Well, Season 4 of Stranger Things is finally out (albeit missing a few episodes), so I knew I had to get to reviewing the first three seasons before the finale comes out in July. I really liked pretty much all of Stranger Things, and I think it's proved to be more than just a simple 80s-inspired horror-adventure show with its great character dynamics, effective plot twists and scares, and a strong sense of focus throughout. However, I also agree with the general consensus that Season 1 is the show's best so far.
Season 1 of Stranger Things is about a small town called Hawkins, where a boy named Will has been kidnapped by a monster and sent to place called the Upside Down, which is basically just a distorted mirrored version of our world. As the town goes crazy trying to search for Will, his friends run into and befriend a mysterious telekinetic girl named Eleven, who helps them in their search. The plot never gets that much more complicated than this, though it does have its twists and turns, and I think that's a pretty great thing. With only 8 episodes, Stranger Things remains focused throughout and the simple story helps it capture the charm of 80s Amblin films like Goonies, which it's obviously striving to replicate. Not to say that Stranger Things doesn't bring something new to the table, as unlike stuff like Goonies, this show is actually trying to be more horror-driven, and it works! Season 1 of Stranger Things has an eerie atmosphere to it, between the distorted Upside Down and the terrifying Demogorgon. I also really like that this is the only season that doesn't really feel like it's actively setting up a sequel. Not to say that Season 1's finale didn't have its loose ends, but the Demogorgon storyline does feel like it's own standalone story that gets mostly neatly wrapped up by the end, which is more than I can say about the later seasons.
But I think what really stuck out to me about Stranger Things after all these years is the characters. Like many shows that take place in a small town, we get to know a lot of the different residents of Hawkins, and not just the main cast of kids. We follow their parents, some of the friends of their much older siblings, as well as the Hawkins police. Every character gets their own subplot and a lot of time to develop, and the episodes are long enough that no one really gets the short end of the stick. One of my favorite parts about seasons of Stranger Things is when the disparate plot threads and cast members all unite near the end of the season, and seeing unlikely characters interact and put the pieces of the puzzle together in the last two episodes is always very impactful and satisfying. I also have to give some praise to just how damn good the presentation of Stranger Things is. Sure, the CGI for the Demogorgon could be a bit better, but otherwise, the practical sets capture the 80s aesthetic perfectly. The synth-heavy soundtrack is an eerie and perfectly fitting score for the show, and I don't think I need to say just how amazing the title theme is. It's hard for me to really say just why Season 1 of Stranger Things is my favorite outside of the fact that all of the pieces just click nearly perfectly for me. The pacing is perfect, all the characters are likable and get their own arcs, the presentation is great, the story is simple but not too predictable, and every single beat the season tries to hit lands. I still like the later seasons of Stranger Things a lot, but they're a bit messy in a way that Season 1 just isn't. It's razor focused and confident in itself the whole way through.
Pretty much every episode this season is great, but these are the big highlights for me:
Holly, Jolly: This is still one of my favorite episodes of Stranger Things, if not my absolute favorite, because of how unpredictable and impactful it was. Holly, Jolly was a pretty solid episode for most of its runtime, particularly in the now iconic subplot about Joyce interacting with Will via christmas lights. I cannot understate just how many people tried to replicate this scene, I swear. But the thing is, Holly, Jolly was also the third episode of an eight episode season, so when it ends with the group stumbling up Will's dead body, I was kind of shocked. Obviously Will wasn't actually dead, but it was a bold and confident move that fully sold me on the series.
The Body: Coming after the shocking Holly, Jolly, this episode deals with the fallout as the cast struggles with the prospect that maybe Will is just dead. It's one of the more solemn and slow-paced episodes of the series but it's a very emotionally affecting one too, and if you've seen some of my other reviews, you know how much I love episodes that are solely about the characters grappling with death.
The Bathtub: Remember when I said that I love it when the disparate plot threads weave together near the end of a Stranger Things season? Well, for Season 1, The Bathtub is the episode where that happens. It's not even like most of these characters haven't interacted before, but seeing Mike's group, Eleven, Joyce and Hopper, and Nancy's team all meet up together just has a cool crossover vibe to it that I loved. The Bathtub also happens to have the most iconic stunt in the whole series with that incredibly cool van flip. That scene is Stranger Things's "ET moon bicycle" scene.
The Upside Down: Stranger Things always has a great finale, but The Upside Down is still probably the most bittersweet of the bunch so far. The final battle with the Demogorgon in the school is scary and tense, but it's Eleven's sacrifice that really takes the cake as one of the most memorable scenes in the show. Not to mention the start of Steve's redemptive arc that would eventually turn him into one of my favorite characters, as well as the rescue of Will, though that wasn't without its cost.
Overall, while Season 1 of Stranger Things isn't one of my favorite seasons of television ever, I think it's as close to a perfect season as you could get. Sure, it's very heavily based on nostalgia and 80s adventure films, but it manages to captured the great elements of movies like Goonies and ET with its simple plot, tight focus, and likable characters. Though it also manages to bring its new elements to the table as well with the horror scenes, several fantastic twists, and Eleven's entire character.
5/5 Stars
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