appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-05, 06:40:

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and […]
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We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and built up to a tense climax, however this one started tense and built up to a forgettable anti-climax. The cliffhanger ending also did nothing for me.

Part of the problem is that the cast have lost their charm. Half of the original gang no longer come across as likable people anymore. In particular, I can no longer stand seeing Jonathan, Will, Joyce, Mike and Eleven on the screen. Eleven in particular has become an obnoxious Mary Sue that is comparable to Rey in terms of being relegated to a 2D plot device character. To the actors' credit, this is not entirely their fault. The showrunners wrote them into a corner where they really had a very weak plot and pretty terrible dialog. That said, the actors also don't do themselves any justice either - every time these characters were on screen I was cringing inwardly - they just can't seem to fake any kind of believable human emotion.

Add to this the fact that, SPOLER WARNING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! They killed off one of the two most interesting characters and put the other in a vegetative state. Yeah I'm thrilled for Season 5.. Not.

Three more gripes I want to share. First is the ultimate villain reveal.. While I get it that it always had to be in some way personal for Eleven for all of these things to be taking place in Hawkins, but the ultimate villain feeling less scary and less powerful than the Season 3 villain did not set a great tone. Second, the two part release was a terrible idea. Volume 1 was bloated enough already, and good editing would have easily brought down every episode easily down to 50 minutes or so; the filler was aggravating. As for Volume 2, who thought releasing it as 2 2hr+ episodes was a good idea is an idiot. Thirdly, fuck Brenner. Not only is there no explanation of how he survived, but he also serves no purpose. SPOILER ALERT: Even his death serves no purpose, existence of Brenner in this show does not advance Eleven's character one single bit. He is a clear sign that Stranger Things at this point is about as creatively bankrupt as Star Wars was when they brought Palpatine back in Episode IX.

All in all, a solid 4/10 for me. Enjoyed half of it, the other half irritated me a lot, and it was too long, badly acted and badly edited.

We also finished ST4 recently. I agree with you on the lengths. They should've broken them up into more 1 hour episodes. But we found them entertaining and didn't have the complaints you did.

clueless1 wrote on 2022-07-06, 17:07:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-05, 06:40:

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and […]
Show full quote

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and built up to a tense climax, however this one started tense and built up to a forgettable anti-climax. The cliffhanger ending also did nothing for me.

Part of the problem is that the cast have lost their charm. Half of the original gang no longer come across as likable people anymore. In particular, I can no longer stand seeing Jonathan, Will, Joyce, Mike and Eleven on the screen. Eleven in particular has become an obnoxious Mary Sue that is comparable to Rey in terms of being relegated to a 2D plot device character. To the actors' credit, this is not entirely their fault. The showrunners wrote them into a corner where they really had a very weak plot and pretty terrible dialog. That said, the actors also don't do themselves any justice either - every time these characters were on screen I was cringing inwardly - they just can't seem to fake any kind of believable human emotion.

Add to this the fact that, SPOLER WARNING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! They killed off one of the two most interesting characters and put the other in a vegetative state. Yeah I'm thrilled for Season 5.. Not.

Three more gripes I want to share. First is the ultimate villain reveal.. While I get it that it always had to be in some way personal for Eleven for all of these things to be taking place in Hawkins, but the ultimate villain feeling less scary and less powerful than the Season 3 villain did not set a great tone. Second, the two part release was a terrible idea. Volume 1 was bloated enough already, and good editing would have easily brought down every episode easily down to 50 minutes or so; the filler was aggravating. As for Volume 2, who thought releasing it as 2 2hr+ episodes was a good idea is an idiot. Thirdly, fuck Brenner. Not only is there no explanation of how he survived, but he also serves no purpose. SPOILER ALERT: Even his death serves no purpose, existence of Brenner in this show does not advance Eleven's character one single bit. He is a clear sign that Stranger Things at this point is about as creatively bankrupt as Star Wars was when they brought Palpatine back in Episode IX.

All in all, a solid 4/10 for me. Enjoyed half of it, the other half irritated me a lot, and it was too long, badly acted and badly edited.

