I never intended to become a Stranger Things fan. I heard all the buzz about the show after season one came out in 2016, but I’ve never been into fantasy and the fact that the main protagonists were kids didn’t excite me either. So I ignored it…until the release of season two. I can’t remember exactly how, but I stumbled across an article raving about the show and something clicked in my brain and I decided, fine. I’ll watch a few episodes. Cut to now, when I was counting day the hours until July 4th and I could wake up and see my favorite Hawkins gang again. I binged all of season three yesterday and here are my thoughts (spoiler warning, obviously).
What I Liked
-All the Mileven goodness. I hardcore ship Mike and Eleven so I was very happy by the amount of time they had together onscreen. Especially after season two when they were separated for almost the whole season.
-The mall. One of the main settings for this season was the Starcourt Mall, a total throwback to the good old days when malls were THE PLACE to be.
-The tension in the gang. Well, to be honest, I didn’t really like this but it made sense. All the guys are teens now, and instead of wanting to sit in the basement playing games, some of them want to do other stuff (for example, Mike just wants to be with El). Will wants everything to stay the same, but nothing stays the same in life. People grow and change and you have to accept that.
What I Didn’t Like
-The splintering of the characters. Look, I know on TV shows there are always several different storylines going and writers like to switch between them to keep things interesting. But as much as I enjoyed the shenanigans of Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica, I hated that Dustin didn’t share any scenes with the original gang save the first and last episode.
-Nancy and Jonathan. I’m an unapologetic Stancy shipper and always will be. I don’t like Nancy and Jonathan, so I fast-forwarded all of their story (except when they interacted with the teens). Sorry, not sorry.
-Hopper and Joyce. Okay, I don’t dislike Hopper and Joyce but I also don’t particularly ship them (don’t tell my best friend who loves Jopper). I feel “meh” about them and always have. They go off into their own storyline for most of the episodes, which meant I got to do more fast-forwarding. Yay for me.
-Hopper and Eleven’s lack of relationship. Last season, we got some good bonding moments between Hopper and Eleven. This season we got…nothing. I guess we were just supposed to assume they’d bonded after all this time, based on Hopper calling El his daughter? They had ONE scene together in the last episode right before Hopper had to go off and save the world and then at the very end we got a voice over of a letter he wrote to her telling the viewers about their bond, instead of showing. “Show, don’t tell” is one of the most basic writer rules, Duffer Brothers!
-Joyce, Will, and El moving away. The last episode ends with Hopper “gone” (though we get a hint that the evil Russians have him stashed somewhere) and Joyce, Will, and El leaving Hawkins for good. Mike and El promise to have a long-distance relationship and the gang hugs and cries. I suppose the only good thing about this ending is the set up for next season, when Joyce, Will, and El come back for a visit and presumably discover that Hopper is alive.
So, all in all, despite some downsides, I did enjoy Stranger Things 3 more than Stranger Things 2 and if you already like or love the show but haven’t watched it yet, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get your binge on!