Another year has
passed and once again Mike Wheeler and his friends think that everything is hunky-dory
again in the sleepy town of Hawkins. How wrong they are! Dormant evil is
reawakened as vile forces try to reopen the gateway between this world and the
upside-down. And the beast that lurks there has made his own plan for what’s to
happen next.Stranger Things is back with a vengeance! After two stellar seasons the show hasn’t lost any of its momentum. The main trick behind this success is the balance this show manages to strike between ‘what we know’ and ‘what we think we know’.
The first one is easy: Eleven (or El as she will from now on
be called) will get several nosebleeds. Steve will get his behind kicked once again.
Hopper and Joyce will continue their will-they-won’t-they routine (but never
annoyingly so). And Mr. Clarke will explain some science along the way.
Yes, Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens) is back. He is the born teacher willing to give all his
time to anybody who is interested. And, of course, Mr. Clarke is into D and D
and painting ‘The lord of the Rings’ like elves and whatnot. Mr. super nerd is
awesome! What happened to his girlfriend from season 1 though?
|
These are the scriptural tropes that the show runners just
have to include each season, it’s tradition by now.
But Stranger Things
wouldn’t be Stranger Things if it
didn’t take some age-old narrative tropes from yesteryears’ movies and turn
them ‘upside-down’. No, the hero might not get the girl. And, no, the ordeal
the gang is facing might not reach the happy conclusion of many-an Amblin film.
This keeps Stranger
Things fresh whilst, at the same time, deeply rooted in a pleasant sense of
nostalgia.
Back to the past.
As always Stranger
Things season 3 is filled to the brim with references of both the actual
era and the pop culture at the time. It’s 1984 now, the colourful time of the
‘80s have truly arrived.
The rain and fall of seasons previous have been replaced by
summer and the fourth of July celebrations. Out are all the dark jackets and
grey woollen sweaters and in are the multicoloured hair bands, T-shirts and
shorts. It’s a long hot summer and the show wants you to know that.
Not only by making it several plot-points (e.g. the monster not
really liking the heat or) like Mrs. Wheeler feeling the heat
Mike’s mother is on the brink of a divorce -as so many mothers from
the ‘80s were. Whether she goes through with it or not you’ll just have to
see. What I can say is that her character has a lot more character-work than
season two in which she was terribly demoted to a desperate housewife.
|
but also by using this new bright colour palette to tell the
story. When El is discovering the mall (Material Girl is Madonna’s best song to
me) we, the audience, are taking it all in with her in full primary (techni)colour. But then, when dark
things happen, or a character is depressed the wardrobe changes to
earth-tones. And, as a bonus, when El is
in ‘the dark zone’ her bright yellow outfit makes her stand out quite
effectively.
I like to speculate
that her shirt –which is yellow with black stripes on it-
symbolises her duality with this nether realm –being part of it (black)/not being part of it (yellow).
symbolises her duality with this nether realm –being part of it (black)/not being part of it (yellow).
Now, it’s also the fourth of July. This ultimate, patriotism fuelled, American (“E pluribus unum”) holiday. This allows any storyteller to have a whole lot of fun. From visually having the kids recreate the statue of Iwo Jima. To, in narrative, having the Russians invade the U.S. of A.
The Russians are
coming.
Even though the Soviets carrying big guns at a mall is a
bit of a stretch.
But, for me, I always preferred the way the James Bond-franchise handled Russian villains. In that series it were always corrupt generals or rogue power-hungry officials, never actions santioned by the state. -Point in fact; the leader of the KGB (often played by Walter Gotell) came across as a charming fellow.
In Stranger Things
season 3 the actions have to be state-approved because the amount of Soviet
soldiers running amok and the giganticness of their operation couldn’t be done
by a select crew of power-hungry madmen.
It’s this scope of things that stretches my willingness to
believe a bit too far (without spoiling too much: how deep does the elevator go
again?). There’s no way a Soviet covert operation could be this big. Which is a
strange statement to make because we are talking about a show with a gargantuan
inter-dimensional tentacle monster here.
No, for me a smaller operation (preferably without military
uniforms) would’ve worked far better to sell this notion of ‘Ruskies invading’.
