I am incredibly grateful to Game of Thrones for this adventure I have found myself sucked into for some years now. I am grateful for all the emotions it brought me since day one, bitter and sweet alike. I am grateful for all the laughs, all the tears, all the jokes and gags, every single bit of it, I really am grateful and appreciative of it all. It's been just... wonderful.
That said, I am feeling robbed and betrayed right about now. This ending is arguably one of the worst series finales in the history of television and trust me I realize how bold of a statement that is. The terrible violations the characters have suffered this season, the lack of proper resolution to many of the plots and narratives developed over seasons worth of buildup, the seeking of shock value at the expense of quality writing... that and much much more solidified this as an absolute disappointment of a finale, as opposed to the marvel wrap it could've given this cultural phenomenon.
This episode does have its positives, as always the score, acting and cinematography are perfectly performed but I just do not think it's nearly enough to compensate for how lackluster the writing has been, as much as I wish they did. Oh well, sad as it may be, I'll just hold on to the good stuff and hope that GRRM's book, once finished, will tackle the ending in a more coherent, more respectful and more meaningful way. It's been real y'all...
P.S: I'll leave this here lest some people jump me again. This comment is a representation of my own personal opinion, I am entitled to one just as all of you are. If you enjoyed this season and felt this finale delivered what you were looking for then more power to you mate, but that doesn't nullify my opinion nor does it make yours any valid. If you want to discuss or challenge my views, I'd be more than happy to engage you on that basis but if all you have to offer are petty remarks then please keep them to yourself.
I'm seeing some negative reactions in here. Well, I quite liked it tbh. Had me glued to the screen the whole time. Maybe I don't remember the quality of seasons 1-5 or maybe I'm just happy with little, who knows. Everyone seems to hate this season and I have to say I'm not 100% happy with it. BUT. I really liked this episode. Anyway, what can I say.
I hope Ford faked his death with a Host version of himself.
THINGS THAT MADE THIS EPISODE F*CKIN AMAZING:
- Getting to see the dragons in action was truly beautiful;
- Dany and Yara interaction was GOLD;
- The battle was very very very good. Tense and visually stunning. I couldn't breathe throughout it;
- Ramsey FINALLY being killed and ultimately by Sansa;
- >>>Sansa's character development!!!!<<<<
- Rickon dying as well was awful, but I can't say it was a wasted death nor a bad executed scene.
S06 was worth it mainly because of this entire episode. Still can't believe how good it was. I hope the finale is even better.
"Everyone! Remain calm! The Crypts are perfectly SAFE!!!!! I repeat, the CRYPTS ARE SAFE!!"
Best Walking Dead Episode Ever!
Watching this episode, I couldn't help but be totally distracted by the fact that they recast Daario Naharis.
Deepfake Eleven doesn’t look like a Beetlejuice shrunken head at all, nope, not one bit.
UNCLE BENJEN. YES
I knew he'd come back this episode to be honest xD
Emilia Clarke as always surprising us. WHAT A PERFORMANCE. That ending scene, wow gave me the chills. She always does. The star of this week :D
Kings Landing plot is really pissing me off. Like I wasn't already hating this storyline, now the faith and crown form an alliance?
I can't even :| Just destroy the faith and get it over with. In the words of the Mad king "BURN THEM ALL" xDD
Kinda puts the episode down tbh. Remember when Kings Landing was awesome? I miss that :(
I'm glad Arya saved Lady Crane's life. And I'm glad she's not a "No one" either haha. Excited for her fight with The Waif.
Can't wait for her and the rest of the Starks to reunite. It's gonna be like the Jon and Sansa moment but with steroids ^_^
Nice episode overall. 8.5/10
One of the things I loved most about this show was the intro song. And now, not only has the plot been getting worse and worse since last season, but they also cut the intro song down? #disappointed
[8.5/10] Well hell, they got me good on the twists here. I suspected that the ostensibly helpful orderly had his own agenda, and that when he talked about Number One he might have been talking about himself. But there’s a whole mess of things that I did not guess, including:
That's a lot! It’s effectively making One the show’s Big Bad, give or take Brenner himself. And I gotta say, kudos to the casting directors and Jamie Campbell Bower. He leans into the utter creepiness of One a la Cillian Murphy or Daniel DeHaan. You by him as a sympathetic and troubled yet evil and menacing figure, which is a hard line to walk, and it sells some of the mishmash of cliches that the character represents and succeeds despite.
To the point, One is an odd mix of Agent Smith from The Matrix (“Humanity is a strange kind of pest”), Magneto from X-Men (“We’re superior to them”), Darth Vader from The Empire Strikes Back (“Join me and think of what we could accomplish”), and even Emperor Palpatine from Revenge of the Sith (“Oh no, right after my villainous invitation to powerful young soul, lightning turned me into a scarred ghoulish figure!”). HIs monologue is a touch hammy, and feels pulled from a mix of these other sources, but the superb performance and intensity of the scenes makes it work.
