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danielwaldorf

amsterdamhotelroom

stranger things characters as banned tumblr tags <3

#mikes so true

“old friends to lovers” “enemies to lovers” no. old friends to lovers to enemies.

#im not taking questions at this time

dailystrangerthings

There’s something wrong with your sister, she’s got a stick up her butt.

#Nancy evil woman moments… nancy ‘the bitch’ wheeler moments

rylandsgrace

Welcome to California

tibby

jonathan becoming a stoner is so fucking fun for a lot of reasons but i am incredibly excited for the tension that this will cause with his long distance girlfriend who aready hates him, nancy “war on drugs” wheeler,

witchinghour

Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery in Stranger Things 3 (2019)

more than any supernatural element the biggest suspension of disbelief that will take place during s4 is pretending the post-pubescent teenage actors on screen are middle schoolers

danhumphrey

it’s very weird to me how much criticism of hopper is based on statements like “he’s not a good dad!” as if that’s not like a huge part of his story arch and dynamic with el

danhumphrey

like the first time we ever consider the idea of hopper and fatherhood is when learning that his daughter is dead. in the same scene we also learn that he doesn’t tell people sara is dead which implies how fresh his grief is. there’s abundant evidence in season one that his loss has pretty much ruined his life and sunk him into depression and the phone call from his ex-wife illuminates the fact that other people are healing from it while he’s remaining stagnant. fast forward to later in the season, hopper is explicitly juxtaposed against lonnie when jonathan is seeking help in finding will. he’s also literally referred to by owens and assumed to be will’s dad in season two.

from all of this set-up we know that 1. hopper has literally been a dad in the past and 2. he inevitably gravitates towards that role for kids in distress despite never really explicitly showing any intention in serving as that role for them. when owens refers to him as “dad” hopper doesn’t correct him, but he also doesn’t accept it. he’s silent. likewise, by leaving the food for el in the woods he likely wasn’t explicitly deciding then and there that she would live with him and he’d be her dad. it isn’t until he runs into her in the woods that he brings her back to the cabin and the “”adoption”” really begins to happen.

hopper’s situation at this point is pretty insane. practically overnight he’s become the primary guardian of this child who btw is being hunted by the state for her telekinetic powers and if he fails to keep her safe, she’ll be taken by the people who tortured and abused her for what we can only assume would be even more torture and abuse. he’s still grappling with the fact that he lost his daughter and he clearly blames himself for it based on his view of himself as a black hole that “sucks everything in and destroys it” so his insistence on the rules he’s given el makes sense with his perspective at this point in the season. not to mention that at this very same time, he’s also trying to keep will safe.

is he doing a bad job? YEAH HE IS because his role as a father and his past experiences are complex and painful and they’re affecting his current attempts at parenting el!! he’s quick to anger and bad at prioritizing and doesn’t really understand why she would sacrifice her safety to see mike. to watch his entire arch up until their big fight in season two and ultimately decide that he’s just a bad father and therefore a bad character does such a disservice to his dynamic with el. he was never meant to be a perfect dad who’s in-tune with her emotions and 100% prepared to fit that role. he’s literally a bereaved father who quite frankly isn’t in the position to basically adopt another kid except that he HAS to because if we know anything about hopper it’s that he physically cannot let a kid be in danger without intervening.

and a lot of the criticism towards him acts like he has no self-awareness towards his own flaws which.....he does. he explicitly says this twice in season two, once when he’s apologizing to el over the radio and owns up to the fact that he gets angry because he’s scared of losing her and again in the car when he says he knows he can be really stupid and destructive and he doesn’t want to be. and all of this isn’t to say that you Have to like hopper, of course you don’t, but in a show very saturated with horrible fathers, it’s really a disservice to the writing to group him in with lonnie or neil or even like ted wheeler lmao

#hopper is a good dad idc

danielwaldorf

remember in s2 when mike stole like $3 in quarters from nancy’s fucking piggy bank and she chased him down the street. and she was like sixteen. girl get a job he’s twelve let him have the fuckin change you found in the couch cushions

#scream.#that was $500 in 1980 money