Stranger Things 3 Makes Common TV Mistake (ALL SPOILERS)
- iAmMizz!
- Aug 7, 2019
- 10 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2019
The Duffer Brothers (creators of the binge streaming hit, Stranger Things) couldn't resist could they, they couldn't help themselves. They proved Netflix shows are no different than FOX, CW, ABC, CBS, or any of the large network TV series'. We can only hope Ozark's third season doesn't make the same choices. What did the Duffer Bros and friends do that was so horrible?... some American consumers reading this may wonder. Well I'll tell you. They said, season one and two were swell guys and girls, but hey, why don't we go EVEN BIGGER with season three's plot, let's get Russia involved... yikes.
Now I'm not saying this season didn't have its moments (most of which stuck to the roots of what made this show so popular), it did. Like who couldn't appreciate Steve Harrington's 180 character arc continuing on its descent into compassion and non-douchebaggery? What father didn't feel for Hopper's struggles to adapt to his adolescent daughter's interest in boys? What teenage girl couldn't relate to the early pros and cons of romance, or what teenage boy for that matter (we get both sides in ST3)?... or even the overlying theme of the season, growing up sucks and sometimes life is much tougher than anything the ominous "upside down," evil scientists, or crazed Soviets can throw at us. Of course Hopper's letter in the finale brought about tears in most eyes, of course the banter amongst the teens brought on laughter and joy, and of course Billy's seduction of Mrs. Wheeler brought about fantasy and intrigue in many a woman's mind (even if her final decision kept the show's innocence intact). Even Billy's slim hints of backstory throughout season two and three may have hit home with some streamers. OF COURSE THESE THINGS EXISTED IN SEASON THREE, because that's exactly what this show has always been good at. People all around the world can relate to it, even if they can't relate to the monsters from alternate dimensions. The balance between real and fictional was obvious in its absurdities, but never insulted the viewer's intelligence or bored them with clear plot blasts from the past (rip-offs). I didn't hate this season as a whole, it was fine... good in spurts, really bad in others, but probably just okay for the most part.
Just okay is never what you want to hear as a creative in any line of work (especially when I thought season two improved on the first Stranger Things, only to fall off a cliff in three), but that's all I can give for this cockamamie plot line that was a whirlwind of questions with very few rational answers. Above were mild spoilers, but if for some reason you are still reading and have not finished ST3, the big boy spoilers are coming next...
Here are the plot lines that made no sense, and character groups that stifled the natural ebb and flow of the show:
1. Russia doing sinister Russian things for no reason other than being Russian (which in the 80's was code for pure evil). What is this a Bond film?... side note, I do love a good Bond film. I'm sorry, but how exactly did the Soviets find out about this dimensional gate? Why do they feel that it is a good idea to open it? And why choose to build their operation's headquarters under a mall bunker in some small Indiana town? I'll try and answer my own befuddlement best I can. Some spy in our government revealed the dimensional breach by Hawkins National Laboratory in season one to the Soviet Union, or they just figured it out on their own in some Cold War arms race type theory. If they did find out about it, maybe they decided to create their base in the place the original gate was opened (with the help of some corrupt politician who for some reason thought it was a wonderful idea to allow these Russians to build a secret evil lair under his new shopping center). I got problems with this theory, one, the first scene of S3 has Russia come close to opening the gate in Siberia somewhere so clearly it can be done anywhere. Did their gate only fail because it didn't happen in Hawkins, Indiana? Come on. Also, did they not realize the one singular force on Earth that closed the gate and stopped the end of the world the first time around still lives in Hawkins, Indiana? Hi Eleven, why don't you stick around town a little longer.
ANYWAYS, this plot has two halves, but (1) will be Hopper and Joyce's investigation. You would think they would have made this police force larger after the last two years of chaos in this town, but it has seemingly gotten smaller (just Hopper and one other guy handling city hall protesters now). Hop attempts to prove that Hawkins is safe again (so that she doesn't end up moving somewhere else like she intends to), taking Joyce back to the lab where the gate opened last time. They poke around and find a Russian Dolph Lundgren type spy and he kicks Hopper's ass. Pissed off and fearful of the upside down's return, Hopper and Joyce abandon their kids and charge off looking for answers (tying back in Murray and a Russian scientist named Alexei). All along the way they fall for each other, fight like a couple married 50 years, deny their feelings, admit their feelings, and wait too long to act on them. One of the best scenes of this entire season was the showdown at the fun house/house of mirrors.
