope they tighten up the writing in the next season.
 
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I caught the first ep or two with a friend. Seems okay. The Gate meets ET but he's an X-Files instead of an ayyylmao.
 
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I'm watching it right now. I want to love it, I really do. I love 80's crap, though more from the late-80s/early-90s. So this show should be a shoe-in for me. But the way it's shot, it all feels too modern and it's throwing me off. It doesn't feel like a movie or show made in that era, it feels like a movie or show set in that era and that's a big difference. It's not really getting that feeling, that atmosphere right and it's just keeping me from being completely into it.

I know it seems stupid, and it's just me being a little bit anal.
 
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Personally I loved the show a lot. I thought the story was great despite a few flaws. The pacing was mostly spot on but I have to say I didn't like the acting of the kids. By no means were they bad actors, actually for child actors they were pretty good. The thing that got me was some of the dialogue. It felt out of place or like they were trying too hard to make it sound like kids talking. idk that's probably just me.

Fun fact though: If you want a preview into season 2 read the newspaper clippings in the last scene of the last episode. They give a brief epilogue but reveal a lot.
Dr. Brenner is still alive. The mom talked to the media and revealed the secret experiments. Eleven's mom woke up from her catatonic state.
4244fb68b64dd32d_boy.JPG
 
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I loved it. I caught a minute or two of some episode when I was with my parents and then marathoned the entire show. At firs the idea of a telekinetic girl seemed dumb, but that's only from the little synopsis I read. Sometimes I was a bit frustrated with Eleven at times, but I guess given who she previously dealing with I can cut her some slack.

The biggest thing that bugged me is that does no one give a shit about Barb? Eleven tells everyone she's dead but that's the last we hear of her. As far as we know her body was never recovered from the otherworld and her parents still are under the false assumption she just ran away when the government planted her car out of town. I dunno. I just wish there was a little closure. It really felt dropped when in the final scene Nancy and Steven are cuddling Christmas.
 
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Me and my girlfriend just binge-watched the whole thing in two sittings and... did anyone else notice this?

Dr Wilders.png


In all seriousness, I really enjoyed the show. It's not a masterpiece, but it was like watching a televised creepypasta with likeable characters which really appealed to me because I love creepypastas.

Another thing I really liked is that they didn't go with that trope where the hot girl splits up with her jock boyfriend and goes for the nerdy nice guy. I don't think it's necessarily a bad trope, but it's seriously been overused now. I liked that they actually gave the jock boyfriend a well-rounded personality rather than just having him be a jerk you're supposed to hate because it felt more real. I actually ended up kind of rooting for him in the end.

Anyway, roll on Season Two!
 
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A lot of my friends were hyper autistic about this a couple of months ago, I don't personally get it. I guess it really hits on 80s nostalgia which I'm not big on.
 
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Great little show, I'm curious to see how season 2 will hold up, and I find it hilarious that nobody gave a shit about saving Beth and it seems like everyone just forgot about her.
 
Season two is pretty good so far. I've seen three episodes. Weaker than the first season but still very good.

The Duffer Brothers shouldn't listen to the internet and its sperging, but it's obvious they did. They clearly decided to cater to the retarded, exaggerated internet obsession with the minor, (barely) secondary character Barb. A character only "popular" because she looked like a weird dyke or maybe a troon and that's totes progressive so Tumblr and SJW Twitter became obsessed. There was a pretty big plot hole at the end of season one where nobody seemed to remember this innocent person was fucking dead, so they do have to address that. But you can still tell they're pandering.

Little things like that are bugging me in the second season the same way they did in the first. Stranger Things is very carefully engineered to feel like 80s films without actually being "problematic." Like notice in season one the only kids who say "faggot" are the ones we're supposed to hate. I distinctly remember Elliott in E.T. calling his brother "penis breath" and we didn't riot back then because that's how kids actually talk to each other.

Still, they've done a good job following a first season I thought would be impossible to follow. Good stuff.
 
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I'm mostly through Episode 3 now. It definitely seems like more of a slowburn season so far. But I like that. Gives more time for characters to work off each other.
 
frozenrunner said:
The Duffer Brothers shouldn't listen to the internet and its sperging, but it's obvious they did. They clearly decided to cater to the exceptional, exaggerated internet obsession with the minor, (barely) secondary character Barb. A character only "popular" because she looked like a weird dyke or maybe a troon and that's totes progressive so Tumblr and SJW Twitter became obsessed.
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nah it's because barb was nice.
 
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