#but then in vol 2 he really just pulled up there with sadie sink and was like LET’S MAKE THESE BITCHES CRY

[fireonolympus]

extremely popular opinion: caleb mclaughlin fucking SLAYED in volume 2

[moonflowerdamie]

ok so i just watched volume 2. gonna tell you guys my thoughts because WHAT THE FUCK.

⚠️STRANGER THINGS V2 SPOILERS!!!!!⚠️

seriously. what. the fuck. did i just watch.

i have so many thoughts about ep 8 and 9 so i’m gonna try and condense them into lil sections for y’all so. here goes.

•brenner’s death•

-we were supposed to find it…sad? the death of the man who kidnapped and abused children for his own gain? yeah, nice fucking try duffers, with the ‘sad emotional music’. honestly i’m glad the fucker’s dead. one of the only good things to come out of vol 2.

•will and mike•

-i now understand why the duffers waited until after pride month to release the new eps because wtf??? they’ve built it up that will’s in love with mike the whole season (the whole damn show) and then he just…doesn’t say anything? sure he had that monologue where we all know he was talking about himself and not el but. he didn’t even come out to mike? or anybody for that matter. sure, the scene with jonathan is undeniable that jonny boy knows and accepts him and it was a really sweet scene, but it felt like a cop out. will didn’t ever actually confirm anything. fucking bullshit. william byers get behind me, i’ll protect you from the duffers this time.

•stancy•

-fuck ME i hated this storyline. i fucking HATED it. i’ve already spoken on here about why steve and nancy should never be romantic again, and the fact that the duffers tried to push that arc was bad enough but. also. did you guys clock how ooc steve was because of it??? like, he just starts spouting shit about wanting six kids and a perfect life to nancy, who just NEARLY DIED, and then does it again in the woods when robin runs off alone—completely ignoring her well-being and safety in favour of trying it on with nancy again. that’s so not the steve we know. the steve we know and love would never let robin run off alone, and he certainly wouldn’t be basically ambushing a girl with his fucking life plans that make no fucking sense. and if that all wasn’t bad enough, THE WHOLE PLOTLINE WAS IRRELEVANT ANYWAY. they don’t get together because nancy’s still with jonathan and it never gets addressed again. fucking idiotic storyline.

•jancy•

-ok so can we all agree that this ship has run its course? like, don’t get me wrong, they’ve been cute the past few seasons, and i wouldn’t hate it if they were endgame, but. come on. jonathan is STILL LYING TO HER about college, their plans clearly don’t align anymore and they just want different things in life. and i get it, it’s cute that the actors are dating in real life, but that shouldn’t be the only thing holding the ship together. i just think the duffers have made it clear throughout the season, then with that ending scene in vol 2 when jon and nancy are repairing hop’s cabin, that these two are going to inevitably part ways.

•jopper•

-one of the saving graces of these eps. they FINALLY kissed and it was sweet and cute and perfectly built up, in my opinion. joyce and hopper stay one of the best ships in the show.

•max•

-is she alive? is she dead? WHO KNOWS???!!? honestly the HORROR the duffers have put me through with her this season. it was fucking brutal having to watch her bones snap like that. i was honestly shaking, like holy shit. and then she died, and then she didn’t? hmm? what did el do that saved her? what consequences will that have??? so many unanswered questions. but, i will say this: sadie sink deserves a fucking emmy.

•ronance/vickie x robin•

-i am so beyond pissed at the duffers brothers for the shit they pulled with robin in these 2 eps. like, vickie’s not in the season except for one two minute scene in ep 1 and then they bring her back for the last ep? and yeah, her and robin could be cute i guess, but it felt so shoehorned in. like they clearly just shoved that scene in at the last minute to fill a diversity quota and makes me fucking ANGRY. the opportunity was there for robin to have a fully fleshed-out, meaningful, poignant romance with nancy. they’ve been together all season, they’ve grown closer, understood each other, looked out for each other. hell, i even thought the duffers might go there with that scene where robin grabs nancy’s hand outside the creel house. but no. because why give us an actually good wlw relationship when you can shove it to the side and give us absolutely crumbs of representation? bullshit.

•eddie’s death•

-tbh i was expecting him to die, and so i wasn’t shocked but. it felt very anticlimactic. like, the whole focus was on him dying a hero—but then he didn’t technically save anyone? he just…died? for seemingly no reason? and yeah, dustin’s reaction BROKE me, but like then nobody else ever mentions it? not even steve, robin or nancy, who have been with him the whole season. it just all felt so rushed. joe quinn, you did a great job man, and you deserved better writing.

