Stranger Things season 3 rewatch: Netflix hit achieves blockbuster ambitions in huge finale - episode 7&8
It is time for the finale of Stranger Things season 3 in our re-watch project 🚨📺
- Stranger Things brings curtains down on mixed season 3.
- The threat to Hawkins is greater than ever in a super-sized finale.
- But does the show pull off its blockbuster ambitions?
Summer is coming to an end in Hawkins, Indiana, and it is not only the leaves that are about to fall.
Our Stranger Things re-watch project has reached the conclusion of season three - if you can believe it. I have been a bit mixed on the previous couple of episodes, but could they pull it altogether for the finale.
Find out my verdict in my latest Stranger Things rewatch reviews. This week, it is season three, episode seven and eight.
Chapter Seven: The Bite
Synopsis: With time running out — and an assassin close behind — Hopper's crew races back to Hawkins, where El and the kids are preparing for war.
After struggling to balance three separate and widening plot lines, it finally pulls it all together. The Dustin and Steve group, 11 and the gang, plus the adults, are starting to converge and come back together for the climax.
The threats are starting to feel genuine and for the first time Eleven alone isn’t enough to handle them. Plus the funfair setting is just a brilliant place for a set piece.
Finally the Russians feel like a central threat and not some side mission and the hunt through the fairground rides is brilliantly done. Although I still don’t understand why there is just one guy who is basically a USSR Terminator - beyond simply terminator coming out in the 1980s.
The character moments really shine brightest once again with two separate love confession scenes being the stand out. Steve’s drugged confession to Robin is genuinely great, a dynamic bubbling all season long and it is handled so well.
In an era of toxic masculinity and incels, the way Steve handles rejection and the reveal of Robin’s sexuality is brilliantly handled. It is why he is such a wonderful character, a great depreciation of a man with empathy and compassion.
I found myself beaming with a smile with the way they’ve managed to redefine their relationship so quickly.
One weird note is the strange New Coke bit, which feels like the worst nostalgia tendencies of recent episodes coming back. A jangling keys for people who can point at the screen like Leo in that meme.
Also RIP Alexei, you were a bundle of pure joy and we will miss you.
Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt
Synopsis: Terror reigns in the food court when the Mind Flayer comes to collect. But down below, in the dark, the future of the world is at stake.
Stranger Things has been honing its blockbuster ambitions for a while now. The first season is channelling the Spielbergian hits of the 1980s - ET in particular - but it has been building outwards ever since.
In parts this season has suffered from these growing pains. The middle chunk suffers from the disjointed storylines that kept the cast largely split into three separate groups.
However, it all comes together in this battle at Starcourt. It is the first mega length episode, but it is one that earns that run time.
It brilliantly uses cross-cutting and the interweaving of characters to make this feel like a big summer blockbuster. It is like the third act of a marvel film (before they lost their way).
There are big stakes, every character gets to play a part, and it finds a brilliant way to scale down 11s power without having to usher her off elsewhere.
Everyone gets a moment to shine and the ending is a real downer that works. I wonder if season 4 (which I remember fondly) manages to continue to strike this successful balance.
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