With the announcement of a Stranger Things Season 4, I decided to bite the bullet and watch Season 3. Something I have been avoiding since its release. Afterward, I found myself feeling both satisfied and unsatisfied at the same time. I decided to have discussions with friends who had also watched the season, not to much avail. We all found ourselves feeling the same way about one of our favorite shows but not understanding why.
I decided to explore other views and found a video by The Cosmonaut Variety Hour. They stress their continued fondness of the show but argue that Stranger Things would be been more effective if Netflix had left it to be a singular season.
While The Cosmonaut Variety Hour cover the majority of my opinions on this topic, I would still like to offer up some opinions. This first being:
Living Up to Expectations:
One thing this video highlight to me about Stranger Things' was what the first season managed to achieve. The season's writing, direction, and action lead to the anomaly of a near-perfect season making it almost impossible to live up too. The almost perfect season had a succinct plot, the intrigue of the Parallel shadow dimension (loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons), mixed with 80’s nostalgia, and amazing performances from the cast was destined to be a one-hit-wonder. This is not to say that Season 2 or 3 aren't worthwhile watching, they both bring their own elements to the table, for example, doesn't love Dustin and Steve together in Season 2 or 3, I find myself watching this compilation far too often!
The writers of the show, although trying, have been unable to successfully follow the same layout of several separate running storylines, that interlink proving every character to be invaluable to the storyline. The issue began with the writers believing that this is the layout the audience was expecting with the second and third installments. I for one was expecting more bold changes and innovative storylines from writers who initially unafraid to break the formulaic nature of TV content of the time. In the Golden Age of TV, it is the trajectory of such revolutionary shows like Stranger Things that are hinting towards the end of this lucrative era the spurned shows such as Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. I just hope it doesn’t end up being true.
Nostalgia Isn’t Everything:
The writers are now leaning too much on using 80’s nostalgia and character traits that they have ended up sacrificing what people truly loved about the show, its ability to subvert your expectations of the 80’s film characters and cement them into the real world. The biggest example of this is the character of Hopper, once a complicated character with many layers who experiences some major character improvements has become a victim of 80’s nostalgia. Pop Culture Detective goes deeper into this topic, highlights the danger of this trend in the show.
What do you take away from this video? Do you agree with his assessments or do you feel content with the direction Hopper’s character has taken? Are you looking forward to season 4? Leave your comments below!