Stranger Things S3

[ElFi]

Was surprised nobody else made a thread to get ready for the upcoming season, so I figured I might as well make one myself.

For anyone who hasn't seen them (or wants to rewatch them), here's Trailer One and Trailer Two for your viewing convenience. The first trailer plays more like a greatest-hits of what's to come in the upcoming season, while the second provides a lot more information on what we should expect plot-wise.

Spoiler: In case you didn't watch the trailers (or don't want spoilers)

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My scattered thoughts and desires, in no particular order:

• Interesting that they're showing us the creature right off the bat this time - I've heard it referred to as the Tarrasque in other internet circles, and I think I'll stick with that moniker until it gets an official one. Fits with the more animalistic and hungry aesthetic it's got going on compared to the Demogorgon or Mindflayer.
• Billy seems like he'll be playing a more direct antagonistic role in this season (both trailers raise the idea that he gets mind-hijacked by the Mindflayer, but who knows if that's what's really going on). Good choice in my opinion, since I felt that most of his previous dramatic potential had been drained by S2's finale, and the only option the writers had in my opinion other than escalating was writing him off in some ignoble fashion.
• Max and Eleven being friends. Yes, please. El having more normal-girl experiences is always a plus in my book.
• At least two more characters seem like they'll be joining the main cast (Steve's coworker Robin, and whoever the military dude with the silenced pistol is), plus Bauman and Lucas' sister Erica look to be getting expanded roles. I'm never against bringing new people into the Stranger Things world, but I am worried that the writers will be able to pull it off. Season two sometimes felt like it was about to burst at the seams with all of its disparate subplots and characters before bringing everything (and everyone) together for the finale.
• Please let Will spend one season without experiencing some horrifying, lifetime-spanning-trauma-inducing event happening to him. I mean, okay, the events of this show are pretty traumatic for everyone involved, but please let the poor guy rest a little bit and get the regular-grade horror with everyone else. Noah Schnapp's tear ducts probably won't last for much longer otherwise.
• Kali and her gang are nowhere to be seen, but they were nowhere in Season 2's trailers either, as I recall. Curious as to how (and if) they'll play a role in the upcoming drama - last season certainly left that subplot off in an ambiguous enough fashion to suggest that Eight and Eleven have another confrontation coming down the road.

That's all I've got for right now. Anyone else have thoughts before next Thursday's premiere?

[DomaDoma]

Looks like we're going to have a friends-drifting-apart subplot which inevitably won't hold up when the plot gets roaring. I've never cared for that, but a mostly-male dynamic should make it a bit more sufferable than the all-female kind. Also, a mayoral election? Mayors are always bad news in the Small Town With Strange Goings-On, but oddly enough I think {scrubbed} is going to be the good choice, because it's pretty apparent that something horrible is going down at the Fourth of July celebration.

Couldn't agree more regarding Billy.

That's exactly one shot of Hopper and zero shots of Jonathan across trailers; color me concerned.

I stand by my one pre-existing prediction: Will is never going to want to hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" again in his entire life.

[ElFi]

Looks like we're going to have a friends-drifting-apart subplot which inevitably won't hold up when the plot gets roaring. I've never cared for that, but a mostly-male dynamic should make it a bit more sufferable than the all-female kind.

It'd also be bit more believable if any of the Party had a social circle beyond each other (though who knows, maybe that'll change with the time skip between seasons 2 and 3). I'm also sincerely hoping the tension between Lucas and Dustin regarding Max doesn't play a big role in the upcoming drama. That was one of my least favorite parts of the second season.

That's exactly one shot of Hopper and zero shots of Jonathan across trailers; color me concerned.

Are we watching the same trailers? Hopper gets voiceover lines in the first and a whole conversation with Eleven in the second. Jonathan is minor in the first, but I'm pretty sure that's him staring down the monster, and he gets a couple scenes alongside Nancy and the Party in the second. That being said, I am worried that the writers might continue to downplay Jonathan's role on the show (or just make him a cipher to Nancy). I really liked his role in the first season, even if it was understated at times. He sometimes felt like the realest character out of anybody in the cast.

I stand by my one pre-existing prediction: Will is never going to want to hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" again in his entire life.

You're probably not wrong there.

