Much of Stranger Things is a love letter to the ’80s and the many, many works that influenced it, but if you step away from the monster fighting and the ragtag group of kids you have yet another perfectly compelling story in season 1.
Thanks to a newly cut trailer from Netflix with enough warping to look like it’s a slightly warped cassette tape, it’s even more apparent how the Nancy/Steve/Jonathan subplot could’ve made its own ’80s rom-com movie. You’ve got the budding high school romance, the hints of a love triangle, a few trope subversions, and some vital teamwork to defeat a monster terrorizing Hawkins, Indiana.
Ah, love.
There’s even a hint of a happy ending, although we all know that won’t last long.