Season One: All Episodes

[Amerilla]

On Sunday, July 17, 2016 at 5:05 PM, jmonique said:

 

I see he's 57 according to Wikipedia, but Matthew Modine with a mane of silver hair, and Winona Ryder as the very (believably) mother of a near grown man has made me feel old like few things ever have before.

 

I'm with you on there. It's sort of like James Spader being bald and heavyset now....it's never going to feel normal.

Winona's performance didn't bother me. A single mother with no emotional support, nobody to turn to, nobody believing her that Will was still alive - I don't know that "calm desperation" would have felt right. Maybe I'm giving her too much credit, but I felt like she was implicitly drawing a parallel between Eleven's mother and Joyce - that they were messed up, underwhelming mothers to 'special' children, but where Elle's mother had finally gotten worn down and given up the fight, lapsing in to catatonia, Joyce didn't give u,p and went ahead even when she was terrified. 

I thought she knocked it out of the park in the scenes with Elle and the DIY sensory deprevation tank, assuring Elle it would be OK, not to be scared, not to go on if she couldn't - a kind of love and care she obviously wasn't getting from Evil Modine. I wish there had been more time to explore that aspect.

[Capricasix]

Yeah, it's weird to see our childhood/young adulthood stars getting older...while we are still the same age ;) Reality Bites was a favourite of mine in the early 90s, along with Heathers.

I started to feel old when one of my highschool friends became a grandmother at 40 or 41 - but I still had a five-year-old at the time! She had her first child at 19, and that child went on to have a child in her early 20s.

[nachomama]

I really enjoyed it and feel the way most do, wynona was the weakest link. But I'm never gonna forgive Nancy for Barb. She literally told Barb to be the cockblocker then relieved her of the duty. And Barb still didn't leave her. Got snatched because she knew if she left and Nancy changed her mind she would have to get her home. I still blame Maverick for Gooses death so I know I'm skewed.  

[AimingforYoko]

10 hours ago, nachomama said:

I really enjoyed it and feel the way most do, wynona was the weakest link. But I'm never gonna forgive Nancy for Barb.

Joyce reminded me of Wendy in The Shining. I was actually rooting for Jack in that one.

The Duffer brothers have said in interviews that they were caught a little off-guard how much Barb's fate has resonated. 

[Capricasix]

Maybe because so many of us were Barb back in the day!

[Taryn74]

11 hours ago, Capricasix said:

Maybe because so many of us were Barb back in the day!

Yes!  Definitely brought back some not-great memories for me, of having to always play the look-out for my friends, or sit there in the car looking out the window for half an hour pretending to be deaf while they "messed around" with their boyfriends.  

And yet, you never can quite bring yourself to just say 'screw it' and leave, in case they really do get themselves in over their heads and need you to rescue them.  Blah.

[Schweedie]

On 18 juli 2016 at 6:51 AM, Ronin Jackson said:

It was driving me nuts trying to figure out where I'd seen Natalia Dyer before until I realized she is the splitting image of a young Emmy Rossum. Even the role is one a young Emmy Rossum would have played.

There's definitely a resemblance! I didn't notice at the time since I got hung up on someone else myself - Joe Keery as Steve to me looks so, so much like Ben Schwartz. It was distracting at times.

Really enjoyed this show. It's made me want to re-read/watch old stuff from Stephen King.

[nachomama]

Ok, I read something on twitter about "IF you loved Stranger Things" you gotta watch this...and I can't find it again and don't remember the title. This wasn't a list of movies or even shows that go all the way back to the 80's it was some other show. sigh. I need something between now and October.

[Capricasix]

This is hilarious - do Pawnee and Stranger Things exist in the same universe?

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=84469

[PatternRec]

I really liked the show a lot. There were a few clunky parts, the worst offender being Hopper getting into the facility so easily, though I can forgive the clunky parts because the rest of the show was so good.

