# Stranger Things - Season 3



## ctg (Dec 10, 2018)

Stranger Things Season 3 will be released in 2019. It will include following episodes


> Suzie, Do You Copy?
> The Mall Rats
> The Case of the Missing Lifeguard
> The Sauna Test
> ...


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## Narkalui (Dec 10, 2018)

Noice


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## ctg (Dec 19, 2018)

> Since the series' debut, fans have known that the main antagonists in _Stranger Things_ are the otherworldly creatures that dwell in the Upside Down. From government agencies to bullying classmates, other threats have emerged for our heroes, with peculiar IMDb credits possibly revealing who will be ancillary villains in Season Three of the series.
> 
> _*WARNING: Possible spoilers below for Stranger Things*_
> 
> ...


 'Stranger Things' Season 3 Villain Possibly Revealed


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## picklematrix (Dec 19, 2018)

I'm getting a bit burned out on all these 80s nostalgia properties. I'll watch watch this series with high hopes, but can't we all agree to start revisiting the 90s sometime soon? Or maybe the 19th century?


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## ctg (Jan 2, 2019)

> Netflix bestowed a New Year's gift to all _Stranger Things_ fans last night: the release date of the show's third season. _Stranger Things 3_ will debut on July 4, 2019.
> 
> Just before 2018 ended, Netflix tweeted out another trailer for _Stranger Things 3_ (the above video is a shortened version from Netflix's YouTube channel). The nearly four-minute-long clip takes viewers back to New Years' Eve 1985, specifically Dick Clark's iconic New Year's Rockin' Eve broadcast. Mysterious interferences interrupt the broadcast, sending static onto the screen along with strange messages like "when blue and yellow meet in the west."
> 
> ...


 Netflix welcomes 2019 with Stranger Things 3 release date: July 4


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## ctg (Feb 13, 2019)

> We've still got several months of waiting for the debut of season 3 of _Stranger Things_. Fans hungry for the backstory to the various residents of Hawkins, Indiana, can play the mobile game. Or they might try one of the prequel novels published by Del Rey Books that delves into the pasts of some of the peripheral characters.
> 
> _Suspicious Minds_, published earlier this month, tells the story of Eleven's mother, Terry Ives, and how she got involved with MKUltra. A second prequel novel, _Darkness on the Edge of Town_, will arrive June 4 and focuses on police Chief Jim Hopper's early years in New York City as a homicide detective. And yes, both are considered "canon," for fans who are purists.


 Stranger Things franchise is getting spin-off prequel novel about Jim Hopper


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## ctg (Mar 21, 2019)




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## Narkalui (Mar 21, 2019)

Awesome!!!


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## Dan Jones (Mar 21, 2019)

picklematrix said:


> I'm getting a bit burned out on all these 80s nostalgia properties. I'll watch watch this series with high hopes, but can't we all agree to start revisiting the 90s sometime soon? Or maybe the 19th century?



I suppose the 90s is maybe too recent for it to be considered for a period piece. For me,  a piece set in 90s UK would be wonderful, but I understand that it might not have the same nostalgic pull of Super 8s etc. but perhaps in a few years when the 90s children are old enough, we can make it happen!


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## Lumens (Mar 26, 2019)

Well if this series continues, it should reach the 90's soon.

...unless they exist in an alternate universe where it will always remain the 80's. That's a horror show in itself.


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## REBerg (Apr 11, 2019)

I just finished binge-watching the first two seasons. I'm not much for horror, but I liked this series.
Kids leading adults in dealing with monsters is always fun. Millie Bobby Brown is an exceptional young actress.
I'm looking forward to season 3 in July.


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## ctg (Jul 9, 2019)

> Stranger Things' return to Netflix has been massively popular, with the third instalment breaking the streaming service's viewer records.
> 
> More than 40 million households watched the show in its first four days, according to Netflix, with 18 million-plus already having finished all eight episodes.
> 
> ...


 Stranger Things 3 breaks Netflix streaming record

Well, I've been watching it slowly and I meant to make a post about the first three episodes, then it became six and now I've passed that. Dave said to not post anything if I didn't feel up to it, but the thing is back in my head, I kind of feel responsible to continue what I've been doing. 

If you have watched, what did you think about it?


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## Lumens (Jul 9, 2019)

It was OK. I enjoyed it, but I also feel that by now it's starting to look like a formula. The writing is still good though, and I like the fact that it's only 8 episodes per season.


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## REBerg (Jul 9, 2019)

I watched the first episode yesterday and liked it. I've got the next two days off, so I'll have a little binge-watching time available.


