TV Review - Stranger Things

Those that know me probably won't be surprised to find me wanting to review this series. I love Stranger Things and have been a massive fan since the very first season. I still remember coming across this show after hearing absolutely nothing about it beforehand. It was pure magic. I was engrossed from the very start. The 80s nostalgic feel was fun. The characters were compelling. The story drew me in and kept me fascinated from minute one.

I am very glad I watched it. It is still one of my favorite series experiences.

Before I get into more of my review of Stranger Things, I just wanted to note that there are very few fandoms that I nerd really hardcore for and this easily became one of them. The others, for those interested, are Marvel, the Wizarding World/Harry Potter, One Piece, and My Hero Academia. These are some of the few fandoms I actually by merchandise for and nerd up my house with.

With that being said, now that Stranger Things has ended, I wanted to quickly review each season. Don't worry, I won't go into super in-depth, pages-on-pages of my thoughts for each season (as much as I wouldn't mind to). I could probably drone on and on and on about this show.

All right, buckle up buttercup.

But before you do, this your friendly neighborhood reviewer giving you a big fat spoiler alert. If you haven't watched Season Five yet (or any of the other seasons), maybe come back after you did.

No. of Episodes: 42

No. of Seasons: 5

1st Episode Date: July, 15, 2016

Program Creators: Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, Jamie Campbell Bower

Season One: Magic. Pure and simple. I love coming across a show that I have no idea what it's about and have zero knowledge of, watch it, and then became completely enraptured by it. It doesn't really matter that it is right up my alley anyway and was pretty much a homerun right off the bat. But Stranger Things - Season One was more than that. It had this magical quality to it that made it more than just another show I liked. It made it a show I looked forward to watching, even multiple times. For those who haven't seen it (I'm sure there's someone out there in the big wide world that hasn't), Stranger Things follows a group of children that are trying to find their friend, Will. During their mission to find him, they come across a strange girl named Eleven (or El). She's not just strange, she's got powers. She can move things with her mind. She can flip vans. She can even remote view someone. In short, she's basically a legitimate, sci-fi-level superheroine. The rest of the season focuses more and more on their efforts to get Will back and as the story unfolds, we find out about Demogorgons, the Upside Down, and nefarious government scientists that want El back. It was awesome, pure and simple. I loved it and still do. While I loved Season One for all of the reasons listed, it does fall to my third favorite season. That doesn't detract from how much I liked it though.

Season Two: Just wasn't that good. I was happy to see El back, of course, but didn't quite like that Hop kept her hidden away for so long. I get the reasoning behind it though. I understood it. It just created a lot of tension between them and resulted in El running away. This was probably the part of Season Two that I disliked the most. I didn't mind her finding her birth mother all that much but everything dealing with 8, with Kali, was ultimately boring and took away from all the things happening in Hawkins. I didn't need or want the addition of a forgotten sister. Everything happening with Will was okay, I guess. I did like the whole Dart and Dustin part of the story. I did also enjoy Steve and Dustin's friendship forming (which only gets better in seasons 3 and 4). That's about it. Oh, I did forget to mention, this is the season where we get introduced to Murray, a really fun character that I enjoyed, especially in later seasons, as well as Max the Zoomer and her asshole step-brother, Billy. Other than that, Season Two was mostly forgettable. It didn't really hold the same kind of emotional payoff the first season did. In the rankings, it falls to the fourth spot. It's not good, but it's not the worst season.

Season Three: Great. Easily, this season is one of the best. It really ups the stakes by bringing the Upside Down's greatest villain, the Mind Flayer, right into Hawkins. It infects. It spreads. It turns people into mindless drones that will disintegrate into sludgy, flesh piles that can sprout sharp fangs at a moments notice. It obviously doesn't just start that way but builds up to this from the very first episode. This season also introduces a second government entity, the Russians. At first glance, that might be a bit on the cheesy side but it actually worked really well and the Russians were smoothly integrated right into the previous plotlines already developed. We get more of that 80s nostalgia shot right into our bloodstreams by having a mall as a central focus/setting in the season. While I grew up overseas, where malls weren't exactly prevalent, I still enjoyed seeing the kids hang out there. This season also introduces another new character, Robin. We get to see her develop a friendship with Steve as well. There is a ton of action (which I love). And we get to see more of El and her incredible powers. We also get a massive do-or-die battle between the kids, a fleshy incarnation of the Mind Flayer (which is absolutely terrifying), and Hop, Joyce, and Murray vs. the Russians. It all culminated in a fantastic final battle that really got the blood flowing and ended in Hop's "death." I could probably watch this season alone dozens and dozens of times without getting bored. This was, at one point in time, my absolute favorite season. But, it dropped to second place in terms of rankings. Not a bad thing, I just like one particular season a bit better. Speaking of which...

