The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: Stranger Things 4, Vol 2. - Chapter 9: "The Piggyback" Review!

Episode Date: July 2, 2022

We made it to the end... for now!! Thanks to StoryBlocks for sponsoring this episode! Visit http://www.storyblocks.com/REJECTS to get started! We laughed, we cried, we ran up that hill - and after nearly 4 hours of new Stranger Things, we have finally completed season 4! As the credits roll, we dive into our thoughts on the episode as well as Season 4 as a whole. Touching on all the showdowns, desperate measures, wrapups, and reunions as well as Eleven vs. Vecna, Eddie Munson's righteous Master of Puppets moment, a harrowing escape from Mother Russia, and a whole lot more!!! REACTION HIGHLIGHTS on YouTube & FULL LENGTH (Sync-Up) WATCH ALONGS at Patreon.com/TheReelRejects!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hello there, listeners of the real rejects. Welcome. Welcome to your doom. You are broken. You must listen to our thoughts now. Thanks to Story Blocks for sponsoring this podcast, right? Yeah. They're the ones today.

They are the ones Storyblocks. What are we going to do today? Where you're going to talk about Stranger Things for the finale. Yeah. it pretty much sums up our thoughts of we didn't really talk much about part one not part one bite size so chapter eight yeah the papa spoilers papa dies and we had some thoughts but you know just go make a little bit of an effort and just go watch the video just go there watch the video because the thick long discussion is is incoming right now

we recorded it pretty pretty like a seven in the morning after watching it starting at midnight and doing some underwater work in between. So, yeah, this is a long discussion, but I think it's a really great one, especially if you're a Stranger Things fan, and especially if you enjoyed the finale. I hope you like it.

Hope you like it. If you don't, then I probably will never know that you do. And if you don't, especially don't come check out the reaction highlights at patreon.com or YouTube.com slash the real rejects and don't whatever you do come sync with a sync up with us with your own copy and the time code and all that stuff at our patreon patreon. Patreon.com slash the real rejects. Don't do that if you're not a fan of these episodes. You guys can't see is John looking at a camera that is not recording. I know like the bar the the voice the you know the vocal levels are go good now my

brain is starting to go finally. I'm like oh yeah the audio levels are ticking but they don't mean anything. Anyway, that's more info than you guys needed. Thanks, story blocks. Let's go. Whoa. Oh, man. You thought the ending of last season.

Volume 1 was crazy. Damn. Is there going to be a post-credit scene or something? Maybe. Is they not making a skip? Maybe for once Netflix is like, hey, people made two and a half hours worth of this. You can watch their names now. That was wild.

That was wild. That was epic. Kind of got liked. Sounds weird. Uh-huh. I kind of got like Jurassic World ending of Paul and Kingdom vibes. I was going to call that. out at some point, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where it's like, they're off the island now. Like all the Jurassic Parks like, oh, they've got to keep the dinosaurs away. And then, oh, this ends with, oh, shit, they're going to come. They're on the mainland. What are we going to do? That was like the vibe I got was like, oh, damn, the upside down's coming in. Maybe the rest of the world will finally believe, or at least understand. That's pretty nuts.

Oh, boy. Crazy, crazy stuff. Albuquerque I guess you're just like No, we're making you sit through the credits They don't want you to realize it's over And then cancel your subscription Until a part five comes out

One thing's for sure This season certainly isn't repetitive I love that I love how it ended I really love how it ended I prefer that Yeah No yeah yeah this was a tour to force

at least here in this moment jeepers all right there's now 530 in the morning oh good hey we did it we did it we did it this is like a junior Snyder cut between these two episodes we didn't shoot it at 3 in the morning

yeah yeah we started in a more reasonable time no it's great I'm wide awake no hey that's what invigorating stories will do I don't really care it's 530 yeah it was awesome I will in a couple hours but not now all right now now let's give the most concise thorough review possible yes let's let's leave no stone out of the bar just do a review as long as the episode beat by beat breakdown thank you to story blocks

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Sounds so affordable. This is quite affordable. They have multiple subscription levels to suit your exact needs, whether you're an independent indie solo creator or whole team. So if you want to learn more, head on down to our link in the description box and get started. That's at storyblocks.com slash rejects. Now, back to the video. Alright, wow, here we are. Okay, well, to be totally transparent with you guys,

gonna need a slight refresh my mind as we're doing this because when it ended up happening was we started shooting this at midnight. It's not seven in the morning for us because even though we finished at 5.30, because we send footage to Prepper to help edit and then when they got a cut done, I review it, give notes, then they adjust it,

then they adjust it and then uh they turn it around so fast there's a promo for prepper right now because wow they really really delivered this time around and then i was like oh okay i need to like prep this video now and make the thumbnails and then get that one up and then an hour and a half went by now now i'm going to talk about part two when i just saw we've watched like so much footage of part one but my mind's all going to come back to be in just like a split second here because uh this was great this was epic it was so um transportive you know I think it is a testament. You know,

it's the kind of weird life that John and I live with doing this with reacting to stuff, you know, and it's like, we want to give good reviews and all that. But, you know, when you're filming stuff at this hour, it's important that we remain engaged and we can really just immerse ourselves in it and really just feel what's going on.

