‘Stranger Things 3’ Critics Review: Impressive but Repetitive

The new season of the Netflix hit series dropped on 4 July.

Posters for Stranger Things 3.

(Photo: Netflix)

Series: Stranger Things 3
Directed by: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Uta Briesewitz
Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Dacre Montgomery

Season 3 of Netflix super popular sci-fi series Stranger Things finally dropped on Thursday 4 July. Here’s what critics are saying.

The third season... is all about recognizing the inevitability of growing up and moving forward, while at the same time fighting against that tide. <em>Stranger Things </em>is a show that absolutely knows its audience, and that leads me to wonder if casual viewers will be more generous to the evidence of familiarity and sluggishness that I experienced.

Daniel Feinberg, <i><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/stranger-things-review-season-3-1221777">The Hollywood Reporter</a></i>

In terms of spectacle, this is by far the most impressive season, even if the action sequences are a bit repetitive. (You can set your watch to Eleven’s conveniently-timed arrival whenever a good guy is facing certain death.) But the growth of the characters means that they feel different and surprising,

Alan Sepinwall, <i><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/stranger-things-season-3-review-854156/">Rolling Stone </a></i>

As time goes on and their stars get older, the Duffers and team will need to similarly continue tweaking the <em>Stranger Things </em>formula. They don’t have everything flawlessly calibrated in <em>Stranger Things 3</em>, but there’s enough of the taste that got viewers hooked in the first place to keep them cracking open one episode after another.

Erik Adams, <a href="https://tv.avclub.com/can-stranger-things-grow-up-in-season-3-1835972111">The AV Club</a>

In a pleasant surprise, <em>Stranger Things </em>Season 3<em> </em>manages to walk the line between conscious growth and mood maintenance, demonstrating self-awareness without puncturing its painstakingly recreated ’80s bubble<em>. </em>As in life, leaving childish things behind is scary, but what comes next can be worth the growing pains.

Alison Herman, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/stranger-things/2019/7/3/20680085/stranger-things-season-3-review-cast-getting-older">The Ringer</a>

Stranger Things 3 is now streaming on Netflix.