I liked the design choice of going with an organic look to the portals, that you're basically stepping (or crawling, in Nancy's case) through something gooey and gross. It was very David Cronenberg. 

I like some of the theories about the Upside Down, but I don't think we really have enough info to know what's what yet. My big question about the UD is did it change and if so, why? When El is travelling in the spying/experiments we see that shes in a dark world, but it's very austere and there's none of that growth around or any of the physical things from our world that were in the UD. It could be that they are two different places, or it could be that the austere dark world became corrupted by the monster or whatever El did that opened the portal.

Also, does anyone else feel like the monster is plant-based? It's mouth is looks like a venus flytrap or pitcher plant. The UD is covered in some sort of weird vines and all the stuff floating in the air I'm pretty sure was pollen or spores. It looks very much like cottonwood pollen. My thinking here is that the monster is plant-based appendage that consumes animals/people as sustenance for the entire organism. 

edit: the cottonwood pic doesn't do it justice so I found a vid: 

Edited August 12, 2016 by PatternRec

[PatternRec]

2 hours ago, doram said:

Honestly? My unpopular opinion is that this show shouldn't get a sequel that explains these things. The creepy /scary factor of this story were the mysteries. We know enough to piece some things together - 11 getting her powers in utero from the LSD and other drugs they gave her mom, the parallel UD world, etc - but not enough to know everything. It's more effective that way. I would have been very happy if the story had ended with 11's fate a big question mark, and us wondering if Will really threw up a worm or if he was hallucinating because his mind had broken from his ordeal.

I agree that mysteries are often best left unexplained, but if they do it right they can make a second season that isn't a trite explanation of the mysteries. 

[PatternRec]

Am I the only one who thought of ET when they put the blonde wig on El? Or when Mike hid her in the closet? 

Edited August 13, 2016 by PatternRec

[Portia]

11 hours ago, PatternRec said:

Am I the only one who thought of ET when they put the blonde wig on El? Or when Mike hid her in the closet? 

Not the only one, no. That was a particularly cute shout-out!

[FurryFury]

I loved the show. I grew up reading Stephen King, and it basically felt like it could be written by early King. So many familiar tropes.

I have to say, the thing I liked most was how earnest it felt, and how clear it was that the writers actually cared about their story. It's so refreshing nowadays, in the world of paint-by-the-numbers shows pandering to the common denominator and carefully constructed using time-honored formula. 

Also: children that are characters rather than props (and played by pretty good actors - other than Elle, Dustin was a stand-out to me). Doesn't happen often on TV (well, it's not technically TV, but you get my meaning).

The one bad thing was probably Joyce. Way too one-note, and it could have been avoided, too, if they gave her better characterization and more relationships with other characters. Watching a mother torn apart by grief, while realistic, doesn't jive with the rest of the show particularly well.

[PatternRec]

2 hours ago, FurryFury said:

other than Elle, Dustin was a stand-out to me

I agree. Also, Dustin strikes me as what Seth Rogan would be like as a 12 year old. 

[Capricasix]

The actors who play Dustin and Lucas have some stage experience as well. Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) was in Les Miserables, and Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) was in Lion King.

[PatternRec]

11 minutes ago, Capricasix said:

The actors who play Dustin and Lucas have some stage experience as well. Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) was in Les Miserables, and Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) was in Lion King.

Whomever was the casting director for this show deserves a medal. 

[zxy556575]

14 hours ago, FurryFury said:

The one bad thing was probably Joyce. Way too one-note, and it could have been avoided, too, if they gave her better characterization and more relationships with other characters. Watching a mother torn apart by grief, while realistic, doesn't jive with the rest of the show particularly well.

I read a review that characterized her range as:
Episode one: My son is missing!
Episode four: My son is missing!

I didn't care for Ryder's hammy performance but agree that the script didn't give her much scope until halfway through.

[Kel Varnsen]

I am curious to know what the timeline was between El touching the monster and then El escaping. Was that the last straw thats pushed her to try and break free? 

