shadowhive: (Henry Friendly)
[personal profile] shadowhive
So the past few days have been a bit… ugh. Both due to energy and mood (not helped and partially caused by uni assessment) but there’s also been good things (thanksgiving [the film not the holiday], the fortnite event yesterday) but I’m not gonna talk about them here. Maybe there’ll be a post about those things later but…

Nee Stranger Things episodes went live! They went live here at 1am Thursday (so Wednesday night really) but that was too late for me (especially as I was finishing Thanksgiving). I had hoped to watch one ep on Thursday but couldn’t fit it in (and then energy crashed). So it ended up being the first two eps Friday and then the last two last night.

So! Ima gonna post thoughts and feelings under the cut, I will be posting stuff under ep titles (which’ll be bolded) so you can just avoid the latter ones if you’ve not seen them all. BUT obviously this willl be spoilery.

So! Let’s get into it.

So before the episodes started there was a

Recap

It was obviously focussed a lot on season 4 but at the same time it was funny because there was nothing about the Russian side of the plot at all. I mean it does make sense not to, especially if, as it seems, that whole thread is done with, but it’s still funny to me not to include what was a third of the season.

There was a lot of shots of Eddie in the recap and mannnnn that made me miss him so much. I do wonder if they regret killing him off because of how popular he’s been (and I mean look at the lead up to the season they even posted vids of him).

But you know what else I’m sad about? Argyle. He was in a total of one shot for about 2 seconds and I just…. Bring back Jonathan’s weed bf. I knew I’d miss Eddie but I didn’t expect to miss him.

But anyway.

Episode 1: The Crawl

The opening scene is set where it all started, Will in the Upside Down. The whole scene is pretty wild and I wonder what people think of it going in blind. Netflix posted the opening a few weeks back and, while I hadn’t seen it I had seen screenshots and opening with all of that certainly is a choice.

The opening proper then establishes how things are in Hawkins, with Robin doing a radio voiceover. It’s 18 months since the events of season 4 and the town is under quarantine by the military. While the last shot of ep 4 made it seem like the town was doomed to be invaded by the upside down that… didn’t happen. Instead the military came in, locked the place down. covered the cracks with metal and made a base in town.

And the military just so… incompetent. Right outside of this base is a tower. It’s high enough that people can see over the wall of the base easily and yet they neither guard or monitor it. (Hell they could have extended the base around it and used it as a watchtower themselves.) This seems especially incompetent as they know that the Russians have been interested in the upside down, so you’d think they’d at least watch it for that reason. But nope. (This is a recurring theme)

But anyway, I love Robin as the radio dj Rocking Robin it really feels she’s come into her own with it. And ahhh her and Vicki are so cute together! But also her being a dj allows the use of Upside Down as a code somg which is just genius.

Also ugh. The sportsball guys are back and I just… hate them. (I wanna take a flamethrower to all the Primark merch of them cause). It’d be bad enough for them to harass Dustin, but then they deface Eddie’s grave, beat Dustin up and they killed this cute lil snake. I hate them so much.

Dustin just needs a hug I swear.

(I have more thoughts but those are more general so will come later)

Episode 2: The Vanishing Of

(The episode listing leaves off the name so I will too but the titles show it)

So episode one ends with a demogorgon in the Wheeler house attacking Mike’s sister Holly and this picks up right from there. First off I love the song choice here. Mrs Wheeler just wants a chill time in a bubble bath while drinking wine and listening to ABBA’s Fernando and I respect that. But then there’s the dawning realisation form her that Holly hasn’t just had a bad dream, there is a monster and… (and a+ work with distorting Fernando that made it really creepy)

I’ve huge respect for Mr Wheeler seeing this monster and just… trying to hit it with his golf club. It’s utterly useless of course but I admire the attempt. But then damn. Mrs Wheeler smashes her bottle and faces off against the demogorgon and it feels like that’ll be useless too, but damn! She makes it bleed. Trained soldiers can’t even do that and she does it with a bottle. She’s a totally badass for that. Sure it ends up with her in hospital, but damn.

I love whoever decided to put Will and Robin together this season. I love that Robin tricks Joyce by mentioning the flux capacitor, I love that Will’s listened to by her and his plan works. I just!

Also live that the radio van basically turned into the van of gay bickering by Steve and Jonathan. They need to make out sloppy style. But at the same time I have thoughts and feelings about them that I’ll get to. And Steve stop yelling at Dustin.

