So, I am just very cautious about all this talk about them exploring the Russian connection next season more. Part of what works with Stranger Things is that it keeps things very contained into this seemingly small town. Bringing in the Russian storyline this season, imo, was one of the weakest parts and I'm afraid that leaning in too hard to it for season 4 could start a decline for the show.

But the writers need to stretch. It may kill the show, but them stuck in this small town will kill their creativity.

Poppycock. I doubt that they even are writers because they seem to know nothing about plotting or scene structure or economy of language - it's just one long exercise in tedium wrapped around the very short core story.

But they seem to know how to make you watch every episode, so they're successful in spite of your rambling nonsense. Good Job.

I do regret not stopping, but i had to FF through a lot of it just to be able to finish in the first place! But nothing about that juvenile attempt at writing was compelling in any way 😝

And you do? Educate us, Mr.Genius! I bet you're still working at McDonalds. Want fries with that????

I know hot garbage when i see it - that show is it 🤮

you are so annoying if you dont like the damn show then just stop wachting it and stop ruining it for everyone else ok

Yet you're a fanboy who jacks off every time that kid with no teeth appears on screen.

is that appropriate to say? why so much anger?

You seem fun.

Thanx.

I would argue that decline is already here. 3 was good, but it was a step down from the first two. The interpersonal chemistry that made them great just wasn't there in 3 because most of the time the main group was constantly split up. The whole "opening up" trope is just code speak for "out of ideas so here's some zany random new stuff".

No way.. the writing, the special effects and 80's nostalgia were amazing this season. Story line was expanded and wasn't as repetitive as season 2. The last 15 minutes of episode 8 almost had me in tears.. Great writing!!

Disagree completely, season two was the worst of the bunch. The punk rock Eleven episode was one of the worst things to ever appear on television, and the Duffers really needed to put in work if they were going to redeem themselves after such a debacle. And I feel they did, as season three was nearly as good as season one.

The punk rock episode felt so out of place. It felt like a episode from a different show. Season 3 was a lot better than 2.

Two was a terrible season. It suffered from the sophomore slump a lot of shows have suffered from (Mr Robot immediately comes to mind). Season 3 was a return to form.

Yup, I'm actually surprised to see someone speak of it in favorable terms, and somehow being better than season three to boot!

Two was bad because the feminist crap started; 3 was unwatchable with it so i fast-forwarded through all the female character stuff 😁😝

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it perv, you're afraid of women.

I made my statement directly - nothing to interpret.

I've loved all 3 seasons so far, including season 2. Episode 7 of season 2 gets a lot of criticism, and I think it's undeserved. It showed the Duffers emulating a whole different set of 80s movies, this time new wave films like Liquid Sky, Suburbia, and Repo Man. It also provided a much needed contrast for Eleven, showing what she might have become if she hadn't been found by Mike, Dustin, and Lucas-- and it opened up the world a bit. Unfortunately, it did break the tension between episodes 6 and 8, which was probably its biggest problem.

I feel like Season 3, corrected the episode 7 issues, never breaking tension, and gave fans an all-Hawkins season nearly without deviation. Now the question is, could they do this again even if they wanted to? Probably not, the Hawkins plot feels finished. But are fans ready to accept plotlines outside Hawkins? Or is any deviation going to upset fans? It'll be interesting to see.

The Duffers have said they know how they want it to end it’s just now how they get there. I also liked all 3 seasons and I’m excited to see where they go from here.

I thought three was better than two, mainly because two had El on her vision quest for most of the season. While three had everyone split into groups again, it didn't bother me as much. But yeah, I could start to see some cracks in the formula this time around.

Exactly. Glad you saw that too.

I just hope they don’t introduce time travel.

No it wasn't. It was as good as season one!

Great Season 3 and I'm looking forward to season 4 and hopefully season 5 to close out the '80s (possibly ending the series).
I'll bet that Season five will be in 1989 - it was a big year - Batman was a monster hit along with Indiana Jones III and James Bond 007 (Dalton's last film) and the beginning of changeover in the USSR starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the start of Seinfeld, Baywatch and the Simpsons.

I LOVE YOU, MIKE FERNANDEZ!!! PLEASE STOP IGNORING ME!!!

One thing that bothered me is that they never returned to the plotline involving Eleven's "sister" from Season 2, which I feel is an irritatingly hard-to-ignore loose thread. I'm hoping she returns in Season 4 to help El regain her powers and do battle against the Russians and the Mindflayer/Demigorgon.

