Recommendations of the Editorial team
Eight episodes of chaos, and only in the last 45 minutes of these eight episodes, in which there is no longer jumping between worlds, but the characters finally talk to each other, does something like the “Stranger Things” feeling emerge: living characters that grow.
A bitter final season of “Stranger Things”. Historically bad. One can argue about contentious series finales like “Lost” or “The Sopranos” – but the entire last season of “Stranger Things” is terrible.
“This isn’t ‘The Godfather,'” says Hopper, wanting to bring some light into the living room. He’s right about that. What cameraman Gordon Willis photographed for Francis Ford Coppola back then – shadows as a state of mind – becomes emptiness here. This season is like a very long war movie in the dark; the first “Stranger Things” season, in which the year therefore doesn’t play a role. An Upside Down through which you can now march through fearlessly whistling, in between an “Abyss”, a frighteningly one-dimensional Linda Hamilton; new children whose fate is of little interest, precisely because they were newly introduced. And lastly: desperate needle drops that hopefully don’t go viral – TWICE Prince (“When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain”) and then also “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and “Heroes” by David Bowie. Has anyone ever applied it thicker than the Duffer Brothers?
But one failed season doesn’t make an entire series bad. Therefore: Read the ranking of the ten best “Stranger Things” characters here Netflix series.
Note: The portraits contain spoilers.
10. Henry Creel / Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower)
Apart from Eleven, there is no childhood in “Stranger Things” that is so psychologically examined. Henry tearfully admits that he has formed an unbreakable alliance with the Mind Flayer. The death of one means the death of the other.
As one of the many abused children in “Stranger Things”, Henry is also close to you because he shows how likeable he can be in his – albeit deceitful – approach to Eleven (season four). As Vecna, we mostly see Henry as Man in a Suit. Ea costume art that is used less and less.
09. Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke)
“Stranger Things” is more of a boys and men’s series; the male characters are much more complex. Nancy Wheeler? There are a lot of arguments about her between Jonathan and Steve, only she herself is becoming increasingly pale and seems to have quickly given up on the dream of a career in journalism (the boys’ club world in the editorial office was also unbearable). Her love belongs solely to the gun.
Joyce Byers? Winona Ryder can hardly believe her luck – and her agent probably can’t either – to have received top billing in a series whose popularity was unforeseeable. Ryder has been in the business since the mid-1980s, but her role in Stranger Things is her most successful. But nobody is really interested in Joyce, which can be seen in the hype that Millie Bobby Brown is creating instead or that the young stars are creating on the red carpet.
Robin Buckley – introduced in the outstanding third season – is different. A queer character who fights for recognition and reproaches Steve “The Hair” Harrington for his old-fashioned masculinity. The best years of the 1980s were 1983 and 1984, unfortunately not 1985 and 1986 (in which the two best “Stranger Things” seasons take place, unfortunately). But Robin made 1985 an absolute top year.
08. Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine)
Matthew Modine started the “Stranger Things” tradition of guest stars from the 1980s. He was followed by Sean Astin, Paul Reiser, Cary Elwes and Linda Hamilton. Dr. Brenner is a wonderfully undeveloped character. “Every villain is the hero of his own story,” it is said. This is particularly true for the scientist whom Eleven calls “Papa”. “I always meant well,” he says.
He always meant well.
07. Billy Hargrove (Dacre Mitgomery)
The well-trained disgusting package with the manta mat and the fast car was the first MEGA eighties hard rock figure in the series and is a love-to-hate-you character. Like Henry Creel, Billy is also an abused child. But one that becomes a savior.
One might have wished Billy had a little more cynicism; but his redemption through Eleven, the memory of the beach, is truly heartwarming.
06. Jim Hopper (David Harbour)
Big Jim. Jim Hopper is the main adult character. In season one, David Harbor’s lack of faith in the series is noticeable (his sheriff character in season one may also be homophobic); his constant grumbling seems to reflect his actor’s state of mind – what am I actually doing here?
In the masterful third season – with the best costumes and the best setting (the mall) – Hopper, several kilograms heavier, finally blossoms and becomes a comedian. Harbor even lost weight again for his performance in season four (in Russian captivity).
Harbour’s anemic performance in the final season (all beard and hair again… he doesn’t even take off his hat until the final episode) reveals a certain narrative lack of plan. Hopper deals with the loss of Eleven surprisingly well. Maybe it only served the function of helping her to better process the death of her own daughter, who had cancer.