Andrew Robinson
It took nearly two years, but Stranger Things has returned to Netflix and the lives of fans across the world. The show, which prefers to label its newest iterations as sequels rather than subsequent seasons, has reached its third installment. So how does Stranger Things 3 stack up to the previous seasons?
Spoilers WILL be present, so proceed cautiously.
Stranger Things 3 is difficult to grade. It features some of the best, most heartbreaking scenes in the entire show – Will destroying Castle Byers, Eleven speaking to the Mind Flayer/Billy, and Eleven reading Hopper’s note come to mind right off the bat. However, it also features cheesiness and some ill-timed changes in character – the older womens’ obsession with Billy, the Russian leaders’ dialogue, and Hopper’s juvenile reaction to Joyce standing him up are the leading causes here. The post-credits scene also takes away from much of the emotion of the final episode of the season, making it feel cheap. Let’s dive a little deeper into the season itself before circling back around to these ideas.
Summary
Stranger Things 3 features romance amongst the kids – namely Lucas & Max and Mike & Eleven, with some brilliant Dustin & Suzie work sprinkled in. Will, who is clearly grappling with his sexuality, is left on the outskirts. Amongst the adults, Nancy & Jonathan have their quarrels and romantic endeavors, as do Hopper & Joyce (though this is mostly full of quarrels). Steve struggles to find another girlfriend after he and Nancy broke up last season, resulting in a bit of a puzzling loss of swagger for everyone’s favorite babysitter.
Outside of the romantic aspect, Billy does indeed become a host for the Mind Flayer, who was trapped in Hawkins when Eleven closed the gate at the end of Stranger Things 2, and was reawakened when the Russians opened a portal to the Upside Down, first in Russia, and then in an underground facility in Hawkins. With the gate open, the Mind Flayer is once again able to awake and take over the bodies of anyone he chooses. Unlike in Stranger Things 2, however, the Mind Flayer doesn’t take over just one person; he takes over many. Billy is only the first. Perhaps the creepiest part of the season is that the Mind Flayer makes its hosts into Get Out-esque inhabitants. Thus, they become zombified beings of themselves, only able to think and act as the Mind Flayer wants, when he wants them to do so. Then, of course, they become part of the Mind Flayer, making him even more massive.
As Dustin, Steve, Erica (Lucas’ sister), and Robin (Steve’s co-worker) attempt to find out what is going on with the Russians under Starcourt Mall, Joyce and Hopper enlist the help of Alexei, a Russian scientist whom they kidnap from the facility. That leaves Eleven, Mike, Max, Lucas, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan to deal with the Mind Flayer.
Analysis
The pairing of Steve and Dustin remains fantastic in Stranger Things 3. Steve, who has now become something of a mentor/big brother to Dustin, is simply a joy to watch with the younger boy. Robin takes a bit of time to get used to as a viewer – her first few episodes aren’t the greatest and her dialogue is cheesy – but once the show gets to the meat of the conflict, Robin becomes both very likable and indispensable to the show. Erica, who was awesome in Stranger Things 2, loses a bit of her luster in 3. She remains as sassy as ever, and the writers extend her personality to include some “nerd”-like things, but much of her dialogue is spent roasting other characters. While this works very well in moderation, it tends to be a bit much in 3, resulting in some eye-rolling, half-hearted laughing moments.
Where Stranger Things 3 most misses a golden opportunity is with Will. In 2, Noah Schnapp proved to a force, giving a Emmy-worthy performance (it’s criminal that he wasn’t nominated that year). In 3, however, Will takes a back seat, despite having a very compelling story arc. He is finally free of the Mind Flayer (well, mostly), and able to return to normal teenage things. However, what is most compelling is the fact that he doesn’t want to return to normal teenage things. He instead wishes to keep playing Dungeons and Dragons in Mike’s basement, as they did as kids. This comes to a head when the other boys all have girlfriends, and Will is left either alone, or as a third/fifth/seventh wheel. This is absolutely heartbreaking to watch, especially when Will tries to get an unwilling Lucas and Mike to play D&D with him. When Mike says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls,” this viewer grimaced heavily. Will’s reaction is heartbreaking. His sexuality has been hinted at since the pilot episode, and this statement is simply horrific to hear as Mike’s reasoning as to why it’s okay he’d rather leave Will out to dry and hang out with Eleven. They’re not kids anymore, yes. But that doesn’t mean they can’t act like kids sometimes. And Will has been through hell. One would think his friends would still want to play games with him.
