Stranger Things: Season 1 - TV review
Stranger Things: Season 1
Plot: When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.
Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard
Number Of Episodes: 8
Channel: Netflix
Rating: 15
Air Date: Friday 15th July 2016
Can this be real? Do my eyes deceive me? After seven months of having this blog, am I finally going to review a TV show? The answer is a resounding yes. Having missed out on reviewing the latest season of Game Of Thrones, I thought about what other TV show seems to have become globally popular. To my fortune, Stranger Things comes along. It landed on Netflix and I sort of disregarded it. Then I heard good things about it but I still wasn't that interested. And then in a matter of days, this was the show everyone was talking about so I thought that I had to give it a go. I'm bloody glad I did. For those of you who haven't seen this yet, I'm not going to go deep into spoilers but will talk about various plot points. My basic review is that if you like retro sci-fi or the works of Spielberg, then you should seriously watch this show. Like right now!
Netflix are renowned for having big talent in their shows but they seem to have switched it up a little. There's Winona Ryder and a few other actors that may make you think as to where you recognise them from but for the most part, Stranger Things is chock-a-block with newcomers. Like I said, Winona Ryder is the focus of one of various interweaving storylines. She plays Joyce Byers whose son goes missing under mysterious circumstances. And then, through even more mysterious circumstances, attempts to find him whether it be entering a strange portal or talking through light bulbs. If you haven't noticed yet, it definitely earns the title of STRANGER Things. It's been awhile since we've seen Winona in anything really, and here she reminds me why she was so popular once. I'll admit, it took me a while to connect with her character. It was almost instantaneous with the kids and the chief but Joyce took a little longer than I had hoped. It's probably because Ryder does overplay the distraught aspect just a tad but manages to get it under control by the third episode. As the series came to a close, her storyline proved itself to be a confident driving force. The other actor that you might recognise is David Harbour. For most of you, a face doesn't come to the name. It didn't for me to begin with but the likelihood is that you've seen a film with him in it. Suicide Squad. Quantum Of Solace. The Green Hornet. Black Mass. Harbour is everywhere but you just haven't noticed him. In Stranger Things, he is finally given his time to be noticed. He may as well have been screaming "LOOK AT ME! I'M IN A STARRING ROLE! NOTICE ME SENPAI!" to the camera and I'm glad he has this opportunity. He's been such a solid actor throughout all of his career and now here is his break. Harbour plays Chief Hopper in charge of finding Will but getting himself wrapped up in the conspiracy. As the season plays out, his character takes twists and turns but the one constant is Harbour's performance. He's dishevelled, rundown and agitated but there's this looming past that when it hits, leaves an almighty emotional crater.
Moving away from the adults are the true stars of this show. The kids. Child actors are usually annoying in films but at least you may only have to spend two hours with them. They can be even worse in TV because (depending on the show) you could be spending twenty three hours with them or in this instance, eight. There are five kids in total. We have Will (Noah Schnapp) who's not in it a great deal because he goes missing, but he's fine and has good chemistry with the others. There's also Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). These two are awesome and hilarious. They actually talk like kids too. It isn't some dumbed down dialogue to make them sound cleverer that they are nor is it adults who write the script attempting to make them edgy or current. Both Dustin and Lucas are the jokers of the group but when shit hits the fan, they show their dramatic weight too. Finn Wolfhard wraps up the main group as Mike. He's the leader of the gang. Think of them like the young Three Musketeers, if The Three Musketeers was set in the 1980s and they played Dungeons and Dragons instead of fight. Mike's a cool character and Wolfhard does well in a large and heavy role but there's one more character who isn't just the best child, but the best actor in the whole damn show. I'm talking about Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven. My god is this young girl good. I can sum up her performance in one word; Emmy. I have no doubt about it. Brown is such a contender to win the award whenever the show is eligible and rightly so. She isn't given the most dialogue driven character to play but the way she emotes through her face and her delivery of broken English is just masterful. Eleven was undoubtedly the most captivating character I've seen all year (films included) and holy shit can she kick some ass. There's a scene which I won't go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but through the power of her mind, she flips a van over her and her friends. I felt like punching the air when that happened. Some of the other smaller characters who I liked were Natalie Dyer as Nancy Wheeler who came across like Candace from Phineas and Ferb but then morphed into Ripley from Alien and also Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, proof that stalking works.
The Duffer Brothers, who created this show, have done something really special here. It's clear just from the pilot that their two main inspirations for Stranger Things were Steven Spielberg and Stephen King. If you like the directorial style of Spielberg and the writing of King, then you're bound to love Stranger Things. It's a perfect amalgamation of both and sure, it does borrow a little too much from the works of the two Steve's where it borders copying (Kids riding bikes away from police like E.T.) but it's executed more like a homage rather than plagiarism. I think a fair comparison would be that this show is like Super 8 but better (and I loved Super 8). The dialogue between all the characters (especially the kids) feels real and authentic rather than clichéd tropes we've seen millions of times before. The Duffer Brothers, within a few episodes, are able to wrap us up in this lore and keep us hooked from episode to episode. The fact that it's on Netflix is amazing because it means that I can just binge it all over again. I had the unfortunate circumstance of joining the Stranger Things party a little later than most. Therefore, by the time I had reached episode six, I went on a two week holiday where it was impossible for me to finish those last episodes. Don't get me wrong, the holiday was great but I was bummed I had to wait to see the conclusion. That's how gripping it is. Don't make the mistakes I made. I am not a role model. If you haven't binged anything before, this is the perfect way to start. It'll make you feel like a crack addict during cold turkey once it's over but it's worth it. Out of all eight, my favourite episode has to be the third one, 'Holly, Jolly'. The first two episodes took time in setting up the story and our protagonists but episode three kicked it into high gear with supernatural goings on and one almighty gut punch of an ending. They use the song 'Heroes' by Peter Gabriel and dare I say, it's the best rendition of the song made famous by David Bowie. Even the style of the show is impeccable. It looks like a film made in the 80s just with a current flair added in. It's so Spielbergian in nature that this could have easily been an eight hour movie and I wouldn't have cared. It's kinetic, energetic, constantly engaging and one of the best shows of this year. The visual effects look great (if a little hammy), the set design is beautiful and the score is so retro and techy that I could listen to it on it's own. Even the title sequence is cool. I'm praising a friggin title sequence.
There's no other way to put it; Stranger Things is one of the best shows released this year and one of Netflix's greatest. Believe the hype this time guys. It's worth it. The show is left open for a season two and I think that's probably inevitable after this success but I wouldn't be fussed either way. Of course I'd like to spend ages in this world but it ends fantastically well so I'm excited no matter what the decision is.
#JusticeForBarb
My Verdict: 9.5/10
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