[Wookieetank]

Got a chance to watch season 3 this week and it was fantastic. Everything just fit together perfectly I felt, and there was an impressive lack of filler. My only complaint is wanting more Cary Elwes screen time, he is delightfully hammy.

Spoiler: Spoilers

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Kinda surprised at the complete lack of the Upside Down, but it worked well. I just really like the aesthetics of it and am always down for more dark world locations.

Ending speculations:
-Hopper jumped into the upside down to avoid being dusted. May or may not have been picked up by a Russian team gathering Demodogs.
-Season 4 is going to be Russia invading the US using critters from the Upside down, giving the Mindflayer its opening

[Peelee]

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I'm kind of hoping they drop the mindflayer and go back to the demogorgon. One was enough to hold an entire season on its own, and I think a veritable army of them, especially with El having to regain her powers, would be pretty well-done. Wasn't a demodog fan, and I think the mindflayer is played out now. Season 3 knocked it out of the park, but I want them to move on from that now, and they did a pretty good job foreshawdoing more demogorgons (both subtly and unsubtly).

[Cen]

more Cary Elwes screen time, he is delightfully hammy.

Waaait.
waiiiiit
Mayor Kline was Westley from Princess Bride?

Why he doesn't age?

[Wookieetank]

Waaait.
waiiiiit
Mayor Kline was Westley from Princess Bride?

Why he doesn't age?

Yup and dunno.

I just love how much fun you can tell he's having with his role.

[Dienekes]

Yup and dunno.

I just love how much fun you can tell he's having with his role.

Perfectly honest as an actor I think he’s pretty middling. But what sells him is that he looks like he’s having a blast in all his best roles.

Anyway the show:

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Bit of a rough start. I always find it difficult to sympathize with forced relationship drama and that was basically the entirety of the first three episodes. The only one that didn’t feel annoying was Nancy and Jonathan. Both had legitimate grievances and it seemed like a real flair up argument as happens in relationships.

I really felt a kinship with Will though. Wanting to play D&D while my buddies were all obsessing over relationships none of which lasted over a month? That’s my high school years right there. Hopefully next season he’ll learn to invite the girls to join the game. But other than that I get the feeling that the writers don’t really know how Will fits into the party dynamic. He kinda seems to be there to give exposition about the Mindflayer and that’s it. Everyone else has a role both in the party and in the inter party dynamics, except Will. Who thankfully got over the abandoned D&D campaign without whining once things got serious, but it left him without much to do. Most the scenes with him in it would have gone exactly the same without him there after he explains the Mindflayer at the Bill capture scene.

Anyway once the good bits started coming they did well. The Flayed and Russians were decent enough villains. But for me the show was stolen by Alexei and the Dustin/Steve party. Glad about the Robin reveal. I thought it was well done. Steve taking it like a champ, too. Way to go Steve. Each of the members in the Dustin/Steve party played off each other well and had some of the best conversations. Hopper got his usual moments of being a badass as well and they were fun. Though, I definitely agreed with Bald Eagle about his relationship with Joyce.

Though Mayor Westley’s face kinda bothered me. We saw him that morning with black eyes a bleeding nose and that night he looked perfectly fine. I assume he was wearing make up, but that did take me out of the show for a second. That’s nitpicking though.

Overall I thought it was better than 2 but 1 was still the best.

[Peelee]

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But for me the show was stolen by Alexei and the Dustin/Steve party.

I cannot agree with this hard enough.

First season is still the best but 3 is right at its heels. 2 is a bit farther down.

[Happygiraffe]

Did anyone else feel like

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Hopper's scenes kind of sucked. He was one of my favorites from the last two seasons but it felt like he was just one-dimensional anger this season. The Joyce/Hopper stuff was the worst bit this time I thought, from the weak magnets hook to the constant bickering.

[Mordar]

Did anyone else feel like

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Hopper's scenes kind of sucked. He was one of my favorites from the last two seasons but it felt like he was just one-dimensional anger this season. The Joyce/Hopper stuff was the worst bit this time I thought, from the weak magnets hook to the constant bickering.

This was my wife's #1 comment/complaint as well (my number two), so the answer to your question is a resounding yes.

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We don't need tertiary character romance/sexual-tension drama, particularly from adult characters. The key turn was going to be dramatic enough...it didn't need some sort of Cap-Agent Carter unfulfilled date bit to add more feels.

