Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
I’ve watched Stranger Things for the past decade. Here are my basic feelings for each season.
Season 1
An excellent, atmospheric love story to the “kids on bikes” genre from the eighties. The kids are great and they didn’t feel the need to over-explain everything.
I find both Will and Mike kinda boring but the rest of the cast is good.
The adults are idiots and the teens are annoying.
5 Stars
Season 2
They tried a little too hard to get the same feel and try and expand the drama. It really showed how little they were prepared for a season 2 and made a lot of the season boring.
I liked the addition of Max, she came off as competent and not just the “girl” character. Erica is also pretty cool.
Still not a fan of Mike or WIll. The teens are a little better but Johnathan gives massive serial killer / incel vibes.
Truly despise the adults other than Bob. RIP.
2 Stars
Season 3
This season really went hard into the 80’s and was better for it. The whole gang is trying really hard to be normal kids.
Both Will and Mike are less annoying. Steve and Robin are by far my favourite story. The teens are getting more interesting.
I still can’t stand the adults. Murray however is okay.
4 Stars
Season 4
This is the season the writers did two stupid things. 1. obviously firing any editors and 2. realizing they can’t finish the show on vibes and atmosphere. The awkward length episodes and horribly shoehorned backstories made this a slog.
Still can’t stand Mike or the Byeres. They seem to oscillate between bad attempts at autism rep and just plain creepy.
Lucas finally starts to be his own character and his story with Max is kinda cute.
Steve, Robin, and Nancy are much more likeable. Eddie goes from a performative rebel to a real badass. His character was mishandled and it shows that they just wanted a martyr.
Robin and Nancy being awesome reporters was fun. I found it weird however that Robin changed personalities from season 3 to 4. Going from badass, sarcastic, and confident to a walking ad for AuDHD with anxiety.
I mostly speed up the show when it was time for the adults to be idiots again. I may have skipped it if it wasn’t for chaos Murray.
2 Stars
Season 5
This season showed what happens when writers don’t have a plan. They tried really hard to clean up the backstory and get everything together.
The “age up” of Holly was lazy writing when they could have used Erica or introduced another kid. That being said, the actress killed the roll and took a boring story and made it interesting.
After 2 seasons of giving Max interesting stories, they basically turned her into a spirit guide/plot convenience.
There’s been a lot of hate given to Will’s coming out but it felt more authentic than a lot of the other parts. It was quick and awkward but that’s what coming out often is. Still can’t stand the kid. Mike is neither likeable nor interesting. Dustin actually has character development which is nice.
Most of the teens are likeable now. Badass Nancy is pretty awesome.
The adults are still insufferable and I’m sorry they didn’t die. I wonder what happened to Murray.
How the hell did they manage to bring in Linda Hamilton and have her villain be so uninteresting.
3 Stars
The Finale
Trite, overly sappy, and ambiguous. It reminded me a lot of the Fringe finale that was basically just giving the fans what they wanted.
It’s also very appropriate for the show since the whole thing feels like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign from a pantser DM. Which isn’t surprising, since a lot of the beats were based off the D&D (I’m old and I refuse to call it DnD!) adventures with Vecna as an antagonist.
The ambiguity of the ending for certain characters reeks of leaving the door open for a reunion movie or series in 10 years.
It also doesn’t show us the characters grieving and getting over the multitude of deaths.
Overall
This series is uneven both in its storytelling and its characters. It’s a fantasy of nostalgia written by people who have only known the decade from movies and TV. There was no plan and it shows. Throughout the series, D&D is treated with more respect than any of the characters.
There is some nice character development when the actors were given input.
I’m left with an overwhelming feeling that I could write better. (And I plan on doing so.)
3 Stars out of 5
Do you disagree?
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
