STRANGER THINGS SEASON 3 REVIEW
Another season down. Let’s talk about the things that stood out to me.
WARNING SPOILERS ARE HAPPENING. TURN AROUND IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED YET.
STARCOURT
The Starcourt Mall was my favorite thing about this season. I love the 80’s even though I have no recollection of them because I was a baby but the lights, the outfits, the music, everything. The amount of money they had to spend to make an insane 80’s mall had to be astronomical. Then to have an episode named The Battle Of Starcourt was super gangsta. Loved it!
THE FALL OF HOPPER & JOYCE
Season 1 Hopper was incredible. Very well written character. Season 2 Hopper was good. Season 3 I don’t know who the fuck this guy was. He was more of a joke than a reputable and dependable character. He seems more like an idiot than a smart, rugged, and tactful character. Joyce suffers the same fate. Joyce had this sense of creepiness mixed in with brilliance. In the first 2 seasons we saw how insane but brilliant she was when she figured out the upside down. Now Joyce and Hopper were reduced to this bickering unofficial couple for the entire season. The first time it was okay but it kept happening over and over again and showed no signs of stopping. Their arguing took away from the stakes of their role in the season. How am I supposed to take the objective seriously when Hopper main concern is the fact Joyce stood him up on date night? Alexei (The Russian scientist) was the only bright spot of their group and story. The mayor didn’t really feel like a villain to me. The scary Russian terminator was decent but at no point did I take their arc seriously until the very end where Hopper sacrifices himself to close the entrance to the upside down. I don’t think Hopper is dead. I’ve learned to not believe someone is dead in a series unless I see it. We did not see Hopper explode. In the post credit scene there was an American being held in a Russian jail and I believe it’s Hopper.
SLOW START
The first season immediately dives into the problem/conflict. It’s what makes it a classic. From episode 1 I was hooked on figuring out what happened to Will. This season you don’t get a sense of urgency with the characters or story until episode 4. The last 4 episodes were so great but the first 4 episodes were very weird. The thing with Billy and Karen Wheeler was really awkward and pointless because I didn’t think it helped the plot at all. Billy was a great character this season. He was basically the captain for the Mind Flayer and bringing more humans to be under the Mind Flayer’s control and he did a damn good job of doing so. Billy was a scary mothafucka.
DIFFERENT HEROES
This season I liked how Eleven wasn’t the savior. She had major moments that helped the group but at the climax she couldn’t do much. She is the only character that can put up a fight against the monsters and to my surprise they neutralized her with the bite from the Mind Flayer and her powers faded out the final 2 episodes and prevented her from saving the world again. They left it up to the regular humans to figure it out and I liked that.
THE RUSSIANS
On surface level the Russian plot is stupid but it’s so stupid it’s good. Russians have built this underground base under Starcourt Mall by extorting the town’s mayor to build it and it’s up to Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica to infiltrate the base and stop their plans. This group was my favorite out of the 4 groups for many reasons. First Erica Sinclair provided amazing comedy relief and stole every scene she was in. The best character was Erica by far. Second Steve has transformed into such a great character compared to his portrayal in the previous 2 seasons. Dare I say I like Steve? His friendship with the kids. His new friendship with his co-worker Robin. He’s just a really cool character now. Third the cracking of the Russian code was funny and the fact that they were able to infiltrate a base that was seemingly impossible to break into was hilarious. The 3 best characters in the season were in this group. Even Robin was a good character. I didn’t really like Dustin being separated from the core group because selfishly I like the original 4 all together but having 4 groups with issues to solve and then bring it all together in the end was a joy to watch.
GROWING UP
So the kids are teens and they’re really into their relationships and their ideas of love. Max is teaching Eleven how to be treated and how to treat Mike. Lucas is doing the exact same thing with Mike. Dustin has a girlfriend who on one thinks exists. Will is the only one who misses the bond that they used to have which is sad. When I was a teen I used to be Mike and Lucas. I stopped doing my hobbies because they weren’t deemed cool anymore only to grow up and become an adult and think to myself “This shit sucks.” Will has the right idea. Fuck growing up man. It’s a trap. I liked this aspect of the season. Growing up is hard.
HOMMAGE TO 80’S FILMS
Season 1 was E.T and Alien
Season 2 was Aliens and The Exorcist
Season 3 was Invasion Of the Body Snatchers/The Thing and The Terminator (The big bad Russian guy)
Some people may think that it’s corny but it doesn’t bother me because that’s apart of Stranger Things charm.
I’m going to assume that there will be a new season and my guess is that it will not take place in Hawkins since half of the characters are no longer there. Hawkins has been through enough already everybody should get the fuck outta there. I think this season was pretty good. It was better than last season and I’m interested on where they will take it next season. New monster? New location? I really want them to focus on storytelling like they did in the first season. We know the characters. We know they’ll do great. As viewers we trust the characters. Now it’s time to just focus on great storytelling. The next season will be critical and determine if it’s an all time great show or just a good show.
4 outta 5 fruit snacks.
Follow us on twitter and instagram
@politeasflannel
@jayjaybenny
@politecoolery
Listen to the blog podcast Polite Coolery.