Still, on the other hand, with Soviet villains we now have
the possibility of introducing a Dolph
Lundgren-Arnold Schwarzenegger-Terminator –Soviet-super-fighter-who kills
people Darth Vader-style. A million 80s references pasted upon a single
one-dimensional character whose only motive is to be the unstoppable killing
machine. Delicious!
Trilogies.
Like the above-mentioned Soviet super villain Stranger Things showcases itself once
again as a master class of constant referencing whilst telling an ‘own’ story.
Too many movies and shows get lost in the ‘constant winking’. Stranger Things still gets the balance
right.
Though there is quite a bit of product placement going
‘round this time.
The old favourites are still there. Like the various references to: The Thing, Stephen King-movies, Spielberg’s ‘80s repertoire and the like. Then there are more obscure references to: The blob,
Wolfhard must’ve been thinking (after IT) with the Blob-monster
escaping into the sewers: “not this shit again!”
Invasion of the body
snatchers, Poltergeist (the little old lady Doris), The ambulance (or maybe Police
squad), Die Hard, Jaws, Evil dead, Magnum P.I., Alien(s), Dr.
Strangelove: or how I stopped worrying and love the bomb, An American
werewolf in London, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and, of course, the Neverending story.
There’s a Licence plate shown halfway through this season spelling:
TODFHTR. The show explains it as: TOD
FATHER (The Godfather). But I read
it as: TO THE FURTHER! A reference to the Insidious-franchise;
which plays with the same themes?
|
And, as the show started doing last season, the show runners
can’t help themselves putting some references to ‘parts three of 80s trilogies’
into the mix too. So, of course there is a recreation of the tied-up odd-couple
from Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
The famous Alien-Ripley shot from Alien 3.
The bulletproof vest from Back to the
Future 3. And, Return of the Jedi
gets mentioned by name (almost).
I think Mad Max:
beyond thunderdome makes an appearance through Billy’s car.
Not to mention the fact that this season features three main villain groups: The Russians, The newspaper and the mindflayer.
It’s the cherry on top that the show runners just have to
include. But, chances are quite likely that they’ll stop doing this next
season. Because with season 4 we’ll be entering Halloween, Friday the 13th
and Elmstreet’s territory of never-ending
sequels.
Though I’m quite certain Freddy Krueger’s fourth adventure
might get a mention.
A change is
coming...
Eleven can speak actual sentences now, finally! She’s
still wonderfully awkward though, about lots of stuff.
And ‘dad’ Hopper (David Harbour) isn’t pleased. I love his
grumpiness. And I certainly love the dad-vibe of wanting to murder his
daughter’s boyfriend -And this is not the only laugh out loud moment in the
first episode. Each and every actor is now comfortable in their respective
parts and how to play them.
Is El overpowered?
The problem with El is that she is overpowered.
Don’t forget that she snapped a man’s neck in season one almost as an
afterthought. Yet, the audience doesn’t quite know how powerful she actually
is. She closed the gateway to the Upside-Down with her mind. She splits
monsters in two. But then, she is also overtaken by a mere human at one point
during this third season. It’s a bit uneven. But, then, that rather fits with
her character now both physically (puberty) as mentally (discovering the
world around her).
Still, one fact remains; there is no real ‘feeling’ of danger for
Mike and his friends if they have El watching their backs. So, from a narrative
standpoint, what to do with her?
In season two the Duffer brothers smartly opted the Captain Marvel-technique. Just get El
away from the town for the duration of the season. In season 3 a new trick is
applied: ‘weaken her’.
The children are teenagers now so –by some unwritten Hollywood-rule- they are allowed to get hurt as much as adults. So El goes through a lot of pain which, in turn, disallows her to use her powers. A wonderful solution because now the danger lurking is very real because there isn’t a deus ex machina (El) to save the day.
My second point is the same one I made last season: El’s storyline is
interwoven with Mike’s. The two kids love each other deeply. So, to tell a
good story, the two need to be separated.
When they are together their storyline is finished (like Romeo and Juliette). It’s only when
they are apart that their story becomes interesting.
|
From a story perspective this is a logical choice: kids grow
up. Now the show-runners get to play with all the puberty tropes of the ‘80s:
“Mom get off the line!”, ‘Spin the bottle’, ‘girly-magazines featuring hunks’
and whatnot.