2. The invasion of the body snatchers. No not the movie from 1956, or countless TV shows and films since that involve parasitic hosts infecting a town of people... the plot involving Billy and the kids (mainly El, Mike, Max, Lucas, and Will- this season's ultimate fifth wheel). While the kids endure the toils of young love and navigate their relationships (Mike-El and Lucas-Max), Will feels left out and realizes that his friends have all grown up without him. Billy, Max's cocky womanizer older brother from California for those who forgot, is taken control of by the "Mind Flayer" creature and tasked with the shanghaiing of other Hawkins residents. Gradually, he builds an unknown army of brainwashed/possessed humans. The only one aware of it is El, go figure! By the way, one of the dumbest lines of the season was when El tells her gang that the Mind Flayer is going to come and kill all of them after killing her, DUH, everyone in this town and maybe this fictional version of Earth would be dead if not for this girl already (countless times), this group of kids chief among them. If she goes it's pretty safe to say they're all going with her, probably less than 30 seconds later. Thank you El, your efforts are not forgotten.
3. Nancy Drew and her tank of a sidekick/boy-toy (more on this later). Hey, the show called her Nancy Drew, not me... but the tag team is back together. Nancy and Jonathan now work for a local paper, but get no respect! No respect I tell ya! (Rodney Dangerfield reference for the young kids out there). They find out about an outbreak of rabid rats and run with the story, leading their plot line to collide with the body snatchers plot line. By the way, I got to point out another pet peeve here. In the hospital scene where Nancy and Jonathan are attacked by their infected bosses (an intense scene that I actually enjoyed thoroughly), Jonathan's body is beaten half to Hell worse than what Bane does to Batman in the initial face-off of 'The Dark Knight Rises,' yet he seems to shrug off all the pain and get into many other massive fight scenes after this without the help of a mere Tylenol for a sore lower back. Someone drug test this guy for PED's, he's juicing for sure.
4. The misfit crew takes down the Russians. The other Soviet plot involves Steve, Dustin, Lucas' little sister Erica who just happens to be yet another know-it-all kid in Hawkins (what are they feeding these kids in Indiana?), and Robin... a first-time character that seems like a new Steve Harrington love-interest before a surprising twist reveals she's actually lesbian (I liked this twist because I hate the typical love-interests in TV shows that you can see coming from a mile away, and this ended up being just a friendship). Somehow these four not only crack a Russian code that the entire American government is sleeping on, STAY WOKE GOVERNMENT, but they then infiltrate a base that is described as impenetrable with the greatest Soviets in the world guarding it. I know I know, Stranger Things is a little tongue and cheek and I get that the whole show is about a merry band of society-deemed losers and outcasts overcoming all odds and saving life as we know it (even though the average person is oblivious to any and all danger), but still. This one went too far. If this base and this project was so important to the Russian government, it was preposterously unrealistic in how poorly it was guarded and patrolled. These four make it to the main hanger with zero resistance, and even the command center before they are finally caught, what ever happened to checkpoints and guards stationed at all doors? I'm a writer and I mentally would not have been able to form or write this plot line because in my mind it would have been so inaccurate that I couldn't even fathom it. After Steve and Robin are captured (Steve gets tortured on a comparable level to Jonathan's smack down but he recovers pretty well also... for two scrawny teens these guys can take some damage! Nancy knows how to pick em), Dustin and Erica allude and outsmart the Russians at every turn. Yes Russia, our Indiana adolescents are smarter than your top officials and spies, and we know it! Later they escape the remaining guards by going into a movie theater. This whole plot line was a mess, besides Steve's growing remorse for the way he acted in high school, and his attempts at forgiveness via Robin (an outcast he once overlooked).