Overall, very good. Not enough time of the gang all together. Of the subsets, Scoops was best.

- M

[Diceomancer]

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I didn't like the way the Russian plot was done. First off, why make a code that was a solvable riddle, when they could have easily made a code that no one other than an expert would have a chance at cracking? It also doesn't make sense that the code would be describing things from inside the mall, when the deliveries never went through the inside of the mall. Finally, getting that many soldiers and that much equipment into the US during the code war seems absurd. I would rather have seen them struggling with supply and personnel shortages. Trying to steal some sort of equipment could have been how they were discovered, rather than the contrived code method.

[Peelee]

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I didn't like the way the Russian plot was done. First off, why make a code that was a solvable riddle, when they could have easily made a code that no one other than an expert would have a chance at cracking?

Don't ever discount human laziness, even at the highest levels.

[AdmiralCheez]

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I didn't like the way the Russian plot was done. First off, why make a code that was a solvable riddle, when they could have easily made a code that no one other than an expert would have a chance at cracking? It also doesn't make sense that the code would be describing things from inside the mall, when the deliveries never went through the inside of the mall. Finally, getting that many soldiers and that much equipment into the US during the code war seems absurd. I would rather have seen them struggling with supply and personnel shortages. Trying to steal some sort of equipment could have been how they were discovered, rather than the contrived code method.

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You do have a point, there. Presumably, anyone working for the Russians would know to just deliver to that spot at that time; there's really no need to broadcast it. I do like that they brought in all their material through the mall though; it's less suspicious bringing in an enormous amount of "consumer products" from "China" and delivering it to a mall, rather than some shady facility. And even building their whole gigantic underground base at the same time as the mall above it was a nice touch to cover that operation up.

It's really just the code being broadcast unencrypted that doesn't make sense to me. I liked it though, because it was fun, but yeah, it was not the best solution for the Russians.

[Dienekes]

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You do have a point, there. Presumably, anyone working for the Russians would know to just deliver to that spot at that time; there's really no need to broadcast it. I do like that they brought in all their material through the mall though; it's less suspicious bringing in an enormous amount of "consumer products" from "China" and delivering it to a mall, rather than some shady facility. And even building their whole gigantic underground base at the same time as the mall above it was a nice touch to cover that operation up.

It's really just the code being broadcast unencrypted that doesn't make sense to me. I liked it though, because it was fun, but yeah, it was not the best solution for the Russians.

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The only way it works, at least, the way I rationalized it when I noticed that the code doesn't make sense. Is that the code is specifically about telling a bunch of new recruits who can't read English where to go to meet up. Since we know that new Russians flow in somewhat regularly, at least enough that people aren't suspicious when someone new comes along. And the code is more like directions than anything else.

That said, it brings up the question of why wouldn't they just have Terminator pick them up from whatever airport or shipping yard they came from. But yeah, that was the best rationalization I got.

[AdmiralCheez]

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The only way it works, at least, the way I rationalized it when I noticed that the code doesn't make sense. Is that the code is specifically about telling a bunch of new recruits who can't read English where to go to meet up. Since we know that new Russians flow in somewhat regularly, at least enough that people aren't suspicious when someone new comes along. And the code is more like directions than anything else.

That said, it brings up the question of why wouldn't they just have Terminator pick them up from whatever airport or shipping yard they came from. But yeah, that was the best rationalization I got.

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Unless they were trying to communicate with Russian spies already in the country before the project started, and had no idea where they were located to either send them a letter or pick them up in person. It's possible ham radio was the only reliable way to contact agents spread out over the entire country.

[Spacewolf]

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I agree with it being better than season 2. There was actually some good horror in there, only thing missing was for the monsters to actually present a threat to our heroes. Which is obviously a difficult thing to do in multiple season show without completely rewriting dynamics. But it did take me out several times when the monster would just snarl and roar rather than killing main characters when it doesn't show that behaviour elsewhere, the hospital scene in particular stood out. (I didn't mind some scenes like this with the Gorgon because A. They were better shot than the Mindflayer and B.I didn't find the mindflayer scary once it went final form while the gorgon was scary throughout season 1.)

I do wonder where they are going to go from here the scooby gang is all split up after all and the teaser is set in Siberia so not exactly something they can stumble on.