When one episode should have been broken down into multiple episodes, it begins to make one think there’s simply too much material here.
This has been one heck of a season for Stranger Things. Rejoining the story now in July, I was all geared up for an amazing adventure. Unfortunately, it was not to be. If this were the norm for Stranger Things, it would not be the popular show that it has become — the cultural icon that has eighties B-Side tracks popping up in our modern Top Twenty. But nothing can be perfect and I’m hoping this is just a singular misstep.
It’s not that the content in this episode is bad necessarily. There are some things that fall flat just on their own merits. We haven’t spent hardly enough time with Will, for example, to really care at all about what he’s going through. He’s just sort of wafting around on his own, completely detached from the script and only there because his legacy requires it. That’s sad because it means the writers have just failed to include him in the way that would be appropriate for the story. There’s no reason that he shouldn’t be the target of the Upside Down, especially given that he first escaped. But the real problem with the episode is that there’s just too much. This should be two episodes, maybe three. Can you believe that? A single episode that probably needs to be three?
Season 4 episode 8 without context#StrangerThings #StrangerThings4 pic.twitter.com/fIzBj8kGam
— Lucy (🇬🇧🌟London n8🌟🇬🇧) (@spinachaddict) July 1, 2022
There are just too many relationships here and the show is unwilling to rank them hierarchically. Everyone gets time to deal with their issues. In the face of impending doom and evil, however, trying to slow down at high intensity points to deal with romantic relationship teen drama is just… odd. It ruins the timing. Honestly, this should have been broken down into the Russia storyline, the Eleven storyline, and the Hawkins storyline. Either that, or drop some of this bloat. By the end of this episode, here is a rundown of the full list of baddies we have to contend with in a finale that will be as long as a Lord of the Rings movie:
- US Government
- Russian Government
- Upside Down
- One
- Crazy High School Preppies
- Local Police and Townspeople (I guess we mostly dropped them though)
- Possibly still “Papa”
Is that enough for you? There may actually be more.
That’s why when the show tries to have us listen to banter over a Russian helicopter, it’s just not doing it for me anymore. I feel like the writers took the high point of the Neverending Story theme song from Season 3 and turned too much of the show into that. It was a high point because the rest of the show was so dire. It was an amazing juxtaposition. This stuff going on in Episode 8 is moving the show too far into a parody feeling. Kids shouldn’t be playing with trash can lid shields if they think they’re literally about to die. It blows the tension completely.
All of that said, I’m looking forward to the massive finale. I’ll have the review up for it soon.
Oh, one other thing… don’t leave Papa on the ground to die (although never believe it unless you see it). Even those he’s a bad guy, it makes Eleven look bad when they could drop him off at a hospital.
Review Score: 4 (Decent)
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