Mirren On The Wall

Robin

I saw someone say that calling Robin lobotomized this season was insensitive because she finally became comfortable enough to stop masking in front of her friends. I completely understand wanting to hc a character as neurodivergent because you relate to them but let’s not pretend Robin is canonically neurodivergent.

Even if she was, there was never any hint that Robin could be masking even in the 3rd season. Robin was mean, she was unashamed, she was intelegent and she knew it, she was loud, she was not normal and she was not afraid of that. All things that don’t happen when someone is masking. And if she was, why did it take until the last season for her to unmask? Even when it was just her and Steve. She came out to him but she doesn’t feel comfortable enough to show him her true personality?

It doesn’t make sense because the issue isn’t that she’s neurodivergent. The issue is that she’s a woman. The writers disregard her. They throw away her intelligence because they don’t care to remember.

That’s the problem with these year long gaps between seasons: the writers forget who they’re writing. Robin in season 3 was so smart. She was a dynamic character with real fears and real emotions. That’s not to say that she isn’t that anymore, because I think her homosexuality is the most real thing about her, but her intelligence and her agency are gone. She should be helping Nancy not standing around like a piece of furniture.

But this is leyered topic and I would genuinely love to hear other peoples opinions on it.

Animal

I don’t like Henry and I don’t like the upside down. Not because “it’s scary and he’s a bad guy,” I mean I don’t like what it’s become.

The upside down, the mind fleyer, demogorgons and demo dogs were all so much scarier when it was just an animal rather than a man. And there is a real reason behind that.

When animals kill it’s for food, for defense, to mate. When humans do it, it can be for all those reasons but also for fun. The thing that makes the upside down scary is the idea of an animal killing for a human reason.

Serial killers and murderers are all scary to think about because it’s close to home, anyone can kill you for no other reason than to satisfy an instinct. But that fear immediately disappears in an unrealistic situation.

The upside down would never happen, so Henry would never exist, so I don’t need to be afraid of him. And while I could not be afraid of the animals in the upside down, there is a fear behind senseless killing in creatures that can’t conceptualize senseless violence.

Animals always have a reason, so to imagine them not feeling anything, humanizing them, makes the violence so much more terrifying.

Take a second and imagine you are with the mind fleyer. Some kind of creature that cannot communicate past invading and eliminating. A creature that has an undying fixation on you and you alone. To me, that’s much more scary than some man wanting me dead. Because I can understand why a man would want me dead, he’s a man. But why would an animal want to kill someone that has done nothing to them. If Henry didn’t exist, doesn’t the idea of will being taken and hunted seem more scary than some guy wanting him (creep)?

Stranger things isnt a well made show, and the duffer brothers do not give a SHIT about it. I feel like I can say this because I have such a deep love for any kind of media where the creators love what they’re making. When a creator doesn’t care about the direction of their work beyond money it shows.

I mean take the dialogue this season for example. It is so much worse than it has ever been and no amount of delivery can change that. I could not get through a single scene without rolling my eyes or cringing. None of the characters have consistent arcs, every season it’s “the parents are overprotective but they need to learn to let the kids be free for the safety of the world” and “the kids are reckless but they’ll always have each other at the end of the day” and no deviation from that script. Good stories don’t use cheap overdone arcs as a subplot. The writers just want action shots and 10 second badass scenes. Anything to make the show seem more cool than it really is.

There is absolutely no attention to the background and home life of any of the characters besides Mike, will, and el. And I’m not just saying this for Steve. I would have loved to get more detail on Lucas’ home life. Make a commentary on the lives of black people in small conservative towns. Delve deeper into Lucas’ desire to fit in. Bring back the blatant racism he faced. Season one had so much potential but no one in the production of this show seems to give a shit.

As for Steve, because I feel he is still relevant, give us more about his home life. Make connections between cycles of abuse and republican values. Show us how Steve is breaking those cycles more than just helping the kids. COMPARE him to his father. We know virtually nothing about him.

And for Dustin, show his process of grief more. This season is treated more like a “phase” he’s going through than an actual character development. His acting out is delivered to us as something to look down on rather than something to empathize with. His grief is a plot convenience. They are treating him like an object to help push will towards vecna rather than something to represent the process of grief.

Don’t even get me started on Mike. He’s gone through so many changes all without any reason. When a character goes through a change (a major character, which Mike is), writers need to tell the audience what happened and why it matters. Mike was never my absolute favorite, but that especially changed from season 3-4. Mike lost the core values that attracted the audience to him in the first season. He no longer cared about his friends or justice or WILL. And it can be argued that this was to represent his aging into a teenager but SHOW US that. If Mike is changing so much, make it a core conflict between the party. As far as season 3 goes, will was the only person that expressed any anger or concern towards Mikes rapidly changing attitude. And then he completely changes in season 5? No. They need to show us what happened, they can’t just change him because that means the plot will move smother. That’s not how writing works.

