I just watched Stranger Things 5 because I’m finally able to finish it.
Holy shit there were too many long drawn-out exposition scenes. Like take when Holly and Max are finally going to escape Vecna’s mind, and the portal opens up and it’s right fucking there, it’s so close you can literally taste the fresh air on the other side… And they stop dead in their tracks for Max to go on this 5 minute long speech to Holly about why she realized she didn’t really need the music or a boyfriend or whatever and the true strength was inside them all along and yadda yadda yadda. Like the entire show stopped dead in its tracks for that scene.
And then it did it again for Will finally coming out to his friends, and every single one of them just accepts him for who he is; which is great that he has a support system like that, I just think it would’ve added some depth and realism to some other characters if they still loved him as a friend/brother, but also had some reservations about him because he’s gay.
I also hated the 18 month time skips, of which there were two. Imo they were completely unnecessary and shoved in at the last minute to at least attempt to explain why everyone was ten years older than they were the last season. They should have started this season with the main kids in their senior year, with shit having been relatively dormant (but maybe the odd “stranger thing” happening every now and then) the entire time between 4 and 5. That way you can keep Holly 10 without the age difference between seasons being so glaringly obvious, especially because she’s such an “important” part of this season; and you could add that the goings on of the past few years is breaking her psyche and allowing Vecna to wiggle his way into hers and the other kids’ minds. It also raises the tension and stakes from the start, putting our main cast on edge but maybe a little complacent because of how much time has passed between significant events.
Yeah, Max’s exposition to Holly that was like…most of the episode? It was absolutely necessary to understand what was going on, but it was an exposition dump that was like the writers were wiping their asses with the golden rule of narrative, “show, don’t tell.”
If you have to tell the audience what is happening all the time, you’re just straight up not a good writer.
not to mention Will came out to his friends in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when literal doctors wouldn’t even see gay men for unrelated medical issues out of pure fear, and when being homosexual was literally illegal.
As an bi who suffered a lot of homophobia 10 years later than this show was set, at the hands of people both younger and older than the portrayed characters, it was actually kind of aggravating how accepting they were.
Exactly. Like maybe you could have the scene play out like it does, but then after like when Will and Mike are talking on the tower, have Murray and Hopper have a little aside where Murray asks “did you ever think Will was, you know” and maybe Hopper being Hopper, just kinda shuts it down by refocusing on the task at hand. Imo it’s in-character for each, and doesn’t really take time away from other, more important things.
I just watched Stranger Things 5 because I’m finally able to finish it.
Holy shit there were too many long drawn-out exposition scenes. Like take when Holly and Max are finally going to escape Vecna’s mind, and the portal opens up and it’s right fucking there, it’s so close you can literally taste the fresh air on the other side… And they stop dead in their tracks for Max to go on this 5 minute long speech to Holly about why she realized she didn’t really need the music or a boyfriend or whatever and the true strength was inside them all along and yadda yadda yadda. Like the entire show stopped dead in its tracks for that scene.
And then it did it again for Will finally coming out to his friends, and every single one of them just accepts him for who he is; which is great that he has a support system like that, I just think it would’ve added some depth and realism to some other characters if they still loved him as a friend/brother, but also had some reservations about him because he’s gay.
I also hated the 18 month time skips, of which there were two. Imo they were completely unnecessary and shoved in at the last minute to at least attempt to explain why everyone was ten years older than they were the last season. They should have started this season with the main kids in their senior year, with shit having been relatively dormant (but maybe the odd “stranger thing” happening every now and then) the entire time between 4 and 5. That way you can keep Holly 10 without the age difference between seasons being so glaringly obvious, especially because she’s such an “important” part of this season; and you could add that the goings on of the past few years is breaking her psyche and allowing Vecna to wiggle his way into hers and the other kids’ minds. It also raises the tension and stakes from the start, putting our main cast on edge but maybe a little complacent because of how much time has passed between significant events.
Yeah, Max’s exposition to Holly that was like…most of the episode? It was absolutely necessary to understand what was going on, but it was an exposition dump that was like the writers were wiping their asses with the golden rule of narrative, “show, don’t tell.”
If you have to tell the audience what is happening all the time, you’re just straight up not a good writer.
not to mention Will came out to his friends in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when literal doctors wouldn’t even see gay men for unrelated medical issues out of pure fear, and when being homosexual was literally illegal.
As an bi who suffered a lot of homophobia 10 years later than this show was set, at the hands of people both younger and older than the portrayed characters, it was actually kind of aggravating how accepting they were.
Exactly. Like maybe you could have the scene play out like it does, but then after like when Will and Mike are talking on the tower, have Murray and Hopper have a little aside where Murray asks “did you ever think Will was, you know” and maybe Hopper being Hopper, just kinda shuts it down by refocusing on the task at hand. Imo it’s in-character for each, and doesn’t really take time away from other, more important things.
Maybe I’m just thinking about this too much.