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Dmitri-9
Nov 30, 2004

There's something really sexy about Scrooge McDuck. I love Uncle Scrooge.

A Pale Horse posted:

I agree completely. The whole thing felt weird and out of place. I get they were going for the "multi-ethnic street gang" trope from terrible 80s action movies, but it felt weird and forced and seemed like a cul-de-sac for El plot wise.

The problem with the gang is they were all a hair too quirky like everyone was work-shopping their own off broadway show.

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Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...

Junkfist posted:

GO HOME ZOOMER GIRL

man episode 7 took a dark turn

Shneak
Mar 6, 2015

A sad Professor Plum
sitting on a toilet.
Just finished chapter 4 and I'm blown away by how good Millie Bobby Brown has been.

Sure, she got acting nominations from season one and she could be considered a breakout but mostly because Eleven was a fresh and interesting character unlike anyone on TV. Her acting is incredible this season. The fight between her and Hopper had me on the edge of my seat.

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
so having finished is anyone else disappointed by the lack of bullies. I mean sure they brought in diamond joe to be the new heavy but everyone's just gonna put him in the dad dating sim in their heads anyway

pr0p
Dec 8, 2011
Dirk Gently did the whacky van crew bettter.

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Most fun bit for me: Mad Max driving the car!

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
Also seriuosly how many times did people in this drat show go like "uhhh I need help but I need you to go away right now cuz I can't tell you" even though they had all gone through the same poo poo last year

I mean I'm probably exaggerating since moments like dustin teaming up with Steve without him questioning it too much probably outnumber it

but I feel like next season is gonna be Max going "yo ele I need help with a thing" and ele going ":stare: stay away from my man bitch!" and Max going :wtc:

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
also what's with the journalist guy

he managed to go from woodward and bernstein one episode to sleazy porn conspiracy theorist

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Alan Smithee posted:

also what's with the journalist guy

he managed to go from woodward and bernstein one episode to sleazy porn conspiracy theorist

No, he was pretty much a conspiracy theorist from the beginning. Sleazy is just Brett Gelman's default mode

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
well I'd give him the benefit of the doubt in the sense that he was on the wrong track but for the right reasons.

Junkfist
Oct 7, 2004

FRIEND?
Golly what a wonderful character sleazy balding beard man was I really liked how he plied booze on barely legal teens and had enough magical marty stu insight into both of their characters and their relationship to convince them to gently caress nearby I'm so glad the culmination of their budding romance was engineered at the last minute by a Weinstein casting couch perverted sex-pest entity wow

Hilario Baldness
Feb 10, 2005

:buddy:



Grimey Drawer
Brett Gelman's plot line was the worst part of the new season. Aside from that and episode seven it was great.

sector_corrector
Jan 18, 2012

by Nyc_Tattoo
Episode 7 is loving terrible.

sector_corrector
Jan 18, 2012

by Nyc_Tattoo
I agree with Van Girl, though, they definitely should've head crushed that generically evil character actor.

geeves
Sep 16, 2004


We have these but not You're dead!

Lycus
Aug 5, 2008

Half the posters in this forum have been made up. This website is a goddamn ghost town.
I can't wait to watch ep 7.

Hilario Baldness
Feb 10, 2005

:buddy:



Grimey Drawer
Another gripe

It seems like for the sake of moving the story along they glossed over El's sudden expansion in social abilities. She doesn't know the meaning of basic words, but doesn't have a problem buying a bus ticket and travelling across state lines.

Matt Zerella
Oct 7, 2002

Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)
Fuckin hell I like Steve now. Didn't think that would happen.

pr0p
Dec 8, 2011
Mike's mom and rear end in a top hat brother getting their Graduate on was kind of late and out of nowehere

NoNotTheMindProbe
Aug 9, 2010
pony porn was here
Just finished binging it and overall I liked it. The 80's nostaligia got a bit cloying in the first half of the season. I was born in '84 so being a kid in the 90's means I remember 80's stuff as leftover crap rather then anything fond and new.

