Stranger Things 3 Episode 2 Recap: The Russians Are Coming There aren't a lot of rules when it comes to the Upside Down, and while that might eventually become a weakness rather than a strength, so far it has made it relatively easy for the show to slowly develop its monstrous villains in believable ways. That trend continued in Season 3 as the show built upon the idea of the Mind Flayer to create a dangerous new monster that was bigger and badder but whose existence never felt outside the realm of possibility. The introduction of the Mind Flayer and the demodogs allowed the show to go bigger in the sequel while still keeping the action relatively grounded. In Stranger Things 2, as we wrote in our review, the series expanded just enough upon the mythology of Season 1 to push the overarching narrative forward while still telling a very personal story. Basically, Stranger Things subscribes to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of television, and it's found immense success as a result. The series has strayed further and further from that rather simple existence as it has aged, yet people continue to eat it up, and that's because the show evolves just enough with each passing season that viewers hardly notice the story itself isn't changing that much. It also wasn't overly nostalgic the show was restrained in its attempts to make viewers fondly recall the era of E.T. The truth is the show's early success as a world-of-mouth phenomenon in summer 2016 was tied, in part, to the fact the series felt more like a relic from the '80s rather than a series from the present that was set in and attempting to mimic an earlier time period. It would be disingenuous to say they got lucky, even though it sometimes feels that way. So, how do the Duffer Brothers, who created the series, do it season after season? Stranger Things 3 Premiere Recap: Let's Go to the Mall, Today!Įven if the simplicity of the villains turns out not to be purposeful, Stranger Things 3 is another crowd-pleasing entry to one of the best shows currently on TV. We don't yet know why the Soviets want to reopen the gate to the Upside Down - we will likely find out in Season 4, if that end credits scene is any indication - and the murkiness of their motivations does slightly lessen their overall impact as bad guys, but the Soviets being one-dimensional enemies also feels like a nod to the many films of the Cold War era that featured the Soviets as bad guys simply because they were Soviets. The addition of the Soviets, a time-period appropriate human antagonist, adds a new yet still familiar layer to the series since the lab isn't in play this season. The new season, set in the summer of 1985, introduces fans to yet another dangerous monster - a large, terrifying creature connected to Season 2's Mind Flayer that is physically made up of the gooey corpses of dead Hawkins residents - while also expanding the show's world beyond Hawkins (but not in a trip-to-Chicago kind of way). And with the Netflix series poised to overtake the top spot on Pop Culture Mountain now that HBO's Game of Thrones has ended - and ended poorly, for that matter - the fact the show has proven that sometimes popularity does equate with quality is impressive. But the show's ability to be both incredibly popular and also consistently great is a rare feat, especially in 2019, when new shows are being released every day. Stranger Thing 3, which hit the streaming service on July 4, is pure summer entertainment, a neon-soaked adventure dripping with more nostalgia than ever before thanks to the season's ubiquitous mall setting and overt references and homages to popular '80s movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Back to the Future, and The Fly.
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