The show doesn’t let you forget the looming sexuality with
small gags like Billy’s stack of porn magazines,
or the so-called: “Good screams” (that had me in stitches).
or the so-called: “Good screams” (that had me in stitches).
But puberty also allows the characters to change. Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), always a tag-along character, now proactively takes charge of situations thrown at him.
The Bard.
Dustin has never gotten himself into serious problems. I don’t recall
him getting hit at any point during the show (Lucas got some of Eleven’s fury
in season one). Sure his pet ate his cat and he had to watch his friend jump
off a cliff. But he, himself, never got hurt.
That’s the fate of the bard; he’ll be the one surviving the longest.
Like Mickey Doyle in Boardwalk
Empire.
And we love him for it. He’s the character the show relies must upon
to lighten the mood when things get too dark. If not by him purring like a
cat throughout season two, then this season has one brilliant scene in the
finale that is pitch perfect in every way.
|
Mike actually, gets to be a bit of a douche after
two-seasons of being goodie-two shoes. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), then, starts
to portray himself as ‘Mr. Know-it-all’/’Dr. Love’ where, before, he was just
as insecure as the other guys. And Max (Sadie Sink), gleefully grabs the chance to
be ‘girly’ with El for a change instead of the tomboy she usually is. Whilst El, in turn, gets to define herself.
Turning to the other characters ‘their change’ comes from
the events of seasons previous. Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington (Joe Keery), for
instance, seems to have accepted his dethronement and is now willing to let go
of his ‘cool façade’.
And, of course, Steve gets beaten up again (but he does
win one fight this season, so there’s that).
Nathalie Dyer’s Nancy, then –already a strong woman since season one- takes on the challenging storyline of a woman trying to make it in a man’s world (being an intern sucks for some people).
A story of all ages that works in every time-setting.
Even
though her storyline ultimately results in failure it is a failure of the
character, not gender.
Her story is short and powerful, but quickly left aside. Then again, it does touch upon the various equality issues Stranger Things often likes to highlight.
Getting to the ‘elders’, Joyce (Winona Ryder), of course, leaps into her trademark madness from the very first episode on (her house stays intact, though). This woman has seen enough strange stuff going on around her that she has developed a six sense; and she’s not afraid to pick a fight now instead of waiting until it lands on her doorstep.
Winona Ryder is loving her part!
The show actually increases on this since Joyce and Hopper start to define themselves as a great detective team: She brings the cases, solves most of them through her smarts. He’s there to take the punches.
The only character (apart from Hopper) that doesn’t want to
change, however, is Will (Noah Schnapp).
Will starts this season with the more interesting storyline
for me because he has this direct link to the mindflayer. As I said in an
earlier review he and Eleven are the ying
and yang of the show. Him light being brought to the dark (place). She from
the dark being brought to the light.
He tries to move on but he still has this scar of the time
he lost. And even though the boy’s trying to play catch-up with two years
stolen from his life he quickly learns that the world around him has moved on.
It’s a gut punch for him. Not only did he lose time but he’s also behind on the
present.
To end, however, with a critique on the season; the minute Will, Nancy and Jonathan’s (Charlie Heaton) storylines are over they are demoted to standing in the background whilst the other characters do their thing.
The new kids on
the block.
A new season also means new characters. The most obvious
ones being the villains. We’ve got three human villains this time ‘round
(season 3). The Soviets embodied by the (above mentioned) The Terminator-super soldier and his general, the mayor and the
wise-cracking A-holes at ‘The Post’.The mayor is played deliciously by Cary Elwes. He plays the character at his most charming, chewing scenery every chance he gets. From the moment Hopper getting hopping on him -When Stranger Things brings a smack-down it brings it. Like the wine-bottle an episode before it.
The use of American
Pie -which is basically a song about (a dead rock-star) letting go- is a
stroke of brilliance in that scene.
You know that he’s one of the big evil players (perhaps even a Soviet spy) who is utterly detestable to boot. Therefore it is a bit of a shame that the rest of the season downplays the character to a ‘rather’ Wormtongue status. But, who knows, maybe he returns in season 4 to ‘REALLY’ mess things up.
Jake Bushey’s white-collar-A-hole, then, has a more complete
storyline. He’s just a terrible chauvinistic person who loves to kick people
when they are down. It’s a great human villain turn for him because he usually
plays a bit larger than life.
