normaloctagon: Stranger Things ranked - Dedicated to Anthracks

normaloctagon 04.27.23	Seasons 3 and 4 are still great and all, I just prefer the focus of the first two seasons. The universe of Hawkins, Indiana in the show expanded quite a bit starting with the third season, and while I appreciated the context and backstories, the scope of 3 & 4 was a bit too wide for me and as a whole felt less ominous and gripping than 1 & 2 anyways, more importantly, i don't think anthracks liked this show
SteakByrnes 04.27.23	lmao If I were to rank the seasons I'd probably go 3 > 1 > 4 > 2
YoYoMancuso 04.27.23	iFight the Demogorgon
normaloctagon 04.27.23	@ steak yeah def understand 2 being last, pretty sure i'm in the minority with it being so high. for me it's the least memorable of the seasons, and when i started my rewatch i thought it would end up last on my ranking, but it ended up higher for my reasons above. captures more of the og atmosphere than the subsequent seasons basically @yoyo iJoin u in battle
SteakByrnes 04.27.23	Yea that makes sense for sure. I think watching season 3 late (I watched it as season 4 just hit their mid season break) made it feel fresh and I really liked it, plus it's a super fun season and very vibrant compared to everything else (which probably shouldn't work and maybe doesn't but I LOVE it nonetheless). I thought season 1 was fantastic, 4 was cool if a bit too ambitious, and 2 felt like just going through the motions for me (plus that bad episode with her sister that was supposed to spawn a side show lol)
JohnnyoftheWell 04.27.23	2 is defs last, but 1 is the best by so far that i could see it being defended on pure recycling grounds 4 pulls out every trope ever of a show getting too big for its boots and gradually jettisoning (and/or oversaturating) everything that originally made it appealing - thought they handled this really well on 3 (absolutely fucking absurd as it was) and was kinda sad to see them drop the ball over So Many Hours
fogza 04.27.23	Pretty easy for ST, odd number seasons are good, even seasons suck
MarsKid 04.27.23	I remember hating 3, they torpedoed Hopper's character. Took me out of things pretty quickly. That and just turning everyone into a caricature in general.
MarsKid 04.27.23	Which is to say nothing of the Mind Flayer or whatever it turned into being probably the most dumbass antagonist ever, Will being almost entirely sidelined and pretty useless to the story, etc.
PotsyTater 04.27.23	I’m with anthracks I kinda hate this show. I mean It’s literally icarly with guns and evil Russians.
PotsyTater 04.27.23	First 3 seasons were entertaining dumb watches tho but I don’t know if I can stomach season 4, there is just something so off putting about them recasting Millie Bobby brown with Lana deal Rey
Tundra 04.27.23	1 and 4 are best
normaloctagon 04.27.23	“That and just turning everyone into a caricature in general.” Yup, pretty much this. +1 to your second comment as well mars, i thought i loved the monster in S3 (and to be fair i did enjoy how they played with Billy’s origin story and how he turned into an abusive person) but the monster itself was disappointing to me on my rewatch @pots yeah season 4 isn’t great tbf, only redeeming thing about it to me is the Vecna nightmare sequences. Great stuff Can’t wait for season 5 when Will finally comes out of the closet
TalonsOfFire 04.27.23	Totally agreed with this ranking. Season 1 is by far the best, not sure why they felt the need to have so much forced humor and too many characters in 3 and 4. 2 may have been kinda unoriginal and have that terrible spin-off episode, but overall it had emotional resonance for me I remember. 4 was kind of a slog but that last episode was great, really brought it all together. Glad it’s ending with 5 haha
normaloctagon 04.27.23	Well put Talons!
SteakByrnes 04.27.23	Steve best
Zac124 04.27.23	Season 1 is by far the best but I think season 4 got quite close. Season 2 is fine but the writing was a noticeable downgrade and season 3 was even worse in that regard although both seasons had their moments.
JohnnyoftheWell 04.27.23	s3 steve best
Zac124 04.27.23	Steve is the best part of every season. He practically carried season 3.
SomeCallMeTim 04.27.23	1 is the only good one
protokute 04.27.23	best thing about season 4 was the clock sound and that metal dude
MarsKid 04.27.23	I remember being fine with season 2, even enjoying it, but this was years ago and I only ever saw it the one time. Spin-off episode was horrendous though, 1,000%
PotsyTater 04.27.23	I literally don’t even remember who Steve is
unclereich 04.28.23	I have seen some episodes of this, I think season 3. not sure how these kid shows appeal to adults. im guessing most folks have arrested development
el_newg 04.28.23	season 1 was good but it got very silly
twlight 04.28.23	season 1 was lit, solid 8/10 it was the best netflix show and was funny, campy, nostalgic and spooky at times. after season 1 the series tanked. rest of it is shit agreed
dedex 04.28.23	"It’s literally icarly with guns and evil Russians (!!)" lmfao
MarsKid 04.28.23	Feel like the story could have been an anthology easily or more of a "evil deity/monster thing of the season" format and both would have worked well. Continuously dealing with the same sort of sh*t just wasn't doing the show any favors, especially because the Upside Down just lost its threatening edge in Season 3.
Zac124 04.28.23	I feel like they kinda fixed that in season 4 though as they actually explained how the upside down works as well as putting an actual villain in it with motivations. So yeah, I feel like they added some much needed literal and personal stakes to the upside down basically.
JohnnyoftheWell 04.28.23	yeah the writers going to hell and back to overexplain the undead shit out of everything definitely helped with the stakes and my investment
MarsKid 04.28.23	That was also the fourth time that the Upside Down was the end-all be-all. Even with maybe some additional depth, that ground had become well-trodden by season 2 and the well was thoroughly dried when season 3 rolled around. It just isn't nearly as captivating once the curtain is pulled back the first time, the luster is gone.
Zac124 04.28.23	Yeah, that was my main problem with season 2 and 3 as the threat felt so vague and disconnected from the characters.
JohnnyoftheWell 04.28.23	the reason the s3 russian plotline was so good is that in s1+2 the upside down was actually the secondary antagonist to The Evil That Lurks Within The Hearts Of Small Town Americans, and having such a plausible exploration of that juxtaposed with the most ridiculous Communists-in-the-basement plotline maybe ever was just too dumb to not be sensationally fun
MO 04.28.23	"after season 1 the series tanked. rest of it is shit agreed" this exactly. nothing but 80's nostalgia wankfest to the power of a million. also I found season 3 and 4 were WAY over the top cinematically (hopper with the sword was so fucking cringe)
DoofDoof 04.28.23	season 4 was the best 4 > 1 > 2 > 3
fogza 04.28.23	Season 4 was ok-ish when it focused on the town, all the other stuff was pretty bad
PitchforkArms 04.28.23	Once it became a creature feature in S1, I was sorta out. I liked the first two thirds of that season, but ended up souring on it and begrudgingly got through S2 and didn't like it so I abandoned the show
DoofDoof 04.28.23	'Season 4 was ok-ish when it focused on the town' the main plot/town stuff was the best this show's ever been though
protokute 04.28.23	i really despised the eleven part on the fourth season
DoofDoof 04.28.23	Didn’t bother me, but the stuff in Siberia ‘with the adults’ or wherever was a bit rough