OK. It has never been my favourite show, right from the start. I could see the appeal, even admired the fact they were bringing back an 80s vibe for a new generation. But I have often found the writing and direction annoyingly weak. Of course, the production value and visual aesthetic made up for a lot. In style terms it is great – the perfect fit for the Netflix mass audience, who will watch almost anything colourful, retro and involving kids or animals. So, a little cynical about it, to be honest.
Season 1 I liked well enough. It dipped for me in Season 2 by retreading too much territory, and either not developing the most interesting characters enough or taking them down blind alleys in the narrative. It very much felt like the creators were making it up as they went along, without any story focus. Which is probably not that far from the truth. As long as there were enough monsters and cute kid moments the audience were satisfied. No need for a meaningful narrative… right?
Season 3 was the nadir of the show. I watched it because it was there and it often felt like a chore to wade through certain episodes. Not that it was ever outright bad, it just didn’t advance or develop as a story. It all got very repetitive and mundane, predictable and bland even. Also, some of the main kids were growing up into quite annoying brats; not least Milly Bobby Brown, who was cute as Eleven when she was 12, but now she was 16, came across as an obnoxious premadonna in real life, an aspect that showed through in her TV performance at times. I watched it spread out over about two months during the peak of lockdown and have to say, was quite relieved when I was done with it.
Season 4 then kinda crept up on me, as if I had heard it was bad I probably wouldn’t have bothered with it at all. However, news on the street of online reviews and from a few trusted stories said it was back on track and hitting the highs of Season 1 again. And so when I did go back to it for a look I was pleasantly surprised to find it was true and something had definitely shifted and tightened. There were two strokes of genius that contributed to this, I think…
Firstly, they put the whole mystery into context by going back to the origins and explaining why everything to date was happening. The inclusion of a terrific villain / monster and the revelation of who was number one, the root of the experiment and the entire story, really. I loved this, and the fine performance of Jamie Campbell Bower at its heart. The slow reveal of this was very well done indeed.
The second thing was pulling the focus away from Millie Bobby Brown and towards Max, played by the delightful and talented Sadie Sink. Ever since that character’s introduction I wanted more of her. So much more charisma as an actress than Brown. So, by the time we got to the pivotal moments involving Max – including the most watched moment of the year, with that Kate Bush musical accompaniment – you could almost hear the collective audience punching the air and sighing “finally”, something worth getting behind!
I ended up really liking Season 4 because of these two things. And was left wanting more at the end… which was a complete surprise seeing how I felt at the end of Season 3. Also… a massive shout out to Matthew Modine’s hair, which was insanely funny and a nice touch.
I am interested to see which of the kids can make a proper transition to film, as no doubt they will be getting many offers. I suspect most of them to have a short horror movie career before disappearing into obscurity. Brown might hang on her reputation for a few years, but eventually she will get found out, much as Chloe Moretz was. My money for any significant success would be on Sadie Sink. She seems humble and talented enough to learn how to do this properly. I shall watch with interest.
S3 – 6/10
S4 – 8/10
The Wasteland 