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## REBerg (Jul 9, 2019)

Three chapters in



Spoiler



The kids are really taking a back seat to horror this round. Definitely a darker tone.


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## ctg (Jul 9, 2019)

Spoiler






REBerg said:


> The kids are really taking a back seat to horror this round. Definitely a darker tone.



The story is fuller this time. Every character gets time, they have a meaning, and they don't feel out of place at any point. It is kind of frustrating that because of it, the story somewhat stalls, especially around the adults. But I loved every second of it, and I felt super sad at the end.


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## REBerg (Jul 10, 2019)

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for season 3!
I had my doubts in the first few episodes, but things shifted nicely back to my expectations in the final four.


Spoiler



l loved how the kids got firmly back into the driver's seat and stayed there. They were the strength of the first pair of seasons.
I would never have guessed that the ending sadness @ctg cited would be the sacrifice of Chief Hopper. (Sorry, Billy. I shed no tears for your demise, despite your 11th-hour save of Eleven.)
The chief's struggles to raise a teenage "gifted" daughter and to realize a relationship with Joyce provided most of the comic relief in this season. Tears of joy may be on the way in a highly likely (I hope) fourth season. I strongly suspect that "The American" in the Russian prison cell in the final scenes of this season is the not-so-dead Hopper.
I laughed out loud when everyone was forced to endure Dustin-Buns and Suzie-Poo perform their duet of _The Neverending Story_ theme to get the corrected Planck's Constant code. I felt sorry for Steve when his budding romance with Robin was abruptly derailed by a similarity in gender preferences.
The main problem that I had with this installment is accepting the existence of a vast underground Russian installation beneath a small town Indiana mall. In the course of excavating a room-sized elevator shaft that seemingly extended nearly to the earth's core, plus miles of underground tunnels, what the hell did they do with the mountain of materials they removed? A quarrying operation would have provided a better cover than a shopping center.
One other bone to pick: If I followed correctly, the Mind Flayer made a comeback because some leftover portions remained on our side of the passage to Upsidedownland when Eleven closed the portal. Yet, the key to stopping the new giant tarantula was re-closing the reopened rift?
Some bulldozer-sized chunks of TMF were left in the Starcourt Mall when the dust had settled. I don't think that the Russians need their pet demogorgon to get their program rolling again.


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## ctg (Jul 10, 2019)

REBerg said:


> One other bone to pick: If I followed correctly, the Mind Flayer made a comeback because some leftover portions remained on our side of the passage to Upsidedownland when Eleven closed the portal. Yet, the key to stopping the new giant tarantula was re-closing the reopened rift?



My understanding about the events is that the US Department of Energy shut down their experiment, but  Soviets decided otherwise. They made the secret base under the Starcourt mall somehow without alerting everyone, and then they started to break the boundaries between worlds ... or dimensions. You could easily claim that the Upside World is a dimensional world that share physical settings with the Prime Earth. Although we don't know for sure that their world is same as ours, but we can assume it is, just that nobody knew or ever heard strange things happening in the Hawkings. 

So, the Soviets figured out that they can open the rift and it will somehow enable them to travel there. It is also a well known fact that Soviets were more interested in the science than Americans. Especially in the back in the eighties. To be honest, I don't think anyone of them knew what was happening at the ground, or outside their facilities, as  it would have freaked them.


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## Mr Orange (Jul 11, 2019)

Lumens said:


> It was OK. I enjoyed it, but I also feel that by now it's starting to look like a formula. The writing is still good though, and I like the fact that it's only 8 episodes per season.



i'm 3 episodes in and feel the same - seems less original than the first two seasons (so far)

although after @REBerg 's post above my expectations at raised for the second half!

on a side note, i'm still not sold on Netflix's thing of releasing all episodes at the same time.


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## ctg (Jul 11, 2019)

Mr Orange said:


> on a side note, i'm still not sold on Netflix's thing of releasing all episodes at the same time.



It is a problem because the fans cannot really talk about the episodes and give the producers proper feedback. The season 3 is however one of the most viewed shows in the Netflix at the moment.


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## Mr Orange (Jul 11, 2019)

ctg said:


> It is a problem because the fans cannot really talk about the episodes and give the producers proper feedback. The season 3 is however one of the most viewed shows in the Netflix at the moment.



and more importantly it means I can't read through this thread without the risk of some unintended spoilers! at least with weekly releases you can read up to the reviews of the show you have just watched and then stop if you haven't caught up yet...

as you can see, crucial first world problem...