President Ark
May 16, 2010

:iiam:

Hilario Baldness posted:

Another gripe

It seems like for the sake of moving the story along they glossed over El's sudden expansion in social abilities. She doesn't know the meaning of basic words, but doesn't have a problem buying a bus ticket and travelling across state lines.

she probably asked her mom's caretaker "hey how would i go to x" and then mimicked other people at the bus station.

i liked it overall but i do hope that the dogmogorgon army and shadow entity aren't a sign they're falling into the "each season needs a dramatically increased threat level compared to the previous so that there's tension with the result that the later seasons are basically DBZ" trap like a lot of sci-fi/supernatural thriller shows do

geeves
Sep 16, 2004

Hilario Baldness posted:

Another gripe

It seems like for the sake of moving the story along they glossed over El's sudden expansion in social abilities. She doesn't know the meaning of basic words, but doesn't have a problem buying a bus ticket and travelling across state lines.

She watches a ton of TV. She's good.

Vermain
Sep 5, 2006



Junkfist posted:

Golly what a wonderful character sleazy balding beard man was I really liked how he plied booze on barely legal teens and had enough magical marty stu insight into both of their characters and their relationship to convince them to gently caress nearby I'm so glad the culmination of their budding romance was engineered at the last minute by a Weinstein casting couch perverted sex-pest entity wow

That whole thread and episode 7 felt like such weird detours. Just make him a generic horror film paranormal investigator who realizes something's up and helps tie them back into the main plot thread instead of loving around for an episode and a half!

Dongattack
Dec 20, 2006

by Cyrano4747
OH MY GOD THAT loving HUUUNNNK

binged it all
shows good
mean streets of Illinois plot felt out of place, but i understand why it was there
shows good
its almost 7am

goodnight

sethsez
Jul 14, 2006

He's soooo dreamy...

I thought this had about 6 great episodes' worth of material, and 2 more episodes of mediocrity (episode 7 was pure garbage). The Jonathan and Nancy getting justice for Barb subplot was about on par with James Hurley's bullshit in season 2 of Twin Peaks, and it felt like the characters were dancing around things a bit too much given that they all collectively went through basically the same thing a year earlier. I also thought it was laying things on a little thick in the first couple episodes with all of the "this is the 80s" material, which had a greatest-hits feel that felt less genuine than the first season (lacking the budget for big hits and licenses might have helped out the first season more than it hurt).

But when it hit, it hit pretty drat hard. The acting is as wonderful as ever, maybe better, and the character interactions remain believable and compelling. Every new character brought something worthwhile (barring episode 7, of course), and in general it was a pretty good, if extremely familiar, sequel. It certainly leaves less room for spinning its wheels in season 3 than the ending of season 1 did, so hopefully it'll feel a bit more unique, but for now the cast was still able to carry it through the script's rough points.

BioThermo
Feb 18, 2014

New Characters:
Max was a good addition and I'm glad they didn't drag out the Lucas/Dustin affection triangle for too long. I'm not terribly big on El's jealousy thing, nor for Mike of all people to give her the cold shoulder, but having a non-superpowered outsider come into the party introduced a good dynamic for character development

Bob Was (RIP) well-rounded, it was nice that they didnt keep him outside the loop and trying too hard to get it. The writing and acting, including his frequent references back to high school as though he was not really over his past was subtle but not overbearing. Wish he had gotten to move to Maine with the Byers.

Billy Uneven. The backstory of abuse cast some sympathy, but it was still a grab bag as to whether he'd act in a constructive manner towards Max or Steve. The Graduate moment with Mrs. Wheeler was funny, but he still lacked any arc as a person, which is fine in the case of people like Mike's dad, but Billy took up a lot of time without going anywhere.

Paul Reiser I liked the writing where he was first established like Brenner with better PR skills, but when the chips were down he actually gave a drat.

