Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

This article covers some of my problems with  Stranger Things 3 (2019)  and one of my favorite moments. Spoilers! Stranger Things 3 is uneven. In short, episodes one, two and three are solid horror. After that, it's a mixed bag. There's much to appreciate, and much to criticize. I'll start with the latter... Invulnerability Clauses Season three continues many problems I've had with the show to this point. For one, its cast is a bit too large for its own good, and contractual obligations make it impossible to kill any of main players. Hopper's "death" is frustratingly noncommittal. Off-screen, the maker's hide it behind the splattering of so many disposable Russian scientists. The only main player to bite the dust is Bill, a casualty from episode one who spends more time off-screen than on—so much so that his development occurs entirely by Eleven invading his mind. There, we get a mess of smokey images. Whenever he's in a scene, Bill is lar...

This article is part of a series meant to review Stranger Things 3 (2019), per episode. Here is my review of episode three: "The Case of the Missing Lifeguard" It's a bit longer, and analyzes season 3's web of subplots and Gothic content thus far. Spoilers! Before going in, I automatically wondered "Shouldn't 'Lifeguard' be plural?" Bill disappears, but so does the Linda Barrett lookalike (currently anonymous). Both of them were lifeguards. I digress. The episode starts at Hopper's place, where Max and Eleven are fantasizing about other boys (including a centerfold of the Karate Kid, himself, Ralph Macchio). Max continues to liberate Eleven, encouraging her that Mike will come crawling back (as Lucas often does). Apparently she'd kill to see "their stupid faces," so Eleven blindfolds up. In this case, the normally unsettling "dark space" is a site for comedy. Eleven peers in on the hare-brained theories of emo...

This article is part of a series meant to review Stranger Things 3 (2019), per episode. Here is my review of episode two: "The Mall Rats." Spoilers! Episode one ended with Bill ostensibly being dragged to his death. Episode two picks up where it left off, suggesting some kind of impregnation before letting Bill go. In short, he's the new spy, but he's already at odds with the Party and completely ignorant to what they've been through—the perfect host for this alien threat. On-screen, he drives to a phone booth, only to have the call interrupted by a sudden storm. Presaged by magenta lightning and roiling thunderheads, Bill comes face-to-face with a clone of himself. Pretty Gothic! I wish we'd get a whole episode of this, like how " The Lost Sister " was self-contained. Alas, post-credits, we jump to Eleven, who's waiting for Mike; Mike, under Hopper's power, has to lie about his grandmother being sick. It goes over about as well as it ...

This article is part of a series meant to review Stranger Things 3 (2019), per episode. Here is my review of episode one: "Suzie, Do You Copy?" Spoilers! The episode starts in a concrete bunker. Men in olive-colored hazmat suits strut around a giant machine. Their war-like gas masks are elephantine, bound to rope-like hoses. Upstairs in the command module, a group of scientists and military personnel look on: a general and his second-in-command; another, an aging scientist. The scientist produces a key by which to carefully activate the machine; a mess of teeth-like gears, the contraption jolts to life. It spews lightning it can scarcely contain. Eventually a beam of light shoots into the wall—specifically an archway purposefully engraved into the concrete. The shape of the door reminds me  the Krell metal from  Forbidden Planet (1956). In that movie, the Monster from the Id taps into the Great Machine to burn a whole through the Krell-metal door. Here, the scientists ...

With the advent of Stranger Things 3 (2019), I wanted to finish reviewing season two's episodes before moving onto season three. Here are my thoughts on episode nine, "The Gate." Spoilers! Eleven arrives; she and Mike embrace. But then Mike learns that Hopper has been hiding Eleven in secret in order to protect her. Despite her strength, Hopper argues, the more people know about Eleven, the more danger she's in. Mike's not having it, and tells Hopper what he really thinks. And to that, Hopper replies, "Sorry, kid." Everyone else touches base; Eleven ignores Max before checking on Will, who's out cold. Then Joyce asks Eleven help in closing the gate. Cut to Nancy's mother, Karen. She's in the tub, reading a Harlequin Romance by candlelight. When her husband, Ted, fails to answer the doorbell, Karen rushes down in her bathrobe. Bill is on the other side, all smiles. He tells Karen he's looking for his sister, Max. Flustered by the at...

With the advent of Stranger Things 3 (2019), I wanted to finish reviewing season two's episodes before moving onto season three. Here are my thoughts on episode eight, "The Mind Flayer." Spoilers! This episode picks up where episode's six and seven ended: Hopper sees the demagorgons are en route; but so is Eleven. Until then, the soldiers have to hold the fort. A bunch of monsters climb out of the earth and begin beating against the glass. It doesn't hold, shattering as the humans shut the containment door. It's steel; it doesn't hold, either. Bedlam ensues. I feel I should add how weird it is that we're at the penultimate episode and I still have no idea why Dr. Owens is in Hawkins. Is he good, is he bad? I don't know. He seems inoffensive and bland, even under duress. Meanwhile, Mike tells Joyce to sedate her son, on account that he's possessed by "the spy." They do that, if only so the demagorgons can't go straight to th...