Stranger Things season three arrived on Netflix for the Fourth of July holiday, and the Hawkins, Indiana crew came back to suffer more torments at the hands of the Upside Down. But how did this season hold up compared to the previous two? Let’s separate it out….
The Good
- The relationships between female characters were given a bit more than a passing glance this year, and they all had more to do in terms of the plot. Eleven gets to have a friendship outside of the original DnD quartet! She and Max have a fun shopping montage! Nancy spends time actually speaking to her mother and they bond! Women are aware of each other’s existence and they help each other and talk to each other! Why did it take so long for the show to get here, again?
- 1980s legends continue to pop up all over the place, but the key player of this season is Cary Elwes’s turn as Mayor Larry Kline. Equal parts odious and cowardly, it’s not really a commentary of Elwes’s major 80s role (which would be Wesley from The Princess Bride) the way Paul Reiser’s role of Dr. Owens was, but he’s clearly having a ball getting to be a creep.
- The entire plot thread of Steve and Robin and Dustin and Erica (Lucas’s little sister, who was introduced last season) deciphering Russian codes, accidentally breaking into an underground KGB facility, getting caught, getting rescued, and generally causing trouble is the best thread of the season, hands down. With the season finale button showing Dustin handing over the gang’s DnD manuals to Erica, it looks like we’ll be seeing much more of her should the show continue. And that’s a good thing, too.
- Robin turns out to be a lesbian! The way that they handle her reveal to Steve is super sweet (as public bathroom confessionals go), as is the fact that they continue to be friends following the revelation that Steve’s crush on her is misplaced. Honestly, it was just enjoyable to watch a bond between one same-aged girl and boy on this show not end in some form of romantic tension or relationship. Robin is played by Maya Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, who both got their start acting in the 80s, so her casting is a little extra on-the-nose in the way that Stranger Things is wont to be.
- There are two music cues in this season that effectively beat out all the others in the entire history of the show. One occurs when Dustin and Erica have shoved truth-serumed Steve and Robin into a movie theater that’s showing Back to the Future so they can hide out from the Russians. In order to contact friends and ask for back up, Dustin heads to the projector room and tries to get in touch with Mike. While the two proceed to have a useless conversation hampered by low-battery walkie-talkies, the soundtrack music from Back to the Future plays beneath it—music from a scene at the film’s climax where Marty and Doc Brown are also speaking frantically over walkie-talkies. It is pure television magic.
- The other music cue occurs when Dustin finally gets through to girlfriend Suzie over the radio, needing her help to figure out a secret Russian code—but she refuses to aid him in saving the world unless he agrees to do something for her. Which turns out to be both of them belting out perfect two part harmonies to Limahl’s “The Neverending Story” from the eponymous film. They do the WHOLE SONG. It is an utterly senseless diversion moments before the end of the world, and I have never loved anything more than this moment, and possibly never will.
The Bad
- While it does seem like it was perhaps intentional on the part of the Duffer Brothers and writer’s room, this season of Stranger Things is all about the women on the show knowing more than the men around them, constantly begging for their help and their belief, and being shoved aside by male fragility. Mike is too scared of losing Eleven to trust her with her own powers, Robin has to force her way into Steve and Dustin’s code-breaking circle, Jonathan insists that Nancy wanting to be treated with respect by male coworkers is a reflection upon her economic privilege rather than sexism, Hopper is too pissed off at being stood up by Joyce to care that she’s putting together the pieces of yet another a mystery in Hawkins—despite the fact that Joyce has never been wrong in the history of the series when she believes something’s wonky. Even if this is meant to be commentary, it’s tiring at best, and also not very interesting. Yes, I’m aware, it’s the 80s, but the show doesn’t need so much casual and ingrained sexism to function.
- Will Byers only gets a brief moment where the show actually considers his emotions. Aside from Eleven, Will has been through the most over the run of the show, but the narrative can’t seem to figure out how to accommodate him if he’s not interested in dating someone. It’s never made clear if Will is gay, or asexual, or simply less precocious than his friends, but he does have a point of falling out with Mike and Lucas where he smashes his outdoor fort to bits in pain at the thought of losing his friends. When Mike asks if Will thought they’d spend all their days just playing Dungeons & Dragons together, Will responds that perhaps he did. And that’s a real struggle that plenty of teens go through when their own friends start to mature a bit faster. Will Byers deserved a bit more time to go on that journey before getting swept up in Upside Down trauma.
- It’s nice to see Max and Eleven spending time together, but the show doesn’t know how to make them friends without resorting to “teen girls only care about clothes and relationship drama and obsessing over boys” tropes. Which is particularly hard to buy when we know Max loves to skateboard and is sure to have plenty of other interests that she can foist onto her unsuspecting new pal.
