So that we’re all talking about things from the same starting point, I want to introduce a concept that I think is important in this season of Stranger Things and that isn’t there in other seasons. This is the writing concept, but also works in other creative mediums, that you don’t want to show your audience the gears, the workings behind what you are doing. To explain this further, in a good book, the story can seamlessly transition between multiple characters having their moment or finding the information that they need (for a mystery sort of story) and it feels like it’s all part of the same story. When you start to see the gears, you can tell when it’s going to be one characters turn to be hero or the focal point, because the other characters change to foil or background roles. The story lacks that smooth storytelling consistency that you expect.

If I’m introducing this concept, that clearly means that I think that Stranger Things Season 3 suffers from this. And that would be correct. I think in a few of the relationships or pairings, Joyce and Hopper and Lucas, Mike, Max, and El it is really notable. There are almost moments where it seems like the character changes from what they were before to match what they needed for this season. This might get a little bit spoilery here, but you might have seen online about them messing up Hopper in some people’s opinions. And, I can see why people say that and in some ways that I agree with it.

In this season, Hopper is much more aggressive or angry, and I think that there are several reasons for this, but I also think that they are a bit heavy handed with it. The reason that I think it can work is because Hopper has closed himself off or a long time from feeling. And now with Eleven, he is starting to feel again, but it isn’t just the happy emotions, it’s the hard emotions, and he reacts strongly to feeling those again. He isn’t able to fully process them, but, like I said, I think that it done with a heavy hand too often. It became his personality, being the angry person, instead of having more of a complex character. And sometimes, it’s so that you can see the gears working to set-up a moment for Joyce.

With both groups, Joyce and Hopper and Mike, Lucas, Max, and Eleven, their stories are taken to the extreme reaction of things. And when it’s more extreme, you start to lose the depth of character that was created to them in previous seasons. That isn’t to say that it wouldn’t be easy to bring it back in a future season, but the writing was done to give everyone their moment, but done too obviously. Compare that to Dustin, Steve, Robin, and a surprise character, and their banter and relationships are done so extremely well. The actor who plays Steve, Joe Keery, is really good, and does a good job of playing what is now a caring but also still wanting to be popular character. He went from a jerk in the first season without much depth to a character who has a ton of depth and interest now, as compared to some of the others who are working backwards from that this season.

But let’s talk some about the whole story and the monsters. I actually really liked the season as whole, even with some rough spots with various character groups. What makes it work pretty well, in my opinion, is that you get a human aspect to a larger extent as a bad guy, like you did in season one, but you still have that upside down and monster feel. The big addition of another evil organization works really well, but what is that organization. I will say that Cary Elwes as the mayor only works so well. The main issue is that he’s clearly putting on an American accent and it’s obvious. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but it just doesn’t work as well as it could have, which is a shame, because I like Cary Elwes, especially in Psych. This season, to me, felt a bit more like highlights of 1980’s tropes, as well. While, at times it felt a bit heavy handed with that, what they started with and how it ended, it actually worked well and made sense. I also really like where they ended the season. I’m not going to go into spoilers, but they are setting it up for season four to be a story that is potentially bigger than just Hawkins, which feels like what they need to do at this point.

Overall, I really enjoyed this season. I just think, especially early in the season, there are some things that a writer can take from the story as to what not to do. But you can also take good things from it, like how to use period piece references so it’s not too heavy handed, so like the 80’s references, versus the too heavy a hand in Captain Marvel with 90’s references. I’m at the point with Stranger Things, though, I hope that they start writing seasons that they are going to be their last, they could probably run the show for a few more seasons, but, it feels like a story that should be wrapping up soon, and while still really good, a story that I don’t want to overstay it’s welcome or overstep, like it did with the book that I trashed in review before.

What did you think of season three? Were there any fun surprises in it for you, who was your favorite character from the season?

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I’m notoriously bad about reading non-fiction. Give me a couple of YA books and I’ll happily read them within the space of a week, but hand me a non-fiction book, and you’ll see me slog through it at a glacial pace because I feel like I’m reading for a class. Somewhere along the line, my love of learning never made the leap to allowing me to find enjoyment in non-fiction, which puts me in serious danger of damaging my nerd cred. Sigh…we’ll get there someday.

And I must admit, while today’s review is indeed about a non-fiction book, it’s all about the making of a fictional story, so in a way, it barely counts (so I haven’t made that much progress, I guess??). Anyway! As I was saying…our book of the day is As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes. It tells the behind-the-scenes story of filming The Princess Bride, through the eyes of none other than the Man in Black himself.

In the book, Elwes chronicles his time with The Princess Bride from beginning to end, starting from reading for the part of Westley for director Rob Reiner and producer Andy Scheinman, all the way until the film has wrapped and Elwes finds himself on an impromptu pub crawl with Andre the Giant. Interspersed throughout the book are sidebars containing quotes from others involved with the movie — anything from tidbits from Rob Reiner about the challenges and joys of making the film, to quotes from Wallace Shawn in which he tells about his rampant fear that he would be replaced by Danny DeVito the entire time he was shooting his scenes, to Mandy Patinkin talking about his devotion to learning fencing for the film and how much it meant to him, to the sheer warmth and wonderfulness that Andre the Giant exuded at all times, to all sorts of other great little nuggets of behind-the-scenes info that you can’t get elsewhere.

To put it simply, this book is absolutely delightful. It’s both a trip down an extremely pleasant stretch of memory lane and a chance to be a part of the shenanigans that went on throughout the making of the film. To me, it felt a lot like watching the special features from the Lord of the Rings films, but in book form, and it was glorious. It was everything I ever wanted to know about what it was like to be a part of making The Princess Bride (and then some!). My one criticism is that Elwes’ quips and quotes can feel a little dad-joke-y from time to time…but really, this just adds to the overall charm.

I would recommend this book to any fan of The Princess Bride, whether you’ve just seen it once, or whether you’ve lost count of how many times you’ve rewatched it (as I have). And even if you haven’t seen the movie but have an interest in filmmaking in general, this is a great one for getting a sense of what it’s really like to be part of making a film with so much heart, humor, and unanticipated staying power.

Have you read this lovely memoir? Is it on your list? If the latter, I encourage you to get to it and have fun storming the castle!

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