Stranger Things
Season One
Stranger Things season one was my introduction to modern horror. My family and I watched it over Labor Day weekend in 2016 after my brother convinced us to give it a try. It’s safe to say my mother and I weren’t thrilled when a tulip-face monster tears an interdimensional hole through the wall. Despite the textbook horror tropes and haunting visuals, my family and I found ourselves emersed in the myriad of colors, retro score, and the barrage of well written characters. This show has it all. In my eyes, this show is one of the top pop culture projects in the last decade, and with season five coming to an end in December of 2025 I believe its cemented itself as one of the most successful franchises of this century. That’s not to say this show doesn’t have its shortcomings, no project is truly “perfect”. However, whereas other shows and franchises rush through and ignore these shortcomings, the team behind Stranger Things approaches with a transparent attitude. They rebuild and learn from feedback rather than ignoring it.
Lucas, Mike, Eleven, and Dustin played by Caleb Mclaughlin, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, and Gaten Matarazzo
From the start of episode one, the mystery begins. Viewers are treated to a fantastic opening scene where an unknown worker is seen sprinting in a dark hallway. We don’t know why, all that can be heard are blaring alarms and the nervous gasps of this character. Just when you think they make it to safety, an unearthly growl, a loud scream, then cut to sprinkler heads outside a house. I get goosebumps every time I rewatch it. As the viewer you don’t know who they are, why they are scared, or why they die. All you know is that something is out there, and it’s out for blood. This is only further established in the following scene, where we are introduced to our main cast of misfits. The opening to the series and this episode in its entirety is top notch. It truly does everything right establishing plot, setting, characters, and most importantly stakes. The fact that right from the start, troubles brewing, really gets the viewer invested. I mean it worked for my family, a very anti-horror household.
Joyce Byers played by Winona Ryder
The first half of the season does a phenomenal job of establishing stakes. A kid is missing, then a teen, plus a mysterious girl who the public believes to be Russian. It checks off all the boxes for your average 1980’s American town to go into panic. One thing I love about the plot in these first few episodes is the variation in tones with the plots. When you follow Mike and the other kids, the mood is usually cheery and upbeat. If it’s Hopper, the mood shifts to gritty-detective beats. Then you have Joyce, the mother of the missing kid, who goes through one of the most traumatic experiences a mother could go through. As a first time viewer, you experience revelations just as the characters are. Additionally, with the dichotomy of the Dungeons and Dragons titles such as Demogorgan and the Vail of Shadows we are able to understand and visualize what the characters are referencing without having to fully see it.
Jim Hopper played by David Harbor
The second half of the season is also a slam dunk, with all of the storylines merging into one main plot. I especially like the exploration into the some of the characters backstories. With Hopper in the final episode, there are many brief flashbacks of his daughter and how she tragically passed away. He never brings it up but we see how he acts in the finale. He is focused, agitated, scarred, all while the thoughts of his past keep flashing before his eyes. This is an excellent way of showing a character’s emotions. This entire season is filled with well written narratives, characters that are well established from episode one and who develop well over the course of the season. Not to mention the nostalgic score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, the insane VFX for the Demogorgan, or the aesthetics of the hair, make-up, and costumes (I’m looking at you Steve Harrington). Again, this show has it all. These are the reasons why this show is one of the biggest pop culture phenomenon’s of the last decade.
Stranger Things Season One
Chapter One - The Vanishing of Will Byers - 9.3/★★★★⯪
Chapter Two - The Weirdo on Maple Street - 8.3/★★★★☆
Chapter Three - Holly, Jolly- 8.5/★★★★⯪
Chapter Four - The Body - 8.2/★★★★☆
Chapter Five - The Flea and the Acrobat - 8.2/★★★★☆
Chapter Six - The Monster - 8.1/★★★★☆
Chapter Seven - The Bathtub - 9.6/★★★★★
Chapter Eight - The Upside Down - 9.6/★★★★★