And sometimes when it's like three in the morning, you're not really going to be in the mood to have a camera pointed at you. But this was so incredibly immersive that the time went by so fast. and I think that's such a testament to how strong this is because this was beautiful and the last like 30 minutes I was just kind of left in like shock you know I think about I'm sure for a lot of people they were just left in insane amount of tears and I've noticed that just with Stranger Things alone from my rewatch of the first three seasons I remember my rewatch of the first three getting like increasingly more emotional and then I ever had been on my first go-around and uh like like with eddie for example like this eddie death scene and just everything that was happening in the end with max and all that i was just kind of like wow this is really going down a bleaker route than i expected and it's the hawkins is now being exposed like there's no denying the truth now and my mind was just so captivated and my my heart

was just like i don't know how to explain my emotion on it my heart was like not really um I was moved, but so stilted at the same time, because this is so, such a, like, so different. You know, because normally on Stranger Things, how it ends is they win. They save the day, and then they have a cliffhanger for the next season. It's showing that, nope, the upside down still has some tricks up its sleeve. That's usually the ending of them, but it's usually a happier note that it ends on, where this ended on a more melancholic, more bittersweet note. I mean, granted, they tend to.

to have that, and especially Stranger Things 3, but it was still a victory ultimately for them. And here, this is like something, it's such a gray where, you know, like last season they won, but they had lost Hopper. And, you know, Billy died, but Billy was also the, like, the villain of that season. It was a total asshole, as established by in this episode. And here, it's such a mixture of, like, there's a lot of terrible things that this is ending on. and some victories. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's, it's funny. It is a very bittersweet and a very heart heavy and a very hard finale. And I think there's a benefit. I mean, it seems like they've always known that, I mean, since the show started, it was a runaway hit.

So they probably knew they had carte blanche to continue however they please. But there's also something about this season where, especially with like the talk among fans as well as the cast of people being like, this cast has gotten huge. Like, there's got to be some, like, heavy, hefty stakes, and we've got to either lose somebody or something along the way.

And I think that they met that pretty conscientiously here. Because, yeah, like, if you look at the math, it's like, you know, we get one major character death and one major character, well, two, if you can't bring in our last episode, but one major character death for this finale and one major character marring, incapacitation, etc., in Max. and I feel like those two things are like it's almost worse than a death what happens to Max because they bring you up to that point

of tension where you're like oh my God he's actually gonna do it's like when you see her lift up off the ground I think even there's that moment where you're like no no no this could be fine but then when her limbs start snapping you're like even if they bring her back from this like this is gonna be rough and then yeah the whole back and forth with 11 and losing her and you know Lucas believing

he's actually said goodbye and then 11 being able to bring her back, but it's not the full salvation we're hoping for. Like, I think they did really nicely to create these back and forth moments of, oh, no, there's hope. Oh, but it's not quite the payoff I was expecting. It's not quite the relief I was hoping for.

There's a chance for Max, but I mean, we leave off on a note where it's like, man, but she's in a coma for now, and it might not be enough. Like, you know, 11 is able to prolong her life here, but she could slip away, you know, or I doubt that will be the case.

I think she will come back. ultimately, but they've at least maneuvered it dramatically into a position where I'm like, yeah, the toll of whatever victories in this episode was like fought for tooth and nail. And yeah, the victory clearly doesn't outweigh the distance still left to run. Yeah. And that's, yeah, I think there's something about that where it's like you see there are so many wonderful reunions by the end and there's so many great cathartic tears to shed. And there are so many great victories.

but it's like you can barely bask in them. Like it doesn't have that note of like the characters for all intents and purposes believe that things are good and fine and, you know, they're going to take a vacation from terror for a couple of months until the next season starts. Whereas this is, yeah, there are some of those victories, but everyone, including us, the characters, everyone's like, no, no, no, but things are still arguably worse than ever. Yeah, I mean, the cliffhanger here is that something is going to keep going on. it's not going to be the same thing where like they take a vacation yeah and bam we're you know a new a new thing is now happening it's going to be a continuation it's a different cliffhanger to end off on i think it just kind of hits me what it hit me right now of what happens with me

with shows especially shows more than movies because of the committed journey of a character yeah is what happens is is that i think that feeling i was looking for is shock because I'm grieving and my natural reaction to a death thing like I almost got word today about a pet of mine like it's not the same scale it's actually worse real life but um a pet of mine was like a family pet was like I thought it died and my first reaction was just that feeling I had right now just shock and so like when I'm seeing max there like I don't go to tears when I go around I think I I start bargaining in my my head. I started going like, well, maybe Max is like, you know, going to come back with superpowers. I sort of saying shit in my own head. And, uh, and even with Eddie, I was like, okay, he's bleeding, but he might be fine, though. He might be just be still stuck there and it'll be okay. Like, my mind just starts going there instantly, you know, I'm more likely to, like, get choked up at, like, Mike's speech about, you know, love and, and fighting for that.

You know, that's what I think that, that running up the hill episode four of this season was so powerful and so memorable for people especially for me like that stuff is the thing that I'm like I'm not grieving in that moment you know so I have this like natural like goop defense mechanism that's kind of what comes up in me and it's it's fascinating to see that's kind of what happened my experience here although with the eddie death it it's it's a powerful death I mean because obviously it was setting up from even volume one ending that he's going to do something heroic like it was so set up and they even reestablish it in this episode he's going to gonna do something heroic um to me my i did go man what do they always just what do they kill off

like the the new character yeah bob and then uh and then uhlexie and lexie yeah i mean billy got two seasons so he doesn't count quite but yeah that's true yeah that's true i mean like how they handled papa's death um but even papa's a character like brought back he's dead it's not the same thing um but it's kind of interesting that like season three gave you that complexity with max and billy who's the villain and then here you have papa and eleven and papa's a villain so to uh have a kind of correlation especially when you see this friendship that forms between max and 11 uh it's fascinating stuff i admittedly uh like i know you very much are and uh seems like like most people are i've i've always i've really liked eddie a lot um there's there's a lot

everyone i talk to like loves eddie and i don't dislike eddie one iota there's not one part of me that has a single like griper issue or criticism about him for some reason i've just never been as emotionally attached to that character as much as you guys probably are as as much as john as much as everyone else i know is i'm kind of the odd one out like i don't I just don't want to quite love him. I just don't have that that's strong of an attachment. I was like more endeared to Bob than I was to Eddie. I did love Bob.

