SPOILERS

“Chapter 6: The Dive”

Are you s#*%ing me?

So far in this season, Stranger Things has avoided doing the black screen cliffhanger, where they are at a desperate moment, full of tension and then they go black screen and head to credits. They had a chance when Max was running up the hill from the Upside Down hoping to escape Vecna. They threw a black screen up at that moment, only to return for the resolution before the episode ended. My emotions appreciated it.

This time, though, they couldn’t help themselves.

Poor Steve is stuck in the Upside Down with some kind of demon birds eating at him as he screamed and kicked in hopes of getting free and then…

Black screen.

Arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great episode with the tension and frightfulness that Steve, Nancy and their group was facing to the humor of the crew at Suzie’s house searching for the address of the Nina Project.

Things are setting up nicely in Russia too as Murray and Joyce showed some really good planning and some serious backbone when dealing with Yuri. It is looking more and more like we are getting a Hopper, Joyce, Murray confrontation with the Russian Demogorgon gladiator style. The whole Hopper is a prisoner angle has been my least favorite so far in the season (outside of Argyle turning Jonathan into a stoner plot point), but I hope that everything that they have been building to in this season is going to be worth it in the end.

Then, I really want Dr. Brenner to die. I hate “Papa” so much. We continue the search into Eleven’s past to try and regain her powers. I am beginning to think that there is something coming in this story that is going to be a twist. The first scene of the season implied that Eleven massacred the entire project, but I am not sure that is the truth right now.

Then Jason seems to have an ability of the oratory nature. We have seen that all season with his pep talks to the basketball team and his friends, but after Patrick was murdered, it looks like he might be taking a step toward charismatic leader. I was wrong about him seeing Patrick’s death and accepting Eddie’s innocence like I speculated about last time. In fact, he doubled down, claiming Eddie is a vessel for the power of the Devil and he got the townspeople whipped up into a mob to search for Eddie.

There is one more episode remaining in the “Volume One” part of season four. It is a 2 1/2 hour episode and I am afraid that it is going to leave us off in another cliffhanger. Episodes 8 & 9 are going to drop at the beginning of July and I am just hoping that it is not a horrible cliffhanger like episode 6 left us with.

SPOILERS

“Chapter 5: The Nina Project”

After not seeing Eleven in episode 4, she is front and center in “The Nina Project” as Dr. Brenner returned and we see he is working with Owens to get Eleven back. I have to say, I really hate Brenner and I hope he finally dies for good.

It’s hard to tell exactly who is involved with whom here. I guess the government agents shooting up Joyce’s house last week were with Lt. Colonel Sullivan and not with Brenner. I was surprised that Owens was involved with Brenner, but he certainly looked as if some of the things Brenner was doing did not sit well with him.

Eleven does regain her powers and so who knows where this is going now as Eleven accepted the hand of “Papa.”

Meanwhile, our group found their way into the Creel house looking for clues. They realized that Vecnu was in the Upside Down opposite of this house. They are following their flashlights through the house, much like they have done during every season so far.

Mike, Jonathan, Will and Argyle bury Unknown Hero Agent Man and end up figuring out what Nina was… and discover they need a hacker and Mike suggests Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie in Salt Lake City.

Murray and Joyce escape from their bonds on the airplane and they fight Yuri, rendering him unconscious. We get some karate from Murray the black belt. The plane then crashed in the woods in Russia, I assume.

This episode felt like a transitional one to set up the final two episodes. With Patrick being killed as Jason was swimming after Eddie in a rowboat. Perhaps this will show Jason that Eddie is not the person behind Chrissy’s murder.

I think a lot of what is in this episode is important but it is nowhere as intense as the last couple of episodes. As I said, this is building for an awesome final two episodes, getting all the pieces into place.

SPOILERS

“Chapter 4: Dear Billy”

What an episode.

This was the best episode so far of season 4 of Stranger Things, by far. Every ne so far had had some issues for me, but “Dear Billy” was just intense and totally compelling with every plot piece to every story beat.

Easily the most emotional part was the whole Max section as she went around delivering letters to the people she loved in expectation of her dying at the hands of Vecna. This led to the best sequence of the series so far with Max in another dimension, confronting Vecna while Steven, Dustin and Lucas desperately try to snap her out of the the trance that she was in.

Tie that sequence in with the excellent use of Nancy and Robin confronting Victor Creel (played by the iconic Robert Englund) and finding a piece to the puzzle that could possibly help prevent Max’s death.

This entire act was just breathtaking and steeped in character. Sadie Sink is just an exceptional actor and she nailed this scene.

