I tried, despite my misgivings. I tried watching this new season of Stranger Things.
I made it a half hour before giving up.
I have noticed that inevitably these expensive streaming series that suck up your time for 8 or 10 or 12 episodes in their first season decline precipitously if the powers that be decide to give them another year. They’ve already had over 8 hours to tell their story, and they couldn’t do it? So now you give them 40 or 50 hours to stretch out the story? If they couldn’t do it the first time, they’re going to definitely fail the fifth time. If I’m going to watch something, I prefer to search in the movies section, where we have directors and producers who comprehend the economies of narratives. The blight of the streaming series has produced a generation of storytellers who only know how to dither and babble and stretch out profits for as long as possible.
I know I’m old, but that’s how I felt about Stranger Things even before I took a taste. Lowest possible expectations.
But even setting that aside, the show was terrible to a degree that you can only get with a massive budget ($480 million!!!) and the confidence that comes from building on a foundation that has churned out 4 previous years of incoherence. This one has another handicap: a massive, tangled cast of bad actors. They started out as child actors who got by with innocence and fresh approaches, but now they’re all gawky young adults who never had to take their craft seriously, and it shows. They’re in this to milk one more payday out of the franchise before they age out totally.
That’s what killed the first episode for me. I couldn’t stand watching these actors trying to awkwardly reprise a children’s dark fantasy story. It wasn’t much of a story, either: evil monster Vecna is scheming to turn our world into a hellscape, and somehow the same gang of kids have to frustrate him, probably by splitting up and doing magical psychic things.
No thanks. Nope. I’m outta here.
I enjoyed the first season. It was unique and, like Lost, it kept me wondering WTF was going on. Season 2 was a disappointment. I lasted 2 episodes before I pulled the plug. The creators completely lost their way. I never saw subsequent seasons because I dropped Netflix.
Off topic. Today is December 5, in much of Northern Europe it is Krampusnacht. Krampus night, when Krampus delivers birch switches to bad girls and boys. Krampus parades will be held today in many Europen cities. Krampus impersonators march through the streets. Search google youtube for examples. See Amazon for Krampus T-shirts. Yeehaw!
The “decline in quality” is pretty common for TV series. (Yes, that includes Star Trek, TOS).
First season, they have a whole set of shows thought out during the time when the producers are trying to get an okay to put on the show.
Second season, riding remaining energy/ideas from first season, not as good but okay.
Third season: out of new ideas, spinning their wheels
Fourth season: If not cancelled, get new writers, some early problems but then starts improving.
Once you observe this trajectory a few times, it becomes pretty obvious.
Larry@1: Exactly the same for me!
I didn’t expect to enjoy the first season as much as I did, not a fan of modern horror in general, but in season two there was no mystery for me, it was obvious what was happening from the beginning and in the few episodes I saw the plot seemed to be driven by every character having turned into a complete idiot during the brake.
Probably written this before: Back in the 90s I was thrilled with Babylon 5 having a story spanning several seasons instead of Star Treks Planet of the Week stories. These days with streaming series stretching a plot long past breaking point and everything at least needing an “arc” I’d really like a classic planet/monster of the week show!