Hello reader, it's been a while. I've left a lot of articles open to be revisited and I'm going to revisit one today. I recently gave a spoiler-free review on Stranger Things, the sci-fi/horror/eighties nostalgia bomb that was recently featured on Netflix. If you haven't seen it yet, then I do apologize for the spoiler train that's revving up from the station. If you have seen it this should be a quick and fun review/analysis for those in the know. Here we go, the spoiler HEAVY review of Stranger Things.
Now I had already introduced the main characters Will Byers, who gets abducted by a creature without a face and taken to a parallel dimension which they refer to as the Upside-Down. There are his friends Dustin, Lucas, and Mike who search through the night to find their friend but instead come across a strange girl named Eleven (they call her El for short) and they discover she is a powerful telekinetic and may have the answers they need to find their missing friend. That's the basis of the story and I've already gushed over how great the kids' acting skills are and how great and detail the narrative is, now there are other elements I failed to discuss in the spoiler-free review that I will promptly get into.
As the show is inspired by entertainment of the seventies and eighties there is a government agency, The US Department of Energy to be specific, that is searching for El (much like Firestarter or E.T.) and they are ruthless in their methods. In their pursuit for El and the need to keep the town quiet about their young missing citizen a lot of dead bodies turn up in their wake; including the body of Will Byers! How, you may ask when we know for sure he is in the Upside Down? Well, that leads me to my personal favorite character Detective Jim Hopper (played by Dan Harbour). He's seen that something hasn't been right since the beginning and with some research into the Hawkins Department of Energy and with some brute force comparable to Mike Tyson in his prime, he discovers that Will's "body" is actually a dummy filled with cotton and that the Creature (or DemoGorgon), Will's disappearance and the mysterious appearance of Eleven all have something in common, The Hawkins Energy Building which happens to contain a portal to the Upside Down.
Everything really ramps up to the end of the series where El finds Will with her mind and Ms. Byers( Winona Ryder) with Detective Hooper go into the Upside Down and retrieve Will. The Boys and El, however are trapped at their school not only by agents with guns but the DemoGorgon as well. In a scene straight from Akira, El uses her mind to kill the agents opposing her friends and in a heart-wrenching goodbye defeats the DemoGorgon as well and disappears. One month later, it's Christmastime and everything seems alright with the world...until Will coughs up a slug in his sink, an evil looking thing that could only come from the Upside Down.
I'm very excited about the upcoming second season and I'm already impressed with the title of it "Madmax". I can only hope that we see El again and Will can be cured of what's ailing him. There are a load of references to older films that I like and couldn't get into a full breakdown of but here a quick few:
-The story of Eleven's mother and subsequently Eleven are very reminiscent of Firestarter by Stephen King.
-The DemoGorogon is an actual enemy in the classic Dungeons and Dragons RPG
-The Boys(Dustin, Lucas, and Mike) are a lot like several children protagonist like the Mod Squad or The Goonies.
-The harboring of El and the pursuit down the street on bikes where she flips the van is very much an homage to E.T.
-The poster for the show is inspired by posters for movies such as E.T., Indiana Jones, and Back To The Future.
-The Vehicles and uniforms of the Hawkins PD are identical to the Amity Island's PD or the police force from Jaws.
I could go on and on. That is how greatly detailed this show is and why I feel it's a gem for those who remember the eighties or want to travel back in time. I give the series 10/10 and really believe that you should check it out-and if you already have- give it another watch and enjoy it again. Who knows? Stranger things have happened! This is Patrick Smith telling you good luck, and keep on watching.
