prrste Reviews

Stranger Things (2016–2025)

A mixed bag

[6/10 · 8 March 2023]

I think the best way to review this show is to review it season by season.

Season 1: a very good and spooky season, brilliant premise that is played to perfection. Very mysterious and atmospheric. 9/10

Season 2: a lame retelling of a similar story. The plot with Will being possessed is interesting but the mind flayer is bland and boring. All the Demi dogs are fun until you realize that they've already fought a Demogorgon so why should we be scared of the mini ones. The emo eleven subplot is one of the worst things I've ever seen. So it's really just season 1 but with all of its good qualities sucked out of it, it's boring, the characters are dull and so is the plot. 3/10

Season 3: season 3 really is an outlier, it's not dark, gritty, and atmospheric. It's goofy, colorful, and comedic. This makes it feel like a complete tonal whiplash Compared to the others. And since it is a comedy any attempt at tension or horror fails. The one good thing is that it does develop max's character, that's it. 4/10

Season 4: by far the scariest, grittiest, goriest, and creepiest. All while still being pretty funny. As much as I do love this season it does have some flaws. The entire bullying subplot is the worst thing since emo eleven. The final battle between eleven and verbs is terrible, but the worst thing is that the show doesn't seem to have the will to kill off primary characters, which it sorely needs, they think that if they kill of one of these "beloved characters" then the show will suffer. It WON'T you need to kill off characters to keep the tension, and characters introduced in that same season are not main characters. 8/10.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore (2023) Season 3, Episode 2

Good but not quite there

[7/10 · 8 March 2023]

With a few changes this could have been a brilliant 2nd episode. I'll talk about what I liked first, all of the stuff with Mando teaching grogu about the workings of the ship and different things about being a Mandalorian was adorable and the highlight of the episode for me. The director Rachel Morrison is mainly a cinematographer most notably known for black panther, and it shows. The episode mostly takes place in this underground ruin area and it all looks wonderful. However... much like the previous episode it suffers from some mediocre writing and action scenes. But I believe the biggest issue was bo-katan, now I love the character, but the Mandalorian gets a couple things off about her. Firstly, she would be way older, we're talking late 50's at the earliest, and while she is an awesome Mandalorian I doubt she would be able to block too many electric spear thrusts or roll under too many giant mechanical behemoths. Secondly, there is one part where she is implied to want to kill Mando, but then when she sees it's grogu she risks her life to save him, twice! Nice writing guys! Lastly, why does she not believe in any of that weird mysticism surrounding mandalore, when she met obi-wan, Ahsoka, and maul multiple times! She would be one of the first people to believe in it!

I hope I don't sound too negative in this review, there were plenty of things I really enjoyed, I just think that with some better writing and fight choreography, as well as some reworked character consistencies, it could of been something really special.

7.5/10 definitely an improvement over last episode.