Stranger Things!

[Tank]

Rewatching S1 now, there's a lot of things about the Upside Down and how it reflects to the real world that make no sense compared to what they are doing now. I like how they tried to explain how Will was able to trigger the lights for Joyce to see, but they also said the upside down was a reflection of Hawkins from the moment Eleven opened the first gate-- and obviously we saw Joyce hang the Xmas lights much later than that...

[The Choc]

With stuff like that we have to just remember that the laws of the upside down are not 100% laid out. These are children making guesses. In the first part of season 4 Dustin thinks Veckna works for the Mind Flayer as his "5 star general." Ofcourse in reality what you are saying is likely an oversight/continuity error but the way the show works I think things like this can be chalked up to the characters themselves not fully understanding whats going on. A bit of a get out of jail free card. 

[Tank]

In terms of them guessing yes. In terms of the rules the show presents by way of showing us how things work, not so much. It doesn't matter though, it doesn't effect my enjoyment.

For me it's just interesting observations about what they left nebulous for effect early one, but were forced to explain later as they needed to keep delving into things for new plot lines.

[Tank]

Just did a speedy, on in the back ground, half-paying attention rewatch of seasons 1-3. The rules of the upside down are NOT consistent. Something SUPER not consistent is Elle's ability to mind-walk. At first she needs the depro tank-- to the point that it is a half an episode to jury rig one at the end of S1. On S2 and 3 she's able to do it with white noise, and in S4, it's back to needing the tank. YES, she did level up and back to zero from S2-4, but that is never really explained in relation to her mind-walking.

My big thoughts though... I know why I have issues with this show. In the 80s, I would even replay my favorite movies with myself inserted in. I usually made my own wold family/mash-up/shared universe stories in my head putting all my favorite movies together. This was actually how I started writing. Stranger Things could have been an adaption of that. Obviously, this was the whole pitch from the Duffer's, to pay homage to everything horror and scifi from the 80s in one story.

I love that part. I also think they create and cast great characters. no one on the show is a weak link cast wise. Every season they add another great person. The strength of this show is the cast. Honestly, on a half-baked rewatch, I paid more attention to the character scenes, the bickering kids, and the romance subplots more than the bigger picture stuff. This is why I love the show.

What I dislike is, every season tends to reaaaaly over-spin a relatively small story with endless and unneeded complications. If there's one thing I ABSOLUTELY HATE in movies, it is coincidence. It is the absolute worst crutch a writer can use to connect dots. Stranger Things exists on coincidence. Because the cast is so big, you obviously have to split them up-- which as I said above, I don't love. I would mind it less if the groups checked in or swapped people to keep it fresh-- but they don't.

Each season you get roughly three or four groups, who are all caught up in a different aspect of the same over-arching plot... but they don't talk to each other. Season Three for example-- Group one is the kids, who after getting their personal drama out of the way, realize the Mind-Flayer is physically manifesting by killing people for their meat juices. Group two-- Nancy and Jonathan, stumble onto this from the outside by wondering about one of the victims, having no idea how it is connected or that the kids are on the path as well. Group three is Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica learning about a secret Russian base under the mall. Group four, is Hopper and Joyce, who stumble onto the other side of the Russian plot, which is that they are trying to open a gate to the upside down.

All four groups stumble into their thing independently from one another, unknowingly helping each other here and there by triggering events. I really don't like this. I don't like the coincidence of it, I don't like the fact that characters I like seeing interact are silo'ed away from each other. Dustin and Steve are great, but it doesn't feel right that Dustin is never with his core friends. I don't like that every season, the adults basically forget to check on their children for days at a time, despite the fact more than one of them has gone missing in the past.

This happens pretty much every season, and there's really not enough story to support it. Each season could be done in half the time.

But again-- all that said, I love the characters, I love their dialog, I love how they interact, and there are a lot of moments of true fun. o I like the show.... but I'm unhappy with how they put it together.