Stranger Things 5x03 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-12-03 14:42:33 +0000 UTC
Comments
I heard Frank would be directing in this season. Got me hyped even if I can’t watch any of this yet. Man did some SERIOUSLY good work with the Stephen King. Lovely to hear that his style is still there. Here’s hoping that there’s more from him on the horizon. So, you say about crowbarring in the song reference, I went back and read the comment again, and guessed correctly when rereading the thing about children behaving. Googled to verify that, and I see I was right. Probably the smart move to stop at 1987 given the paradox of Beetlejuice. Sort of like how Joey Pants is in The Last of Us after they had the poster for The Matrix in Ellie’s room. Which they tried to cgi out, yet one spot it’s still there. I even commented on it, as I knew Joey Pants was going to be in the show, quipping about the poster, “Imagine that raised a few questions at one point or another.” Speaking of Beetlejuice: My favorite bit of the Kate Bush treatment as we seem to be calling it now is the fantastic showcase of Richard Harris. God that sequence was a hell of a trip. I’m also loving how Richard’s son, Jared has been getting major love over the last few years with everyone saying about how he’s an absurdly amazing actor, and since I’ve been saying that long before he really got the more recent major spotlight, I respond, “Well, YEAH.” I’ve been hearing the jokes about the kids aging out of the roles. That did throw me a bit with the deaging in It Part Two. Seen a few memes about the aging too fast here. This one might be my favorite, or at least it made me laugh the most: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fju5vk6m9a54g1.jpeg Not unlike M*A*S*H running for eleven seasons when the Korean War was only three years, albeit that worked in the context of the story in the sense of it showed how the war just aged everybody prematurely. Here, I can see how that’d be distracting, though I take your point of, for example, Millie being good enough to let it slide. You highlight the one being nineteen being a middle schooler being particularly distracting. Lot like Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard being in their mid-twenties playing high school seniors I guess. On the other hand when I was twenty-three, people at work thought I was about two decades older, and with my bald head, and the growing salt in the beard, on top of looking very much like a younger Paul Giamatti, suppose I can’t jump on it too harshly. Nice Beetlejuice reference with Joyce and Will. Robin being a gayness Yoda sounds obscenely goddamn amazing. I’ll endorse it. No idea who Holly is, nor have I heard anything about any Darrining. See if going into the woods turns out to be the last midnight for her, good touch with your own reference. Again, caught some of the reaction that Jess had. What I saw wasn’t the picture-in-picture, so can’t speak to Sadie’s hair. Maybe something involving her MCU casting? I can buy you having the Jess type of look. Sounds like the one my aunt had with the big Héctor twist in Coco. Or like one she had to another movie from ten years ago that I would so badly love to put it on the poll, but the subject matter would be tough for Jess, and you given what you’ve talked about. Plus, close to no one’s even heard of it, so it’d crash and burn. Ah well. Nice to hear everyone having a good time with this last season thus far.
Thomas Corp
2025-12-03 20:31:49 +0000 UTCOf all the things I never thought we'd see a particular director do, Frank Darabont and a montage of a teen girl doing a bunch of girly things scored with I Think We're Alone Now is pretty up there, but it becomes magical in practice. Murray's another character who first appeared in Season 2, and he didn't click with me quite as immediately as Max, but in Season 3 he definitely got there. Her reaction with the needle did remind me we all need to fight down the urge to ask for a reaction to Zootopia 2, no matter how much stuff Jess would be really into, because there's no getting around that one central character.
Ryan
2025-12-03 20:31:28 +0000 UTCNice outfit. Great shade of red. You offered the thanks for the patience which tells me the fans are behaving which is nice. Again, can’t really share the reactions, and am pulling up the fulls for the updates, and just to see that you are happy with this final season. You say that there are the struggles with getting these up, so I’ll be with this fandom with the patience, Jess. And if things take time, no problem, we shall wait. Before jumping ahead, I caught the sound of the gooey. Sure sounded gooey. Makes an interesting sensation on the ears when you have the headphones on. So, Ryan’s comment tells me that Frank Darabont, “Stephen King royalty” as has been described, which includes my dad’s favorite film, is directing this one. I had heard that he was going to be a director in this season, and I’m even more sad that I’m behind as I want to see the man WORK. Something big to look forward to if I ever see this show. I see Ryan says that Frank has STILL GOT IT, which pleases me. I second the hope that his work in this season isn’t a one off for him, and we have more of his immensely terrific work to look forward to. If not, well, then he gets to go out on a pretty big high note from the sound of it. Something else to look forward to is Murray. You mentioned him in this. Ok, good, Murray is in this last season. Stinks that he’s getting some attitude. I’m sure he is doing his best. Yeah, he’s bonkers as hell, but nowhere near as batshit as when he was married to Cristineth. All the same, from what I understand, the dude is awesome, so I will do as you ask and put respect on his name. I’d also say he’s probably still reeling from the death of the one guy who looked eerily like Olly from The Thick of It. Assuming I have the right guy who got killed in mind as the internet is loud about Murray being present during a particularly devastating death. Something about a carnival? Anyway. You say about Joyce needing to lighten up with Robin. From what I’ve gathered, I think the fandom could do well to lighten up on Robin. At least, far as I’m aware, Robin gets some strong backlash. Seems harsh. Nice words about Joyce and the apology offered. Speaking of Joyce, by the way, the way you offered the strong praise and waxed poetic about the kind of mother Joyce is and why she is your girl... I think I finally have an answer to my one question. By that I mean you say Joyce, I assume