"Stranger Things" Season 5

K.C.

K.C.

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Ugh. We've waited long enough, they should really just keep schtum until it's out. Still filming according to Winnie in her rather wide-eyed promo sit downs for BB.
 
I see they're trying to do a Kate Bush with Queen, but Queen hardly need more streams thanks.

I am assuming multiple cast casualties for the final season, and it won't just be minor guest characters this time. I'm calling Hopper and Steve to maximise the internet howling.
 
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Just finished the first 4 episodes of S5, it took a bit to get going but the 4th episode was EXCELLENT.
 
lolly said:
Which episode is Abba's Fernando in? Is it a key moment?
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It’s in the start second episode. It’s being played on a cassette player when there’s a key scene happening but I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as pivotal as Running Up That Hill.

There’s a couple of other songs (Diana Ross - Upside Down & Tiffany - I Think We’re Alone Now) also used to the same degree as Fernado so be interesting to see if they get a boost.
 
The cut-to of the Tiffany cassette and "what would you know about monsters - you're a popstar" amused me. I hope Tiff gets a decent boost out of this.
 
Bringing back

Kali is certainly a brave move from the Duffers.

I didn't expect Will to usurp Eleven as the series' MVP, albeit I'm expecting there to be a DARK TURN in the second half as it's too early for them to win. Maybe he becomes the new Vecna.

I still think Hopper will cark it.

Steve suffers for being separated from her and thrown back to Nancy/Jonathan tedium, but Robin's character is thriving from mingling with the Byers clan. She definitely now feels like an essential core member rather than a sidekick.

They took far too long to bring Erica into play.

I can only imagine the HEART ATTACK poor patient Cara Buono had when the script finally needed her to actually do something. Such a SHAMELESS Molly Weasley rip-off :D
 
Not bad but it’s all got so convoluted at this point that I had to stop and remind myself of what had gone on previously a few too many times (old?). I do have some real problems, though:

Mainly, I get so fucking annoyed when people/ things don’t act as they should just for the sake of the plot. Like Vecna killing everything in his path quite happily in that final sequence until he got to Joyce and instead just tossing her out of the way. It happened A LOT in this four episodes. Also, when does anyone sleep, why does no one in the upside down seem to have/ need any food or water (except El and her refuelling) and what has happened to Derek’s sleeping family?

I agree with some of the points above- it took way too long for Erica (who is much needed relief amongst the constant gloom) to make an appearance and also they’ve horribly sidelined her brother too, with Max out of the picture, though that felt quite clever, with her reintroduction something of a shock. The cast is too bloated, though, so kind of understandable they keep some out, and apart from his (hastily forgotten, though presumably later picked up) beating, Dustin is another who doesn’t seem to have had anything to do. Steve and Jonathan are fairly tedious, Nancy isn’t being given enough to properly shine with either.

The unpredictable episode length is so streaming it hurts. The “finale” clocking in at 90-odd minutes was annoying. Just edit them to another episode. It literally doesn’t matter and then I don’t have to sit and watch an ACTUAL MOVIE.

WHERE THE FUCK IS BABS?

It all hinging on Will (or at least to this point) seems to be a great circular moment, bringing it back to its origins. It feels ready to end though.
 
Of COURSE Volume 2 doubles down and adds MORE :D So that's now Kali, Vickie and Mr. Science Teacher all joining the main gang (but poor patient Cara Buono still shuffled off to bed offscreen).

Still good fun, but it's definitely also increasingly self-indulgent. Every member of the cast getting their own EUREKA moment. Will halting everything so that he could come out to his family, close friends, and a lot of remote acquaintances. Plot armour meaning not a single one of the 37 main cast members have been allowed it to cark it before the final episode.

One positive though is I think the "young" (25 year old) cast really have grown into decent actors. Most of them are on par with the older adults at this point - and although they're the ones who usually command the least attention out of the original four boys, I'd say its Lucas and Dustin who put in some of the best performances in the last episodes.

LOL at Mike bursting into the hospital basement, and his first reaction being "MAX!!!" rather than his old dear mum.

Still no evidence of ANYONE sleeping without Vecna knocking them out. So frankly even if they survive the final battle, if none of them drop DEAD from heart failure afterwards, I call bullshit.
 
