Stranger Things

Oops, I’ve never covered this one yet.   I’m not a fan of horror movies (or TV miniseries) so it’s unusual that I’d care about this, much less watch three whole seasons of it.   But here goes.  If I’m missing any obvious tributes to other horror e.g. Steven King, I plead first degree ignorance.  My flavor of horror comes from the Providence guy himself, H.P. Lovecraft. 

It’s 1983-85 in fictional Hawkins (Hawkwind?  That's what pops in my head), Indiana, which is in the USA, a place and time unlikely to see Red Army troops (“WOLVERINES!”).   Some kids, they look like 9-10 graders, are hooked on Dungeons & Dragons, the famous TSR role playing game we ourselves used to play a few years before that – before high school and discovering RuneQuest, a much better RPG.  Mind you, we played ADVANCED Dungeons & Dragons, not basic D&D. 

Anyhow.  A mysterious force penetrates their little town – not Indianapolis, not Chicago, but this place – and only two kids can recognize that something is wrong.   I found the horror & monster part of the series to be the least interesting with the various characters and their interactions, including but not limited to D&D, to be far more compelling – plus the heavy dose of 80’s nostalgia.

A local lab run by Matthew Modine is conducting top-secret experiments which open a portal into another dimension.  As a result, Will Byers (see below) is sucked into the dimension much to his mom's (Winona Ryder) stress and confusion. 

In season 1 (November 1983) the whole thing starts out and we’re introduced to all the characters, in particular the four main boys with their fixation on D&D, plus the main adult characters AND the 800 lb gorilla of “Eleven”, the mysterious, shaven-headed girl with psychic powers.  If there’s a central poster girl for this series across all three seasons – in which her hair gets progressively longer and her social skills improve to the point of having a social life – it’s Eleven. But as noted below, part of the charm of the series is that there are multiple entertaining characters and the monster and/or evil are actually the least interesting parts of the whole thing.  In fact, they’re all so likeable that we actually DO care if they live or die, and we DO enjoy seeing each of them elicit myriad unexpected skills to defeat the evil forces at odds with them.

Will gets sucked into the alternate dimension (Upside Down) and they try to rescue him.  He does manage – with some difficulty – to communicate with his mom.  There’s a monster, which they refer to as “The Demogorgon” (uh, Demogorgon is a single demon lord, so it should just be “Demogorgon”, but since he’s rated as highly intelligent we’re talking something which should be articulate and MUCH bigger).   The main human bad guy is Dr. Brenner (Matthew “so does that mean Anne-Margaret’s NOT coming?” Modine). 

In season 2 (October 1984), Billy & Max show up, and Will is haunted by another monster from the Upside Down - or maybe it's the same one.  How many are there?  Samwise, the RadioShack manager, rekindles his romance with Will’s Mom, El moves in with Hopper.  The boys trick-or-treat dressed as the Ghostbusters (remember them?).  There’s another showdown with the monsters and it’s up to Hopper, Joyce and Eleven to fix stuff.  Do they?   Watch it and see.

In season 3 (June 1985) “Back to the Future” is playing in the movie theaters.  [We were in London that summer and Sean O’Connor and I, attempting the see the film in Paris, turned back when the lines were too long.  We ended up seeing it as the in-flight movie going back to the US from Paris in summer 1986.]

A local mall opened and is threatening to put the local Main Street stores out of business.  Moreover, we quickly ascertain that there’s another secret scientific complex buried deep under the mall which is threatening to re-open the rift.  And it turns out that our #1 enemy from 1985 – no, it’s not Iran or North Korea – the Soviet Union, is behind it all.  Actually, with the USSR’s demise in 1991, which is now 28 years ago, seeing Red Army troops is a nice throwback.  While Vladimir Putin is certainly diabolical in his own way, the first Russian leader to elicit major hostility and contempt from the left-wing side of our country, nothing quite stokes up our 40-50-somethings’ vibes for bad guys like the Soviets.  Anyhow.

Here they add two more intriguing characters, both Russian.  First off is one of the scientists who they manage to capture, and somewhere along the way he develops an affinity for Slurpees – cherry, not strawberry [I concur with his assessment that there IS a difference, and cherry is better].   Second is the Soviets’ stern, crew-cutted enforcer, and if I’m living in California after moving to the US in the late 60s from my homeland of Austria, turning a bodybuilding career into an acting career and eventually serving as governor of California, I’d be thinking that – aside from not actually being a robot killer – this guy seems very familiar.  [See also:  Red Heat (1988).]