Aside from the massive questions and inconsistencies with reality in all four of these groupings, I thought another problem emerged from the way season three was constructed. We didn't get to see all of our lovable characters interact! Dustin barely had any moments with his best buds, Steve had no awkward reunions with Nancy and Jonathan, Joyce and Hopper spoke with their kids in the first couple of episodes and then didn't see them again till the finale. I don't know, maybe the Duffer Brothers did this purposefully... well, they definitely did it purposefully... but I just don't see why. Splitting up characters is fine for a time, a few episodes maybe, but a whole season? This isn't 'Game of Thrones,' Hawkins is a small place and this show flows better with less of a disjuncture... in my opinion of course.
I didn't actually hate the Mind Flayer stuff as much, it's Stranger Things, I expect that stuff. I can get my head past that stuff. It was the Russia stuff that really pissed me off. I'll ask again, for what reason did Russia deem it was a grand idea to put all their resources into opening a gate that would likely destroy the entire human race in its entirety? I'll ask another question again, why were these Russian soldiers so incredibly inept and useless? Storm Troopers made for better guards, I mean seriously, these guys straight up sucked (aside from the Dolph Lundgren dude who was like the Soviet Terminator, mission Jim Hopper).
In the end, the finale did steal the show and save what was a somewhat lousy season. I predicted Hopper's death (if he's actually dead) going into the final plan to save the day but even though it was pretty obvious that it was coming (many context clues throughout the season), I still thought it was well-done. Hop was my favorite character, and his dying moment was certainly not wasted like some shows tend to do (again, if he's actually dead). The flashback to the letter from the beginning of season three (written in his voice to El) was a classic tie-back and I applaud that from a writer's standpoint. It invoked emotion, and concluded ST3 with a heartfelt BANG. The more surprising death was Billy. Being that Billy had survived the majority of the season after we thought he died right from the get-go (kind of like Will in season one or two), I was pretty convinced that he would survive the finale, but in the end one of the best antagonists of the show dies in a hero's sacrifice (saving El from the Mind Flayer by overcoming his parasitic possession). I give both deaths an admirable A, even if they didn't completely blow people away (or maybe they did). If one of the kids had died, aside from Eleven finally succumbing to the brain tumor she likely has, that would have REALLY shocked the world for an A+... but killing a kid protagonist on TV is pretty dark, and Stranger Things ain't about that life. The final surprise was that El may of been drained of her powers by the terrifying Mind Flayer (below)... season four conspiracy theorists jumped all over this.
The one month later scenes (which are a staple in the ST series) were solid, but inspired more questions. The Byers family does indeed move after Joyce loses another love/friend to tragedy. I can't blame her, I would have been out after season one when her kid was stuck in another dimension. She sort of adopts El into the family, and takes Jonathan and Will with her as well. This prompts many KEY goodbyes between major linchpins of the series. El and Mike... they don't seem to be moving that far but it's far enough that Mike tells El they should all visit each other on Christmas (it's Summertime throughout the season, and can't be later than September 1st at this point, so Christmas isn't exactly two weeks from now). The two finally admit to loving each other, and just in time for a long distance relationship! All I gotta say is good luck. Will also says goodbye to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. The original Hawkins crew that stole the hearts of fans has its first fracture, so what now for little Willy? Maybe he swoops in on Mike's girl (just kidding, don't kill me for that one I couldn't resist, but it wouldn't be the first time that's ever happened am I right?). To recap, Mike has lost his best friend and girlfriend already so far, and he thought Hopper's rules were bad... see kids never realize how lucky they have it. Finally, Jonathan and Nancy also embark on a long distance relationship? Steve must be licking his chops. I don't get why Jonathan who pretty much does what he pleases cannot stay and get a place with Nancy, or even better, why doesn't Nancy go with them. If I remember correctly, she's wanted to leave Hawkins since the first episode of this show, but now she feels compelled to stay? Also, why are the Wheeler's staying in Hawkins? Or any other family for that matter. History will tell you that when constant cataclysmic disasters happen in a town (or tragedies in general), the place generally becomes a ghost town. In this case, the government should probably take charge and make sure this inter-dimensional debacle is over once and for all (they did show up right at the end to do absolutely nothing, so that's good). I know this article was mostly filled with negative takes after a lone paragraph and moments of praise, but again, I didn't hate the season (just expected better). Sometimes high expectations gained from previous successes go against a show or film, and that happened for me with ST3. I give this season somewhere between a 5.5 and 6 out of 10, sorry Duffers family... you guys kind of acted like mouth-breathers this time around.
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