The benefit of staying home on New Year’s Eve (aside from avoiding drunk drivers and meandering cold city streets in heels and tiny clothes) is seeing Stranger Things’ season 3 poster dropping in real time on Instagram and Twitter. THIS WAS MY BALL DROP!

After teasing the release date on Instagram Live with footage of NYE in the 1980s intercut with its ad spot for the Starcourt Mall, Stranger Things finally announced a July 4 release date. So instead of attending my family’s summer barbecue like a normal person, I will be in bed bingeing the whole season.

This upcoming season is set in 1985, the summer of love. Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), aka Mileven and Max (Sadie Sink) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), aka Mucas are now a thing. Uma Thurman’s daughter is going to solve a mystery like in Fletch. Lucas’s little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) is coming back. Dad Steve will still be a thing. Mike’s mom (Cara Buono) is probably a horny alcoholic.

While I ship Mileven, I do see Eleven falling into the “born sexy yesterday” trope. By this, I mean an extraordinary female alien/creature/science experiment falls for the first mediocre human male she meets. Yes, she began the series as a child, but now that the show is gearing up for a romantic storyline between two teen characters, I can’t help but wonder if this is yet another outdated sci-fi trope the Duffer Brothers are serving up.

Eleven is one of the best written female characters in the past decade, but this is one thing I have mixed feelings about. It makes me think about how many problematic love stories I was spoon fed as a kid which I loved (and still love?).

Remember how last season only one episode was directed by a woman? Maybe we could like, change that?

Header image credit: Netflix

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