'Stranger Things: The Experience' Is an Interactive Bonus Episode of Netflix Series (Review)

By Brian Jones

Stranger Things has been a huge hit for Netflix since it began streaming in 2016. After an epic fourth season where the finale was nearly two and a half hours long, fans wanted the fifth and final season yesterday. There's no telling when Season 5 will drop, but some fans can be part of an unofficial bonus episode, thanks to Stanger Things: The Experience where fans are thrown into Hawkins and have to use their powers to save the city. 

PopCulture.com attended Stranger Things: The Experience in Atlanta, which is where the show is filmed. The experience starts with fans being checked in at the Hawkins lab for a sleep study. The scientists at the lab give concerned looks to the participants because they know something is not right. There is then an orientation explaining what the study will include. But as that is going on, the lights began to flicker and the power goes out, indicating that something strange is going on.

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(Photo: Netflix)

From there the participants take part in a puzzle and are tested on their powers, the scientist in charge tells his boss about what they can do. It turns out the boss is Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) who is in charge of the Hawkins lab. This all leads to more tests, but that's when things go haywire. The scientist leaves the participants in a room as he tries to figure out what's going on. And as that's happening, the kids from the show jump in and tell the participants they need to help them get El (Millie Bobby Brown) and Max (Sadie Sink) out of the Upside Down.

Participants then use their powers to fight Demodogs and even Vecna to save Elle and Max, which is arguably the best part of the show. That part of the experience is in 3D, which makes it feel as if the Deomodogs are really coming after you. The experience ends with a celebration at Mix-Tap, a collection of Stranger Things' greatest hits and everything 1980s. Fans can play old-school arcade games, buy VHS tapes and eat ice cream at the famous Scoops Ahoy while listening to some of the best songs of the 1980s. There are also "reporters" from the Hawkinsville newspaper asking what happened during the experience. And if you tell them what really happened, they think you were dreaming. 

Stranger Things: The Experience is produced by Netflix and Fever and first opened in New York back in May. The following month, the show opened in San Francisco followed by London in August. After its run in Atlanta, Stranger Things: The Experience will head to Los Angeles with other cities to follow. 

This experience is something all fans of the show should take part in because it has everything that makes the series enjoyable. It keeps you on your toes and makes you feel you really have powers. And while Stanger Things: The Experience is great, it's also a reminder that fans aren't ready for the Netflix show to end because of the impact it has made on different generations.

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