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Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ Is A Bingeworthy Escape From The Drama

By LeKesh Pettis
Published on: 12:01 PST, Jul 17, 2016

If your brain is on overload from news reports about police shootings and Pokemon GO, Netflix’s Stranger Things may offer a great escape. The show, which aired on July 15, is reminiscent of pure 1980’s drama — think of The Goonies, mixed with E.T. and Poltergeist, but, of course, with a twist.

GQ Magazine’s Joshua Rivera offered a spot on description of the eight-part Netflix original series.

“…It looks like Spielberg, sounds like John Carpenter, and smells a bit like Stephen King. It feels like a scary story told over a campfire, about a thing that happened to a friend of a friend a long time ago, about what really goes on in that mysterious building at the edge of town no one knows anything about, and what might happen there late at night. Altogether, it’s pretty wonderful.”

Netflix’s Stranger Things begins with a game of Dungeons & Dragons and keeps your mind racing from there. Winona Ryder leads the chase after her son, Will Byers, goes missing in the first episode. Viewers are taken on a roller coaster ride of adventures and emotions as the story incorporates the supernatural, a bit of forbidden romance, and lots of bone-chilling scenes.

Directors Matt and Ross Duffers capture the essence of the 1980s in the Netflix series with things like kids playing board games, riding bikes, and other activities outside. For some, this will be quite different from today’s tweens, who often engage with one another over social media and video games. The show’s cast includes the classic bullies who never really go out of style and the aloof parents that have no clue what’s going on in there very own home, as well as Matthew Modine, who played Private Joker in the 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket. Modine stars as a creepy researcher who leaves you wondering whether he’s good or bad.

Instead of cell phones, the kids, who are also the best part of the Stranger Things series, communicate via walkie-talkies. The three pals in search of the missing Will Byers — played by Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin — are masters of imagination and take extraordinary measures to outwit the bad government guys.

In a Vulture report delving into the intricacies of the Netflix series, the Duffers found the absence of recent technology a nostalgic touch necessary to capture the spirit of childhood adventure.

“We were in the last generation to grow up without a cell phone being a part of our lives at all, without tech things and having any of that. For us, we like going back to a time — and I’m sure nostalgia is feeding into that — where cell phones and the internet weren’t around. If you went off with friends, it felt like you really could get lost on a grand adventure. There is some nostalgia to it. For us, it was specifically missing that.”

Adding to the show’s depth is a Bill Nye-type science teacher that works with the boys to offer all of the answers to life’s questions, like, how do you make a sensory deprivation tank? Taking the place of current-day Google, the boys are forced to ask their non-suspecting, but uber-smart teacher questions throughout the Netflix series.

And what 80s-esque series would not be complete without the teenage love story in the background? Of course, John Hughes’ teenage love triangle exists between the popular jock, the sensitive loner, and the beautiful, intelligent girl. But, you’ll have to tune in to decide who you are rooting for.

With Netflix’s Stranger Things‘ high marks for reviews, audiences only have one question — when does the next season start? Leave your comments, is the series a thumbs up or down?

[Photo via YouTube | Resized]

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