Netflix: Stranger Things

[Dion]

 I have heard that

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[Vee]

As a huge Kate Bush fan, I am thrilled how much they've leaned into using her work (leading to her topping the charts again) and I love the orchestral arrangement of "Running Up That Hill" on this new trailer.

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I do think this is probably their best season thus far, and one of the rare examples of 'supersized' episodes of peak TV actually being neither bloated nor overly rushed - something Game of Thrones never accomplished with feature length episodes in its final years. All of ST4 is feature length with every episode, but it's somehow all worked.

[j swift]

Similar to @Vee I am a Kate Bush fan.  In fact, I've bought a copy of Hounds of Love, the album on which Running Up That Hill (Deal with God) appears, on cassette, CD, or streaming for every car I've ever owned.

However, it wasn't until this resurgence of interest that I realized I've been singing the wrong lyrics for years.  Rather than a deal with god to "swap our places", for some reason I've always thought it was a deal to "swallow faces", which makes no sense, yet I never questioned it until now.

Edited June 22, 2022 by j swift

[Antoyne]

What a great first part of season 4. O have extremely high hopes for part 2.

[Vee]

A 'live' from the Upside Down music special with the Go-Gos, Soft Cell (who are having a decent comeback lately), Corey Hart and Charli XCX, because why not:

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[victoria foxton]

I'm on episode eight and so far, it's working. 

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Edited July 1, 2022 by victoria foxton

[victoria foxton]

 

  

Edited July 1, 2022 by victoria foxton

[NothinButAttitude]

Does anyone know if the rumors are true that they are taking a hiatus before filming the final season? IMO, I'd imagine most of the cast would prefer to go ahead and film the final season and wrap it up nicely with a bow. It is pretty obvious that the final season will be a bloodbath for many of the characters. 

[Vee]

IIRC it was originally intended to film them back to back, but COVID wrecked that. I assume they'll be moving quickly now though, partly since the Duffer Brothers are contracted to do a miniseries of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman for Amazon (which Lucas reads in the finale). Spielberg has held the rights to it since the '80s.

I think S4 is probably their strongest season and I was very impressed. Managing that scale and scope over nine feature length episodes is near-impossible for even bigger shows like Game of Thrones, which failed at it, but they kept up the pace and character depth here. (You can't service every character the same though, which is why I was fine with Finn Wolfhard taking a backseat for people like Max, Lucas, Nancy, Dustin, Eddie, etc., and I suspect Will will return to the forefront next time as well.) Hopefully they can stick the landing. I do have my doubts that it will be a 'bloodbath' though - I think some characters may die, but I think the Duffers seem to have indicated they don't feel constant death is needed to have stakes. Fans were just as invested and afraid for their favorites this season as they were last season or the one before; even though we've been through this before, everyone kept expecting a huge body count. In the end it wasn't that massive. You don't need to turn every show into GOT or Breaking Bad when all that's needed is the perception of risk and dramatic weight. 

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Edited July 4, 2022 by Vee

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Oh neat! That now makes sense why the Duffer Bros were interacting with Stephen King on Twitter a few weeks ago. I didn't know they were going to be doing The Talisman. 

 

I hope you are right on there not being a large body count as I don't feel it is needed either to provide a good final season.

[Toups]

I think having a "high body count" in the final season would be a wrong thing to do, especially if it's one of the main kids or Joyce or Jim. 

I really enjoyed this season and don't have that many complaints.  Just one minor one though: how there were three separate locations and set of characters: 1. Russia, 2. Hawkins, 3. LA/West Coast.   So there were less mix of character interactions. 

Looking forward to the final season.  I hope the Duffer Brothers don't botch it.

[Gray Bunny]

Agreed on the multiple locations and therefore lack of character interactions, and I'm glad to read the final season will take place only in Hawkins. 

For all the buzz about the new characters in this season, I felt nothing super special about Eddie, and certainly nothing at all for the permanently stoned pizza guy.  In fact, I would say the weak story arc was the four of them (Mike, Will, Jonathon) on their road trip. 

[Vee]

I'm glad they came out and said this, because there's been people in online circles for literal years who have ignored the leaked series bible from before the first season began production (which all but says Will is gay), deleted sequences from Season 2 and the very obvious inference in Season 3, let alone the storyline that made it explicit this season, all insisting it's 'up for interpretation' and 'he could just be stunted in development' lol.

[victoria foxton]

 

  

 

  

Edited July 17, 2022 by victoria foxton

[victoria foxton]

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by victoria foxton