Your mileage may vary.
I told my wife, who had some other thoughts.
This season can never come close to the transgressive thrill of the retro-pop its imitating.
Credit: Netflix
A shame, because this third adventure kicks off with rebooting promise.
The children are teenagers now.
Theyre not little kids anymore, says Joyce (Winona Ryder).
Eleven and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) are smooching in the bedroom.
Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink) are perpetually broken up.
Were not kids anymore, Mike insists, so are you catching the theme?
A lot can happen in a year.
I make three bucks an hour and I have no future, he moans.
That mall immediately givesStranger Things 3a new look, cherry red and sprinkler blue.
Its early July, and everyone whos not at the mall hangs out poolside.
See the local moms rocking bright blue eyeshadow, lashes shining iridescent toward the lifeguard man-candy.
Somethings nightmarish in this summer daydream, though.
The mall is changing the fabric of our town!
says Nancy (Natalie Dyer), sounding the alarm to the misogynist chainsmokers who run theHawkins Post.
To its credit,Stranger Things 3approaches mall culture from a cockeyed perspective.
Starcourt is a lush, kid-friendly hangout and an invasive commie plot.
Funny enough, though you feel creators Matt and Ross Duffer couldve made sharper points.
The Soviets didnt kill the mom-and-pops.
It was the corporations, man!
(PresumablyNikewouldnt integrate that narrative.)
This season improves on the somewhat direStranger Things 2.
Joyce and Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) dig into local corruption.
Nancy and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) track a vermin infestation.
The interaction between the kids is endearing.
Meanwhile, Hopper now comes off like a violent loon.
I can do anything I want, he says, Im the chief of police.
Hes joking, kinda, but you miss his ragged charm.
The best bits are ice-cream-adjacent.
The early fun dwindles.
This is another Very Long Movie, full of delayed plot points.
The Mind Flayer returns, bodysnatching the citizens of Hawkins into a bio-organic mulchasaur.
One confusing problem withStranger Thingsis how blandly digital the creatures always look.
A word about the ending.
We notably donotsee Hopper explode into organic mulch when Joyce destroys the Russian reality laser hes standing next to.
The other characters mourn him and move on.
The Byers family leaves Hawkins, bringing Eleven with them.
Shes lost her superpowers, for now.
Everythings changing and she finds a paternal speech the late (?)
Hopper was working on with words to that effect.
I dont want things to change, he narrates, before noting how ridiculous that is.
He cant turn back the clock.
Keep on growing up, kid, he says from beyond.
Dont let me stop you.
And then, in the post-credits scene, a murder of Soviets are holding some unseen American hostage.
Possible, I guess, that Hoppers not the American.
It only took three seasons forStranger Thingsto get nostalgic forStranger Things.
Can I offer a different suggestion for your holiday viewing?
Over on Amazon Prime, two seasons of the outrageously entertainingPatriotawait your eyeballs.
Its a modern American tale, full of stranger things.
