Stranger Things Episodes 2-3 are as intense and compelling as television can possibly be.
It seems like I’m pulling some extra duties today, writing a couple of articles and recording for a podcast with Valiant Renegade. But in reality I’m just filling in for some of our awesome writers and staff who are currently busy with major projects. John Goff, for example, is riding cross-country doing articles each day on new parks that he is visiting in the American Northwest. If you’re not reading those articles, I highly recommend that you do. They truly are fantastic. Many of our other contributors are currently in Walt Disney World theme parks running a test on wait times versus posted wait times. And so I’ve got the chance to help out a little bit more today.
Yesterday I said that I was going to do a Stranger Things Episode 2 article. I also said that after the first article I was a little bit worried about Stranger Things in this most recent season. Well, I’m here to tell you that I’m worried no more. The people who were saying that this season is awesome are absolutely, spot-on correct. Not only did I watch the second episode yesterday, during a day where I needed more hours because of how jam-packed everything was, but then I could not stop. I continued and watched the next hour-long episode, and wanted to continue watching it even passed that. I had to force myself to go to bed. Stranger Things Season Four is must-watch television.
Whatever magic it is that The Duffer Brothers must possess, I must confess that episodes 2 and 3 are flat-out masterpieces. Both episodes take the viewer right to the very edge of what you can stand to watch. Whether it is the grizzly way in which characters meet their ends, whether it is the way in which Hopper is working to escape, and even the psychological damage that Eleven undergoes, the producers know where the limit is and they go to that limit over and over and over. Meanwhile the story is so compelling that you cannot stop.
I’m not here to say that these two episodes are absolutely perfect. I did not find the skating rink prank to be realistic or believable. I know that people can be absolutely horrible, but that one pushed the edge of credibility. And there are a few times when the series depends on coincidences that are just a little bit too easy to come by. But I will say that this is some of the best television I have ever watched. I would not recommend this whatsoever to anyone who is scared of dark magical types of material, nor would I recommend this at all in any way to a child. I think that the characters that live in this world of Syranger Things likely would need psychological therapy for the rest of their lives for even a quarter of what they’ve just gone through in this season alone. I’m not sure I would want a kid to watch this series, as I think they might also need some psychological assistance afterwards. That is no exaggeration. Somehow this thing is as intense as you can get in a suspenseful thrilling way that deals with the idea of Pure Evil.
I don’t know if this show can keep up this level of quality throughout the entire fourth season. I only know that I cannot wait to get back to the next episode. And if it continues to be this good, I’m may involuntarily finish all of the remaining content in the next session. It is disturbing and it is delightful. It has me on the edge of my seat. I am not into horror genre content, and yet this is so good that I can do nothing else than anticipate returning to Hawkins once more.
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I’m on episode 5 and absolutely loving it. To borrow from my comment on your prior post, just like it’s primary cast, Stranger Things is growing up. The Duffer brothers already proved they can do Spielberg as well as Spielberg in S1 and S2. S3 was a bit of a transition for me. Now in S4, I’m getting a lot of Wes Craven vibes. It’s not as fun for me as earlier seasons were, but it’s every bit as good if not better.
I just binged seasons 1-3 a few months ago so I’m pretty happy to have it still somewhat fresh in my mind when season 4 started, but this show is phenomenal. I haven’t enjoyed a show this much in a long time. I ended up watching all 7 epsiodes this past weekend and I cannot wait for the conclusion.
I’m in complete agreement. Although probably not very believable that these kids aren’t completely devastated, psychologically, from the events of Seasons 1-3, putting that aside, episodes 1-3 were a complete masterpiece. I would say that Episode 4 was almost as good as the previous two, but the plot armor device had me a little annoyed for one of the characters. It just didn’t make sense to me why this person lucked out, while the others didn’t…
Either way, it’s still a riveting experience and I’m excited to see episode 5. Just an incredibly fun ride. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Duffer Bros, but I hope the hell Disney keeps their hands off them. They need an independent studio, like George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg had…. these guys are really that good, and I believe they could be the visionary creative minds we need to get Hollywood back on track to unique, creative and inspiring film making, again.