Stranger Things (Season 3)

The urban dictionary definition of "Jumping the Shark" is when something has reached its peak and begun a downhill slide to mediocrity or oblivion. Now I'm not totally convinced that Season 3 is Stranger Things "jumping the shark"... but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if it was...

Stranger Things 3 continues the story of the kids, teens, and adults of Hawkins, Indiana as they discover the strange occurrences in their town.

Set a little under a year after the events of Season 2, in the days leading up to the Fourth of July, Season 3 picks up with the familiar town of Hawkins. A new mall has been built in the town and all the familiar characters are enjoying their summers in what is the closest thing to normal for them.

The kids are getting hit by puberty HARD (both in the show and in real life, which I appreciate. Most shows would have skipped over that part, Stranger Things embraces it) and developing relationships within the group. Mike is with Elle, Lucas is with Max, and Will just wants someone to play DnD with him

The teens are getting summer jobs and finding their way into the real world once they graduate from high school. Nancy and Jonathan get a job at the local newspaper, and Steve is transitioning from being the high school golden boy to working at Scoops Ahoy (best ice cream shop name ever) with newcomer Robin (played by Maya Hawke), while keeping a unique unexpected friendship with Dustin as he returns from Summer camp feeling left out of the group.

And then you have the adults. Say what you will about how the kids made this show popular back in 2016, David Harbour and Winona Ryder are the pillars that make this show amazingly good.

Joyce is having a difficult time accepting this new normal she's living in, while Hopper wants to progress his relationship with her and become more than friends.

All of that goes out the window when this group, in their own segmented, paired off ways, start discovering that there is something strange happening in Hawkins, whether it be mysterious Russian communication in Hawkins, or the return of a inter-dimensional monster, wrecking havoc on the citizens of Hawkins.

And there is A LOT to cover because like the second season but on steroids, this cast seems to only be growing bigger and bigger. The second season only saw the inclusion of Max, her brother Billy (who has a much bigger role in the third season), and arguably Will as he wasn't really a present character in the first season. This season not only expands the character growth of almost every character, not only does it give more character depth to formerly supporting characters like Mrs. Wheeler, the Conspiracy theory guy, and Billy, but it adds Maya Hawkes character Robin, the Russian Engineer Alexi, Lucas's sister gets more screen time, and Cary Elwes!

There is so much going on and while I have to give the Duffer Brothers credit for having such a big cast that I still care about a lot, I do have to say, some characters really fall by the wayside or duplicate the efforts of others in order to maintain the characters we've come to know and love in the previous seasons, while giving us new characters we also care about like Robin. It's a double edged sword that works really well at certain moments and doesn't work as well in others.

I'm going to try and go through each of the important pairings as I can, their contribution to the plot, and how I feel about them.

Mike, Lucas, and Will - Mike and Lucas spend the majority of the show worried about getting back together with Elle and Max after a falling out. Will is struggling with letting go of his childhood and growing up. Eventually, these three get absorbed with Elle, Max, Nancy, and Jonathan in stopping the Mind Flayer.

Good parts: Everything with Will is fantastic, from his 6th sense ability to his internal conflict. Even though Mike and Lucas are some of the weaker characters, everyone in this group acts well, and are still lovable.

Bad parts: They ultimately just get absorbed into the group and don't have specific identities or character development. Overall, its one of the weaker groupings.

Elle and Max - Elle and Max pair off when dealing with their relationships falling out. Max teaches

Eleven how to be a normal girl, and eventually they start investigating the strange, alien-like behavior of Billy who leads them to the supernatural fight with the Mindflayer.

Good parts: Genuine girl friendships are good. Elle is in a sort of status quo now where she's more normal and yet she still has these telekinetic powers. There's a really cool Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe going and I liked it a lot.

Bad parts: Genuine girl friendship eventually turns into them just giggling at everything they do. Like I get that its better than these two being catty towards one another, but I would have liked more genuine character moments between these two before the adventure actually kicks off instead of them dancing to Madonna's Material Girl.

Steve, Dustin, and Robin (And Erica) - The pairing with some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. Dustin comes back from Summer camp and feels left out of the group because everyone else paired off and Will just wants to play DnD. Steve works at Scoops Ahoy (Still best Ice Cream shop name). Dustin intercepts a Russian Military communication and him Steve, and the girl that works with Steve, Robin (played by Maya Hawke) go to figure out where the Russians are and what they're planning.

Good parts: Steve and Dustin are a pairing that nobody was expecting but is amazing. Maya Hawke is phenomenal. The relationship they build with Steve and Robin is so genuine and so well done its beautiful. No matter how ridiculous it gets, these three produce some of the best moments in the show.