I will say that the team being split up felt odd. Especially Dustin because it felt like he was basically in his own show completely separate from the others. Even when they met up, he split up again afterward to go man the radio. I actually began to wonder if he didn't have scheduling conflicts that kept him from being with the rest of the team for most of the show.

I suppose you could argue it gels with the whole, "Everything's different, everything's changing, and nothing will ever be the same, never be as 'whole' as it once was." Will also lamented that the group was being split up (briefly) in an odd conversation that went nowhere yet at the end it's Will and Elle that leave right when it seems like the band might get back together after everything's settled.

I think the Russians were easily the weakest part of the storyline because there were so many plotholes connected to them.

1) Why were the Russians sending out radio signals? What, mind you, did it do except get Dustin on their trail?
2) Why make such a big deal out of the vials of acid? What did it do except provide a burning acid through a floor scene (aka Aliens)?
3) What were the Russians trying to do? Why is this never made clear? Even in the old 80's movies, we got a monologue about why they were doing what they were doing. Just because America did it would have been enough...
4) Why was the Russian Terminator the only Russian to find them at the end? He had a team with him and it seems like the mass of scared Russians should have been enough to tell them where to go?
5) Why bring the Mind Flayer to the Mall and the Russians under the Mall if the Russians and the Flayer aren't going to meet or even be aware of each other? Like, they don't have security footage of the absolute devastation happening upstairs? Really? How will they know when US troops are arriving?

Everything about the Russian subplot was half-baked and pointless. If you took it out, slapped Dustin back together with the rest of the group, I do not believe you would lose anything essential to the plot except the McGuffin that made the Flayer come back and also eventually made him leave. One thing 80's shows and movies did was make the Russian villains have personality.

None of them do here except, possibly, Smirnoff and the Terminator. And Smirnoff wasn't a villain. And the Terminator's only personality traits on display are his lack of any.

1) The Russians were sending out radio signals to let them know when/where to make the drop off for the chemical that powered the machine they were using to try to break into the Upside Down. Which leads to...
2) They weren't vials of acid, they were a chemical component used to run the machine that they was trying to get them into the Upside Down.
3) The Russians were trying to get into the Upside Down. Alexi (Smirnoff) explained all of this both at Murray's house and at the fair to Murray. They had to come back to where the Upside Down originated. That was the second key to opening the gate. They had tried from Russia but it didn't work.
4) He wasn't alone when he found them. The place was crawling with Russians.
5) The Mind Flayer was after Eleven. It had nothing to do with the Russians. In Season 4, seeing that the Russians have a Demogorgan, I am sure they will meet. It's all leading up to the end, which is why they don't reveal every single detail. Otherwise, why would anyone continue to watch the next season?

1) But the radio signals were pointless. They could have easily done this without broadcasting everything in the clear to anyone listening. Especially in Russian. You don't send your coded broadcasts in the clear in Russian in the USA. If Dustin had heard the code in English, he'd have thought he had the wrong channel and moved on. But clearly the radio had to be broadcast so anyone could hear and it had to be in Russian, to get him to chase it down. The point is there is no point to it except to... PLOT!
2) Did we actually see the chemical component in the machine? Is there a point to it except to make the dropoffs that you say justify sending out a radio broadcast across the US? That's just what I'm saying. It's contrived. It doesn't serve the plot. When does the acid/vital component to the machine actually matter to the story? Only to give Dustin and the Scoop Troop something to find at the end of the elevator ride. But it doesn't pay off, it doesn't do anything, it doesn't serve the story. If you write a story, you need to be economical. Things should matter. The Acid/Vital Component doesn't matter.
3) Again, you answered my point without answering it. Why do the Russians want into the Upside Down? What is their intent? Even the 80's movies with Ruskies gave us their reasons for doing things other than NOTHING. Monologues are the easiest way to do this, but not the only one. Properly written, this motivation should lead to some revelation for the antagonists, which would lead them to evolve and change and suddenly make new material for next season, which would up the interest level we all have in Russians. Instead, we have another comment that says, "Oh, more Russians. Oh no"
4) He WAS alone when he found them. At the end, dude. When he's fighting Magnum PI Sherriff dressed as a Ruskie. It's just Magnum vs Terminator. For no reason.
5) The Mind Flayer was after Eleven, but that hasn't ever stopped a movie/show from taking two antagonists and mashing them together. It would even have made more sense for the Russian base supposedly full of highly trained Russian guards to be MORE distracted by the giant Mind Flayer stomping around upstairs, giving Magnum and sidekicks a chance to sneak downstairs than it would have to have them sneak in the way they did.

