The "I'm Erica Sinclair" remains so iconic.
So... we didn't get to see the light of another season of Anne with an E but at least we have Amybeth McNulty here :heart:
It's getting more and more difficult to not be distracted by the actors ages. I mean seriously, aren't these characters supposed to be like 14? I guess they deliberately cast 30 year olds to play the seniors so it looks like the kids are kids haha.
Other than that I really love this episode. Especially the horror ending.
nobody going to see lucas play made me so sad
Wow, after nearly 3 years. We are going ǝpısdn down.
WHAT ENDING WAS THAT??? I HAD ESCAPE AT A SPEED THAT NOT A LIGHTNING WOULD CATCH ME!!
What a comeback, Really good start
it was such a great episode ,I guess it was worth the 4 year wait because it was totally epic... especially the 11 entrance it was so heroic:sunglasses::nerd:
Wet squelch.
I love subtitles.
I’m already not feeling it, but I’ll watch it:sob::sob:
I can’t wait for them to kill Angela off
Strong season opener! I like the introduction of the new characters as well as the new monster. Damn scary.
the "horror" aspect of this show has been boosted by at LEAST 400% and i am LOVING it,
the ending of episode 1 was horrifyingly fantastic
I'm guessing most people around here are rating this episode based solely on the adrenaline rush of the last few minutes of it. That was awesome, sure, but the rest of the episode was just OK.
All Will wanted to do last season was play Dungeons & Dragons and NOW the rest of the gang is all into it, after he's moved away? RUDE.
Heck yeah that's how you make a comeback! Things are going darker I love that they put more horror/gore. Already love Eddie he's such a good addition to the show. The new villain looks great I like the more humanoïd look makes him seem like he could be more intelligent and be more of a challenge for our gang.
Like season 3, this is starting out as a teen drama series full of boring crindge comedy.
Some of the high school stuff was really cringe, mostly with “Jane” but I’ve always hated El, I like Eddie though. The kids have changed too much in the 3 years they look too different.
Second best season opener!!!!.....behind season one obviously. Such a nice pace with the new character Introductions wasn't too overwhelming. Looking forward to the rest.
RATING - 88%
That new NF logo with ST vibe, AWESOME, Mannn!!!
that shit with chrissy was actually terrifying
That was a weird episode, is that still Stranger Things or it is another horror TV show? :joy:
I wish this episode had come with a content warning for traumatic head injury death. I absolutely would not have watched if it did, as my mother's best friend died of a traumatic head injury two days prior to me watching, and I really did not need to be retraumatised, and most certainly not so soon after the accident.
I don't think I'll be watching the rest, sadly, I think this is where Stranger Things and I part company.
this looks like the start of a new exciting season. New characters Crhissy (who unfortunately dies at the episode's close) and Eddie Munson seem like tonnes of fun. It's also cool to see a unique paranormal entity not explicitly tied to the Upsidedown and Hawkins lab shenanigans being introduced. It's great because season two and even season three's monsters antagonist did feel like taking concepts from the previous season and redoing them with only minor adjustments
I'm glad to see Lucas getting substantial storylines but I'm sad that storyline is all to his friends abandoning him. like it was so fucked up how Dustin Mike and even Erica didn't go to his game. I'll excuse Max because she's legit going through it but everyone else, nope that was so wrong.
We only briefly got introduced to the other characters' circumstances with Jonathan being a stoner and Nancy running the school paper. Their relationship is in turmoil (what's new) but at least the conflict doesn't seem trite and is an expansion on stuff only briefly glossed over in season 2. I'm not sure how far the stoner Jonathan thing is going to go but I hope his conflict with Nancy isn't riddled with tired cliches
Hopper's coming back (again not a shocker) but I was hoping for a brief few episodes before they kick-started the inevitable resurrection.
My heart breaks for El who predictably isn't adjusting to regular school. I'm honestly shocked she's being put in standard classes given her very notable delays. I am curious to see how Brenner will be reintroduced into the plot. Will didn't have much to do here just being El's guardian. I hope he gets real stuff to do and more character development because as much as I loved ST3 I have to admit it's the first season Will isn't kidnapped or comatose and he didn't contribute much to the story.
