Television Stranger Things 4 (New Trailer)

[Jar of Flies]

Liked most of the season. One thing that probably bothered me the most though was them making Murray some sudden badass that Jason Bournes a bunch of KGB agents because he went to a Cobra Kai class or something. That was over the top cheesy.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Last two episodes fell flat for me in a big way. With 4 hours to play with, they should have been able to achieve a lot more.

It felt to me like they had a bunch of ideas and "moments", but couldn't find a way to either write them properly or tie it all together.

+1

I thought the first 7 episodes were great and the Henry twist came out of nowhere. Russia storyline and action scenes were legit. I was invested and thought they were setting up an intriguing finale with maybe something different. But what we got was like 27 kids running around coordinating a lunar landing and all we got out of it was a generic ending with 7-11 coming to the rescue again and the same canned shit as every other season, defeating magical bad guy with some magical powers or something. And wouldn't you know it? Ambiguously gay Will rocking the toddler haircut is still attuned to the upside down and knows there's more coming, with the ominous black funnel clouds signaling we're in for another go of the same recycled plot for round 5.

There were a lot of well done moments and production value was good. Last two episodes could and should have been better.

In his own words “to buy more time”

But they never really sold why that was important. He and Dustin had already done their job. There was no critical action or evil guy in their way to justify Eddy wanting to throw his life away. He was like, "I've been acting like kind of a wuss so I think I'll flip the script now and ride my bike around until these random tomato can bats kick my ass." Just seemed like a wasted death.

 

[HOLA]

But they never really sold why that was important. He and Dustin had already done their job. There was no critical action or evil guy in their way to justify Eddy wanting to throw his life away. He was like, "I've been acting like kind of a wuss so I think I'll flip the script now and ride my bike around until these random tomato can bats kick my ass." Just seemed like a wasted death.

The Fluffer Brothers write for memes, internet jokes, fan service, ham-fisted nostalgia and product placement. Stranger Things is just a Superhero show with 80's themed robots as characters.

 

[heavyarms21]

Hopefully next season they feature a song that doesn't fucking suck. Running up that Hill can fucking Die.

 

[Bob Gray]

Really enjoyed the season overall. Wasn't perfect, sure. Lots of quibbles here and there, but it's also sort of the perfect kind of show where you don't need to worry too much about finer details. Just relax and have fun.

Did feel a little bloated. They honestly could have probably dropped the entire murder-jocks storyline and not lost anything and would have arguably been better. When it was over I was kinda feeling the head jock might have been wrong, but it isn't like he didn't have a logical train of thought. The guy saw his mate float into the air and get broken to pieces, so he legit believes demons exist and has good reason for it. Going after Eddie was wrong, but his girlfriend was dead in Eddie's house, Eddie is on the run, what exactly is he supposed to think?

Then he walks in on Lucas and Max and it certainly looks like there's legitimately demon shit going on and she looks like she's going to be a victim in the the exact same way as his girlfriend and his buddy. Why wouldn't he attack Lucas? You could literally take his same storyline and make him the protagonist in another story. So it felt kinda wrong to kill him like he's just some sort of angry jock villain.

 

[Yoel Bromero]

Murder jocks and their whole story were pointless, just extra people to be killed off that did nothing to move the thing along

Spoiler

Eddie's death was retarded, he made Dustin go back into the danger just to be traumatized by watching a guy he idolized die needlessly. Even if Eddie killed every bat, that doesn't do anything meaningful for the story. Just really fuckin dumb, they could have killed him of doing something important. Set him up as a wiser than he seems guy that the kids look up, turns of he was retarded.

I get that he looked cool playing Metallica, but why not just use a speaker? Whole scene was needless

Still really enjoyed the season, terrific tv

 

[Danger Dave]

The worst season by far. They are running into an issue of the cast are all no longer kids in real life and they are not sure where to go with the plot. Isnt the redhead chick like 20 now?

 

[My Spot]

I wonder if Matthew Modine based Dr Brenner around the G Man from the Half Life games because he still pronounces words just like him.
Hopefully they'll revisit the series after it ends and have a 90s version (with a new cast of kids of course).

 

[My Spot]

The worst season by far. They are running into an issue of the cast are all no longer kids in real life and they are not sure where to go with the plot. Isnt the redhead chick like 20 now?

Well the show should've ended last year (S4 in 2020 and S5 in 2021) but Covid messed things up. Like Eleven's actress is 18 now but she would've been 16 IRL which would've matched her exact age on the show (she's 12 in S1). Mike's actor would've only been about 6 months older IRL.

 

[Ares Black]

The worst season by far. They are running into an issue of the cast are all no longer kids in real life and they are not sure where to go with the plot. Isnt the redhead chick like 20 now?

It was the best season by far, but ok.

 

[Bob Gray]

It was the best season by far, but ok.

I think Season 1 was lightning in a bottle. A combination of perfect execution along with zero expectations. I don't see it being topped. But this season was definitely the runner up for me.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

I just finished this. I thought it was an excellent season. The only thing that really felt off or stupid was when El blasted that bitch in the face with a roller skate and everyone was acting like that was a fucking problem.

If you’re a teenager, and you find out your girlfriend has been getting bullied by someone, and then your girlfriend beats that bitch down, you are going to be elated. She would be the hero of the day and everyone would be buying her milkshakes and shit.
So that part rang a bit untrue and preachy. But that’s really my only criticism.

Also, fucking Paul Reiser. What the fuck, that guy has had the most amazing career revival. He’s in Stranger Things and The Boys. Those are two of the best shows on tv.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

I'm going to predict Will Byers will die.

The kid is clearly gay and it was heavily hinted at in episode 5 or 6 when he is speaking about the fear of coming out.

