Stranger Things (Season 3)

I grew up in the 1980s.  I remember Back to the Future and The Soviet Union.  I remember New Coke being a thing.  Since I live in a major city, I had a few malls to choose from.  For the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, many of these things are new.  (Back to the Future was released on July 3, 1985, during this season’s time frame.)  They also have a new mall in town, which has all but killed Main Street.

Speaking of killing, The Mind Flayer is back, so Eleven, Dustin, Lucas, Jonathan and Co. have their work cut out for them.  Add to this the discovery of another menace:  Soviet operatives underneath the new Starcourt Mall.   In fact, they’re the reason that the Mind Flayer is active.  They’re trying to drill a hole to the Upside-Down.  To what end isn’t made clear, but the Mind Flayer is up to something.  It starts with rats consuming fertilizer and becomes stranger from there.  All of this is happening while Mayor Larry Kline just wants to put on a nice Fourth of July show.

When you’re trying to use several elements in a story, you have to find balance.  Here, there’s definitely nostalgia.  We even get to see several clips of Back to the Future. Observant fans will notice stores at the mall tht still exist, like Burger King and The Gap, and those that are no longer with us, like Sam Goody and RadioShack.

There’s even a Jazzercise studio.  It’s a franchise that uses jazz music to set the tone for the exercise.  It started in 1969, but became big in the 1980s.  Oh, how I would have liked to have forgotten that.  I think I was in the fifth grade when they had my entire elementary school do it.  It must have been in shifts, but all of the students had to participate.  I remember some being enthusiastic about it.  I remember doing the bare minimum necessary to look like I wasn’t just standing there.

Anyway, I digress.  Many of the nostalgic elements blend into the background.  You might see an old logo or something.  The big thing is the Soviets.  I think we’re to assume here that the Soviet Union somehow built a huge secret underground base, put a mall on top of it and hoped no one would notice?  Well, someone noticed.  Dustin happened to build a receiver that picked up one of their transmissions.

The other side of this is the tension.  You have good against evil.  Those that were fighting for good are still doing so, only in different groups.  But even the bad guys are nostalgic.  (How many old movies and cartoons had Soviets as the enemy?)  I mean, it works.  They are a pretty solid enemy.  However, it seems odd that they have that large a base with that many people (in uniform) that went unnoticed except for some pesky kids.

From what I’ve read, the show was meant to last three to five seasons, although there is talk of a fourth.  Given how this one plays out, I’m not certain what the next will look like.  Each season so far has focused on going between dimensions.  If I recall, the first season was the only one not to take place on a holiday, although it does happen between Halloween and Christmas.  Will the next one take on Thanksgiving?  Will there be a new enemy from another dimension?  I’d settle for an explanation of the whole Soviet angle.  And please, don’t tell me it was Moose and Squirrel.


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Stranger Things (Season 2)

When Stranger Things premiered last year, it began the odd story of Will Byers.  Will disappeared one day after playing some D&D with friends.  While it may have looked like any other disappearance, it wasn’t.  Connected was Hawkins Lab, which again looked normal, but wasn’t.  They had opened a portal through which Will had gone through.  He was returned, but not necessarily safely.  The first season ended with the promise that it wasn’t over.

The second season picks up almost a year later, just before Halloween.  The kids are getting ready to go out as the Ghostbusters.  They spend a fair amount of time at the local video arcade playing Dragon’s Lair and Dig Dug.  This should tell you a good deal about what’s in store.  (That is, if you’re an old geezer like me, who happens to be old enough remember these games.)

Will has been having episodes.  Dr. Owens, who seems to be running things at Hawkins, won’t say much.  Then again, this is Hawkins Lab, so there’s no telling what he’s holding back.  Other than that, Will and his friends seem to be adjusting as well as can be expected.   They’re not allowed to talk about it with anyone, which doesn’t help.  And their mysterious friend, Eleven, hasn’t been seen by anyone other than Sheriff Hopper.

The season is nine episodes, each just under an hour.  It continues the story without repeating it that much.  (For those that haven’t seen the first season, you’ll want to watch the series in order.)  Whereas Will was maybe a little underused the first season, the second season has him in abundance.  He’s tested and poked and prodded, as something from the Upside Down alternate universe is controlling him.

