SPOILER ALERT
Anyone who has not seen series 1-3 of the Netflix TV show Stranger Things is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.
There’s a very popular show on Netflix that I had resisted watching for a long time. Don’t ask me why but I get all cynical when everyone and their granny tells me how mind-bendingly fantastic a TV show is, especially when it sounds frankly lame, as this show did. Not only did it sound lame but it was also a genre I generally don’t have much interest in so all in all, I was pretty convinced this show couldn’t have been nearly as good as people told me it was. I am talking, of course, about Stranger Things.
In spite of that, my wife and I were struggling to find something to watch one night (isn’t that always the way?) so we decided to take a pop at it.
Set in the 1980s, this story focuses on a sleepy little town in Indiana where nothing much happens– until, of course, a young boy vanishes without a trace, a gateway to another dimension (‘the Upside-Down’) filled with terrifying monsters is opened up and a young girl with psychokinetic abilities escapes from a top secret laboratory which is conducting paranormal experiments and only a small group of nerdy school-friends, a teenage girl who can’t decide which boy she likes best, a local police officer with a tragic past and the missing boy’s mother can save the day.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a bit of a kitchen sink show, you’re absolutely right. The Duffer brothers who created the show seem to have painstakingly pieced together every single last light-hearted ’80s American sci-fi/horror trope they could think of and mashed them together to create this show. But you know… it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds.
In many respects, it has a bit of a Spielberg vibe to it, and I guess I say that as a compliment. It doesn’t just feel like it’s set in the ’80s. It feels like it was made in the ’80s. The use of classic tropes, cheesy synth music and so on take you right back in time to 1980s Indiana and in doing so pays homage to classic 1980s cinema in a way which just feels right.
However, a good vibe will only take a TV show so far. As is so often the case with good stories, the thing that really makes this show work is its rich cast of characters. Each and every one of them boasts a clear and distinctive set of motives and goals and well rounded personalities. The relationships between the main players develops in a way which is natural and interesting and the main characters’ arcs are all resolved neatly by the end of each season.
I think the thing that surprised me the most is how entertaining I found this show. A good film or TV show will have you laughing, crying and biting your nails all at the same time and Stranger Things accomplishes this in a way most shows and films of this genre usually fail to do. It kept me on the edge of my seat yet it didn’t stress me out the way some sci-fi/horror shows do which lack any sort of sentimental scenes or comedy relief. Stranger Things has it all. It is, perhaps, a little tropey and with frankly ridiculous monsters whose existence is never fully explained except that they come from a parallel dimension which looks like a scarier version of the real world with monsters but it’s still a great bit of TV if you can swallow the silliness.
All in all, a much more entertaining show than I was expecting. Give it a go.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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ATTENTION AUTHORS:
Every Tuesday, I post a new edition of Spotlight: a short post which shines a proverbial spotlight on a published novel or collection of short fiction. If you would like to have your book considered for a future edition of Spotlight, drop us an e-mail including a short synopsis of your book and a link to where we can buy it. Better yet, send me a copy of your book and I can include a mini-review.
I’m still looking to interview fiction authors here on Penstricken, especially new or indie authors. Whether it’s books, plays, comics or any other kind of fiction, if you’ve got something written, I want to hear about it. If you’re interested in having your work featured on Penstricken, be to sure to drop us an e-mail or message us on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest.
Please be advised that due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.
You can check out our previous interviews here:
- Sharleen Nelson, author of The Time Tourists [2]
- D. Wallace Peach, author of the Shattered Sea duology [2]
- Jacob Klop, author of Crooked Souls
- H.L. Walsh, author of From Men and Angels [2]
- G.M. Nair, author of Duckett and Dyer: Dicks for Hire
- Georgia Springate, author of Beyond
- S.E. Morgan, author of From Waterloo to Water Street
- Megan Pighetti, author of Fairy-Tailed Wish [2]
- Nancet Marques, author of Chino and the Boy Scouts [VIDEO]