Stranger Things

Eric Gasa

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Stranger Things is cool, but could it have been stranger? It could have had the monster intrigue of Aliens coupled with the campiness of X-Files and say the creature feature practical effects of E.T. But what am I doing other than compiling a greedy laundry list of sci-fi cinematic lusts?

I may be trying to summon the vintage spirit of Spielberg from a Netflix original show for all I care, but in the case of Stranger Things the sheer weight of hype may have been just what killed the ghost on this one.

Instead of cold and chilling, Stranger Things is a cuddly and sweet sci-fi alternative, drenched in golden hour 80’s nostalgia and classic Cold War era paranoia. It’s pleasing to the eyes (and ears thanks to Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s excellent synth score) but directors Matt and Ross Duffer aren’t exactly pulling any punches if not gently caressing our imaginations.

In essence we have Super 8 stretched out over the course of eight episodes.

Once upon another suburban town in Mid-America, mild-mannered 11-year-old, Will Dwyer goes missing in the night while on his usual bike ride home. He is chased by some kind of supernatural being and vanishes in a flash of lightning and static.

Distraught mother, Joyce, played by Winona Ryder, is adamant that something took her son and antagonizes Chief Hopper (who slightly resembles Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance from The Shining) and her eldest Jonathan, until they understand that Will is trying to communicate with them via the hundreds of flickering Christmas lights hung throughout her home.

Hopper and Joyce eventually make the connection between Will’s disappearance and the mysterious happenings surrounding a government lab located on the outskirts of town.

Will’s friends, Mike, Dustin and Lucas are also convinced that their buddy is not dead and try to find him with the help of telekinetic Eleven, an escaped government experiment turned fugitive whose origins are slowly unveiled over the course of the series.

All the while Mike’s  adolescent sister, Nancy juggles boys, peer pressure, and shotguns her first beer at a pool party.

The precocious Eleven is by far the most dynamic character, given her childlike innocence, silent intensity, and insane killing power. Sure, she breaks bones and makes federal agents bleed through their eyeballs with her mind but Eleven also serves as the show’s saving grace and mascot.

The audience empathizes with her transition from feral child to human being, as she struggles with social norms and modern conveniences. She’s adorable, loves Eggo Waffles and we all want to rub her fuzzy bald head.

Riding down backstreets with flashlights taped to their bikes, cursing like an episode of South Park, and the gang resembles a high-definition redux of The Goonies.

From the first few episodes the Duffer Bros cunningly pique the viewer’s attention with some classically cliffhanger endings ala American Horror Story. We’re left in the dark over the whereabouts of buzzkill Barbara at the end of episode two, while end credits roll just as Hopper begins to pull at the thread of a shady government conspiracy.

Typical shtick but the routine gets old after realizing that this show moves at about the walking pace of one to two plot developments per 40 minute episode. Sometimes the climax of each episode doesn’t arrive until the 30 minute mark.

At this rate, especially while excessively binging on Netflix, and the individual episodes became hard to discern after seeing the repeated scenes of Eleven getting a nosebleed, Hopper popping meds, the occasional Demogorgon cameo, and Joyce shrieking “Will! My baby! Speak to me, baby! Wiiilllllll!”

But it’s not the actual directing that has captured audiences but the mild mannered kids of Hawkins Middle. Mike sneaks his first kiss with quiet Eleven late in the season, while viewers just want to pinch toothless Dustin’s face every time he adorably lisps a word. The Goonies comparisons are nothing but inevitable; these are some cute fucking kids, man.

As charming as the young cast of Stranger Things is, their adult counterparts are slightly emotionally disconnected.

Hopper brings some appropriate emotional baggage to the table, Joyce’s anxieties and worried mom antics are all in good taste, but when third-wheeling Barb vanishes into thin air at an awkward party she gets nothing but a moderately concerned phone call from her own mom.

The next time we see her there’s an alien slug sliding out of her dead mouth. Sorry, Duffer Bros but sacrificing a disposable character to a faceless astral beast is not only a clichéd way to show off the monster, but just bad storytelling.

Also how do the Feds explain Will’s reappearance after the faux-autopsy report and funeral they gave him only weeks before? Or how Hopper went from almost dying in an assisted suicide to running around the Upside Down with a radiation suit and machine gun? Some things here just don’t add up.

In one scene the boys are finishing up a game of Dungeons and Dragons, when the group is attacked by a “thessalhydra”. Will quickly dispatches it with a direct hit from a fireball and ends the round.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s not it, is it?” argues Dustin, “The campaign was way too short…it doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes sense!” protests Mike.

“Uh, no, what about the lost knight? And the proud princess? And those weird flowers in the cave?” says Will.

Obviously there were some lazy plot holes in Mike’s D&D campaign and ironically enough I felt this same way after finishing the series. Maybe next season the Duffer Bros can work on streamlining their storyline instead of unleashing so much activity that the show actually feels slightly unfinished, bogged down with fluffy subplots and missed arcs.

Will I let this completely ruin an entertaining show for me? Not necessarily. The Duffer Bros have made a slick, stylish piece of 80’s pastiche. Where the show fails to be theatrical it excels at being exactly like the classic movies it emulates; simple, uncynical, and as novel as a chapter book.

As part of a now mainstream audience I can’t help but actually care about these characters, and maybe that is part of the joy of watching a sensational bell-curve drama. We can all laugh, cry and roll our eyes together. So is the nostalgically cool Stranger Things overhyped? You bet your DVD collection of Game of Thrones it is. Is it worthy of a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes though? I won’t say without ruining your feelings. Go ask some Christmas lights.