•elmax•

-is it just me or did every one of max and el’s scenes together feel very…romantic? like, yeah they’re best friends who haven’t seen each other in a while, but all of their interactions were framed and built up to seem almost like lover’s reuniting? like they’re touching each other’s faces constantly when they first see each other again, max is looking at el’s lips, max’s ‘death’ involved el crying over her just as much as lucas. and when el visited her in the hospital everyone like made way for her as if she’s the most important person to max. am i going crazy here??? someone tell me they get what i’m trying to say. anyway, another saving grace of the season, elmax remains superior.

•the ending•

-i actually think the ending was pretty cool. like it sets up a vastly different, darker and more epic final season. we actually saw the battle with the upside down and vecna having disastrous effects on hawkins. and i thought the return of the mind flayer actually was kinda cool, and the way everything was explained was pretty good. but, after these 2 eps, i’m not sure i trust the duffer brothers with another season. well. we’ll see what happens i guess.

overall, volume 2 was a let-down. ooc characters, messily wrapped up plot lines, shoved in, shitty representation. it all felt rushed and like the duffers kinda gave up halfway through. highlights of the eps include: the jopper kiss, elmax, robin grabbing nancy’s hand when she was scared, hopper beheading a demogorgan, eddie playing guitar, erica kicking that one guy in the balls and natalia dyer, noah schnapp, caleb mclaughlin, millie bobby brown and sadie sink’s acting.

what did you guys think?

[xaerais]

❗S4 VOL. 2 SPOILERS ❗

Unpopular opinion, but I think Max Mayfield should’ve died this season, and Eddie Munson should’ve lived.

And in NO WAY is this hate towards Sadie Sink or her character. I adore Max with all my heart, and Sadie brought her to life in such an amazing way with such a spectacular performance.

However, I’m upset the Duffer Brothers are too scared to kill off a main character of the show, especially when they were SO CLOSE. So, let me explain why I believe Max should’ve stayed dead, and Eddie should’ve lived.

For starters, Stranger Things has always been a heartwrenching show. It’s always been extreme, and with each new season, this story is somehow taken to the next level.

And when new characters are added seemingly every new season, the fanbase falls in love with them almost instantly, and become attached; as well as excited to see where they’ll end up.

Now, we’ve had Max since S2 and got the opportunity to see her grow and become an important part of the main cast. In S3, her relationship with Eleven grew, and she became valued by the original party members from S1 and any fans, really, that’ve been watching from the very beginning. With the death of her brother, however, and the suffering she’s endured henceforth from Vecna’s curse, and even herself and her own mental state struggling to maintain a good relationship with Lucas and the rest of her friends, we’ve gotten to witness first hand how her character has severely pulled back.

This behavior only continues and worsens throughout the course of S4, up until Vol. 2 released showing us that she had no problem with dying right up until she was held in Lucas’ arms sobbing about not being ready yet.

Already, that was a heartbreaking moment for us viewers to watch. And it was only that heartbreaking because we believed this was actually the end for her character as a whole. That Vecna finally got her, and that their well-thought-out plan to kill Vecna still didn’t work the way they wanted it to.

But the impact that moment had—even with El who couldn’t physically be there, yet was seen still mourning for her friend—seemed to dissipate in an instant. All in all, I am SO annoyed El “saved”/kept Max alive.

I understand that, yes, El wanted to at least do something for her friend, and that if any of us were in the same situation, we’d try to do something too. But she did when she attempted to piggyback and keep her safe. They took away the one aspect I personally love most in writing that I think they should’ve kept.

When even despite doing everything a person can do to save someone, it still isn't enough.

If the Duffer Brothers weren’t so afraid of killing off their main cast, Max was definitely one of the few characters that should’ve stayed dead. Because it hurts more, leaves a bigger impact on what’s to come next. And with a solid plan to defeat Vecna, and El even coming to her aid yet STILL being killed off? Oh man that would’ve been so good.

That’s good writing for a tragedy. A new kind of pain that Stranger Things could’ve been known for, and that other really big shows haven’t been afraid to do yet continue to thrive even after they’ve ended. (i.e. Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead).

And going back to what I was saying earlier about Eddie, oh man, he had so much potential and so much depth for a character to be killed off as quickly as he was. For Chrissy, it might’ve been acceptable because she was introduced and then killed in the same episode. But for a character to be introduced in a new season, then killed in the same one when he had evidently WAY more room to grow? It was a poor choice on the Duffer Brothers’ part. He was already super loveable thanks to Joe Quinn’s fantastic efforts, and there was ultimately just so much more to him we should’ve been able to see before his untimely and overall pointless death.

All of it felt wrong to me, so at this point I’m just... curious to see where they go in S5. I pray they don’t disappoint us as much as they did with S4’s season finale. Stranger Things had such a good thing going for them!