STRANGER THINGS : THE VANISHING OF WILL BYERS (2016)

STRANGER THINGS : THE VANISHING OF WILL BYERS (2016)

STRANGER THINGS takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in 1983. One night on the way home from his friend’s house Will Byers suddenly disappears, and now the towns coffee and contemplation driven Sheriff Jim Hopper, is going to try to figure out what’s behind it. Meanwhile a girl with powers named Eleven, escapes from the towns secretive lab installation and other strange happenings are starting to engulf the town. Is it all connected? Yes..yes in fact it is.

If you know me you know I freakin loved the movie SUPER 8, this series is also set in the 80’s a lot like that movie was. One thing the producers on this show did was pick an essentially perfect cast. All the kids are kids you would run into anywhere and that makes this show more relatable, than if they had chosen actors and actresses out of a JC Penny’s catalog. Another very strong point in this first episode is the dialog. Each line is delivered with precision, wit, seriousness and humor to fit perfectly with the shows aesthetic. Even the effects we get in episode 1, inside the labs with a creepy opening in the wall, are done with over the top attention to detail.

This episode use a brief flashback to fill in the pre-story relationship between Will (played by Noah Schnapp) and Joyce Byers which I find is a far better story telling method that starting in the middle of the story because you don’t believe in your project, then ending up having to do “prequels” to the show or movie. It also starts to set up several characters as either villains or potential heroes, but in such a way that you actually start caring about them. Will in this one in particular because he is the subject of the first episodes town search. One of the better set ups, is for Joyce Myers character, confidently played by Winona Ryder. The portrayal of her as a non-helicopter parent who will absolutely throw down if something goes wrong is right in line with a lot of the parents I knew growing up in the 80’s. In fact in 1983, I was just turning 10, so this whole setting has a place in my heart, built in. 

Along with the incredible writing which puts the 80’s disgust for PC culture on full display, this episode had me hooked the first time I saw it. Stranger Things is a horror/thriller slow burn show with kids in middle school in it, that like a lot of 80’s movies it’s pattern after, isn’t really directed at kids.

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