Bad Parts: Erica is the worst! (Don't @ Me). They eventually find a secret Russian Military Base that looks like it was ripped from Star Wars. It gets over the top which can be good at times but definitely makes the entire season breach on jumping the shark. I had a hard time taking these scenes seriously whether its because of the crazy circumstances, or the Scoops Ahoy outfits. I'll talk more about the over the topness later, but that's the parts that didn't work for me.

Nancy and Jonathan - Nancy and Jonathan are finally together and they're working a summer job at the town newspaper. Nancy really wants to break into journalism but can't break through to the chauvinistic reporters. Eventually they investigate the effects the Mind flayer is having on the people of Hawkins and uncover an Invasion of the Body Snatchers plot in Hawkins.

Good parts: I still really like these two together. They have some really good sci fi Nancy Drew moments that were fun. Fighting sexism.

Bad Parts: Nancy and Jonathan continue to be the most boring parts of the show. While I like that they've progressed, having them in a loving relationship doesn't really add anything super interesting to the plot. They eventually get absorbed into the larger group and kind of lose any kind of impact on the plot outside of the group.

 Billy - Billy gets a lot more to do in this season besides be the stereotypical over the top evil bully. He gets involved in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers Mind Flayer plot and is a great vessel for the Mind Flayer to take human form.

Good parts: He's already got the evil bit down and he has a lot more to do. We also get to know more about him as a character.

Bad parts: ...Billy was pretty good in this season. I have no qualms. Maybe there wasn't enough of him in this season... MORE BILLY!

Hopper, and Joyce (and friends) - Joyce and Hopper continue their great friendship and investigate the reason why Joyce's magnets stop working. They eventually find a Russian Scientist and start investigating the presence of Russians in Hawkins with Conspiracy dude from Season two, all the while being chased down by a Russian agent who is definitely trying to spoof the Terminator.

Good parts: David Harbour and Winona Ryder are just treasures. Lot of funny moments, and it was fun having these two playing off one another without having to channel their concern for Will. They're a good team. This plot line also gave us a lot of action which was cool. The whole plot line pulls homages from Die Hard, Magnum PI, and Terminator, and it was a lot of fun. I really liked Hopper's turn at being a father and having to deal with a pre-teen girl.

Bad parts: I don't want Hopper and Joyce to fall in love. I like them as friends. They kind of make Hopper a big old dumb brute in this season. They also have a little bit of an old married couple bit that gets old after a while. Alexi while funny is overrated. I'm not sure why they're keeping the Conspiracy dude from Season 2 around, he's okay at best. Finally, the Terminator bit, while kind of interesting was a pretty heavy eye roll for me.

In case you can't tell, there's A LOT going on in this season and I think it suffers some of the same problems of season 2. Season 1 was very succinct and relatively low stakes. The show has gone from a small horror film about a missing boy, to a super powered girl and her friends joking about how they're off to save the world again.

I should note, I do like this season. But my issues come with the fact that it is starting to hit self parody levels. To a certain extent, this season just felt like it was heading in the direction of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where the characters are aware that monsters are apart of their day to day and they're kind of used to it by now. Which has it's upsides. Eleven turning into a monster fighting Slayer is not in itself totally bad. But it just loses the edge that I think Stranger Things initially had and instead turns it into a more cartoonish over the top TV show. I think there's still the potential for serious character moments, especially with characters we've come to know and love. But the show reaches a certain level of ridiculousness when you've got Steve in a sailor suit looking ridiculous, surrounded by Russians that are trying to look like Storm Troopers and give an over the top science fantasy vibe rather than something set in the real world.

At the end of the day, Season 3 just felt different for a number of reasons. Previous seasons took place in the fall season and felt a lot darker. Season 3 is more colorful. Furthermore, the 80's movies that the show is taking influence from tend to be the more colorful and less dark (at least less horror-like) films. Terminator, Die Hard, even Star Wars are for sure 80's films but they're not the horror or realistic science fiction films drawn from in Season 1 and 2 like Alien, The Exorcist, The Thing, and ET.

Yes, the season draws heavily from Invasion of the Body Snatchers but I feel like it loosened its grip on trying to be a Stephen King film and instead is trying to branch out on its own, which is good, but it also has to be done carefully and I'm not sure Season 3 really stuck that landing.

Oh and also, adding the Russians was weird.

