A Little Bit of Everything

Okay, so I started watching Stranger Things a few months ago, but only finished the first season today. It's a little out of my usual zone, but I thought I'd watch it because my family said it was good and that they thought I'd like it. They were (mostly) right.

This might be a little rambly and not 100% coherent; it's kind of late and I'm kind of tired.

I like the mystery part of it, with the kids, Jonathan and Nancy, and Joyce and Hopper figuring out what's going on all on their own until the second-last episode. It was also pretty cool to see the ways they got around not being able to use the big portal/gate thing to the Upside Down (the lights, using blood to lure the monster). I also got a laugh out of Dustin's "For fun?" answer (and the immediate "He's not going to buy this" expression) to "Why do you want to know how to build a sensory deprivation tank?"

The whole thing with Hopper and Joyce starting to treat Eleven as their own kid is just... I don't really know how to explain it (in a good way). Eleven had no one other than that creepy scientist to look to as family, and I like the way, near the end of the season, it looks like she could actually get a (proper) parental figure in her life. Especially when Joyce's voice carried through into the mid-space thing Eleven can access when she saw what happened to Barb.

(While typing this, I realized that when Joyce hugged Eleven, that was probably the first hug Eleven had ever gotten. My only response to that thought is that she deserves all the hugs she can get.)

Eleven's disappearing act near the end of episode 8 seemed a little odd (worldbuilding-wise, not character-wise). I don't fully get how she managed that, since up to that point I don't remember ever seeing her teleport before. I imagine season 2 starts to explain that. I'm also curious as to how exactly her powers work, and if she can actually use them without hurting herself or passing out. (On a slightly related note, Eleven's situation kind of reminds me of Tetsuo's in Akira. She's definitely not nearly as destructive as he was, but that scene in the school hallway where she kills all the soldiers reminded me of the scene where Tetsuo blows up the hallway of soldiers. Their powers even have a few similarities: both from experimentation, both have negative effects on their health, both are used against the people who experimented on them.)

Also, Steve went from complete asshole to actually likeable. He's still not the nicest person out there, but at least it looks like he's trying to be a better person.

And that's enough for tonight. Running on less-than-ideal sleep does not work well for me.