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## paeng (Jul 12, 2019)

Spoiler



So the cop and others die because Suzie insists on a sing-along with Dustin before giving the latter the number?


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## ctg (Jul 12, 2019)

Spoiler






paeng said:


> So the cop and others die because Suzie insists on a sing-along with Dustin before giving the latter the number?



Yes, it's kind of sad that it had to be that way, but you can equally blame the writers and producers as the end needed the twists. The bigger problem however was that Hopper wasn't turning that second key. He could have ran away and block the entrance to the control room, instead of fighting in the catwalk with the Soviet brute.


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## REBerg (Jul 12, 2019)

ctg said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, it's kind of sad that it had to be that way, but you can equally blame the writers and producers as the end needed the twists. The bigger problem however was that Hopper wasn't turning that second key. He could have ran away and block the entrance to the control room, instead of fighting in the catwalk with the Soviet brute.


No one can be certain which link in a chain of events led to a specific result. If I had never been born, then nothing would ever have happened to me.


Spoiler



The song was hilarious. I hope Dustin is prepared for Suzie to be in charge.


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## picklematrix (Jul 14, 2019)

Watched the first three episodes all in a row last night. Really enjoyed it so far. 
I'm hoping for a spectacular end to this season, as the budget is presumably generous for a flagship show such as this.


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## Bugg (Jul 16, 2019)

I finished watching season 3 last night.  I thought it got better and better as it went along, after a slow start, and was really motoring at the end.  For me, the Dustin/Steve/Robin/Erica scenes were the best bits, and I loved the nods to movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Aliens, Jaws etc.  Better than season 2, I thought.


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## ctg (Jul 16, 2019)

Bugg said:


> Better than season 2, I thought.



I agree. It is definitely better than the last season as there was less of the darker scenes. Most of this were scripted like a fun adventure in 80's style. The first thought I had was, '_This series feels awfully similar to the willow movie._'


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## clovis-man (Jul 18, 2019)

paeng said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> So the cop and others die because Suzie insists on a sing-along with Dustin before giving the latter the number?





Spoiler



Don't be so sure that Hopper is dead. The "after the credits" scene where the Russians are dragging a victim off to feed the demi-gorgon starts with them passing a door and one saying to the other,"No, not the American".


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## Narkalui (Jul 18, 2019)

Finished. That was awesome, better than series 2 imho


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## ctg (Jul 18, 2019)

Narkalui said:


> Finished. That was awesome, better than series 2 imho



So, what did you think about the story? Were you disappointed that they didn't show upside down in this season?


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## Narkalui (Jul 18, 2019)

No, I don't think we really _need _to see it anymore. I think we'll see more of it in series 4 but if not then no worries.

I disagree about the slow build up, I felt it was gradual but still engaging and well paced


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## ctg (Jul 18, 2019)

Narkalui said:


> I disagree about the slow build up, I felt it was gradual but still engaging and well paced



Pacing is difficult to get right, when you have a large audience. There will be always people, who think that it was too slow in places. Others might feel there was not enough of action, even though I believe this season was full of action, especially when the Soviets got the ball running. 

So, you're right, it did sped up towards the end of the season, with last four need to be seen almost back to back. I don't think they needed any other episodes to tell the story. I honestly feel that they could not have done better.


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## Mr Orange (Jul 21, 2019)

well I finished this over the weekend and gotta say it left me disappointed. seems like they left the smart writing and twists and turns of seasons 1 and 2 and decided to go for a standard jump-scare horror series. and then they diluted it even further with the whole Russian base under small-town America thing. the whole thing just didn't grab me in the same way that seasons 1 and 2 did, and I almost found myself watching it just to get through it. to me it lacked some of what makes ST such a great show. I did like the character development but even that seemed rushed.

and there were several things that had me thinking "aww, come on, seriously?" like the Russian thing. putting aside the corrupt mayor being in cahoots with them, there was a Russian base with 10 miles of tunneling under a mall, the mall guards all talking with Russian accents, dudes running around a fourth of july fair shouting in Russian to each other, an immense amount of power being stolen from the grid, presumably a huge number of non-English speaking Russians getting ferried in, and no one noticed? the massacre at the hospital seemed to go unnoticed as well. and there were a lot of flayed that wandered off without anyone seeming too worried.

and Eleven losing her powers seemed a copout too. it was as if the writers realized they couldn't just have her saving the day again so randomly shut her down for no reason that I could see.

