I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the latest trailer for the third season of “Stranger Things.”
The breakout Netflix series took a hiatus in 2018.
It will be back on July 4, 2019.
The third season will take place in the summer of 1985 (six months after the events in the second season).
The new trailer had me when the opening chords of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" start playing on a Sanyo boombox...
Dustin (Galen Matarazzo) is back from what appears to be a computer camp (check out his hat below) called “Camp Know Where”:
I reviewed the “Starcourt Mall” teaser last July. That promo was basically a mocked up commercial for the new mall in the fictitious Hawkins, Indiana.
It looks like the suburban shopping emporium causes consternation among the residents of Hawkins. This screenshot from the new trailer (below) shows the townsfolk protesting — wanting to preserve downtown. The growth of suburban malls in the 1970s and 80s gutted downtown retail in communities all over the United States during that era.
I remember my mom and dad taking me to the Brandeis store in downtown Omaha as a kid during the store's final days. Omaha tried to revitalize downtown retail later on during the 1980s, but it just didn't work.
I would imagine a significant portion of the season 3 story takes place at Starcourt Mall. In fact, a cursory glance at the episode titles this season shows the final episode of the season is titled “The Battle of Starcourt.”
It also appears that the newspaper in Hawkins — The Hawkins Post — takes on a greater role as Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heston) are seen sitting in the waiting room. Are the two amateur sleuths digging up some other conspiracy theories this season?
As we saw in the previous trailer, Steve (Joe Keery) is working at an ice cream shop with a snarky girl named Robin (Maya Hawke). I like this snippet of Steve, Robin, and Dustin sliding down the escalators at Starcourt Mall (I dunno about any of you, but I always thought that’d be fun to do as a kid):
(And let's face facts... Steve was the best character in season 2).
I also like this shot of Chief Hopper sitting in a restaurant smoking a cigarette. Well, I don’t exactly “like it.” I just think how archaic it looks to see someone smoking in a restaurant. Hard to believe that was commonplace when I was a kid (I mean, there was a smoking lounge in the men's clothing section at Younkers when I was younger...).
It looks like bad boy Billy (Dacre Montgomery) is lifeguarding at the local pool — and might have a new love interest.
It also appears he is infected with “something” sinister. It wouldn’t surprise me if he turns into the monster terrorizing Hawkins this season.
Cary Elwes joins the cast this season as Mayor Kline. In the latest trailer we see him introducing a carnival in Hawkins. It will be interesting to see if the character is something akin to Mayor Vaughn in the shark thriller “Jaws.”
We’ll see if Elwes’s protrayal of the mayor has the same smarmy southern charm as his character Russ Wheeler did in 1990’s “Days of Thunder.”
There is also a recurring motif involving Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the color blue and yellow (which is the color of the outfit she has on throughout the trailer).
I don't know what the significance is of those colors. I only know that the New Year's trailer for "Stranger Things" offered this brief clue (which had the internet buzzing) — "WHEN BLUE AND YELLOW MEET IN THE WEST":
The Duffer Brothers (who created “Stranger Things”) have done a solid job capturing the 1980s zeitgeist in the show. I turned 13 in 1985.
The upcoming season looks good. Let’s hope the long hiatus means the quality of the eight episodes will reach a high point for the series.
In my opinion, “Stranger Things” is the most compelling offering on Netflix. As the streaming giant faces continued competition from other services, I hope the show can continue its momentum.
One thing is for sure. A lot of viewers — like me — will be glued to their TV sets this Fourth of July.
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