In 1980s Indiana, 12-year-old Will Byers disappears one night after a game of Dungeons and Dragons. His mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), becomes frantic and tries to find him, while Sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour) begins an investigation on his own. The next day, Will's three friends find a mysterious girl known only as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who may know where to find Will. But they all face the threat of a government organization focused entirely on recovering Eleven, and the otherworldly force that took Will.
Ever since it started producing its own original content, Netflix has been a platform for some of the most creative and well-produced dramatic series in the world. Stranger Things is the latest of them, and it's essentially Super 8 meets E.T., set in a world created by Stephen King. Even though there's clearly a lot of inspiration from many different 80s films and properties, Stranger Things managed to create its own identity from them, and brought a very interesting twist to the stories that it borrows from.
This show was going to either live or die by the strength of its child actors, and they thankfully found some who really know what they're doing. Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matazarro, and Caleb McLaughlin all portrayed very realistic children, and they were greatly helped by the writing. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas just felt like real kids at that age; they swore, they interacted with each other like friends do, they were empathetic, and, most importantly, they weren't stupid. They weren't just stand-ins for stupid adults so that more conflict could happen, but they also weren't geniuses who just knew everything. They consulted teachers and other adults when they had questions, but they were able to function on their own as well. The stand-out among the cast was Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, who had a lot to handle in terms of characterization. She had to balance vulnerability and a real presence of power at certain times, and she did it very well. She was the actress I always wanted to see more of, and her performance only got better as more of her backstory was revealed.
The strength of the characters came from them all feeling so real, and even when it seemed like a character was just going to be a flat stereotype, they would do or say something that would completely change them. That kind of authenticity makes every character much easier to connect to. The only performance that I found to be weak was Winona Ryder as Joyce, who spent a lot of her time on-screen screaming and crying, but it was never that believable. The best performance came from David Harbour as Jim Hopper, who was also the most interesting and layered character in the show.
Mystery is the key element of the show, and Stranger Things has a very engaging and layered one. What worked best about it was that it didn't rely on one big twist; information was given out slowly over the course of the season, and given out at the right time. The season was overall extremely well-paced, and shows that a comparatively short amount of episodes in a season (8) can be more effective than having to stretch it out over more.
The show also has a strong grasp of tension and suspense, something that many recent 80s-inspired properties have accomplished. What makes films and series like Stranger Things so fun is the combination of modern filmmaking techniques with the environments of the past, and it works particularly well with horror and supernatural stories. The aesthetic of the 80s is all over this series, most notably with the music. The synth-infused soundtrack contributes to tone in some very effective moments, and the attention to detail in period-accuracy was spot-on. The small-town setting of the show gives it a distinct environment, and the cinematography gave even the more mundane of locations a unique feel. The show also uses lighting in some very creative ways, which always kept the show visually interesting. In terms of visuals, the only downside was in some of the special effects, but none of it was ever distractingly bad, and it was used pretty sparingly.
In the end, Stranger Things is a show that you should watch as soon as you can. Episode to episode, the story moves along at a consistently fast pace, and there wasn't any time wasted on unnecessary sub-plots. And yet, there's still much more that the series could explore in its second season, as the story is left open to continuation in a very intriguing way. I'm very excited to see where the story and characters go in the future as this is without a doubt one of the best series that Netflix has produced, and hopefully they can continue to deliver quality TV like this.
If they could revive Hannibal too, that would be greatly appreciated.
Ever since it started producing its own original content, Netflix has been a platform for some of the most creative and well-produced dramatic series in the world. Stranger Things is the latest of them, and it's essentially Super 8 meets E.T., set in a world created by Stephen King. Even though there's clearly a lot of inspiration from many different 80s films and properties, Stranger Things managed to create its own identity from them, and brought a very interesting twist to the stories that it borrows from.
This show was going to either live or die by the strength of its child actors, and they thankfully found some who really know what they're doing. Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matazarro, and Caleb McLaughlin all portrayed very realistic children, and they were greatly helped by the writing. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas just felt like real kids at that age; they swore, they interacted with each other like friends do, they were empathetic, and, most importantly, they weren't stupid. They weren't just stand-ins for stupid adults so that more conflict could happen, but they also weren't geniuses who just knew everything. They consulted teachers and other adults when they had questions, but they were able to function on their own as well. The stand-out among the cast was Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, who had a lot to handle in terms of characterization. She had to balance vulnerability and a real presence of power at certain times, and she did it very well. She was the actress I always wanted to see more of, and her performance only got better as more of her backstory was revealed.
The strength of the characters came from them all feeling so real, and even when it seemed like a character was just going to be a flat stereotype, they would do or say something that would completely change them. That kind of authenticity makes every character much easier to connect to. The only performance that I found to be weak was Winona Ryder as Joyce, who spent a lot of her time on-screen screaming and crying, but it was never that believable. The best performance came from David Harbour as Jim Hopper, who was also the most interesting and layered character in the show.
Mystery is the key element of the show, and Stranger Things has a very engaging and layered one. What worked best about it was that it didn't rely on one big twist; information was given out slowly over the course of the season, and given out at the right time. The season was overall extremely well-paced, and shows that a comparatively short amount of episodes in a season (8) can be more effective than having to stretch it out over more.
The show also has a strong grasp of tension and suspense, something that many recent 80s-inspired properties have accomplished. What makes films and series like Stranger Things so fun is the combination of modern filmmaking techniques with the environments of the past, and it works particularly well with horror and supernatural stories. The aesthetic of the 80s is all over this series, most notably with the music. The synth-infused soundtrack contributes to tone in some very effective moments, and the attention to detail in period-accuracy was spot-on. The small-town setting of the show gives it a distinct environment, and the cinematography gave even the more mundane of locations a unique feel. The show also uses lighting in some very creative ways, which always kept the show visually interesting. In terms of visuals, the only downside was in some of the special effects, but none of it was ever distractingly bad, and it was used pretty sparingly.
In the end, Stranger Things is a show that you should watch as soon as you can. Episode to episode, the story moves along at a consistently fast pace, and there wasn't any time wasted on unnecessary sub-plots. And yet, there's still much more that the series could explore in its second season, as the story is left open to continuation in a very intriguing way. I'm very excited to see where the story and characters go in the future as this is without a doubt one of the best series that Netflix has produced, and hopefully they can continue to deliver quality TV like this.
If they could revive Hannibal too, that would be greatly appreciated.
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