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Warning: this review contains major spoilers for all episodes of season 3 of Stranger Things. Our criticism without spoiler is here.
Repeating success is never as easy as it seems. For the groups, it is this second thorny album. For films, more than anything else, the third installment was so often the one that undermined the former greatness. Star Wars. Extraterrestrial. Terminator. Fascinating sagas that shape the genre landscape that inspires Stranger Things, but also breaks down in their trilogy entries. It is only natural that each story develops, if only to allow its creators new ways to develop creatively. The third season of Stranger Things a show as self-reflexive in its styles, is clearly aware of this trap of the most notorious, and embraces it relying heavily on change. In the case of the series's pbadage to the horror of adults and in some ways, in its description of the distress of adolescence, it is often uncomfortable and sometimes ugly, but as a creative metamorphosis, it is certainly bold and largely successful. stage of its life cycle and delivery of the goods as an entry into the trilogy.
Teenage Wildlife
Growth pains are the order of the day in Hawkins, Indiana. Puberty did what an infernal horde of demodogs could not do and divided the party. Mike and Lucas in particular have become unbearable teenagers, an uninteresting growth spurt, no doubt fueled by the girls' discovery. Mike's bug in Hopper during the first episode, alongside Lucas' growing talent for exasperating Max, his girlfriend on / off, shows that growth is not always good. Even the physiognomy of the actors themselves is discordant. It's been almost two years since we last saw them on the screen. Today, it is clear that the party we left at the end of season two are not the same children to whom we bid farewell. In some ways, it is difficult to monitor, especially since some of the boys do not seem very enthusiastic about the journey back to adulthood and its detrimental effects on their friendship. The excellent Noah Schnapp as Will, hit so convincingly in season 2, is again wonderful, as he observes what remains of his childhood, so captured by the Darkness, eclipsed by the insurmountable combination of pheromones and caress. The moment in episode three ( The case of the rescuer disappeared ) where he desperately addresses his friends, literally dressed in the fantasy of Will's childhood the Wise, was as moving as it was incongruous, settled
Will's misery, as well as the awareness by Dustin that the group he left for the science camp is no longer the group to which it is returned, is underlined in a subtle way by that of the emission. reference approach and tribute. This feeling of Amblin, which occupies a central place in the Stranger Things tone during the first season and, to a lesser extent, the second, is summed up in an aesthetic that has had its own evolution. While Spielberg's ET moonlit mists are still present, pale green, interior lighting, high-resolution images spurting and buzzing lights that stand out in the dark are more and more widespread throughout the season. This is of course the visual grammar of horror, which is also reflected in the plot using episode 1 of exploded rats to signal a wicked and more graphic approach to the horror themes of the series.
Scary Monsters
Exploring graphically the horrors of falling prey to attractive cross-dimensional monsters turns out to be one of the strongest aspects of Stranger Things 3 in season three. With adolescence clearly revealing the party's weaknesses, the first half of the season reconfigures the world of Hawkins, Indiana, turning a best-friend show into another one where the "F" is suddenly questioned. This sudden feeling of "no matter what" makes the progressive descent of the series into a coarsely effective double terror. The giant meat puppet of Mind Flayer is a horrible abomination (and by far the most terrifying monster the show has given us so far), but the notion that even the most honored aspects of the saga (such as the character sacred of the party of our heroes) were indispensable is also disturbing. It is said that good stories teach you to read them and, in this sense, the first episodes of Stranger Things 3 are used in this respect.
Even more satisfying, this impending narrative threat is fully supported. with the death (apparent) of a major character. The apparent disappearance of Hopper as the Upside Down gate was closed gave the final the emotional punch needed to validate the increased level of threat this time around. This has also led to the most bitter-sweet epilogue to date. The second season's "snowball dance" was a joy tinged with nostalgia, watching the gang enjoy their first dance, their first kiss, with the imminent presence of Mind Flayer unable to mitigate the pleasure of the public that after all that they had lived, there is still time, at least a few moments, so that our young heroes can appreciate the determining moments of their youth.
Do not forget
During the third season, the fellowship broke up in the shadow of Hopper. death, the only sweetness was heavily mingled with sorrow and the finale was all the more resonant. If the end of season 2 consisted of fighting to find the right moments, the rites of pbadage that punctuate a life, the closing of season 3 was to say goodbye to those moments, knowing that certain purposes can not be surpbaded, foiled or lost. beaten, and sometimes the most heroic thing you can do is gather the strength to let go. The final words of Hopper in El, delivered as a letter, were both tender and heartbreaking, offering the emotional weight needed to give real weight to a satisfying finale. The sincere hope of this author (that to maintain the validity of this finale) that Hopper entered the realm of the perma-death, although not seeing his body fall apart (and with the average credit sequence teasing a prisoner American) suggests the opposite. One of the most commendable aspects of Stranger Things 3 is his courage to part with a love letter loaded with tropes and to fully consider becoming one, it would be a shame to see him turn to the most sacred trope of all: the resurrected hero.