- He may be the fandom darling, but… we’ve got to have a talk about Sheriff Hopper. It was hard enough watching him be emotionally abusive to Eleven in the previous season. (I don’t care how scared you are for your child’s safety, keeping a kid isolated in the middle of the woods when she’s desperate for friends and company is abusive. Full stop.) This season features a far more brusque and outwardly violent Jim Hopper, one who roars like a bear the instant his daughter’s door is closed because he can’t stand how close she’s become to her boyfriend. His entire character arc this season is summed up in hamfisted Indiana Jones references, and an inability to voice emotions in a productive and peaceful manner. What’s worse is that the show seems to think all this blundering is somehow a form of comic relief, setting him up to get progressively more and more violent, like it’s some form of narrative game. It’s not funny. Hopper getting blind drunk because Joyce forgot their dinner, then barreling into Eleven’s room again like he’s ready to tear it down isn’t funny. Hopper threatening Mike out of dating his daughter isn’t funny. Hopper constantly threatening all the men around him because he can’t handle how much he cares about Joyce isn’t funny. And while his fate was left deliberately fuzzy by the end of the season, I can’t say I’m in a hurry to have him back.
Buy the Book
The Survival of Molly Southborne
The Body Horror
This season was very much an ode to body horror and Cold War horror films of the past, starting off with the kids going to a showing of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, and moving through countless other references—The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Stuff, Poltergeist, most zombie films, practically every David Cronenberg movie. These visual references were everywhere, and building upon them was the only way to bring about the season three climax.
The problem is that these references were only ever that: reminders of smart stories of yesteryear. They never really moved beyond to say something new or enrich the show’s world. And while Stranger Things is meant to be a simmering stew of 80s nostalgia, one of the show’s weakest points is the fact that it never transcends its many references. It’s nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, with no greater awareness or commentary attached. (Particularly irritating because the tropes of the 1980s—especially horror ones—were rife with metaphors.) With each season, the Upside Down feels like less and less of a threat because it doesn’t represent anything, or even make much sense as a world/dimension unto itself—it’s just a place where monsters come from. And that alone isn’t particularly interesting.
Given the mid-credits tag scene following season three, one would hope that show has something a little more unique up its sleeve if/when it returns for future seasons.
Emmet Asher-Perrin wants you to know that you are the answer to a Neverending Story (ah-ahahahahhhhhh)…. You can bug him on Twitter, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
I was very glad to finally get some actual explicit queer rep in the show (and Robin is a wonderful character) but I do wish they hadn’t appropriated the asexual symbol of a black ring on the middle finger of the right hand. I spent half the season hoping she’d come out as ace once I saw her ring, and I felt a bit cheated.
Seconding how offputting Hopper’s drunken abusiveness was. It felt especially awful since it seemed to go against the growth he was supposed to have had after season 2.
I disagree about the metaphors. All 3 seasons, the Upside Down reflects El’s subconscious. This year the monster threatens to destroy her and all her friends. That’s what she feared from Hopper, which is why his plot ran the way it did.
“When Mike asks if Will thought they’d spend all their days just playing Dungeons & Dragons together, Will responds that perhaps he did.”
I’m in my 40’s, and this still sounds like an awesome thing. A day? How about an entire weekend, starting Friday night, and finishing Sunday afternoon?
The weakest part of this season was nothing to do with the characters. With so few episodes and so many great actors they do a great job of giving everyone time to shine in a variety of ways.
How are we supposed to believe that the Russians built a mall with a secret elevator, a nine-mile underground tunnel, and a top-of-the-line secret lab within a year? Smuggled in all that staff, very few of whom speak English and are not expert spies? What’s their end-game? When they open the portal what are they going to do with it? Why risk so many hard to replace personnel in the enemy’s territory? None of it makes sense once you go even a little bit in-depth.
In response to the reviewer’s “The Bad”:
1) Your commentary reminds me of the scene in Miracle where they show them running a certain drill to exhaustion and beyond. Yes, it’s tiring and repetitive. That’s the point. That emotion of frustration is exactly what the showrunners are going for and clearly they hit the mark.
2) While not as integral to solving this particular incursion as some other characters, Will gets at least as much of an emotional journey as any of the young men in the quartet. I don’t see how he was under-served.
3) They had one day and the mall is the newest, most interesting thing in town. This seems like nit-picking.
