Anyone else feel like this was the worst season by far?

 My favorite season was actually season 3 followed by the initial season and I guess season 2 would be in 3rd place now for me.  So 3-1-2-4 I guess.

My gripes:

They absolutely wasted Hopper. The whole prison thing was pretty idiotic as it was but to let it play the ENTIRE season was beyond dumb. Three episodes tops should have been spent on that.  I learned that I also don't like Murray in large doses.  I really liked him in his smaller roles in the series but this was too much, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much.

The whole stoner thing with Argyle and JB was dumb.  Argyle just wasn't funny, at ALL. They could have literally left both Byers boys, Mike, Argyle and Susy out of the series and nobody would have even noticed - they were that pointless.

I didn't really care for Eddie either - he was the "best" of the new characters but he was still pretty lame overall save for the metal session on the trailer at the end which was awesome but anyone watching knew he was going to be a goner at some point so that wasn't a surprise.

Vecna just looked stupid, not remotely scary or creepy or even really menacing.  Every time I saw him walking all I could notice was his small pot belly thing he had going on. He was just the lamest villian of the series (or this form of him was I guess - to be more accurate).

Robin seemed like she never recovered from being given the truth serum stuff from season 3 - she was crazy manic the entire time and was not like her character from season 3 at all. it was very odd.

And TIED for the biggest shame of all was going an entire season with 11 not getting to use any of her powers at all until they dump it into the final episode.  The back story, much like Hopper's prison story, should have been maybe a couple episodes and she was back - even if it was at a diminished capacity.

 

It really felt like that the Duffers just made a season to showcase everyone without letting anyone steal the show and the show suffered greatly for it in my opinion. They had these long boring storylines that all of a sudden they had to make up for in about an hour long stretch of the final episode.  I expected so much better - especially after such a long wait to see this season.  Here's hoping the final season goes out strong!

 

Pluses:

Paul Reiser is just fun.  I love his character and man, I hope he didn't get left chained up or killed. 

As mentioned above, the metal session on the trailer was a sight to behold. Freaking AWESOME.

Erica is fun! (although having her say she's only 11 near the beginning was dumb unless she's the biggest 11 year old ever)

Steve Harrington and Dustin are just great together and it's always worth watching when they're side by side.

Steve

This was my least favorite season.  It's like they figured gruesome deaths would cover-up a badly written storyline.  Style over substance.

Started out very slowly and some of the plotlines just seemed lame, especially the Russian one.  The writing just didn't seem strong. I kept questioning the logic. I kept thinking if Max keeps playing Kate Bush, does she have extra batteries for her Walkman?  Those things go thru batteries quick and then she is vulnerable when the batteries die.

Too many dumb annoying characters.  Could not stand Argyle or the head basketball player.  You could have just not added them, their absence would have no impact and sadly, I felt many of the main characters were not given enough to do that was relevant.  Too many lame scenes were written in for characters like Mike to justify getting screen time.

Vecna/One reminded me of Swamp Thing

It kinda lost its 80's nostalgia feel (outside of the music choices and the D&D).  As a child of the 80's, I liked previous seasons with the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future throwbacks.  There were some Aliens and 80's horror film nods, but it seemed like they dialed it back.

I agree that the Hopper storyline went on too long and just felt dumb (even after the contrived way it linked to the other characters' storylines).

After the Rifts appeared and it's Two Days Later, there's no sense of people fleeing like "Holy Shit, entire neighborhoods were destroyed".  The day the characters returned to Hawkins, you saw a mass exodus, but then with people that stayed it's like watching Don Mattingly pack a suitcase while a hurricane comes bearing down: Ho Hum.

 

Edited July 5, 20224 yr by CyggyMarlin

20 hours ago, CyggyMarlin said:

This was my least favorite season.  It's like they figured gruesome deaths would cover-up a badly written storyline.  Style over substance.

Started out very slowly and some of the plotlines just seemed lame, especially the Russian one.  The writing just didn't seem strong. I kept questioning the logic. I kept thinking if Max keeps playing Kate Bush, does she have extra batteries for her Walkman?  Those things go thru batteries quick and then she is vulnerable when the batteries die.

Too many dumb annoying characters.  Could not stand Argyle or the head basketball player.  You could have just not added them, their absence would have no impact and sadly, I felt many of the main characters were not given enough to do that was relevant.  Too many lame scenes were written in for characters like Mike to justify getting screen time.

Vecna/One reminded me of Swamp Thing

It kinda lost its 80's nostalgia feel (outside of the music choices and the D&D).  As a child of the 80's, I liked previous seasons with the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future throwbacks.  There were some Aliens and 80's horror film nods, but it seemed like they dialed it back.

I agree that the Hopper storyline went on too long and just felt dumb (even after the contrived way it linked to the other characters' storylines).

After the Rifts appeared and it's Two Days Later, there's no sense of people fleeing like "Holy Shit, entire neighborhoods were destroyed".  The day the characters returned to Hawkins, you saw a mass exodus, but then with people that stayed it's like watching Don Mattingly pack a suitcase while a hurricane comes bearing down: Ho Hum.

 

oddly enough every time i saw Vecna i also thought of Swamp Thing.  Additionally, much as yourself, i kept wondering just how many damn batteries they had to blast through to keep that Walkman going.  It literally got to the point i swore that was going to be how Vecna got her - the batteries would die and they'd be out of spares or something stupid. 

A friend of mine at work that nearly agrees with me on most cinematic endeavors actually loved this season more than all the others...but he's much younger than me and wasn't even alive in the 80s so that could very well be why. 

Damn I loved this season, my favorite since the first one. I didn't like season 3 but most people tell me they liked that one. Maybe my wires are all crossed. Season 3 just didn't click for me so I went into this one full speed ahead hoping for a bounce back and I think it delivered. It felt more like the first season style for me. Probably some whacky things I'll realize later on but on first viewing this season was a massive hit for me. 

PS: I only glanced over the other posts here because they're so long but I'll go back another time and respond to them as I already see some things I do agree with that are worth discussing. 

1 hour ago, SilverBullet said:

Damn I loved this season, my favorite since the first one. I didn't like season 3 but most people tell me they liked that one. Maybe my wires are all crossed. Season 3 just didn't click for me so I went into this one full speed ahead hoping for a bounce back and I think it delivered. It felt more like the first season style for me. Probably some whacky things I'll realize later on but on first viewing this season was a massive hit for me. 

PS: I only glanced over the other posts here because they're so long but I'll go back another time and respond to them as I already see some things I do agree with that are worth discussing. 

Are you an 80s child?

I’ve never seen an episode of this show. Am i missing out?

2 hours ago, hovertical said:

Are you an 80s child?

Yes, well, not anymore but yes I was.

1 hour ago, SonOfJack said:

I’ve never seen an episode of this show. Am i missing out?

Seriously? Joking but not joking as you seem to be pretty up on popular TV shows, would've never thought you hadn't seen this one. 

This was my favorite season. All was great except I'm kind of bummed that Max didn't fully die... Getting tired of her character and her stupid song.

Oh and I wish Eddie had survived. One of the best characters this show has created.

I also freaking love Murray.

And the death of the Establishment Boys' leader was so satisfyingly anticlimactic.

Edited July 6, 20224 yr by Entendu

7 hours ago, Entendu said:

This was my favorite season. All was great except I'm kind of bummed that Max didn't fully die... Getting tired of her character and her stupid song.

Oh and I wish Eddie had survived. One of the best characters this show has created.

I also freaking love Murray.

And the death of the Establishment Boys' leader was so satisfyingly anticlimactic.

All good points. I wanted more of Eddie, he deserved a longer run. Also, his death was a little bit of a bummer to me in that he didn't really do anything to die a hero, he only thinks he did but he kinda just screwed shit up. He didn't have to die, he sacrificed himself for nothing, just to say that he did. I dunno, maybe him believing he did good is the point for his closure but I wanted him to actually do something more meaningful. 

And yes on Max, I was prepared for her death and it got me accepting she'd be a great one to finally kill off and then we sorta get that and then they reverse it and it's like um so what's the point. I thought the same about Hopper in season 3. I actually thought his death was perfect and with that letter to El it was great closure and a great send off but then he's back so it's like for nothing. Make the deaths count.