The 1980s were rife with Cold War paranoia at the time. So it’s not too much a surprise that the Duffer Brothers would use this in their hit series Stranger Things to explore more storyline possibilities, blending in a stronger spy-themed presence alongside the supernatural horror that the show’s usually known for. There’s trouble brewing below the new Starcourt Mall in Hawkins, Indiana, and the gang eventually reunite over the Independence Day summer to uncover what turns out to be an international conspiracy to capture the secrets of its mysterious supernatural gate that Eleven (Mille Bobby Brown) sealed off in season 2.
The cigar-chomping Mayor Kline (Cary Elwes, having a good scenery munch) isn’t phased about how the new mall’s negatively affecting local businesses, more focused on the revenue for his planned 4th of July celebration to help his poll numbers. But Scoops Ahoy ice cream mall workers Steve (Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) are able to decode a message with the help of Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and his new advanced radio, which traces all the way back to the Soviet Union.
Despite the insistence of Lucas’s sassy sister Erica (Priah Ferguson, showing a ton of charisma) that her involvement is basically Child Endangerment, she’s not willing to turn down a lifetime of free ice cream samples and agrees to help with saving the town.
Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer monster’s got plans of his own to conquer Hawkins, using last season’s jerk bully Billy Hargrove as his pawn. Dacre Montgomery delivers a pretty intense and convincing performance as the troubled summer lifeguard, and as the season unfolds, the audience (alongside Eleven during one of her visions) learns why he’s got the kind of personality he does.
Despite the local paper not taking them seriously, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers (Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton) still go into cracking the case, while Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) try to find if these strange occurrences are related to the abandoned lab. What they find instead is Grigori, a hulking Russian hitman played by Andrey Ivenchenko with a hint of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first Terminator movie, in terms of his presence.
As is the tradition with Stranger Things, we’re treated to more character development alongside all of the supernatural insanity. Eleven is gradually showing more independence as her friendship with Max develops, and her flirtation with becoming an 80s mall girl is hilarious and cute. Brown has a notably effective way of playing El as someone who’s still becoming adjusted to everyday society but still increasing in personal confidence. She adds a nice touch of slight pauses in her statements. as if she’s thinking carefully about what she says so it’s more effectively.
Steve’s evolved into a warmer figure over the course of the series, and he’s got great chemistry with both Dustin and Robin, whose relationship blossoms in a way you probably weren’t expecting at first.
More characters overall are dealing with internal angst this season, most notably in Hopper’s frustrations over Eleven and Mike’s blossoming romance, along with Mike’s inability to grant El some personal space, and Will being upset over no longer spending as much time with Mike and the boys for their D&D games like they used to. The series knows its cast is aging, so its characters should as well, but some are handling change better than others.
Hopper in particular is kicking his cowboy cop-tendencies into overdrive, with Harbour playing the beleaguered chief as if he’s beyond done with all of the supernatural insanity going on in his town, with a possible foreign invasion no less. He and Winona Ryder have some funny banter together as they try to uncover the secrets of the lab, and Murray as usual is still shipping characters together as he tags along with them and a Russian agent.
Even by the usual Stranger Things standards, there’s a notable increase in the level of harshness from this season’s villains, both in how brutal the Russians are towards our heroes and the way in which the Mind Flayer gradually infects the citizens of Hawkins. In my opinion this is probably the biggest season yet for the show in terms of ambition and scale, indicated by the much larger cast this time around. There’s a lot going on in this new ST tale, and it sets up Season Four in ways that feel like the show’s refusing to rest on its laurels, but are also hard to predict.
With another good blend of humor, frights, action and emotion, Stranger Things still remains a compelling and entertaining fantasy/period piece. Your eyes might roll at the increased amount of product placement, notably Lucas and the other’s arguments over the merits of New Coke while they try to hatch their plan, but even that’s written with a strong level of wit.
Shout-outs to things like Neverending Story, Back To the Future and overall 1980s mall chic don’t distract from the substance that makes this show so enjoyable. If you’d made another trip to this strange town through Netflix, swing by @Official_FAN as always and let us know if you liked it or not!