Yeah, but that was another thing too where I got really choked up on my rewatch. But here with, and so I'm a mad. I will rewatch this, especially before volume, season five comes out. I'm going to rewatch it. And I am curious to see if I'm like, oh, you know, I'm definitely more attached this time. But as far as his death goes, that was, I was very, that was beautifully done and I think the

the fact that I don't know who's the actor who plays Dustin he's so good oh Gaten Matarazzo so good so amazing and I love that they gave

they trusted in their actors who have not only physically grown but grown as actors and that they allowed them to show that you got that with Dustin where you know

like those are real tears you know that was heartbreaking lip quiver you know that's real oh my good you know what it just hit me now too is so many of those moments

are so desolate and lonely. It's like with Dustin and Eddie, they're pretty much alone and I love the monologue he gives to his uncle at the end and he doesn't even speak back to him but it's just that thing of like only the two of us basically know like the rest of their friends know

but only Dustin was there for this incredibly lonely act of Valions and I feel like there's a lot of that throughout the episode with the way everyone is divided and I think that even though that was brought on partly by real world constraints they made a lot out of it ultimately especially with 11 being able

to traverse the gap and to join them in the mindscape and but that even too just like Lucas and Max alone and not even knowing 11 is there and then she's kind of alone because she can't directly communicate to either of them either sort of Max

but still like there's yeah so much going wrong and so much that's like so lonely and desperate about all these situations. There's so much isolation. Well, Caleb McLaughlin is, McLaughlin is the act, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, his, his, I didn't really feel like he, it's no insult or slight towards him. I didn't, there was just, there wasn't much for me in, in the, prior to the final episode, I think that's what they really got down in this one, more than anything else that I

think is so important was not only stakes and revelations, or reveals, but, They really gave most, I would say. Can't really think of anyone at the top of my head. I'm like, no, they kind of could have done more. But most definitely got a true scene to shine. And paid off somehow. And Lucas, you know, especially to have that level, like you're saying, desperation and heartbreak.

Like, he's a changed person and a different human being by the final scene that he has here. Like, he's broken. He shattered. And, you know, he's like becoming a man, praying God in a way, you know? Like, and I think he did such an incredible job in this episode. Like, he brought his A-game. So did the actor plays Dustin. They were all so excellent.

I think this episode really excelled at, because halfway, I think it's around the halfway point when, you know, 11 shows up to help fight Vecna. And then Vecna brings 11 and Matt. to his red creole outdoorsy spot the four the four points four chime points yeah um and it was there I was going like wow they're really selling me that that you know Vector's gonna win wow I really selling me on this but then you know I'm like but I'm not come on man it's still got like an hour left that they're probably gonna win you know and probably some

something's gonna something's gonna happen right something always comes along to save the two simpson children but then um when 11 you know got the upper hand on him and it was exciting what i what i loved is vectin's confidence just never swayed he was so assured all the time like all the time even when he's like looking pushed up against the wall and he's like you've already lost come at me bro i love that i absolutely i really love that And you got to pull Michael Myers, didn't he? Run downstairs, not there.

Yeah, it's so funny. Yeah. Oh my God, totally. And I think what's fascinating is now that, you know, Vecna's true identity has been revealed, I feel like this is probably purposeful, is they allowed whoever, I don't know the actor's name, whoever plays Henry Vecna won.

Jamie Campbell Bauer? You think. He act like you think. I know you know. There's three names. I could have easily gotten one wrong. I know you know. I know there's a bower in there.

Your specialty. That name memory. It's a great quality you have. I feel like they let him play Vecna more human in both of these episodes. Like his body language, the way he did his dialogue. Whereas before, he was kind of just a presence, just a monster, very stoic. you know just like the demonic entity that comes to claim a soul but here in these both these episodes you're like oh this is i see the i see the henry in there now yeah i think both episodes

let that happen yeah he goes from being a boogeyman to being no that's a specific person that's a burnt up body yeah that's a burnt up body this probably had even more craziness done to it in the time that we haven't observed his upside down journey like yeah and then and you feel the kind of agelessness that he has transcended into. It's a great performance, and I love the way that they, I mean, from what I have heard, and what the Duffer brothers have said, a lot of that effect is practical, and I thought they did a really great job of marrying all three elements of, like, that's clearly a lot of silicone and makeup on top of him,

and there's clearly CGI enhancing that, but especially you point out during the reactions, like this is the most we've ever kind of seen the actor in the character, And I think that was a beautiful kind of way to put that together as sort of Freddie Kruger and Resident Evil and different things as you can kind of reference out of it. It did start to feel, yeah, more like even in that respect, like not even just through the writing and everything. But yeah, through the combination of all that movie magic, you know, it really did feel like a particular person. And that was what started to make me feel like this was kind of a different send-off for a season because I was like, They've gone out of their way to establish just how singular and important this entity of the upside down is.