Overall i liked the show. I have read some stuff about the MK Ultra project snd the psychology experiments they were doing on people and they are throughly creepy, and made a great basis for this.

[Dev F]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am curious to know what the timeline was between El touching the monster and then El escaping. Was that the last straw thats pushed her to try and break free?

My assumption is that it was what allowed her to break free. It seems like there was some lag time between the gate opening and the demogorgon's first appearance, since Eleven is back in her gown when she escapes and Dr. Brenner isn't there when the monster attacks. So I figure that after the wall of the deprivation tank room collapsed, they must've put Eleven back in her quarters in an agitated state, and when the monster appeared and everyone was running around figuring out what the hell was going on, she took the opportunity to get the hell out of there.

Interestingly, when double-checking the flashbacks to make sure the above was correct, I realized that I'm not sure the demogorgon is feeding when Eleven reaches out to it in her mind. Or rewatch, it looks like it's ministering to an egg, like the one Hopper notices in the Upside Down. Which makes me wonder if the monster's response has less to do with hunting for food and more to do with its reproductive cycle being interrupted. Did it snatch Will because, like the owl that attacked Eleanor Gillespie, it thought his body was a nest?

[Kel Varnsen]

That actually makes sense, everyone freaking out would totally be a perfect time to escape. Especially considering the experiment had nothing to do with finding life in other dimensions. Now I wonder, was the scene in the first episode with the lab coat guy running for the elevator and getting attacked also from that first monster contact? I am having a hard time keeping track of all the stuff that went down in the lab and the order it happened.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Kel Varnsen

[WatchrTina]

Okay I just finished binge-watching the whole thing and I'm going to write a review before I go back and read everyone's comments.

I liked it!   And I wasn't sure I was going to because I'm not a fan of horror.  I love SciFi but when it crosses into horror I'm usually out.  The exception was the X-Files.  I'd willingly let that show scare me and this show reminded me of X-Files crossed with the kids from ET (and I mean that in a really good way.)  I grew up in the 70's (Class of '79) so I know this is set slightly after my time but wow, was this tripping all the nostalgia buttons for me.

So yeah, I liked it.  I thought the acting was mostly very good (the black kid was, to me, weaker than the other two boys), Eleven was really good and I absolutely loved "Toothless."  He was a delight.  I was happy to see Winona Ryder again and I thought she did well.  The character of Steve (the popular dude) annoyed me tremendously but then, he was supposed to.  The science teacher was a little too good to be true but hey, I can get over that.  So I mostly loved it. 

However . . . there were a few GLARING plot holes.

1. The sheriff sticks a knife in the chest of a dead kid and figures out he's a rubber dummy stuffed with cotton.  How exactly did the funeral home not notice that?  

2. Will's mom could barely afford to make Xerox copies of his "Missing Child" flyer.  How did she afford his funeral?  How did that funeral even come about with the mother refusing to participate?

3. How do these parents have no idea that a kid is living in the basement for days?   I can try to fan-wank that Mom has surrendered the basement to the kids and never goes down there but seriously, isn't the basement usually where the washer-dryer was located?  Moms with three kids tend to visit that every couple of days.

Still some first-class entertainment with a really fun retro-vibe.

But I will NEVER understand why people go looking for the monster in horror films.  Fly you fools!  

Edited August 17, 2016 by WatchrTina

[Kel Varnsen]

As far as the funeral goes didn't the chief say that Will was the furst missing kid since the 1920's? If that was the case and he shows up dead, and considering it is a small town i can see people chipping in to help with the funeral costs. That said I really hope that in season two they go into how they explain  to the townspeople that Will wasn't actually dead.

[Dev F]

7 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Now I wonder, was the scene in the first episode with the lab coat guy running for the elevator and getting attacked also from that first monster contact? I am having a hard time keeping track of all the stuff that went down in the lab and the order it happened.

