The latest edition of Netflix’s Stranger Things franchise, Stranger Things 3, premiered last Friday and it was fine though there’s a sameness to the proceedings this time around.

Part of this sameness is due to the format, which revolves around the adventures of a bunch of young boys growing up (essentially Stephen King’s Stand By Me with a helping of Salem’s Lot) which is a problem because it’s always too reminiscent of other things to ever become unique on its own terms.

What works really well is that it’s well acted, with very good and interesting CGI.

It also helps that Netflix appears over with it’s experiment with 13-episode seasons, which certainly didn’t help the Marvel Television/Netflix series.