[rating=8.00]
Stranger Things and its sinister, otherworldly monster, The Mind Flayer, are back with a vengeance in Season 3, wreaking havoc on the Hawkins, Ind. townspeople and its “cutting-edge” new shopping mall, Starcourt.
The third season of the Duffer Brothers’ ’80s-set and inspired sci-fi show ramps up the conflict, integrates likable new cast members and raises the stakes even higher than Season 2, which saw an enlightened Eleven “El” Hopper (Millie Bobby Brown, Godzilla: King of the Monsters), sew/shut the dimensional portal with her mind. How do the brothers manage this feat? By making the Hawkins kids team up in a cliquey resistance to covert spy-craft and gory infestation.
In the events of Episode 1, “Suzie, Do You Copy?” viewers are immediately dropped back into the routine happenings of this ordinary small town – just one year after the events of Season 2. The show’s strong cast, delightfully far-fetched storyline and homage to ’80s auteurs continue to anchor the eight-episode effort. This season, show standouts include El, Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour, Hellboy), Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder, Destination Wedding), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and newcomer Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke, Little Women), who complements Steve’s quirkiness at every turn. Hawke, the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, plays Steve’s perceptive coworker at Scoops Ahoy ice cream, and is a true bright spot for the hit show as she gets caught up in a twisted international plot to weaponize the Upside Down.
In many ways, the season is a familiar jaunt, as the Hawkins troops attempt to quell the offensive of a hungrier Mind Flayer, whose mission is to “build” and eliminate its archenemy, El, the youthful, telekinetic teen groomed in lightless pits of an Indiana lab. But the showrunners get it right, expanding the ensemble and feeding the Mind Flayer a powerful new host. This season, it’s not simply a tortuous run for Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) – the narrative has gone beyond the monster’s one-time hiding spot, this time plotting world domination. Yet, even more interesting, the Mind Flayer is unknowingly aided by another party.
Where once the drama was advanced by U.S. scientists, including one-time lab bureaucrat Sam Owens (Paul Resier, Fosse/Verdon), Season 3 drastically widens the scope and teases barren new settings. One storyline complements the other, while the Hawkins crew slowly puts the pieces together. Two returning characters also rise to the occasion for the Starcourt conflict, including private investigator Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman, Fleabag) and Lucas Sinclair’s (Caleb McLaughlin) younger sister Erica (Priah Ferguson).
While the pack gets a bit bigger for the third campaign, the additions do not muddy the narrative, nor do their contributions feel too excessive. It feels like an organic outgrowth of the first two seasons, as Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard, It), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and the others need a few extra brains to “crack the code.”
The season takes the gang from Castle Byers, to Mike’s basement, to the depths of El’s telekinesis and the labyrinthine compound of an enemy that shall remain nameless. Half of the group employs spy tactics to breach the inner workings of the strange new mall, while the others investigate even stranger, chemically fueled disappearances. By Episode 4, the pieces are in place and the Duffer Brothers operate at full (station wagon) speed, testing El’s powers like never before, putting relationships in jeopardy and proving that a monster story with teens at the forefront can continue to power a popular series.
In typical Stranger Things fashion, too, the brothers leave a number of question marks in the open-ended finale, with characters left in harm’s way, others spread around the map, and the first tease of a truly international operation.
Altogether, the Starcourt season features colorful new characters, embraces and even twists genre tropes and leverages its strengths in delightful new ways. While some may feel like the new run plays it somewhat safe, most true ST fans will appreciate the narrative precision, the return of our knowledgeable nerds and gripping visual effects and full frames that could be pulled from an earlier Spielberg film.
Rumors suggest Season 4 could be the show’s last. Considering the meteoric rise of the show’s core cast, including Brown, now film-friendly, Harbour (who’s played Hellboy and is venturing into the MCU) and Wolfhard (the It franchise, The Goldfinch, Ghostbusters 2020, etc.), that seems like a logical endpoint. Luckily, the brothers’ finale ties up the more episodic threads, while teasing the grandeur of an international mission. In theory, Season 4, Chapter 8 will be the battle to end all battles, perhaps closing the Upside Down portal for the last time.
Again, for those interested in binging a new show, give the Duffers Brothers a look. For loyal ST fans, load those Netflix accounts.
Stranger Things Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