We also finished ST4 recently. I agree with you on the lengths. They should've broken them up into more 1 hour episodes. But we found them entertaining and didn't have the complaints you did.

I just started S4 watching 1ep everyday because of time constraints. I agree the time could have been shorter for each episode. Regardless, I will have to see what happens later in it, the first ep wad quite in it's standard imo

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-07-06, 18:25:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-07-06, 17:07:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-05, 06:40:

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and […]
Show full quote

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and built up to a tense climax, however this one started tense and built up to a forgettable anti-climax. The cliffhanger ending also did nothing for me.

Part of the problem is that the cast have lost their charm. Half of the original gang no longer come across as likable people anymore. In particular, I can no longer stand seeing Jonathan, Will, Joyce, Mike and Eleven on the screen. Eleven in particular has become an obnoxious Mary Sue that is comparable to Rey in terms of being relegated to a 2D plot device character. To the actors' credit, this is not entirely their fault. The showrunners wrote them into a corner where they really had a very weak plot and pretty terrible dialog. That said, the actors also don't do themselves any justice either - every time these characters were on screen I was cringing inwardly - they just can't seem to fake any kind of believable human emotion.

Add to this the fact that, SPOLER WARNING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! They killed off one of the two most interesting characters and put the other in a vegetative state. Yeah I'm thrilled for Season 5.. Not.

Three more gripes I want to share. First is the ultimate villain reveal.. While I get it that it always had to be in some way personal for Eleven for all of these things to be taking place in Hawkins, but the ultimate villain feeling less scary and less powerful than the Season 3 villain did not set a great tone. Second, the two part release was a terrible idea. Volume 1 was bloated enough already, and good editing would have easily brought down every episode easily down to 50 minutes or so; the filler was aggravating. As for Volume 2, who thought releasing it as 2 2hr+ episodes was a good idea is an idiot. Thirdly, fuck Brenner. Not only is there no explanation of how he survived, but he also serves no purpose. SPOILER ALERT: Even his death serves no purpose, existence of Brenner in this show does not advance Eleven's character one single bit. He is a clear sign that Stranger Things at this point is about as creatively bankrupt as Star Wars was when they brought Palpatine back in Episode IX.

All in all, a solid 4/10 for me. Enjoyed half of it, the other half irritated me a lot, and it was too long, badly acted and badly edited.

We also finished ST4 recently. I agree with you on the lengths. They should've broken them up into more 1 hour episodes. But we found them entertaining and didn't have the complaints you did.

I just started S4 watching 1ep everyday because of time constraints. I agree the time could have been shorter for each episode. Regardless, I will have to see what happens later in it, the first ep wad quite in it's standard imo

I'd argue that the Episode 1 is the highlight of the season..

I somewhat enjoyed the first part of ST4, the 7 episodes released a month ago. The monster arc, the massacre arc. The humour and impact of new character Eddie. All pretty cool. But...

I've only seen the first of the 2 finale episodes. It didn't gel with me, which was disappointing. I'd thought I was set for a fun ride, but it felt more like everyone was just going through the motions. The things that I'd enjoyed during the buildup suddenly felt a bit phoned-in, and the things that'd annoyed me back then (such as "stoner dude" character, and "crazy Russki" character, and to a lesser extent "Papa") became outright painful here.

I'm still looking sorta forward to seeing the second, longer part of the finale. But I know it can go either way, and have already read that the main arc is ultimately left unresolved. Not a bad thing, to know that in advance.

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-07-07, 07:19:

I somewhat enjoyed the first part of ST4, the 7 episodes released a month ago. The monster arc, the massacre arc. The humour and impact of new character Eddie. All pretty cool. But...

I've only seen the first of the 2 finale episodes. It didn't gel with me, which was disappointing. I'd thought I was set for a fun ride, but it felt more like everyone was just going through the motions. The things that I'd enjoyed during the buildup suddenly felt a bit phoned-in, and the things that'd annoyed me back then (such as "stoner dude" character, and "crazy Russki" character, and to a lesser extent "Papa") became outright painful here.