His friends and family all try to help in their own way.  Even Eleven, who has been hidden away, has a path to take.  The references to the 1980s are toned down a little, which lets us concentrate on the eeriness.  This isn’t to say that Radio Shack isn’t namedropped or that you don’t get to see a Polaroid instant camera or two.

I would think that it makes the show a little more accessible to younger audiences.  Sometimes, the references don’t resonate the same for those born in the 1990s or later.  For instance, those that have played Dig Dug will notice elements of the game in the story.  Those that haven’t, not so much.

It seems like the second season has perfected the storytelling a little bit and has started to find a balance.  This may be because it sticks to only a few plot threads.  Basically, it’s Eleven’s plot thread and Will’s plot thread with a resolution for some of the characters from the first season.

Part of the problem with a heavily serialized show like this is that episodes can drag.  I noticed less drag this season.  Each episode ended about where it should in terms of story and set up the next one nicely.  It’s perfect for binge watching.  (I was able to watch the episodes in three sittings, although I probably would have made it two if my schedule had permitted.)  I’d be interested to see where the third season will go.  Many loose ends are tied up, but even those presumed dead have a way of coming back.

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Stranger Things (Season 1)

There’s always going to be a market for nostalgia.  With Netflix, I have access to all manner of TV shows and movies that I watched as a child.  In fact, I just watched The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, a movie almost as old as I am, thanks to the fact that I could stream it through their service.  That’s another story, though.

Netflix has been producing original content for the past few years and one of their original shows takes place in the early 80s, back when Atari was still new and  Dungeons & Dragons still had a non-advanced version in production.  Stranger Things revolves around a group of four boys:  Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers and Mike Wheeler.  They’re normal 12-year-old kids going to school during the week and playing D&D on the weekend.

The town of Hawkins, Indiana, is your normal, albeit fictional, small town.  They only notable exception is a secret-research facility that you might find in an episode of The X-Files or The Twilight Zone.  The town doesn’t know much about what goes on there.  That’s about to change.  First, Will goes missing.  When I say missing, I mean he actually disappears.  Around the same time, a girl escapes from the secret facility and makes her way to a local diner where the owner tries to help her.

The girl manages to find her way to Will’s three friends, who take to calling her Eleven from a tattoo on her arm.  Meanwhile, Will’s mother, Joyce, is distraught to the point of thinking that Will is trying to contact her from the other side.  I don’t know what you may have seen in coming attractions, but Joyce’s actions may seem like those of someone who doesn’t handle stress well.  Who can blame her?  Her son is missing and she can’t do anything about it.  I doubt I’d be able to remain calm.

The local police chief, Jim Hopper, tries to help her deal with her loss as best he can.  He tells Joyce to take some time to accept and deal with her grief.  The chief has enough to worry about.  Over the course of his investigation, he comes to realize that she might not be far off about what happened to Will.  He was willing to take the evidence at face value, but begins to wonder when he starts to dig deeper.

Chief Hopper also tells Will’s friends not to try and investigate.  (As if that ever worked.)  Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Eleven find that Will is trapped in some sort of alternate dimension, which Eleven calls The Upside Down.  The boys are out of their element, but Eleven was part of some strange experiments and at least knows what they’re up against.

One of the difficulty of dealing with a story like this is balance.  You’re probably wondering if this is full-on out there.  It’s very easy to have Joyce be this over-the-top grieving mother, but she’s not.  Winona Ryder is able to keep it to a believable level.  (After all, you’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.  Right?)  There’s also a temptation to go overboard with the 80s stuff.  The series is reminiscent of a lot of things, but doesn’t try to cram all manner of references into each episode.  (The one big product placement seems to be D&D)

It doesn’t look like Netflix is one to release its original content on DVD.  My understand is that it commissions content in hopes of driving subscriptions.  This may not be a bad thing, given the cost of DVD season sets compared to the price of a month of Netflix.  You might be better getting Netflix, especially if you’re not one to rewatch TV shows constantly.

Netflix does have a lot of original content, which makes paying for a month or two worth it.  (If I’m not mistaken, they’re currently offering a free month.  Check the Web site for details.)  This is definitely one of the series I’d recommend checking out if you’re in to shows like The X-Files and Twin Peaks.  It definitely has a similar feel to it.

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