Watching Stranger Things With My Kids: The Juice Is Worth the Squeeze

By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios

There are varying opinions on the Netflix hit Stranger Things and all five of its seasons. The ending, some plot holes, and things like that have caught some strays, and some of them are justifiably so.

But there is a lot to be loved, especially the bond my twin daughters and I have over it. They are my only two kids, and they are getting so old, so fast. Any parent gets that statement.

They are born, you blink, and they are five years old. Turn around real quick and look back, and they are in middle school. It happens so damn fast.

And with that passage of time comes the feeling of trying so goddamn hard to hold on to the last few years of them sitting with you, being silly, and loving kid things before it all becomes about clothes, friends, and a whole bunch of stuff that does not involve me, the parent.

So earlier this year, around March, I asked my kids if they wanted to try this show called Stranger Things. I told them it was already finished, and we could binge-watch the whole thing.

On a Friday night, we watched the first three episodes, and we were all hooked. Over the course of the weekend, they watched the entire show. I was working and whatnot, so I was not there for all of it, but they loved it so much that we vowed to circle back and go through it together.

As we rewatched, we joked about so much of the ’80s aesthetic, the hair on the ladies, how something would not make sense every now and again, and how much we all loved Hopper and disliked Dr. Martin Brenner. We talked about how good the music was, especially Eddie’s “Master of Puppets” metal show from the Upside Down.

But more importantly, it was putting us in the same room, being attentive to the same thing, and enjoying it together in one way or another.

As 11-year-olds, they are on the precipice of changing what grabs their attention. As a father who has made his whole life revolve around these kids, I am scared shitless that those things will not include me the same way they have for the 11 amazing years of their lives. They will always be my girls, and I foresee them hanging around for a long time in the best of ways, but those early years are winding down.

So, since that first weekend of binge-watching it, we have found ourselves in the living room constantly watching random episodes or looking for specific scenes that we love to rewatch for the umpteenth time. It is arguably the framework of downtime with my kids. If we are not playing a sport, riding bikes, or making something, we are watching Stranger Things.

Personally, I love the first two seasons. They are amazing. Then it sort of slides some as the seasons go on, and the ending definitely has some plot holes. But suspend disbelief, think of it as a show for preteen kids, and it is good.

So much of it is good.

The music, all the ’80s hits, are placed perfectly with the action. The original, synth-heavy music is freaking really good. The placement and recreation of all the houses and sets create a solid ’80s look all day. The language follows. They make good use of not having cell phones, with the kids using ham radios to communicate on the fly. That makes it relatable to a society now that has this constant connection to everything, despite it not being that way during the time the show was set. This works.

Hopper is a very flawed yet good man who cannot get out of his own way. He becomes an unexpected dad to a kid he found in the woods who has superpowers and is the focus of a manhunt from the government. But he also plays a pivotal part in keeping things moving and gluing it all together.

The core kids are greatly cast. They are all very well written and work well together. Some of Robin’s quirks seemed shoehorned in at times, and that was annoying, but overall, she was good. Argyle was a bit much. The actor did great with what he was given, but thankfully, he did not return in Season 5.

Paul Reiser and Matthew Modine are excellent as the two pivotal government doctors and scientists who revolve around Eleven’s sun and shape her as the seasons go.

As much as I love Linda Hamilton, her role tossed in at the end in Season 5 seemed forced and not great, unlike the Robert Englund appearance as the old and jailed Victor Creel, which was freaking awesome, although brief.

Winona Ryder smashed it as an already out-there mom who is constantly pushed to the edge of her sanity over the occupation of her son by a smoke monster from another dimension and all the havoc within him that this occupation has caused.

Everyone else was written well and showed up to play their part.

Especially Millie Bobby Brown.

Her work as a child in Seasons 1 and 2 was freaking really good. It was believable. She did not seem like she was playing naive. She was really good at playing a kid who grew up in a place without windows or a school. The writing for her in Season 5 was not as good, and she did her best, but a lot of it was forced dialogue between her and David Harbour as daddy and daughter. It was, I don’t know, sometimes forced, but I blame the writing there.

I could seriously go on and write an article on every episode.

But I wanted to give a shout-out to the parents whose kids are grown or growing. To the parents whose kids have flown the nest or who are spreading their wings, I am shouting you out here. I am feeling it already and holding on to these last few years of my own kids’ childhood innocence for dear life, as you once did or are doing now.

But I also wanted to shout out a show that did pretty damn good. I legitimately get nostalgic as a motherfucker. It harkens back to a time when things were a little simpler and a time when I was still wearing my own childhood innocence. I get a real feeling when I hear that opening music. The deep bass with those wave-riding, overlapping synth sounds.

It hits hard.

Because that sound represents a show that takes my own childhood and ’80s-style sensibilities and smashes them right into the love for my own children and how much I cherish spending time with them, enjoying something with them on a level we could not if they were not this age.

It blends so many emotions that span my entire life, and honestly, it has become a serious thing for me and the kids.

We love the show, but we love spending time together even more. And therein lies the rub.