Welcome to Part 4 of our Stranger Things 9 Deuce blog for season 3. In this part, we talk about the music, the nostalgia references, and offer up predictions for season 4. In case you are new to 9 Deuce blogs, I typically will ask 9 questions and 2 bonus questions. So the first 3 parts will feature 3 questions apiece and then part 4 will feature the bonus questions. Every day this week I will post a new part of the blog. This thing is long, so it’s best to break it down anyway. If I get enough hits, I will post a part 5 on Friday with all of the notes that I took while watching the season.
This year, we have one participant who speaks Spanish and I did the best I could to translate her responses. Some day I hope that we will have 5 different languages on this blog. That would be spectacular. Asia and Europe, accept the challenge! Any comments in bold are made by me, Kent. Thank you for reading, and please share this with your friends, or leave a comment with your responses to the questions.
Here are links to all 5 Parts for easier navigation.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Bonus Deuce
1. What was your favorite song from this season? (I’m not leaving comments on Neverending Story because it was clearly the most popular choice.)
Kristi: Dustin and Suzie singing. They rocked that! You know, for kids and all.
Johnny: ” Never Ending Story ” and then ” You don’t mess around with Jim ” .(I loved that they chose “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”. Classic and yet unexpected song for me.)
Cece: Neverending Story by Dustin & Suzie!
Chris T: I kind of liked the Max/Lucas remix of the Neverending Story better. (I’m glad that you said this. I was thinking that Max and Lucas was better in it’s own way.)
Raylene: All music pretty solid
Jim: Neverending story
Melanie: Never Ending Story is and always will be my favorite song and music video. Also, hearing Gatan (Dustin) sing was awesome. He has been on Broadway in a number of different roles and has a gorgeous voice.
Ana: La mejor canción para mi es I just died in your arms tonight. Es una muy buena canción que habla de amores imposibles en este caso del de Billy y mrs wheeler. Que aunque esten llenos de deseo no tracienden. (Me encantó la elección de esta canción para esta historia. A veces siento que las canciones solo se usan porque son divertidas o geniales, pero esto funcionó muy bien con la historia.)
Translation: The best song for me is I just died in your arms tonight. It is a very good song that speaks of impossible love, in this case, Billy and Mrs. Wheeler. That even if they are full of desire they do not betray. (I loved this song choice for this story. I sometimes feel that songs are just used because they are fun or cool, but this worked really well with the story.)
Kent: Wow, Neverending story didn’t even crack my top 10. I feel very lonely at this moment. Annnnnd here is my top 10 to waste everybody’s time!
- Hot Blooded by Foreigner
- You Don’t Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce
- Heroes by Peter Gabriel
- Can’t Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon
- I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight by Cutting Crew
- My Bologna by Weird Al Yankovich
- Cold As Ice by Foreigner
- Rock This Town by The Stray Cats
- Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham
- American Pie by Don McLean
2. What was your favorite piece of nostalgia from this season?
Kristi: Just the overall theme. Nothing will top the New Kids on the Block for me. Quite possibly the one thing that truly made me a fan. I’m a Blockhead for life. Coming from a Slipknot Maggot, that’s huge! (I must admit to just learning of a Slipknot Maggot. Still learning something new everyday. True story, in the mid 2000’s, I went to an indie wrestling show, small venue, and a wrestler came out to Hanging Tough. He made 4 new fans that night. Great wrestling entrance song!)
Johnny: Each 80’s movie the characters mentioned.
- Back to The Future
- Day of The Dead
- The Neverending Story (I found the inclusion of Day of the Dead to be an interesting one. In the midst of 80’s horror sequels, that’s what they chose. I like the movie, but I found it to be a peculiar choice and I’m not sure how to articulate that properly. The other 2 made a ton of sense to me though.)
Cece: Jazzercise (I laughed when I saw it and I am laughing because you brought it up.)
Chris T: The Russian terminator. Scarier than the last 28 years of Terminator movies (You know what, I think that Terminator Salvation is unfairly criticized. I wasn’t a fan of 3 or Genisys, but I thought Salvation was a good to a very good film. But it was surrounded by garbage. I also really loved the cast a lot. But the Russian Terminator was fantastic and was the most popular answer, Family Feud style.)
Raylene: Definitely Russia’s version of The Terminator.
Jim: I gotta steal chris’. The terminator nod was amazing.
