STRANGER THINGS S3

                         Stranger Things S3: A Little Underwhelming?!? 

The 3rd season of Stranger Things picked up some months after the events of Season 2. Eleven now lives with chief Hopper, Dustin has been away on summer vacation, Eleven is dating Mike, and the rest of the gang have returned to a life of normalcy. However things take an interesting turn when Dustin's Cerebro picks up a Russian transmission and Will senses sinister forces on the move. The gang may not be prepared for the forces that have made their way into the town. Eleven herself may not be enough to stop the evil afoot.

First thing first, it's good to see the gang once again. That being said, Netflix sought to take things slow with this season and ended up doing the exact opposite in the end. We felt that the first two episodes were a little too watered down without much in content or concept development or introduction. This is actually a little strange and so unlike Netflix, who usually offer up a solid and concentrated start and a slower more watered down mid season and a terrific conclusion. So what changed? Why did Netflix alter the structure of the 3rd season? 

The structure of the season aside, the concept was basically the same or derived from the initial concept of the 1st season. Where things have however taken a new dimension is with the introduction of a new human conflict in play. The Russian angle offered a way to tweak the narrative a little, in such a way that the heroes are not only contending with the Mind Flayer, but also have to battle evil Russians. As much good as the Russian angle offered, it also came off as one of the weak spots of the show. It never really created a back story for the action of the Russians and this in itself appeared as though the show runners were trying to force a concept down the throat of the fans without much in the way of an explanation. That singular decision exposed the 3rd season as one that was heavily reliant on the success of its 2 prequels. And that in itself is another way where this season has lacked that basic Netflix feel, the ever present need to develop a storyline and build the characters around it, giving the narrative the much needed and desired depth. This was evidently lacking in the 3rd season.
Since we are still on the shortcomings of the show, we have talked about the strange pacing, and the lack of depth, now let's examine the impulsive decision to kill off some characters who should not really have to die. This in itself felt a little more impulsive than thought out. There was that feeling of needing to make the show a little darker than necessary, and as good an idea as that may sound, it needs to be systematically thought out for it to stand any chance of being well executed. This once again was missing. Quickly putting together the Mind Flayer biological initiative to have a lot of people die is basic and not well thought out. Billy becoming one of the flayed and eventually dying a heroes death smacks of a confused writer. The scripting team never mentioned for once that once infected in this manner it was possible to act against the supreme intelligence. So it's really disturbing to have a part of the organism acting independent and contrary to the supreme being. Hopper's death ( we may know better) seemed a little idiotic too. It took a whole lot of time between the death of the Russian baddie and when Joyce turned the key. In fact there were close to 3 minutes of exchanged knowing looks and we feel in those moments, Hopper could have made a run for it. Netflix creative just chose to make an already dark show darker and gloomier by creating disturbing exits. Hopper's perceived death may yet be one of the reasons why the 4th season could be a stellar hit, or maybe something worth watching.

So season 3 basically had no depth, storytelling was sluggish and not well structured from the start, creative suffered a lot in terms of indecision and this is the biggest negative, the conflict was just a mismatch hurriedly put together. We are very particular about the Russian angle because it lacked a story, it lacked creativity and it really lacked a face. We still didn't get a reason for wanting to open the portal, we don't know why Alexei turned coat and we certainly do not have a reason as to why the Mayor backed the Russian play. There are so many blank spaces that needed to be filled and were not. On the other side, we do not like that the Mind Flayer took upon an biological look. The narrative from the prequels had always foretold of a sinister force of evil that was both menacing as well as bizarrely outerworldy. Why Netflix creative suddenly decided to allow an organic copy of this sinister force to run rampage is oddly strange. Making a monster out of molten humans and animals may sound really dark and interesting, but the end game was totally anti climactic. Now the Mind Flayer doesn't seem so menacing or imperious after all. So while we have a conundrum as to why the portal was being opened in the first place, what occurred after is as much a no brainer as it's percussor.
Well, it was not all doom and gloom though, as the season did have its highs too. One of the things that really stood out for us was the decision to separate Dustin from the rest of the gang and have him work an angle different from that of the gang. The way the script writer chose to weave the narrative on both fronts to converge in a final decisive stand off is really good. How the season concluded allows the creative team to also shape a slow but rich 4th season. Should Netflix decide to renew for a 4th, it is going to be a big one, and not just in terms of viewership but in terms of storyline expansion and setting /location changes. We could see a Russian trip or a sojourn into the realm of the Mind Flayer. Should the 4th be the last season, then there is the need to really conclude the show by eliminating all future risks of the mind Flayer crossing over. Perhaps the Eleven situation may also finally give room for the rest of the gang to come into their real elements as much as Dustin has been able to in the 3rd season. If any character benefited from the split in storyline, it surely was Dustin.

Overall, it was always going to be a good season, but we expected more than we got. We are even more exasperated due to the wait to finally have a 3rd season. It was good, but surely not that great. In our opinion, it is a big step down from the 1st and 2nd seasons. The season has however seen a shift in focus to making the viewers cringe with some needless deaths, and some really welcome fight scenes. Those may also count as positives for the show.

Genre: Science fiction, Horror, Supernatural, Period drama, Teen drama
Created by: The Duffer Brothers
Starring:
Winona Ryder
David Harbour
Finn Wolfhard
Millie Bobby Brown
Gaten Matarazzo
Caleb McLaughlin
Natalia Dyer
Charlie Heaton
Cara Buono
Matthew Modine
Noah Schnapp
Sadie Sink
Joe Keery
Dacre Montgomery
Sean Astin
Paul Reiser
Maya Hawke
Priah Ferguson
Composer(s): Michael Stein, Kyle Dixon
Executive producer(s): The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Cindy Holland, Brian Wright, Matt Thunell, Karl Gajdusek, Iain Paterson
Cinematography: Tim Ives, Tod Campbell, Lachlan Milne, David Franco
Editor(s): Dean Zimmerman, Kevin D. Ross, Nat Fuller, Katheryn Naranjo
Production company(s): 21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre
Distributor: Netflix

FCA's AppR: 7.9/10