Stranger Things - Episode 3

 

I have this one mostly figured out I think. I hope that they don't stretch things out with filler but in the end get to the same place they could have gotten in half the episodes. I say I know what is going to happen because I saw many movies in the 80s and nothing has really surprised me yet. I don't hate that it's very derivative but I think I hate that I NOTICE how derivative it all is. Thing about it - Girl with mental powers that make her nose bleed (Firestarter). Boy who can communicate (Poltergeist) from another world. I see this one working by the numbers so far. I need me a mighty twist though I do enjoy the specific time and place that the show has created.

 

 

All of the child actors are very game and I remember those times well. All the details are perfect. Walkie talkies are about as high tech as these kids get. I can't believe I remember a time when we all lived with a phone on the wall being our own form of communication with the outside world. Well that or a pay phone outside the gas station. Our bikes really were like owning a car. You could go anywhere and do anything if you had a bike. The kids act like real kids also. They aren't smarter than the adults.

 

But I wonder if nostalgia is working against this show. I am already finding the soundtrack to be almost intrusive because it's like listening to one of my mixed tapes from the time. I should sue someone. I have a case. I am sure someone will post a list of all the songs used in the show and I know the words to 90% of them because I listened to those exact songs over and over again back in the day.

 

Now as I complain, the story of a missing boy, a lost girl, and shady government agents in a small town continues. I hope the producers put good money into good CGI of the eventually monster that these kids are forced to fight. I see that moment coming from down the block. No biggie. It's the journey that matters, not the destination.

 

I do like the way the Mother has figured out a way to communicate with her child. Events at the end of episode three makes we wonder how she can still do that now that the fate of the kid is known.