4) I haven’t taken a poll, but I am into reaction videos and everyone I’ve seen is laughing. Clearly you’re bothered by the idea of an overprotective father and a daughter. Would those scenes be any less offensive for you if the genders were reversed? A mom who’s yelling at her son and has a hard time relating? And public sentiment to the contrary, words and yelling are not violence. Hopper is violent with three entities, the Russians trying to kill people, the monster, and the mayor who is conspiring to endanger the town. The mayor is the most objectionable, but that wasn’t played for laughs and I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.
I think you hit most of the marks with this review, and it certainly mirrors my own. Hooper’s change from a cop with his own demons who still manages to control and direct his energy in positive ways to a loud mouthed, obnoxious, child threatening, unreasonably jealous schlubb was disheartening. Especially after dealing with his overbearing protectiveness in season 2 and finally getting past that. There was nothing funny in the way they wrote him this season, it was cringe inducing at best. I was not sorry at the ending, though I knew they were leaving an easy out for the character and expected it.
The “Russians take over the town” story was absolutely the best thread, and one that wonderfully hearkens back to every action film of the 80’s, where Russians were almost always the baddies. They even goofed around with the usual “kids infiltrate top secret compound somehow and run around without anyone seeing them.” But Dustin and Susie singing Never Ending Story? That alone made the entire season, and it was awesome!
One thing I didn’t see mentioned, though (and should be in the “bad”) is the selective amnesia of the town. For two years straight they’ve had a horrible string of disappearances and murders, and weird stuff going on. On the very night before the July 4th celebration in fact, a hospital is attacked and multiple people killed, the place absolutely trashed. Yet no one mentions it or even seems to notice? Yeah, that bugs me a bit. By now the towns people should be gathering the pitchforks, or pulling a Joyce and heading out of town.
I’m just going to have to disagree with you about Erica, though. That child was an obnoxious, spoiled brat. I hated her at the start, I disliked her throughout, and only the slight revelation that she’s a bit of a nerd herself moderated that. Her character just grated on my nerves.
Oh, and last prop to the “coming out” scene for Robin. As a person who graduated from high school the same year the fictional older kids in the show did (1985), that’s actually a pretty accurate way coming out would have been handled. Not in a bathroom, per say, but in private, where you wouldn’t be overheard. And usually because the other person said they liked you, and you trusted them enough to be honest with them. I’m glad Steve proved himself worthy of that trust, too.
I think you’re being way too hard on Max and El’s time together. Yes they go to the mall, but El’s never even bought an outfit before and it’s the biggest new thing in town. Then yes, they spy on the boys, but they also spy on multiple people as a game. It’s about playing with El’s powers not being boy crazy. Then they stay up all night reading comic books. I don’t think that deserves to be listed as part of “The Bad”.
Hmmm… I find it interesting that the misogyny seemed too much to you.. I was thinking how very accurate it was.
Hey, I grew up in the 80’s and I know parents were a lot more relaxed about where their kids were, but my mom would have had a fit if I just didn’t come home one night. And I was a lot older than Erica.
@8 I think I remember her saying she told her parents she was staying at a friend’s house that night so she didn’t have to be back until the next day.
@9 You are correct. The quote is something like, “They think I’m staying with XX and she always covers for me. But if I’m not back in time for (some church function) my mom will cut your throats.”
A lot of the gender relation issues are very apropos for the 80s. We realize they are not appropriate now, and while it does not make sense to talk about “realism” in a show like this, the Duffer brothers are still trying to emulate the style (both good and bad) of the 80s.
I am also not sure about this:
His complaint about economic privilege was because he got fired. Was that partly his fault for going along with her? Sure. But this is a rationally irrational response to the situation. People endure horrible situations all the time because they need the money. To claim that Jonathan should have been supportive of being fired because it was a toxic workplace is textbook privilege.
Re: explicit queer representation, I’m 99% sure that the Duffer Bros. original series pitch identified Will as gay in the opening sentence.
I didn’t mind Hopper’s behaviour this season, but in retrospect I do agree with a lot of the criticism. Not enough to want him killed off/kept dead, though.
I will go to bat for Jonathan Byers, however. The ‘privilege’ thing was because Nancy was extremely nonchalant about getting them both fired, not understanding that not everyone can afford to lose a job they hate. Their argument was one where they were both right and both wrong and just not communicating properly.
Also: “Which is particularly hard to buy when we know Max loves to skateboard and is sure to have plenty of other interests that she can foist onto her unsuspecting new pal.” – You mean like, say, Wonder Woman comics?
I disagree with the view on Hopper. He wasn’t meant to be funny or done for comedic effect. He’s patheos. His story arc, from season 1 to 3 is actually a downward one, because he starts off numb, and we are watching him go through the pain of coming back alive again from the loss of his daughter.