Here he sticks to being a (stupid) human. And it’s only
later in the season that the show allows him to become a bit grander in evoking
the ‘danger that lurks within’ that he plays so well (the Die Hard-call-back-scene).
In retrospect it might be a small part, but a very
satisfying one nonetheless.
Billy (Dacre Montgomery), then, doesn’t really fit in this
category. He actually turns
out to be a great villain, though (some great writing and acting here) with a wonderful
speech near the end. Though, I must admit that the flashbacks of Billy’s abusive
childhood was a bit ‘I know’ (but needed).
The good guys.
New seasons often include new good characters (that need a
storyline as well). This is a tricky business because the more characters you
have the less screen-time left to tell ‘full’ stories per character. Moreover,
the minute a good character has completed his/her storyline you have to get rid
of said character; but how to do that?
The Walking Dead
simply kills them.
So when you introduce a new character the best choice to make is to have the character ‘removable in the easy sense’.
Take Lucas’s younger sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) for instance. She is needed for the story of
‘Season 3’. But next season (like Kali/eight [Linnea Berthelsen] season last) she
can quickly be pushed back to the background when she isn’t needed.
To sidetrack a bit, I disliked her character immensely
during the first few episodes. It’s like the show upped her daily dosage of
annoyance. She’s a bully and I don’t like bullies. But –and this is the magic Stranger Things does- she grows on you.
By the end of the season I’ve started to enjoy her snarky comments. If she
comes back next season I want some more brother and sister dynamics.
Back on track, however, I would argue that Robin (Maya Hawke) as Steve’s colleague at Scoops Ahoy, is a whole different story. By the end of the season she is intertwined with the character Steve. She’s here to stay. Is this a bad thing? Not at all!
Robin is a great addition; she’s instantly likable, strong
and not afraid to speak her mind. Also the simple fact that she and Steve had
to go through the entire season in a silly sailor’s outfit helped in that
regard.
A new map – It’s Christmas!
In episode four the show shows the audience a full map of Hawkins (a
dated one but still). I, for one, would like to believe that the producers
threw it in there to please me (personally), since it’s pretty similar to my
map. But I doubt it. It’s a nice
fantasy though.
At least I can say for a fact that the show-runners have decided to
make Hawkins ‘tangible’. By now there’s a basic ‘stage’ set that both limits
and inspires the show. You can’t have ‘our heroes’ make it from the Byers
house all the way to the police station in the blink of an eye now; there
needs to be some time in-between. This time allows for scenes to happen.
Knowing what the stage is (I believe) enhances drama.
|
Mission: child
endangerment.
As always the newest season of Stranger Things feels like ‘the 80s’. Right down to the post effect
of an artist putting scanned film over the digital footage to make it look more
dated.
I absolutely adored the ‘kick-the-trashcan’-scene which
was all shot in the infamous ‘80s Dutch angle.
But there’s a difference between being made in the 21st century and the 1980s. For starters: I’m not very lenient, nowadays, when it comes down to ‘convenient coincidences’ as the finale episode threw in a bit too many. After almost 150 years of movies this should stop.
Also the constant driving back-and-forth meddled with the
‘tempo’ of this last episode a bit.
Other critiques are the fact that the ‘off the air’ Dustin gets brushed off a little too easily for my taste (doesn’t this close-knit group of friends want to look for him when sh*t hits the fan?). And the fact that there are a lot of flashbacks this season that aren’t always needed.
Even some from a few episodes ago. Do the Duffer brothers
really think I’m not bench-watching this thing?
But this is all just nitpicking.
Overall I enjoyed this season very much. Especially the new
direction of the characters. For example: Mike isn’t perfect and he never will
be. He is, however, a good boy –just like his friends. So why not make him a
bit more ‘aggressive’ this season? It all adds up to the character-development
that any long-running show needs.
I also enjoyed the bloodiness of the season (actual
exploding rats). I’m not a big fan of blood if it’s unnecessary
You won’t see me revisiting Hostel anytime soon because I enjoy watching people get tortured
(the story is fun though).
but a little bit of blood here and there just to emphasize the danger that is lurking helps to increase the tension.