I also wasn't keen on the three different storylines running in parallel and not having Hopper, Dustin et al and Eleven et al involved in each others' storylines  until 20 minutes from the end.

having said that there were some awesome moments in the show and if I hadn't watched seasons 1 and 2 I think I probably would have really liked it. it was a good watch just not as good as i was expecting. and the ending was super sad and had me sitting for at least 5 minutes after tryin to process it.





REBerg said:


> One other bone to pick: If I followed correctly, the Mind Flayer made a comeback because some leftover portions remained on our side of the passage to Upsidedownland when Eleven closed the portal. Yet, the key to stopping the new giant tarantula was re-closing the reopened rift?
> Some bulldozer-sized chunks of TMF were left in the Starcourt Mall when the dust had settled. I don't think that the Russians need their pet demogorgon to get their program rolling again.



my understanding is that without the link to the "brain" in the upside down, the bits in our world are useless.


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## REBerg (Jul 21, 2019)

Mr Orange said:


> my understanding is that without the link to the "brain" in the upside down, the bits in our world are useless.


That makes sense. The monster bits stranded in our world when Eleven closed the original rift remained dormant until the Russians opened the second rift.


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## Mr Orange (Jul 21, 2019)

also, I wonder what form the mind flayer takes in its dormant state. it was just a whole, bunch of smoke when it left Will and it didn't seem to have any physical form until it inhabited pulped rats and humans. so the bits left over will no doubt rot away and only the flayer essence will hang around like a bad smell...

incidentally what a horrific monster that was, made up of rat/human puree! the unformed pulp reminded me a lot of cooking strawberry jam....


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## Judderman (Jul 29, 2019)

Mr Orange said:


> well I finished this over the weekend and gotta say it left me disappointed. seems like they left the smart writing and twists and turns of seasons 1 and 2 and decided to go for a standard jump-scare horror series. and then they diluted it even further with the whole Russian base under small-town America thing. the whole thing just didn't grab me in the same way that seasons 1 and 2 did..


I agree with some of this and also parts of what others wrote. It was still an overall good and entertaining series. But overall a bit more of a kiddy story, and definitely inferior to season 1 and probably 2. I'm glad season 4 will be the last as I'm sure they can pull out another quality year, but don't want to see yet another long decline in a show. ...And I'm being negative just because the first season gave such high expectations. Still good stuff.



Spoiler: Season 3



The Russian underground stuff was a lot of fun and did feel like something out of the Goonies. but I had thought of Stranger Things as 80s style, but better. This wasn't really better. Still some funny bits, still some drama. The last episode was excellent overall, despite the last 10 minutes of dragging out after the action. Surely Hopper is alive too.
The 80s references are always fun. The creature was like something out of the Blob, but better made.

Actually the main issue other than the Russian base was probably the "bad guy". In the first season you had the superb dark scenes with the creature that 11 could see in the Upside Down world. Then in season 2 it went a bit down with having a big creature, though the portal scenes were cool. In this one we were left with the big creature plus people being taken over to be simple stooges.
The fact that the kids get less cute as they age is simply something that can't be avoided.


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## Mouse (Aug 3, 2019)

I've been avoiding this thread in case of spoilers but I've now just watched the last episode. I really enjoyed it, don't think the quality, story-telling or anything has dropped at all. I love Steve. I love Steve and Dustin. But Steve is the standout character for me - his arc is great. I also think "The American" is Hopper, although how, I don't know - although I guess it could also be Murray as we didn't see him come out at the end there, or did we? Love the little Bob bits. Can't think of anything else to add to the discussion at the mo, other than it's series like this and The Umbrella Academy which make me want to carry on writing.


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## Narkalui (Aug 4, 2019)

Spoiler



Hopper ran into the Upsidown and somehow emerged in Russia


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## Dave (Aug 8, 2019)

I'm only half way through this season, but I read some of the posts here already and wanted to comment on those points. I probably won't see the ending until next week so can't comment on that. I actually preferred season 2 to season 3 so far, and I think that is relevant being in the unusual position of watching the three seasons within two weeks. I agree that this season is more adult and more horror. There is much more possession, death and violence. However, that isn't the problem. We already know the lie of the land now, so there are few surprises. The Russian aspect was spoilered at the very start of the first episode! That seems like an odd thing to do. As in the earlier seasons, I liked the episodes that people thought were slow. I found that the multiple different strands that all merged together was good, but in the first two seasons we learnt what was going on as the protagonists do themselves. Here, we were always one step ahead of them and no surprises (at least not yet.) I gather there is a difficult ending so certainly some surprises yet to come.


