Stranger Things: 8 Episodes of Self-Contained Awesome

I’m online a lot. A ton. And so at times I have to remind myself that things that seem obvious and commonplace to me might not be even on other people’s radar. Last week, I heard a whole sector of the internet come alive over a new show on Netflix called Stranger Things. From what I heard, it was a thriller that mashed up all the good stuff of everything ranging from The Goonies to Poltergeist to Twin Peaks and beyond. Naturally, I had to check it out.

I have now emerged, 8 episodes later, to tell you all that you too must check it out.

(Just don’t be tricked like I was into thinking it was a good show to watch with your kids. (Goonies, right?) While there are kid stars in the show, it’s pretty dang creepy and scary. I’d say it’s for teens and up.)

I loved the whole thing from start to finish, and I really appreciated the fact that it didn’t just set the whole thing up, only to cut it off with a huge cliffhanger (ala other shows like Lost or Under the Dome.) That seems to have been done a lot, as the push with media is always to string things out into extra seasons or books or films, and it’s so refreshing to have something wrapped up in one season. (Not that they didn’t leave the door open for more. That only makes sense.)

The acting, the story, the characters, and the 80s setting all comes together in a fantastic whole that had Denisa and me up far too late Saturday evening. It’s been a while since we just had to binge watch a show, and it’s always a lovely feeling when you find something that can do that for you. Even more surprising is how under the radar this show was for me. I didn’t even know it was coming out until I saw it pop up on instantwatcher.com, and even when I saw it, it meant nothing to me. Hurray for word of mouth.

And so consider this your wakeup call. If you want 6-7 hours of fun entertainment for the next few evenings, look no farther. 5/5, easily. I can’t wait for season 2.

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