I binged this yesterday based on the high praise I read here. I wasn't disappointed, but I'm not nearly as enamored as everyone else.
The use of homage is an interesting and clever device, and it kept me watching, but it wasn't enough to overcome the frustratingly slow pacing of the storytelling, especially within the first four episodes. Since both the plot and its characters were such strict examples of "homage", it became pretty clear exactly how the story was going to play out. In one of the later episodes, Winona Ryder's character has a line something to the effect of, "my son disappeared a week ago" and I thought - only a week?? Feels like much longer.
After the first four episodes, it became clear that the overall vision was not about telling a story that contained examples of homage, but much more about the homage only.
The extracurricular plot elements/characters that weren't so strict, i.e. the ex-husband and his girlfriend, the red-haired best friend (I don't even remember her character's name), etc. were unneeded padding that simply slowed the pace. Try to imagine the show without those characters/sideways diversions of the plot. Would it have played out any differently? Perhaps the ex and his girlfriend are meant to have more significance in Season 2...?
I also found some of the homage to be jarring and inconsistent. For the most part, the Duffer brothers stuck to the 80s, but would inconsistently veer into more recent movies.
For example, I enjoyed the casting. Most of the younger characters were highly reminiscent of 80s child actors from the movies being honored. I definitely saw River Phoenix as Jonathan, Cory Feldman as Troy. I thought the young actor playing Will was reminiscent of a very young Elijah Wood. But some of the casting was confusing, i.e. "evil" Jane Lynch as Agent Frazier and "evil" Robert Pattinson as Steve (that hair!!).
I also found the scenes that demonstrated homage to Under the Skin to be extremely jarring. They took me waaaaaay too far out of the general Spielberg/Carpenter/King vibe. I can understand leaving the 80s era with the references to Minority Report because of the Spielberg/King connections, but why Under the Skin? I also know that Winona Ryder specifically wanted Meryl Streep's hairstyle from Silkwood, but to put her in the black leather jacket in the last episodes took the Silkwood reference a little too far, which also took me out of the vibe.
On the whole, I thought the series was enjoyable for the acting (especially Ryder), and the little game of "spot the homage". I was really impressed by the extent the homage device was used, even down to the cadence of how lines were written/delivered. My favorite example of that was, "mom... Mom... MOM!... cops."
Still, I know I won't jump into Season 2 immediately. I know I'll wait to see how it's reviewed first because I'm not sure how much farther a show that is based solely on homage can go without repeating itself, especially after how rife this season was with examples. It felt, to me, like they'd already shown the best of the best.
Perhaps the Duffer brothers will chose a different era/set of directors to homage next season?
Updated On: 7/25/16 at 10:18 AM
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