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There are a lot of things to like about it, like Max’s arc (that scene where she escaped Vecna was impeccable and so emotional!), the Robin and Nancy friendship, and the 001/Creel twist. But this wouldn’t be a rant if I was just talking about the stuff I liked.

I’m probably gonna go against the grain here and say I actually have a lot of problems with the season so far, and the last episodes are gonna have to basically pull off a Hopper miracle to change my opinion on it.

First of all, so far, Hopper being alive has no bearing on the main plot. If you take it out, it simply doesn’t matter other than getting Joyce out of the house so her kids can get shot at and drive to Utah. That storyline exists completely separately from the main issue this season and honestly feels kind of pointless. Hopper is alive... hurray? 

The next problem is Will, Mike, and Jonathan’s plot. They are actually doing something that’s relevant to the main plot sort of by helping El, but they are entirely disconnected from the rest of the cast in Hawkins. That wouldn’t be such a huge problem if the Duffers didn’t run out of stuff for them to do after deciphering those coordinates while the rest of the storylines keep moving. You can tell that’s messy plot work because while episode 7 is packed with content, you literally don’t see this group for the whole 110 minutes it runs for. Even their guard getting tortured gets an appearance!

With the Hawkins group, there are some things I just subjectively don’t like, but I don’t necessarily see them as problems. I hate the basketball team subplot. I know they’re there to be another obstacle for our main characters, but holy hell are they annoying. The other thing that’s a no from me? The renewed Steve/Nancy plot. Okay, this is objectively annoying, especially when you have both Robin and Eddie trying to shove them together. Yes, I understand the two of them are going through some problems in their relationship, but when you’ve spent three seasons emphasizing that those two are IN LOVE, I don’t need the shallow wandering eye because of loneliness and regrettable losses, aight? Unless this somehow leads to a revelation for Steve that he needs to stop looking for what he needs in a relationship, I’m not on board with this plot at all.

So, to get my Hopper miracle, I’m looking for:

1. Tying in Hopper’s plot into the main story

2. Let Will, Mike, and Jonathan shine as much as the Hawkins group in the main story

3. Resolve the stupid love triangle in a satisfying way (that hopefully doesn’t involve Steve and Nancy getting back together, ugh)

How does an episode about Levi’s mistake turn into one that focuses on Webber and Bailey? Jake is literally a main cast member and he got two scenes.

This is a big reason why this show is not good anymore. They continue to focus on long-running characters who’ve already been through several character arcs, and use new characters (that are often our minority reps) as vehicles to their stories. I’m really sick of this. Even daytime soap operas who have loads of characters utilize their new cast members better than Grey’s, and they manage to eventually give their veteran cast members better storylines as a result.

Look at Hayes! He was brought in to be a love interest for Meredith and we didn’t even get to see them date. We could’ve had a very interesting storyline about the struggles of establishing a blended family and how Hayes and Meredith honour their departed spouses but still love each other--hell, there were a ton of ways they could’ve gone with this. Instead Hayes became Jo’s friend for 2.5 seconds so she could switch specialties and is leaving because of Owen (jk, he’s leaving to make space for Meredith’s new, dull boyfriend).

Levi gets scared because he remembers where the two of them went wrong last time, and it was when they were living together. Yes, Nico’s giving him what he asked for and Levi wants to go for it, but maybe he thinks that if he moves in again, they’ll wind up where they were last time which was broken up. Is that actually it? Probably not. It’s Grey’s, after all.

I don’t know what the last scene means, but when Nico was done ranting and Levi was like “k, let’s go,” Nico was totally not expecting that reply. That little smile after--I loved it. I’m glad Levi decided not to push him for once.

someone was saying that Nico was probably supposed to have a deeper storyline, but they decided against it because Alex Landi is such a bad actor. what the hell kind of backwards logic is that? You don’t hire an actor if they can’t do their job, which is acting. Alex might seem like a bad actor because we haven’t seen Nico do anything else other than prop Levi’s character or be a little bitch when convenient for the plot. he doesn’t exactly get a ton of material to work with

to say the writers backed out of a better storyline for the character because the actor can’t act is the fucking dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. we all know Shonda didn’t mind shitty writing when she had personal tiffs with the actor, but Alex isn’t even a main cast member, and they all get along well with him. Krista doesn’t have any reason to write badly for him