Stranger Things - Season 3

I think the third season of Stranger Things is a bit of an embarrassment. The incredibly cool girl with great powers is barely featured, preferring to focus on other not-so-interesting teenagers with weird haircuts and one supposedly amusing love story. At least the soundtrack and actors are still great, although plot-wise, it is not as charming as previous seasons. (25/10/2019)

Well, the third season may not particularly deepen the mythology of The Upside Down and so forth, that's a fact, but I didn't mind it at all. The main characters have grown up, become teenagers, and are hitting puberty, and the series has adapted to that. So it's more frenetic, a lot more comedic than previous seasons (while benefiting a lot from their clashes with desperate adults in addition to the verbal shootouts between the teens), doesn't wait for anything, and pedals more than ever. What the creators saved for the finale last time happens somewhere in the middle this time, it's grittier and, I have to say, a lot more suspenseful and horrific. However, the main strength is still the characters, interestingly evolving (the amazing Steve and all he experiences with Dustin, Erica, and Robin!), naturally believable (El and Mike, El and Hopper, Hopper and Joyce), and mysterious (Billy)... The script has a lot of cards up its sleeve, so it doesn't skimp on them and lays them out on the table whenever it can. Of the actors, I must single out the impeccable David Harbour, and of the other artists, composers Dixon and Stein, who this time were heavily inspired by Philip Glass. (08/07/2019)

Like the previous season, I'm giving this one four stars, although it is considerably weaker. It lacks the excellent atmosphere that I liked so much at the beginning of the series. Instead, it is filled with humor which didn't amuse me much and made me dislike Sheriff Jim Hopper. The creators turned him into a comic character, which I don’t think was a step in the right direction. (01/09/2019)

The Soviets are in fashion this year. After remembering Chernobyl, it turns out that they had something to do with making holes through to the other side. The romantic storyline from the first episode doesn't have the wow factor that I would have expected, but once “Shitface" comes on the scene, it starts to get heavy. All apart from that brutal flashing light; horror can be done in other ways… The new characters are fine, the references are very well done this year and the season finale is a huge tear-jerker. (22/07/2019)

I can’t say I’m disappointed, it’s still too well narrated and formally gripping for that, but there were already some things that bothered me. It’s very clear now that the show is at its best when it fully focuses on the characters, while saving the world feels somewhat forced and unoriginal. I can partially forgive that because the show it’s clearly built on parodying 1980s tropes and ridiculing the incompetent and irrational Russians (with the exception of their Terminator, whom only fat Rambo could beat). But then, among the over-the-top wanderings in a top secret underground base and the road trip with the funny Russian deserter, there are these deadly serious and at times very brutal scenes, which are great on their own, but don’t quite fit together with the rest. Overall, however, I don’t have any major complaints, it still has its author’s signature and a unique atmosphere, and every episode has something to offer, not to mention the sophisticated way it arranges the communication and the continuity of the information. I’m looking forward to the next round, but I no longer expect the pure originality of the first seasons. 85% (15/03/2020)