“That’s not music!”
And I don’t mean to diminish anyone else’s enjoyment or threadshit on those who loved it, but that was my point. I think because this season was otherwise enjoyable for you, you can ignore that stuff, look away, not notice it, because you are having fun on the ride!
That’s the place I look to be in for shows like this.
If I’m not there then either the stupid is overwhelming or the ride wasn’t engaging enough (to me) that I was noticing it. The stupid wasn’t particularly overwhelmingly horrible …
Yes, callback to season one where they have to shore up something like 1200lbs (or is it 1500) of salt — I just watched the episode last night. (Haven’t watched these last two episodes yet.)
Because you can’t float in regular water. The free floating is important.
Steve is Chewbacca.
While we might not know the exact particulars, I think the main point is that Vecna and the Mind Flayer are essentially one (sorry). Vecna either controls it or has its powers or psychically sumbsumed it or whatever.
We also don’t know if the hive mind is a natural thing that all the creatures in the Upside Down (pre-Vecna) have or if Vecna created it But it definitely seems to be that the hive mind is a part of Vecna, instead of the other way around.
I thought Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin were the MVPs this time around – most of the best moments this season involved one or both of them. I was genuinely moved when Max died (her brief episode of consciousness before she succumbed was probably the most wrenching moment of the season) and both El and Lucas were so shattered by it. Virtually everyone had a nice moment along the way. Jonathan finally earned his paycheck that beautiful heart-to-heart with Will. Steve and Nancy had a nice warmth in their scenes together. Eddie’s fate was telegraphed from miles away but was still well done. Finn Wolfhard was … ok I guess. Seriously, yet another season of that lovey dovey crap?
Main sticking point for me echoes what someone said above, and it’s a big one – after all this grimness and foreboding, it still all comes down to Eleven screaming, holding out her arms and TK’ing someone across a room. The Duffer Brothers have had four seasons to come up with something. Is there seriously no other way for beings supposedly this powerful to fight each other?
What—you don’t care for the Force Throw? 
I thought the last episode was amazing. Even the Russia subplot kind of paid off.
Yes, the series uses comic book/action movie/kids’ movie logic as opposed to real world logic.
I definitely agree on Sadie Sink. In particular I thought the sequence of episode 4 in the Upside Down with “Running Up that Hill” playing might be my favorite scene in the entire show.
What I want to know is, what happened to Enzo? He escaped to Alaska along with Hopper & Co, and presumably the Peanut Butter Smuggler could take him back to Russia at some point. But when the Russian authorities invade the prison and see the security footage, they’ll know he escaped and be looking for him. On the other hand in the US he’s an illegal alien with no ID, nothing, not even a change of clothes. Nor is it clear he’d want to stay in the US, although the US government would probably be interested in what he could tell them about the interdimensional hijinks going on in the motherland. So what happened to him?
Am I the only one who looked at Vecna, and thought that he seems inspired by Oderus Urungus from the band Gwar?
Probably had to defect. And be around for season 5.
In addition to Enzo and Sam Owens, the other big loose end is the letters Max wrote to everyone. It’d be nice if at least Lucas had read his. I for one want to know what’s in them.
I got a Swamp Thing vibe.
I mean, not really. Once you’ve established that level of telekinesis, that’s the way they are going to fight. The only addition is can you distract one or the other - and that’s where 11’s friends come into it (and the Molotov cocktail scene was pretty great).
Life hack: You don’t need to light the cocktail if your target is already on fire.
I thought about that on rewatching yesterday.
I yelled that out during the fight.
My teenager yelled out “BORTLES!”