In a lot of ways, he kind of got there and gave order to the whole thing in a perverse way. And so even if we somehow vanquish him for now, like, it's not the end. Like, it can't be the end. Like, it's weird. There are so many ways in which you can end these seasons and go, okay, there will still be more upside down hijinks to manage next season. But for right now, we vanquished whichever boss. And I didn't get that feeling this time. And I think

again, like this show over time, from my viewing experience, the first time especially, it was sort of an increasing thing where each season I liked it a bit more. And this has been... Well, it took you... I remember it took you some time to get through it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to restart the first season a couple times, then I finally

kind of, yeah, cut the wavelength and then just the further I got. Season two, I liked even more. Season three, liked even more. Season four, I've been loving, and I feel like, again, they've made it feel like something special, both in that, yeah, I mean, it's all the stuff that we love is back, and there's all the easily latch onable elements. But also, I think they just really came with the characters and the writing in a way that feels like a passion project for everyone involved. And I mean, they said, like Max Sadie Sink wrote the letter that she reads to Billy, things like that.

that. I'm like, I really feel like everyone, even the, Jamie Campbell-Bauer, like, everyone seems like they really brought a ton of, like, heart and soul to what this is. And even characters who were underserved, perhaps, earlier on in the season, or who weren't as focused on or who we would sit here, it doesn't really seem like they were the most important part of this. We kind of check back in just to make sure we don't forget them. Like, everything by the end of this at least felt like it had a button or it had a moment to gleam and everybody's emotional. journey in some way kind of contributed to the greater whole well mike fin wolfhard i can confidently say now is not one of the leads he no he is a supporting character yeah and um it's it's interesting

because the show seemed to kind of go up at its way granted it worked and it was very effective and it removed me a lot so i'm not going to fault it it did seem like it was kind of going to go going out of it would be like, here's my mic's important. It's the Xander thing. It's like, you're important because you're regular and you got a lot of heart, buddy. You keep us together while all of us specials are out doing special stuff and losing our minds.

Yeah, and especially this, maybe it'll change in the following season, but he's progressively, it seems like they've progressively been finding less and less things to write for him to make him compelling and just as interesting as the rest of the cast. And then here, it wasn't, it wasn't until the final episode

or it was like, all right, okay, cool, Mike. I like you a lot again now. Hell yeah. It's been interesting to watch that because, yeah, I feel like in some ways, in some ways I think it's cool because then you allow characters like, you know, talking with other people, I've heard people say, like, oh, it's

cool that like Lucas gets to be an actual character with like a really an arc that you can invest in and him and Max and all that stuff is really great this season. And I feel like pushing characters like Mike to the background a little bit is natural over

four or five seasons? It's weird. It's like I know people love Finn Wolfhard. I've very much enjoyed him over the show, but it kind of feels natural the way that all these characters have kind of slid around, even if there are parts where we go, man, Will just keeps getting the short end of the city. Like Will, even here,

it felt like they made something out of the fact that he's always kind of in the background and separated from everybody. And it's things like that, I think. It's like they're able to use distance better, perhaps, than before in certain ways. Although it is interesting to see that, that, yeah, it is almost decidedly so here that, yeah, like, Mike is not the focal point, really.

No, not at all. I mean, that whole, it kind of seems like what I said about Mike could be applied to everyone on that plot line. For Jonathan, definitely doesn't feel anywhere near it. It's been that way since season three. It doesn't feel anywhere in it. And a lot of people have speculated. that it might have something to do with the actor charlie heiden's personal life and um him that whole that whole plot argyle became more essential in this in this last couple episodes team argyle boy i love

the everything with the pizza shop just ms it was great that was great and i'm glad they managed to really make that work um because that could have been silly as hell and they somehow it was like it was such a funny thing to have start and the whole intercutting with him making the pizza but then you're like knees deep in the conflict and they're actually doing it and she's, you know, in the tub and you're just like, I forgot all about pizza. This feels totally serious where this was funny as heck a minute ago.

I enjoyed them. I wasn't really enjoying it in the volume one, but volume two, everything about them in this volume was really good. And I kind of, it's interesting seeing how they end note with because season one ended with Nancy and Steve

still together with Jonathan pining over her and her being like, maybe I should have gone with John and then this season ends the complete opposite for yeah of there there's some tension with them and she's like maybe I should have gone to Steve and it did kind of Steve got to express how he's already art yeah does that make sense he got to he got to completely actualize his arc yeah we didn't get to we didn't see necessarily how he art and we don't see him art in this specific season but he gets to express how he's changed he becomes more mature and better at articulating his maturity as time goes on yeah yeah yeah i think

they did a great job at that because it seemed like there's some stuff that was happening in between season three and four words that a lot of that already took place that allowed him to do the decisions here um unless i'm wrong you can tell me and and uh robin Getting a chance at love at the very end was very, very sweet. I saw a tweet. Somebody said, like, it's Pride Month, and the Duffer Brothers was taking it out on the gaze, and it was just two still frames of one of Robin watching

as the girl kisses the guy in the vet store, and Will as 11 and Mike reunite. But I appreciate it's funny. It seems like Robin and that girl are probably going to get together or become good friends, but it certainly seemed like there was she's probably just bisexual or something but I appreciate too that as much as people are like just say it already with

some of these like whose sexuality is what things I kind of like that they still leave them unsaid because it is the like I thought the moment between it was funny there's something in the Midwest like no one's going to be like sweet yeah yeah yeah oh you should have told us a long

time ago yeah and I and I thought that they're the one really got not you interrupted but they're the ones who go freaking Dungeon Dragons and say they're gonna be the ones who were like homosexuals though totally cool they're not in with the devil

whatsoever but yeah that scene in the pizza shop again between Will and Jonathan I thought was really beautifully done and I thought that was a great A part of it felt like they were literally being like hey I know we haven't been as important lately

and I know that we have been distant from the audience and us as characters but I feel like we should talk some more but beyond that beyond like the weird meta layer I just love that that little beat of like no matter what like it's the

