Set sails on the curiosity voyage of Stranger Things 3

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Ahoy! Did you binge all of Stranger Things Season 3 this weekend like me? I mean, it wasn’t that hard to do. There were only eight episodes, and we’ve only been waiting almost two years for a new chapter in the story that’s had much of the world captivated since the summer of 2016. Those Duffer Brothers sure know how to build the anti…ci…pation. If you don’t mind setting aside your New Coke and Baskin-Robbins goodies long enough to discuss spoilers, get ready to set sail on a curiosity voyage as I examine the good, the bad, and the ugly this season, as well as a few speculations about what I’d like to see happen in the future of the series.

The Good

Nostalgic Ear Candy

This series has always known exactly how to give me all the feels. One of the things at the heart of its specialness is the nostalgic ear candy it does such a great job of sprinkling throughout the story. Every scene, every song has the ability to transport me through space and time and make me feel like a kid again. They had me hooked the first time I heard Will and Jonathan bonding over The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ and I’ll never forget seeing Mike and Eleven have their moment at the Snow Ball last season set to The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’. The music is more than just a backdrop on Stranger Things – it almost takes on a life of its own.

Season 3 was also full of nostalgic ear candy at its absolute perfection. From the mall shopping spree of Max and Eleven set to Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ to the scene at the Hawkins Pool in which all of Hawkins’ finest moms were seen sucking in their stomachs as Billy the Lifeguard walked past to The Cars’ ‘Moving in Stereo’, to the summertime whimsy of John Mellencamp’s ‘R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.’ at the Hawkins Fun Fair, these are the moments that define the series. We also got a few awesome nods to Weird Al Yankovic this season – Mr. Clarke was listening to ‘My Bologna’ in Episode 2 and Dustin was seen wearing a Weird Al T-shirt in Episode 3. However, the best musical moment of the season (and arguably the entire series) was the duet I’ll never, ever get over involving Dustin and Suzie singing along to Limahl’s theme from The Neverending Story. That is the one movie that evokes more memories of being an ’80s kid in me than all others combined. It was so unexpected and so appreciated. It opened a floodgate of feelings that I haven’t been able to contain in the passing minutes since. The Internet needs to deliver some new memes. I won’t be happy until I see Dustin riding Falcor and pumping his fist into the air because he knows he got the girl and she’s as cute as a mini Phoebe Cates!

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The Starcourt Mall

Is there a more idyllic ’80s setting than the Starcourt Mall? From seeing the gone-but-never-forgotten defunct stores (Sam Goody and WaldenBooks) to the droves of carefree kids and teens loitering in the food court (when was the last time you or anybody else spent hours hanging out at the mall?), it was such a great backdrop that it made up for the fact that I felt my interest in the series wavering a little in the middle of the season. The best part about the mall? Two things: seeing Steve Harrington in his Scoops Ahoy sailor’s uniform, and seeing the satisfied faces of a crowd that had just sat through a screening of Back to the Future during its opening week in 1985. What a time to be alive!

The Bad

The Russians

Now we come to what had me feeling listless for a few episodes in the middle of the season, what was sandwiched in-between such a strong first two episodes and such a strong final two episodes. I don’t feel like the Russian subplot was believable or necessary. How did the Russians find out about the gate to The Upside Down? What exactly were they hoping to accomplish by reopening the gate? Were they hoping to turn the monsters into an unstoppable army to crush the United States? Why were they operating out of a very public place like a shopping mall? How did they not expect someone to eventually notice them? Why was their spy code so ridiculously easy to crack? Okay, I guess somebody had to reopen the gate to create the drama this season. And I guess the Duffer Brothers thought it should be the Russians in a nod to Red Dawn and the Cold War and all of that. It just left me with more questions than answers, and I could kill the Comrade-General myself for being so needlessly cruel to Steve!