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## Steve Harrison (Aug 9, 2019)

I enjoyed each season more than the last. Great show!


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## The Big Peat (Aug 9, 2019)

First season of Stranger Things I've watched and I loved it.


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## Dave (Aug 9, 2019)

I've seen the end now, and yes, it probably was the best season, but it was different. It was much more action filled. Therefore, it is hard to compare. The same as comparing _Alien_ with _Aliens. _Two different things.


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## ctg (Oct 1, 2019)

> In a move unlikely to surprise anyone, Netflix has officially announced that there will indeed be a fourth season of its mega-hit series _Stranger Things_. The announcement comes with its own brief teaser, featuring spooky imagery from the Upside Down and the phrase "We're not in Hawkins anymore" as bells ominously chime.


 It’s official: We’re getting a 4th season of Stranger Things from Netflix


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## HareBrain (Mar 26, 2020)

I've watched all three seasons in the last couple of weeks. Loved 1, liked 2, and 3 was watchable but rarely more. I don't think that's just an effect of fatigue. 3 didn't really introduce anything new except the Soviet involvement, which brought with it a whole load of credibility problems for me. I guess the other new aspect was a load of arguing about relationships, especially at points where surely people would be more concerned about the survival of themselves and the world. I've run out of interest in squelchy monsters, and sadly, the post-credits bit at the end of the last episode leads me to think we'll just be getting more of the same in season 4. (Having said that, I'll still watch it with enthusiasm, at least at first.)


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## Mr Orange (May 17, 2020)

did a bit of a lockdown/parental leave binge of all 3 seasons over the last couple of weeks and this is a short summation of my views:

Chapter 1 is great: The introduction of the characters and the monster is really well done, although there is not so much character development as the season is mostly plot driven. Still, it's a great plot with drama, action sequences and twists in all the right places. I really struggled to not watch the next episode every time.

Chapter 2 is also great: Not so plot driven as we've seen (almost) all of it before, but the character development is what holds this together more. Bit more of a jump-scare season than the first. I still really enjoyed it but it was more for the characters (especially Eleven).

Chapter 3 is definitely a step down (in my opinion). The plot is so-so and seriously stretches credibility at times, and the character development is overblown and even annoying at times. This season is much more of a typical 80's production with 80's writing, instead of the clever modern productions set in the 80's that the first two seasons were.

Speaking of character development, while is love Eleven's, the character arc I got the biggest kick out of was actually Steve "The Hair" Harrington's.

I think it will be interesting to see how they do the next season. Hawkins is a mess and I read somewhere that they may be setting a lot of the story elsewhere. Which will be hard to do without changing the whole show.

Oh and then there's this:


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## HareBrain (May 17, 2020)

Mr Orange said:


> This season is much more of a typical 80's production with 80's writing, instead of the clever modern productions set in the 80's that the first two seasons were.



Yeah, they did the retro _too_ well.


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## Mr Orange (May 18, 2020)

HareBrain said:


> Yeah, they did the retro _too_ well.



Excellent way of putting it HB, that's exactly what they did


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## Hugh (Sep 15, 2022)

Well, I've just watched Season 3 having had a bit of a gap after Season 2.
My thoughts are almost exactly the same as @HareBrain who wrote back in March 2020:
_I've watched all three seasons in the last couple of weeks. Loved 1, liked 2, and 3 was watchable but rarely more. I don't think that's just an effect of fatigue. 3 didn't really introduce anything new except the Soviet involvement, which brought with it a whole load of credibility problems for me. I guess the other new aspect was a load of arguing about relationships, especially at points where surely people would be more concerned about the survival of themselves and the world. I've run out of interest in squelchy monsters, and sadly, the post-credits bit at the end of the last episode leads me to think we'll just be getting more of the same in season 4. (Having said that, I'll still watch it with enthusiasm, at least at first.)_
I found the first two episodes dull and annoying, but then it got going and at times put me through the emotional wringer.  However, I doubt that I'd bother watching  if it wasn't for Seasons 1 & 2.   When something's really good, like Season 1, I become sufficiently involved that I don't find myself picking holes in the plot or getting annoyed with the writers, whereas in Season 3 this no longer holds.  I'm pissed off that the writers have (presumably) decided to move Hopper to Kamchatka, but then I felt the whole presence of Russia in the storyline to be totally unnecessary.
Of course I'm still sufficiently hooked that I'll be watching Season 4 before long.


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