Netflix Review: Stranger Things

STRANGER THINGS might be the best show to ever come out of Netflix.

Hopefully, you already agree with that statement, b/c if you don’t, b/c you have yet to watch it, this is not a spoiler-free post.

I planned to review it last year, but everything I wrote was incoherent fangirling, and I inexplicably never got around to trying again after I’d had a chance to calm down.

Please do not extrapolate from the above admission that season two wasn’t as good as season one, thus enabling me to post about it in a timely fashion. That would make an ASS of U and ME.

It was awesome. AWESOME. A W E S O M E.

But it’s such an odd combination of ideas to come together so well. I think that’s what I struggled with last time. I watched it not b/c I anticipated its epicness, but b/c of a fortuitous combination of hype and boredom.

I loathe the ‘80s. The only good thing to come out of that decade was some of the music, but the fashion? The culture? The HAIR?

And it’s about a bunch of middle school AV club kids.

Who looks at their Netflix dock and says, “Hey, I want to watch that new show about the twelve-year-olds that like to communicate with each other on walkie-talkies, set in that decade I hate”?

More people than you would think, as it turns out.

And season two, guys . . . SO. MANY. FEELINGS.

1. Eleven and Hop.

Last season when we found out that Hop had lost a daughter . . . Suddenly he wasn’t just another asshole cop with a drinking problem. His loss both explained his general unpleasantness and made it heartbreaking. It was the thing that made him a person.

Seeing him and Eleven together at the end of episode one . . . *heart grows three sizes*

2. That whole Will situation.

That kid cannot catch a break. Okay, having Joyce for a mother counts as catching a break. Having an older brother like Jonathan does too. Seriously, can you imagine if it was Mike who got infected by the Upside Down?

But beyond that? He’s constantly finding himself back in the place of his nightmares, only it’s worse now, b/c giant evil shadow monster, and then when he tries to face his boogie man, he becomes its host.

3. Dustin and his baby demogorgon.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot?

Who didn’t see that coming? The first time it opened up that faceless hole and shrieked, HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.

And I’m sorry, but having their “bond” over nasty 3 Musketeers bars play a part in the escape from the hub was a weak attempt to justify an action that was effing stupid.

Also, Y U KILL MEWS?! *wails*

4. Steve and Nancy and Jonathan.

I know I wasn’t the only one shocked when Nancy was sitting in the high school parking lot with Steve instead of Jonathan. I mean, sure, Steve proved that he wasn’t a complete jerk in the last episode or two of season one, but, but Jonathan . . . He’s the one she’s supposed to be with.

But then Steve is New Steve, who is clearly in love with his girlfriend, who is just as clearly not in love with him, and that hurts too. *compulsively eats chocolate*

5. Eleven and Kali.

As soon as Hop told Eleven that her mother was gone, I knew she was going to find out the truth. I also knew—we all did— that for all intents and purposes, she really was gone. So their reunion didn’t punch me in the feels.

Eleven and Kali?

Yes, there was a connection based on our introduction to Kali, but that they would see each other as sisters? Or that it would hurt so much when Eleven left her? *rubs fist over heart*

6. Billy.

Hoo boy, this guy.

Once again, the Duffer brothers gave us a villain we thought we could freely hate, only to make him sympathetic. Oh, Billy is worse than Steve, no argument there. But after witnessing that incident with his father? He never had a chance.

7. Joyce and Bob.

I ran the gamut with Bob.

First, I couldn’t figure out why Joyce was dating the Kenny Rogers-loving dumb dumb, then when his advice to Will on confronting his demon could’ve been a play-by-play for How to Get Possessed by an Upside Down Lord, I thought he was some kind of evil minion or something . . . And when he was unquestionably the good man that he appeared to be, I was horrified that he died the way he did . . . Then I was horrified at being glad he was dead, b/c now that he was a legit good guy, he was also legit competition for Hop, and I. Ship. It.

I repeat: SO. MANY. FEELINGS.

8. Mike and Eleven.

I can’t believe they kept those two apart until the end of episode eight. That was just . . . mean. And then they’re reunited, and it’s so damn adorable that I think they’re my biggest ship in the whole damn show, and they’re TWELVE-YEAR-OLDS.

9. Eleven and Hop.

And now we’ve come full circle. When New Doc gave Hop Eleven’s birth certificate, listing him as her father . . . *SOBS*

I’m sure there are more epic tantrums in their future, but they’re better together than they are apart, and the fact that neither of them has to be alone any longer, GAH.

It burns us, precioussssss . . .

And after all of that, what’s left for us next season?

Well, for one, Eleven is going to have to look for Papa. Now that the seed has been planted, it can’t be ignored. Then there’s Kali. That is definitely not over, and big sister is Trouble. And finally, just b/c the gate is closed doesn’t mean Upside Down Lord isn’t looking for another way in, and something tells me he’s gonna find it.

Won’t that be fun?

What about you? What hit you in the feels this season? Who do you ship? What do you love most about STRANGER THINGS?

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