I'm still looking sorta forward to seeing the second, longer part of the finale. But I know it can go either way, and have already read that the main arc is ultimately left unresolved. Not a bad thing, to know that in advance.

Your sentiments kind of mirror mine so I am interested to learn what you wil feel about it all once done with the final episode.

I like to keep up with the times. I'll never let it be said I'm not right there and up to date when it comes to the latest and greatest media releases.

Somewhat along those lines I just watched Dune for the first time the other night. As I said, right there. I have to say I'm glad I waited to become a much stronger person before viewing it. Otherwise the strain on my psyche would have been too much. What a piece of crappola. As I understand it, the story/movie has something.of a cult following. Well personally I'd sooner follow Jim Jones to the CoolAid dispenser before ever having anything to do with Dune again. I mean it was horrible. What people see in something like that is absolutely astonishing.

Oh so there"s a newer rendition. I was referring to the 1984 movie. Can't wait to watch the new.one. Here's hoping it's as nauseating as tbe first one.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-05, 06:40:

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and built up to a tense climax, however this one started tense and built up to a forgettable anti-climax. The cliffhanger ending also did nothing for me.

IMHO Stranger Things should never have been more than a single season. Or they should have done it as an anthology show as originally planned, rather than trying to continue the story and characters from Season 1.

On your comment about Eleven being a Mary Sue, I don't think she's quite that. She does have legitimate character flaws, like being not socialized and thus socially awkward. And her obvious trauma given her past. Unfortunately they don't seem to be able to do much interesting with it other than resorting to the most stereotypical high-school bullies they could write up.

I'd characterize it as being a "Neo" problem. They wrote themselves an overly powerful character that they then have to remove from key parts of the plot. Similar to what happened in the second Matrix movie when they removed Neo from certain conflicts (like the highway chase) that he could have otherwise solved easily.

I also find the who psychic battle thing to be just dull. There isn't a good basis for gauging relative strength and weakness, so these types of battles seem so arbitrary. In contrast, the sequence in the first season when fighting Demogorgon in the house was far more tense and felt more 'real'.

Overall, it was a mediocre season. I'll probably watch Season 5 just to get it all over with, but not overly enthused about it.

Upstart Crow

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-07, 07:50:

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-07-07, 07:19:

I somewhat enjoyed the first part of ST4, the 7 episodes released a month ago. The monster arc, the massacre arc. The humour and impact of new character Eddie. All pretty cool. But...

I've only seen the first of the 2 finale episodes. It didn't gel with me, which was disappointing. I'd thought I was set for a fun ride, but it felt more like everyone was just going through the motions. The things that I'd enjoyed during the buildup suddenly felt a bit phoned-in, and the things that'd annoyed me back then (such as "stoner dude" character, and "crazy Russki" character, and to a lesser extent "Papa") became outright painful here.

I'm still looking sorta forward to seeing the second, longer part of the finale. But I know it can go either way, and have already read that the main arc is ultimately left unresolved. Not a bad thing, to know that in advance.

Your sentiments kind of mirror mine so I am interested to learn what you wil feel about it all once done with the final episode.

Finally got around to watching the last episode.

I'm trying to be charitable and say that it was 'ok'. And it was, I guess. There were some enjoyable scenes. But there was a significant layer of over indulgence across the whole thing. I'm fine with the movie length episode, but the point of the extra time is How well do they use it? Most scenes are longer than they need to be, and as a result, whatever coolness they bring, they immediately claw back by dragging out and over emphasising.

There was a flash of ridiculous excitement when Eddie starts playing MoP, but it's halfway turned to farce by the time he reaches the solo 2 minutes later, and when he then goes on to pointlessly hero-sacrifice himself, there's zero sense that it actually achieves anything plot-wise, other than to conveniently write out a character that the series is done with, by way of a totally contrived blaze of glory.

The indulgence is brought home by the final half hour of Lord of the Rings -style wrap-up, where every character gets a nice family conclusion or other fruity scene.

