It might have once been sacrilegious to disparage Stranger Things, but now that Netflix’s flagship sci-fi adventure has run its course, fans seem freer with their criticism. Its final season left a lot to be desired, the chief of which was nostalgia that didn’t feel quite so performative. Stranger Things was clearly a love letter to ‘80s sci-fi and Amblin/Stephen King storytelling from the very beginning, but as the series matured and reached for a more “epic” scope, those tributes and callbacks lost their charm and substance. By Season 5, that nostalgia was reduced to a slew of random needle drops, misguided fashion choices, and a total blind spot for the pop culture phenoms that actually were all the rage in 1989.
Maybe it was too much to expect the Duffer Brothers to follow through on the pastiche, but this specific brand of ‘80s nostalgia feels trite now, anyway. Instead, the Duffers are wisely throwing their weight behind a very different kind of ‘80s tribute, one that celebrates the actors who got their start in that era, and plants them smack in the midst of their own Stranger Things-esque adventure.
