"Stranger Things" was a success. An overview of the vibrant and emotional third season

And this is exactly how the sequel is constructed. More and more time is being devoted to stories of friendship and love. And although the invasion is becoming more and more dangerous and takes on new frightening forms, they deal with it as if casually, not being too distracted from personal affairs.

In fact, "Stranger Things" leans towards exactly the same thing that happened with "Game of Thrones", "Dr. House" and many other popular projects. The creators of the series, the Duffer brothers, now develop not the plot itself, but the characters.

But here it is not so detrimental to perception. The authors seem to justify themselves in advance, hinting that they are shooting not serious epic fantasy, but a funny nostalgic stylization. And so Stranger Things can be forgiven for these clichés and all other shortcomings. Indeed, in general, the new season came out bright, with a lot of humor, many references and a very lively melodramatic component.

Children grow up, themes change

One of the main problems with long-running projects about children is that young actors grow up too quickly. This created problems even when filming "Harry Potter": by the last films, matured artists found it increasingly difficult to look convincing in the images of schoolchildren.

Fortunately, the Duffer brothers have no literary basis whatsoever to limit fantasy. That is why the themes of the series mature with the characters. In Season 1, Will's friends were most interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now Mike and Lucas spend more time with their girls, and even Dustin, according to him, had his first love. Although, of course, no one believes him.

Only Will doesn't want to grow up. His role in the third season has become significantly smaller. But if you think about it, this storyline is no less touching than the story of Eleven. Will had to go through too much, and now he wants to return everything as it was and just play with friends. But the interests of others are changing.

Older brothers and sisters are already faced with completely adult problems: the first job, plans for the future, ridicule from colleagues. And here the authors throw up two options for the development of events at once: Steve and the new heroine Robin are responsible for the comedy version, John and Nancy are for the more serious one.

True, in the second case, they sometimes go too far with the theme of oppression of women. But this is a clear reference to the stereotypical scenes from old films, where rude men in offices see girls as cooks and cleaners.

In general, the show sometimes exaggerates themes of inequality. And if in the case of Hopper, emotional and rude actions logically (and comically) develop the character of the character, then the conflict between Mike and the Eleventh looks too far-fetched and edifying.

And female characters are always responsible for all important decisions. Of course, this was originally conceived, but their number is growing every season. The determined Joyce, Odie, Nancy and Max are now joined by the new Robin, who also turned out to be smarter than all her friends.

For the whole season, not a single pair of heroes remains who at least once would not quarrel and make up. But it often hides well behind the unexpected collaborations for which the second season became famous. The friendship between Steve and Dustin develops, and it becomes the best comedy component, and from a certain moment an unexpected character appears in their company.

Odie logically turns on a girlfriend, and even the image of Billy has ceased to be flat: now he is assigned a strange but important role. And by the end, an absolutely amazing company of a new hero and one secondary, but colorful character from previous seasons appears - it's better not to talk about them in advance, so as not to spoil the pleasure of watching.

The rest return to the first season: all the same companies of heroes are simultaneously investigating different cases. Of course, you can find fault with unnecessary coincidences: every time familiar characters and their loved ones are in the center of events. And if this is understandable in the case of Odie and Will, then all the others just ended up in the right place at the right time.

But such analyzes of logic will be at the mercy of only cynics and boring people, because the rest will surely quickly plunge into a dynamic plot.

Angry Russians, the economy and new monsters

Given that the main villains are shown at the very beginning of the first episode, it would not be a big spoiler to say that the Soviet military has now entered the business. But before writing angry comments about anti-Soviet propaganda, you need to understand how ironic and timely this idea was presented.

Indeed, by 1985 America was really experiencing another hysteria associated with the "red threat". That is why the heroes of the series repeatedly mention the "evil Russians" and the 1984 film "Red Dawn" about the Soviet invasion of the United States. Obviously, they got all their knowledge from mass culture. This is also confirmed by the nickname that Hopper gives to one of the scientists.

Here, by the way, there will be a small problem for those who will watch the series in dubbing: the topic of the translation of Russian speech loses its meaning and becomes not as funny as in the original. So at times it is better to switch to the English subtitle track.

The stereotypes about Russians here are more of a joke on US culture. But America itself is criticized quite seriously. One of the main problems in Hawkins is the emergence of a shopping center, which, with the support of a corrupt mayor, ruins the owners of private shops. And all the action takes place on the eve of the fourth of July - American Independence Day.

No less interesting is another kind of villains - already from the realm of fantasy and horror. They are directly hinted at with frames from the cult film that children watch in the cinema. But what is interesting: even evil in the new season increasingly takes on a human form, only in the finale allowing you to see the classic monsters.

We have to admit that the mystical part in the new season has not received much development. They say very little about the Tormentor of the Mind, and the world of the “reverse side” itself is not disclosed at all. The heroes simply follow roughly the same path for the third time: they look for a passage between the worlds and try to close it.

Probably someone will call it self-repetition. But even here you can make a discount on the genre. Stranger Things was originally conceived as a compilation of classic fantasy and horror stories.

References and self-irony

There are more than enough iconic moments of eighties pop culture in the new season. And this applies to literally all elements. The soundtrack perfectly mixes classical compositions of Madonna, Scorpions and other stars of the past with stylized author's music.

The picture, although it looks much brighter than old films from worn-out videotapes, clearly copies the manner of filming from the eighties. Moreover, in some scenes, one can see a direct borrowing of camera techniques from the classics: for sure, geeks around the world will again make endless video selections of such quotes.

And the plot and especially the villains and monsters are frankly copied from "Something" by Carpenter, "Alien", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", films by George Romero, the already mentioned "Red Dawn", "The Terminator" and a dozen other cult films.

And the authors either show many of these films on the screens of cinemas, or put their mentions in the mouths of the characters. They seem to say: "This is by no means plagiarism, but deliberate references to amuse the public."

They treat the plot with the same irony. And this justifies even the mentioned disadvantages. First of all, all illogical moments look much funnier due to the participation of children, who often turn out to be smarter than adults, which they themselves say with surprise. Seriously, one can only find fault with the fact that too many characters who have already encountered the supernatural refuse to believe that evil could return.

In addition, the plot here is strongly tied to flashbacks. Heroes do not just go through the same path in every season, but change and develop under the influence of the past. The action in the same way, most of the series is divided into several storylines: each company investigates its own case, and in the end they all unite to give battle to the main evil. Yes, this was already the case in the first and second seasons. But this is exactly what the audience was waiting for.

Stranger Things season 3 has something to complain about if you wish. This is a fantastic part that has not received development, and an excessive melodrama, and unreasonably prolonged humorous scenes, and even an excessive desire to correspond to modern social themes.

But still, this series remains one of the best fantastic and nostalgic projects in recent years. And the new season is filmed even brighter, the characters are revealed better and better, and the familiar plot fascinates not with sudden turns, but simply with dynamics and wit. It is easy and pleasant to look at, and all the shortcomings are noticeable only with subsequent comprehension.