Stranger Things

Stranger Things September 16, 2016

Gracy Olmstead has joined the chorus of praise for Netflix’s Stranger Things. She has many insightful things to say about the program, but I have to register a dissent from this:

My husband and I joined the legions of hooked fans, as we followed the journey of Will’s mother Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and his faithful cohort of best friends—Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin)—in their quest to find Will. Ryder has (rightly) received an outpouring of accolades for her role: tender yet resolute, strong yet vulnerable. David Harbor’s troubled and brooding sheriff, Jim Hopper, is also fantastic. But without Byers’s trio of friends, the film would fall flat. They add pathos and humor to the film. Without them, it would all too easily become an eerie, depressing horror flick. With them, the film transcends mere spookiness, offering sweetness, tragedy, humor, and delight.

Ryder, I think, was the weakest part of the show. Granted, Joyce has just lost her son, but Ryder’s hyper-distraught performance was a constant distraction, at times an irritation. Some viewers—I won’t name anyone in particular—might have had the urge to give her a good shake. Will’s three friends were endearing, I admit, but they don’t act like kids; they act like kids trying very hard to act like kids.

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, though, makes up for all the distractions.


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