I had asked Wife that I thought it would be fun to find a new series akin to Lord of the Rings with a little magic and fighting evil and all that good stuff and MAN, does Stranger Things deliver, it even has Samwise Gamgee (a lot of Rudy , I love Sean Astin's roles). We tried watching it a year or so ago and I could not get into it. The first two episodes, like any new show, were slow and kind of trying to find themselves, but Boy happened to walk by and said it was great if you get past the first 3-4 episodes, then it gets really good. We hung in there and yeah, the show has been a roller coaster ride. We are just into the first episode of the third season and I don't know how they can keep it going, but a fourth season was just announced, so it is still evolving and this show started in 2016.
The show is initially centered around 4 boys growing up in small town America. They are a little geeky, which to me makes them lovable little goof balls just trying to find their way. Will is the heart and soul of the group, Mike is the glue and keeps them together, Dustin is the cautious one always worried, and Lucas is the one grounded in reality. These boys are around 12 in the first season but going to high school with kids twice their size, which does not make sense to me. They get bullied a little bit, which does not make sense to me in present day America, but it is set in the 80's, so maybe. Bullies have always been a staple of teen shows and they are alive and well in this series. These four boys have been friends since at least kindergarten and are quite happy spending their weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons before mayhem steps into their lives.
Along the way, eventually they meet 11, which is the name given to her because she has a tattooed "11" on her forearm. She is the "magic" of the show and comes attached to a big government program set hidden in the woods outside their little city. The town sheriff is pretty important to the show, as is Will's mom as Will become the focus of the show when he mysteriously disappears in the first episode. It is a thriller as mama clings to the idea that he is still alive while everyone has written him off as an accidental death riding his bike in the middle of the night. Add in some government cover-ups and the show has something for everyone.
I was most bothered by the freedom given to these kids and I kind of remember even when I was in 8th grade going on my first dates and walking to the movies and then home at 10-11pm, like WTF, no way would either of my boys do something like that nowadays (although they have walked to Target which is a mile or so away but only during the day). My parents weren't bad, it was just a different time. I was driving soon after, so I didn't walk that much, but still. The show quietly has a lot of 80's pop culture stuff going on which makes it fun to explore and enjoy.
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