I mean good on them for trying to switch up who the human bad guys were as in the past two seasons its either been the US government or the remnants of the US government. And I will give them credit, as weird as the Terminator assassin guy was at times, and as much of a nostalgia gut punch he was, he was intimidating and created a sense of adventure and action you only get from 80's films. While I am about to go on a tirade on how the Duffer Brothers kind of broke their perfect balance of using nostalgia to inspire their stories not sell them, I will say that there is a lot of that inspiration still in this seasons story, no matter how over the top it gets.

But the truth is, this season did seem to break that balance the Duffer Brothers seemed to have had down pat by utilizing nostalgia to inspire and drive stories, but not have the nostalgia be a crutch for enjoyment.

Part of this was unavoidable, especially in a story mainly set in a mall, the hub of pop culture in the 80's. It would be inauthentic for these kids to be growing up in the 80s and not love Back to the Future when it came out. And it's not like this is the first time it's happened. Mike has Star Wars toys, Stranger Things has always referenced pop culture to remind us that this does take place in the 80's.

I think the difference this time was that instead of these references just being things in the background like a movie poster that Will has in his room, they're front and center and either drive the plot, or stop it dead in its tracks so Max and Eleven can have a photo montage to Madonna's Material Girl.

A great example is a little bit of a spoiler but you've probably seen it by now even if you haven't watched the whole season, and that's the Never Ending Story reference near the end.

The movie stops dead in its tracks for Dustin and his girlfriend from camp to sing the song from the Neverending Story.

On one hand, sure, it's a song that those two would know and get stuck in their head. I wasn't even a fan of The Neverending Story as a kid and I got that stuck in my head. It is a product of the times. But it's a pretty Marvel-esc move to stop the suspsenseful tension dead in its tracks so the show can reference something they're sure you knew from the 80's. When the nostalgia is serving the purpose of the story, that's fine. When its inhibiting the story, that's where I start to get peeved.

Is it all bad? No. I do feel like this show took a step towards figuring out how these characters are going to interact and live, especially if we keep on going and there aren't enough 80's films to draw inspiration from.

Again, I like this season, but it has to recognize what levels are on brand of realism within the parameters of previous seasons and the overall vibe of the show, and what is ridiculous and almost self aware.

Also, they've got to switch up the plot formula a little bit if there is a fourth season because we're starting to see the same thing over again. If the fourth season has a scene where they all stand in a circle waiting for the monster to come get them, we're in trouble.

Oh and also, I'm a fan of taking actors who were big in the 80's and having them play Special Guests in the show, especially if they further the plot. Paul Reiser, Sean Astin, I'm all about these guys. But Cary Elwes and Jake Busey deserved better than the roles they got.

Credit where its due, Elwes is looking great for his age, but that's pretty much the most of what I got from him in this season.

He couldn't really knock down what accent he was doing, but more importantly, he's a caricature that didn't really impact the story at all. He's playing an archetype and I can appreciate that, but if you're bringing Cary Elwes in to be the mayor of Hawkins, give him something to do. If he's a villain, make him the most over the top villain you can think of. Again, use it to drive the story, not just say, "HEY LOOK, IT'S CARY ELWES, YOU REMEMBER HIM RIGHT? RIGHT?!?!?"

I'm not saying the show has jumped the shark... yet. But if it hasn't gotten there already, it's not that far.

I love Stranger Things, and in spite of its flaws, I am a huge fan of Netflix.

They may be losing Friends and the Office, but Netflix has had a really good push over the past 5 years of trying to drive original content because the truth is, they saw this reality coming.

They knew Disney was going to make their own streaming service, along everyone else and their mother. They knew that licensing properties was going to be expensive, so they put a lot of money into creating new, unique content that you can't get anywhere else. So even if The Office and Friends go, people wouldn't get rid of their subscription because they know they can't get their Stranger Things anywhere else.

So it's kind of a continuation of the conversation I was having with myself in my Castle Rock rant but more relevant. Netflix is creating original content on their platform. I just feel like we're at risk of losing that content if Netflix is replaced by conglomerates like Disney. But in order for that to not happen, we have to have good seasons of Stranger Things and not cancel every original season airing after 2 seasons which Netflix seems to be doing.

Overall, Stranger Things Season 3 is still good. I enjoyed myself and I love the world that has been created. I just worry because its probably the weaker of the three seasons in my opinion. I'm excited to see where a fourth season might go, but for the time being, Season 3 is a colorful slight dissent from the previous seasons. I hope it's not the show jumping the shark, but I'm still on board for now.

What did you think of Season 3 of Stranger Things? Where does it rank? Does it take a little bit of time to think over what you watched and form an opinion on Stranger Things like me or am I just slow? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for Reading!