Netflix's Stranger Things and Spider-Man Enter the Spider-Verse

Keep the door open three inches!

It has been two years since we have seen Mike and the gang. For me, Stranger Things Season 3 still has the same magic that the first season had. Like season 2 we are again subjected to this two-part plot which doesn’t really work all the time, but hell was this season awesome!

I love the 80s, everything about it, the neon, the movies, the hair, and the town of Hawkins in the summer of 1985 had it all. The gang is still together some things have changed, mostly Mike and Eleven are just getting frisky constantly to Hopper’s disdain. Everything is going great until someone starts trying to get into the Upside-Down and that’s when hell breaks loose. It doesn’t really break loose, it’s like Duffer Brothers lit a long fuse and we’re waiting for the explosion to happen. This season is jammed to gills with 80’s tropes and stereotypes that sometimes get in the way of the story, but I love 80’s so it’s okay. Other than that, I wanted Mike to stop being a dick so the story could move along.

The ending though, was utterly and completely fantastic! This season is about growing up, about getting older, and knowing that the good times you had are still there in memory and change is okay. We’ve got 8 episodes, 7 1 hour and 1 90minutes finale.

Now for everything else, i.e. spoilers!

Part of the fun I had was trying to count all the 80’s references I could find: Terminator, the Thing, Red Dawn, the new Coke battle, Aliens, Murphy Brown. Anything else I missed?

Like I said before, the season was a really slow burn with a big explosion. I honestly would have preferred a season that was way more focused on the Mind Flayer then anything with the Russians. The Russian plot just seemed like a reason to keep Dustin and Steve together to play up more of Season 2. I think the season would have been stronger without it, but I guess we needed a new government agency.

Does anyone else feel bad for Will? Each season he’s just shoved in the corner. Season 1, he is in the Upside Down, Season 2, he is possed by the Mind Flayer, Season 3, he is girlfriendless, unimportant and just wants to play D&D. There is zero character development and now he’s shipped off to some other town, so goodbye Will! I guess we’ll never know who you really are.

David Harbour, Chief Hopper, was the Bob Newby of Season 3. It could have been his impending doom, but it was either more screen time or better writing, but he was awesome. Just kicking ass at every corner and rocking the Magnum P.I. stash. I am really sad to see him go. Aw and his speech at the end, I was about to ugly cry.

Hopper’s letter to Eleven really made me think about nostalgia, about my childhood.

“But I know you're getting older, growing, changing. And I guess... if I'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change. So I think maybe that's why I came here, to try to maybe... stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that's naive. It's just... not how life works. It's moving. Always moving whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad and sometimes it' surprising. Happy.”

The Duffer Brothers pulled on all my heartstrings and made want to go back and live in those great days, back when MTV actually played music, crazy colored prints were in fashion and I could rock my bowl cut.

Another season is coming, the “gate” wasn’t fully closed, the Russian’s got a demidog and Netflix needs a show because they are running low on good IPs.

Sometimes our heroes need a new story, even if it’s slightly familiar to the one we already know. I am not going to lie, I was a little weirded out that Sony was partnering with Marvel to make yet another Spider Man film. After all, sense 2002, we’ve had three different Peter Parkers: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, three different Aunt Mays ( who seem to get younger and cooler as the days go on) and two different Mary Janes (the most recent one, Zendaya, being my favorite. Oh, and incase you are wondering, we’ve seen Dr. Octopus (Ock?) change genders and the Green Goblin show up about three different times. Bye James Franco… let’s pretend that didn’t happen.

Spider-Verse does something I have not seen in a long time. They’ve taken a series and refreshed it and didn’t take themselves too seriously in the process. They mocked the original storyline where Peter Parker dances and shimmies his way down the street. They let the viewer know that they know they already know how the story works so they don’t waste precious time having at it again. And they’ve created a main character that is as diverse as the currently landscape of New York City.

Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) comes from an extremely supportive Latino / Black Family. Sent to a charter school where he doesn’t quite fit in, Miles is bit by a radioactive (glitchy) spider when he’s tagging a very blank wall in Brooklyn. Miles doesn’t exist in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he actually doesn’t exist in our universe either. In Mile’s word.. Stephen Curry is a professional golfer. Food for thought.

Miles grows a lot during this film where he learns how to use his powers and who he can and cannot trust to keep his secret. Like the other Spider Man films, Mile’s keeps his powers a secret. Unlike the other films in this franchise, Spiderverse does not loose site that Miles is just a kid. His parents are actively looking for him when he goes missing for more than eight hours. He can’t just go places without adults looking at him strangely. The writers manage to balance school-hood, super heroism and family quite well.

Spider-Verse is a cinematic accomplishment not just because of the leaps animation have made over the past decade, but because the directors are not limited by live characters. The film is beautiful and I watched it twice in one night. This movie deserved this academy award and deserved to be rewatched over and over. I could say more… but at this point, I am digging into your watch time.