The best thing you could do today is sit on the couch and binge watch the eight-episode season of Stranger Things on Netflix. A cross between The Goonies and Super 8, it encapsulates everything that is splendiferous about our current golden age of television. If it doesn't end up winning every award under the sun, who cares, because something like this doesn't need any awards for us to know that it is an instant classic.
Set in 1983 in a small town in Indiana, the show begins with Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers. We meet Will (Noah Schnapp) and his friends, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), four middle school boys who like to play 10-hour campaigns of Dungeons & Dragons in Mike's basement. Will bikes home one night after a long campaign and is all alone as his brother and mom are out (you know it's the 80s since the kids can bike around at night and the parents aren't fussing over their whereabouts 24/7). Unfortunately, there's something in the house, and it takes Will. Figuring out what "it" is and where Will has gone is the point of the next seven episodes.
When Will doesn't show up to school the next day, his friends team up in classic 80's fashion to find him. These child actors are a brilliant bunch who are destined for greatness. Even more destined for greatness, however, is Millie Bobby Brown, who plays a mysterious girl known as Eleven. She shows up out of nowhere the day after Will's disappearance, seems to have strange powers, and unraveling her backstory proves to be the key to unraveling Will's whereabouts. In addition to the preteens, we have the full-on teenager, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Mike's beautiful and perfect sister, who is having a classic moment of rebellion as she dates the hot guy (the perfectly named Steve Harrington, played by the perfectly coiffed Joe Keery). For reasons I won't divulge, she gets enmeshed in the spooky drama and teams up with Will's older brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), to figure out what happened.
As for the adults, we have Winona Ryder playing Will's mother, delivering one of the most pitch-perfect performances I've seen in ages. Everyone thinks she's crazy and you are with her every step of the way as you wait for someone to finally take her seriously. David Harbour plays Chief Jim Hopper, the local police chief who doesn't seem like much but gradually becomes the hero of the piece, untangling the giant conspiracy hanging over his town and vowing to find Will no matter what it takes. There are various other characters but delving into their stories and fates is too spoilery, so I shall leave you to discover them for yourself. However, every performance is a delight and this is certainly one of the best casts I've seen on television.
It's not just the casting; Stranger Things is impeccable in every regard. The story is doled out in bewitching morsels that make it impossible not to hit play on the next episode. Every episode ends with a doozy of a cliffhanger and there is not a single moment that feels wasted or extraneous to the plot. The show's creators, The Duffer Brothers, have put a great deal of thought into keeping you engaged but never spilling all their secrets at once, ensuring that every episode is a treat that leaves you wanting more. Things unfold so naturally and brilliantly that you must marvel at the expertise that has gone into crafting this tale. It is that rare thing, a TV show that is paced perfectly, not too long but not too short, guaranteed to scare you and satisfy you over the course of the eight best hours of your life.
The show is also shot beautifully, fully capturing the look of the 80s, but invoking an eerie other worldliness that reminds you not to get too comfortable. The music choices and synth background score are a perfect accompaniment and the production design and visual effects are jawdroppingly magnificent. The big reveals are not remotely disappointing, and the show fully delivers on all of its storytelling promises. It's impossible to describe the emotions evoked by this show - it feels familiar, almost predictable, and yet it twists in unexpected, terrifying ways that leave you pining for more. Lately, many of the films and TV shows I've seen have felt like they tried to be grandiose and original but ended up bloated and rote. But Stranger Things is an intoxicating breath of fresh air and I cannot recommend it enough.
The show is also shot beautifully, fully capturing the look of the 80s, but invoking an eerie other worldliness that reminds you not to get too comfortable. The music choices and synth background score are a perfect accompaniment and the production design and visual effects are jawdroppingly magnificent. The big reveals are not remotely disappointing, and the show fully delivers on all of its storytelling promises. It's impossible to describe the emotions evoked by this show - it feels familiar, almost predictable, and yet it twists in unexpected, terrifying ways that leave you pining for more. Lately, many of the films and TV shows I've seen have felt like they tried to be grandiose and original but ended up bloated and rote. But Stranger Things is an intoxicating breath of fresh air and I cannot recommend it enough.
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