it's he says it without saying it I thought that was a really beautifully played scene because it still doesn't come right out and say it it could not be what we're all reading into but at the same time it was it was such a great brother moment which you don't see a lot of like I thought they've done as much as people bemoan

wokeness. They've done a nice job of going different ways with tropeish relationships and elevating or pushing to the forefront certain characters who wouldn't normally be in a way that feels very natural because of the ensemble they have built. And I think that's a really cool thing that they're able to do without it feeling like somebody's spreadsheet says they should add somebody of this or that disposition. Well, season two, they had a lot of Jonathan and and well like that was a big like i love jonathan in season one and two he's excellent absolutely like the buyers family was like the main characters of season one and and uh jonathan was excellent a big part of him in season two was his his uh older brother and says the need to take care of him

and um and so to kind of remind us of that was awesome sadie sink oh boy uh brilliant i i loved when she In order to get to Vecna, she has to get to a place of truth and honesty and not just taunt him out, allure him out with, you know, trying to antagonize him. It's good for both characters that they chose that. Yeah, especially because it was such a fascinating dichotomy to see how she actually kind of benefited from it. I know. She got to come to the point of truth about her emotions. When it called back to something

I think we were talking about during the first half which was like she says all those beautiful things about Billy in that letter and everything but what about the other side of that where he did make your life a living hell most of the time and I love that they brought it back to that

and that yeah it's like you have this plan and you're gearing up and you're like oh here we go but no yeah you you really do have to sacrifice something and to put yourself in a truly vulnerable position to be that bait a thousand percent yeah and uh just the way she acts everything is beautiful like every beat and even including you know like the like you were saying like the the like i jitters

and all like the sci-fi shit like is just so natural i she's one of the strongest actors on the show a hundred percent she's she's one of the absolute best actors yeah and that's why i was like you can't lose backs yeah yeah no i mean i was just in shock When she was like in Lucas's arms and he was crying and then her, she couldn't see. I was like, oh my God, are they really doing this right now? I was more like, my mind starts going to other places. I'm like, what, does Netflix do this? I mean, would they want to do this?

I mean, she's especially with how free, like Max has always seemed to be really liked. I'm talking like general. People I know love her. I think the love for her just had this massive uptick from Voluntary. volume one. It went so much higher up. Once people saw episode four it was over. Yeah. No, I mean, it just skyrocketed for her. And, you know, and she's had kind of a fascinating as the actress, she's had an interesting journey to come into season two when, when you're going to be part of the main kids, when the main kids was stranger things. Like that was stranger things. were the kits the like Mike Lucas Dustin will that was the image and then now you're joining them you're going to be part of group now get in there and that's a lot to live up to it's a lot of pressure I'd imagine and and I think she kind of outshines all them to be totally honest

it's funny yeah I mean because it's so I mean and and hey great performances Millie Bobby Brown is great but Dustin's were a hard one for me to that's good oh he doesn't edit the Kids, it's Dustin. Eleven's a whole separate category. Dustin and Max are my favorites of the kids. Oh, for sure. But I feel like, yeah, it used to be that the kid conversation was like, everyone loves Finn Wolf Hard, but Millie Bobby Brown is just like a terrific actress, which she is not going to take anything away from that, but I feel like as of this season, the conversation shifted a little bit to like Sadie Sink is so frigate good.

Yeah. And deservedly so, because, I mean, she's always been great on the show. And even, you know, just watching little flashback snippets here. You're like, oh, wow, like how far we have come and how interesting it has been to watch these actors grow on screen. But, yeah, like, she does feel like she's always been part of the group, even though she is the newer addition to the group. I like the, I mean, Millie Bobby Brown's just always been, like, such a standout. Since day one of this show, she's been absolutely phenomenal.

nominal and if any character has grown the most it's her and here she it's like season three she's like learning to be a kid they didn't really bring back some of the other stuff i mean she's back into hiding now right like she has to be she has to be hidden again she's exposed she can't just go back to high school and kill angela you know oh season five like she's not destined for normality whatsoever but yeah you know her learning to embrace her position as someone as the one who will need to be a hero I like the position they leave her in as someone who feels the loss at what they did you know and I'm like well if you're painting her as a superhero that's a great way to paint her as a superhero not as misinvincible who shows up

at the end of every season to hold her hand up and save the day you know um so I really I really liked how it's it's they've created a a personal entanglement with her in the main antenna and her relation to the upside down as she like she didn't create the upside down but she is the you know the the the villain blame it gives responsibility bestows it on her she had a hand the creation get here yeah and i think like milby around just fucking kills it like she she's so unbelievably believable i know and and with enough time and distance in in in some ways before revisiting it's like oh you know you know you you You lose some of the finer points, but then you jump back in. I don't know, there's just something about that, like, you know, 11 has a very specific. Like, she doesn't talk a lot. She has a very specific syntax and cadence. This is the most she's talked, though.

Yeah, it is. But it always is in that void. Like, she's, there's just something. Yeah, it's like the way she realizes the character and the little tics and mannerisms are so consistent and so well trodden. And again, it's like it's such an outlandish character. have to bring to life, you know, especially a character who doesn't have a lot of foundational nurture based on anything normal. And so, yeah, just like the ways in which all those little human emotions that, you know, she's still learning how to deal with and articulate, like, that all

feels so authentic. But then, yeah, the parts in which she is in her element in such outlandish circumstances, like, it's such a fully realized character. And the way she's built it, said she was, you know, a kid is, again, fascinating to watch. And every season, it still feels like a consistent through line. Like, I never feel like there's something that was missing or there was like a chunk out of like, why is she acting like this now? Well, I think what she brings that's really unique to beyond just the actual acting parts of scenes and stuff is she has such a great grasp on physicality.

