Stranger Things on Netflix, near flawless, older family viewing #StreamTeam

Hey, we’re part of the #StreamTeam for Netflix and were compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. Ten minutes into the premiere episode of Stranger Things I stopped watching. Whenever my wife or I find a fabulous new program, without the other one present, we stop watching it until the other one can join in. We’ve been streaming for just over four years and have only done this three times, the first was Sherlock, the second was Person of Interest and the third just happened with Stranger Things. It’s a Netflix original sci-fi show that succeeds based on what it doesn’t show, love of the time period, quality of writing and acting.

I was attracted to the show because of the reviews. Sources that I hear or frequent don’t normally recommend or talk about television; yet, many of them were talking about Stranger Things.

Stranger Things is the television sister to Poltergeist, Goonies, Cujo and other mid 80’s films. You do not have to be a fan of that era-or be from that time period to thoroughly enjoy the show. And that is a good thing because many of the films from that era were not that good. Sure, people have fond memories of some of them and might have been labeled ‘classics’, but in some cases that’s only due to our willingness to wax nostalgic about the era that you grew up in.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Stranger Things is about the disappearance of an 11 year old boy. He lives in a small town, has a couple of quirky friends, a frazzled mom, a police chief who isn’t used to doing much and a mysterious energy complex on the city’s edge. The series is ripe with clichés, yet it manages to embrace them, build on them with quality characters and provide the tension and craft from the better examples of movies from that era.

Did I enjoy Stranger Things just because I’m a fan of the mid 80’s?

I asked myself that after seeing a couple of the episodes. My wife loved each episode too, so I asked her what she liked about it and we agreed. The characters in the show are wholly believable, fragile, funny, weird and scared. In other words, they are just like us, except a couple of them disappear for no known reason.

We also loved Stranger Things for what it didn’t show. There is a monster in the show and children disappear. With today’s technology and cost effective special effects it would have been quite easy to make things graphic or bloody. Stranger Things manages restraint in this category and thrills the audience by mood, acting and quality, rather than grossing it up for the masses.

The rating on Netflix is 14+ and that’s where we’d put it too. There are a couple choice words in the first episode that helps display the friendship between the main four boys. It’s the way that 14 year old boys talk to each other, but is also inappropriate for them to say in the presence of adults.  Otherwise the show merits that rating based on thrills, drama and a taut script that makes the best of scaring you with very little. If you have kids 14 and up this is great quality family viewing, with just a bit of scare, for all.

There are only 8 episodes of Stranger Things and each one builds upon the next. A second season of the show has already been ordered.