It’s all right there in the end when Elle reads his note. He’s scared of many things. The biggest is losing Elle. He doesn’t know how to act, and he struggles to communicate. He wants to, but it’s hard for him.
Hopper is a man having to learn how to trust all over again. And it’s painful, and he’s making mistakes, and he’s letting fear get in his way. He’s not a pathetic person, it’s a sad patheos that’s playing out. And in the end, he uses his pain, to teach Elle a very valuable lesson in life. Hurt is good, because it means your out of the cave.
If you just see Hopper as an angry person, then that’s denying the character his own pain and hurt. When we do that for men, it creates male toxicity. Men aren’t allowed to be in pain and hurt and be afraid. Men aren’t allowed to have emotions.
In all three seasons, Hopper gets there. He opens up, he deals with his emotions, he faces his fear, and helps Elle to grow and become who she wants to be. Not what he thinks she should be.
Honestly, it far from abuse. He’s not keeping Elle isolated in the woods in season two because he wants to keep her to himself. He’s doing so because there are real serious threats out there, and he wants people to keep thinking she’s gone. Trapped in the Shadow world, dead. Whatever.
Sometimes we try and apply everyday reality to fantastical situations. How many shows and movies series have had similar story structures. The good guys win, and think their lives can be normal, only to find out in the next season/segment, it’s not. And how many times have we all rolled our eyes at that played out convention? We joke about how stupid some set up are in movies and television for being unrealistic. That the characters can go back to everything being just like it was before.
The ending was very sad and melancholy. Everything changes. As it should after such traumatic events. How can anyone survive through all of that, and not have everything change? I loved the ending. I loved they gave time for a decent ending, rather than a few minutes.
I don’t know what season 4 will be. I don’t think all the characters will be back. I’m not even sure Elle would be back. Or that it will take place in Hawkins. I kind of feel that Joyce, Johnathon, Will and Elle have saved the world enough times. I do think Hopper is still alive.
I didn’t mind the shopping segment with Max and Elle. The season takes place over a week I believe. There wasn’t enough time to show Elle and Max doing all kinds of different things. The shopping segment to me didn’t seem to be saying, girls love shopping so much as to show Elle going out and making choices for herself, rather than just accept the clothing Hopper provided her with, which seemed still to be boy cloths.
Picking out your own clothes and looks isn’t always something all girls are allowed to do. But it also set up a believable moment when they were trapped in the mall. The MF attacked a mannequin that was wearing the same shirt that Elle was wearing. Giving them time to escape. It was rather thought I felt, and made sense.
I did really like the interactions all the female characters had in the season. The talk between Nancy and her Mom. I loved that Joyce has become happier and more sure of herself over the 3 seasons. Her arc is an upward one, in comparison to Hoppers, which is down. It was great to see a female character not made to be the emotional mess that you normally see. Something bad happens, they survive, the next time, the woman is always the one that has a break down and can’t cope.
Not this time. Joyce is all kinds of Fuck Yeah! for me. In reverse, there’s a lot of the men having to struggle. It’s never openly talked about. But Steve is the hot, popular guy who peaks in HS, and then is left behind. He never really gets what he thinks he should. Doesn’t have friends his age anymore, they all moved on. Doesn’t have a girlfriend. Can’t get into collage. Has a crap job. His life is going know where, and he’s starting to see all the things that mattered to him just a year or so ago, don’t matter outside of school.
And I loved the bathroom scene between Robin and Steve. I love how she comes out, without saying the words, but making it OH SO CLEAR WHAT SHE IS SAYING. That’s a very hard trick to do. And I loved that Steve let her knows he accepts it, not by saying anything along the lines of, “That’s cool, I’m cool with that”. But by showing it, by talking with Robin about girls she has a crush on. Because it’s one thing to say I’m cool, it’s another to actively engage in the other persons romantic interests.
For me, Season 3 delivered all around. I could skip season 4, and be fine. Though if S4, explores this world outside of Hawkins, that could be interesting. Which is I think some of the characters faded into the background. Each season has upped the danger. To do so again, I think it has to move past Hawkins.
And I think they have set things up for just that. So who knows.
@12, I think they strongly hinted that Will is gay, in the end, when Mike says, You don’t even like girls, and Will doesn’t respond either way. The way Mike said it was more matter of fact, over just being mad and snapping at Will.
I remember when I read Emily’s HP read-through and how great the comments were at digging deeper, helping everyone together see new things. So it feels weird, like I’m on some other site, to see all the dudes swoop in to disagree here, now. I actually thought this was the last place online where I wanted to read the comments.