Then, the agents arrived at Joyce’s house, guns a blazing, killing one of the two cops assigned to protect Mike, Jonathan and Will. The second cop took out a bunch of the government agents in a fire fight in the house in an impressive one shot. He took a bullet trying to save them, but they all found themselves in Argyle’s pizza van. Mike, Jonathan and Will had already planned on ditching the cops and finding their way back to Hawkins before the strike team struck.

What has been my least favorite part of the season so far has been Hopper and the Russians, because it feels like such an outlier to the story. It’s last season’s leftovers. However, this episode’s Hopper scenes were just fabulous, exciting and just a thrill a minute. I did not think about a betrayal from the pilot, Yuri. I do remember that the Russians have a Demogorgon so perhaps that is how this aspect of the plot will tie in and make it feel like a Stranger Things element. Still, Hopper’s escape, eating peanut butter to recapture was just beautifully done.

No Eleven in this episode(outside of flashbacks), though her presence was felt.

SPOILERS

“Chapter 3: The Monsters and the Superheroes“

I am now fully on board.

I was very disappointed with the first chapter of the season four Stranger Things because it spent so much time with people I did not know. Looking back now after episode three, I understand why they told this story the way that they did and I can appreciate the effort.

Chapter Three was full out plot progression on all areas and it just just thrilling. I was compelled by every story going: Eleven and her inner struggles and police troubles, Lucas and his confliction between friend groups, Nancy and Robin’s investigation into the Victor Creel clue, the desperation of Mike to help Eleven, Dustin and Steve trying to help Eddie by figuring out what was happening with Vecna, Hopper’s soon to be escape attempt… so much going on and it is all firing on all cylinders right now. I am very happy.

There is so much tension right now and it gets even more ramped up by the return of Paul Reiser’s Sam Owens. Perhaps his supposed ability to give Eleven her powers back is a bit of a contrivance, but he certainly delivered a fantastic monologue to Eleven in that diner to convince her to come with him. Paul Reiser is a great actor and he brought that gravitas to the scene and kicked Stranger Things into high gear.

And then…Vecna has targeted Max. When his voice said Max for the first time, I nearly cried out. I love Max and specifically Sadie Sink, who is one of the best young actresses on the show, and I do not want to see her all bent and cracked out of shape. I don’t know how they’re going to stop Vecna from claiming Max, but I am so invested in them stopping him.

I want this season to end with Mike telling Eleven that he loves her. That is the only way it must work.

I am so happy that I feel that things have really been elevated, even if Eleven hitting Angela with the roller skate is going to be swept away easily, as Paul Reiser insinuated.

SPOILERS

“Chapter Two: Vecna’s Curse”

That was much better.

Interesting that of the two new series that I am watching, Obi-Wan Kenobi had a first episode that I absolutely loved and a second episode that I was disappointed with. Now, Stranger Things season four had a first episode that I did not like much and a second episode that I liked way more.

My complaint about Chapter One was that there was too much focus on characters that I did not know or care about. Chapter two is just the opposite as we see so much more with our main characters as the story kicks into high gear.

I will say that I was not a huge fan of the answers about Hopper. His whole Hopper in the gulag bit is not what I would want, but Joyce and Murray stuff helped make that storyline more engaging. In a show with so much fantastical things happening, Hopper’s story feels very mundane, or pedestrian. Maybe it’ll pick up as other sections of the plot have done.

Mike arrives in California and meets up with Elle. There is some issue going on with Will, but we will see more of that as the season moved on. Elle gets tormented by Angela at a roller skating rink, showing Mike that Elle had been lying to him about how positive her life in California has been. After Angela and her minions embarrassed Elle, she came back and hit her in the head with a roller skate in a terribly violent encounter. She kept flashing back to the slaughter in 1979.

My favorite parts of this film was the story going on in Hawkins. With Dustin and his crew searching for Eddie to get him to tell his story about what happened to Chrissy and with Nancy and Fred following the story and having Fred be the next victim of Vecna.

We got a name to pay attention to as Enoch from Agents of SHIELD (Joel Stoffer, playing Eddie Munson’s father) told Nancy the story about Victor Creel. Victor Creel will be a major piece of this season, I am sure.

This episode took a huge step in the right direction for me. There is a lot of horror elements that make the show stand out. It looks great on the screen and the effects are top notch.

SPOILERS

“Chapter One: The Hellfire Club”

Okay, I have finally been able to start Stranger Things season 4, which debuted on Netflix Friday. I had several other commitments to watch and could not start until this evening.

What the hell did I watch?

