Series Review - Stranger Things (Season 1)

The strength of this show lies in its ability to emulate the 80s. I grew up in the 90s but the 80s movies and T.V. shows were what I watched mostly when I was a kid. When I first saw the red-neon opening title with a synth music in the background, I was instantly transported back to my childhood. A minor detail impressed me the most about the opening titles. If you notice closely, the titles don't remain steady; they wobble a bit much akin to the opening titles of old. That is when I knew this show was made by passionate people (basically 80s kids) and is going to offer me something more. Here's a complete run-down of why this show gets my approval... 

...the acting - EVERYONE DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB! Even the kids...especially the kids! I mean, these kids overshadow the adult actors sometimes (Dustin and El <3) and that is not something that should be over-looked. Not one actor was bad in this entire show. If I was asked who my favorite character or my least favorite character was in this show, I would not be able to give an answer. All the performances added up to them being memorable in just a few episodes. A damn fine job, indeed.

The story starts literally and figuratively with 'The Vanishing of Will Byers' and turns into a search and rescue operation from three different perspectives - the boy's mother, his friends and the county sheriff. We also have shady government agents into the mix and thus, mystery ensues. And honestly, for the first few episodes I could not make out what was going on (Stranger Things, DUH!). The show does a great job of slowly revealing things. It is almost as if we are searching for the boy as well. Not one episode was boring!

As I had mentioned at the beginning, Stranger Things emulates 80s pop-culture and does it very well. I usually don't go into the technical side of a movie or a T.V. show in my reviews since most people don't understand or simply don't care. But ST needs to appreciated in this regard. The shots, the camera placement, the soundtrack, the props, even the color schemes look like they are from the 80s. I could recollect a few scenes from old movies while I was watching a few episodes, the likes of which include The Karate Kid, Aliens, The Thing, ET, The Predator, Ghostbusters and the list goes on. These movies made my childhood and I am glad I got a peek into my old VHS collection again. They even make a few references, which, if you could get them would add that much more to the experience. 

When it comes to the music score, the show relies heavily on synth music. Most people don't seem to remember what it used to sound like. If you are one of them, you will after watching this show. And it is actually good. Reminded me of Tron and a bit of Drive (which is a fairly recent movie in which the story takes place during the 80s also).

I have one big complaint with this show - it is very short at only 8 episodes. People would argue that that is the right length for this story. Even I would agree but the characters are so good that I could sit through 10 more episodes even if the kids did just kid-things. They are such nerds!

I implore you to watch this show even if you don't care about 80s stuff. At worst, you'll be losing 8 hours of your time (which is relatively less than GOT where you'd be losing 10000 hours for nothing but absolute gum-flapping). I am not lying when I say I had hairs standing on my back while watching the trailer for season 2 with MJ's 'Thriller' in the background. October needs to come fast or imma lose my shit!

Score - 8/10