Finally, I think the only other significant character arc introduced is Steve and Robin. Steve is working minimum wage and is constantly unlucky in love and RObin is navigating an uncertain crush. I fear steve's characterization won't move past his failed romances but I hope it does cause he has a lot to offer the narrative and I hope Robin secures a win for the Sapphics.
So far I'm very excited and very hopeful for another great season of Stranger things
An underwhelming start to the season.
This series has lost its charm and novelty that made it a success and should have ended after Season 2. There's not much else to do now which I suspect is why they amped up the horror factor this season.
I get that this is Netflix's money making machine, but they really ought to think about sending it off soon already. It's getting super cringey.
The horror is dumb and now over the top, characters are uneven and clichéd. The show seems barely cobbled together at this point.
this was a great episode! i don't looove stranger things but i loved this
Awesome 1st Episode , Problem is now do I binge watch the rest or saviour it :thinking: :wink:
A pretty damn good opening episode. You get well over an hour but it generally moves along well, touching on all the main characters. We get some new interesting ones as well. The real highlight is the horror aspect. There were genuinely unsettling moments in this first episode, especially towards the end. Early days but Stranger Things looks to have done it again.
They amped up the horror factor - I liked that. Judging from the first episode it’s hard to see where they are going with the characters. Seeing them again, coming of age, feels good for now. The Basketball/D&D Parallelum was great! And it’s loud, like REAL LOUD, so loud I had to turn down the volume on my 7.2 fine tuned SoundSystem in tense sequences only to turn it up again in quiet conversation moments. Why.
The wait has been VERY long, and it's paying off from the get go as soon as the music hit!
I think we can all agree the sound editing is the best part about the episode. chef's kiss
Also, I don't know who is this Billy wannabe guy and how much he's gonna contribute to the story/season, but I really don't like him. His performance is giving me a headache. Hopefully, he'll help change my mind in the next ones.
Fun way to start the season!
I have one word about the evil
in this amazing comeback freddy
PLEASE SLAP HER PLEASE SLAP HER PLEASE SLAP HER KICK HER IN THE FACE
Was my cacaphony there in the end but uggggghhhhh whaaaaat the heeeelllllllll
Ok sold on this season, hope it gets / stays good.
Such dark past Elleven has. Exciting.
Also… spoilers under.
I like how they cinematically set this up. All those parallels between DnD with being a devils game, to basically framing Eddie as the big baddie. However, as in how they were doing it… he could very well be the evil mastermind behind everything.
They pretty much already called him evil mastermind behind their Vecna campaign. Although we never saw him during her first episode - He was right there when Chrissy saw the clock in the woods. He was right there when she saw it again in his trailer. While the… Thing had her in its claws, in this reality it was him holding her.
Of course we know how great of a person he is, and DND is awesome, and no way it was him because he actually tried to save her.
OR DID HE.
a good start for this season
Great start to the season. Loved the new characters and also the development of old ones. It’s so creepy though!! Like more graphic or something. Love Eddie. He seems very cool
[7.5/10] There is a lot going on in this nearly eighty minute bloat-fest of a reintroduction, so let’s start with the major sequence that show what Stranger Things does best.
The first is the opening flashback to Eleven’s massacre. I’m glad that Netflix included a content warning given recent events, because seeing an authority figure, even a tainted one, wander around a facility seeing dead children hit pretty hard. I’m usually able to emotionally separate fiction from reality when it comes to death and violence on screen, but in light of the real life images and stories we’ve been subjected to from Uvalde, Texas, it affected me more than I had expected.
All that said, it’s a very well done sequence. The surprise reveal of Brenner, the warm interactions between him and Ten, the utter chaos that slowly engulfs them, and the bloody, terrifying young Eleven staring back at him all sets a tone as the series kicks off its fourth season. Eleven is kind of a cinnamon bun, a mistreated child who deserves to have a normal life and be surrounded by people who love her. But she can also be dangerous, and that's wroth remembering too.
