Stranger Things 3 : Back with a Bang

The first season of Stranger Things aired in the summer of 2016 and consequently took the world by storm. This was a time before people knew about Netflix. Stranger Things gained popularity through word of mouth and soon became a pop-culture phenomenon. This was something we had never been exposed to before. Something new and bold that redefined television as we knew it. Inspired from the works of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter, Stranger Things was one of the first ever TV shows to amalgamate themes of science-fiction and horror and present it in an 80’s setting. The first season of Stranger Things and the seasons that came after it, is based on the lives of a set of quirky and nerdy friends, who along with the help of their friends and family battle the forces of an evil, supernatural entity to keep their quiet, little town of Hawkins from harm’s way.

Prestigious Find : Duffer Brothers were inspired by the life-like horror elements in films such as : Ridley Scott’s Alien(1979), John Carpenter’s The Thing(1982) and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser(1987).

Bigger and Better:

The third season did a better job of living up to the first than the second season did. The Duffer Brothers (creators of the show) made quite an impactful comeback. With the same set of characters, only slightly older, the third season followed a similar route of storytelling as the previous two seasons. Yet, it somehow still managed to retain the intrigue by developing its very likable characters, strong performances and well-paced storytelling. Yes, it’s a bit more of the same – but it doesn’t get monotonous. Through the experiences of its main characters – the children who have now entered their teenage years – Stranger Things 3 was able to cover a lot more ground in terms of emotional depth and character bonding. With a more mature set of characters, the third season got a lot more scope to explore adult themes and situations. It also must be noted that the manner in which the dialogues are written perfectly embodies the young voices of the young cast. This quality often gets lost when dialogues of young characters are penned down by adult writers – but Stranger Things has pulled off the screenplay beautifully.

The Gang is Back:

The original cast consisting of Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp and Sadie Sink saw an expansion this season, with the addition of characters such as Robin (played by Maya Hawke), whose presence in the script acted as a breath of fresh air amidst all the chaos, Dr. Alexei (played by Alec Utgoff), who started off as a suspicious character but eventually turned endearing to the audience. Dacre Montgomery, who played the character of Billy returned with a bigger role this season, as did Priah Ferguson, who kept the humor alive through blunt sarcasm in her role as Lucas’s younger sister – Erica. Winona Ryder, who played Will and Jonathan Byers’ mother in the series and graced the screen with a beautiful performance filled with anguish in the first season, felt wasted in her role in the 3rd season – she simply didn’t have ample material to work with. The character of Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour delivered one of the best performances of his life playing a fumbling dad. Natalie Dyer and Charlie Heaton also returned this season, keeping the old romance between Nancy and Jonathan still going strong. Joe Keery was present in the cast as well, playing Steve Harrington – a character who keeps getting better and better with every progressing season.

All throughout its three seasons, Stranger Things has enraptured its audience with a sense of nostalgia through its impeccable set-designs and carefully-crafted throwbacks to the 80’s. Not only that, but it also has a captivating plot, some of the most lovable characters in present-day television, brilliant acting and a fitting musical score to go with it all. All this makes Stranger Things one fascinating watch.