Melanie: The clothes! Brought me back to my childhood fashion choices! (The clothing is always going to feel right at home for our generation, I think.)
Ana: I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight and the clothes, of course.
Kent: I probably have mentioned The Thing in previous blogs. I ain’t about to stop now. But seriously, nobody here said Orange Julius????? I am personally shaming everybody. I also plan on making Orange Julius-es tomorrow. I’m more excited than Jessie Spano on caffeine pills.
Final Thoughts – Was this season an improvement upon season 2? Make any bold predictions for season 4 if you like.
Kristi: For sure! This season was awesome!
Johnny: Most definitely an improvement.
As far as predictions go I think Eleven is going to die sacrificing herself to save all the ones she loves and who’ve given her a life apart from being a lab experiment. Also what the hell. In the name of Dnd I’m gonna roll the 20 sided-dice for investigation whether Dr. Brenner is in one way or another helping out The Mind Flayer fulfill his master plan S4. (IF Hopper is still alive, then I think this show will kill off a major character next season. I almost consider it mandatory. I really want to see Brenner back.)
Cece: Yes. This season was probably my favorite so far. And honestly, I have no idea where season 4 will go. And I’m fine with that. I like to be freshly started over. (Fresh starts are fine with these shows that you binge in a day. Some shows require to follow up close to previous ones, but this one always requires a period of time to have passed.)
Chris T: I liked this season a lot, but thinks it only edges out season 2 if you take it all as a whole. Season 2 was a stronger season by itself (especially Noah Shnapp’s performances), but season 3 is a better continuation. (I really will never understand the love for season 2. I even rewatched it. I’m glad you got more out of it than I did.)
Raylene: It’s a dream within a dream within a dream and Leo Decaprio appears. (NetFlix could afford him……so it’s not entirely out of the question. But I’d rather it be Kirk Cameron.)
Jim: Much better season, but I did wish I could see the other numbered supers that they brought in last season. Eleven the villain would be my bold prediction. (While I didn’t like those characters much, it would be such a huge waste to not see them again and this could be a really solid way is to find some way to have Eleven square off against them. If Brenner returns, the possibilities are pretty endless.)
Melanie: Much better season! I finished it in one full day. Hopper comes back, but El will have to fight him for killing Mike. (If Hopper kills Mike, he will cement his legacy as my favorite character. I mean he is already my favorite, but this would put him way over the top. I don’t really hate Mike, but he was obnoxious this season to an extent. It needed to be said.)
Ana: creo que la mejor temporada de stranger things fue la primera, la historia lucia mas real y aunque tenia un presupuesto menor, el otro mundo era misterioso y asombroso…cada batalla de 11 y los niños se sentia cercana y era mas autentica. (La primera temporada sigue siendo la mejor. El sesgo de popularidad reciente es fuerte en este programa, pero creo que si la gente se sentara y volviera a ver los 3 episodios, podrían darse cuenta de cuán genial fue la primera temporada. Al igual que una película de terror, las siguientes temporadas simplemente han sido más de lo mismo con demasiada frecuencia, lo cual está bien, pero eso muestra cuán fuerte fue la primera temporada, en mi opinión.)
Translation: I think the best season of stranger things was the first, the story looked more real and although it had a smaller budget, the other world was mysterious and amazing … every battle of 11 and the children felt close and more authentic. (Season one is still the best. The recency bias is strong on this show but I think if people sat down and rewatched all 3 episodes, they may realize just how great the first season was. Much like a horror movie, the following seasons has simply been more of the same too often, which is fine, but that shows just how strong season one was, in my opinion.)
Kent: I feel that this season was a noticeable improvement over season 2. I felt that season 2 was a mixed bag and while I really enjoyed it, there were parts that were the epitome of Meh for me. Predictions aside from the Brenner return and El going heel…that is tough. I think Erica is going to continue to evolve into a bigger role. I think Ted will have more than 10 seconds of screen time. I’ll say that El’s hair will be good but not great.
Since every season tries to bring in a recognizable face from the 80’s to join the cast, I’ll say that there will be at least one female, and I’m going with Molly Ringwold. You can picture her having a role for a season. Will is going to have his breakthrough season in 4. Will has been the most underwhelming character not named Nancy, for me, and a lot of that was circumstantial, but he’s not in my top 10 characters. He’ll get there in season 4. I guarantee it.