MovieChat Forums > Stranger Things (2016) Discussion > S3e08 Jumped the Shark with Cringy Singi...

S3e08 Jumped the Shark with Cringy Singing


It turned into "Glee" in the middle of a tense moment with that Neverending Story song. Screwed up an otherwise good episode. Every current show turns lame eventually.

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I just skipped over the singing part myself and the episode was still decent imo. That's the good thing about Netflix. The fast forward button.

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As if Netflix invented the fast forward function!

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IMO it was a hilarious scene that set up for more hilarity down the line.


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Why do I get the feeling that people on this board don't know the meaning of "jumping the shark"?


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jump the shark

(of a television series or movie) reach a point at which far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality.

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I am aware of the definition, but have not observed any decline in quality with this series.


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That overly long singing number was a far fetched event included for novelty and it hurt the quality of the episode and series. Fact.

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opinion.

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The series has been going downhill since season 2.

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Your opinion is hardly of any consequence to me.


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Eat shit fuck face

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Lol

Season 2 wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. Season 3 was muuuch better.


Though fighting essentially the same enemy/dealing with the same issue every season is kinda becoming a drag. Season 3 was very enjoyable though.

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I was laughing my ass off. Dustin couldn't convince his long distance girlfriend that no, I'm not kidding about saving the world, so he had to sing their song with her in front of everybody while a giant monster chased his friends down the road. It was great! And damn - those two kids can sing. I understand that wasn't a dubbed-in vocal track, it was actually them.

To me, jumping the shark is what happens when a show goes on too long and exhausts its story, but they don't let it end. In a desperate attempt to keep it attention grabbing the writers go to crazier and crazier extremes pulling implausible BS out of their asses. Stuff that runs counter to the previous nature of the show, and sometimes has characters behaving in ways wildly inconsistent with their established personas.

ST isn't anywhere near that point. Far fetched events are the bread and butter of horror/sci-fi. We have telekinetic kids, monsters, portals into parallel worlds, and secret Russian bases under shopping malls. All those wonderful 80's tropes that make the show so much fun. Is it plausible in a real world sense? No. But it's still very much on the rails of its own storyline.

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You don't understand. The singing went on for far too long. Everyone would have been dead in the amount of time it took those kids to break into that overly long Glee number. It would have been better if the kid sang a little then quickly got the numbers.

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The creature couldn't catch them, although they weren't outrunning it either. Of course it was a crazy situation - that's why I was laughing. The whole final act was one big cut the green wire with two seconds left kind of moment. The monster went down just in the nick of time, like the dragon about to kill Jon Snow. If anyone had taken a few seconds longer doing anything (including the song) they all would've been fuсked.

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So all in all, Billy get killed because of that song !

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Billy was screwed anyway. Remember, unless you draw that hive virus out of a person getting cut off from the Mind Flayer kills them. As soon as the gate closed he would've collapsed and died just like Dart. The sauna was the only chance they had to save him, but he broke free before they could finish.

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The series jumped the shark in that awful episode in season 2 where 11 meets the retarded x-men. They should have ended the series after the first season. It’s now become a bore fest with recycled ideas and annoying characters.

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Then why do you bother watching it? Plenty of other stuff on the Netflix menu. I've never understood people who keep watching a show they don't like and complaining about it, instead of just tuning out.

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It’s possible to like and criticize something at the same time. S2 had its flaws but was still enjoyable overall. S3 has become much worse with scattered moments of good TV.

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That particular song was a ‘big deal’ for nerds in the 80’s and they used it as a soundtrack to some action scenes, I found it funny but it probably only works if you knew the song or the Neverending Story.

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Oh, thanks for this bit of info! A little before my time, but I'll look it up. It's nice to know the context.


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Sure! It does change a lot of things when you know the source. There are a ton of cultural references that come from the movie, you should watch it when you have time, you’ll be amazed how often it’s brought up in pop culture!

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You never saw that movie? I loved it when I was a kid, and so did my own kids - I sort of assumed it was something everyone saw at some point but maybe they wouldn't have seen it at all if I'd been ten years older, or ten years younger. Like The Dark Crystal. There's another one the post-80's generations have often never heard of. Or Labyrinth with David Bowie. How many of you who grew up in the 90's or later have watched The Neverending Story?