I believe so. You see lab coat guy running from the sensory deprivation lab into the hallway, which doesn't yet have any creep growing on the walls or pollen floating in the air, even though both will be there when Dr. Brenner brings the team in the next day. This seems to suggest that the incursion from the Upside Down is very recent.

What's more, Brenner tells the newly arrived feds that the demogorgon came out of the gate in the sensory deprivation lab, which would fit with lab coat guy suddenly exiting in a panic. By the time lab coat gets to the elevator, the monster seems to have figured out how to move between worlds without the use of the gate, since it grabs him through the ceiling. (Maybe it needs to visit a dimension once before it can transit there itself?) And from that point on it never really uses the gate again, so I figure we're supposed to take the incident that sent lab coat guy running as the first incursion.

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

The sheriff sticks a knife in the chest of a dead kid and figures out he's a rubber dummy stuffed with cotton.  How exactly did the funeral home not notice that?

The spooks seem to have gone out of their way to keep the local authorities from getting close-up with the body -- sending the coroner home, posting "state troopers" outside the morgue -- so presumably they sent the body prepackaged and/or kept it under close supervision to prevent the funeral home from examining it either.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Dev F

[WatchrTina]

But . . . that's what funeral homes DO.  They wash the body, embalm it (in most cases), dress it, and apply make-up if there is a viewing. They know what dead bodies look like -- even one that has been in the water for several days.  At least that's what I learned from the TV show "Six Feet Under."  They have to handle the body. There is no way a fake corpse would go unnoticed. That was just silly writing. 

[PatternRec]

23 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

But . . . that's what funeral homes DO.  They wash the body, embalm it (in most cases), dress it, and apply make-up if there is a viewing. They know what dead bodies look like -- even one that has been in the water for several days.  At least that's what I learned from the TV show "Six Feet Under."  They have to handle the body. There is no way a fake corpse would go unnoticed. That was just silly writing. 

It's a pretty big plot hole, but one of many I'm willing to allow them. Most of the plot holes like this one, like Hopper breaking into a highly secure government facility, etc, glossed over things that weren't necessarily important, and by just speeding past those hole we got a tight eight episode season without anything slowing it down, like a sideplot about raising money for the funeral or something. 

[Taryn74]

2 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

But . . . that's what funeral homes DO.  They wash the body, embalm it (in most cases), dress it, and apply make-up if there is a viewing. They know what dead bodies look like -- even one that has been in the water for several days.  At least that's what I learned from the TV show "Six Feet Under."  They have to handle the body. There is no way a fake corpse would go unnoticed. That was just silly writing. 

I'm pretty sure they made it a point to mention that the "state guys" (I don't remember what they called them) handled everything concerning the body, including the embalming and getting it ready for burial.  We knew it was part of the cover-up, and Hopper figured that out, but to the rest of them it was just the "state guys" coming in and bossing everyone around and taking over.

[nodorothyparker]

I assumed between "state guys handling everything," the family not really cooperating or participating in the funeral, and the official cause of death being taking a header into the quarry and drowning, no one would have thought much of it if it was a closed casket visitation/funeral.  The local funeral home was probably glad not to have to deal with it.  Maybe because I grew up in the small town Midwest, none it really struck me as odd.  When kids died badly, the casket was closed and there were collection jars at every gas station and local diner to raise money to bury them.

At least that's what I'm going with.  I didn't need to see Ryder spent yet another part of an episode in hysterics over picking out a coffin.

[Kel Varnsen]

21 hours ago, PatternRec said:

It's a pretty big plot hole, but one of many I'm willing to allow them. Most of the plot holes like this one, like Hopper breaking into a highly secure government facility, etc, glossed over things that weren't necessarily important, and by just speeding past those hole we got a tight eight episode season without anything slowing it down, like a sideplot about raising money for the funeral or something. 

Hopper breaking in wasn't a plot hole to me, because they told him when they caught him that they saw him on the security camera as soon as he came through the door.  Taking out the two guards wasn't really a plot hole to me, more just one of those things that only happens on tv.

