Stranger Things season 3 rewatch: Stranger Things finds new ways to scare you in episode 3 & 4
The Stranger Things rewatch club reaches season 3 episode 3 & 4 👀📺
- Our Stranger Things rewatch reaches the middle of season 3.
- The horror notch is turned up in new and effective ways.
- But can it fully balance all the different genres?
The nights are starting to draw in and it is feeling like perfect weather for Stranger Things. Spooktober is here and the terror is being turned up a notch in season three.
Hawkins, Indiana, is going through it once again and it is all feeling very Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Mindflayer Flayer is up to no good but can the 1980s thriller vibes be properly balanced?
Find out my verdict in my latest Stranger Things rewatch reviews. This week it is season three episode three and four.
Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard & Chapter Four: The Sauna Test
In a twist on the usual formula for these rewatch pieces, I am going to offer my thoughts on both of this week’s episodes in one go. As I sat down to write, I simply couldn’t find a way to separate them, they are so intertwined that it just felt fitting to smush them together.
Both episodes deal with the creeping intrusions of the Mind Flayer’s presence in Hawkins and the shifting dynamics in our original group of kids. It culminates in a mid-season showdown that puts a cap on these threads.
Stranger Things has always incorporated procedural elements, particularly when it comes to Hopper. We follow an investigation from point to point as he unearths some dark truth.
Only this time, it is the overriding mode of both episodes - with it jumping out in episode three. Eleven and Max go looking for Billy after a game of spy goes wrong, taking a very methodical approach to the search, Nancy and Jonathan try to crack the rat story, and Hopper joins Joyce on a journey back to the old labs.
It is an hour in which it feels like the hand of the creators has reached down, wound the cracks on our characters, and let them go. They totter off on a path and we the viewers experience what happens as a result.
The episode really captures the uneasy dread that comes with a great horror film as it becomes more and more obvious something is very wrong in Hawkins. And Billy is at the centre.
It also invokes IT with Max and Eleven in rain jackets and exploring in the down pour. But the true terror comes from the scene with Billy and his newly possessed helper - oh and the lady eating the dirt like a rat.
Stranger Things has invoked many flavours of horror and sci-fi so far, but it really goes for the alien invasion vein this time around. It leads to the deeply unsettling final moment of episode four, in which you see the horde of possessed townsfolk Billy has assembled.
The 1980s spy thriller side of the story still isn’t vibing really for me. It feels half baked and I am not sure they manage to get the balance right, but I forever enjoy the trio of Dylan, Steve, and Robin. Plus Erica Sinclair is starting to emerge as a real MVP.
These episodes also do a, mostly, good job of exploring the changing group dynamics. Will is struggling with wanting things to remain how they were back at the start of the show, while his friends continue to grow up.
It is a storyline that many viewers will be able to relate to and his break-down is really tragic. But it does get swept under the rug quite quickly in the name of plot, which feels disappointing.
Next week we will be watching episode 5 and 6 of season three. Join me if you dare!
If you love TV, check out our Screen Babble podcast to get the latest in TV and film.