Strange Stranger Things w/HBT
Three seasons of Stranger Things done! I binged like it was going out of style. I fell in love with the characters again. I remembered the plot but had forgotten all the tiny nuances that makes the series so delightful. Excited about starting the newest season tonight, I went in search of Hummingbird Teacups.
She was sulking in Discord Fam. Good.
"Hey, HBT! Have you watched the newest season of 'Stranger Things'? No spoilers!"
My spoiler request is sincere. She normally ruins every finale of everything worth watching.
"No!"
The abrupt reply leaves me scratching my head. She is the Ultimate Fan of All Stranger Things. The new season started weeks ago.
"Do you remember what they did to Trollhunters?" she asks.
Before allowing me to even reply, she launches into what has pissed her off about Netflix.
"Do. You. Remember. Trollhunters?! Do you remember all the lore we embraced? All the characters that found redemption? The premise of the amulet choosing a champion?"
I see where this is going.
She continues, "Do you remember when you sat down and watched it? Well, do you?"
"Yes."
"Guillermo del Toro shat on his entire franchise!"
I can't disagree with that. 'It' means the movie that must not be named. In truth, the Rise of the Titans movie killed its fandom. Lots of us would watch the series and all its incarnations over and over again. We loved it. We had character lines practically memorized. We played the drinking game every time [X] happened. We all decided wizards are dicks. We pulled our spouses in and they became fans, too.
"What's that got to do with 'Stranger Things'?"
Seconds pass, then a full minute. Did her head explode while she was typing a reply? Then...
"What if the Duffer Brothers fucked it up, like del Toro did Trollhunters?! 😡😡😡"
I envision a petulant child holding its breath every time I see that stupid emoji. "We won't know unless we watch it."
"Watch it? THEY KILLED BOB! THEY FUCKING KILLED BOB!"
I fell in love with that character, too. He was there, supportive and loving, a perfect balm to heal the Byers family after the shit went down. "Easy Peasy."
"They fucked up Steve," she continued. "They turned him into a dweeb. They cut his balls off."
Pardon me if I stand up and clap in support of her statement. Steve from Trollhunters and Steve from 'Stranger Things' both began as assholes. Theirs' was a redemption story. We saw them mature into characters determined to help with the quest. They became heroes.
Then those Steves from 'Stranger Things' and Trollhunters saw their character arc crash into a brick wall. One Steve ends up pregnant and vanishes completely from the movie, and the other gets a job at an ice cream shop where, apparently, he can't even talk to girls now
Three seasons of delightful science fiction occasionally served with a plate of horror in the side. This is a lot of time invested in one series.
"Alright HBT. If you don't want to watch season four, that's fine. I can watch it." I was going to anyway. "Besides, Netflix renewed the series so we'll have a fifth and final season this February."
Another lengthy pause - and I mean lengthy! I let the dogs out and smoked while they found interesting things to pee on. I came back in to grab cereal and discovered Jeff had killed the box. I found an apple, peeled it, cored it, and dropped it into the bowl I was going to use for the cereal. I bribed the Brown Hound to come upstairs by promising him some apple. I took a pee. I returned to the desk. She still hadn't replied.
Maybe, if karma likes me today, Dart ate her.
Karma hates me.
"If you're going to watch it, fine," she types. "They killed NO SPOILERS. He was awesome. He was there from day #1. You can't have the series if he wasn't there and doing stuff."
"You know I'm going to blog this." S'truth.
"So?"
I grin. "So there might be spoilers. Don't read my blog." So there! "I won't even tell you if NO SPOILERS comes back from the dead."
Another delay follows. I eat my apple. I watch Donut operator's recent upload plus two episodes from 'They will Kill You'.
"Gruff... you there? If you watch it, can you say if NO SPOILERS comes back? Maybe because I don't know if I want to know for reals."
Where's a demogorgon when you really need one?! Or even a demodog? What if that demodog absorbed her into a pile of wonky jelly and forced her to sit down and watch the damn thing for herself?! Like the Thing from the John Carpenter movie.
"Ok. I'll tell you if he comes back. But no other spoilers from me. Go watch it yourself. Deal?"
"Deal!"