19 hours ago, Taryn74 said:

I'm pretty sure they made it a point to mention that the "state guys" (I don't remember what they called them) handled everything concerning the body, including the embalming and getting it ready for burial.  We knew it was part of the cover-up, and Hopper figured that out, but to the rest of them it was just the "state guys" coming in and bossing everyone around and taking over.

Yea I can buy that. If the police can shut down the coroners office and stop them from doing an autopsy, then I am pretty sure bypassing a funeral home (especially when you have a family that can't afford and doesn't want to deal with a funeral) shouldn't be that much more of a stretch.

[raven]

The coroner was in on it.  In the final ep when Hopper is at the party at the police station, we see clippings on a bulletin board (yes I paused it because I was curious) - one says the coroner was arrested for a false autopsy, another says that state troopers are being fired, Hawkins Lab isn't cooperating. 

On 8/14/2016 at 7:20 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

That said I really hope that in season two they go into how they explain  to the townspeople that Will wasn't actually dead.

My guess is it will be explained by he had an accident near Hawkins Lab, they thought he died and so tried to cover it up.

 

23 hours ago, Dev F said:

By the time lab coat gets to the elevator, the monster seems to have figured out how to move between worlds without the use of the gate, since it grabs him through the ceiling

I wonder if that's how El got out, in all the commotion she was able to move between worlds - first to the Upside Down then back out again, only outside the lab.

Edited August 16, 2016 by raven

[Kel Varnsen]

I just figured that since El can move things with her mind, getting out of her room above ground, when no one would have been paying attention to her would have been relatively easy.

Also i was watching a youtube video last night and the guy in the video pointed out that the monster could also move thiñgs with its mind since it was able to undo the chain lock into Will's house from outside.

[Capricasix]

1 hour ago, raven said:

The coroner was in on it.  In the final ep when Hopper is at the party at the police station, we see clippings on a bulletin board (yes I paused it because I was curious) - one says the coroner was arrested for a false autopsy, another says that state troopers are being fired, Hawkins Lab isn't cooperating.

I paused it too :D In one of the news clippings, it said that Joyce Byers had accused the lab of kidnapping her son and performing experiments on him. And this was only a month after Hopper told her that in order to get Will back, she would have to promise not to say anything about what happened. So her silence didn't even last a month!

[PatternRec]

2 hours ago, Capricasix said:

I paused it too :D In one of the news clippings, it said that Joyce Byers had accused the lab of kidnapping her son and performing experiments on him. And this was only a month after Hopper told her that in order to get Will back, she would have to promise not to say anything about what happened. So her silence didn't even last a month!

It's possible that Joyce didn't say anything. News stories can be planted. 

[Dev F]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Also i was watching a youtube video last night and the guy in the video pointed out that the monster could also move thiñgs with its mind since it was able to undo the chain lock into Will's house from outside.

Yeah, that's a weird moment in retrospect, since it doesn't subsequently demonstrate any telekinetic powers that I can recall, and it seems like an unnecessary power if you can just walk through walls.

I wonder if the apparent telekinesis was actually meant to be another manifestation of the demogorgon's power to move interdimensionally -- like, it was actually transiting its hand through the door to unchain the lock from the underside, or something like that. Maybe that takes less effort than jumping all the way into the Upside Down and back again.

[Capricasix]

8 hours ago, PatternRec said:

It's possible that Joyce didn't say anything. News stories can be planted. 

True...

[zxy556575]

11 hours ago, Capricasix said:

In one of the news clippings, it said that Joyce Byers had accused the lab of kidnapping her son and performing experiments on him. And this was only a month after Hopper told her that in order to get Will back, she would have to promise not to say anything about what happened.

I mean ... why would Joyce make such an accusation? She knew it wasn't true. Was that maybe the cover story everyone agreed on? It presumably sounds better and is more believable than "monsters."

[Kel Varnsen]

Is it possible she told the whole story and that was the only part the paper could verify or made sense as a news story. 