Say what you will about Stranger Things as it reaches its mid-season break, but they can still put together a damn good set piece when they want to. The stand-off between Eleven and One is terrifying. The raw intensity of the two having a force battle a la the one she had with one of her telekinetic bullies in the prior episode, the sheer horror of the way One drags her around as she claws at the floor and hangs in the air, and the rousing but still unnerving way she turns the power back on him and disintegrates him into another dimension is jaw-dropping and riveting.
At a thematic level, I like One as the antithesis of Eleven, her dark reflection and ultimate nemesis. The show implies that he’s been repeatedly abused by his parents, which lends to his dim view of humanity and the way he powers his abilities with sadness and anger. He was not born a monster, but made that way, and it tainted his perspective and his approach to generating his unique talents.
Eleven is the opposite. Time and again, we’ve seen her power through difficult situations not by resorting to pain, but instead, like Max, by reflecting on the people she loves and who care deeply for her as well. It’s telling that when Eleven tries to summon strength from recalling her mother being ripped away from her, or the death and destruction she witnesses as a consequence of her removing One’s inhibitor, it’s not enough to defeat him. But when she recalls her mother’s love, the act of creation and instant bond and affection, it summons a power that One has no ability to withstand.
For all this season has been teasing that Eleven needs to return to negative emotions to regain her powers, I love the subversion that, at the end of the day, it’s the remembrance of that love which not only spurred her to victory on that fateful day many years earlier, but which restores her power now. I still find Brenner to be a morally questionable figure. The show’s treatment of him still makes me a little queasy. And I still feel uncomfortable about Owens’ willingness to throw in with him, even if he thinks it’s necessary to save the world. But all of this ethically dubious “training” lands in a strong place thematically, vindicating Eleven’s bonds with the people who love her as the source of her power, and pointing to the lack of such care and affection as the thing that unfortunately doomed poor Henry Creel.
I don’t know that every part of it adds up logistically. It feels like it conflicts with some other things we knew about the Upside Down, and the attempt to bring together the cosmology of the Demogorgon, the Mindflayer, and Vecna into one consistent effort plays more than a little clunky. But ultimately, it works at an intuitive level, which is good enough for me.
Plus hey, there’s a lot of Star Wars and Harry Potter here, which isn’t terribly surprising given some of the references in the show to this point. (The former, not the latter, obviously.) One is basically tempting Eleven to turn to the darkside, to use negative emotions to spur her use of The Force. The offer to join together is very Vader and Luke, or even Kylo Ren and Rey. And the contrast between a child born of love and one born without it is very Harry and Voldemort. On balance, it makes me think that Eleven will ultimately try to save One in some way, to redeem him, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see in July when the last two episodes of the season come out.
All-in-all, I haven’t loved the Eleven storyline thus far, but this takes into a pretty shocking yet compelling place, about where her flashback adventures fit into the larger story of Stranger Things, and about how who she is informs what she can do in a way her foe absolutely cannot despite all his own malevolence and power.
Oh yeah, and other stuff happens in the episode too! Who knew?
I still don’t like the Russian rescue business, but at least they went somewhere with it. It remains insane that they were able to bluff their way into a secret Russian prison, bring a weapon inside without getting frisked or bothered over it, and hold a warden hostage to get most, if not all, of what they want. This plan makes no sense, but hey, Murray’s Yuri impression is gold, so it’s got that going for it.
And yet, Hopper and the crooked guard’s fight with the demogorgon is reasonably cool. The CGI for the demogorgon was off here, as it didn’t move or react properly. The design remains terrifying though, which does a lot of the work. Plus the Duffer Bros. and the fight choreographers do a good job of adding tension to the scene by having Hopper struggle to light his spear torch at first, and then force them to improvise when getting behind the super-thick doors before the flame runs out. It’s a well-constructed set piece, even if I’m pretty much done with this storyline.
To the point, Hopper and Joyce embracing after so long apart and so much each has been through in the interim should be a moving moment. I felt nothing. I can’t say that Stranger Things didn’t earn the moment. It showed each character going through a hell of a lot to reach it and reflecting on what each means to the other. But the whole thing has been so wildly implausible and tonally different from the rest of the show, coupled with a bit of character assassination last season, that it ultimately holds no emotional weight for me. At least we’re hopefully done with it for a while, though they still have to figure out how to get back to America, which is another layer of implausibility to overcome.
The two teams of junior detectives working back in Hawkins/the Upside Down is a treat as well. There’s parts that I still don’t like. I continue to not understand why they’re leaning so hard back into Steve/Nancy as a couple, but I’ve said my piece on that. The Upside Down looks pretty bad here much of the time, with the actors conspicuously pasted onto green screen backgrounds that breaks immersion. Dustin turns into an exposition machine at one point, which serves to set up the Vecna reveal more than anything happening in his corner of the story. And as clever as some of the solutions are, there’s occasionally some shortcuts taken to avoid the inevitable trial and error of communicating across dimensions that feel convenient, albeit within the realm of acceptable willing suspension of disbelief.
