Watch With Me: Stranger Things 3

Warning: Spoilers

Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly aka It’s in the Details.

“Have a holly, jolly Christmas, and I’m singing this in July.”

Cue Theme Music

My familiarity with the science behind narrative entertainment is mostly focused on how and why we like characters and what attracts us to stories. Another large part of my personal enjoyment of television and movies is the production details. The details in Chapter 3 shine the glitter stuck on your jeans from a Ke$ha concert in 2010.

Stranger Things is obviously a story with a lot of ‘crazy’. ‘Crazy,’ in whatever form, can be pretty unrelatable- particularly when science fiction and fantasy is involved. Contrast this crazy with the camera work as Nancy walked down the hall of her high school, or the way her mom’s eyes flickered back and forth when she told Nancy to open up to her. Those are very relatable moments… even if you didn’t lose your virginity in high school.

Eleven has obviously lived an odd life so far, but she’s still a kid as she matches the dial tone of the phone in a hum. The librarian had no qualms in confronting Hopper about feeling spurned after they slept together. These are small moments, without any consequence to the major plots, that let you know this story is still believable.

Then cue the ethereal light scene in Joyce’s house with young Holly, the weirdly serene, dystopia they keep showing, and Steve Harrington’s growing hair.

Episode awards:

1st prize: The casserole of solace. What every distraught mother needs.

Last place: The fact that no one brings me casseroles… damn.