I don't know quite how to I'll try to articulate it She has a like when she She brings something to the table When she is moving something with her mind And her hand is up in the air And she understands the emotion Per each individual scene

Of what physical toll is taking on her body In that moment Whether it's on what her strength level is Of 11 in each scene you know she could show up confident and it doesn't look hard sometimes it could be really hard and when she's like trapped when when vectus has her in the and the tangled vines you know and or when she is like trying to find the strength when mike's you know echoing like you're a superhero i love you there is this like pain and struggle that she brings that feels like so believable that that's i think

a big part why you root for her in those action moments and why they're so cheerworthy too because you could feel this person trying to triumph over something that is harsh on them on them well it's almost as if every time she has to do that she's directly running through the traumas that led her i think that's been a great benefit since the start of the show is the fact that as awesome as her power is it's always been this sort of difficult byproduct of a very traumatic experiment well that's what's cool when she does

like when she first shows up in uh in max's mind and she's controlling she she has in fact the levitated it's not hurting doesn't look like it's a physical pain like she's got a nose bleed but it's not like tough she's used to that now yeah yeah yeah yeah well and even even too just like the physical

articulation and and as seen as in the previous episode with the helicopter it's like they're you know it literally hit me part way through. I was like, okay, so it's not the Star Wars, like, uh, you know? Not right. Yeah, it really does.

There's even just in the body language of how she holds her hand, like it's a delicate thing almost. It's, you can just sort of feel the energy. But that doesn't have to be this like, br- But sometimes it is that brer. But when it does get to that point, yeah, it's like, there are these like subtle articulations and these subtle, you know, postures and motions, but you notice those,

subtle differences when it does become like the I guess that's it is like they not every time it happens is the most intense time so they but that's what I mean by she has a great understanding of where her character's at in the moment yeah of her power set and I and that and that's such a defining part of her character and I think that it's something that should not be overlooked because she knows how to be in pain turmoil physically she knows how to play that so well and she knows how to play confidence and anger and conquering fear like she's so multi-layered and uh i love i just love everything she does so yeah i think uh she's she's excellent here her getting to reunite with hopper at the end beautiful um oh boy that whole plot line yeah there's a whole plot line there all that stuff in

russia like did that actually affect what was going on it seemed like you know with the power of that it did, but I wasn't entirely sure, like, how was them stopping the demacor? Is it because the particles were connected to everything that was happening? So the particles, by dispersing into the demic organs, by taking out

the demic organs, that is helping to take down, like, the bats and shit and the upside down while they were there. Is that, am I getting that right? I think this is the most direct connection. I mean, part of me could use a little clarification because the hive mind thing, I was like, well, I guess if you

attack anything from the upside down. I guess it all counts as the upside down being like, what is happening? But yeah, I mean, ultimately I read it as, I guess this is helping create enough chaos and cacophony and distraction for the upside down because, yeah, you've got Eddie dealing with the bats, you've got them beating up on demigorgans, you've got all these things happening, and that's throwing Vecna's focus for a loop. I did think, speaking of a cacophony, I did think they brought a great sense. They knew how to capture a cacophony.

Yes, they did. Like, because it was, that middle chunk was just pure chaos. Oh, yeah. And it just kept getting worse and worse and worse, and you're cutting between three different types of horror that are all connected. You know, you got spooky, haunted hospital or haunted prison, experimental lab prison horror in Russia. You got, you know, spooky, supernatural, freaking, you know,

nightmare on Elm Street-like horror. and so I thought they just did such a great job of throwing you of cutting to all these different things and it just wouldn't it was kind of relentless and not and how it didn't like

let just wouldn't let you go and it was exciting but also get really like situational wise just really scary yeah and I mean yeah it all contributes like even though you're cutting between you know you're cutting between

this is one story happening here and there's another story happening here you know because of that you know sort of shared effect on the overall situation and because we care about all these people yeah it reaches this like fever pitch of everyone is you know is throwing this is the critical moment for everyone involved everyone is exerting everybody is fighting back and these are the the moments that will decide you know kind of the fate and i feel like yeah that that definitely does create a palpable sense of chaos without it being the bad kind of like I don't think the filmmakers really knew what they were doing.

It's like controlled chaos where, yeah, you feel the sort of desperation and intensity of it all. And yeah, I love all the different notes that they do throughout this. And I mean, you know, the stuff in Russia is more plot oriented, general, it's more action-oriented in that, yeah, they basically need to go back to the prison, figure out what's going on there and fight back. but I don't know just like that ensemble even as much as people have had issue with that being a quirkier story and a more heightened story just like I loved

what David Harbour has been doing this whole season like just the way Hopper has become this sort of like very deliberate he's got this like very calm very focused delivery on things and the way he plays off of Joyce and you know even he's a change

man got completely like it's this hopper performance is vastly different than yeah the hopper who just progressively got more and more like heavier and grumpier yeah yeah now he's like leaned out and he's he's something that's like accepting yeah and um like even his performance at the very end i i think you know they don't quite lay out in the dialogue how he's changed but it shows in his performance and beyond just him losing a bunch of weight it's it shows so much by yes by a lot of the audience kind of feeling like the experiences this guy has had and by lamenting a couple of monologues like at least one I can think of um yeah it shows how he he know he finds a purpose and a confidence and he does seem like more in tune with that loving side in him now because

He was found an appreciation. And the other seasons, he does, like, so, like, grumpy. And I love, I've always loved Hopper. I always love that David. I like how. But in season three, he became a little much for me with Hopper at times. Yeah. Like, he was just, like, buffoonish.