The Flayed

Per the title of Episode 5, The Flayed were the pod people of Hawkins who were being controlled by the Mind Flayer this season. However, these episodes were more flawed than flayed to say the least. We’ve already seen the Mind Flayer possess someone (Will during Season 2), and quite frankly, this part of the season just bored me. Sure. it was a bit of reckless fun to see Billy possessed at first, but as The Flayed spread to include other members of the town, I just couldn’t rally behind this subplot. Newcomers Jake Busey and Cary Elwes also felt disappointingly underutilized this season as well. I wasn’t exactly expecting to fall in love with either of them like I did with Sean Astin’s Bob Newby last season, but I expected greater things from them. And now it seems like they’re both gone.

The Ugly

The New Mind Flayer

The monsters get uglier and uglier as this show progresses. The Mind Flayer looking like a gigantic slimy spider-crab is the stuff my worst nightmares are made of, but why does he look so different from season to season? The post-credit scene made it look like we’re back to square one with a Demogorgon, though maybe the Demogorgon will look a little more humanoid in the future. I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere about humans being the real monsters we should fear … it was after all humans who opened the gate and let these things into our world.

Looking Ahead to the Void

I always knew Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper was profound (‘Mornings are for coffee and contemplation’), but when he shared his feelings in his heart-to-heart letter to Eleven in the final tender moments of Season 3, that’s when I was ugly crying harder than Bastian Bux while reading The Neverending Story. It was such a beautiful homage to all the kids growing up and things changing as we all wonder what lies ahead for our favorite characters. While we may be tempted to turn back the clock and rewatch Season 1, time is fluid and always ticking ahead. As Will the Wise learned this season, adolescence is fleeting and you can’t stay stuck in the past. We meet and lose a lot of good people in the Stranger Things universe. The world as a whole fell in love with Barb the first season, and we all had our hearts collectively broken when Bob Newby was ripped apart from us in Season 2. Season 3 also had a few painful casualties in the end in Alexei (the likable Russian scientist who enjoyed his milkshakes and carnival prizes), in Billy (an unlikely bully-turned-hero just for one day) and, of course, in Hopper.

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We clearly didn’t see the last of Hopper, as we didn’t see his body explode when the gate between the two worlds was closed. I suspect that he jumped through the rift and he may be trapped in The Upside Down, much like Will was during the first season. That would be as convenient a way as any to bring the Mind Flayer back into the plot next season. To the naysayers who are tired of the Mind Flayer figuring into the plot, he’s not the problem. Just as Sherlock Holmes had Moriarty and Superman had Lex Luthor, Eleven has the Mind Flayer as her greatest nemesis. The two are likely destined to face off more than once.

The post-credit scene made it seem like the Russians may even have Hopper in captivity, as they referred to a mysterious American being held in one of their cells. There’s something that has been bugging me since last season though. There was the one episode in which Eleven explored her past and met up with Kali (008). It was hinted at by the guy they were torturing that Dr. Martin Brenner (‘Papa’) may still be alive. I think this episode was foreshadowing for what is yet to come. Could the Russians possibly have Dr. Brenner in that cell? Is that how they knew so much about the gate, The Upside Down, Hawkins, and the whole kit and caboodle? That’s certainly an explanation I would accept for that subplot.

I don’t think anything happens by coincidence or accident on this show. The Duffer Brothers are the clever puppet masters, showing us what they want us to see. I suspect we may see Dr. Brenner again with Eleven being forced to face him and her biggest fears. If Hopper is indeed in The Upside Down, Eleven is the only one who can bring him back. I know it seemed like she lost her powers at the end of Season 3, but she just needs time to recharge her telepathic batteries. How far away do you think the Byers were moving with Eleven? Do you think Chicago (where Kali is) is out of the question? If we do see a final showdown between Dr. Brenner and Eleven, do you think we’ll finally get to meet all of the other kids he experimented on and see what kind of special powers they have? Do you think it’s too much to ask for a flashback of what Big Jim and Joyce were like in high school, perhaps while Joyce fondly looks back on what Jopper had the potential to be? It’s hard not knowing when the next curiosity voyage is set to sail. I guess all we can do in the meantime is keep it strange this summer and beyond!

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