Season 3 of Stranger Things is a bit of a weird beast. While the first two seasons were fairly small in scale, this season is absolutely nuts and goes for the largest swings imaginable, with giant monster fights, an evil Russian base, way more horror than before, plenty of extended chase sequences, character sacrifices, musical numbers, and a lot of bright colors. It's overstuffed, to say the least, but it's also ridiculously fun once it really starts to get going.
Stranger Things' third season has a lot to talk about, so I'll just go over the things I liked in this paragraph and the things I didn't in the next. Season 3 is about the Mind Flayer from last season finally staging his attack on the town of Hawkins, possessing people and generally terrorizing the place. As the main cast of kids fight the Flayer, the other half of the cast gets trapped inside a Russian base under a newly built mall and stop the building of another portal to the Upside Down. I actually really like the story here, it's a lot more involved than the one in Season 2, especially on the Mind Flayer front. The Mind Flayer just stood back and watched last season so seeing it actually roam around in public gave me Demogorgon vibes, and his creepy fleshy appearance made for some of the scariest scenes to date. Meanwhile, while I know that a lot of people found the Russian base subplot really goofy, I actually thought it was my favorite part of the season. It's silly but a ton of fun and a neat call-back to Cold War era movies, and it helps that Steve, Dustin, and the former's coworker and new friend Robin have such an amazing dynamic together that carries even the sillier moments. Frankly, most of the new characters are great, as I also really liked the surprisingly lovable Alexei. I also have to praise the presentation this season, the visuals is so good and the final battle in particular feels like a movie in its massive scale. You can tell this is the series Netflix is still giving the most money too, it really shows. Overall, once the plot really kicks in, Season 3 just has such a blisteringly fast-pace that doesn't stop for anything, and it was an absolute joy to watch.
So Season 3 of Stranger Things is a fun time, though I do have some issues with it. Nothing as bad as The Lost Sister, but it's still enough to stop the season from getting a full 5/5 from me. For starters, Season 3 just takes some time to really get going, as the first three episodes are pretty much all set-up. The group doesn't become aware that the Mind Flayer is still alive until the third episode, and the Russian base subplot doesn't kick in until Episode 4. Granted, that's not entirely a bad thing until you realize that this season is still only eight episodes, which makes that almost a half of the season's worth of set-up. This short length also doesn't help in terms of just how overstuffed Season 3 is. Just like the last two seasons, every character gets a subplot or character arc here, but as the cast continues to expand further and further, this becomes a bit too much for Stranger Things to handle. And with so many subplots, it's only natural that at least one of them ends up being a dud. So let's talk about my least favorite part about Season 3 of Stranger Things: Hopper. I thought Hopper was an alright character in Seasons 1 & 2, though his relationships with Eleven and Joyce were pretty good. However, in Season 3, he just became a massive jerk and quite frankly unstable. Hopper was pissed at everyone and everything, he was a pretty awful boyfriend to Joyce and an even worse parental figure for Eleven, and his shift in characterization felt incredibly drastic. Hopper was easily the weakest part of the season because of this, I just hated watching him, and it got to the point where I was almost relieved he sacrificed himself in the finale (though he's technically not dead so let's see how he turns out in Season 4).
Once the season gets good, almost every episode is a highlight:
The Sauna Test: Aside from really kicking off the plot with the arrival of the Mind Flayer and the start of the Russian base subplot, The Sauna Test also just has a killer third act where the group tries to test if Billy is possessed only for him to break out and attack all of them. It's just such a great horror scene that made for one of the show's best episodes.
The Flayed: The Flayed is pretty much just one long chase scene, and it's fantastic. The kids are being constantly pursued by the Mind Flayer, who just continues to get more terrifying by the episode, while the Starcourt Mall crew gets chased by the evil Russian Terminator Grigori. It's an nonstop, action-packed thrill ride that ends on yet another very memorable scene where the group has to escape from the Mind Flayer in a hospital.
The Bite: While somewhat slower-paced as it focuses on setting up the finale, The Bite has three fantastic moments: First, there's Robin secretly coming out to Steve in a way that fits the time period perfectly, which just solidified their dynamic as the best part of the show. Second, there's Eleven getting bitten and starting to lose her powers, a great twist. And finally, there's Alexei's abrupt and devastating death. Stranger Things really does love killing off its lovable side characters in the penultimate episodes, huh?
The Battle Of Starcourt: Out of Stranger Things's three finales so far, The Battle Of Starcourt is definitely my favorite. It is so jam-packed, eventful, climactic, and large in scale. The final battle with the Mind Flayer is so grand and exciting, Hopper's sacrifice is a fantastic moment despite how much I've hated his character this season, the Neverending Story scene was hilarious, and Joyce's family moving out was such a great shift in the status quo. My only gripe is the fact that Hopper isn't actually dead, which made his death and letter a bit less impactful, though everything else in this finale worked super well in spite of that.
Overall, I'd say that Season 3 is a solid improvement over the second season, with a more present threat, way more creativity and energy, better pacing, and a stronger finale. While it's still overstuffed and similarly takes some time before it gets really good, I could totally understand why someone would call Season 3 the best one so far for its sheer energy alone.
4/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment