I was expecting it to deviate from the Cold War satire of season 3 because they continued having the Soviets as a baddie, but they turned out to be the least sinister problem.
I enjoyed the contrast between Will and Mike’s distant and faltering relationship with Dustin and Steve’s healthy and loving friendship, but I did wish they did a little more with the latter two.
Joyce and Robin are cuties, as usual.
For the most part, I liked how almost everyone had important tasks that contributed to the overall goal. Even when Mike’s crew or Joyce’s crew didn’t get screen time for a long time, I’m still reminded that their jobs are crucial. I wish they had done a little more with Yuri and the prison guard.
Overall, it was alright. If they ever make a season 6, which they probably will because it’s a lucrative franchise, I hope they return to season 1’s conspiracy thriller vibe. Particularly, going back to the 60s and exploring the start of MKULTRA and Paperclip scientists, California cults that dabbled in LSD, and the CIA and FBI meddling of the Black Panthers. It would be funny to see Panthers using Maoist tactics to defeat the monsters.
I think I bailed not long after S3. the Soviet portrayal was just too much. I grew up in the 80s, watching dipshit anti-soviet/anti-communist action propaganda flicks (Invasion USA, Missing in Action, Red Dawn) and I can enjoy a rewatch of that media because it is so deeply deranged and ludicrous given the declassification of the Soviet archives, revelations about Operation Cyclone, Operation Bloodstone, the Korean Occupation, and the general material conditions of the US in the 2020s.
when more recently made media (ER, Spy Game, this shit) tries to do the same thing, it feels disgusting to watch, like a literal rewriting of history using the latest production techniques and artistic nostalgia to maintain belief in a horrible lie about our own histories. like it makes me feel sick in a way I can't elide. it probably doesn't hurt that those older movies look so cheesy while dropping boatloads of cash on stunts and practical effects like explosions and stunts.
I think this is a big part of it, Invasion USA has communist terrorists who look like GI Joe side characters trying to ruin Christmas by driving through suburban cul-de-sacs firing missiles at random houses whereas generally modern anti communist/pro west media takes itself a lot more seriously and is more wired in to the awful brainworms of our time. Totally agree that it's nauseating. There was some dogshit British spy series a year or so ago that straight up claimed that Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion are Russian spy plots and I couldn't even bare to watch it for riffing purposes.
lol, yeah Invasion USA has got to be the craziest example. it makes Red Dawn look like The Bicycle Thief. it's outrageously nonsensical. the suburban Christmas RPG strike is so insane and Chuck Norris gave interviews where he was like "yeah, the threat is real, people need to wake up." I love rewatching it because literally every scene is the most idiotic moment in the movie, but it is played like this somber thriller.
I liked the scene where the Russian terrorists were trying to blow up school buses full of kids and the one where they attempt dynamite a church full of old people and kids. but Norris, in his Canadian tuxedo, uses his American resourcefulness to defeat the baddies.
goddammit, I love that piece of shit movie, especially in the context that Chuck Norris made it as a wakeup call for Americans. guy shoulda been locked up lmao.
Yeah it's quality. I just love the idea that Chuck Norris genuinely believed that a foundational aspect of Communism is pushing old women over at Church potlucks or some shit