The subtext is far less sub in the final two episodes.
Well, it wasn’t Mike, but someone did end the season in suspended animation of sorts only to find out what’s going to happen to her after a cliffhanger ending this season. The Empire parallels continue.
However, there were some other Star Wars references including the scene in Episode 8 where the military finally comes to take 11 from the Nina project: you have them blasting through a door and then an intense firefight in a hallway with the defenders and then the dramatic entrance of a commander while some members of the rebel alliance, erm, Nina project try to make off with the Death Star plans, I mean, 11.
Favorite line of the season, if not the series: “I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer.”
We finished it earlier tonight. The two episodes had issues, but I thought they were fairly awesome. I’ll spoiler the more spoilery bits for those who haven’t been able to watch them yet.
I don’t entirely buy that Papa is dead. Comic books would suggest that the dead don’t usually (ever?) stay dead. But it would be a good end-point for him. El is over him and One was never invested in him. He’s revealed his secrets, and I’m not sure what else he might add to the plot.
That was the most metal solo ever! I thought that it was going to be good when I saw it on the trailer, but fuck me! My girlfriend and I both cheered when the solo began. I imagine that Master of Puppets will experience a resurgence like Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill did.
Sorry, Eddie. Comic book logic notwithstanding, you were only ever a red shirt, so farewell. I really liked you. Whatever battles you fight in Valhalla, remember to set your back to something solid.
I’m not sure what happened to Jason, the rabble-rousing high school athlete, and his pals. I hope it’s revealed next season that Erica busted a cap in their assses.
My heart lodged itself in my throat when Max’s arm broke. Then her other arm. Then her legs. But okay, she’ll be in a four-limb cast, but she can survive that. Or so I told myself. Then she died in Lucas’s arms, and I forgot about comic book logic. How the fuck can they kill off Max? And that scene with El sitting there unseen with Lucas while Max died… holy shit. That was almost too much for me. Glad that Max was only mostly dead. Hope El finds her (though I suspect that she’s with Vecna).
I was yelling at the television at one point. You’re gay! You’ve got a thing for Mike! Deal with it! My girlfriend got onto me for it, but damn–I’m tired of getting hit with clumsy, heavy-handed clue-by-fours. (My face will be red if it all turns out to be a red herring and Will either isn’t gay or doesn’t want Mike.)
I’m not sure that I care that Robin finally hooked up with Totally-Not-Molly-Ringwald. Good for her, I guess. At least it’s not the muppet. I wonder if the (potential) girlfriend will be one of the gang for season five. I’m also not sure that I care whether Jonathan and Nancy are okay. Pick one already, Nance.
I did like that they’re not trying too hard to make the kids look their character’s ages. Eleven-year-old Erica and fourteen(?)-year-old Eleven got busty over the pandemic. Dustin, Lucas, and Will significantly bulked up. Only Mike looks like he might still be a 14- or 15-year-old. He looks a bit like a scarecrow. I can notice that and just move on better than I could if they were trying to hide it. Still, it’s best that they end the series soon before the actors outgrow it entirely.
I will also add that I’ve always wanted to watch a show where the nightmare realm does take over the real world. There are a few (including parts of Ghostbusters), but the heroes usually stop it at the last second. My interest had been fading a bit, but now it’s piqued again. This will be fun.
I’ll have to watch season 4 again a couple of times before I’ll hazard too many guesses at season 5.
Yeah, from the first seconds of the defenders getting into position it blatantly looked like the opening Tantive IV scene in ANH.
I just knew that they’d revisit that.
Glad Jonathan finally straightened up. I missed him.
Jason got bisected by the rift that opened in the attic (go check the replay, he’s vaporized once the rift hits him). He’s dead. Also, I do believe that Will is gay, but I don’t believe he has feelings for Mike in that way. I believe that he’s just afraid of losing Mike as a friend if he reveals himself as being gay and he wants to be extra sure that he doesn’t get pushed away for being “different.” He’s making sure Mike is ready to hear that he’s gay. Jonathan picks up on this in their van conversation and makes sure that Will knows that nothing will change for him no matter what when he and Will have their conversation in the pizza restaurant.
