‘I Found the Chocolate Pudding’
The phenomenon that is ‘Stranger Things.’
I love Stranger Things. I love most Netflix originals. I love bread. But I’m having trouble figuring out exactly why I love—why we love—the new(er) Netflix series so much. Is it because I’m witnessing the breakout of some of the most talented young actors in years? Is it because I never thought I’d hear myself say “this role was made for Winona Ryder”? Or is it because it feels like someone finally took all of the elements of Twin Peaks that people love so much and set it to a clearly structured storyline, with a slightly shorter but equally cool title sequence?
The 1980s science fiction plot is intriguing, as most “government tries to get ahead in military by messing with universe and creates black hole” story arcs are, but it’s not simply the mystery that had me hitting the “next episode” option seven times in two days (keep in mind that I don’t sleep much). It almost feels like the reason for America’s (and other countries’) fascination with the show is hiding in “The Upside Down,” which is to say that it’s right there, except it’s not.
Perhaps the greatest and most remarkable thing to come out of Stranger Things is Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper. I can honestly say that I didn’t see him coming. His complex character remarkably unveils itself throughout the first season, and truly reaches beyond the “good cop, questionable tactics” trope at a pinnacle moment in the eighth and final episode. It comes when “Hop” and Joyce finally get to Will and work to resuscitate him, the moment that viewers have been waiting for since the boy’s disappearance in the premiere, only to flash back to the moment that we were truly holding out for without even realizing it. With each chest compression on Will, Hop is thrown back into a hospital, a pediatric oncology ward we realized earlier in the episode, where he’s watching a team of doctors perform CPR on his child, who, up until that point, we simply knew had died a few years back. Just as the heart rate monitor next to her too little body and too big bed (we saw that it was a great size for Hop to snuggle and read to her in) flatlines, Will finally gasps for air, and Hop is drained, but back in the moment.
It’s common for pulp sci-fi to throw a harrowing backstory at the hero, but Hop’s tale (which didn’t even seem to be that of a hero) was unraveled so seamlessly, so carefully, that it took people by complete surprise when we found out that his daughter wasn’t abducted or murdered or something else on par with the horror genre, but instead died of cancer, a plot point which disguised itself as anticlimactic but wound up completely devastating viewers.
Everything is so well thought out. Even the narrative loose ends from the last episode weren’t glossed over by the creators; they were purposely left there as pushing off points for the second season, coming in 2017. The ending even pokes fun at this by having the boys finish up a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with a new monster, and question all of the factors that were still missing at the end of the game. “What about the lost knight?” Dustin asks, an archetype we’ve come to associate with Sheriff Hopper. “And the proud princess?” Lucas questions, another archetype that most likely represents the character Eleven.
Each character was so precisely created, like Hop and Joyce (the mom who in no way falls into the one-dimensional mother convention so often shown in eighties film and television), and there are no unnecessary extras placed distractingly throughout the season like a lot of random cameos in other, older television programs. The cinematography was pretty much impeccable, tastefully shot and never sacrificing the story for the sake of an additional, uncalled for jump scare.
Even the title sequence was meticulously created by Michelle Dougherty (the woman behind Mad Men’s famous title sequence) with the input of the brothers who created Stranger Things, Ross and Matt Duffer. This comes from an article in Wired, which explains the lengthy process behind picking the font (ITC Benguiat) and even shows some of the other titles in consideration. ITC Benguiat definitely looks cool, but the decision was also based on the history of the font, which is “the same typeface that appears on many of Stephen King’s novels released during the Reagan administration.” (For those who need a quick history brush-up, Reagan was in office for the majority of the eighties.) The article, by Sean Patrick Farrell, goes on to note, “In an age of visually complex titles like Game of Thrones’ ultra-detailed, world-building clockwork, Stranger Things is stripped down and retro.”
The true, quality, “stripped down” joy and appeal of watching Stranger Things is the knowledge that we’re watching great television. The program is headed to be one of the greats, entertaining and maintaining the integrity of a true eighties show while surpassing plot holes and overly cheesy moments so often found in those kind of productions, and ultimately proving loyal to the fans. “I found the chocolate pudding!” exclaims Dustin when he locates the famed chocolate pudding that he always knew “Lunch Lady Phyllis” was hoarding. This is currently the chocolate pudding of TV, hidden away and epic, to be consumed in large doses.