Hers is my favorite storyline in this overstuffed season premiere. It feels so sad and true to life to have a bright but socially awkward kid excited for school and the prospect of what the day could bring, only to have stuck up kids needle her, bad grades staunch her enthusiasm, and cruel bullies disrespect the things that she holds dear. Watching the dastardly queen bee make fun of Eleven when she talks about Hopper as her hero, or worse yet, wreck the diorama that Eleven made to honor him, makes your blood boil. You feel terrible for Eleven when she’s distraught from so much going wrong, but you also bear righteous anger on her behalf. You want her to give that callous popular girl a taste of her own medicine.
Yet, after that opening sequence, it’s low-key disturbing when Eleven reaches out with a raging fury, only to recall that she no longer has her powers. The mean girl deserves a little karmic recompense, but not to die. After seeing what Eleven did in a furor a mere seven years ago, it’s frightening to think what she could do if truly upset now.
It still might not be as scary as the closing horror sequence, when another popular girl, Chrissy, is tormented in her dreams and eventually raised and broken by some malevolent force. The Nightmare on Elm Street influences are hard to miss, but well-deployed. The show knows how to build suspense, with Chrissy’s horrifying insecurities about her weight turned into ominous moments that presage something more powerful reaching a claw into her psyche. The contrast between a seemingly nice young woman wanting to do anything to block out the sense that she’s losing her mind, before a skinless humanoid monsters ravages mind and body, makes for a disturbing conclusion to the episode.
The other half of that equation, though, is the biggest new character -- Eddie, a D&D enthusiast who plays guitar, sells drugs, and has been held back in high school for multiple years. I don’t know quite what to make of Eddie just yet. His big speech about the normies being afraid of D&D is pretty cheesy, but in other scenes, the character is charming and authentic, revealing a charismatic and recognizable type beneath all the countercultural bluster. He could easily fall into some standard tropes, but I’m curious to see where Stranger Things intends to go with him.
The third, and most impressive big sequence, is the intercutt between Lucas’ championship basketball game, and the climax to a D&D campaign hard-fought by Mike, Dustin, and Lucas’ little sister, Erica. The juxtaposition works to heighten both dicey “match-ups”, shows how one can be just as exciting as the other to the right crowd, and highlights the way in which Lucas and his friends are on different paths now. The shot-selection, scoring, and editing are all outstanding, and it’s the signature sequence of the episode.
I like the Lucas story well enough apart from it. We’ve gone a lot of places with the original kids already. Pointing him toward an attempt to break out of the Freaks and Geeks set, and instead position himself to get in with the popular kids to avoid bullying and ridicule, is a natural move for any dork who dreamed of being cool. It’s relatable and sad, as he asks his pals “as a friend” to try to move the culmination of their campaign, and instead sees empty seats where his compadres should be for his big game, and eventually watches them celebrate a successful bit of monster-slayage rather than his improbable game-winning heroics.
The Mike/Dustin/Erica business is solid too. We don’t get nearly as much in the way of character from them, but they build up the comedy this week. The montage of them reaching out to scads of people to sub for Lucas features the best humor in “The Hellfire Club”. And the choice to enlist Erica, replete with an American flag as a cape, no less, is inspired. Her routine works wonderfully in a D&D setting.
The rest of the storylines we see here vary from “solid” to “intriguing”, but don’t get enough oxygen to really confirm anything one way or another. I’m glad they’re following up on how Max’s life and attitude have changed after going through something as difficult as watching her stepbrother die. Again, the execution is a little generic, but it’s a rich vein worth exploring that makes what she went through in season 3 feel more meaningful.
I still love Steve and Robin as a pair, especially now that they have all their cards on the table. Robin working through the very real dangers of her crush on a fellow bandmate, that make it harder to muster up the courage to express your feelings even more than it normally is as a teenager, is all kinds of endearing and sympathetic. Her back-and-forth with Steve about the kind of people who pause Fast Times at Ridgemont High and being yourself is the right blend of sweet and funny. Again, we only gets wisps here, and Steve’s more comic relief than a character with a storyline, but I’m not necessarily complaining since he’s so good in that mode.
On the other hand, the other two points of his old love triangle remain dull. I’ve never given a damn about Nancy and Jonathan, and that hasn’t changed. Making pointing toward a potential break-up could be interesting, especially with Nancy pointed toward an ambitious school newspaper editor position and a future at a fancy college while Jonathan is pointed toward pot and scholastic rejection. But the characters, their relationship, and their new friends are all dull or, again, pretty standard archetypes. Another nerd character and a dimestore pothead foil for each of them does nothing for me.
