The Boroughs review: Netflix’s Stranger Things follow-up recaptures the magic of season 1

When describing the huge success of Stranger Things, it’s common to say that brothers Matt and Ross Duffer caught lightning in a bottle. The Netflix series combined rising ’80s nostalgia with sci-fi, fantasy, and horror tropes, while giving viewers around the globe the experience of watching the cast go through their own “coming of age” story across five seasons from 2016 to 2025. Its popularity broke Netflix servers several times, and there are now several spin-offs centered on the characters’ adventures in the fictional town of Hawkins. The Duffer Brothers didn’t just capture the lightning; they turned it into a franchise.