Season fours premiere episode was really odd. Sure, we saw our favorites from the past season and learn where they are currently at, the show threw at us a ton of new eccentric characters, giving them an excess amount of screen time.

At first, I was kind of into what we were seeing, but as the focus increased on the new characters, I got less and less interested. I liked the way some of the characters we knew from before were being portrayed. There were plenty of troubles for our heroes as their friendships have been tested, and their lives have been messed up.

Max (Sadie Sink) is clearly struggling since her brother was killed in the finale of season three. Her troubles were engaging as we saw her withdraw from the group and break up with Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). Speaking of Lucas, he has joined the basketball team and is finding that he is being pulled away from his friends. The whole basketball game story was bizarre and made little sense.

Jane, aka Elle aka Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is going through plenty of typical high school problems in her new school in California. She was involved in several scenes right out of the “mean girls” playbook, which are made even more difficult since her powers seem to be gone.

Of course, maybe that is a good thing since we saw a flashback to 1979, with a distinctly de-aged Millie Bobby Brown murdering the entire group at Hawkins National Laboratories. That opening scene was great and intense and really set the tone…

Except it didn’t.

The tone of the rest of the show was pretty campy. Every once in awhile, there would be a tense scene that did not feel so hokey, but they seemed to slip into the unknown. By the second half of this episode, I was not sure what I was watching and was hoping it would end.

There was quite a bit of disappointment over this episode. The use of characters that I did not know was oft-putting for me and the characters I did know seemed to be acting in manners that didn’t fit or were painfully cliché.

I hope this gets better.

Spoilers for the Murderville series

I completed the Murderville series this weekend that I started a few weeks ago. I came out of it with the same idea of the show as I had after watching the first three episodes. Murderville was a mixed bag of a show. The guest star is the key to whether or not the show would work.

The last three episodes featured two really strong ones, both of which screwed up the ending accusations. That was not that important. The fact is, both Sharon Stone and Ken Jeong had some chops with acting/improvisation that allowed them to do more than Annie Murphy (although as a member of Schitt’s Creek cast, she should have been better than it turned out).

One of the keys is that the more the guest star does, the less Will Arnett has to do and when he is more contained, the scenes are so much better. When Arnett goes too wild, things are considerably less entertaining.

I did not expect Sharon Stone to be as engaging as she was. Her episode turned out great. I expected Ken Jeong’s episode would be hilarious, but Sharon’s was every bit as great and might be my favorite of the six.

List of episodes in order of my favorites:

1. Sharon Stone
2. Kumail Nanjiani
3. Ken Jeong
4. Conan O’Brien
5. Annie Murphy
6. Marshawn Lynch

How badly do I want to see Colin Mochrie or Ryan Stiles on this show? Maybe together. No way that Will Arnett could keep up with them.

I do like that our final case was solving the murder of Terry Seattle’s long time partner.

It was up and down but it was an easy watch and the episodes went quickly. I would most likely watch a season two if Netflix greenlit it.

SPOILERS FOR MURDERVILLE E3

After the weaker episode for 2, I was riding on episode 3 to determine if I planned on continuing on with the remainder of the six episodes. I had a hopeful feeling because the guest star this time was going to be Kumail Nanjiani.

I was pleased that they brought out a few different type of improv games to intersperse with the story. They did not do the Will Arnett tells celeb what to do over the microphone. Instead, they had Kumail do several others, including the Two people sing with one voice improv game. That was a neat change. I liked how the general format did make a change, perhaps with someone who was more used to the comedic world.

I have to say though that Kumail did laugh more than some of the others. He was hiding his laughing in most every scene. It also felt that Will Arnett had to ham it up less with Kumail than he did with the last couple of celebrities.

And, Kumail nailed the killer, in a very impressive manner. He nailed a specific detail about the case that really was a good pull.

I will be watching the last three episodes of this show (looking forward to Ken Jeong).

SPOILERS FOR MURDERVILLE E2

Episode two of Murderville took a step back in quality. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit, but the second one was considerably less enjoyable. I think the big reason is that the celebrity guest detective this episode was former football star Marshawn Lynch. With all due respect, he did not have the improvisational skills of Conan O’Brien and he felt mostly awkward through the case.

He was clearly game and tried his best, but, even with an interesting case of the murder of a mother by one of her triplet sons, there was only so much they could do.

It also appears that the show will absolutely be following a regular format, as we had the second instance of Will Arnett, who plays Detective Terry Seattle, giving the celebrity a microphone and telling him what to say. It is an old David Letterman routine and it usually is pretty easy to get some laughs. It has happened in both of the first two episodes.

