Netflix has a bad rep for making insanely one-sided content -- that also goes with it's "competitors" with a social commentary message or a re-imagining of home media from a by-gone era. This is one of the only (if only) originals that is any reminiscent of the good ole' days (I'll even put Cobra Kai up there, why not :D)
The story is still going on, and it's always refreshing to see how the antagonist(s) are evolving while the protagonists are also evolving by becoming adults or adults with struggles becoming even stronger. What you'll get is a science-fiction, horror, drama, comedy, all mashed into one.
(spoiler-free sypnosis)
During the late 70's, a young girl born into Big Pharma/Tech/Government blah blah is being studied for her strong telepathic abilites for reasons unknown and clashes with a group of misfit youths who have a bigger problem when one of them disappears out of thin air. That's it. That's all you need to know -- really.
It's a giant time period piece filled with nods to the movies and tv shows that made us love the simpler times. There are homages to the greats like Stephen King, Wes Craven, Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter. Some may say it's fan-service but the Duffer Brothers wanted to explicitly make an original story surrounded by what we loved about PG movies that clearly should have been PG-13 or R (Goonies/Poltergeist) among other things such as how adult-like children were and the rise of heavy metal and Dungeons and Dragons.
The film has no political commentary but will make fun of both sides in hints that it's all dumb. The actors look and convince that they were products of the time and is very convincing.
Each season is a presented as a sequel to a movie (as sequels were like the baby boomers of media in the 80s), and each one the antagonist grows stronger and every character has a unique utility to out-smart it. Both the adult and youth characters are likable even when they are being butt-heads -- they all grow.
Overall, must-watch entertainment especially during Halloween. It's a giant mix of horror and comedy and every scene has an easter egg to film/tv/bpoks during that era and even BEFORE. I'm not a fan of almost all media coming out today as it's heavily pandering to one-side of the aisle but this is heavily recommended. I didn't give it a 10/10 because it's Netflix and their policies are B. S.
