Plot: When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.
I can begin this review by telling you that there is no way I will properly be able to express quite how much I liked Stranger Things. More than one person had told me I really should watch it, that I’d like it, that it was fantastic. Did I immediately listen? Of course not. It is me we are talking about here. When I finally got to it, well, everyone turned out to be right. It turned out to be a good decision at least on my part to only watch it recently – we are now closer to the release of Season 2 than I would have been if I watched it when it came out, and I would have suffered for months on end like the rest of you.
Let’s first talk about the music. It is so 80’s pop. I loved it. The tracks perfectly create a nostalgic feeling, and they highlight each situation for maximum effect. It reminded me so much of the music in The Guest, which is also rich in 80’s nostalgia and also sums up my vastly inferior knowledge of this interesting genre.
The cast is incredible, and mostly led by kids at that. Kids, entertaining me?! The majority of the cast still buy clothes in the infant section, and that is usually a safe indicator that the show is not for me. Gallen Matazarro with his amazing lisp, Caleb McLaughlin already being cooler than I will be, Finn Wolffhard working his nerdiness like a pro, Noah Schnapp as the missing kid– can we please have more of him in Season two? These kids are adorable. They have excellent dialogue, and their 80’s innocence of bikes and tapes and technology is refreshing and unexpected. A favorite scene is where Eleven accidentally starts taking off her shirt because she doesn’t have social cues and they are all like WHOAH. So.Sweet. It is a refreshing change from the children we now have that are on phones all the time and have lost all innocence.
Milly Bobby Brown is Eleven, and I am sure that you’ve heard everyone say that she’s amazing. I am here to tell you that it’s true, she’s amazing. Eleven is such a sad character. Immensely gifted and supernatural, she’s so sad with all that power. No one ever really loved her; she’s had zero exposure to the outside world and no peers to play with, and everyone she’s ever met up until the diner guy (still mad about that) has betrayed her trust. Her friendship with Mike is so sweet and innocent and hurt my poor little heart. The trailer for season 2 has shown her face again and for that I am so thankful – she’s a key point in this show’s power.
Natalie Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) and Joe Kerry (Steve) are the slightly older age group in Hawkins who are involved in the Upside Down. Nancy is the pretty and smart girl, who is frustrated by her suburban existence and the knowledge that the marriage her parents have is one of convenience. Dating Steve must be an exciting thing – he’s handsome and popular and a bad boy who isn’t so bad when you take a good look. It took me a while to actually like him, but there is a great amount of character growth for him through the course of the show. Jonathan is also a great character, and he is an impressively okay result of that horrendous father of his.
Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers and David Harbour as Jim Hopper lead the adult portion of the show. Joyce is frantic about her son, and it is only a mother’s obsession with keeping her children safe that enabled her to find what she fount. Jim Hopper starts the show by appearing as a useless cop, but his progression in the show is amazing. His story is back breaking and the more you get to know about Jim the sorrier you feel for him. He has one of the best quotes in the show, which I will use for years to come.
The first two or three episodes I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell I’m actually looking at, but even while not knowing; it is too good to not watch. I would have watched the entire show in one sitting if I had 8 hours of leisure at any given time. It’s unique, creepy and flat out gross at stages, and the fight of pure innocence against disgusting darkness and meanness will keep you glued to your seat and routing for the good guys.
I actually moped when this show was done, and am not above watching it again. The show is a fantastic adventure, a tribute to old school thrillers and one of the most inventive shows Netflix has produced. I simply can’t wait for the second season, and can only cross my fingers that they create something similarly amazing.
Have you seen Stranger Things? Talk to me about it in the comments!
PS: Can we just discuss how incredible Netflix opening sequences are?!
Rating: 9/10
Life of this city girl 