From Russia with love
My mom has been up visiting from Florida since Friday. On Saturday, we went to the Finger Lakes Cheese Festival. So many good cheeses, plus a bunch of mediocre ones. Admission includes samples at all the booths, so I'm pretty sure we've raised our cholesterol by quite a bit.
Afterwards, we returned home to marathon Stranger Things 3. It was enjoyable, but not entirely satisfying. I really enjoyed Robin and her screwball comedy friendship with Steve. Erica and Dustin were fun and El and Max gave me life. I'm previous seasons, I'd shipped Hopper and Joyce, but, my god, he was such an asshole this season I couldn't ship him with anything but a swift kick in the pants. Jonathon and Nancy fell flat too, but I actually enjoyed her interaction with Karen for once. Alexi and Murray were fun together, but the second Murray started with the relationship advice I was done.
There were a bunch of notes that didn't sit right at all. The sheer size of the Russian base defied my suspension of disbelief. The emotional payoffs in the final episode failed to land. Hopper had largely squandered all his goodwill so his death really didn't hit me. I think if they'd managed to put in something from his final letter during the run of the show itself, either in a flashback or in a scene in the beginning where she rebuffs his overtures in favor of Mike, than his jealous father routine would have felt less cliche and awful. They needed to do more with Billy to make me sympathize either with him or his plight and Max's grief fell flat since their last interaction was her threatening him with a baseball bat after months of his bullying.
My mom and I were super excited for all the 1980s nostalgia stuff. We owned El's radio and both literally gasped when it was first shown. The stolen Cadillac had the same interior as my Dad's prized Buick Riviera convertible. We actually had a running debate about if it was a Riviera before concluding the lights were wrong. We also both kept wondering why the mayor reminded us of Cary Elwes before we finally caught his name in the credits.
It was a fun season, although not the best. I sort of have a few fic ideas for Robin and Steve's friendship and El figuring out who she is without her powers. We'll see if I ever get around to writing them.
Afterwards, we returned home to marathon Stranger Things 3. It was enjoyable, but not entirely satisfying. I really enjoyed Robin and her screwball comedy friendship with Steve. Erica and Dustin were fun and El and Max gave me life. I'm previous seasons, I'd shipped Hopper and Joyce, but, my god, he was such an asshole this season I couldn't ship him with anything but a swift kick in the pants. Jonathon and Nancy fell flat too, but I actually enjoyed her interaction with Karen for once. Alexi and Murray were fun together, but the second Murray started with the relationship advice I was done.
There were a bunch of notes that didn't sit right at all. The sheer size of the Russian base defied my suspension of disbelief. The emotional payoffs in the final episode failed to land. Hopper had largely squandered all his goodwill so his death really didn't hit me. I think if they'd managed to put in something from his final letter during the run of the show itself, either in a flashback or in a scene in the beginning where she rebuffs his overtures in favor of Mike, than his jealous father routine would have felt less cliche and awful. They needed to do more with Billy to make me sympathize either with him or his plight and Max's grief fell flat since their last interaction was her threatening him with a baseball bat after months of his bullying.
My mom and I were super excited for all the 1980s nostalgia stuff. We owned El's radio and both literally gasped when it was first shown. The stolen Cadillac had the same interior as my Dad's prized Buick Riviera convertible. We actually had a running debate about if it was a Riviera before concluding the lights were wrong. We also both kept wondering why the mayor reminded us of Cary Elwes before we finally caught his name in the credits.
It was a fun season, although not the best. I sort of have a few fic ideas for Robin and Steve's friendship and El figuring out who she is without her powers. We'll see if I ever get around to writing them.