Billy, do not be a hero
Elsewhere, the various threats to Hawkins this time around were well designed. Dacre Montgomery works very well as Billy Hargrove, channeling Ace Merrill (in Stephen King's book Needful Things / The Body ) as a corrupt human face of evil. It was also satisfying to see the motivations of the character set out in the last episode and to see him gain a measure of redemption. The reward for Billy's debut in Stranger Things 2 was clearly undercooked, so it was gratifying to see him here. As mentioned earlier, the body form of Mind Flayer was incredibly wonderful, from its horrible Alien- style to its grotesque reform process. The creature's design must be greeted, it has not been easy, and yet this creature manages to do just that. Finally, the Russian threat, so long teased, has added a new dimension to the story while bringing a little humor. The Russian KGB operator at Schwarzenegger's pace was largely a creation, but in some ways it only added to his robotic character, inspired by Terminator- . It is quite doubtful that anyone expects an arc of character developed, but it was simply fun to see what was in fact, 80s Arnie, unleashed around Hawkins, providing a physical repellent more than enough for Hopper . The idea that a gigantic underground facility can be planned, built, managed and operated in one year may have expanded the narrative credibility of the series, perhaps more than ever before, but when you're having so much fun,
Here Comes My Girl
Hopper striving to understand the emotional ties that he had in his life, Steve Harrington's super powers with the ladies seemingly emasculated by The Ahoy Scoops uniform and the boys of the party fighting against the multiple burdens of puberty, it was left to Hawkins resident women to badert, and they did it with style. It was a joy to see Winona Ryder finally doing more like Joyce Byers than just being the "incredibly strong mother". It's a role she has beautifully played in the first two seasons, but with Will's interaction with Upside Down (most of the time) broken, it was fun to see different aspects of Joyce, her talents from bitter detective to his humorous quarrels with Hopper. Although strength has always been at the heart of Joyce's character, it was refreshing to see her doing so many things this time, and if she is, in the absence of Hopper, about to become the only protector As an adult of the girl, her secret adventures in secret fortresses have well prepared the ground for that to continue.
After saying to Mike, "I throw you down," it was cool to see El also freeing himself from his influences (not that we place Mike in the same leagues as Brenner, Kali or Hopper here , just to be clear). Nevertheless, his release by Max ("We make our own rules") was enjoyable and one of the funniest parts of the series. Discovering the comics of Wonder Woman, the warmth of Ralph Macchio (and using super powers for voyeurism purposes) is the kind of simple and innocent entertainment we've seen boys enjoy during seasons one. And two. girls bond in the same way. Other female characters also shone, Robin Maya Hawke's turned out to be a great addition to the cast and Erica Sinclair's expanded role helped realize the potential of her brief scenes from Stranger Things 2. Both characters enjoyed intriguing characters arcs resolutions: Erica receiving the set of Dungeons & Dragons as if the torch had pbaded and that the Robin's comedown with Steve after the separation of Back to the Future provided a result that was not only a welcome diversion from the blended love relationship between the two, but it was also consistent with the messy nature and uncertain of this season.
Change
If Nancy and Jonathan were not mentioned, it was because in a growing ensemble, apart from some interesting mystery intrigues, they seemed slightly underserved. Overall, Stranger Things 3 not only delivered in a very stylized manner the third entry of a trilogy, but also found a way to give us that thing that we love, while turning it into something different. to forge an identity that feels both deserved and unique, as opposed to a magnificent collection of references and Easter eggs. In turn, this is a particularly important process, as the creators behind it begin (one might imagine) to really think about the final phase. The lean and graphic horror revealed an ugly belly as Stranger Things that we had never seen before, but it was not only as convincing as it was horrible, the aspects of the body horror being perfectly perfectly harmonized with the thematic sequence of change and the fear of growth that were so well paid for by the last words of Hopper to El.
After the dissolution of the party and the disappearance of Hopper , Stranger Things 4 announces it as something different, but if this season has taught us anything, it is that you accept this change even when it hurts. Parts of this season have been hard to watch, sometimes because we are seeing young people who have grown up in the face of difficulty and uncertainty. Other times, it was simply difficult because, well, rats were exploding. But if the best stories teach you how watch them, then Stranger Things 3 teaches us that growing up is good. And my boy, it was good.
Season 3 of Stranger Things is available on Netflix.
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