Drama
Stranger Things
The newest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things continues to blend ’80s nostalgia with ever-darker spiritual content and horrific violence.
There’s a rising star at Sammy Davis Sr. Junior College, and her name is Courteney Potter.
She’s the head cheerleading coach for the school, and she’s consistently led the team to victory. In fact, Courteney’s just one championship shy of being the “winningest coach in college cheer history.”
That’s before a leaked video showcases an intoxicated Courteney giving out a “best booty” award at a team celebration.
With that, her career comes tumbling down.
Despite getting fired, Courteney isn’t ready to throw in the towel. If she could just get that last championship, she’d be happy to retire on top of the cheerleading pyramid. And, hey, it’d make a good story for the camera crew who originally chose to follow her around because of her accomplishments rather than her controversies.
Courteney finds her chance at Heådltston State Junior College, a name that’s as strange as the students she coerces into joining her new cheer squad: There’s Madonna, a narcoleptic who falls asleep as fast as a fainting goat; kleptomaniac “Peaches”; and the middle-aged, “peaked in college cheer” Stevie.
Somehow, Courteney’s going to turn these students (and more) into a functioning team.
Once upon a time, NBC released the mockumentary The Office and made a bunch of money. Then, the network premiered Parks & Recreation and made some more.
Then NBC executives realized that they quite liked money; and so they dedicated much of Peacock (NBC’s streaming service) to the release of new mockumentaries, including American Auto, St. Denis Medical andThe Paper.
Not for lack of trying, none of those shows have made as big of a splash as NBC’s earlier successes. To be perfectly honest, Stumble probably won’t, either: It’s too niche and feels more slapped together than previous entries.
Sure, Stumble has the standard mockumentary setup going for it. It introduces us to a variety of awkward, hopeful characters who you can’t help but cheer for as they find their stride. It has the mobile-camera feel adding to the living-world charm.
But Stumble also contains some sexual humor, crude language and light violence, which add unnecessary weight to the show’s pyramid. And many will find that the pom-poms aren’t enough to distract from those issues.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After getting fired, Courteney finds a position with a small Oklahoma college as their new head cheerleading coach—but she still needs to put together a squad.
Courteney shows the camera a TikTok video of men and women dancing in revealing underwear. (In the video, their lower regions are censored by black bars.) Courteney gives out an award to the cheerleader with the “best booty.” People wear tight shorts and sports bras.
Boon, Courteney’s husband, talks with Courteney about having children. Boon makes a sly comment about his wife’s rear as she runs away. The couple shares a kiss. Unaware of the camera crew, Boon wears an open bathrobe, exposing himself just offscreen. He kicks the cameras out of the bedroom so he and Courteney can have sex.
A woman falls from the top of a cheer pyramid and snaps her foot at an unnatural angle (while it’s pixelated, we can still make out the injury). A football player suffers a serious concussion. A woman admits to bashing a girl on the head with a can of peaches.
Courteney drinks alcohol with her team. A man admits to getting a “meth head” pregnant.
Someone says that the “Lord had other plans” for his life. Courteney attempts to motivate herself by saying, “Jesus, be a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path.”
A variety of heavy crudities bleeped out over the course of the episode, some meant for comedic effect. But we still hear two instances of “a–” and one use each of “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.” God’s name is used in vain five times. Someone flips his middle finger (though it’s pixelated).
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
The newest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things continues to blend ’80s nostalgia with ever-darker spiritual content and horrific violence.
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