Core Quartet.   Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhand), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarozzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin).  Dustin’s hair sets him off, Lucas’ skin color (sorry) does the same for him, AND in S3 we meet his cocky and arrogant younger sister.  Will & Mike I get mixed up throughout all three seasons.   Even knowing Joyce is Will’s mom and Nancy is Mike’s older sister doesn’t help much. 

  

“Eleven” (Millie Bobby Brown).  Easily the most popular character.  In Season 1 she’s shaven-headed and practically mute.  In Season 2 she road trips and learns something of her mysterious past.  In Season 3 she’s more articulate, better dressed, and even “dating” Mikey.  Who knows how provocative she’ll be by Season 4.

Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton).  Will’s older brother.  Kind of a quiet, moody introvert, he eventually hooks up with Nancy.  

Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour).   Since Hawkins is too small for its own police department, the sheriff’s department is its de facto law enforcement agency.   Remarkably, with the Russians front and center in S3 no one so much as mentions the FBI (!!!!).   Surely there’s a branch office in Indianapolis?  Be that as it may, this gives bad-ass Sheriff Hopper the chance to impress us.   Maybe he went to school with Rod Swanson.

Steve Harrington (Joe Keery).   He starts off as Nancy’s boyfriend, kind of the “arrogant-but-full-of-shit” substanceless loser who dominated high school.   By season 3 he’s beginning to acknowledge his limitations – we’re actually starting to like him (!).  By that point he’s working the ice cream shop at the mall with Robin.

Robin (Maya Hawke).   Steve’s co-worker at the ice cream shop, they bond thanks to adverse conditions and some pretty schweet Russian truth serum (SP117?).  Finally Steve makes a weed reference!   In fact, if Hawkins had a weed dealer, it would either be Steve or Jonathan.

Supposedly “truth serums” such as sodium pentothal (also used, in much larger doses, for execution by lethal injection) relax the subject so they no longer resist interrogation.  Generally alcohol tends to work the same way.  [Elaine: "I can keep a secret!"  Jerry:  "No, too many people know your 'key'" (makes drinking gesture)] The CIA tried using LSD this way, but subjects on acid were too incoherent to provide any useful information. 

Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer).  She starts off as Steve’s GF but winds up with Jonathan.  In S3 she works at the local newspaper, run by a bunch of assholes who don’t take her seriously and refer to her as “Nancy Drew”.

Billy & Maxine.   Older, moody male teenager driving a late 70’s Z/28 and his arrogant sister who is competitive with the boys at video games.  In S3 he’s possessed by the demons but we also learn his tragic backstory and WHY he’s such an asshole. 

Conspiracy Theory Guy.  Beard and glasses and no one takes him seriously though it turns out he’s actually right all along.  He lives in a remote location and despite his surprisingly astute romantic advice to Jonathan and Nancy (season 2) then Hopper & Joyce (season 3) he’s single himself and shows no likelihood of romance on his own behalf.  We’ll see if Conspiracy Theory Chick comes along in Season 4.  Stay tuned.

So what’s so special about “Stranger Things”?  Well, generally with horror movies we’re talking about generic, stupid teenagers who make stupid decisions which get them killed.  They’re up against immensely more intriguing and entertaining villains:  Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street), Jason Vorhees (Friday #13), or Michael Myers (Austin Powers and/or Halloween).   Occasionally you’ll have a protagonist like Ash (Bruce Campbell) but generally it’s the bad guys who are compelling and the good guys who are forgettable.  Hell, even HPL’s good guys are forgettable, especially compared to such juggernauts of evil as Cthulhu.   So here  you have a whole town of people who are fun to watch in their own right. 

As it is, I found the monster itself to be boring.  Huge, multi-limbed, but inarticulate – unlike Freddy (I’m unaware that Jason or MM say anything).   The monster has de facto human allies/accomplices in the three seasons.   In one and two they’re the perennial “government agency up to no good”, whereas in #3 we’ve got Russkis.   As noted above, that’s a fun bit of nostalgia for those of us old enough to remember the Cold War.