Saturday, December 27, 2025
Time: 11:12 PM
Song: Burn the Witch
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way home from Canton.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7yyif2Ity1GipUXTdgofKw?si=ba7b51ba0ff6431e
We visited Jodi’s college roommate, Amanda, today in Canton, IL. The drive is about two hours, almost all of which is on IL 78. Jodi took the drive down, and I took the foggy drive home that started about 9:30 PM.
We have watched all the seasons of “Stanger Things” with Amanda, so we spent the afternoon and evening watching the first six episodes of the fifth and final season.
“Stranger Things” is a well-made mix of nostalgia, homage and thrills all built around an intriguing, well-developed story arc.
The first few seasons leaned heavily into the nostalgia, featuring the fashion, the slang, and the culture of the 1980s. It pegged the generation of people that are my age between 40 and 55 as a target audience. We remember the age of cassette tapes, bright colors, shopping malls and arcades.
Intertwined in the nostalgia is homage to that decade’s movies. Aspects of the Demogorgan and the Upside Down are reminiscent of classic franchises like “Aliens” and “Preadator.” The gang of youthful misfits harkens back to 80s movies like “Stand By Me,” and “The Goonies.” The horror aspects are clearly inspired by “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Yet, all these elements feel fresh as they are spun into Hawkins and the “Stranger Things” world.
This homage is taken a step further as many of the stars of 80s films have made appearances throughout the series including Winona Ryder, Sean Astin, Matthew Modine, Linda Hamilton, Paul Reiser, and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger).
The mix of young fresh faces alongside familiar ones from the 80s, a vibrant script mixing thriller, horror, comedy and action, and a bevy of well-done effects have made this probably the top series since “Game of Thrones” ended.
We have two episodes left to watch. We’ll see if it can provide a satisfactory conclusion to its legion of fans.
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