‘Stranger Things’ is back. So is our ’80s obsession

Stranger Things is a nostalgia-drenched adventure set in the 1980s town of Hawkins, where a group of kids stumble into government secrets, alternate dimensions, and monsters straight out of their Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Guided by friendship, bicycle rides, walkie-talkies, and the extraordinary powers of Eleven, a girl who escapes a sinister lab, the gang faces creatures from the Upside Down while navigating the awkward, hilarious business of growing up. Now, nearly a decade after the show first premiered, the fifth and final season is finally here. It promises the ultimate showdown: the Demogorgons are back, Vecna’s return looms large, and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) seems headed toward her most dangerous battle yet.

If you’ve never dipped a toe into the world of K-dramas, Reply 1988 should be part of your initiation. Set in a lovingly recreated late-’80s Seoul neighbourhood where high-waisted jeans, home perms, and cassette players are practically supporting characters, the show revels in a pre-texting era when delivering a single sentence meant walking to someone’s doorstep…and somehow staying there till the end of the day. It’s a tender, hilarious tribute to community, to miscommunications that spiral into comedy gold, and to the joy of simply existing together with the people you love. Equal parts comfort-watch and emotional rollercoaster, Reply 1988 was magical when it first released and feels just as timeless now.

The Goldbergs follows the delightfully chaotic Goldberg family through the gloriously over-the-top 1980s, filtered through the camcorder of the youngest son, Adam, who documents every meltdown, misadventure, and mall trip like a tiny Spielberg. Loosely inspired by creator Adam F Goldberg’s own childhood, the show is a riot of era-defining details: neon-bright fashion, leg warmers, shoulder pads, Reebok Pumps, VCRs that needed actual muscle to operate, and video games that beeped more than they entertained. It’s also a portrait of ’80s parenting—less helicoptering, more dramatic shouting from another room. Warm, loud, nostalgic, and irresistibly goofy, The Goldbergs feels like flipping through someone’s VHS home tapes…if those home movies were secretly a sitcom.

Think of Dark as the brooding, European cousin of Stranger Things, the one who shows up at family gatherings in a leather jacket, quoting philosophy, and refusing to explain the plot. Set in the small German town of Winden, the show begins with a child’s disappearance but quickly spirals into something far more intricate. Families across three timelines become entangled in a secret that spans generations, a wormhole beneath the town, and a cycle of events doomed to repeat itself. It trades Dungeons & Dragons for brainfucking time travel, hopping between eras (including a meticulously recreated ’80s), and some utterly insane plot twists.

Set in the neon-splashed, hairspray-heavy world of mid-’80s Los Angeles, GLOW follows a ragtag group of aspiring actors, misfits, and absolute weirdos who stumble into the world of women’s professional wrestling. At the centre is Ruth, an earnest, struggling actor who finds herself cast as a spandex-clad villain in a low-budget TV wrestling show loosely inspired by the real-life Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (or GLOW). What follows is a deliriously fun mix of power moves, big hair, glitter, friendship, and behind-the-scenes chaos as the women figure out who they are—both in and out of the ring. Packed with ’80s pop culture, VHS aesthetics, leotards brighter than the sun, and choreography that’s half-camp, half-heart, GLOW is a love letter to the decade and to the messy joy of building something together.