Dept. of Questions

[kaffy_r]

I Am Binge-Watching "Stranger Things"

Is this a good thing? I mean, I think it is, and now I'm trying to convince BB to watch it so that we can talk about it. But I'd love to hear from any of you who have seen it (I'm on the 7th episode and will probably just go through and watch the 8th today before I do ... you know ... housework or sewing or stuff *cough*).

Comments

[promethia_tenk]

I enjoyed it, but I didn't go crazy for it the way everyone else seemed to. It's deeply binge-able, but a soon as I was done watching, it's like it was gone from my brain. Like . . . empty carbs.

[kaffy_r]

Hmm. Just finished it. I don't know if it's because I remember making forts like Will's, or because I'm a mom, or because I remember being a teenager like Nancy, or the mom thing again, or because I was so impressed with the girl who played Eleven ... or all of those things combined, along with the fact that nearly all the people involved were, at heart, deeply good people ... it's gotten to me. I keep thinking about the Upside Down, and wondering about the connection between it and our world.

Hmm. I may have stolen all the protein, which is why you got left with the empty carbs ....

[promethia_tenk]

Lol, well, I'm glad you got more substance out of it than I did. It's plainly good; I was rather frustrated that I couldn't seem to find much in it.

[kaffy_r]

No problem - there are things that other people adore, or are taken by, that I can't get behind for any number of reasons even when I know that they're good or even excellent, so I completely understand.

[lilacsigil]

I liked it a lot, but I was very frustrated by the final episode, even if they did hang a lampshade on it with the D&D game ending suddenly! I think I particularly enjoyed the way the adults' stories and the kids' stories converged, yet they all still had a lot to contribute - most stories of this type are either "adults protect threatened kids" or "nobody listens to the kids and they solve it themselves" and nothing in between. Also Joyce was fantastic, and even though she had no resources at all, she just kept fighting for her son and to be believed.

[kaffy_r]

I'm interested in what you found frustrating about the final episode. I found it fairly satisfying, although that may have been because I already knew there was going to be a second season, so I liked all the hooks that were written into the script to capture my attention.

I think I particularly enjoyed the way the adults' stories and the kids' stories converged, yet they all still had a lot to contribute - most stories of this type are either "adults protect threatened kids" or "nobody listens to the kids and they solve it themselves" and nothing in between.

Absolutely! In something that's sort of connected to that, I liked the respect that you could feel the writers had for all of their characters. Sometimes you can feel a writer's dislike for, or lack of respect for, a character; it was just the opposite for this show. The kids weren't dismissed or caricatured, the adults were equally well dealt with.

I was intrigued by one thing I thought I saw in the show: Nancy and Mike's mom obviously loved her kids, but there was a sense of benign ... not neglect, but obliviousness, that I've run into with similar parents in real life. Mom never goes downstairs, Mom doesn't bitch when Nancy's bedroom is locked, and it seems as if it's less a conscious choice, and more a very slight emotional distancing. I see that in parents in my coverage area; people who are well off, and who love their kids, but who don't seem *bonded* with them the way Joyce bonded with Will and Jonathan.

I really was impressed by Winona Ryder; I didn't even recognize her until the second or third episode! And I was blown away by the talent of the kids.

[lilacsigil]

I was very unsatisfied with the "everything goes back to normal" feeling of it, despite the hints at other things - in particular, the dropped thread with Eleven's birth mother. In a show where they were pretty respectful of people's pain and suffering, for Hopper and Joyce of all people to not go and tell her, and for the show to just leave that lying, was quite shocking to me. I was also annoyed at the neat heterosexual pair-ups for the girls (Nancy/Steve and Mike pining after Eleven and saying he didn't want her to be his sister) when things were left much more open earlier in the show, plus the sibling relationship-building between Nancy and Mike was also just dumped, and we never saw any mourning for poor Barb who didn't make it out of the Upside Down. To be fair, I didn't know that there was going to be a second season when I watched it, and these things may be addressed there.

That's a good point about Nancy and Mike's mother compared to Joyce - their house is always shot as bigger, cleaner and emptier, too, which it shouldn't really be with a young toddler in the house! Like everyone in that family is sealed off in their little boxes, and while there's certainly no neglect or cruelty, when the mum pleads for the kids to talk to her they have no idea what to do or that she would help them in any meaningful way.

