THOUGHTS ABOUT VOL 2
ALL APOILERS PLEASE SCROLL AWAY
I literally just finished Vol 2 and i have some...thoughts.
As much as i hate to say it, the best storyline was that of Steve and Dustin's. Angst, a full on fight, conflict, resolution, but not a fullstop resolution that means there's more capacity for angst in the final episode.
There wasn't much of Joyce and Hopper, though i feel that the Joyce's Terrible Plan pt 2 was uneeded and why oh why are we making her this stupid kind of over-protective person who can't read a room? I just hate everything they did with Joyce, AND MATTER OF FACT, I also HATE that they took the same godammned route with Hopper, there's no development beyond the selfish, self-important "El can't die and Kali/anyone who disagrees with me in the slightest is a punk ass bitch". I hate that both their roles have just deteriorated to that. It's like they have physically no clue what to do with Hopper and Joyce except make them the same overblown unyielding personality that just doesn't learn. At least Joyce learnt somewhat to not coddle Will, only to what? Get shoved back into her previous state? What is even the point?
I actually like what they did with Jancy somewhat. A bit annoyed that it relied so so heavily on the miscommunication trope, BUT YES GODDAMN NANCY IS AN INDEPENDENT GODDAMN BADDIE WHO DOESNT WANT OR NEED A GODDAMN RING OR SIX GODDAMN KIDS. I've seen some people interpret it as "Ou No Jancy Broke Up!" but i saw it as more of a "We're in love and we're a team" and honestly, that's the best resolution we could have hoped for. It was sweet, it was nice and i feel satisfied, but im open to have my mind changed.
Max and Holly. I think its one of my favourite storylines but its so goddamn long and drawn out and again, just so terribly LONG considering the way they've pushed and cut off a lot of shit that needed to be addressed. I do like it, but i really can't help but feel that it really, really is solely for the purpose of including the first shadow lore. And that bs in Vecna's mind lair where they're just standing around talkin about love? So unneeded. So out of place. The dialogue was empowering sure ig but like why draw it out. Max just on the spot hypothesing that it's not just music and it can be love too. So why didnt she wake up when Lucas was crying and holding her broken body, when that was easily the most heart wrenching romantic coded moments? It would have been so, so much better to have Lucas switch off the music/ have the demos break the radio (idk im not familiar with 80's devices) and have Lucas do an act of love and THAT'S how Max realises that it's not just Music? Why have Max lead this fucking CHILD through hell, just to find her own gate and tell her nope this aint your exit? All they did was dumping a truckload of exposition on our heads and said "Yeah, ts canon now" by making it happen.
Finally, whatever the HELL was that confession. Youre telling me, ever since Season 3 AT MINIMUM, Will has been aware that he's gay, and in love with his best friend and aware that the world hates him for it, and this is what his confession/ coming out looks like? It was impersonal, painful to watch, and EVEN IN HIS GODDAMN CONFESSION HE'S STILL HIDING and LYING BECAUSE HE DOESN'T TELL ANYONE THAT THE BOY HE LIKED IS HIS BEST FRIEND???? What in the? It was and i am not lying, i had to physically skip ahead just because it was so? Mediocre? Terrible? Oscillating between the two? TAMMY? NO ONE GETS THAT REFERENCE EXCEPT STEVE, ROBIN AND MAYBE VICKIE??? SPEAKING OF, WHY IS STEVE HERE? Why's Vickie here, why's Murray, and i don't remember if Hopper and Kali are there but considering everyone's there why not throw em in the mix too??? This is.....MILES worse than whatever the hell anyone was expecting, AND GODDAMN ROBIN, WHO WAS A SIDE CHARACTER HAD A BETTER COMING OUT SCENE THAN THE LITERAL MAIN CHARACTER OF THE SERIES EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS ACTUALLY FUCKING DRUGGED??????????
Mike does nothing, so it confirms that it was a conscious deliberate choice that they MADE him be an asshole for 2 seasons minimum to magically become better after an 18 month period, he even hugs Will after Lucas and Dustin, and for someone who's supposed to be the heart, he sure doesnt have any the way he looked blank throughout the confession.
Putting those nitpicks to the side, it was just....Mediocre, as much as it pains me to admit it. It made me feel absolutely nothing, and considering i was bawling at the Robin-Will-Tammy scene, that's a terrible goddamn sign. A whole lot of Meh, laced the fact that apparently, the writers did not have the balls to take risks at all, combined with they have 2 hours to solve the fact that the painting hasn't been brought up, Will's still lying, as well as Hopper is also lying to himself and El, El's influenced by Kali to kill herself, Mike has no depth or storyline, Murray, Vickie and Erica have close to no storyline, Holly did all that just to reach where she started AND THEN GETTING VECNA'D after beating up all her friends, it's just a mess, an unevenly paced, unevenly balanced mess, with a couple of Gatorage ads thrown in the middle. I'm afraid they lost the point after Vol.1 and the finale has to be some sort of a miracle to fix gaping holes.
