![]() ![]() And we got a glimpse of that (again) just before the credits rolled. Next season is the last, so The Big Bad will be The Biggest Bad they’ve ever faced. Vecna, who seemed to be the heart of The Upside Down, was merely a tourist who took advantage of its untapped power. As The Gang levels up, the bosses get bigger. The end of each season has seen the defeat of a mini-boss. Every season The Gang From Hawkins saves the world, and at the end of every season we get a “but wait, there’s more” message to keep us tuned in for the next. On social media, people are complaining that it felt like a bait and switch. It’s not just Eleven, or Hawkins, that’s in danger. This season’s stakes are on a grander scale than the last. The Valhalla of Stranger Things is populated by those least likely to have a backbone. The bad news is The Duffer Brothers continue their streak of giving us unlikely heroes to fall in love with only to snatch them away in the most heart-wrenching ways. Protect the things, and the people, they love. Our heroes, like The Upside Down, are also connected by a singular root. The flurry of activity is typical of the show’s previous seasons, the story arcs playing out in parallel, until the denouement when they all come crashing together. Each scene drives the audience to anxiety over which, if any, of our favorite characters might find themselves at the end of their story this time. All of them are brutal and potentially deadly. The two-chapter finale, a combined 235 minutes, of Stranger Things flies by in a non-stop whirlwind of plot points, attacks, and counterattacks. It makes it hard to talk about without spoiling the whole thing. Because of this everything-all-at-once storytelling, the end of this season is exciting but chaotic to an almost dizzying degree. Just as an attack can go “our way” because all of these entities are connected, it can easily swing in their favor if any once piece of the Upside Down puzzle can rally. And they must happen all at once or not at all. Attacks on The Upside Down must be coordinated not only across physical locations, but also planes of existence. If you step on one of those slimy vines covering the ground, every creepy-crawly is going to know about it. What happens to Vecna affects the swarm of monster bats. What happens to the creatures in Hopper’s Russian prison affects Vecna. Everything is connected by a singular root.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |