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After the 4th of July Binge
I tried to wait a bit in order to give my feelings about this season some time to settle--because boy howdy, are they a mixed bag. On one hand, I'm pretty sure nothing could have quite measured up to the ridiculously big expectations I had after season 2, and season 3 isn't a bad season by any stretch. It's a good season! It's a fine season! It never really gels together into anything bigger or better than "good" and "fine," not for me, anyway, but I still enjoyed it.
The things I liked all boiled down to different and interesting character dynamics, just like with season 2. I loved Steve and Robin and Steve and Dustin; Steve and Dustin and Robin and Erica; I liked the testy Hopper and Mike dynamic--at least up until the point where it never gets resolved and Hopper going WAY overboard is never treated like an actual issue; Murray tagging along with Team Save Our Kids; El and Max getting the chance to bond and become friends; the El-and-Billy and Max-and-Billy moments; the emergency surgery in the mall scene (which was pretty much Jonathan's one chance to shine this season, poor dude); Steve and Robin bonding thanks tomagical truth serum drugs; Karen encouraging Nancy.
The things I didn't like...uh. There were lots of things I didn't like. Enough that I kind of don't want to get into them all, since I don't want to sound like I absolutely hated this season when in all honesty I didn't, and because some of them are down to--I think--actual issues with plot/storytelling but others have more to do with my personal taste, and also because I'm tired and lazy. But! All my complaints can basically be lumped into three main categories:
1.) Characterization: HOPPER. But also Steve (who I liked but who seems to have lost at least a quarter of the emotional depth he got in season 2) and Lucas and most of the guy characters in general--they all come across as a little shallow and ineffectual this season, compared to where they were in the other two seasons, and even though I loved the Max and El friendship and wouldn't trade it for anything, I don't think it had to come with the price of both Mike and Lucas coming off as complete doofuses. And Hopper. Just...I don't even know. It's like with Steve--a good quarter of his emotional depth/development went sailing right out the window, and I have no idea when (if ever) it's going to come back.
2.) Follow Through: There's not a whole lot of it! I didn't want Steve to pine after Nancy forever, but the fact that they never interacted at all this season didn't sit well with me; it comes across like he's almost forgotten about her instead of moved on. Kali is never mentioned, El's mom gets mentioned once (I think?), but Aunt Becky is nowhere to be seen (!!!), and even though I'm not a Steve/Billy shipper there was enough subtext in season 2 (which might have been unintentional, for all I know, but still) that it being pretty much brushed off didn't feel satisfying.
3.) Build Up: Also--not a whole lot of it! If the Byers' house had been on the market from the beginning and not a plot point that was mentioned just once, then sprung again at the very end, I might have been more emotional about them leaving Hawkins, but instead the whole thing felt a little last minute and tacked on to me. Same with Hopper's heroic sacrifice, which wasn't built up to or even hinted at until about five seconds before it happened (also I would've been more sad if he hadn't been such an atrocious jerk the entire season, but whatever). Also, as much as I loved the Max and Billy and El and Billy moments, they could have been teased out/developed more. Especially with Max. Going from being ready to brain your terrible stepbrother with a baseball bat to genuinely wanting to help/save him despite his awfulness is a big leap, and we never do get the how and why of that transition.
Oh, and Starcourt is actually a secret base for some kind of Big Ol' Evil Russians conspiracy. That's a thing now.