Also the usage of ‘grouping’ works a charm. More so, than
seasons previous, this third season of Stranger
Things quickly divides the characters into teams. The Dustin/Steve-team,
the El/Max-team, the boys-team, and team-Hopper. Like LOST, Heroes, and many shows before it this ‘trick’ works marvellously.
It allows the show to focus all its attention on the character-development of
the current team they are highlighting.
As a bonus, then, the show quickly separates Mike and El. Their
story is over (they love each other, there’s nothing left to tell) so they
should only come back together when a new outside event comes to show. In the
end, they can only be ‘truly’ together when the whole ordeal is over.
It’s important to separate the two otherwise the viewers
will lose interest in their relationship.
This happened in Friends, Lost, Cheers, and many, many other shows.
As the Duffer brothers teased last season they wanted to tie
up the previous story before they leapt into the next. And leapt they did! Season
3 of Stranger Things is left rather open
in the end. The next season can’t come soon enough. But until that happens we
might compose a question or two...
All that’s left is...speculation.
I did pretty well in my article about the season 3 trailer. I got
a lot of things right. So, since I love mind games and speculation let me
just use this final bit to draw out some ideas that might play out in the
fourth season of Stranger Things. Of course this bit will be spoiler heavy:
1. It is probably going to be set around Christmastime. Two very
simple arguments for this: Stranger
Things is now fully committed on featuring an American holiday during
each season (Halloween last season). And, two, the mindflayer doesn’t like
heat.
2. Now that Will and El are brother and sister we will probably gets
some nice scenes between the two. She helping him in some way. Be it girls,
or –what I always wanted for the boy- awakening his dormant powers (he plays
a wizard in D and D after all).
It might be a boy Will is interested in. Fine either way.
I know we got the ‘evil Will’ last season but I’m still speculating
that his long time in the ‘upside-down’ gave him a bit more tricks up his
sleeve. Which was, of course, confirmed this season with him having the
ability to sense the mindflayer’s presence (something El apparently can’t).
3. El has lost her powers. How about that? From a narrative
perspective this is a very, very good thing! Now the dangers can be built
upon for real since she has no way of defending herself. Is the mindflayer
draining her power?
4. Where do the Byers go? Chicago? If so El might meet her sister
Kali/eight once more.
5. Hopper isn’t dead. I’d be
quite surprised if he is. He’s either in that Russian cell or somewhere in the
Upside-down.
6. Can we PLEASE have Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbe next season (the
latter being the villain). Both playing Russians…obviously.
I actually wrote this above bit two days before I learned of Rutger
Hauer’s demise.
The world won’t be the same without him.
He was an instinctive, caring, charming, down-to-earth, yet occasionally willingly crazy-person and we all loved him for it. Hauer was a man who chose acting as a profession to tell interesting tales. He couldn’t be bothered by all the tomfoolery of Hollywood of making the actors ‘stars’ and putting them on the forefront; it was the actual movie that mattered for him. His love for the craft shone through in every single role he took on. Rutger Hauer was both a good human and a movie actor –giving his all to the tale. |
...Are we right? We’ll see. One thing’s for sure: Stranger Things is as solid as ever and
it will take quite the Demogorgon to take it away!
Oh, I didn’t mention ‘conspiracy guy’ (Murray) (Brett Gelman) and ‘Smirnov’
(Alexei) (Alec Utgoff)!
Do I need to? They were awesome!
Do I need to? They were awesome!
 Netflix versus Disney+
Is Netflix going down due to the upcoming Disney+? Or is Netflix
going to survive since it has such a strong brand and Disney is never going
to be able to compete?
Most stockbrokers are betting on Disney to be the victor. This company has the biggest
portfolio of blockbuster movies that Netflix simply doesn’t have to offer.
I disagree (for now). I believe that the variety that Netflix has to
offer will overcome Disney+’s features that ‘everybody has seen already!’
Yet, this ‘danger on the horizon’ has fittingly been incorporated in
this season of Stranger Things! As
all the shops in downtown Hawkins are abandoned in favour of the Starcourt
mall. So, today (in 2019), many stores had to close their doors in favour of
‘Internet shopping’. Netflix might follow the same path.
But what will the future hold? Will the little video-rental Netflix
have to close its doors due to the megalomaniac Disney company? If this is
the case Netflix won’t be able to produce again...
A danger for Stranger Things.
But, then again, nothing Mike and his pals can’t overcome.
|
