Stranger Things Season 3 Netflix Series Review

Stranger Things (2016-)
Season 3 - 8 episodes (2019)

Watch Stranger Things Season 3 on Netflix
Created by: Matt Duffer , Ross Duffer
Starring:  Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhar, Millie Bobby Brown
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer 

Plot
Season one was set in 1983 where a mother tries to find her son after he disappears mysteriously in the small town of Hawkins.
Season 2 was set one year later, where a new monster emerges from the upside down to wreak havoc in Hawkins.
In season 3, the protagonists discover the gate has been reopened.

Verdict
This season improves over season two. Both the kids and the show are growing up. While it doesn't top season one, this season focuses on characters - at least a few of them. The monster(s) are great even if their reason for being present is a bit flimsy. The show is still an ode to the '80s, and that definitely adds charm. While the first two episodes set the stage, the remaining six never felt like filler. This season kicks into gear in season three and just doesn't stop. The plot really pushes this season.
Watch it.

Review
I'll start with an overall spoiler free review, with a more in depth review after that. Spoilers are tagged so don't worry.

Season two was good. I'd recommend it, but it just wasn't as good as season one. It felt like it had been stretched a little thin, but it was also a different kind of show. Was season three going to expose more deficiencies in a story that felt like one season was enough? I wanted the show to be an anthology, and the first season ended perfectly. I still wonder if this was intended to be an anthology, even the name is vague enough for it. Did season one propel them into elongating the story? Season two seems like it.
The Duffer brother did state before season three that the story will end after season four.

Season three is great. It's not quite season one, but nothing can be. This season corrects the problems with seasons three. It does a great job of developing a few of characters while also providing a credible threat. Some of the characters don't get as much screen time and don't get any development.
I was thankful Will isn't spending another season on the sideline, but he doesn't have a lot to do either.

This season, like the second, adds even more characters. It's clear the show can't quite handle this many. Will and Lucas seem superfluous. Lucas's sister is here just have an adult talking like a kid.

Of course being a show heavily influenced and acting as a tribute to the '80s, it's the Russians that are causing trouble and trying to open the rift. There isn't a reason, we're left to assume it's for science.

The Starcourt Mall is a big feature this season. There is a lot of '80s pandering. The show points out how the mall closed down small town businesses and there's a healthy does of '80s sexism but the show gets commentary out of the way in the first couple of episodes. These episodes are a lot of fun though. The kids are growing up. They're teens, and as they've grown this show is pushing the artificial boundary it set with season one from a content standpoint. I don't think the audience is necessarily getting older, but maybe that's just my limited perspective.

The Day of the Dead movie makes a quick cameo which ties into the plot. The Mind Flayer is the villain this season and he's making zombies of people.

The production design of this show has always been great. The design frequently uses vintage items from the '80s, though a few times the show became an ad for Coca-Cola. It's most noticeable towards the end when Lucas makes an impassioned speech that is nothing more than advertisement.

Episode three is when the plot fully unfolds, and it doesn't slow down until the end. While I was skeptical of this season, once I got to the third episode this season starting rolling.
There's a question of whether people really are themselves due to the plot, but the show didn't take advantage of that too much. None of the main characters ever doubted if they were looking at a double or not.

The show splits up the group which helps the pacing. There is Scoops Troop which consists of Dustin, Steve, new character to this season Robin, and Lucas's sister Erica. Dustin and Steve were a great team in the second season, and they're great this time around too.
There's Team Bald Eagle which are the adults. There's also the Griswalds which is the rest of the kids.

This season is a lot more violent and gory, but it also mixes a lot of action and drama. We'll get scenes of monster fighting that precede scenes of the characters having a moment.
From season one to eight, this season covers a lot of ground. There's no filler, it's driving to the monster face off and that journey doesn't disappoint. I did think there would be more to defeating the monster.

Spoilers! Spoilers!
 

The monster is consuming, duplicating, and using humans in the town of Hawkins. These people act as the monster's eyes and ears. The monster can also consume the people and this is why the monster is ginormous in the final episode. It's consumed half the town of Hawkins. I did think the fact that people are doubles would be a bigger factor, but apparently the monster isn't about stealth strategy.

Stranger Things isn't a show I question. A shape shifting monster, telekinesis, and parallel world I can accept, but a Russian lab under the mall does seem a bit crazy. It's a reach. This is an '80s show so let's throw some Cold War Russians in the mix. It doesn't help nearly all of them are flat except for one scientist used as comic relief.

Episode seven is when the monster attacks El. It's a great moment as the monster is pulling her by the leg while her friends try to hold on to her. The bond the core group has, exemplified in this scene, just doesn't play as a big of a factor this season and I do miss that.

There's a Russian assassin that's working to get rid of loose ends. I don't buy he just can walk through a fair unnoticed with a gun. He provides a catalyst to the action, but he's a very flat character. He's basically Terminator.

This seasons sacrifices a couple of characters, Billy and Hopper. I wonder if that will be undone in season four, but I hope not. Billy was a villain even in season two, and he felt just a bit too demented. In this season he's great, but it makes me think he was introduced last season just for this purpose.

The season ends with Will and his family moving away, seemingly adopting El. It's a nice way to end the season, but a mid-credits scene shows that the Russians have a Demi-gorgon implying they aren't done exploring the rift.
While this season felt like a make or break season on whether I'd keep watching, I definitely will watch season 4. While separating El in season 2 was a risk, this season plays it much safer and I'm glad it does.