Where the show messes up is by not giving Will more screen time. Besides these scenes, which are truly some of the most heartbreaking on the show, Will is often in the background, not really doing much of anything. When you have an actor as talented as Schnapp at your disposal, and a character written as fantastically as Will, it’s a shame that you don’t feature him often. More Will and less Mrs. Wheeler would have been the way to go.
Speaking of the talent of the actors at the disposal of the show, just… wow. Millie Bobby Brown will almost certainly garner a third Emmy nomination, as she should – she’s unbelievable as Eleven. David Harbour also does a great job as Hopper and is likely in line for another Emmy nomination, despite some curious and cheesy writing. Elsewhere, Winona Ryder (Joyce) brings it, as always. Sadie Sink (Max) and Dacre Montgomery (Billy) shine in extended roles. Montgomery, in particular, is fascinating to watch. Joe Keery (Steve), Maya Hawke (Robin), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), and Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) perform admirably. The original kids: Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), and Finn Wolfhard (Mike) – alongside Brown and Schnapp – are as brilliant as always. Relative newbies Priah Ferguson (Erica) and Brett Gelman (Murray) are funny, while complete newbies Cary Elwes (Mayor Kline), Alec Utgoff (Alexei), and Andrey Ivchenko (Grigori) do good work. Clearly, the acting isn’t ever going to be an issue in Stranger Things.
The biggest problem with Stranger Things 3 is the Russian storyline. While it makes sense to include the Russians given the time period, they simply make the characters themselves too caricature-ish. Too cartoonish. In a show that is meant to be as real and serious as possible when it gets down to business, the cartoony Russians put a damper on things. The presence of them in the first place isn’t in question: they are important, and it is an interesting direction for the show to go moving forward. The way that they are used – their dialogue and the relative ease with which the Russians in Hawkins were defeated are what is in question. Plus, the believability of building an entire government base under a mall right under the noses of the American government is juuussssstttttttttt a tad low.
Finally, the fact that they have their own version of the Terminator is cool and the nostalgia is cool and all, but it is a bit too obvious and gets a bit old.
Last, but certainly not least. Holy crap, that finale. Billy saving Eleven from the gigantic Mind Flayer made this viewer roll his eyes in the moment, but giving Billy just a little bit of saving grace is kind of the writers, and fills their agenda that people can change: Billy isn’t pure evil, and even he can realize his mistakes and learn from them.
The Battle of Starcourt is eye candy, and the tension is high. Eleven losing her powers midway through is extremely intriguing, and forces the kids to attack the Mind Flayer in a different, fresh way.
Hopper’s “death” is one of the most emotional moments of the series to date… up until that post-credits scene. Hopper needs to remain dead. He just does. His death couldn’t have been sadder, and the note that Eleven reads is pure torture to the viewer, but the answer is not to have him miraculously live. One of the major characters needed to die. Part of what made Stranger Things so brilliant in its first installment was that Eleven sacrificed herself to save her friends. While the audience was led to believe that she could possibly be alive with the final scene of that installment, it was nowhere near as blatant as it is in Stranger Things 3, and Hopper surviving is far more unlikely than Eleven surviving her battle with the Demogorgon.
“The American,” as Hopper is referred to all throughout the season by the Russians, is likely being held captive in Russia. His survival is extremely unlikely, and cheapens the final scenes, particularly Eleven’s reading of the note. It was important for the writers to show that it is possible for one of fans’ beloved characters to not survive when the odds are stacked against them. In all likelihood, they failed in this regard. That is disappointing.
Verdict
Stranger Things 3 is a lot of fun, features great character interactions, has a bigger and badder evil in the Mind Flayer as well as the involvement of the Russians, features some truly creepy scenes, and puts forth some of the saddest scenes in the show’s history. Unfortunately, it also features cartoonish Russians, some cheesy dialogue, and a post-credits scene that, in all likelihood, cheapens the entire show.
The good clearly outweighs the bad and Stranger Things remains one of the best shows on television. But Stranger Things 3 doesn’t replicate the perfection of Stranger Things, nor the near-perfection of Stranger Things 2.
8.25/10