These are not hard things to do. If the writers have any modicum of care or intent behind their writing this would already exist. But there is no care. Only greed. It makes me really sad as someone who loved the show as a kid. Seeing my favorite characters change on a dime with no explanation or justification, just convenience for the sake of pushing the plot forward saddens me. They don’t care about Mike, they never cared about Lucas, they don’t care about max or Dustin or Steve. The only thing they care about is clips, merch, and how to liquify your wallet.

I’m not trying to shame anyone that has hope for the next few episodes coming out, I just wish more people would realize how dumb the writers for this show are. Entertaining tv is good, it’s great, theres nothing wrong with it. But this show started out as something more than entertainment, and I wish I saw more people getting mad about how it’s ending.

If he is gay, Mike needs to confront his own relationship with sexuality. There will likely be a lot of internal turmoil and internalized homophobia that he will have to work through. This is something that I don’t think we’ll see happen over the course of 4 episodes.

Not to mention mike has been kind of an asshole the last few seasons and his random change makes me worried for the writing. If Mike all of a sudden is okay with being a homosexual, his and Wills relationship will be very poorly written and rushed for “representation”

“But mirrren, Christian theology — which states that earth is under one god, our god — is only hypothetical, and no factual evidence has been presented to the scientific world that proves his definitive existence. Also, aren’t you an atheist?”

Ughhhhh okay I’m gonna get beat up for saying this but we throw around words like “gaslight” and “narcissist” so much online that sometimes I feel like there are a lot of people that don’t entirely realize what those words mean. Allow me to give a perfect example, from someone who was raised by a narcissist (hi daaadddd): watch the newest 911 episode and listen to the way Eddie talks to Buck when Buck gets home. I’m not even going to get into the train wreck of an argument they had before, no, for now we’re just focusing on the after.

Something narcissists love to do when they know they’re in the wrong is to shift focus. They’ll give you a gift they know you like, or take you somewhere special, all while ignoring the elephant in the room. It’s a way to manipulate your emotions. You’re so mad at them and then woah! Now you’re going to a fancy restaurant or you have a new diamond necklace. Or someone you miss has just come home from Texas. What a big family reunion this is. It’s a way to make them feel better about themselves, make them seem like the good guy. Remember in Tangled when mother gothel and repunzel got into an argument about seeing the lights, and then mother gothel came back home she announced she was going to make hazelnut soup? She doesn’t bring up the argument until she notices that her “gift” hasn’t shifted the blame effectively. Now, in Eddie’s case it actually works, and Buck doesn’t bring up their argument, so Eddie gets the glory of being the good guy.

Let’s rewind a little bit now. Folded sheets and a note that says “gone to the airport.” Do you fold your sheets when you sleep on a friend’s couch? Maybe if you’re polite. But the inclusion of this detail better serves as a way to hint to the audience that Eddie may be gone forever. Still it works to prove that Eddie had malicious intent. He could’ve put the note on the fridge. He could’ve written “brb” or hell, maybe even texted Buck to let him know. But he didn’t, I wonder why? Gaslighting 101 tells you that if you want to actually make someone feel like they’re crazy it has to be significant and insignificant at the same time. You can’t just say “no” and expect someone to be efficiently gaslighted. If you want to manipulate someone it has to be plausible, something you can twist or something you know they’ll forget. I was born at 10:50 but my dad always insisted I was born at 11. He was able to gaslight me through this because he knew 1. I didn’t have proof and 2. It was so close in time that it really didn’t matter. A few years ago he started to say I was born at 10:50 and any time I tried to argue that he always said 11 before, he would deny. I didn’t have proof that he said that, and I felt like I was going crazy.

Now, mirrren, you ask, what does your traumatic backstory have to do with Eddie Díaz of 911 fame? Hang on I’ll get to it. When buck came home surprised that Eddie was there, Eddie said “my note said I was going to the airport. The airport and Texas are not the same. They don't even have the same amount of letters in their—” which is true, but he never said he was going to be back either. It’s his tone that gets me. “Buck is so stupid for not realizing that he was coming back, Buck should’ve known, Buck is so lucky I’m around because I’m the only thing keeping him attached to sanity, I am a great person for doing this to Buck.” It’s patronizing, and it’s insulting. Narcissists do this a lot. Most of what makes gaslighting insanity inducing is the fact that the manipulator makes you feel like you’re stupid, like you’re just a kid. Maybe Eddie wasn’t intending to manipulate Buck, but his words and his tone indicate the opposite. If he wanted to make Buck feel like he left to Texas that’s still messed up for a friend to do. Even if I shipped buddie I would feel that way. Because this interaction was just so similar to how my dad made me feel every day of my life.

It’s understandable if those of you didn’t know that this behavior was a red flag. I don’t want to hate on any buddie shippers out there. But this behavior is concerning, even if it’s just a plot device or bad writing, it’s indicative of unfavorable characteristics and I can’t support Eddie after that interaction. I know it was an apology. He says “heard some dick was being mean to you” and sure I guess that is apologizing but does he ever say sorry? Does he even say that it was him that’s being mean? And if he did say sorry, or even if he did say it was him, what kind of apology is that? Make your best friend think you’ve left forever just to return with two people you know he likes? Nah I’m still mad, bud.