‘Stranger Things’ Complete Series Review
Mild Spoilers alert… I will see you in the Upside Down
That is a rap. I have now seen every episode of Stranger Things. A series that seems laser-focused to interest me. It’s weaponised 1980s nostalgia, that cherry picks from lots of better fiction (Stephen King being the big one, but there are lots of “things” referenced here). Strange ones.
It’s a veritable Piñata of 1980s faux-remembered and idealised nostalgia. From Stand by Me, to IT, to Back to the Future. It’s sci-fi horror where our main cast have thick plot armour, and we spend a lot of time with characters we only get to know superficially.
The plot, very briefly, centres around kids in a D&D group in a small town in the Mid-West discover some shady Government lab is doing some unethical stuff. They then discover that a monster is capturing kids and taking them to a sort of alternative dimension (that isn’t quite an alternative dimension).
It’s a coming-of-age show that also doubles as a “gosh, being a parent is tricky” allegory.
One of the strengths of the series is that we do spend a lot of time with our characters, before the monsters and chasing start. Unfortunately, despite spending dozens of hours with these characters, we never really get to know them. Like the companion characters in a BioWare RPG, most of the characters simply have 1 sub-plot they need to resolve, which generally hinges around the interdependent relationships with our group. Sadly, this is generally “which of the two guys, neither of which is right for her, will Nancy tell she loves at the end?”.
Much of the plot centres around excuses for our increasingly large cast to get into break down sessions, so they can give us clumsy exposition. The plot is regularly moved on, by characters suddenly having quite illogical thoughts, that magically gives them a deeper insight into what is going on, and how they can defeat the baddie next. It is very similar to Fry from Futurama talking about putting too much air into a balloon.
Series 1 is definitely a high point, with the Police and single Mum, whose life is a nightmare and she makes it everyone else’s problem, Joyce looking for the missing boy. However, from Series 1 to the final season, we seem to be endlessly running around in labs and the Silent Hill-like “other dimension” being chased by monster dogs while everyone chats over walkie-talkies.
While some of the characters are very likeable (Steve, Dustin and Murray,) most of them don’t really evolve beyond being a haircut. Speaking of which. Some of the 1980s wigs on display here are magnificent.
The plot gets increasingly silly, which makes the plot armour stand out. Likeable as he is, small town sheriff, Hopper increasingly becomes John Rambo, and a mentally unstable, white-wine zombie single mum saving him from the Soviet Gulag is a particular low point in believability (in a series where there are interdimensional monsters running around). Dozens of armed soldiers fire machine guns into the monsters and get cut down, but one of our weedy teenage girls, armed with a pool queue will definitely be fine, and that very quickly erodes any sense of peril.
Also, don’t worry. The soldiers and scientists are all jerks, so we don’t need to worry about them dying.
The ultimate baddie is being evil, for the sake of being evil. Our time with them is really just to show us they are a “wrong-un’”. We don’t really get to learn much more about them beyond “they have done bad things, and are evil”.
Atari, Nintendo, the Clash, Kate Bush. Cars with wood panelling. I feel like the script just listed stuff.
I thought Season 2 showed there was going to be much more variation, but we quickly fall into a routine, where there is a big baddie, who, like Skeletor, keeps getting defeated by a bunch of kids, and ends up running back to his lair to plan his next, improbable evil scheme.
An enormous amount of very silly plot twists, like a huge Bond villain-style Soviet base, underground in the Mid-West is just one of the many decisions that make no sense. Don’t get me started on our long-term Russian adventure story arc. Thank goodness Murray was there with us. The character of Murray, who could have been an occasional character in The X-Files, is great fun (but honestly makes no sense).
I can only say the direction is excellent throughout. The thing looks great, and all the design stuff, the music, and the logo are all very slick and right on the money in terms of faux nostalgia.
I can see why Stranger Things has been popular; I am glad I watched it, although I doubt I will rewatch it. It has sold a ton of lunch boxes. In 10 years’ time, I suspect, like Friends, many people will be saying they never really liked it, and never liked it before not liking it was cool.
Like loading a game from tape on my ZX Spectrum, Stranger Things is a painful slog, at times, but sometimes, the fun bits are worth it.
