Long time, no writing, and I blame life for that! But I also blame the three seasons of Stranger Things I watched in the past three weeks – it was an intense ride! I plan on taking you through that ride, and if you get mad about spoilers, well, you’ve almost had two weeks to watch the last season, so get over it 🙂
Season one introduces you to this nerdy group of kids, who refer to themselves as “the party,” and is made up of Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas. One night after playing Dungeons and Dragons (again, nerds), Will goes missing. Will’s mother, Joyce notices this the next day, so enlists the help of local sheriff, Jim Hopper, to help in the hunt. The party also try their hand at finding Will, but end up finding a bald girl with a limited vocabulary in the woods. That girl is called Eleven, or “El,” for the most part, and we soon discover that she has some telekinetic powers that make her nose bleed (ew).
Will’s brother, Jonathan, also helps to look for his missing brother, and ends up befriending Mike’s sister Nancy (he may also have a huge crush on her). She joins the hunt when her best friends Barb (R.I.P) goes missing. The season ends with the entire gang finding Will in a parallel universe they call the “Upside Down,” which is overrun by these flower-faced terrors called Demogorgons. In the crossfire of all that action, we learn through a series of flashbacks that Eleven has been used and tortured by Professor Brenner to access this parallel universe. In the final scenes we see El kill Dr. Brenner and the Demogorgon that was chasing the party, but with that she disintegrated into the Upside Down with it. We also see that Will may not be totally free from this terrifying world.
Season two is a direct continuation from season one, focusing on the aftermath of Eleven destroying the Demogorgon. Mike is devastated that she’s gone, but we find out that she did in fact survive and has found her way to Hopper. They end up as a strange, adoptive father/daughter duo, and I loved that relationship. Hopper wants to keep her hidden so she’s safe, which doesn’t bode well at times. Joyce is happy with new boyfriend, Bob (Sean Astin taking home my award for favorite character, but also, R.I.P.), and both of her sons, although she does send Will to a doctor to investigate what’s been going on with his creepy “flashbacks.”
We find out that the rift that Eleven opened during her time with Dr. Brenner allowed an evil shadow monster referred to as the “Mind Flayer” to escape into their world, where e finds and uses Will as a host. Another bad connection to the Upside Down is when Dustin finds a baby Demogorgon, now referred to as a Demo-dog and decides to keep it for a little while (BAD IDEA!). In older teen world, Nancy breaks up with Steve and teams up with Jonathan again, which means they can finally admit their feelings for each other. Dejected Steve gets more crap piled on his plate with new bully, Billy (the hottest Dacre Montgomery), in town. His younger sister Max has a tough time joining the party, but ends up as a useful member by stopping her crazy brother from killing Steve in the last episode. Joyce, Jonathan, Mike, and Nancy are able to burn the Mind Flayer out of Will just as Hopper and Eleven are closing the metaphorical “gate” to the Upside Down.
You’d think all that awesomeness means the gang can chill out now, right? Wrong. The final scene shows the Mind Flayer hovering over the kids’ middle school in the final shot, so that’s of course where season three hones in on. Will seems pretty normal again, but Lucas and Mike are too focused on girlfriends, Max and El, respectively. Dustin also gets left out of the party after coming back from camp with a “girlfriend.” He ends up rekindling his friendship in full force with Steve, who rather than looking towards collage, is dolling out ice cream at Scoops Ahoy with fellow classmate, Robin. Billy’s got a summer job as lifeguard at the local pool, but ends up in the Mind Flayer’s possession. His job is to recruit others to build this giant creature that is hellbent on destroying El and everything and everyone she cares about. Uh-oh.
There are a few separate story lines that all converge towards the end, but they also end up having similar themes. Nancy and Jonathan are working at the local paper and investigate a strange case of rabid rats (actually infected by something from the Upside Down). Joyce and Hopper are looking into why her magnets won’t stick to her fridge, which they end up getting some Russian scientists involved, and weirdo, Murray (also in season 2) to be the translator. Meanwhile the Scoops Troop end up intercepting some Russian communication and end up finding a crazy lab deep underground the local Starcourt Mall.
Once everyone gets together, Billy has his redemption before his death, Eleven loses her powers and doesn’t have them back by the end, Joyce blows up the gate, but kills Hopper in the process, and after all that goes down, the Byers and Eleven decide to move out of Hawkins, Indiana….uh yeah, I would have done that two seasons ago!
Stray observations from all seasons…
Season 1:
– Barb’s part was so short, but proved that everyone needs a friend like her.
-Steve was heavily underutilized the first season, but luckily they rectified that in season 2.
-All of their haircuts were truly atrocious…I’m glad I wasn’t a product of the 80s for that reason alone.
-Every scene was shot so brilliantly. If you want to see some amazing cinematography, watch this show.
Season 2:
-More Billy and Steve please! I loved their dynamic.
-Sean Astin’s Bob was the best and his death was so freaking sad!
-Those snobby girls who wouldn’t dance with Dustin don’t know what they’re missing!
-Murray is definitely a filler character that I could have done without.
-I also really could have done without that throw away episode about her sister, Kali. Such a waste of time.
Season 3:
-Hell yeah for more Billy screen time! But also hell no for no more future Billy screen time!
-I do like that Steve ended up with the last punch between him and Billy. I would have liked to have seen more of that relationship this season.
-I know that the Russians were a big part of the season, but it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world.
-Didn’t think I’d love the addition of Robin, but she was fantastic! I also loved that Erica got to throw her sass around a lot more!
-The Never Ending Story song was way too long and exceptionally appropriate.
-I laughed out loud a lot this season and that made me happy. Keep it up!