Well, we’re about three episodes into a season of Stranger Things, so by my reckoning it’s about time that all the random groups that everybody has usually split into are on the verge of making substantial breakthroughs on whatever freaky thread they’re pulling on. However, I have to say that the fact I can make this comment so confidently may suggest that Stranger Things, despite all the colourful bells and whistles, may be getting a little stale.
While it’s hitting all the usual bases the show does, there still seems to be a weird disconnect and I’m not exactly sure where it’s coming from and even though the threat from the Upside-Down kicked off properly last episode and we got some interesting new groupings of characters, this third episode has somehow managed to go back to feeling curiously flat. Could it be that that fabled balance between pulp chills and 80s worship has finally tilted – I’m not sure, but the greater mystery at hand here is that the tone still isn’t hitting like it should.
Eleven and Max are still celebrating dumping their jerk-ass boyfriends and while they’re moving their friendship up a notch to sleepovers, Max soon realises how cool having a tekekinetic galpal can really be. However, after using Eleven’s powers to once again mentally spy on a thoroughly confused Mike and Lucas, matters get more serious once Max urges her to spy on other people – namely her step-brother Billy. Of course, we know that poor troubled Billy has become the latest vessel for the Mind Flayer, a brain corrupting entity from the Upside-Down that launching another attack on our reality, and even though the details of its plan are still sketchy, it involves the kidnapping of local life guard Heather Holloway. Snapping into detective mode, Eleven and Max manage to track Billy and Heather down at her house, only to find them both seemingly normal enjoying a meal with Heather’s parents, but things soon turn sinister.
Meanwhile, other groups of characters are also beginning to figure shit out. After standing Hopper up for their date, Joyce believes that her failing fridge magnets could be caused by new attempts to breach the Upside-Down, but while a search of the abandoned Hawkins Labs reveals no experiments, Hopper does get his ass kicked by a hulking Russian dude. Speaking of “evil Russians”, back at Starcourt Mall, Robin may have cracked the code that she, Dustin and Steve have translated from a Russian radio signal and it suggests that their base of operations is somehow the mall itself!
But while while sinister ground is being broken (even Jonathan and Nancy are making headway on their mutant rat discovery), Mike, Lucas and Will are in a funk. However, while the former two are moping due to their recent dumping, the more sensitive Will is having real anxiety as he watches his friends drift away as D&D nights get neglected for conversations about girls. But while Will has to except some hard truths about himself and the nature of growing older, an old feeling returns – one that tends to flay the mind…
While I’d first like to go on record to say that Stranger Things 3 still has all the aspects I’ve come to love about the show, it continues to feel like that extended, two year absence between seasons has led to everyone involved struggling to remember how well this stuff used to connect. With the opening two episodes directed by the Duffer Brothers, now it’s time for a returning Shawn Levy to return to the director’s chair as see if he can do any better – but unfortunately, it seems that he’s just as unsure of the original tone as his compatriots. I’m beginning to think that the continuing problem with Stranger Things 3 is that not only is everyone involved struggling to match the tone of seasons 1 and 2, but the progression of the various plot lines just aren’t as snappily written as they once were.
While some of the groupings work exceptionally well, others seem strangely tired. Once again, the MVPs of the episode prove to be the winning trifecta of Steve, Robin and Dustin who all spark off one another much like the gang of Mike, Dustin and Lucas did back in season 1, but even though their investigation into Russian spies at the mall is fun, the concept is just a little bit too silly, even for a show about mind controlling smoke monsters. Meanwhile, the Nancy/Jonathan thread is taking an interesting turn with its exploding slime rats, but their double act seems a little overused and lifeless now that they’re dating. The same could be said of Joyce and Hopper, who once arguably led the show with their wild paranoia and chronic self loathing respectively. But despite the fact that checking out Hawkins Lab would actually be a smart thing to do, it’s already been rendered completely redundant thanks to the issue that we already know the troubles must be coming from the mall. One of the great things about Stranger Things is due to our god-like overview of the entire story, we’re a step or two ahead of the characters which makes it incredibly satisfying when they all start comparing notes, but here, it feels like we’re five steps ahead of the cast and it’s getting a little frustrating when some of the characters haven’t technically left the starting blocks yet.
That’s right, we’re three episodes in and while Dustin is in the thick of it, Mike, Lucas and Will don’t even know that something is going on. Yes, the show is focusing on them getting older and gradually drifting apart, but it’s a little annoying that the best thing the season can think to do with its main characters is fart jokes and complaining. To be fair, Noah Schnapp’s long suffering Will has a lot more dramatic meat to chew on as he desperately attempts to get his friends back into a D&D campaign, but even though the episode does everything just short of outing Will as gay, you can’t help but wish that all this could have come to the surface while they were stumbling on something more earth shattering than “girls are strange”.
Even the villainous aspects of the episode feel a little too relaxed for their own good with a possessed Billy seemingly in no real rush to carry out his still unrevealed plan. But it seems to me that the Duffers are going for some sort of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type thing, which is cool, but it’s barely gotten going yet. However, the main plus point from The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard turns out to be the case itself, or should I say the pair that tries to unravel it. Up until now, even though Eleven is the cast’s most powerful member by a country mile, she’s only really been used as a tool, a weapon or a love interest – but thanks to the addition of Max, the telekinetic is now actually acting on her own, instead of following the boys around while waiting for her cue to zap someone with her mind. After her apparent emancipation from often being a doe-eyed plot device, watching Eleven not only figure out that something’s amiss, but witnessing her set out and investigating it on her own (with Max) is a massive step forward and hopefully El can use her vast mental talents to move the rest of the season in the right direction.
While still fun and still kooky, Stranger Things 3 still hasn’t managed to get over that slightly detached feeling that the show is pretending to be Stranger Things instead of actually being Stranger Things. But I still live in hope that it’ll all still smoosh together correctly sooner rather than later once more characters finally get back in the game.
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