But there’s a lot I really like here. The dynamic of both quartets works really clicks. As lukewarm as I am on Nancy and Steve as a couple, Eddie having a heart-to-heart with Steve about how he’s an unexpectedly decent guy and that Nancy would clearly go to hell for him is the best sales pitch for it so far. Robin’s hyperfixation on the risk of rabies after Steve’s bite is also an on-point bit of fun characterization. On the other side, I’m glad they added Erica back into the mix as the younger kids try to bridge the gap between worlds and keep their stories straight.
I most appreciate the crew figuring out to go to Eddie’s trailer in order to rescue their friends. It pays off the crack in the ceiling the show’s been teasing for a while now, and there’s a crude logic to the sense that every kill from Vecna creates a breach between their worlds. The rope climbing escapade makes for a neat visual to boot.
God help me, I also enjoy the twist of Vecna going after Nancy given her guilt over what happened to Barb. We don’t really have much setup for it -- no headaches or other visions -- but maybe Vecna’s powers are stronger within the Upside Down. More than anything, I dig how it plays on the character’s history in a meaningful way. Much as Max felt guilt over what happened with Billy, Nancy feels the same about the best friend who died while she was too busy having fun to notice. Bringing the two together like that, in a way that plays on Vecna’s M.O. and a prior psychological hang-up for Nancy, is a surprise, but in a good way, finding points of harmony between past storylines and current ones in a way that works.
Overall, “volume 1” of Stranger Things’ fourth season has been a disappointment. So many of the plot threads this year have come off like wheel-spinning, table-setting, and throat-clearing. Some of the core strengths of the show remain, mostly in its characters, but you can feel the show’s creative team spinning out at times. And yet, the high points, when they pay all of that build off, are quite high. Between Max overcoming vecna at the midpoint, and the triumphs and revelations in this mid-season finale, the show can still soar when it brings everything to a climax and puts its cards on the table. I hope we see more of that in the last two episodes of the season.
Not cool that everyone is trying to get Nancy and Steve back together. When Jonathan isn’t around.
This is a gorgeous movie. There is no villain or external force to fight. It is about a girl who had a very happy childhood learning to deal with loneliness and accepting other negative emotions like sadness. She is learning how to balance all the little pieces of herself (what separates children from adults). The movie shows little kids how you are dealing with stuff on the inside affects how you deal with stuff on the outside.
It's not accurate to the books in the sense that it follows the events word for word, but it feels like the WoT I read. It managed to tell a different story that still managed to capture the spirit of the books.
Really pleased it managed to find it's footing, I really hope it sticks the landing.
Only singers in the building.
"You are familiar with the concept of a league, right?And being out of one?"
"Is there anything dips can’t do?"
Even if Kreps is indeed Glitter Guy, I think he is not the killer. He's just a vigilante.
This season has been sloppier, more disjointed and haphazard than the first season. I am very confused on how Mabel was recorded stabbing someone and she hasn't even been taken in for questioning or anything like that.
There's too much going on this season. For example, I barely remember the painting and the Rose Cooper story by this point. And the paternity storyline feels like drama for no reason in an already overstuffed season.
Maybe I should watch this show for the vibes more than the actual mystery plots.
Such a great episode! I actually felt really sad for Bunny, who I previously couldn’t have cared less about. Also, this episode lacks any Cara Delevingne or Amy Schumer and their lack of presence is clear in a very positive way. The show feels back to its original charm that’s been missing in the first two episodes (and unfortunately may be missing in more episodes with them).
So... who died in 1497 and went to the Good Place?
One of the best episodes of the series. The ending is breathtaking.
Thumbs up if you said "What the fuck..." to your TV before the opening credits.
So Game of Thrones is musical chairs and the guy who wins is the one who was sitting the whole time
William: Please Logan, even though I'm engaged to your sister, please help me take my sex robot home with me.
This show is my definition of "I never knew I needed this in my life, until I watched the first episode". It's so good. And even tho I have the attention span of a potato... I'm glued to the screen from start to finish of every episode.
It's the third time I've seen this episode and I still don't think I have ever seen a more disturbing death scene in my entire life
Bro that feels like straight adaptation from the back story of Anakin Skywalker
He's great with the psychokinetic abilities (like the force)
He turned evil
He killed the psychokinetic kids (like Jedi younglings)
He got burned (like Anakin)
This season was great
i don't like where they going with this sci fi city of lights
Watching this episode for the second time, I am struck by Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark)'s performance. Her portrayal of anger, sadness, and desperation all at once is just gut wrenching and remarkable.
In hindsight, the outcome of this episode was both foreshadowed and developed long ago. But that does not diminish the overall impact, if at all, enhances it.
If Vecna touches a single hair of my Max's, HE WILL HAVE TO SEE ME!! I DON'T ADMIT THIS TO HAPPEN!!!
PROTECT MAX AT AAAAAALLLLLL COSTS!!