âRewatching Stranger Things 3 with my sister (whoâs still on the first...â
it feels like they really wanted people to bask in the irony of having the communists build a base under an american mall and that wasn't...all that great
It makes less sense the more times you watch it. At one point Erica estimates it took the Scoops Troop three hours to walk from the elevator room to the secret mad science headquarters. She didnât seem to be using hyperbole, either, because she was doing a calculation to try to prove a point to Dustin (and succeeded only in proving she was a nerd). Why on earth would they build the two so far apart? If the big evil whirring machine needed to be at that particular location to target a weak point in the membrane between worlds, couldnât they have found a handier site to build the mall on, especially with Mayor Kline finagling the real estate for them? Digging a tunnel that long and large and installing that much stuff along its walls and ceiling would have been a huge job, and as I objected merely to the depth of the elevator shaft, what did they do with all the spoil to clear it out without being noticed? Then to compound the inconvenience and inefficiency, even at top golf-cart speed it would take at least an hour, maybe a couple, to reach the elevator and then the same to bring the new supply of glowing green goo jars back to mad science HQ. What a hassle.
And everything was entirely too spiffy and shiny! Of course itâs the kind of thing anxious Cold War Americans might have imagined the Russians had the resources to do, but these days we know they really didnât, so whatâs the point of depicting it that way in a show being made now that until now presented the world the characters live in as (allowing for Demogorgons and telekinetic little girls) pretty ordinary and realistic?
What I enjoyed about Stranger Things 3:
ALL THE FRIENDSHIPS THERE WAS SO MUCH FRIENDSHIP
Nancyâs summery dresses
The popping rainbow summer colours generally, itâs so nice that itâs not ALWAYS fall in Hawkins
Elevenâs new BSC-worthy wardrobe (although was Hopper giving her an allowance that she couldnât spend on anything out in the woods? How did she pay for three or four new outfits all at once? Did she take her saved allowance with her to see Max, and why would she, when the shopping trip was unplanned? When did she buy all of the outfits and accessories, since on her only visit to the mall that we saw it looks like she just bought the black-and-neon romper and carried her old jeans and shirt out in the shopping bag? Did Max buy them for her? How much money does Max carry on an impromptu shopping trip? Why would Max buy a funky new wardrobe for a girl sheâs only just making friends with? Would not âGirls Just Wanna Have Funâ have been an even more appropriate song for the shopping montage than âMaterial Girl,â with the lyrics âSome boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world, I wanna be the one to walk in the sunâ and âThe phone rings in the middle of the night, my father yells âWhat you gonna do with your life?â Oh Daddy dear, you know youâre still number one, but girls, they wanna have funâ reflecting both Mike and Hopperâs overprotectiveness and possessiveness of her and the more open, sunshiny, fun world Max is introducing her to? Plus Cyndi Lauper did a song for The Goonies, a clear influence on Stranger Things, and I just really loved Cyndi Lauper as a kid in the 80s, she spelled her name Cyndi instead of Cindy and had crosshatches shaved into the side of her hair like Archie, it blew my mind)
The fact that Steve and Robin both wore sailor suits for almost the entire story
âYou canât spell America without Ericaâ
I shot my bolt when I went off on that fugue about Elevenâs clothes, Iâm tired now.
The Neverending Story duet
The part where Willâs friends leave the house while he is setting up his D&D game and he bleats âGuys! Iâm still here!â and I went HA! but also aww.
Billy is so extremely dead. I wouldnât mind if Dacre Montgomery reappeared for flashbacks, visions, dreams and nightmares, but stay dead, Billy.
Hopper being angry and mean and rude and drunk and using torture without any apparent compunction and breathing like a water buffalo and did I say being rude because he was very rude to Joyce and she needs and deserves a man who is respectful and kind to her all the time not just when things are going well! Joyce Byers is a lovely person and very brave and long overdue for some good fortune! I am shouty!
Assorted improbabilities re: both the USSR and thirteen-year-old girlsâ budgets and the walking distances as detailed above
Grigori, like donât introduce a guy who picks up a guy by the neck like Darth Vader in his first scene and then completely drop the Darth Vader thing and try to make him like the Terminator, itâs unsatisfying! And why should some human Russian rando with no backstory be like the Terminator anyway? Unnecessary! Phooey!