Season Four: My absolute favorite. Hands down. It might not be a popular choice, especially if you ask my son, but it is MY choice. I loved the vibes to this one. The tension with Vecna's appearance. The way he can infiltrate and take control of your mind via your own fears. The backstory of Victor Creel and his family. The absolute destruction to the bodies of Vecna's victims. Even Kate Bush and her song that has now been burned straight into my brain. All of it came together in an absolutely fantastic season. This is the season where the stakes became so much higher. We have the groups separated from each other. We have several in California, racing across the desert to find El. We have Joyce and Murray flying to freaking Russia to rescue Hop, who everyone thought was dead. We have Lucas and Dustin racing to save Max from Vecna. We also have them, along with Nancy, Johnathan, and Steve, trying to help exonerate Eddie from being labeled a murderer. There are more adventures in the Upside Down and even a final battle sequence that ends in Vecna literally being blasted in the face with a shotgun and then set on fire. It was awesome, but the biggest twist is that in the end, they failed. Vecna's plan succeeded and a massive gate to the Upside Down is opened. There was a lot going on in this season, but in my opinion, the writing and the performances of the actors were all top tier and I wouldn't change a thing about it. There were so many elements that I thought were excellent. It's really no wonder why this season is tops in my rankings.

Season Five: A complete and utter let down. Just absolutely disappointing and ultimately, it kind of brings down the rest of the show. All the things that I absolutely loved about Season Four are now the things that I hate about Season Five. The writing felt rushed and thrown together. They seemed more interested in trying to tie everything back to a play I did not see or even know about several months ago. I am not sure why they felt the need to throw all of these new "canon" events into the story so late in the game. They were confusing and really went against the established lore we already had. Finding out that Henry was the cause of all the powers the Numbered Children had was stupid. You already had your lore. MKUltra. Terry Ivers was a test subject for that super-secret government project. Why change that now? Just so we can have a somewhat legitimate reason for El wanting to "kill" herself? I hated it. I really did. To me, it felt like the goal of Season Five was to take everything I loved about the other seasons and just completely sh*t on all of it. All the lore I loved. All the character development. Everything. Even the actors seemed like they didn't care all that much for this season. Almost every one of them barely put any effort into their performances (except for Finn Wolfhard who did a great job still and Brett Gelman who I am pretty sure can't do less than 100% even if he wanted to). They delivered their lines like they were just phoning it in. It brought down the season as a whole but I think the poor writing decisions and overall direction of this season was the main culprit. It left me with a sour taste in my brain, one full of why questions, plot holes (like how are Jim and Nancy not in prison for killing US SOLDIERS!? or what about the abandoned pregnant women? or, I don't know, the Demogorgons and Demodogs? Where were they in Dimension X/The Abyss?), and infuriating moments (like Max and Holly's less-than-urgent-attitude in Vecna's mindscape before getting the hell out of there). Overall, I kind of want to forget this season even exists and pretend that Season Four is the end of the show.

I have been watching this show for nearly a whole decade. I wish they wouldn't have ended it the way they did. That ending takes away from all the things that made the show so fun to watch. I have seen all of Stranger Things (minus this last season of course) at least three times. That's how much I liked it. Now....I don't know. As a writer, I know ending something can be difficult. There are so many things to consider. So many plot points to keep hold of in your mind. I don't diss the Duffer Brothers because they did a phenomenal job for 90% of the show. This last season was just a gigantic whiff. A swing and a miss. A gutter ball. Pick your analogy.

Still though...I can't help but look forward to this spin off series in the works (although from what I'm hearing it probably won't be all that great). Not so much the cartoon (which should have been events from between seasons 4 and 5). I mean, there is a whole two-year gap. Plenty of events and stories to explore there. Not sure why they picked events between seasons 2 and 3. Am I still going to watch it though?

Yes.

Yes I am.

Anyway, if you happened to read all the way through this review, thanks! I appreciate it. I do recommend watching this (even though a ton of you probably already have). Even Season Five. Just be prepared to be utterly disappointed by that atrocious ending.