Joyce and Murray fare a little better. We already have very good reason to suspect Hopper is back anyway, but Joyce muddling through an encyclopedia sales job while getting cryptic messages in the mail creates an immediate problem to solve. Her calls with Murray have a humorous bent to them, and the clue that Hopper’s alive is perfectly fine as a way to move that story along.
And that pretty much covers it. Even in an hour and twenty minutes, Stranger THings has to cover a lot of ground to reintroduce as much as it does here. Will Byers is pretty much an afterthought. We get one glancing interaction between Dustin and his girlfriend. There’s a new lead basketball player who’s surely fodder for a big kill later in the season. And, of course, there’s some new kind of Upside Down creature tormenting our heroes. With so many plots, only a handful of moments or characters truly have the chance to stand-out, and it tends to come with that trio of excellent sequences that remind you of the cinematic capabilities this crew has, even as the narrative feels jumbled from the jump.
I was 16 in 1986. I was DMing my neighborhood campaigns. Guys like Eddie were not playing D&D. Just sayin’. :pound_symbol:mildlycritical
Pretty good opening episode for the new season.
Deeply eerie. The different characters are neat to see back with all the same problems of teenagers.
Okay, but I’m actually so ready for a deeper friendship between El and Will <3
I’ve always felt like they are actually very similar and they’ve obviously both been through so much; I truly think they could bond in a lot of ways. I hope we get to see that this season!
Season 4 1st impression:
This episode is different from the way the previous 3 seasons started. There is still the mysterious aspect where we have no idea what is going on, but it's creepy. I love it.
I remember being kinda indifferent to this season on the first watch, but I kinda get it now. It's a different vibe, but I dig it. It feels more like proper horror than any of the other seasons ever did. Not scary per se, but they're leaning into it a bit more. I remember Vecna being a brilliant character, but the rest of the show kinda went by in a blur, so I'm curious to see how I enjoy the rest of it the second time around.
An awful teen school drama. Nothing happens at all in this episode. Don’t watch unless your a young teen and can last the whole extended 80m of this episode, I couldn’t!
Starting off with a colossal bang! The other seasons usually didn’t get to the major action until episode 2 or 3, but we come right out the gate with some more terrifying scares and getting reacquainted with our favorite characters.
-It’s an interesting angle seeing El/Jane lying to Mike turning her back on her “friends don’t lie” mantra
-New DM character Eddie is pretty enjoyable to watch but man is he gonna have serious PTSD after seeing Chrissy go all Regan the contortionist
-I don’t think me and my wife ever got so enthralled with a scene combining basketball & D&D and both winning, but we loved it
-Sucks El’s powers are gone. I yearn for them to come back so she can rightfully murder those bullies
Oooh this seasons gonna be GEWD!!!!
It's a long time since I last checked what happened to the kids from Hawkins and it turns out a lot has changed in their lives as they went to high school and turned into teenagers. It seems that Eleven and Max are in the worst situation of all the gang, since El is bullied by the students in her new school (and even though Will is in the same class as she is, he does not really support her) whereas Max suffers from depression and grief after Billy's death and retreats to her own world of music. She and Lucas apparently split, and as for Lucas, hs is the one who changed most from all of the gang, I hardly recognised him.
There is a new character of Eddie, who leads the D&D sessions the boys participate in, until the basketball championship coincides with a gaming session and Lucas elects to take part in the basketball match so that he can stop being a nerd and join the popular folks at school. The boys have to find a replacement for the D&D session and they choose Luke's little sister, who turns out to be an avid gamer. The scenes of the final match and the D&D session are quite exciting, as it seems that both the gamers and the athletes are going to lose, but Luke gets the winning score while his sis casts the dice that wins the whole campaign so it was a nice juxtaposition. There was also another nice juxtaposition when Nancy and Jonathan are far from each other, yet they finish each other sentences and profess their love for each other ;)
Joyce gets a secret message stating that Hopper is alive, which is hidden in a Russian doll. I've read in the spoilers that Hopper is captured by the Russians and taking into account the current geopolitical situation, it would be very hard to watch him in Russian prison as it now hits too close to home. I turn down the volume when I hear the Russian tunes in the show.