[Taryn74]

10 hours ago, PatternRec said:

It's possible that Joyce didn't say anything. News stories can be planted. 

Oh yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious it was a planted story.  Like lordonia pointed out, that's not even what Joyce believes happened, so there's no reason for her to hurl that accusation around unless that's the cover story Hawkins Lab told her to use.

It's really a little disturbing to see the layers of deceit being laid down here to cover everything up -- they needed to have an explanation for Joyce going off the deep end (because she was pretty far gone by the end of it), so a paranoid mother who managed to convince herself her son had been kidnapped and experimented on satisfied that (without coming close enough to the truth that someone who decided to dig into it could put the pieces together).  They also had to pay her some "hush money" without raising suspicions, so they put out the story about falsified information from the coroner and gave her enough money to look like it was a payout regarding that.  But just enough money to fix up the trailer, not so much that she could buy a new house and car (because too much money would raise eyebrows).

It's a pretty involved cover-up when you stop to think about it.

[Capricasix]

Yes, that all makes more sense than her suddenly spilling the beans, as it were, only a month later.

[PatternRec]

5 hours ago, Taryn74 said:

It's really a little disturbing to see the layers of deceit being laid down here to cover everything up...

I'd argue that metaphorically Hawkins Laboratory is the true demogorgon of the story. And when you're a handful of individuals vs a government agency with money, power and an obvious lack of morals sometimes your're just happy to have gotten away with your lives. Any real accusation Hopper or  Joyce could make would be the equivalent of shooting a powerful monster with a Wrist Rocket. 

[nachomama]

[Capricasix]

Yesterday, I found my high school yearbook from 1985-86 (I was 15). I may not have had Barb hair, but I definitely had the glasses!

[nachomama]

Oh dear lord I had the glasses. I think the hair as well, absolutely had the kinda tall collared ruffledy shirt that buttoned up the side. I totally called that when Barb was standing at the locker. One of my school pictures was in one of those shirts with those glasses.

[driedfruit]

The upside down reminded me of the Magicians. I'm wondering if the monster is an experiment that went wrong, or the parallel version of 11. 

I didn't grow up in the 80s, but did watch ET once (and cried, a lot). Loved this show regardless, though I'm very pleased I didn't have to live my life before computers. The kids and teens really didn't have a whole lot to do before things went bad. 

[secnarf]

1 hour ago, driedfruit said:

The upside down reminded me of the Magicians. I'm wondering if the monster is an experiment that went wrong, or the parallel version of 11. 

I didn't grow up in the 80s, but did watch ET once (and cried, a lot). Loved this show regardless, though I'm very pleased I didn't have to live my life before computers. The kids and teens really didn't have a whole lot to do before things went bad. 

They had plenty to do!

I'm old enough to remember having to go to the library for research for school projects, but after the age of about 11, computers and the internet started taking over. I'd hate to be a kid growing up today. They don't know what to do with themselves without technology. Kids need free, unstructured play.

[Capricasix]

Well, somehow we managed to fill our days with fun things to do, even without computers ;)

(I was 13 in 1983)

[nodorothyparker]

I was 11 in '83 and I have a kid almost this age now.  Both then and now, kids can be wildly creative creatures finding all sorts of things to do.  One of the real differences I see is that kids now don't have the same sense of freedom and almost benign neglect that we did, I think in part because of the ubiquitous presence of cameras and cell phones and the sense that people see everything we do.  The other is that while I have may wasted entire summer days reading and sneaking TV my kid will stare at a tablet screen all day if left to his own devices.

Edited August 20, 2016 by nodorothyparker

[Danny Franks]

I remember my summer holidays in the 80s being not dissimilar to the freedom these kids had. I remember riding our BMXs down the Vale (a country park, of sorts) and trying to build a raft (and failing), and building a go kart (more successfully). But it was the late 80s, so we had our fair share of videogames and Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys to play with too, as well as books to read (and I read The Lord of the Rings when I was ten or eleven, like these kids).