Sadly, Marshawn failed in his attempt to solve the case, accusing the wrong brother of the murder. That meant that he was fired from the training program.

I have a real hope for episode three because the guest detective is Kumail Nanjiani, a comedic actor who is extremely funny on his own. This feels like the kind of guest star that we should have on this show. I hope this episode is better because it may be my final one if it is not.

SPOILERS FOR MURDERVILLE E1

I have been a huge fan of improv comedy for years, everywhere from short form such as Whose Line is it Anyway to This is Spinal Tap’s long form. When I heard about the new Netflix series, Murderville, I was intrigued.

In Murderville, Will Arnett plays Terry Seattle, a hard-boiled homicide detective who has trouble keeping partners. Each episode a celebrity will appear on the show as Detective Seattle’s new partner. However, the said celebrity will not have been given a script and will need to improvise everything in the murder case they investigate with Seattle. Then, at the episode’s end, the celebrity must decide who the killer was.

Episode one featured Conan O’Brien.

I enjoyed the concept. I will say that I did not find it as hilarious as it could have been, but I do think the proper celebrity has a chance to be really funny. I worry that it will become a tad repetitive, but, again, depending on the celeb, this could really rock.

I don’t want to make it sound as if I did not enjoy the show, because I did. It had its funny moments and watching them try not to crack up with laughter is always fun.

The ending did feel almost like a game show as Conan tried to guess who the killer was among the three suspects and he was told that he was right!

I do plan on watching the remaining five episodes in Murderville, although I may not binge it as I have done with some of the other Netflix shows.

SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E10

“The Rise”

Everything is set up for our big time conclusion. Thankfully, Miguel did not re-break his back as they implied in episode 9. But he had a half hour to return to the match or forfeit, flashing back to how Daniel had the same situation in The Karate Kid. However, Miguel figured out that Johnny was encouraging him to get back out there and was more concerned with the match than with him. (That may not be the case, but that is what Miguel thought).

Miguel failed to answer the time limit and forfeited, sending Eli into the finals against Robby.

Of course, the girls final was Sam vs. Tory. The problem with the set up was that the boys went first and the show spoiled the outcome because they stated that Cobra Kai would win the overall dojo championship by winning just one of the two remaining matches and that Miyagi-do had to win both. Clearly, Miyagi-do was going to win the first one to keep the tension up. Still, Eli won in sudden death, a major upset, but completing his redemption arc of the season.

Kenny completed his turn to Cobra Kai as he viciously attacked Anthony, who had come to the locker room to apologize for his actions during the series. Kenny is now a villain, unlike the first couple of episodes of the season.

Of course, everything was going to be determined by Tory vs. Sam. In order to do what was best for her, Daniel approached Johnny and asked for his help. In a wonderful scene between the two senseis, Johnny and Daniel agreed to work together to stop Kreese and Silver.

The battle between Sam and Tory has been building since Tory arrived in season 2. As Sam was blending the two style of karate, the battle raged. And since we know that there is to be a final 5th season of this show, Tory got the win, giving Cobra Kai the final victory of the dojos and making it so that Daniel and Johnny had to give up their own dojos.

We discover some interesting tidbits at the end of the season, all setting up for season 5.

• Silver had bought off the ref. That was why the ref made a controversial call about Tory being out of bounds instead of taking a winning point.
• Tory heard Silver thank the ref so she knows that the fix was in.
• Miguel took off to find his real father. Johnny promised Carmine he would find him.
• We saw a flashback to when Silver was beating Raymond and he said that he would stop beating him and let him into Cobra Kai, but he had to do something for him.
• What Silver wanted Raymond to do was to tell the police that Kreese was the one who attacked him.
• This led to Kreese being arrested for assault and attempted murder, leaving Silver in charge of Cobra Kai.
• Daniel was at Miyagi’s grave, promising to stop Cobra Kai… as long as he had the help of Chozen, who was in the graveyard with Daniel.

This was a great season, and it sets up some real drama in season 5. I still think we see some pay off for Silver being sick and our heroes are heading in different directions. They will eventually come together in the end.

Can’t wait for season 5!

SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E9

“The Fall”

The All-Valley Tournament is underway!

With special guest star, Carrie Underwood to live sing a montage.

The All-Valley added skills competitions this year just so they could add some cool shots with weapons and break some wood. It really did not feel as if it were anything more than that.

Then there was a bunch of early round matches. We narrowed the numbers down knocking out the rd shirts and the secondary characters. Eli was doing well. So was Dmitri. Kenny took one to the face from Robby. And so on.

And in the battle between Miguel and Eli, something went wrong.

To be concluded.

SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E8

“Party Time”

I was both thrilled and horrified at the return of Paul Walter Hauser as Raymond, aka Stingray to Cobra Kai. Thrilled because he was a funny and engaging character that won me over when he was on the last time.

Horrified because Terry Silver kicked the living crap out of him.

That good guy Terry Silver who apologized to Daniel and tried to get the Cobra Kai kids to focus on the tournament only seems to be gone new. In his place is this complete psycho. I just hope he leaves poor Raymond alive, because I am not sure about that.

While Silver is freaking out, Sam continues to show what a disrespectful brat she is. She takes Miguel to prom and then she gets mad when Robbie and Tory show up together. Yes, they showed up to throw Miguel and Sam off balance, but Sam started a fight and played right into the hands of Tory.

By the way, there were some ultra cool fight moves blended into the dance choreography.

I’m not sure the message that the show is sending when Anthony started to straight up his act but only after Daniel broke his iPad in half. That response in anger was what apparently worked for the boy.

Oh, and there was a remarkable scene with Johnny and Miguel. After Johnny got the crap beaten out of him by Silver (who was incredibly busy this episode), he got drunk and Miguel found him on his apartment floor in a puddle of his own … whatever. Miguel took him to his room and Johnny told him that he wanted to be a father to him but he was failing. Miguel said he was doing fine and that he loved him. Johnny responded that he loved him too, Robbie. Oh, right to the heart. That was a crushing moment for poor Miguel.

SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E7

“Minefields”

We finally got back to Anthony and maybe, finally, Daniel and Amanda can open their eyes to what a punk their son has been. Kenny sets him and his group of bully friends up to get them isolated in the library. They get caught just as Kenny is about to deliver some justice to Anthony.

This whole thing happened after Anthony let his father believe that he was being bullied by a kid from Cobra Kai. This was exactly the opposite of course as Anthony had just stolen Kenny’s clothes during PE and lured him into the hall for everyone to laugh at him. One wonders where the teachers are in this school. Maybe they are just all hiding out to avoid the karate fights.

Anthony was not the only one who was facing the music. Miguel discovered Johnny’s bandanna in his mom’s room and they finally had to tell him that they were “dating” ( or as Johnny said, hooked up). Johnny is remarkably awkward during this scene, which was very funny.

Eagle Fang Karate still needed a female competitor for the upcoming tournament and they have apparently found one in Devon, who watched all the karate fighting movies, which seemed to impress Johnny and he took this opportunity to build up immunity to the dirty tricks that Cobra Kai may pull at the tournament and so he had Devon kick all the other boys in their balls.

She enjoyed that too much.

Then, it appeared that Kreese felt the need to reestablish his power over Terry Silver, as he had an unbelievably awkward conversation with Terry to remind him who was boss. Are these cracks that are beginning to show among the Cobra Kai crew?

SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E6

“Kicks Get Chicks”

Yup, they have successfully made me dislike Sam LaRusso. I did not think that was possible, but she has turned herself into a spiteful and mean-spirited person.

The confrontation at the end of the episode as Tory returned to school for the first time since the fight, thanks to the LaRusso family’s help, as Sam laid down the law in no uncertain terns by saying, “I’m coming for you, bitch” showed how Sam has become the worst type of person.

I can understand why she feels this way, but you would think that being raised by Daniel and Amanda would have had some of those lessons passed on to her. Or maybe not since we also saw her bully brother earlier in the season. Maybe the LaRussos need to work on their parenting skills.

Then we have Hawk… or should I call him Eli now? This feels like his own personal journey has reached its apex. When he turned to join Miyagi-do last year at the end of the season, that did not feel earned. It felt too quick. Now, he has spent most of the season paying for his choices to the point that he was ready to give up karate completely (which might be a sound decision in the long run). He was convinced to remain by his friend, Demetri, and he showed up at Miyagi-do to complete his path back.

This show is really about there not being any specific villain. They are al in shades of gray. Daniel sure felt like the bad guy when Silver confronted him at the store. Daniel is allowing his past experiences to prevent moving forward, something he wanted Sam to do. He does not really lead by example, sadly. Maybe Silver is the real bad guy, but he does not seem as if he is. Also, maybe I misread the clues from earlier because there is not implications that Silver is sick.

Surprise return: Aisha

Not sure the purpose behind this since she did not really do anything and Sam seemed to toss her advice aside.

The show is building toward the tournament with the new rules that will make things more inclusive. Johnny can explain it to you…