The whole reason why the Russian base is underneath the Starcourt Mall was explained in great detail, including how it even got there in the first place, including the reasons why it had to happen.
But in order to know this information, you kind of have had to watch this season and the appropriate episodes. Some of my fellow reviewers here, the impression I get is that they simply wrote a review without knowing what was actually going on in the show. Hence the bulleted lists of complaints, without giving honest critical reasons about them. In fact, both seasons one and two have heavy references to "Russians". So when Russians finally show up, they think that is unrealistic? Nope. Not in the context of this show.
This is a show about the 80s. Remember the 80s? Did you live through the 80s? I did. Movies were made upon the same exact premise as this, and they were immensely popular.
Red Dawn. It was referred to in season two. So if we were fans of the show, we knew that something like this was going to happen in the show. And because I paid attention in season two I was not surprised when the Russians showed up in season three.
How did the Russians get away with building a secret base down there? I don't know, how did Hawkins lab do it? They had a virtual labyrinth underneath their building. Yet nobody complained about that.
There is nothing going on here but a 100% accurate depiction of the anti-Russian paranoia of the 80s, and what better way to do that other than to have a secret Russian base underneath Starcourt? With the complicity of the mayor of Hawkins, even?
It may not be something that actually could have happened, but in fact it is something that has been fictionalized and written about, in books and film all through the 80's, especially during the years depicted in this season. So when it comes to a show about the 80s, this falls into line with other books and films and TV shows, from the 80s that would show things like this happening. And if you don't believe me, go back in time and watch shows like Magnum PI, MacGyver, Rockford files, and those were considered "serious" shows.
Now my favorite part of course was the musical interlude with Dustin and Suzy, that's all I will say about it. Of course it's ridiculous. I think people take, not this show, but their complaints about the show way too seriously, and this is the Duffer brothers saying "we don't care". But while they complain about this, they are forgetting that the actors themselves did their own singing and the writers of the soundtrack played the music underneath. And it was a solid performance. And of course it's ridiculous, you just have to get over yourself. This is the third year in a row where these kids from Hawkins Indiana basically save the world as we knew it In the 80's. They are a magnet for the upside down and for the Flayer. And now we know that there are more holes into the upside down in other parts of the world.
As far as this episode and the season as a whole, as I mentioned before the 80s especially during that time represented a lot of change, and these kids are teenagers now. A lot has happened since season one, and things are just not the same. If you can't accept that, then walk away from the show. Earlier, we saw Will the Wise destroy his own fort, in a rejection of everything that he loved before he got trapped in the upside down. That's how much he had been affected by these events. If we don't feel right about our characters in season three, it's only because they don't feel comfortable with themselves either and they are doing a good job of making us feel that way too. Meaning the actors that portray them, and the writers of the show, are all doing their jobs because everybody is reacting exactly as expected. We aren't supposed to be comfortable with this.
What we have seen in this season accurately shows what happens when kids grow up and they start dating, and the mistakes that parents make as well as the mistake that kids make. In fact a lot of the problems that come up are because everybody is separated, out doing their own thing. They are not talking to each other on their walkie-talkies like they used to do in the first two seasons, and so we have our characters spread out all across a map, not talking to each other, and each of them have a piece of the conundrum of this season.
It is not until they finally all gather together in Hoppers cabin, together at last for the first time since being in the theater in episode one, and they are finally able to put it all together and start coming up with solutions.
Hopper and Joyce with Murray and Smirnoff in tow, have the last piece of the puzzle. Smirnoff didn't make it into this episode, but his knowledge did.
And we finally see here the direct connection to seasons one and two. What are the Russians doing? I don't know, what was Hawkins lab doing? What did they use Eleven to do? How did Eleven fix that in season two?
It's all related.
Now, Hopper. I don't want to believe he's gone either, but at this point we don't know. All we know is that there are other places in the world where this kind of stuff was happening, so I am looking forward to the next season where they have to go to some of those places.
But in order to know this information, you kind of have had to watch this season and the appropriate episodes. Some of my fellow reviewers here, the impression I get is that they simply wrote a review without knowing what was actually going on in the show. Hence the bulleted lists of complaints, without giving honest critical reasons about them. In fact, both seasons one and two have heavy references to "Russians". So when Russians finally show up, they think that is unrealistic? Nope. Not in the context of this show.
This is a show about the 80s. Remember the 80s? Did you live through the 80s? I did. Movies were made upon the same exact premise as this, and they were immensely popular.
Red Dawn. It was referred to in season two. So if we were fans of the show, we knew that something like this was going to happen in the show. And because I paid attention in season two I was not surprised when the Russians showed up in season three.
How did the Russians get away with building a secret base down there? I don't know, how did Hawkins lab do it? They had a virtual labyrinth underneath their building. Yet nobody complained about that.
There is nothing going on here but a 100% accurate depiction of the anti-Russian paranoia of the 80s, and what better way to do that other than to have a secret Russian base underneath Starcourt? With the complicity of the mayor of Hawkins, even?
It may not be something that actually could have happened, but in fact it is something that has been fictionalized and written about, in books and film all through the 80's, especially during the years depicted in this season. So when it comes to a show about the 80s, this falls into line with other books and films and TV shows, from the 80s that would show things like this happening. And if you don't believe me, go back in time and watch shows like Magnum PI, MacGyver, Rockford files, and those were considered "serious" shows.
Now my favorite part of course was the musical interlude with Dustin and Suzy, that's all I will say about it. Of course it's ridiculous. I think people take, not this show, but their complaints about the show way too seriously, and this is the Duffer brothers saying "we don't care". But while they complain about this, they are forgetting that the actors themselves did their own singing and the writers of the soundtrack played the music underneath. And it was a solid performance. And of course it's ridiculous, you just have to get over yourself. This is the third year in a row where these kids from Hawkins Indiana basically save the world as we knew it In the 80's. They are a magnet for the upside down and for the Flayer. And now we know that there are more holes into the upside down in other parts of the world.
As far as this episode and the season as a whole, as I mentioned before the 80s especially during that time represented a lot of change, and these kids are teenagers now. A lot has happened since season one, and things are just not the same. If you can't accept that, then walk away from the show. Earlier, we saw Will the Wise destroy his own fort, in a rejection of everything that he loved before he got trapped in the upside down. That's how much he had been affected by these events. If we don't feel right about our characters in season three, it's only because they don't feel comfortable with themselves either and they are doing a good job of making us feel that way too. Meaning the actors that portray them, and the writers of the show, are all doing their jobs because everybody is reacting exactly as expected. We aren't supposed to be comfortable with this.
What we have seen in this season accurately shows what happens when kids grow up and they start dating, and the mistakes that parents make as well as the mistake that kids make. In fact a lot of the problems that come up are because everybody is separated, out doing their own thing. They are not talking to each other on their walkie-talkies like they used to do in the first two seasons, and so we have our characters spread out all across a map, not talking to each other, and each of them have a piece of the conundrum of this season.
It is not until they finally all gather together in Hoppers cabin, together at last for the first time since being in the theater in episode one, and they are finally able to put it all together and start coming up with solutions.
Hopper and Joyce with Murray and Smirnoff in tow, have the last piece of the puzzle. Smirnoff didn't make it into this episode, but his knowledge did.
And we finally see here the direct connection to seasons one and two. What are the Russians doing? I don't know, what was Hawkins lab doing? What did they use Eleven to do? How did Eleven fix that in season two?
It's all related.
Now, Hopper. I don't want to believe he's gone either, but at this point we don't know. All we know is that there are other places in the world where this kind of stuff was happening, so I am looking forward to the next season where they have to go to some of those places.
