I was extremely disappointed with Season 3. The way the kids figured out that there were Russian spies operating out of the Hawkins mall was one of the most preposterous leaps of inference I've ever seen: you intercept a transmission of someone speaking some nonsense phrases in Russian with an antenna that is explicitly stated to be able to pick up signals with a range of thousands of miles, and there happens to be some standard carnival music in the background. Then because that music happens to be present at the local mall (in addition to the thousands of other places within range it might also be playing), the natural conclusion is that it is coming from the mall, and moreover is Russian spies? And this ridiculous guess is somehow completely correct? The Soviets were also comically stereotypical, and the idea that they built a gigantic underground complex in the US in a town monitored by US intelligence in less than a year was preposterous — they'd struggle to do that openly, much less with somehow no one noticing.

Character-wise, it was also a mess. Chief Hopper became completely non-functional, the dynamic of Max and Billy wasn't very interesting, the Mind Flayer continued to be a bad villain with a very stupid plan, the cast grew large enough that it just didn't give the individuals time to shine. Above all, though, the show just doesn't have the sense of wonder it did in the first season. The Upside-Down was a danger, yes, but it was also a place of strangeness and marvels. The thing with the magnets failing was a lazy attempt to do something like the Christmas lights of season 1, except with no reason at this point for Hopper to doubt Joyce. It was just a disappointing mess, and this trailer did not convince me to give Season 4 a chance. (Crikey, the Mind Flayer gets a humanoid body?)