Yeah. And, and, uh, because he was always, like, the angry, cool, grumpy kind of guy with a lot of pain. But he had such a heart and he was like, you felt safe. he was around yeah and then three he was yeah pushing people away guy and then three it was like you're kind of just a little goofy and you know like just and but here this was this was so different and honestly like kudos did they were harbor for i've never seen him this thin before i know and i was like damn this didn't really lost some weight man that's crazy you look a little bit like you've been in a gulag for a minute buddy yeah like it wasn't like a six-pack abs or something like no

this this dude someone who's been like having to do a lot of physical labor in a prison for months and barely eating. Oh shit food, yeah. Yeah, he got the right. It's like whatever diet he did for it, his body was like just right to match the character's experiences.

Which I thought was awesome. And him and Joyce finally gets to be together. Yeah. They're never going to go back and have that fucking date that been wanting. I'm really hungry, guys. I'm going to have a piece of nuts. I know. Well, and speaking of day, I mean, the one thing that we didn't get any wrap upon was the fate of Enzo, our buddy.

and you know I can't remember his real name but the prison guard buddy who Jack and Hagar from Game of Thrones You know the guy who's helping him break out Who ultimately inspires What is the pilot's name You know who ultimately gets him to actually fucking fix

Yeah Yuri Yuri is my love They finally gets him to fix the jet The helicopter thing and all that Like I felt like As much as it's not the point and they are not the most important characters. I was like, oh, I know where they wound up,

or at least Enzo wound up, because he was a character who I liked a lot, and I'm glad he didn't die and stuff, but I guess I expected there to be some kind of involvement for him moving forward or a send-off, if not, because, I mean, he did, while the plan went wrong a million different ways, he did kind of help Hopper out on this thing a lot.

I mean, I fill in the blank by seeing who Hopper unites with, who drops them off something just must have been worked out I want to see it they'll probably explain in the next season they do shit like that yeah he'll be back surprise

yeah we need this I know a guy I know a guy who's got peanut butter and Enzo and you're running a peanut butter shop that's right and fixing airplanes or something like that

but yeah all the like fighting like that that was really intense and all the like the flamethrowers. I thought they were good at doing homage to, like, clearly this is referencing movies and horror fiction of various kinds, but with, I mean, the Michael Myers mask and some of the Freddie illusions are pretty dead on, but, you know.

This felt the least, like, remember this movie? Yeah, exactly. It's like, it's, like, you see snow and a flamethrower, you think of the thing, but it's not going, hey, we did a thing reference, you know? Or, you know, reciting direct, lines or things like that yeah it's like you can pick up on what they're referencing but usually it's like it's it became more and more obvious as it went before they would be like that assassin hunting

you is Arnold Schwarzenegger yeah you look like magnum PI yeah whereas here they took the reference and actually just let it be something for this story instead of a reference you know it's like you can draw the reference but it's actually just serving a purpose here yeah penny wise and Freddie Krueger, obviously. Yeah. But, you know, they're not like, it's like Pennywise and Freddie Krueger. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. And it really just still feels like its own thing. And I think what I really thought from a, for doing it something on this epic of a scale, what I think they did so, it's just so beautifully. Like, a big saving grace for me for the Russia story on it. Yeah, like, you know, Murray's like funny,

enjoys me, it's not much of a character. I did like, how she got a chance to sort of redeem her loss of Bob by saving Hopper in that moment. I thought that was great. I actually didn't expect her to show up and do something in that scene. And so when she did, I thought that was awesome. And she gets to be with Hopper.

So yeah, it was like a little bit, there was progression for her character. Absolutely. Things finally being fulfilled. And she was so haunted by the loss of Bob in season three. So I think that's great. but what I think even on what was so cool about the Russia part to me was the set production yeah that was that and I think the set production overall in this show was so excellent in this

season like for going for the epic scale really getting to live in more times that are like when it's CGI it looks awesome even when it's CGI when you know when when when Vecna origins when he's looking upon that yellow land of the upside-down. Yeah, just the desolate upside-down land. That was gorgeous, but what I think... I've got to turn this red. But what I thought was cool is a lot of the sets felt like sets, you know, felt like people and you could feel the costumes.

You could feel how they actually constructed these rooms, you know, whether that be in the Creole House versus the Creole. house in the upside down um the all of the russian prison i thought was so awesome and i don't i don't recall ever really thinking that in previous seasons and normally when you hear you know like yeah it's epic and the most expensive it usually means like bigger action scenes and and more cg yeah which they do however i didn't expect to be like damn these sets are cool like these are really good looking sets that emit a tone. And I love that.

Absolutely loved it. Like, every set, especially in the two episodes, Volume 2, was really great to look at. Yeah, well, that keeps me coming back to this feeling of, like, you know, there's the hype and excitement. But I feel like beyond that, you can have rose color glasses for any number of reasons. But this does truly feel like a special season, a special show, a special culmination. to me here now because of not only all the things we've talked about with the writing and with the character stuff and with the

acting, but yeah, like the sets are beautiful. Like everything feels like you can tell where this investment went. No expense was spared and they seemed like they were allowed to do what they wanted and what they thought was right for the story and it seems like they were capable hands making those

decisions. And so even though there are things you can gripe about here, me sitting here, I'm just like, wow, this was so gripping and cathartic even if there are flaws that you can point out about this plotline or that like this really does feel like

the not the peak of all cinema but you know like this really does feel like a high watermark in terms of you know storytelling in this format here and now with these resources like it's really beautifully rendered

and it's really convincing and it's yeah I mean it's things like that it's like that is movie magic to me when it's Like you can point at everything, the shots, the lighting, the effects, the way the practical and the CG effects interplay, the way those choices are made, you know? Like so much of that, all of that, it kind of calls, comes together to make this feel like something special, more than just a really great season of TV, you know? I didn't think that Jason shit amounted to much, though, even though I agree with every single thing you said.

