It has been nearly three years
since the last season of the Netflix
original series “Strangwer Things”
graced our screens, in July 2019.
That time was not wasted. After the
success of season three, hints of what
was to come for the show’s beloved
characters kept rolling in. From
casting announcements to the news
that the season would be released
in two volumes, things felt different
this time around. The stakes became
higher following confirmation from
show creators Matt and Ross Duffer
that season four would be the second
to last of the show: “The beginning of
the end,” as they put it.
With the season’s plot taking place
across two countries and spanning
decades, it was poised to be either the
best season yet or the most scattered.
Lucky for us, the roll of the
20-sided dice has played in our favor.
The first episode picks up roughly
nine months after the events of the
previous season. While the majority
of the original cast of characters
have tried to regain normalcy for
their lives in Hawkins, Will (Noah
Schnapp, “Hubie Halloween”), Joyce
(Winona Ryder, “The Cow”) and
Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton, “The
Souvenir: Part II”), along with Eleven
(Millie Bobby Brown, “Godzilla vs.
Kong”), have relocated to the sunny
town of Lenora Hills, California.
Each tries to move on from the
effects of the Upside Down in their
own way. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin,
“The Boys Presents: Diabolical”) joins
the Hawkins High School basketball
team, Will learns to paint and Nancy
(Natalia Dyer, “Things Heard &
Seen”) leads the school newspaper.
But then their classmates start dying,
and our gang once again ends up in
the center of it all as they work to
learn the secrets of the creature in the
Upside Down that they believe is the
source of the killings: Vecna. As they
pry into Vecna’s past, some startling
revelations about the origins of the
Upside Down and Eleven’s powers
begin to be revealed.
While Hawkins may be cursed
with ever-appearing problems, thank
goodness the “Stranger Things”
writers’ room is not.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022 — 3
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a
reboot done right
When I was in high school,
my mom constantly teased me
about my refusal to watch “Top
Gun.” She always talked about
how good of a movie it was and
knew that a young Tom Cruise
in a military uniform would be a
strong selling point for me since I
had loved “A Few Good Men.” But
I was a spiteful teen — the more
she made fun of me not having
seen it, the less I wanted to. One
winter night, my parents cornered
both my sister and I, and I will
admit the movie was better than
I had expected (though a small
part of me isn’t too willing to say
that out loud). A few years and
one global pandemic later, “Top
Gun: Maverick” is finally gracing
our movie screens after being
pushed back several times. This
time around, I was much more
openly excited to see a “Top Gun”
film, and I’m happy to say that the
reboot exceeded my expectations
— and even the original movie. My
sister and I are already itching to
see the film again with the rest of
my family in tow, and we’re even
brainstorming our own call signs.
Tom Cruise returns as Pete
“Maverick”
Mitchell,
who
has spent the last few decades
working as a Navy test pilot. He
doesn’t appear to have grown
up much since the ’80s — he’s
still cocky and reckless, pushing
the limits of both his ability
and his commander’s patience.
Just as Maverick is about to be
grounded permanently, his old
friend Tom “Iceman” Kazansky
(Val Kilmer, “Batman Forever”)
calls him back to Top Gun as an
instructor for an urgent mission:
He must choose an elite team to
destroy a uranium enrichment
plant before it becomes fully
operational. Among the younger
pilots hoping to be chosen for
the mission are Jake “Hangman”
Seresin (Glen Powell, “Set It Up”),
Natasha “Phoenix” Trace (Monica
Barbaro, “The Good Cop”) and
Bradley
“Rooster”
Bradshaw
(Miles Teller, “Whiplash”) — the
son of Maverick’s late wingman,
Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony
Edwards, “ER”). Rooster still
holds a grudge against Maverick,
both for his father’s death and for
setting back his own career as a
pilot.
Right away, the movie lays the
nostalgia on thick. The opening
credits are almost identical to
the original, from the iconic main
theme to the title card outlining
the real life Top Gun program
to shots of planes flying off the
runway while Kenny Loggins’s
“Danger Zone” plays in the
background. But “Maverick” isn’t
a total nostalgia grab, nor is it a
reboot that completely copies the
original material (looking at you,
Star Wars). In fact, I’d argue that
this film has more of a plot than
the original. Instead of new Top
Gun students competing to see
who’s the best, the ensemble cast
makes up Top Gun graduates,
already the best, tasked with a
mission that races against time
and even gravity. The work that
everyone does at Top Gun is
dangerous, but the stakes are
much higher when there’s an
actual mission to complete — one
that everyone may not come back
alive from.
Tessa Bailey’s ‘My Killer Vacation’ should be
your next beach read
Tessa Bailey’s new novel, “My
Killer Vacation,” is a fun, funny
and killer vacation (get it?) from all
other thoughts and responsibilities.
Known for novels like “It Happened
One Summer” and “Hook, Line, and
Sinker,” Bailey pulls off another
successful romance novel that will
surely be a summer favorite.
The story combines the murder
mystery genre with romance, which
may be a combination that readers
don’t see often. The novel’s main
character, Taylor, is the reason
why this seemingly odd mix of
genres works. She is, in many
ways, a traditional romance novel
lead — brown hair, green eyes and
a sunshiny smile to match her
second-grade-teacher personality.
However, she’s also a fan of true
crime podcasts and harbors the need
to prove to herself that she can be
brave, which is why she hops on the
investigation train after discovering
a dead body in the vacation home
she rented for herself and her
brother. Taylor is paired with
Myles, a bounty hunter love interest
(complete with tattoos and a tragic
backstory) who is intent on keeping
her away from the investigation
and the danger that comes with
it. In these two characters, we see
how two utterly different genres
can come together in a puzzle that
showcases the best qualities of both
romance and mystery.
The novel’s success lies in its
characters. As is the case with many
romance novels, the side characters
are a blast — especially Taylor’s
brother Jude. He’s a hilarious
addition to the book, constantly
making remarks about the man in
his sister’s life, while also being
Taylor’s
number
one
defender,
protector, confidante and supporter.
The scenes with Taylor, Myles and
Jude are consistently entertaining
because their dynamic works so
well.
Taylor
and
Myles
fit
the
stereotypical
“grumpy/sunshine”
romance novel trope, but their
interactions rarely seem cliché or
predictable. The murder mystery
at hand allows readers to see them
outside of a completely romantic
context.
They
also
both
have
external worries, concerns and
insecurities, ensuring that they
are not solely defined by each
other. A romance novel’s greatest
downfall is when its characters
are so wrapped up in each other
that they forget everything else in
their lives, often losing the parts of
their personalities that made them
lovable at the start. Thankfully,
we don’t run into that issue with
Taylor and Myles — they do learn
from each other and change as a
result, but never at the cost of losing
themselves fully.
SABRIYA IMAMI
Daily Arts Writer
‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Volume 1 proves
the series can evolve, just like its villain
MALLORY EDGELL
Daily Arts Writer
HANNAH CARAPELLOTTI
Daily Arts Writer
This image is from the official trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick,” distributed by Paramount.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com
This image is from the official trailer for “Stranger Things 4,” distributed by Netflix.
Read more at michigandaily.com