It's hard to be too cruel to the series because ultimately, I voluntarily watch it, and overall, do enjoy it. I appreciate that a Spielberg/King throwback series is being made to the highest production standards. But even the show runners must know - and 5 being the final season proves - the truth which many show runners before have discovered: that a mainstream Evil Monster narrative only has so many twists and turns, before it inevitably finds it's own tail.

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-07-10, 23:05:

there's zero sense that it actually achieves anything plot-wise, other than to conveniently write out a character that the series is done with, by way of a totally contrived blaze of glory.

That part really bugged me for that reason. It was obvious what was going to happen, as his character arc had been building to that moment.

But from a plot perspective it seemed completely pointless.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-05, 06:40:

We just finished Stranger Things 4 last night. I felt like it was a poor season overall. All previous seasons started slow and built up to a tense climax, however this one started tense and built up to a forgettable anti-climax. The cliffhanger ending also did nothing for me.

I enjoyed this season but overall I feel like the actors are getting too old and the plot is stretching itself too thin.

They should've gone out with a big bang with this season and ended it with that. It would've been perfect - fight the last big boss and boom - you're done, you're grownups now.
But oh well, it's a money-making-machine, let's milk it just like Walking Dead until nobody wants to watch it anymore...

Regarding the topic, I'm currently watching The Orville Season 3 and my god - I didn't know I had missed hard SciFi like this sooo much.
The Orville is like TNG turned to 11 and almost every episode had me crying in front of the screen. They really nailed it with their storytelling this season and I really hope we will get another one.

Also, social commentary regarding our current society is very heavy in this season and I like it. Feels very dark compared to the previous ones, but in a good way.

Finished a Terminal list a few days ago.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11743610/

I finished S4 of Stranger Things. Overall I think the season could have been ended here, instead of pulling to another season. In my opinion, the timing of when this was known was too late and they could have pulled a few things earlier. The end of it seemed rushed.

If you like shows that cut off before they are ruined... Mind Hunter, Start Up, American Gods (Though S2 a bit tedious), Sneaky Pete ...

I started watching house a few weeks ago. I kind ofnlike it. Between it and Scrubs I'm overdosed on medical drama. Makes up for my lack of vaccines. Still corona free though.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-07-15, 15:58:

If you like shows that cut off before they are ruined... Mind Hunter, Start Up, American Gods (Though S2 a bit tedious), Sneaky Pete ...

I don't care anymore how long to producers try to milk a series. I just stop watching when I stop caring.

It worked for me for Supernatural and the Walking Dead.

Also, story arc overload that leads nowhere kills ot for me . Having optional side quests can be fun in a video game, but the mandatory ones in a series can easily start to feel like filler and/or soap opera fodder if not well thought out and executed .

One series that, IMHO, managed to stay interesting and balanced was the reimagined Battlestar Galactica . Admittedly, nothing is perfect and the ending was probably not to everyone's liking, but, IMHO, the series did not overstay its welcome, but the arcs were, more often than not, interesting and even thought provoking .

Somebody mentioned Frasier up the ways. I have been watching a bit of that lately, along with Friends and Seinfeld. It's all still funny somewhat, but it pains me to watch such oldies.

Battlestar edgyness became cringy after several seasons, I enjoyed the series through about half way then found it depressing and stopped.

GOT when it had a good plot was decent but it didn’t need the amount of sex and violence it had to get a storyline across, found it cringy, fact I made it through maybe I could revisit battlestar.

I’m still rewatching Stargate et all, going on many months of watching mostly Stargate in down time and only a small fraction of the way through, lots of content in that series

Would like to watch the new Reddwarf and new Doctor Who but refuse to pay, same reason I’m not watching the next season of The Orvill

I did watch all of Halo, despite the fanboys crapping the bed it’s OK as compared to the other modern generic Sci-fi.
Lore has never mattered to me but the direction it’s going can be suitable for when I’m nearly asleep, the Arbitor having sex with Master Chief is amusing because it’s ironic, they could drop the Asian girl arc altogether as she is insulting to the viewers intelligence in a similar vein to Characters and mediocre plot devices in Discovery

Need another Season of One Punch Man and AOT, oh wait.

KOJAK BABY!!