Stranger Things (Seasons 1 to 3) (2016 to 2019)

I have to confess that I wasn't attracted to Stranger Things when it first came out in Netflix in 2016. Like how things often turns out in life, first impressions and personal perceptions can often make one prejudice without even having given something a chance. My first impressions was that the series was too much of a copy cat of many movies I have seen before like Stand By Me, Goonies, and more recently, It and JJ Abrams' Super 8. Plus, I also thought being a TV series, everything would be watered down and that the series would be catering more to the younger audiences. So I let the series run into its third season before I started taking some notice again, thanks to a number of huge billboards advertising its 3rd season along the highways. I thought maybe there's something here that's making the series stay on and seemingly becoming even bigger as well.

Now that I have finally watched this, I can happily say I have probably not seen anything that had captivated me so much and that is so good on TV since Game of Thrones (the earlier seasons 1 to 6 I mean)! I thoroughly enjoyed binge watching all the 3 seasons and can't wait for the next season to come. The series embraces its 1980's settings with its endless homages through the music, fashion, plot, behaviour, and of course, references to all those amazing block buster movies from the era. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Stephen King were obviously huge influences here. I have to hand it to series creators, the Duffer Brothers, on how they can manage to make the series look and feel so faithful and familiar to the era, and yet, at the same time, still success in making everything look so fresh and original!

I will not dwell into the series plot since you can easily google that. Instead, I will share with you what I liked about the series, and boy, there is definitely ALOT to like here! First off, the performances. The child stars were great and natural and very often succeed in making us laugh with their antics. I especially liked Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven. She can make you believe she really have those ESP power! Also making an impact were Gaten Matarazzo as the lisp speaking Dustin Hendersen and Priah Ferguson as Erica ("you can't spell America without "Erica") the annoying but very resourceful younger sister of one of the boys. These two were given the chance to step up their roles in Season 3 with some great moments. I was also delighted to see Winona Ryder back in a juicy role after so many years and she complemented co-star David Harbour very well. David Harbour's performance as Joe, the tough and often reckless small town's sheriff reminded me at times of how Harrison Ford used to behave in his Indiana Jones and Han Solo roles, except, here, Joe's a bit out of shape without your typical matinee movie hero physique.

One thing that set the series apart from the rest is how it manage to let even its smaller supporting characters make their presence felt and allowed to have their roles be expanded as the series progressed. Case in point, Erica, whom I mentioned earlier, was given a far bigger and prominent role to play in Season 3, as was the excellent Dacre Montgomery as the bully, Billy. Even the parents of one of the kids, Mike, were hilarious each time they appear. Although their characters were basically just wall paper in the series, they still managed to make their presence felt and characters stand out.

I also liked that each season so far, had a proper conclusion and closure unlike most conventional TV series which tend to end each season with a cliff hanger, making the entire season feel like just a huge build up to that. Instead what we have here is each episode often ends with a cliff hanger or two! This makes it an ideal series to binge watch! Each following episode often continues straight from the previous cliff hanger to reach some sort of heightened level before being interrupted by the opening credits sequence. I am always amazed by the amount of plot, action, laughs and even tender moments, cramped into each episode, making it feel like you just watched a mini movie epic! I don't think many TV series or even movies can make you scared, laugh and yes, even, cry a little all within its conservative running time of less than an hour.

Finally, I have to add that the series' 5.1 Dolby soundtrack sounded great in my home theatre providing many of the scarier moments an additional dimension of thrill.

If I have to rate the various seasons so far, I would say that Season 1 was EXCELLENT, Season 2 started off pretty dull but picked up momentum and ended up another winner. I love the Back to the Future-ish ballroom scene at the end of Season 2. But Season 3 was THE BEST season for me as it managed to raise the bar at every level. Very exciting, funny, and touching right from the start to the end.

I know I must sound like I am overly gushing and raving over this series, and I admit, I probably am. No words can beat experiencing this series for yourself if you haven't already done so. Hopefully, you will find it as joyful to discover as it was for me.