uh , i finished s3 last night . i have ... thoughts . under the read more , so hopefully nobody will be spoiled !
okay , oof , that was a ride . i don’t really know how i feel about it in general . right now i don’t particularly love it , but then again i had to watch s2 twice to really appreciate it . i feel like , if i had to give this season a grade , it would be a b -- ? there are parts i really appreciated ofc , but then ... maybe i’ll go step by step .
- on a general note , i felt like this season was too much . s1 was brilliant , imo , bc it was enclosed within this small group of people , & how hawklab’s doing was affecting them . it was very focused on their grief , on their feelings , on their hunt for the truth - s2 shed some of it off , though it was still a rather ‘ domestic ‘ show , i think . s3 is way too much . too many characters ( there’s about 4 more secondary characters , plus idk how many recurring ones ? ) , too many subplots ( at some point i was recapping everything i’d seen for a friend and there were eight different plots , i swear ) , too LOUD ( i have ... some problems with hopper’s characterization , but more on that later . ) - this last part , i guess it’s good for representing the 80s as the trashiest era , but , still . it was sort of cacophonic , i think ? dunno .
- it was a bit alienating , as per point a . in the beginning i appreciated this , because it made me sympathize more with will & dustin as being alienated from the party . but it also took me a while to really feel like i was into it . i guess a big part in this was played also by the kids’ voices and how much they changed , ‘cause that messed me up badly .
- hopper . first of all , i’m still fucked up . i knew what to expect but i didn’t expect it to happen like this , & now i’m devastated . i spent a good portion of last night thinking about it , making up all kinds of ways why he could’ve survived somehow . i have a good feeling he has survived , but still ... that destroyed me . anyway , the issue i had with him was not re his death , but his characterization in the early episodes . idk if you guys saw venom , but one reason i hated that movie was eddie’s absolute lack of chill . 0 to 1000 with no in between . hopper was kinda like this now : getting mad a lot , yelling a lot , being all macho a lot . i guess it all fits somehow , because i saw an interview from david about how hopper’s subconsciously responding to 80s tv with his fashion , & i thought it’s plausible for that to happen on a personality , level , too . responding to a very stereotypical sort of tv , where men are Machos with a capital M , with stereotypical romantic milestones too ( which is one of the reasons , i think , joyce was so blindsided by him asking her out and eventually stood him up ) . i guess it makes sense for the character but , again - probably too much , imo .
- i have nothing to say about joyce , i may be biased but she’s perfect thank you and goodbye . also joyce in a russian uniform ? cute af .
- i called it abt robin . called it . love her . i’m also happy they’re starting to address will’s sexuality , makes me hopeful they won’t fuck it up . ( but re: will he’s the one that fucks me up the most , in terms of growth . he’s gotten HUGE , he used to be so tiny and scared in s1 , jesus christ ) .
- i love dustin so much but his whole plot with steve , erica & robin , at times felt like it was another show , to me . like a spin - off , maybe . still greatly enjoyed it though , and i love that they shifted the babysitter dynamic so that it was dustin looking after him now . i love love love suzie too but god , those two minutes of singing ? were they really necessary ? was i supposed to feel as uncomfortable as the other characters , there ? goooooooooooooood .
- el ? perfect . i love her . i would die for them . you can’t believe how fucking happy i am that she moved with the byers . like , not happy because that ruined me and i cried everything i could possibly cry , but this validates my need for joyce to adopt her , so - love it so fucking much .
- i’m a lil sad about how few byers family interactions i had , but i guess in a way that’s sort of better ‘cause every character had to be their own person , for a while . also will tearing down castle byers fucked me up forever . goodbye .
i think this is it , so far . i’m probably gonna have more to say as i think about it more . i think i need to rearrange this blog too , make room for a new post - s3 verse , and everything .
it’s DEF gonna take some recovering first , oh god .