But I felt like the show captured the feel of 80s movies, as much as it captured the feel of the 80s. The somewhat idealised life of Elliot or the Goonies, rather than the real lives of most people in the 1980s. Like Super 8, it filled me with a sense of warmth because it reminded me of the movies I loved as a kid, more than it reminded me of the life I led.

Quote

Since this was in part a homage to the '80s movies, I figure this was their Pretty In Pink moment, where Andie/Nancy ends up with Blaine/Steve, even though she belongs with Ducky/Jonathan.

Regarding this bit. I was initially disappointed that Nancy picked Steve. It definitely felt like part of the generally downbeat ending, with her following her mother's path and choosing the acceptable, 'safe' guy over the one who she seemed to feel more for. But thinking about it, and reading some interviews with the writers and actors, it makes sense. As they said, the whole season takes place in about a week, so there's not much time for her to stop and consider her feelings about anything, let alone which guy she should date. 

Jonathan and Nancy banded together on a quest and while Jonathan succeeded, Nancy failed. The scene of her watching the reunion with Will made that clear. She couldn't share that moment, and perhaps felt she'd lost that connection with Jonathan, because he was no longer grieving the loss of someone he cared about. So she turned back to Steve, who proved himself to be a decent guy. But I do think the writers made it clear that choosing Steve now is not choosing Steve for good. The lingering looks in the Christmas scene were there to show that it's not all tied up with a pretty little bow, and I'm sure it will be revisited in season 2.

But what I most want to see in season 2 is them recovering El, and her getting to live a normal life, even if it's only briefly. One of the most touching scenes in the whole show was when Joyce was hugging her, and reassuring her to not be scared. Something El had never had before, and something that seemed to make her more determined to succeed than all the torture at the hands of Modine did.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Danny Franks

[DrSpaceman73]

I enjoyed the whole season.  You can nitpick about things here and there, but it was thrilling and interesting the whole time, really did not know what was going to happen

Only disappointing part as has been pointed out is what happened to Barb?  They just kind of dropped that.  Will's mom, ok a bit of a nut, is distraught and does everything she can to find him, they have a memorial at the school, go on a manhunt to find him.  Barb's missing......oh well.  Mom just says "tell her to call when you see her"  No manhunt, no memorial.  Maybe they mean to explore that in season two but it was odd. 

Other than that, the look and feel of the 1980s was captured perfectly.  Its a mash up of Stand By Me, ET and the X-Files. 

I honestly did not recognize Matthew Modine.  It took me almost the whole season to realize which character he was. 

Only other complaint, and I know part of this is purposeful for the tone and mystery of the show, was scenes were so dark, watching on my phone I couldn't see what was going on in some scenes and missed some things I was supposed to see, I think.  Did they reveal what the "present/not a present" was that Nancy gave Jonathan at the end?  I wasn't sure if they just didn't show it or I couldn't see it. 

Obviously some deal was made with the government by the sheriff, will be interested to see where that goes in Season two. 

So is Will the new El now?  Does he have powers?

[Danny Franks]

53 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Only disappointing part as has been pointed out is what happened to Barb?  They just kind of dropped that.  Will's mom, ok a bit of a nut, is distraught and does everything she can to find him, they have a memorial at the school, go on a manhunt to find him.  Barb's missing......oh well.  Mom just says "tell her to call when you see her"  No manhunt, no memorial.  Maybe they mean to explore that in season two but it was odd. 

Barb is officially a teenage runaway. Unofficially, and far more accurately, she's dead as a doornail. I don't think there's any story there, other than seeing Nancy and Jonathan struggle with keeping the truth to themselves, if that's what they decided to do.

For Nancy in particular, it should be an interesting thread, because she's lost her best friend, but seemingly can't grieve openly or be honest with Barb's family about what has happened to their daughter. But it's still about Nancy, and not Barb, who really only existed as a macguffin to get Nancy involved in the main plot.