It's time to travel back to the 80s with the Hawkins gang as the TV phenomenon returns.
Netflix has just dropped season 3 of Stranger Things…and after one episode I'm already hooked.
To be fair, it didn't take a lot to draw me in. I lapped up season one with relish, and while some naysayers weren't that impressed by the Duffer Brothers' second series, I binge watched it with barely a breath in between.
The appeal, especially for Millennials like me, is the delicious slice of nostalgia the Duffers and their crew have managed to conjure up. The clothes. The music. The retro tape players, toys, bikes. The lighting. Even the damn credits. Every iota of Hawkins is on point and sitting down to watch the show is like travelling back in time…a time when we taped the Top 40 on a Sunday, experimented (badly) with make-up, and whiled away the hours on our bikes, the warm summer breeze at our backs.
Season three, episode one, opens in a lab exactly one year earlier, with some shady Russian scientists/henchmen unleashing 'the beast' from behind what looked like a rather innocuous looking piece of rock. Well, that didn't end too well for the best of them. Just how does their experiment relate to Hawkins?
Speaking of Hawkins, and it was like catching up with old friends (yes, I'm that sad) seeing the gang back on screen together again.
So where are they at?
Steve's working in the new mall dishing up ice cream and unsolicited romantic musings to the ladies.
Eleven and Mike are practically eating each other's faces, much to the chagrin of Hopper who goes all psycho dad on the pair, turning to Joyce for parenting advice…which he obviously (and hilariously) ignores. I've got a feeling we might finally see these adults hook up this season.
Dustin's been on science camp for the summer and has come back with a Mormon girlfriend. Lord knows why he can only communicate with her (or not) via his very own mammoth, hand-made radio tower…we suspect the device is going to come in handy later along the line.
Nancy's bagged a job at the local rag where her key duties appear to be picking up everyone else's crap, serving the masochistic editorial staff hand and foot, and humiliating herself. But the would-be Nancy Drew (surely every teenage girl's hero growing up) could have stumbled across a story bigger than she knows.
Then there's psycho Billy, who's six pack, lion-haired locks and come-to-bed eyes have all the local 'moms' swooning, including Mrs Walker…but things don't exactly go to plan for either of them.
I already have so many questions. Why are all the rats being inexplicably drawn to that dilapidated warehouse? Why not dogs, cats, birds - well, any animal really? What's up with Will's neck? Is he going to suddenly burst open a la Alien? Is Billy dead?
I don't think I'll be able to stop myself racing through the rest of the series tonight….watch this space!
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