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Reviews
Stranger Things: Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt (2019)
Mixed feelings about the whole season but especially this episode
I kind of wanted to give even less stars then seven, just for the fact that this season was for me constantly balancing on the ledge of being awesome and being a silly letdown, and the last episode could have redeemed it but it pushed it a little bit more on the latter side.
The beginning of the whole season created a great mysterious and exciting atmosphere where there was enough space for details and suspense. In the last few episodes there was so much happening, especially so many tight escapes and plot-armour moments, that I kind of stopped caring what was happening.
I think the action scenes have been by far the weakest spot of the series all in all, and the last episodes, especially BoS had a lot of them. I get that they are meant to create suspense and emotions and be sometimes metaphorical, I'm not looking for complete realism, but most scenes here just have characters acting completely ridiculously and that ruins the atmosphere for me. Why didn't the russian shoot Hopper and Joyce when he obviously could have? What was up with the ridiculous leg on throat thing? Why is the huge mind-flayer-monster so weak and useless? Why did Billy let Mike and Max survive when he could have snapped their necks in two seconds? Why did he not kill El if that was the plan all along? The illogicalities are so obvious that they distract you from enjoying the show.
Some thoughts on the plot: The russians under Starcourt gave a nice opportunity for new and exciting storylines but I wish the russians wouldn't have been so caricature-like. The plot could have been the same for them, just the atmosphere would have been less idiotic. Robin being gay was surprising and I think was a good move, it's just that it didn't really fit with her earlier comments. What I liked though is that the plot never lost traction, all of the episodes had purpose and served the whole. The frame for the ending, the fourth of july fair, was great but the plot came together a bit predictably. I was left hoping for a satisfying revelation but there was nothing to reveal.
For me season three was good entertainment, it had its moments like the rodent investigation plot and made nice work of picturing the shift from kids to teenagers and from high school to "real life". What left it below the first two- especially the first - seasons was illogical characters and silly action, and a below par plot ending. BoS managed to tell the story to an end in a somewhat satisfying way, but it had the chance to be much better.
One more thing I have to mention is that the product placement in the whole season was super nasty and out of place.
Alamaailma Trilogia: Lakimies (2011)
Spot on atmosphere, tension and humor
These three episodes were the best Finnish TV that I've ever seen, at least for a long time. Teijo Eloranta is a perfect fit for the role of the blues playing, underachieving but golden hearted lawyer Tomas Mattila who struggles with alcoholism. The "underworld" of Helsinki and Stockholm where he drifts and desperately tries to navigate is dark but humorous and it's incidents and characters do not try to be too realistic but are still believable in their own world. They seem to have the right balance of caricature and depth. The story lacks no tension and surprises and you can really feel what Mattila is going through when he tries to come on top in the desperate circumstances.The plot is complex, but not artificially so, and is unraveled in a captivating manner that does not feel rushed.
Everything is crowned with the amazing soundtrack created by Lauri Porra and the guest musicians. It brings forth with great strength the whole range of emotions that are present in the story. It is quite rare for a story to manage to be light and deeply touching at the same time. Teijo's harmonica playing has a big effect too (he played the instrument himself).
I think the earlier parts of the series suffered a bit, among some other issues, from varying performances by actors, but in Lawyer I found the acting top class through and through. I want to give special credit to how well Eloranta and Hyytiäinen play together when their characters share screen time.
I highly recommend this if you like crime stories, beautiful bluesy music and strong finnish atmosphere.