LATE TO ARRIVE TO THE PLUCKY POP CULTURE REVIEW: STRANGER THINGS SEASON ONE: EPISODES TWO THROUGH FIVE
Posted on February 11, 2018
So I watched the first episode over two months ago and was very pleased with it. Why on Earth did I wait so long to get back to this series, you ask? Maybe a part of me wanted to avoid it because then I would still have it to look forward to. I've done that before.
Anyway, we cued up episode two around ten o'clock, thinking we'd watch two episodes and call it a night. Well, we got sucked in and stayed up until two, managing to watch through episode five. I know binge-watching has become a thing in our modern world, but this was the closest I've come to doing that. We usually only settle down for an hour or two of television at night, so staying up late and watching back-to-back episodes was a first.
It was completely worth it. The show is excellent, with each plot point carefully orchestrated and exploited for maximum effect. Reveals are carefully woven into the unfolding of the story's many mysteries.
I love the eighties and would time travel back to that decade in a heartbeat if I ever found a properly outfitted DeLorean augmented by Doc Brown. This series is a true send-up of all the lovely pop culture that I soaked up as a child and teen. I love the character archetypes, especially the impactful minimalism of Eleven.
Stranger Things gets a great deal out of its child actors, and I love David Harbour and Wynona Ryder in their roles as the only adults outside of the evil ones who are in the know. Harbour's brutal and brazen investigative methods were awesome. So much justified punching.
The skeevy Steve is one I loathe seeing every time he intrudes on the narrative.
Tonight, we plan on watching two more episodes and then viewing the final ep Monday night. After that, I'll be on the watch for the blu-ray collection of season two―I can't justify forking over money for a Netflix subscription because we pay enough for cable as it is and that's my way of taking a slight stand, even though I secretly would love to watch quite a few shows on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.