Gotta say, I was quite enjoying Stranger Things Part 1. Quite gory, nice bit of horror, alright CG, not too much of the usual cast doing the same things, interesting new characters, some really nice direction etc.
Until the last episode… when the twist was so sloooowly revealed after the audience had surely got it 10 minutes earlier. And then I thought back on the lot and remembered, ‘what the fuck was that Hopper stuff really about other than a really long wacky side quest?’ A side quest which really doesn’t intersect with the main story at all (well, until the second part maybe).
And actually bar the initial above ground stuff, the El/11 side story was equally drawn out.
And then I’m thinking, apart from all the 11 stuff, what’s the point of Mike and Will’s wacky side quest other than a really elongated wacky side quest?
Will all of these disparate pieces be drawn together in the second part, well probably I guess, but taken as a whole my reflections on part 1 were that most of the stuff was so separate that I might as well have been watching 3 or 4 different shows based on Stranger Things.
That’s not to say that it wasn't entertaining, because it was, and probably better than seasons 2 & 3, but I’m wondering whether a two part series was actually needed to tell this story and that it wouldn’t have benefited from being shorter.
I suppose we’ll find out when part 2 gets released.