My children at least got the reference. In fact they started singing along with Dustin and Suzie during that scene, it was a cute moment.

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The Neverending Story is my all-time favorite film, so that scene of course resonated with me and I loved it in all its absurdity.

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It was so funny because I sang along with Dustin and all the other people watching it with me were like WTF? Hey, if you’ve never seen it you just can’t relate. Lol

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I laughed my ass off during this part to be honest.

However I gotta for me the jump the shark moment of Season 3 was when Steve, Dustin, and company infiltrated the secret Russian lair and lived to tell the tale. I mean come on....they were so dead in that preposterous situation it was just unbearable to watch.

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But everything else the kids have pulled off thus far you found realistic?.. 🙄

How was this different from saving the world, twice?


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^^Can you honestly not decipher between the two? The kids saving the world was done in a semi-plausible way in the first two seasons where you were easily able to suspend your disbelief. Plus they had help both times by the adults. It was a big group effort, and the writing was so good and new that again you were able to suspend disbelief and overlook certain things.Whereas Season 3 for the majority was a failure for me. I only liked ep 7 and 8.

It retreaded a lot, focused waaaaaay too much of the love stories, stick to the sci-fi horror. Lucas' sister, Max, Nancy, hell even Hopper were all annoying. They brought on Cary Elwes which I was very excited for, and he was barely used, and served as a one note prototypical sleazy politician. They also brought on Jake Busey who was essentially a glorified extra. The minute Steve and Ethan Hawke's daughter were captured by the Russians I'm like "how are they not dead?" The Russians had them severely outnumbered, all armed, and they were like 50 feet underground. All they did was punch Steve a bunch of times in the face....it just didn't work for me. But if you liked it, more power to you

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I think you meant "distinguish".

And no, none of the things you listed bothered me, but I am sure there are some who would agree with you.


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Well cool then. I mean I still love the show, and love these characters. I will finish until the shows end. But this season didn't work for me. Like I said episodes 7 and 8 were awesome. The mall was cool, and felt like an additional character on the show. But the rest was meeeeeeeh….

But Yeah you liked it, that's cool. I mean we don't watch TV or movies to NOT like them right?

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There were a lot of times where the Russians would have just shot to kill, but they needed at least 1 of them alive because they needed to know who they were, how they got in, what they knew, etc. When your entire secret underground base is at stake, you aren't going to assume it's just a couple of kids that got lost.

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They also wasted Winona this season

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Well, she spent the whole third season doing faces, which is what she is known for now. Better than when she was known for shoplifting.

https://media.giphy.com/media/26xBDMWQLwRgrRJcs/giphy.gif

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Best actor on the show, and she had nothing all season long.

Also couldn't help but notice how her and Jonathan had NO interaction at all this season, like none. She says goodbye to Will, and I'm sitting there going "uhhhh lady don't you have another son." Then when they were reuniting after all was well and good. Again it was her and Will and I'm sitting there going "uhhhh lady don't you have another son."

As if we needed more proof to which one of the Byers boys is the favorite in that house.

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Jonathan seems more like he can take care of himself. Will is still her baby - and he's nearly been taken from her twice, so that overprotective mom thing is in full gear where he's concerned.

I agree though, they should've given her more to do than just being Hopper's sidekick. If we learned one thing last season it's that Noah can act! He was almost wasted in season 1 as a helpless victim. I could picture Will going off on his mom for the way she smothers him, and then her getting angry and telling him exactly what it's been like for her over the last couple of years. Having the two of them hash out Will's angst and trauma would have made for some intense emotional stuff.

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That was fucking terrible. We have people dying left and right and the mindflayer monster chasing our group, yet they have time for this shit? Literally killed the finale for me. Are they stupid? How could they? Jesus H. Christ.

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It was terrible. It took 7 episodes for the main characters to finally get in contact with each other, and when they do the intensity increases, and then they start singing?

Then you got Hopper ready to turn the key, people are dying on the surface, and Hopper's like "okay, turn the key on three in /slowly One...... Two......" and then gets attacked by the Terminator who appears out of nowhere.

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Turn around
Look at what you see
In her face
The mirror of your dreams

Make believe I'm everywhere
Given in the light
Written on the pages
Is the answer to a never ending story

Reach the stars
Fly a fantasy
Dream a dream
And what you see will be

Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon a rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story

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