that this is Lydia, which of course, means that Joyce is Winona’s character. Good to finally have that answer. ...I’m still stuck with calling her Lydia in anything I see her in, but now I have the confirmed name of her Stranger Things character. She’s also still probably the best Jo March, or at least my favorite portrayal of Jo March. You mention Erica and how you love her, yet she is terrifying. I got the same thing with Bela, so I get it. Don’t like hearing that she broke out a needle, that does not sound fun. It also does not sound fun with Lucas being bait considering how concerned you are for him. I believe you that you were shrill. Way you talk about Lucas, that one’s a given. Yes, I know the drill, Jess. Then there’s your reaction to the last moment of the episode which I caught a little of that. Ok, so something with Max at the end. When trying to jump ahead to get to the post episode thoughts and analysis, I caught you looking rather emotional, saying that... something had better be true, so I stayed on that until the end, thinking that whatever this is, I hope it’s what you were wanting. Going by your rather striking reaction to the last moment, I would imagine it was. Got me in the heart a bit with that one, Jess, and I don’t know shit about what’s happened. Something I should be concerned about if I ever get to this show? You said about needing to get Sadie more involved in this last season. Considering the internet plopped in front of me a poster for the season with her, I’d say that’s a certainty that we’ll get more of her. One more left for this batch like you said. Again, all the best of luck to you and your editor, and I know both of you are getting the stuff out as fast as possible. If there are delays, well, that’s the way it crumbles, cookie-wise, and the annoyance with that is aimed toward Netflix. Just hoping it all goes well, and that you love what’s to come, Jess.
Thomas Corp
2025-12-03 20:01:34 +0000 UTCLet's be real: Nothing in this actual episode could possibly be as shocking as the moment when the opening credits reveal who directed it. After four seasons of a Pixar guy being the biggest name they got for the job, all of a sudden they manage to bring in Stephen King royalty Frank Darabont, on his first job since his hugely acrimonious split from The Walking Dead more than a decade ago. I can't say he has a distinctive enough style that anything here feels like it could only come from him, though the very detail-oriented montage of the trap being set up does bring to mind how meticulously the big twist of The Shawshank Redemption was set up. And oddly enough, what I found myself thinking of most of all was his very first movie, the cheap and dirty TV project Buried Alive where an ordinary suburban house is turned into a slow, painful death trap. And if this wasn't just a one-off before he goes back into retirement, I'm very excited for what that could mean. Well, Tiffany definitely saw the boost Kate Bush got from this show and decided she wanted in. This season's setting in 1987 (they've said from the start they couldn't go beyond that due to how weird it would be to have to pretend Beetlejuice didn't exist) is the time of my earliest retained memories, which include how massive this cover of I Think We're Alone Now was, and no surprise you'd be all over it. And I did deliberately quote it in the comment for the last Welcome to Derry to build up to this. One odd thing about seeing this season alongside Welcome to Derry is it throws into even sharper focus how much these actors have aged faster than the show's timeline. Most of all, it's weird as hell seeing Millie still being a bratty daughter while knowing she's someone's mom in real life. But she's still good enough at what she does that I can let it slide, most of all making you believe that just waving her arms around or tilting her head is actually putting out enough psychic force to move a car. Actually much more of an issue is 19 year old high school graduate Priah Ferguson still having to play a middle schooler. So it's a good thing this subplot isn't really about her, as much as the fun of making a whole family a bunch of cartoon rich assholes so our heroes won't look bad for drugging them and destroying their house. Though I really wish they'd picked a different name for the kid besides Derek, since every time people talk about Vecna being after him, I keep expecting that would involve an announcement of "I have been Derek'd. Murder has been me." After Will was so frustratingly out of focus the last two seasons, the Duffers are clearly making up for lost time here. His talk with Joyce where she finally accepts that he's strange and unusual has been a long time coming, and Noah and Winona both carry the weight of their history together. And even more, after the show has been bizarrely terrified for so long to actually address his homosexuality, even after Noah himself came out, seeing Robin become his gayness Yoda has me just as excited as anything involving the Upside Down. But of course the biggest attraction of all here is Holly. The actress change naturally got a lot of people upset, but after seeing her increased role here, I fully get this is one of those times where you just need an actor who can handle this kind of role, and the twins you first cast as literal infants will probably not be up for it. Nell Fisher is crushing it, even while having to carry a whole episode's storyline by herself. It's electric seeing her actually turn herself into Holly the Heroic to do what we've all been shouting since the start and go into the woods. The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood. Congrats for catching on to the final twist way before I did, even adding in my having to take a break right before the final shot to help my parents move furniture around for their Christmas tree. I knew it wasn't actually Henry just from the way the person's face was hidden, but my brain just stopped there and couldn't put anything together about who it could actually be before Max just sits down into frame. I was fully expecting her to not show up again until the second half. And I have to say, great as it is to see her again, what the hell did they do to Sadie's hair? Hope there's some behind the scenes stuff after the whole season is released explaining what's up with that. The whole connection with the directions and Running Up That Hill went right over my head, so I had a look on my face I'm sure was as epic as any of yours when you pointed it out.
Ryan
2025-12-03 19:25:49 +0000 UTC
