######## gone, and Hopper’s promise to him is forfeit. In the ######## a month later, newspaper ######### show that Hopper and Joyce breathed fresh air into the toxic secrecy around ####### Lab, ######### in a “massive investigation” and a rash of firings from local law enforcement. Hopper’s ride with the men in the government-issue sedan suggests a new deal with the same poisonous, silent bureaucracy. But his solo deto######stash buffet goodies and an Eggo in a cache in the woods promises there’s one ###e deal, one ###ween Hopper and El, not meant to be broken.
Some critics and viewers paint Stranger Things as little more than an #### ######### a collection of vintage ###### and quirks that ########## its source material’s cheesy ########## without understanding it. But—at least for me, who spent her childhood and youth swimming in horror, sci-fi, and mysteries of the #### and earlier—Stranger Things is more than a ########## of homages. It’s a rip-roaring adventure that cares about its characters. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s an innocent adolescent love story matched with a ##### teenaged triangle. It’s classic sci-fi ######### It’s a ########### mystery with ###### into chilling horror. It’s a ########## on the saving grace of love and the brutal depths of grief. It’s a knowing collection of genre threads woven into a fabric of mystery, humor, and often excr#####################Yes, the show’s embrace of old ####### especially when you’re ##### immersing yourself in its ###### nostalgic world, can feel a little cheesy. But if Stranger Things is cheese, it’s the finest ############ small-batch, artisanal cheese, lovingly created from the best ingredients by devotees who’ve studied the work of generations that came before. It’s made by thoughtful students of the craft who’ve learned from ####### and given their all.
(Noah Schnapp) (Photo: Netflix)
(Noah Schnapp) (Photo: Netflix)
The objective of season ### ### ###### Get Will back. Now ###### back. It’s a testament to the family dynamic sustained by Winona Ryder and Charlie Heaton, to Noah ################# smile, and to the ############################# friends’ ############## a child barely portrayed ############ be so welcome when he’s just lying almost silently in a hospital ########### the implicit promise of this season—get Will back and everything will be fine—was made to be broken, too. Does ###### trance-like stare into the bathroom mirror remind you of Danny ######## at the beginning of The Shining, Special Agent #### ###### in Twin Peaks’ season ### finale, both, or neither? Whatever it evokes, it’s bad news for Hawk####### great news for us… if there’s a seco##############If I had to sum up the difference between Stranger Things and its #### inspirations in ### image, it would be the no trespassing sign on #### ###### ####### door. Prominently shown throughout season #### that sign is even more eye-catching when it flies off the door during the finale’s monster trap. It’s an echo of the enter sign on Elliott’s door in E.T.: The ################# But where E.T.—that fuzzy, feel-good ####### of love over force—welcomes, Stranger Things offers both a greeting and a warning. Sure, Stranger Things invites us in; I’ve rarely seen a series as inviting, as warmly nostalgic, as accessible and engaging for fans of its genre predecessors. But it’s forbidding, too. There are consequences for walking this territory. The landscape is ###### familiar, but the atmosphere is deadly—and ########## ############# I want to breathe it deep.
Stray observations |