The show's never had great writing, but the more elements they add to the story, the more obvious it becomes. The reason I point this out is because they're all easy to fix.

Dude you actually have no idea wtf you’re talking about lol, “never had good writing” that’s why everyone watches it and it just keeps getting more and more popular. Your complaints about the show make no sense, you sound like just a straight up hater.

The whole time I was watching season 3 I kept thinking at the end it would turn out to be Dr. Brenner who told the Russians about the gate in Hawkins. I actually thought he was “the American” in the prison cell.

I think that the big picture it's similar to lots of 80's movies. Really, they just want to compete against America. Russkies, Red Dawn, War Games, etc. They all have you suspend belief and use Russia as the enemy. Not only that, but as I said, I believe that questions like those will be answered next season.You may think it's bad writing (and I have no idea why you watch it if that's so), but they do have a timeline that they follow and they do a good job of tying up loose ends.
They actually did show the chemical in the machine. They showed it being put in there by the scientists. I've watched this season twice, and it all made a lot more sense to me the second time around. Since the alarm bells were going off everywhere, and the people working there knew the deal, I think it's easy to see why the crazy Terminator guy with a one track mind (to get to Hopper) was the only one still there and fighting. The rest ran. I mean, not many would stick around to fight the Mindflayer that was seemingly going to kill a bunch of kids in the first place. Unless the theory is correct and the American in the Russian prison is actually Eleven's missing father, they didn't really know about or care about Eleven enough to try to do anything to the kids in the first place. Perhaps the video feed didn't work as well that far underground, I mean, who knows.
I get your point, but just like anything else (especially since they KNOW it is going to end in another season or two), you have to get past the little details and see it for an entertaining show. Nothing more. I feel like it's pretty great for what it is.

I loved all 3 seasons so maybe I’m biased. I liked the Russian because I never would have expected it. The Dr. in season 2 mentioned them but I never thought they would appear this season. The little details never bothered me especially in a show about parallel dimensions and secret Russian bases in America.

I didn't like the kids being separated either, but it was necessary to explore what happens when people grow up. It was supposed to feel odd because it felt odd to the kids, especially Dustin and Will. I enjoyed the Russian stuff. It's common knowledge that during the Cold War, Russia and America were in competition with each other so I didn't feel it necessary for the Duffer Brothers to explicitly state. However, I think they put those words in the mouth of Will's doctor in season 2. The only thing that didn't make sense was a lack of video surveillance. That the kids were able to get that far was just stupid.

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I also questioned the Russian stuff a bit even though it didn't make me enjoy the show any less. It was still the weakest part of the season because it didn't make a lot of sense. I remember first seeing the underground base and thinking how in the heck did they manage to build a massive underground base in the middle of Indiana without anyone knowing. The mall couldnt cover up an operation that big. I did like the russian Terminator though. I was sad to see him go.

The vials of acid is what powered their machine to open the portal to the upside down.

I imagine there will be no cigarette smoking or angry men if the persnickety complaints by wimpy modern society and Evan Rachel Wood are to be believed .

So Season 4 will deal with Hopper in the upside down, 11 getting her powers back and the American in the Russian prison is the Mayor.

And Trump will be out of the White House. If there's a God.....

I know right, I cant stand the way he has talked tough to Iran or tried making peace with North Korea, and he keeps helping me make all this money that I don't from the best economy ever, and I cant stand how much he supports the military and law enforcement and how no one has lost a single right, and how he wants to help create prison reform!
I can't wait for Socialism to take it all away.

I can't stand getting a head ache trying to read Trump supporter comments because every single one of you understand English less than an Illegal Immigrant.

WAAAHHHHH I SHOULD BE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS STUPID....NO ONE ELSE COULD SOLD THE MIDEAST CRISIS LIKE I COULD.....NO ONE IS AS SMART AS I AM...NO ONE EXCEPT ME KNOWS HOW TO SOLVE PRISON REFORM OR THE NORTH KOREA CRISIS.....I WANT TO COMMENT ON IT SO ALL OF YOU WILL SEE JUST HOW SMART I REALLY AM AND HOW I AM SOOOO VERY DESPERATE FOR YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO ME....WAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

At first I thought “the American” would be Dr. Brenner but now I’m not sure.

No don’t think it was Dr Brenner as he wasn’t in charge of opening the other dimension I’m pretty sure it’s the Mayor for not helping them hide the lab and give hopper info

I never even thought of the mayor as the potential prisoner until I read your comment but it could be. I think they are trying to fake us out with the prisoner making us believe it's Hopper.