The things I liked all boiled down to different and interesting character dynamics, just like with season 2. I loved Steve and Robin and Steve and Dustin; Steve and Dustin and Robin and Erica; I liked the testy Hopper and Mike dynamic--at least up until the point where it never gets resolved and Hopper going WAY overboard is never treated like an actual issue; Murray tagging along with Team Save Our Kids; El and Max getting the chance to bond and become friends; the El-and-Billy and Max-and-Billy moments; the emergency surgery in the mall scene (which was pretty much Jonathan's one chance to shine this season, poor dude); Steve and Robin bonding thanks to
The things I didn't like...uh. There were lots of things I didn't like. Enough that I kind of don't want to get into them all, since I don't want to sound like I absolutely hated this season when in all honesty I didn't, and because some of them are down to--I think--actual issues with plot/storytelling but others have more to do with my personal taste, and also because I'm tired and lazy. But! All my complaints can basically be lumped into three main categories:
1.) Characterization: HOPPER. But also Steve (who I liked but who seems to have lost at least a quarter of the emotional depth he got in season 2) and Lucas and most of the guy characters in general--they all come across as a little shallow and ineffectual this season, compared to where they were in the other two seasons, and even though I loved the Max and El friendship and wouldn't trade it for anything, I don't think it had to come with the price of both Mike and Lucas coming off as complete doofuses. And Hopper. Just...I don't even know. It's like with Steve--a good quarter of his emotional depth/development went sailing right out the window, and I have no idea when (if ever) it's going to come back.
2.) Follow Through: There's not a whole lot of it! I didn't want Steve to pine after Nancy forever, but the fact that they never interacted at all this season didn't sit well with me; it comes across like he's almost forgotten about her instead of moved on. Kali is never mentioned, El's mom gets mentioned once (I think?), but Aunt Becky is nowhere to be seen (!!!), and even though I'm not a Steve/Billy shipper there was enough subtext in season 2 (which might have been unintentional, for all I know, but still) that it being pretty much brushed off didn't feel satisfying.
3.) Build Up: Also--not a whole lot of it! If the Byers' house had been on the market from the beginning and not a plot point that was mentioned just once, then sprung again at the very end, I might have been more emotional about them leaving Hawkins, but instead the whole thing felt a little last minute and tacked on to me. Same with Hopper's heroic sacrifice, which wasn't built up to or even hinted at until about five seconds before it happened (also I would've been more sad if he hadn't been such an atrocious jerk the entire season, but whatever). Also, as much as I loved the Max and Billy and El and Billy moments, they could have been teased out/developed more. Especially with Max. Going from being ready to brain your terrible stepbrother with a baseball bat to genuinely wanting to help/save him despite his awfulness is a big leap, and we never do get the how and why of that transition.
Oh, and Starcourt is actually a secret base for some kind of Big Ol' Evil Russians conspiracy. That's a thing now.
no subject
And yeah, I really wished we'd gotten more buildup with Max and Billy! They could have done so much with that. In general I felt the absence of the kids' home life this season. We know absolutely nothing about Robin's family (even her last name!), the only parents that we even saw (besides Joyce) were Karen and Ted, and we never even really saw the kids interact with their siblings except right at the end, even Jonathan and Will.
One thing that contributed to this, I think, is that this season's character team-ups never really got switched up at all, and I think the character relationships in general suffered for it. In previous seasons they shook up the character pair-ups a lot -- season 2's teamups for Steve, for example, started out with Steve and Nancy, took a side trip into Steve and Billy, then it was Steve and Dustin, and then Steve and all the kids. Hopper in S2 started out with El and then it was Hopper-Joyce-Will and then Hopper and El again at the end. This season established most of the divisions in the cast in the first episode and then never really rotated them, which I think is one thing that made it feel like a lot of the relationships that were important in previous seasons got little to no development here. (And there were also a couple of weird ones like Nancy and Jonathan, who spent all their time together and yet never really seemed to interact.)
It was just a weird season all around. I really enjoyed watching it, and I think you're right that it would've had a hard time living up to my expectations after season 2, but I definitely don't think that's the only reason why it just didn't feel the same.
no subject
One thing that contributed to this, I think, is that this season's character team-ups never really got switched up at all, and I think the character relationships in general suffered for it. There was so little movement compared to last season, especially with Steve & Dustin & Robin & Erica--not that I didn't love their team-up, but all of them were pretty much trapped in the mall up until the very end, so they didn't get to interact with anyone else and after a while their dynamic began to feel a little bit static. Also Joyce and Hopper pretty much never interacting with any of the kids except for a few bits here and there...when everyone came together at the end it felt more rushed and not as satisfying, because it was more like a bunch of pieces sort of clashing together than groups joining up to form a whole--even in the battle at the mall they split up so quickly there was barely any time for some really good group scenes.