I finally got around to watching a couple episodes of the latest season. Loved this show the first season…but each season I become less interested.
I can’t put my finger on what they’re doing wrong. Production and writing are great. My “hot take” is that they’re addicted to formula: they keep introducing new hyper 80s kids that are too cute and too mature…and they never raise the stakes. It gets muddier as they keep adding kids/protagonists. The Hawke kid and the Kate Bush fan were great…but this season the “new” girl is a little much for some reason. Nothing against her really…but there always 7 pairs of kids running around and they’re all super integral…I kept getting the Hawke girl and the big sister mixed up.
Am I way off?
It was originally supposed to be an anthology series until Netflix execs meddled. That’s what’s wrong with it.
Intersting. That makes a lot of sense and would be so much better, and that “fixes” everything.
Like…if they just followed the new people they introduced, rather than giving all the old people stuff to do just for the sake of keeping them around. Would be so much better if the only carry overs were there for specifics narrative purpose. I’m really sick of the hair pretty boy and the toothless kid…so repetitive. It’s like I’m watching 10 separate shows that all have the same plot. It’s almost like Lost at this point…just a bunch of bullshit going on that doesn’t matter.
Like…if they just followed the new people they introduced, rather than giving all the old people stuff to do just for the sake of keeping them around.
Yeah, the cast has grown so much that everyone has too little screen time and there is just too much going on without enough time to flesh any of it out. I can’t think of any terribly done characters either, just too many and cast added later lack depth because there isn’t enough time to let it show.
That’s why I couldn’t put my finger on it. The writing is great…it looks great. But…it’s like the characters are the same way the show is: makes you wait half an episode to even see them.
I’m just a little slow and I didn’t see what was right in front of my face…even after I said it.
I can’t think of any terribly done characters either
I would say Johnathan is underwhelming. He had character in season 1, but after that it’s been pretty sparse. I wouldn’t get rid of him because I think it’s interesting in the context of other characters… But in terms of what he wants, I don’t really know.
Spoilers up to season 5 volume 1
He has a ring and is probably going to ask Nancy to marry him, but what makes that interesting is what will Nancy say? How will Steve react? I don’t really care if Johnathan gets married because I don’t know if he wants that.
It’s possible season 5 volume 2 will give him more to do, so I won’t say he’s a complete waste, but even looking at previous seasons it’s been little for his character.
You got a source on that?
Source: Sponge Bob diapers meme with executives written on every picture.
I have to disagree that the stakes are never raised. Season 1 the big bad is a Demogorgon who is just a scary monster. Then we add multiple Demodogs to the Demogorgon. Then we add an intelligent creature with the Mind Flayer who controls the above creatures, but he still mostly a monster. Then we add an intelligent human who does all of the above, but hunts children. And now finally in the finale it’s all of the above trying to bring the upside down into the real world (technically the plan for season 4, but he won and then “died”, so he’s doing it again but properly.)
So Demogorgons go from the big bad to just bring minions in the current season. Our main characters are fighting off a dozen whereas one used to be impossible.
I mis-spoke…obviously on paper what’s going on is escalating and more important.
I just meant the tension isn’t there, for me. Everybody is way too competent and it’s only side/new characters at risk, so far.
The first season was good because it was simple. The seasons that followed keep trying to build upon the first and improve it. It didn’t need to be improved upon, it needed to maintain quality. The show’s big moments are cool, but overall it seems like the message has gotten lost. Not interested in the new season at all. I’m just burned out on it. I don’t hate it, I just don’t care what happens next.
They did the same thing with 13 Reasons Why, except that show did not need to continue. The first season fully adapted the book. The next 3 seasons was just escalated trauma porn.
It would have been so much better if they stuck to an anthology like another user pointed out in the comments. The original characters are mostly insufferable and repetitive…the new ones are really cool but we don’t get to know them properly.
I think it’s less that they tried to improve upon season 1 and more like they tried to make it appeal to more people when it suddenly got popular. Season 1 felt very self-contained and genuinely tried to be a horror mystery show, the later seasons seem aimed at teenagers with lots of dumb teenage drama and quirky humor… I remember feeling some tonal whiplash going into season 2 but I guess not that many people noticed at the time.
For me season 1 had lots of mystery. What is the upside down? Why does it contain artefacts of our world? How is it all connected?
But the answers were limiting. Vecna made it. It’s all vecna.
Had it been another dimension like The Mist or something he tapped into rather than created it would have left more avenues of interest. Imho.
What new girl are you talking about?
Do mean Holly Wheeler?
She has been in the show since S1, and she is great this season.
The little sister, yeah. I know she’s been there…but now she’s a main character. You must get my meaning…
She is awesome and playing a great part in the story.
The timing and pacing of each scene, and dialogue delivery seem off to me
Same. Like…I can’t complain about length or writing or how it looks…it’s just…there’s too many main characters.