[kaffy_r]

I'm not sure that Eleven's birth mother would have been cognizant of anything they went back to tell her. I think that was part of their horror when they left her home.

As I said to st_aurafina, I wouldn't be surprised if Mike and Eleven end up being really strong friends, and with the romance being dropped as unnecessary - because friendship is as rich and nuanced as romance, and possibly moreso.

for some reason, I'm all lists today? dunno why.

[st_aurafina]

Things I adored about Stranger Things:
- Eleven and her found family, omg
- Eleven, really. I'm such a sucker for the psychic nosebleed kid storyline.
- Joyce and Hopper the rescue team
- Science to the rescue! And also evil science! And just science in general!
- the whole ET/Firestarter/Close Encounters vibe
- Barb and her amazing eighties look, and her confidence (though I did not ship her with Nancy, unlike most of fandom, which is weird for me. I'm usually right on board with a juggernaut femslash ship, but I really didn't feel it.)

Things I did not love at all:
- the weird forced romance with Mike and Eleven. Ew.
- that they killed off Barb so early. Whyyy?

Things I am hoping for in S2:
- more on kids 1-10
- more on Eleven's poor mother, please give her some closure at least
- Joyce and Hopper hooking up.

Re: for some reason, I'm all lists today? dunno why.

[kaffy_r]

I loved or liked all the things you loved.

I didn't mind the "romance" bit with Mike and Eleven for a couple of reasons. First, I think they paced it very well throughout episodes 2-8 so it didn't come out of nowhere. Next, the kids are just at that age when romance/attraction starts being a thing. Mike was certainly kind of oblivious to the fact that he was entranced with El until his friend pointed it out to him, which again reads as very natural to me. El is still almost completely oblivious to what Mike's disjointedly talking about by the end of Episode 8, which is particularly realistic, given her socialization history. I'd be completely unsurprised to see the "romance" come to nothing in the next series, but to have their friendship strengthen.

When you think about it, Barb was still an active presence between Episode 2 and Episode, even if we didn't hear from her. I was sorry to see that she'd died, but not surprised.

Re: for some reason, I'm all lists today? dunno why.

[st_aurafina]

Next, the kids are just at that age when romance/attraction starts being a thing.

Yeah, I guess? It's just that's about the time I started thinking about girls (and getting beat up when I stupidly failed to keep that under wraps.) You never see a sweet and tender f/f attraction at that age in the media, you know? I think I had the same knee-jerk reaction that I have to those cutesy pictures of five year olds kissing, you know? Where it's adorable when a boy and a girl that age kiss, but if it were two girls, there would be outrage.

Re: for some reason, I'm all lists today? dunno why.

[kaffy_r]

Those relationships should be in the media, because they're there in the world. Full stop. It shouldn't be that difficult to show little girls that they can love who they want to love - and of course it is, which is as evil as you getting beaten up.

[mack-the-spoon.livejournal.com]

I looooved Stranger Things! The child actors are so amazing, and the writing is clever and emotional and nostalgic, and the monster is creepy and cool.

Can't wait for season two!

[kaffy_r]

The actors impressed the heck out of me as well. And I agree with you about the writing. It works beautifully. It was frightening, and sad, and thrilling, and funny, and touching, all when it needed to be.

I was surprised by the fact that I didn't recognize Winona Ryder until the second episode; and that was a good thing. She's always been a pretty good actor, but age and maturity has been a real boon in her case.

[elisi]

I really liked Stranger Things.

Can't think of anything to say about it, but I enjoyed it. :)

[kaffy_r]

I'm really looking forward to the second season.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I didn't really have any ~feelings~ about it, but the kids were cute and I liked the aesthetic. My ex-girlfriend loved it, though, she binged the whole thing and then rewatched the whole thing with me almost immediately.

[kaffy_r]

I'm right up there with your ex-girlfriend. It really hit me for some reason, possibly because I could understand the terror of a mother fighting to get her child back, possibly because I still remember being one of those dorky kids, and being that love-struck teen. And probably for other reasons as well.