There was another new character, one of the cheerleaders called Chrissie, who seemed to be suffering from some kind of nightmares but in waking life, in which a monster taunts her and calls her names (he takes the form of her parents so the girl definitely had some trauma or abuse), and it seems it is happening only in her head, but as she goes to Eddie to buy some drugs so that she can get rid of these nightmares, the monster catches up with her and it seems like she's toast after one episode. The scene in which she is killed looked pretty horrible, much darker than anything shown in the previous seasons.
Well yeah first show who is still great in 2022 the ending nice :) but also why her...:/
The magic is gone. I didn't care about anything but the tandem basketball/DnD game, which is saying something I suppose, since I never cared to watch either of those things, but the horror aspects all seemed like I had jumped into the middle of a show I'd never seen before. The music cues all felt cheap and unearned. I'm not sure I'll watch anymore. I think the show peaked around season 2, but there were at least some fun moments in season 3. But I don't remember a complete dud episode like this even in three.
I was kinda worried this would start like season 3, with a bunch of high-school soap shit..
I'll happily admit that my expectations were wrong. Good start!
Wills haircut is so much better
And the ending was terrifying
I loved how they gave the characters so much development and planted the seeds for tension right in the beginning. Also nice to introduce Chrissy incidentally and pick her up as much more important a bit later.
The antagonist however was much of a let down. To show him so early in full view in the first place but also the design was not particularly scary
Also possibly a few too many storylines. But I don't want to assume too much. Bringing them together could be great just as likely. So far Els line is incredibly clishee however.
Pretty good start.
Good potential on the Eddie character, hoping it's not wasted in a bullshit spending the whole season in prison falsely accused way.
El's storyline is pretty boring, hopefully won't have to last too long.
Very gritty flashbacks, and the last scene is also very hardcore. Didn't remember it as dark as that, but I like it.
omg cringe boring teenager episode... hope it will go somewhere
chrissy wake up i dont like this chrissy wake uup
imagine bringing the most popular girl over to your home and she goes full exorcist on you.
poor dude.
My goddddd why this series can be so gooooddd??!?!!
What an episode !
Literally blew up mind
And hey !!!!
this is actually happening to young boys and girls and I don't mean Demorgogon Stuff, I mean grieving,bullying, drugs and harassing
I'm glad this is exposed, no kid should go through this. Mental Health is crucial at this age and it must be said
So good to have this bunch back. The scares seem to be growing with the kids’ collective age.
The last 1 minute made up for an otherwise boring first episode.
I really thought I was watching a mystery series, but apparently this turned into a horror now? And what's the deal with Janes missing powers, did I miss something?
Either way, this doesnt have the stranger things vibe just yet. Let's hope things will kick into gear in the next episodes
worst audio engineering ever for a show this big. it’s literally so fucking loud then quiet as fuck so you constantly have to touch the volume
Start was 2, The end was 10...
kate bush needle drop in a max scene raised millions for the LGBTQ+
An excellent start to the series that eases you in with real world struggles and ends on a high that won't quickly be forgotten in the shows history. Great
Honestly surprised this has made it to season 4. It’s been going down hill. It’s lost that nostalgia to 80s films it originally had.
Dustin Henderson still look the same. Will Byers grown so much.
Not happy about the increased horror value. And I absolutely loved this show and was very much hoping for a new season. Big disappointment.
Chrissy…
Oh boy……
That was delicious frighting
Fantastic start for the long awaited fourth season. The episode does a great job reintroducing us to the Stranger Things characters and transporting us back to the 80s. I really missed the awesome soundtrack of this show and I also love how they use these amazing songs in always the right way. Really curious to see where they are going with the story this season. The ending scene was already quite gory and the horror elements are very noticeable in the premiere episode.
As soon as Kids by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein started playing I started smiling. It's been a long wait. Welcome back!
I'm glad they are finally giving something for Lucas to do. It feels like he has always been on the sidelines but I love that he is getting his own storyline.
Shout by BobDole12BlockedParent2022-05-27T22:44:38Z
all the new recurring characters were annoying except for scared cheerleader girl who was absolutely serving '80s scream queen vibe