If anyone isn't familiar with the premise, it's simple enough: four kids in 1983 Indiana finish up a DND campaign late one evening, and one of them goes missing that night after leaving the DM's house to bike home. Already the image of the preteen boys on their bikes can't help but evoke a bit of "ET", which is intentional without feeling hackneyed, but in some ways the events surrounding his disappearance have a bit less Spielbergian whimsy and a bit more of the kind of eerie, otherworldly menace you might feel from Twin Peaks or The X-Files. When we're immediately thereafter introduced to an above-top-secret Department of Energy project in the midst of sprawling black ops damage control, headed up by Matthew Modine, the menace is unmistakable and the hooks are in.
A series anchored around child actors can be a dicey proposal to produce, because child actors need to not only be technically capable but also simply not annoying to watch episode after episode, and it's a real relief to say that the principal child cast is a delight to watch. They have that Spielberg mojo on lock, being both wonderstruck and cunning without coming off as calculated smart-alecks who're benefiting far too much from having writers labor over what sort of sassy bon mots to line up for them, for maximum "zing." Really the cast has no weak links whatsoever that stand out; the worst thing you can say about them is that they're sawing away at somewhat shopworn tropes, like the frantic grieving mother played by Winona Ryder or the disheveled everyman sheriff with a secret played by David Harbour, but in the context of this show they come across warmly and self-aware rather than phoned in old chestnuts.
I've only seen up to the end of episode four, and I plan on devouring the final four this evening or the next at the latest; even so that's well enough into the series for me to be able to spoil plenty if I'm not careful here. For the time being I'm going to avoid posting spoilers until I get a sense of where everyone else is at, but I can't speak for anyone else who plans on posting here. The only thing I feel comfortable sharing is what's already being plastered around all the entertainment review sites who're gushing over the show so far, which is that
Spoiler
And if they keep up the standard they've been maintaining for the last four episodes, I'll be in dire need of the next thirteen ASAP.
Thoughts?