Honestly, they could kill him off and the show wouldn’t miss a beat. And if they keep him, they need to change his ridiculous hair from bowl cut to something slightly less retarded.

I don’t think his character is gay. They were definitely implying that he had a crush on El for a few episodes.

I think the writers kind of understand his character has been utterly unnecessary for a while, so they’re going to try to do something with the character, other than have him just sitting there lining for El as the on deck, waiting in the wings motherfucker who got friend zoned.

 

[Kratos94]

I want to start this, but know that this season will a disappointment; similarly to S2 (was decent, but nowhere near the peak of S1) and S3 was just stupid.

 

[heavyarms21]

Filming restrictions during the Pandemic have made them look weird to me since I know they are older trying to play their younger characters, not as egregious as shows and films from the past but the same cast of Kids from S1 look like Babies to where they are at now.

 

[Zazen]

I want to start this, but know that this season will a disappointment; similarly to S2 (was decent, but nowhere near the peak of S1) and S3 was just stupid.

I didn't like season 3 and it took me a couple of attempts to get through it all. Season 4 was great though, I recommend giving it a shot at least.

If your issue with season 3 was how campy it was and the lack of mystery then I think you'll like season 4. It has a darker tone to it

 

[Tyrannosaurus rex]

Honestly, they could kill him off and the show wouldn’t miss a beat. And if they keep him, they need to change his ridiculous hair from bowl cut to something slightly less retarded.

I don’t think his character is gay. They were definitely implying that he had a crush on El for a few episodes.

I think the writers kind of understand his character has been utterly unnecessary for a while, so they’re going to try to do something with the character, other than have him just sitting there lining for El as the on deck, waiting in the wings motherfucker who got friend zoned.

I never got the idea that he liked El. What hint did you see?

I got the impression that he's gay and had a crush on Mike.

 

[HOLA]

I want to start this, but know that this season will a disappointment; similarly to S2 (was decent, but nowhere near the peak of S1) and S3 was just stupid.

Season 4 is the antithesis of "show don't tell" writing. Some of the most heavy-handed exposition I've ever come across.

Season 1 felt like it was a show mostly about teenagers that was created with adults in mind. Now the show feels like it is a show mostly about teenagers, many who look 30, with teenagers as the target audience.

 

[legatoblues]

I really liked the first part of this season. It felt well put together and meaningful (except for the California crew, who were basically pointless).

But the second part (last two episodes) feels incomplete to me. It didn't feel like the end of a season, so much stuff was just dropped or ignored, and not in a "setting up for the next season" kind of way.

Spoiler

- Agree that Eddy's death was pointless. It felt like they wanted to give the character a hero moment, but it wasn't earned and didn't change anything. He and Dustin could have chilled in the trailer and the outcome would have been no different.

- Nancy, Jonathan and Steve. We spend the whole season building up to something. Jonathan feels lost, isn't sure of himself or his relationship, Nancy feels he's distant, Steve is starting to come back onto her. We build up all this tension and then it's literally just "hey we good? yep ok good" and that's the end of it. (I didn't actually want Steve and Nancy together, but if you start a storyline you have to do something with it ffs

- Max and Eleven. I thought Max getting fucked up was a great moment. That had impact for me and felt genuinely important. But then that moment is thrown in the bin so we can show off that Eleven is now powerful enough to bring people back to life. I feel like they wanted that to be a big "omg" moment, but to me it felt cheap and not earned. If they wanted to use it as a moment to character build Eleven, have it so that somehow she's struggling to keep Max alive. Max is fucked up from Vecna, but hasn't died yet, Eleven is trying to hold it together, trying to heal her/keep her going. Maybe she fails, and then Max dies? Then we get to see how Eleven handles grief, guilt and failure. That's a big character moment and something that sets up for the next season. Instead we got ET and now Max (and Lucas and Erika) will be in hospital for 90% of season 5. Should have just let her die.

- The basketball jocks. That was pointlessly anticlimatic. Yeah there was a fight, cool. But it didn't mean anything. The drama across the whole season was about the jocks not believing Lucas, believing he and his friends were evil, and Lucas struggling to keep the two sides together. This should have been setup to include a moment where the jock learns the truth. Maybe he sees Vecna, maybe he gets attacked by evil creatures, maybe Lucas and the team fight to save him and he realises he was wrong and that they had been innocent the whole time. He can still die after that, but have some meaning to it. Instead they just end a storyline with a shit fist fight and a quick "oh yeah he's dead" shot.

- The military. What happened to them? Did they give up because Eleven exploded a helicopter? It was really important for them to catch her. But then they just let her go. How did some stoner kids in a shitbox Kombi outrun the military back to Hawkins? Did Eleven blow up all their Humvees when no one was looking? Did the guy call for another helicopter and they were like "Sorry boss, that's our only helicopter. You guys have to walk to Hawkins" and that's what they're doing?

And so on and so forth.
I really liked the first 7 episodes, but the last two felt unfinished. It felt like a series of "moments", not the ending to a season.

 

[ChickenBrother]

The Fluffer Brothers write for memes, internet jokes, fan service, ham-fisted nostalgia and product placement. Stranger Things is just a Superhero show with 80's themed robots as characters.

That may be true, but they need to have less B1 Battle Droids and R4-P17 as main characters and more R2-D2 and K-2SO.

I never got the idea that he liked El. What hint did you see?

I got the impression that he's gay and had a crush on Mike.

Agreed. I thought it was clearly implied he's gay for Mike when he shows him the painting in the back seat and says how Mike makes people who are different feel OK. Mike thinks he's talking about El, but then Will looks away out the window and is fighting back tears because he's talking about himself. That scene doesn't make sense any other way.