Losing its Spielberg meets King tone, Stranger Things' 80s seem more a collection of movie references than a milieu; however, the show is now structured less like a movie than episodes waiting for a cliffhanger. The evil Russians don't even feel like throwback villains since they've pretty much returned as a standard Hollywood trope, but where they're shoved in requires almost as much suspension of disbelief as the upside-down. Forcing us to believe two impossible things is maybe a bit much. The season's okay, some of the chemistry is still there, but it's running low on whatever the magic ingredient was.