Stranger Things – Review

Posted on August 4, 2016 by alleyshelley in TV Talk // 0 Comments

Friendship comes first, no matter what.

With all the success Netflix has been having with their original series, there is no wonder that “Stranger Things” has been streaming in households everywhere and holding a special place in our nostalgic hearts. Matt and Ross Duffer or the Duffer Brothers, wrote and directed this series adding to their growing body of work that includes Hidden and several episodes Wayward Pines. With all the positive feedback there should be a second season for Stranger Things. If you need a selling point to watch this show the best description I can give is “The Goonies” meets “Silent Hill”.

The show is set in Hawkins Indiana, a small, quiet town, in 1983. The story centers around a group of four “geeky” kids (Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler and Will Byers) that love Dungeons and Dragons, comics, and all things sci-fi. When their friend Will goes missing, their sci-fi knowledge comes to life in a big way. They come across a girl named Eleven or El as nicknamed, who has a Telekinetic/Psychokinetic ability. She demonstrates her powers to the boys by moving objects, making a bully pee their pants, and can communicate with their missing friend Will in what they refer to as the “upside down”.

The “upside down” is a place I can only describe as a scene from Silent Hill. The town that they live in is “upside down” or just an alternate universe. You can see the buildings, parking spots, the hideout Will built, but it is decrepit, snowing ash, and is were the monsters are dwelling. In order to get to this place you must find a way to enter in the Hawkins National Laboratory and go through the “gate”, which is some sort of living wall that will close back up. The other option isn’t an option at all: the “faceless monster” will drag you there, bleeding. The CGI looks a little obvious from time to time in the show, but is easily overlooked by the beautifully eerie environment that the monster lives in.

I am a long time fan of Winona Ryder, and highly enjoyed her role as Joyce Byers a stressed out, desperate mother, in the frantic search for Will. There is something about her gripping brown eyes and natural goth appearance that has always had my admiration. Over the years she’s had smaller roles in films, but has never lacked in talent. By far my favorite scene in the show is when she is communicating with Will while he uses Christmas lights to tell her where he is.

David Harbour is a newer actor to me, and took charge in his role as Chief Hopper. He starts out by showing a vulnerability to alcohol and a lackluster commitment for his occupation. His character evolves from a struggling childless father that has a grumpy distaste for people to yearning for solidarity: “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation”. Chief Hopper rectifies his abilities in the force and the community by endlessly searching and not giving up on the lost Will.

The four boys should have huge futures as actors as they played their roles well and it’s extremely hard to find quality in many child actors. I enjoyed their interaction, their banter, their Star Wars references, and their friendship. They fall into the seamless supernatural story like a childhood adventure brought to life. It was much like in “Stand By Me”, but set in the 80’s.

With the cult classic posters, toys and music in this series it is enough to take you back in time, especially if you were around in the 80’s. There are nods in this series to such writers as Stephen King and Dan O’Bannon, and movies like Jaws and Poltergeist. The dialogue between the boys on many occasions include references to the X-Men, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings…. (but not The Hobbit). The truth and purity of the friendship between children in this show is on point, “A friend is someone that you’d do anything for. You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards. And they never break a promise.”

Stranger Things was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016. TV-14

I give Stranger Things 4.5 walkie-talkies out of 5 walkie-talkies