When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.
Rated 4.2 / 5 from 5 logs on Katalog
Stranger Things came out 9 years ago. For me it was fantastic: an edgy mystery, roughshod and memorable characters, government cover-ups, heavy synths, retro feeling. Of course, the show exploded into a global phenomenon, both to its benefit and detriment. There was a noticeable drop-off in roughness through the seasons, for similar reasons all shows of this magnitude, I assume. Funding and budgets explode, the stars get new contracts, and instead of making it work on a tighter budget resulting in creative solutions and scripts, green-screens and fixing it in post-production probably became standard. The soul of the show jumps from season to season: whether its Dustin, Eleven, Steve, Eddie, or in case of the last season, a balancing act between Holly and everyone else. I think this is one of its greatest strengths: these characters are so strong that you want to watch what happens as the mystery unravels. Unfortunately, the final season saw the script suffer the most, and the cast of characters bloat, so it lacks some of the magic of the earlier seasons. Lots of exposition dialogue, unnecessary monologues, and so on. That being said, it is, as it always has been, a damn good fun and all-over-the-place mystery where many characters are doing many things. The worldbuilding is still great, the antagonist is still dangerous (although lots of plot armour throughout), and you just can't stop watching. I assume this is so hard to pull off with all the attention, expectations, loose ends, and so on. I am so happy that the final season managed to the stick the landing with the ending, which honestly, we've seen fumbled by so many other shows that gained similar success (looking at you, GoT), making this show actually rewatchable, memorable, and I believe history will look kindly on Stranger Things. I think the Duffer Brothers did something really amazing here, there are some serious lowlights and memes actually helped make it funnier than it is, but I think there are characters and music video moments (Neverending Story, Running Up that Hill) that will be remembered for a long time. It's just, like, fun, you know? RIP Eddie you were too hardcore for this world
Finished: I will NOT be influenced by all the 💻INTERNET📡 telling me how bad the last season is. Yes, the memes are funny and absolutely correct but it’s very easy and very lazy to farm views by mocking the last season of one of the most popular shows of the decade. It taints the viewing experience as well. Just imagine if before watching every single movie and every single episode of any TV show you were constantly bombarded with negative content about it? Is the last season good? Well… No. A big portion of the lines is redundant and serves only to help people who are on their phones or doing laundry while watching it. There are way too many long monologues, way too much exposition. There are waaaaay to many inconsistencies and moments so illogical and so out of place that are really difficult to ignore. A lot of it looks cheap, except it wasn’t. It’s not as dark as the first seasons in which it felt like consequences are serious. It’s not as impactful. It feels like our main characters exist and act in a vacuum. And yet, to me, it works. Not as a good season, but as an overall decent wrap up of the story. The final moments had the charm and emotion that had me hooked onto this show in the first place. It’s definitely not as bad as another show that we don’t speak of anymore whose last season made me never ever want to rewatch it. I won’t be rewatching Stranger Things any time soon, but I it will stay with me positively. — Started last season: so far it looks like a smooth transition after a long break, everyone is their usual selves, it’s gotten quite serious quite quickly and Holly looks and sounds AI-generated