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Jokes aside, that scene really did highlight the ludicrousness of the inflated main cast.

That speech really should have been reserved for Joyce, Mike and MAYBE Jonathan (though they’ve been heavily implying since season 1 that he’s never been under any illusions about Will’s sexuality…)

The whole bit with Max hugging Will just had me trying to recollect whether or not they’d ever actually interacted before that moment!
 
It's so inconsistent and all over the place, not that it was ever A+ to start with. I would echo the main cast is way too bloated. We really don't need the science teacher, Murray, Vickie or Kali being added to the main cast. Whatever happened to Eleven being a big secret to stop the government finding her? Half of Hawkins knows about her at this point.

With all the extra characters, poor Joyce been relegated to side character that looks confused and shouts "WILLLLLLLLLL" when he falls down.

How on earth did the mum that had her throat and insides RIPPED OUT and SMEARED ACROSS THE KITCHEN FLOOR about 48 hours prior, have the strength to hobble down to the hospital basement to save the day? And nobody seems remotely bothered about the dad.

And no one thought it was out of character for Nancy to casually machine gun down a bunch of soldiers without a care in the world?

Dr. Kay/Sarah Connor has been underutilised as well - "FIND THE GIRL" *berates underlings* (Also it's amazing she can run around shooting a gun seemingly hours after being stabbed in the arm with scissors. And why Eleven didn't just kill her when she saw them driving off in the back of the truck....

And all the YAPPING between Max and Holly in the Red Vecna when they were close to escaping. Oh my god just RUN ffs.
 
Volume 2 had some great moments but the writing was pretty terrible with some major plot holes. I don't know how they'll wrap this up in a 2 hour episode, which includes a 40 minute epilogue apparently.

Millie Bobby Brown's acting has been awful, it doesn't help that she clearly had her lips done and was serving face in every scene :D
 
Does anyone else think that Kali is evil? Her telling El she needed to sacrifice herself, and Hopper not trusting her were giving clues. Could be totally wrong, at this point the big bad is probably MURRAY or something ridiculous given the massive supporting cast!
 
100% Kali is going to go for a suicide-murder. The second she insisted on accompanying El it was clear.

Agree on the inconsistent writing. Karen in the hospital basement was a notable one. The Duffers' have become too focused on creating "ROCK ON!" clippable moments for every character, and most scenes are designed to get you to those moments instead of servicing a logical plot.

I'm revising my guesses of finale deaths. I feel Steve is probably safe given how they've tied Dustin's sanity to his survival. I still think Hopper will go, and probably Kali. I am more concerned now with Joyce, who has indeed been relegated to just looking BAFFLED as other character exposits. Will breaking free into a fierce independent queen is a major theme of the season, and losing his over-protective coddling mother would absolutely feed into that.
 
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What I thought Will was going to say when he said "I don't like... girls":
 

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Just finished- most of the points I wanted to make have already been said, but still:

WHY THE FUCK DOES NO ONE RUN? Literally people stopping to talk to each other when they’re trying to escape Vecna or his mind, drives me fucking insane.

The bloated cast is ridiculous- let alone the lesbian nurse and teacher, they didn’t even need Holly- that blatantly could have been Erica’s role for the season.

I keep wondering whether David Harbour’s part had been re-edited following the HOOHAH. He’s done absolutely nothing this series.

Kali is so going to be evil. They’ve signposted it too much.

They must have known that ridiculous scene with Nancy and Jonathan declaring they didn’t want to stay together just looked them being covered in cum.

So annoyed they had Cara Buono coming out of her coma, mincing about and laundry drying a load of demigorgons and didn’t give her a SINGLE camp, memeable payoff line.

A positive is will say Will was really good in that coming out scene, when I thought he was terrible otherwise.

AND WHERE THE FUCK IS BARB?
 
Holly is a good call out.

I always think it's a folly when a long-running series throws in new main characters in its very final throes. They surely know at this point the audience is only concerned with the end fates of the characters they are already invested in. Holly has enjoyed more screen time than most in season 5, which is absolutely a mistake when you've got the likes of Winona and Harbour rotting on the sidelines, no matter how good they believe the young actress may be.

The only argument I can make against Erica taking her role is Erica is far too sassy and savvy to make a convincing damsel. The danger of Vecna would be rather undermined by Erica READING him for filth and cackling at his illusions. But there's still no reason they couldn't have managed the Holly plot with half of the air time.
 