Reporter/Conspiracy Theorist was a plot device that brought back much of the season 1 storytelling where all the plots were working past one another, with no payoff other than to provide Barb service.

Chi-City gang I liked the season cold open with them, and honestly if that had been all we'd seen of them this season, I bet they'd have gone over a lot better than having an entire episode dedicated to them.

Lucas' sister: 2nd best new character after Dustin's finale hair.

As Nero Danced
Sep 3, 2009

Alright, let's do this
Dammit Samwise was too good for this world.

exmarx
Feb 18, 2012


The experience over the years
of nothing getting better
only worse.
Just finished it, thought it was pretty good. I've realised I'm much more interested in the DOE conspiracy stuff than I am the parallel universe stuff tho.

Ep 8
Bob got his just desserts; Will only got got because of his lovely advice :colbert:

Bruteman posted:

The overall threat: The mind flayer is a great concept but I rolled my eyes when I realized 95% of what was going to threaten the cast was basically the demogorgon again. Why couldn't they have just had the mind flayer take over a bunch of people like it possessed Will? Or even just had different-looking animals than reusing the demogorgon?

They've set up a villain that gives people alzheimers, and there's a bunch of Reagan/Bush signs everywhere. Season 3, demon president baby!!!

Frionnel
May 7, 2010

Friends are what make testing worth it.
There's not a lot they could have done to save the zany punk gang concept, and giving them an ENTIRE episode was definitely not one of them. Very weird

The season was great overall though.

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
So uh diamond joe was racist right.

He was from California though

As Nero Danced posted:

Dammit Samwise was too good for this world.

At least he got to share the load

Codependent Poster
Oct 20, 2003

Steve is the coolest character. It's between him and Eleven, really, but I enjoy the direction they've taken Steve in.

As Nero Danced
Sep 3, 2009

Alright, let's do this
Everyone saying skip episode seven was really not kidding. I did, and the only thing I apparently missed was El slicks her hair back. from what I'm reading in the thread spoilers, it might be a little bit interesting, maybe not, but skipping it kept the tension high.

Whatever is in there would have just killed the pacing.

Codependent Poster
Oct 20, 2003

Episode 7 was real bad. it didn't feel like it even took place in the same universe as the rest of the show. It was like Eleven was guest-starring in some stealth pilot episode of another series.

Junkfist
Oct 7, 2004

FRIEND?

Alan Smithee posted:

So uh diamond joe was racist right.

They're signalling to high-heaven that Billy's a repressed homosexual and if that's the stunning reveal in season 3 I'm going to roll my eyes directly into my rear end in a top hat.

LionArcher
Mar 29, 2010


Josh Lyman posted:

E7 is turbo garbage and a complete failure of storytelling.

Skip it. Do not watch.

It needed one more rewrite but it’s not that bad. Sorry it’s just not.

Mooktastical
Jan 8, 2008

Junkfist posted:

They're signalling to high-heaven that Billy's a repressed homosexual and if that's the stunning reveal in season 3 I'm going to roll my eyes directly into my rear end in a top hat.

Billy telling Steve to plant his feet just took on an entirely different meaning...

AlphaKeny1
Feb 17, 2006

LionArcher posted:

It needed one more rewrite but it’s not that bad. Sorry it’s just not.

Nah it was real bad and felt like corny super hero poo poo instead of all the other charming Stranger Things stuff going on. Punk version of El is cool, but no need to waste an episode on it.

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
Also low key lol at Steve telling Dustin to neg girls and it not working at all

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...
Honestly Ripley ele has better hair anyway. Worked as opposed to her MTV big kid hair

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LionArcher
Mar 29, 2010


AlphaKeny1 posted:

Nah it was real bad and felt like corny super hero poo poo instead of all the other charming Stranger Things stuff going on. Punk version of El is cool, but no need to waste an episode on it.

Hence the rewrite. Her character growth stuff was worth a journey for an episode. Execution was off, not concept.

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