I was like, what is the one thing, though, that I was. I was like, you could have done something different or you possibly could have eliminated it. It served as a way for Lucas to have an arc and served as a great plot inconvenience. Yes, great tension in the moment. To get maxed to a certain physical point where he could not put the headphones on her and shit. You know what I think they should have done? What? And I don't want to be that guy.

I think if they just added one beat of him looking up. See, that's the thing. I don't know. I guess I don't know how you get him to that point. of realizing what the true nature is because he's just another one of the people who believes. Like the TV report at the end and was like, Eddie Munson and the Munson

murders and somehow those caused this. And I don't know how you undo that, but part of me thinks like, man, if you just had him like look up and maybe say something to Lucas in that final moment that suggests a revelation or an

oh, I guess I was a bit pigheaded about this and I should have listened to you or something. And then he gets part of me is like he gets disintegrated and there is no redemption and I like that partly because yeah I mean you know he made his bed but at the same time yeah there's not really an arc or a true payoff beyond like well I guess you should have listened to it's kind of like some and sometimes it felt that way with Billy in season two of stranger things yeah I'm just like there's a real thing happening here and this bully keeps showing up to be a bully and to yeah kind of ignore the

greater like yeah it's like i like that they i think they got kind of halfway because i like definitely it's a halfway point there's there's a lot about it i liked and there's a lot but but the ending payoff with it is that the one thing i'm like yeah it's kind of whatever yeah it's like if you if you if you reduce every story to you know not that everything but yeah if you say three beats to uh an act structure you know it's like we got one to two we got to the point of him accepting like no no this is satan this is some kind of supernatural satan thing yeah Like one more step in some direction or another, I think, would have made that feel like a full circle thing. Whereas, yeah, it's just sort of like, ah, tough for you.

Well, it was like, it went about as far as an 80s movie would go. And I don't feel like that's, this movie surpasses 80s movies. Yeah. And every, like, it doesn't just go, be an 80s movie. Like, they, to me, this was, yeah, it's about the extent of worth this archetype character. in this position would go and I don't know even like the storyline of people believing

that the Hellfire Club was you know this demonic thing responsible for the murders that didn't really it really felt like it just didn't amount too much ultimately by like you had such a great setup where it was escalator like okay how it's all gonna culminate

it's gonna become Halloween kills it's like it doesn't really feel like it culminated with it I think that's what it maybe could have used is that Yeah, you have the two of, it almost feels like their story gets consistently smaller, even with that news report at the end, because they are the faces of, no, this satanic panic thing with Dungeons and Dragons and the Hellfire Club is real. We have to go find them, and we have to, you know, dispense justice.

But by the end, it's just him and his buddy. Whereas I feel like if you actually had the town or just more people, this thing being sort of a plague in and of itself of paranoia and people acting, it's like they hint at that where everybody in town is at the, you know, army surplus store. But yeah, it almost feels like that story narrowed out over time instead of getting wider. And I think there's plenty of, not that it needs to be Halloween kills, but I feel like what that movie tried to do, this could have surpassed with something like that.

But then again, I feel like that would open you up to more episodes or more time or it would take away from some other thing that we were doing. That ultimately is, I think most everything that we got and focused on is probably, more important ultimately than that. As it kept going, it just kept feeling like, you're getting in the way. Because it doesn't really develop beyond. I'm still determined to find you. Yeah.

Like, you're getting in the way, and then the main thrust that serves is like for Lucas to have a realization about himself and for him to smash Max's headphones. Yeah, it feels more like a plot mechanic by the end than an actual character story like most things feel like. Yeah.

So, yeah, that was kind of, just the one part because I always like checking in with it yeah but then by the end of it was like huh that's about it okay yeah um but as it stands uh this was pretty amazing and epic and uh beautiful and wonderfully constructed and i hope that the filmmakers and cast are insanely proud of making television history because this was awesome this is a this is event tv and streaming you know And it's fine. Which is so much harder to do. Yeah, buddy.

You know, like when you release multiple episodes at once, I'm saying, versus, like, especially for Stranger Things. Like, this was such a unique type of experience. And it's, Stranger Things only become more special now to me after this season. Or normally by a season four, sometimes it starts to not feel a special. And this has become more special. And I love the way it ended. because it's so different.

It warrants this crazy level of production and length of storytelling. And it elevated the show in every way and made it something that I'm like, I can't wait for season five. I just can't wait. I know. Because now it feels like that will be the final story.

It feels like they've really paved the way. They've set up everything in place now. And now it's time for the final showdown. Yeah. It's that Harry Potter thing. I never would have thought about it. And I can't remember who referenced it. but someone was like, there was a little bit of Harry Potter

in the formula for Stranger Things, and I'm like, oh, my God, you're right. And that's, I think, part of that magic is because not only is it the developing story, but every year, it's a new year, it's a new school year, it's a new age, you know, in the coming of age journey. Cascets bigger. Yeah, it's like baked into the show

beyond everything else in the story is just that growth and that embrace, even though it is somewhat problematic now that the kids are older, by a good amount than who they're supposed to be playing. Still, it gives it that extra element of real life attachment, I think, that is really beautiful to see when it works and speaks to the time capsule that cinema can be, as well as, you know, the vehicle

for all sorts of imaginative, you know, fancy. True, that's beautiful, beautiful. All right, guys, well, journey's over. Full an owl for another several years until part five comes up. Bye. Peace.

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