We had the same discussion, but there was no reason why Erica couldn’t be vulnerable when faced with real fear and her bravado act crumbling, only for it to be revived in the final throes. They have underplayed Erica’s sassiness this season anyway. As well as her being introduced way too late.

I do think the actress playing Holly has been really good in the role, but I just don’t see why she’s suddenly there…
 
Sheena said:
We had the same discussion, but there was no reason why Erica couldn’t be vulnerable when faced with real fear and her bravado act crumbling, only for it to be revived in the final throes. They have underplayed Erica’s sassiness this season anyway. As well as her being introduced way too late.

I do think the actress playing Holly has been really good in the role, but I just don’t see why she’s suddenly there
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I was so confused, I thought I was in the trump thread and we were discussing ERICA KIRK!
 
Still loving this, I think the fact that it’s a take on 80s teen adventure movies makes me overlook all the plot holes and unrealistic drawn out melodrama, because that’s exactly what they were all like. Logic and realism be damned, when you have movies as good as The Goonies and Gremlins and The Lost Boys and so on.

I’d love to have an 80s Easter Egg companion guide as I’m watching it - I swear there’s so many and some of them more subtle than others, I’m constantly watching it thinking - did they just do that? Did they say because…? Wait was that a reference to…? Etc

They have to give us one big sacrificial death don’t they? My money was on Steve, but after the last episode I’m not so sure now. I just don’t want it to be Will. I think the original gang all need to survive.
 
It won’t be one of the kids- US series are particularly odd about killing actual kids, aren’t they?

One of the older ones would fit the bill, yes, but my money is on Hopper.
 
WINONA :disco:

That episode-length epilogue though. And I never need to see Noah Schnapp's crying face again.
 
Christ, that ending was…a choice. Went on WAY too long. Also:

How did Steve become a teacher in 18 months?
WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH NANCY’S HAIR?

I’m also aggrieved that of every semi-main kid character, only Erica didn’t get any sort of ending. (Unless I’m missing people?)
 
Wow they really did go all Lord Of The Rings with that ending didn't they? :D You can see why they couldn't split the last 2 episodes if they wanted to include all that. The finale would have STUNK!

But as a bumper finale I was OK with it. I quite liked seeing how everything turned out in full.

Although getting absolutely no explanation of what happened to Sarah Connor and her band of useless soldiers was a bit STRANGE. I guess we're supposed to accept that with Eleven 'dead' they'd all just pack up their things that very second and head home...

I thought the wrap ups were nicely done (my favourite was the one on the roof, nice to see the older extras get their 'main cast' flowers) and I was fully on board with
the open ended fate of Eleven and the way the twist was explained was a nice touch.

Some lovely song choices too 💜

The closing credits :disco:

Overall a thumbs up. I still think (moan) that the overall impact would have been greater if they hadn't waited 86 years between seasons, but here we are.
 
I really didn't hate the overlong epilogue, although I can imagine it getting very divisive reviews. The right level of warm feel-good after all of the screaming, with that one narrative choice saving it from being complete schmaltz.

The rug pull of Mike telling them Eleven had survived, only to then admit he'd MADE IT ALL UP for his own comfort :D

My favourite epilogue though was probably the "young adults" on the roof. The end-of-decade time shift was done well; everything nodding to their being only a couple of years away from becoming the cast of Friends. Even soundtracked with a gentle Phoebe Buffay a-wailing. Very clearly genuine tears from the cast as well.

:D at Winona doing FUCK ALL for the battle, before casually strolling in at the end to behead an already-dying man in front of a dozen traumatised children.

Also :D at Mr Science Teacher being totally ambivalent to abetting the mass slaughter of soldiers.

I also got the giggles during the closing credits with most of the cast getting their dramatic or "ROCK ON" moments depicted, before poor Cara Buono appeared with her hands shoved up between her legs.

I suspect the biggest criticism will be
bloodlust.

For those who do assume Eleven survived (not myself), that means the Duffers killed off NOBODY in the main cast, and very clearly only resurrected Kali to avoid having to do away with the regulars.

Did Linda Hamilton really just go "OK bored now, underlings time to depart, much love xx"?
 
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