Just finished watching Stranger Things on Netflix. At this time there was only one season (eight episodes), and I hope more are already being made.
This show shouldn't have worked, but it did. Take a bunch of 1970's and 80's cultural references, a whole bunch of tropes from stories about secret government labs, innocent civilians who get caught up in the mess, etc. and put these ideas in a blender and give it a few pulses, and see what comes out. If there's a right way to do that so you don't get a tired cliche of a product, Stranger Things found a way.
Maybe the secret ingredient is quality? This series had a few lapses in acting and writing and production, but more often than not it got it right. There are clear and obvious references to the works of John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg, but just pushing those buttons shouldn't just work, or everyone would do it. A good example of this is JJ Abrams "Super 8", where he tried to do this and made a technically good product, but it didn't have the spirit of the 80s in it, no matter how much money and technique was thrown at the screen.
And Super 8 tried to be subtle and cool about it, whereas Stranger Things has non stop blatant mention of movies by the characters, posters on the walls, images on the tv, etc. They're practically rubbing your nose in it every 10 minutes, and yet it feels somehow less exploitative. I don't know what the secret sauce is, or I'd be making it myself.
*spoilers*
A few thoughts about the ending. From early in the show, I suspected Eleven was actually the Demogorgon. Not on purpose, but maybe in her nightmares she was somehow driving it, or feeding it, or calling it. My near proof of this is that she, at the end when it proved unkillable, could walk up to it, seem to merge with it or cancel it out, and destroy it though it consumed her too. And she knew this was going to happen, because she said goodbye. So who is the Chief leaving Eggos for in the wooden box in the forest?
Aside:
Are Eggos still being made today, decades later? If so, did they sponsor this product placement? (A quick search... yeah, this product is still around, so maybe)
The fact that the rescued kid is coughing up dark world slugs, and occasionally visiting the dark world is not surprising or interesting, but it would be kind of cool if this gives him superpowers (like Eleven) in season two, and/or makes him the new Demogorgon.
There are a bunch of predictable places you could take the series from here, or they could try and break some new ground. The dark world / upside-down place / whatever you want to call it is quite interesting, and there's a lot left to explore there. You could just call it quits here, and let it fade away into a frustrating legend of what could have been, or take a gamble and see if you can do more. If the same people can keep driving, or at least the same quality level maintained, I'd really like to see where they go next.
