Review: Demogorgons, CIA and the ’80s run amok

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In the mood for a governmental conspiracy, an alter-dimensional tormenting demogorgon and the eighties? Multitudes of children and grown-ups continue to be captivated by the sci-fi horror series, “Stranger Things,” an electric creation of the whimsical, yet brilliantly dark brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer.

Summer 2016 turned out to be a nostalgic explosion as the Netflix crowd retreated to their La-Z-Boys and fell back into the Upside Down. Our daily soundtrack turned from acoustic summer vibes on the beach, to the synth-heavy music of Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, who reflect both light and dark sides of the show.

His innocence and ignorance — he actually became the Demogorgon’s next victim — make us scream dramatic irony in a fit of fanatic reverence.

The story unfolds from the pre-meditated anxieties of the year 1983 around a young female protagonist, Eleven — or “El” as best friends Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and the hilarious Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) call her. El’s a lover of Eggo waffles, the term “mouth breather” and making school bullies pee their pants. El’s escape from the Department of Energy in Hawkins, Indiana — which is actually an undercover government experiment — catalyzes the unexplainable disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), a friend of the three boys. The story turns the boys’ childhood freedoms into a torment of death and supernatural forces.

“It was a seven,” Will says after solemnly rolling a seven in a 10-hour campaign of Dungeons & Dragons in the pilot episode. “The Demogorgon, it got me.” His innocence and ignorance — he actually became the Demogorgon’s next victim — make us scream dramatic irony in a fit of fanatic reverence.

Eleven is mistaken for a boy in this small, provincial town because of her unconventional buzzcut. Played by the breathtakingly talented Millie Bobby Brown, El develops not through words, but through bloody noses and trips to Big Buy for stolen Eggo waffles. As cute as El seems, the Duffer Brothers steal her away into a world that doesn’t tick right — an eight-hour world with whisks of pathos and dark temper. The audience experiences a series of disturbing flashbacks of El in the government lab under the “fatherly” care of Dr. Brenner. Cognitively trained as a Cold War weapon during the early stages of the Reagan-era, she can telepathically flip vans and coexist between the eerie Upside Down, where the Demogorgon rules, and a disturbed town of nuclear families. The Demogorgon infamously gets its name from the pagan demon that haunts the underworld of Mike’s Dungeons & Dragons game board.

Ever heard of the old PSA,“Do you know where your children are?” As questions arise about the nature of Will’s disappearance, his restless mom, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder; heard of a Winonassaince?) frantically uses Christmas lights and the alphabet painted in black on her walls to communicate with her son through the electricity. She finally contacts Will and the light bulbs shine with intoxicating light. The viewers, however, know Will isn’t safe and the gloomy darkness remains. Insanely determined to solve Will’s disappearance, Joyce joins forces with police chief Hopper, a big town sheriff who makes up for his daughter’s death by becoming the wayward head of Will’s search party.

And along comes Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Mike’s older teenaged sister, who carries out our typical rom-com with pretty boy Steve Harrington (Joe Kerry). However, when the brooding and mysterious Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) sweeps in with photographic evidence of the Demogorgon and an urge to uncover the truth behind his younger brother’s disappearance, Nancy join forces with him in this “Pretty in Pink” homage. But before I move on, let’s not forget a character so devastatingly overlooked: Barb. Barbara Holland (Shannon Purser) is Nancy’s nerdy best friend who is protective over Steve’s intentions with Nancy. She meets a cruel end after she becomes the Demogorgon’s second victim. The “What about Barb?” movement has the majority admitting that, if you peel back the layers, we’re all Barb: insecure and anxious.

The most infallible component of the “Stranger Things” series is its direct correlation between Steven Spielberg and Stephen King productions.

Just like when Elliott befriended an alien-in-need in Steven Spielberg’s classic, “E.T.”, Mike adopts El into a town cradled by a haunted forest. He independently hides her from his parents, a hobby of many eighties kids. Just when you thought the nostalgia was too much, Mike gives El a feminine makeover for her public debut, just like E.T. dressed in a blond wig and girlish clothing (except El slayed the look). And let’s not forget how the buds of young romance take El and Mike from a mere sci-fi partnership to a first kiss basis. In the chase scene with the three boys fleeing “the bad guys” — with El riding on Mike’s bicycle, just like E.T. and Elliott on his bicycle — El uses telekinetic force to launch a Hawkins Power and Light van through the air.

Nostalgia runs rampant through the suburban streets of bike riding heroes and walkie-talkies. Eleven’s uncensored girl power amazes us all in her telepathic awesomeness.

Eleven, a young girl who controls things with her mind and poses a threat to a gun-raising government agency, reminds us of Stephen King’s “Firestarter.” Eleven pretty much becomes our Drew Barrymore, who also played the younger sister in “E.T.” — coincidence?

Nostalgia runs rampant through the suburban streets of bike riding heroes and walkie-talkies. Eleven’s uncensored girl power amazes us all in her telepathic awesomeness.

This uncynically passé show has interconnecting character plot lines between interdimensional time and space. A timeless homestead for the ageless geeks,Stranger Things” has us asking, “Do you eat kangaroos for breakfast?” Over and out.