Episode 3: The Turnbow Trap

I loved that this eps opening was less…. Intense than the prior two. But I also love that Will is like ‘I’m right here!’ Honestly I’ve loved Will in these eps but here, it’s like he finds his voice a bit more and takes charge and I love that for him! (And aww Robin, I love how she has to add that her mum says she sounds perpetually insincere😭)

Well I guess everyone is now adding kidnapping to their resumes now. I think that it’s wild that kidnapping a family was even suggested but to actually go through with it? Crazy. They’re all going to jail I fear.

Again I love Will and Robin’s relationship (and how he’s all ‘you could always just kiss her again’) and just!! Sure they’re having these conversations as they’re stealing drugs to drug a family but less gloss all over that.

And speaking of I love how they just… turned the Turnbow’s house into a home alone trap (again they’re going to jail for real for that) and Erica! She’s so funny, I love how she’s so done with them when they come to her (and I love that she loves science)

I just knew that the trap thing would go wrong, but the attempt was so funny, with the demogorgon grabbing the dummy then being hit by the board.

I just knew that Henry wasn’t gonna be the one that left that note for Holly. (Also another banger song, I Think We’re Alone Now) Like he makes a big deal about not going into the forest why would he then send her there. (Also I sensed her ‘imaginary friend’ would turn out to be him before the reveal, mostly cause the camera didn’t show his face which was a dead giveaway). But even so I wasn’t sure who would be doing it until that last scene of Max!

(And the scene of Dustin just wrecking Steve’s car)

Episode 4: Sorcerer

Again I love Robin. I love that she instantly clocks Will and Mike when they’re talking and that she has that talk with Will in the tunnels. And how that talk is what comes back right at the end.

But damn the flashbacks with Max walking through various scenes including the one brief scene in the last school. But I feel so bad for her she was so so close to coming back and then the song stopped at the last second.😭

I love that Steve decided to just… Chase the demogorgon through its escape route (and using his peanut butter thing as a ref). I love that it works but that was a crazy thing to do. (Was that ep 3 instead? Maybe)

I loved that Will just… did that massive pain it’s g due to being close to the demogorgon. I love when he arts like that!

Eleven and HopperKs plot line was them in the upside down, finding a flesh wall and then hiding from/attacking the military. This has them entering the base to find out who is behind a door. They thought it was Vecna but I wasn’t so sure. Them having Vecna would have explained why he didn’t do anything for 18 months but at the same time I didn’t buy that what was happening now would be possible if they did. But I wasn’t sure who it would be,

Sure enough it wasn’t him but it was Kali, the girl from the lost sister ep. I’m glad that’s finally paid off cause it felt like such a random blip. I had expected she would be introduced to come back to help out but it had felt like she was forgotten till now. (I guess they’ll make it so she was captured soon after as a reason)

(I also love that Dustin worked out the wall surrounded Hawkins in a circle with the lab as it’s midpoint, he’s a genius. I guess that’s gonna be the next ep’s focus)

It’s wild they managed to get Derrick to provide intel on the base (good work on that Joyce) and it’s even wilder to me that his part actually works. Especially with his wild metaphors and such. But at the same time… last ep you drugged his family, kidnapped them and had them tied up in a barn. They don’t even get a mention and no one seems to have been left with them so… what? Are they still there? Like what happened to them. It feels bizarre they don’t even get a mention.

But everything builds up to that last scene. The demogorgons attack the base, proving once again the military is just incompetent and useless. All they did was gather the kids together in one place and die. It even took them a good long while to get a flamethrower out which… you know fire is their weakness, you know bullets are useless and yet… I despair.

Then Vecna shows up and he just… sends the flames back at them, causes their grenades to go off and generally just… wrecks whoever is left. And then he just has this moment with Will and just… what he says is absolutely insane. I was so surprised he said all that and just… left Will. He didn’t even try and take him which really surprised me. (And I just know he’s gonna regret that cause…)

That last scene! Will with powers! And he unlocks them cause Mike was in danger and cause of what Robin told him! That was just badass of him he just absolutely wrecked those demogorgons and saved everyone (well not the kids that were already taken but still). Like damn. And Mike’s look at him, yeah that’s love right there.

The only problem I had was what came next ‘volume 2 December 25’ like what the fuck. We have to wait a month to find out what happens?? And who decided to drop these things on three major holidays when people would be with family and such and have to dodge spoilers. Insane behaviour.

Overall thoughts

Ok this is the section for thoughts/feelings that are general to cover all four eps.

First off again, Military incompetence. The dr in charge seems to be the only one with any sense in the military. The rest are just dumb and shoot first ask questions later which leads to them shooting one of their own scientists and is especially stupid since she clearly wants Eleven alive.

But at the same time how did they establish an entire base in the upside down, complete with choppers and everything?