I will definitely have to look for that!
I think that Mike already knows. Last season, Mike and Will had a huge fight, and Mike said something about him not liking girls (he later apologized). I don’t know whether Will has a crush on Mike, but I think that they’re definitely trying to set us up to believe that he does.
Looks like Master of Puppets is currently the ninth top downloaded single on iTunes. Running Up That Hill is number one. MOP is currently the 74th most streamed song of the day on Apple Music (distinct from iTunes, purchased singles vs streamed) in the US, but isn’t in the top 100 globally. RUTH is the 7th highest stream of the day in the US and 4th globally.
They really need to figure out something over than 11 showing up and yelling to win things.
I don’t mind that the show gets so much so stupid.
(Where have these kids been getting money to pay for gas, why did the Pizza Shop never call their van in as stolen, why don’t these kids change into fresh clothes after getting to Hawkins - that salt water drying off on her has to be grody- why did it need to be salt water anyway??? And on and on.)
I mind that the show was so not engaging that I noticed the stupid.
I did not catch why the pizza parlor had so very much salt on hand. Pizza dough doesn’t take great quantities of salt. What am I missing?
A hundred pounds of salt? A couple tins of anchovies should suffice.
Match the density of your body.
Back in 1992 during college I was working a (night shift) Summer job and there was this guy there, slightly younger than me, who was saving money to build a sensory deprivation tank. He was so excited to meet someone else who knew what one of them was instead of (I assume) just looking at him weird.
Sorry. I think the input of wearing all your clothes (except your socks, which were important to remove) and the sounds all around and the light (no, cardboard shades are not so effective), heck even the recently baked pizza smells, swamp the change of input altered by floating in matched density.
It was dumb.
Again though my issue is not how no way does salting the water magically create a sensory deprivation chamber. I expect that sort of silly stupidity. My noticing it is just a sign that the story and characters weren’t engaging enough to distract me from them.
The salt rises buoyancy is all.
The taped over glasses was another part of it. Pretty minor and a call back to I think season one when they built the pool in the gym of the school and loaded it with salt.
It would have been weird and creepy for her to get naked. Gotta make compromises.
It wasn’t a full-on sensory deprivation tank. It was getting her into a state that was similar enough to a real one so as to make it easier for her to go into magic mode. Apparently for her the two most important things were floating and darkness.
If she’d said “I need a full sensory deprivation tank or I can’t do magic” and then they cobbled a clearly non-full one together and it still worked, that would be dumb. But that is not at all the case.
Overall, I found the ending (and the season as a whole) satisfying. Some great moments. Some good character development. A plot that held together well enough to not destroy my suspension of disbelief. A few things that seemed incomplete/missing to me:
-Is the relationship between 1 and “The Mind Flayer” and “The Hive Mind” supposed to be clear?
-If keeping Max from dying stopped 1 from breaking through, why did he break through anyhow? Or alternatively, if he could break through anyhow, why was it so important that he kill 4 people? (This at least seems likely to be expanded on in future seasons.)
-I’m still ultra skeptical that it would ever have made sense for Dr. Brenner to make 1 an orderly. That seems like the biggest hole to me.
Max was dead for a full minute, they mentioned in the Hospital Room. Apparently that was enough. Eleven brought her back to life, but the damage was done.
I agree, that is very hard to support. Also why of all people Dr. Brenner survived when 1 killed almost everyone else.
I think Max’s growth was really great this season.
The Russian story was almost comic relief at time. Beyond far-fetched.
But overall, I really enjoyed the hell out of the season.
If I sat down to really think about it, I’m sure I could pick apart a bunch of things from this season, but I enjoyed the show quite a bit and don’t want to ruin it for myself.
There is one thing I can’t let go though. When Eddie rips through Master of Puppets loud enough to draw the bats from miles away, good ol’ Dustin’s just watching along grinning like a fool. WITH HIS HEAD INCHES FROM THE AMP. Dude’s deaf in the left ear now for sure.
Also, I gotta admit that I didn’t expect that they had electricity in the Upside Down.