Stranger Things 3 Review: Entertaining and Delightful 80s Nostalgia!

Created by the Duffer Brothers, Netflix’s Stranger Things is the streaming platform’s biggest show to date as the first two seasons created enormous buzz, pop culture references and presented us with delightful characters and masterful storytelling. Released on Jul 4, 2019, Stranger Things 3, is no different. It is filled with nostalgia, charming character moments and brings together everything we loved in the previous two seasons.

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Set in the Summer of 1985, Hawkins is now a happening town with the new Starcourt Mall catching the eye of almost all residents. As far as our lead characters go, Eleven and Mike, now teenagers, are genuinely in love with each other with Hopper getting disgruntled with everything going on with the young couple. Max, Lucas and Will enjoy their time together sneaking into the movie theater watching horror movies. Dustin returns home after a month-long camp and claims that he now has a distant girlfriend in Utah, named Suzie. Steve Harrington works in an ice-cream shop in the mall with his high school friend Robin. As teased in the end credits scene of Season 2, the Mind Flayer is still alive and well and now with the “Evil Russians” trying to open the closed door between our world, and the Upside Down, things start to go crazy real quick as Will reminds everyone that the evil Demogorgon is coming back for revenge.

Delivering on what people anticipate, Stranger Things 3 embraces and enhances the characters we all know and love. Immediately after the main storyline kicks in, the narrative, as usual, divides all the lead characters into teams which leads to some fantastic character moments. Primarily, the father-daughter relationship between Hopper and Jane takes new turns as we see Hop turning into that strict dad inch by inch tracking everything his daughter does with Mike. Steve, who is undoubtedly one of the crowd favorites of last season adds an extra bit of layer to his lovable character as he shares some intriguing chemistry with his partner, Robin and, as per usual, showcases his heroic feats. Max and El become best buddies doing what normal girls do. Lucas’ younger sister played by Priah Ferguson, brings that much-needed humor with her dialogue, and body language. The characters which are usually not considered “important” become the focal point of the story infused with some deeply emotional backstories.

Above all, the re-imagining the 80s vibe, tone and executing it on a grand scale is by far the most admirable aspects of the entire show. Everything from the wardrobe to the bright eye-popping color palettes and the catchy retro-synth background music elevated the viewer experience and made it much more appealing. The production designers nailed everything through and through as spots like the Starcourt Mall, the downtown grocery stores feel like a character, and reminisces about everything we miss from the good ol’ days. However, narration wise, the first half of Stranger Things 3 moves and tends to follow the same path similar to the first two seasons. Despite that, fortunately, after the fourth episode, things start to pick up and take a different route as the climax felt not so obvious or traditional.

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Nevertheless, Stranger Things 3 entertains and is a perfect season to binge when you’re on a festive mood. Although the overall story doesn’t advance all that much, the show is overloaded with 80s nostalgia, cheerful comedy, memorable, funny and emotional character moments, majestic production design and an uplifting soundtrack which will not leave you bored even for a single second. A compelling science fiction-horror-drama which knows and delivers on exactly what the viewers want.

Rating – 3.5/5 | Grade – B+

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