And how did Vecna stand for that happening? It feels like a massive encroachment that feels like something he’d not allow unless there was a reason. (And where were all the demobats???) also was the flesh wall always there or is that something that’s new now? If it’s new was that what he was doing for 18 months?

(And why is he unable to follow Max into that cave?)

But the whole military thing did feel like the military in Welcome To Derry like damnit.

Moving on from that though. Steve and Jonathan. As much as their bickering is fun it also just feels so… like it felt like they stopped being their own people (like someone said where’s Jonathan’s Interest in photography??) and just became about their rivalry for Nancy which… at this point it’s just so tired. Like let Steve move on already (he needs a man). And the whole thing is just…. Nancy is not some prize to be won grow the fuck up both of you.

(And ugh Murray being all ‘oh this is the perfect time to put moves on Nancy with her family in hospital and missing’ like WHT THE FUCK)

And speaking of Nancy she’s so awesome. Taking charge in the first ep, using Mike’s doe eyes, sneaking around with him to see their mum, shooting the tracker. I just wish she didn’t have to spend time with dumb and dumber.

Again I love Will and Robin’s friendship so much. Whoever decided to pair them is so genius because it’s just what Will needed. And Will in general was just so! He’s definitely my fav this season.

Expectations/predictions

So it feels like vol 2 will have two definite things:
1: Holly and Max escaping from Henry
2: Dustin, Jonathan, Steve and Nancy going to Hawkins lab

Other than that who knows. I hope Will gets to learn/use his powers more. I expect there’ll be a flashback to show how Kali got caught. I hope we find out where Derrick’s family are. I expect vol 2 will end with something going wrong and Vecna capturing someone or doing something evil. Plus more military incompetence.

I also hope Lucas gets more to do too. (I need his and Robin’s reactions to Will saving them at least!)

And, of course, more banger songs.

Plus primark’s merch has a new hellfire design and that hasn’t shown up, so I sense it will. (Otherwise why do it?)

And oop that was all so long and I’m sure I’ve missed stuff too.

Non Stranger Things plans for the rest of the day
*New Fortnite season
*do more Marvel snap (and get pissed at it crashing)
*Finally watch Sonic 3
*Shoto spooky stream
*Work on/finish fic
*Sunday night tv
*Perfect or Darkest Miriam on Amazon prime (I’m leaning to Perfect)

Date: 2025-11-30 02:51 pm (UTC)
fleshdoll: (Default)
From: [personal profile] fleshdoll
aaaaa it’s nice to see your thoughts!!! I think all 4 eps, but especially the last one, went so hard ghdjdjgk) the buildup to will using his powers was PERFECT I love that it was finally about his feelings and fears and the recall to robin’s speech was just EXCELLENT as well as the flashbacks to his childhood, the day he and jonathan built castle byers and then the day he destroyed it…. the day mike asked to be friends…….. oh my god my heart swelled. I also love that mike had originally been the one to suggest that Will might have powers in the first place…. he’s not a wizard he’s a sorcerer gdhdjfkkfhdjf and henry literally leaving the upside down, massacring a whole team of soldiers and causing absolute chaos just to pet will’s cheek and say alla THAT to him… crazy. insane. nuts to butts bonkers.

will and robin were definitely THE BEST duo and it’s not close but i liked seeing mike and Nancy together and Mike with holly in the beginning, idk the wheeler family means a lot to me and having the demogorgon attack their house to get to holly was a choice im glad they made because seeing Karen and ted both sacrifice their own safety for their child did so much for their characters like never thought id be seated hoping ted wheeler survives???? neither of them had any depth (unless you count that weird shit in s3 where Karen was considering banging Billy, which I personally don’t) so it was really nice to see

all of Will / mike / Joyce / robin / lucas teamed up to get the kids to safety in the tunnels was such a great group imo, like we got so much good interactions with them. but I agree we needed more of lucas, I loved seeing him keep going to hold max’s hand and talk to her while playing the song, and I know he holds his grief and other feelings quietly (which is a good parallel with Dustin who acts out loudly) but I’d like to, idk see him get some support? get to utilise his own skills in some way to help the group? I have a theory that his anger towards Dustin could be because he’s frustrated that Dustin is doing so much to protect the memory and honour of eddie (which, very valid and cool of him) instead of of focusing on max, who still has hope to make it. idk I would like to see them reconcile and bond over this in some way?? and of course I NEED to see him react to Will too I HAVE HOPE FOR YOU BYCLAIR 💕

Nancy was AMAZING she is such a badass and im glad she’s finally taking no shit from anyone. it was nice to see her connection with her parents, her mother specifically, their relationship has been quiet up until this point but they’ve gotten a lot closer since s1. and her and mike make such a great team lmao she whips that puppy dog eye having mf into shape

ERICAAAAA oh god everytime she was on screen was iconic, she’s the best fehdhjfkgkg EAT YOUR DAMN PIE. and im glad she joined the team after that because these mfs need her LMAO

THE MILITARY UGHHHH. I whenever the scene switched to them I was like oh great……. more incompetent shooting at nothing…. it made me enjoy the hopper and el plot line less, which is a shame because their development was actually excellent. him coping with the trauma of losing his first daughter while learning to trust her and not be so overbearing… it was such a great parallel to Joyce having similar trauma and acting in similar ways about Will. their teamwork was great and the scene where she’s begging him not to go face to face “vecna” got to me ; ; his potential last words to her being “I love you, Jane”…. using her legal government adopted name carries so much meaning to me idk. of course, I also was like “no way that’s gonna be vecna, it don’t make sense” and we were both right on that, i was so glad to see kali again!!!

and now to address the whiny bitch elephant in the room……. god steve, Jonathan, what have they done to you. does jonathan even HAVE a personality in these eps? bro does a whole truckload of NOTHING except compete with steve and bitch at him. bro, WHAT HAPPENED. Jonathan was never a macho tough guy BATTLE U FOR MY WOMAN type of guy im??? in s1 and s2 hes the soft comforting type who actually listens to Nancy’s feelings which is part of the reason she originally fell for him over steve, who was still immature and clinging to his high school popularity. WHERES MY ARTISTIC OUTCAST WHO TAKES PHOTOS OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS. WHERES MY CHILL WEED SMOKER WORRIED ABOUT THE FUTURE BUT GOING WITH THE FLOW??? s5 Jonathan is none of these things. does he even talk to Nancy once beyond “oh sorry your parents almost died” ?? fuck off with that ring in a cassette tape fake deep bs yall are like acquaintances at this point and she barely tolerates your ass. you disappoint me, jonathan Byers. I had high hopes after the hug with willl at the end of s4 that he was going to be the one to comfort him, to let Will open up to him and even maybe come out to him…. Lmao nope you fumbled the shit out of that so fuck u robin is will’s lesbian big brother now. did he even speak with JOYCE??? where’s ur fuckin family bro where’s the girl u supposedly “love” you are just catching strays.

AND STEVE…… EVEN WORSE. the whole goddamn pissfuckin point of steve in s2 and s3 was him coming into himself and realising that he’s MORE than just a shallow popular high school guy who is entitled to everything he wants. his brotherly bond with Dustin, his close friendship with robin, all of that personal growth down the fucking DRAIN because Nancy pretty steve want win girl. you’re right, they BOTH treat her like a prize and it angers me!!!! Fhsjfkg and don’t get me started on his treatment of Dustin. yeah Dustin said some shitty things to him too but that is a grieving moody 16yo and you are a GROWN ASS MAN who cares more about his car than his so called bestie. fuck outta here with that bs. Being in the upside down better beat some goddamn sense into your head because my patience is thin. I hope the writers are using this nonsense to build up to Nancy choosing neither one at the end because both options are the same shit in two different toilets. choose the bear, Nancy, choose the bear. the only good thing from their plot line was the sexual tension and funny one liners. get yall shit together. fuckin derrick has more balls than both of u combined at this point

speaking of, I do have a a feeling that Derrick’s family will be addressed in some way, I would like a “the gang goes to jail” subplot so /j

im so excited for holly and max!!! oh god the developing bond between those two is FEEDING ME im giggling kicking my feet and i love the tie in to a wrinkle in time (hello chai’s fourth grade reading list) idk the world their in, the memory travel, oh man its great. I think Henry can’t enter the wall has something to do with the memory he blocks out ?? I wonder what was so bad that he won’t even think about it lmao

I barely mentioned henry huh?? mr bisexual pedophile let me invite a crowd of children into my Barbie dream house LMFAOOOO we got some of his motivation at the end but like what’s this mf up to and is there a reason he’s implying he still has child will trapped in the upside down??? hmm. also unrelated to the plot whatsoever but they should really let Henry have longer hair. jamie had the locks of an angel so why not fhdhfkg

DID I COVER EVERYTHING???? I didn’t talk about mike too much but that’s because mike is a useless wet cat who is only useful because he looks cute. LMAOO im jk i adore his dumb ass and the byler ship is setting off to sea I CAN FEEL IT.

anyways it was fun to see your reactions in real time!!! finally my hype is matched fhshdjfky ♡︎

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