Some stray Stranger Things comments

[sholio]

... as of 3x06. No spoilers past 3x06, please! I also don't want to know how many episodes there are this season, because I somehow managed to avoid finding this out, can't look it up now because of spoilers, and I am liking not knowing. (I'm guessing probably about 8, but I don't know for sure.)


* Back when I did my who will beat up Steve this season? poll, I completely failed to include "Russian spies" for some reason.

* I was also way less spoiled than I thought from the one spoiler scene I had actually seen in gifs, the one where Steve gets shot in the neck with the needle. I was 100% sure that it had to do with the zombie plot, not the Russian plot.

* Dustin and Erica rescuing Steve and Robin, yessssss!

* I actually really want them to save Billy! W. T. F. The scene on the beach and El taking his hand was so nicely done.

* The f/x are really cool this season, and they've been doing such neat things with El's internal telepathy landscape and its interaction with the real world. I could really do without the "ewww" factor with the monster, but I've been really liking some of the visual stuff. Oh, and also the red-white-and-blue color theme everywhere, which is really neat.

* I continue to appreciate this show's commitment to all the 80s tropes. Crawling around in the air vents! The Terminator homage!

* Hopper is SUCH A DICK this season. Such a dick. Oh my god. I hate basically everything about his characterization this season, from bullying Mike like the world's biggest stereotype of an overprotective dad, to torturing people and stealing cars from innocent bystanders, to insulting Joyce and outright calling her crazy in front of Murray when she's been literally right about almost everything.

* Joyce yelling at Murray, on the other hand, was very cathartic.

* I also really appreciate that the show is giving the female characters more interaction this season, particularly the Max-El friendship and Nancy bonding with her mom.

* I liked that they textually confirmed that Will is gay this season (in that conversation with Mike), but it also makes it stand out that he's not just the only kid, but the only one of any of the characters who doesn't have a romance subplot or even a hint of one, and that is increasingly bothering me in the romantic-angst scenes.

Comments

[musesfool]

Agreed on Hopper - what the actual fuck? - and the El-Max friendship. I love the latter so much! And also about Will.

[sholio]

"What the actual fuck" is my entire reaction to Hopper this season! He's abusive, violent, and basically unhinged - he wasn't even this bad when he was a pill-abusing alcohol mess after his daughter's death! I mean, I realize that having an upswing in one's personal life doesn't automatically erase depression and alcoholism, but I also feel like the show isn't engaging with it on that level - this isn't supposed to be Hopper completely gone off the rails, this is just ... well ... WTF is happening, I don't even know, but at this point he's burned through my goodwill from past seasons and I just wish he'd get more pushback from the people around him. (Instead I suspect he's going to get narratively rewarded with a love interest and no repercussions for all the assaults and torture because it's Cartoon Russians and Cartoon Russian collaborators, and this bugs me more than it probably should.)

[rachelmanija]

I agree on all points. El-Max are wonderful (though I think El/Max have better chemistry than El/Mike, and way better chemistry than Max/Lucas, which also rubs in the way that straight romance is very very important but non-straight doesn't exist) and in general the treatment of women is better/more aware...

...which makes it EVEN WORSE that Hopper, who is acting like a scary violent abuser with Joyce, is apparently going to be rewarded with a relationship with her. WTF! He sneers at her, insults her, belittles her, gaslights her, and polices her sexuality as well as El's in a way that makes him come across as a violent psycho - and the show seems totally unaware that this is anything other than funny and cute. What the hell. There's no difference between Billy's abusive dad and Hopper, except for the show's apparent point of view on them. (I'm only up to # 6.)

And that's in addition to being stupid, being bigoted, abusing his power, torture, bullying children, and generally being AWFUL. He was one of my favorites in the first two seasons and now I hate him.

The Steve & Robin & Dustin & Erica show is golden though. And I love how El stands in front of everyone as their protector.

[sholio]

What's driving me bonkers about the Hopper scenes is not just that it's ruining me for him as a character, but it's so obnoxious that it's ruining one of the main storylines of the show, as well! Whenever they switch to Hopper and Joyce, I'm just like "... can we please have another storyline now. PLEASE." This storyline has now accumulated a dozen different things that I'm actively having to not think about so it doesn't ruin the whole season for me (the torture, the car theft, the jealousy, the gaslighting, the way he's been actively hindering everyone else trying to get information from the scientist guy ...).

It has also completely blown Hopper and Joyce up as a pairing for me. I was neutral on them before, but he's so blatantly awful to her and it's such a classic abuser dynamic that I just want her to WALK AWAY.

... I have to say, the one thing I DO still like about him and El is that she calls him "Hop" instead of Dad. It never really quite worked for me in fic to have her referring to him as Dad - it's just not them - and I find it unbearably adorable every time she does that. I just wish he wasn't so absolutely awful this season.

[rachelmanija]

I did ship Hopper/Joyce and one of my favorite relationships was El & Hopper. Not anymore!

I also like her calling him "Hop."

But really, I'm just baffled by why they chose to do this with him and how they can not register how terribly it's coming off. (As you said in email, the actor isn't helping by playing even neutral moments and lines as contemptuous, ragey, etc.) I love the other two storylines but I've been tempted to fast-forward his.

[musesfool]

I think El/Max have better chemistry than El/Mike, and way better chemistry than Max/Lucas

Agreed! I would like them to be girlfriends in a couple of years!

I think I get what they are trying to do with Hopper - it's very 80s action hero behavior - but it was just unpleasant all around and everything I was afraid of in season 1 but they didn't go there then.

[sholio]

I was totally shipping El/Max, more so than with either of their boyfriends!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

* Back when I did my who will beat up Steve this season? poll, I completely failed to include "Russian spies" for some reason.
Ha ha ha! But you did have the right option for another question!

* Hopper is SUCH A DICK this season. Such a dick. Oh my god.
YES! YES! I am still mad about this after finishing the season. I can almost explain some of it. He got a serious concussion from that Russian terminator dude, and concussions can lead to angry outbursts for months afterwards; I kept telling myself his being a jerk after that point was from the head injury. But the way he treated Mike? No excuse. The writers made Hop a caricature of himself this season.

* I also really appreciate that the show is giving the female characters more interaction this season, particularly the Max-El friendship and Nancy bonding with her mom.
That was maybe my favorite part of the season.