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The best show on television for 2016 is Stranger Things.
If you’re looking for something to binge watch on Netflix, this would be the one to check out.
The story follows three boys whose friend has vanished, followed by additional disappearances and disturbances, which unite certain townsfolk with the common goal of unraveling this dark and sinister mystery.
Set in a small town in the 1980’s, the show transports us into a world abound in pastiche. If you grew up watching movies from the era, there’s an instant comforting familiarity in the style, reminiscent of of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, The Goonies, Stand By Me, and The Lost Boys.
The horror that plays out in the show is likewise inspired by some of the great genre films of the time: Alien, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Phantasm, Poltergeist, and The Shining, to name a few.
An electronic synthesis dominates an exciting original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, which feels familiar, and yet is equally fresh and modern, giving off Daft Punk “TRON: Legacy” vibes.
Perhaps the music symbolizes the appeal this show has to today’s generation as well. We aren’t enveloped in the stereotypical “hair band” cheese of the ’80’s, so it manages to avoid a corniness inherent with watching material from the era. But our protagonists don’t have the luxury of having today’s modern technologies like cell phones and GPS navigation to help them through any dangers.
The characters also don’t have a cynical tone that can find its way into shows about young adults set in present day. If a group of teens today stumble onto a strange house in the woods, they’ll tend to cite Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a reason to avoid it. So there is a genuine purity inherent in both the wonderment and fright our leads feel as they encounter obstacles along the way.
Just when you start to think the character arcs are proceeding along cliché lines, the show does a good job of mixing things up. The pastiche of the show, therefore, brings out the fun and familiarity, but the events that unfold keep us second guessing and engaged every step of the way.
If Stranger Things was made in the ’80’s, we would probably see fake-looking rubber costumes and bad blue screen backdrops. Instead, we’re treated to today’s technology and special effects. Juxtaposed against this setting provides a very real sense of danger and horror we wouldn’t have expected.
Perhaps it’s fitting that Winona Ryder is one of the leads. Playing Joyce Byers, the mother of the boy who has vanished, she brilliantly weaves together a multilayered performance. She knows she sounds crazy when she articulates her belief that supernatural forces are responsible for her child’s disappearance, and yet she is witness to the disturbances. Others try to convince her that it’s all in her mind, brought on by the trauma, but she knows what she sees is real. It’s a maddening push-pull within her that drives her motivation in the show.
Police Chief, Jim Hopper, is just an awesome character. Played by David Harbour, he instantly reminds us of Roy Scheider‘s Chief Brody from Jaws, with his tan uniform and his big city skill set that he has never needed to utilize in a small town that rarely sees any crime. Unlike Brody, however, Hopper is flawed, more Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon, drowning the mistakes of his past in alcohol, pills, and smoking. Then channeling a prowess and physicality we didn’t think he possessed when the time comes.
Ultimately, it’s all about the boys, best friends through it all. Their imaginations conjure up wild adventures while doing Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing games in the basement. As someone who similarly played role-playing games at that age – the game of choice for myself and my friends was Warhammer – we played out the stories our minds made up and they were real. When I watched Star Wars at that age, I believed that galaxy far, far away was a real place.
On a side note, I’m still not entirely unconvinced a Star Wars galaxy does exist in our universe.
But when the horror occurs in the show and the boys find themselves in danger, they are scared, and yet possess a bravery that allows them to keep their wits about them. The role-playing games essentially are their training just as reading horror comics enable Sam and the Frog Brothers to do battle against the vampires in The Lost Boys.
The best attribute of Stranger Things is that it takes the ingredients that make up all this awesome familiarity, tosses them up in a salad bowl, then serves them on a plate to us as its own unique concoction. This makes it one of the freshest and most original shows on television today.
I can’t wait for Season 2.