![]() ![]() A single female figure, with a mess of short, brown curls, drops into the lair of the supreme monster on an industrial elevator and stops the madness at the 11th hour. These monsters operate with a hive mind and obey a giant, master creature, and any attempt to research them puts innocent lives in danger. In both works, the action is built on a single beast from the previous chapter, multiplying into a slew of toothy murder-machines. James Cameron’s bullet-riddled masterpiece is everywhere in Stranger Things 2, especially its back half. That doesn’t mean there isn’t also a ton of outright aping of Aliens. With Owens, Stranger Things is doing what it does best: not just mimicking the art of the 1980s, but twisting it into something new and delightful. ![]() All is not as it seems, even after we think we’ve figured out that all is not as it seems. Sam Owens: Just as Burke wasn’t an ethnic caricature in Aliens, Owens isn’t simply a pastiche of Burke. But therein lies the magic of Reiser’s stunt casting as Dr. And, once again, the more we learn about his loyalty to his shady employers, the less we trust his genial grin. Once again, he’s not exactly who he pretends to be. Once again, he plays a Jewish archetype: this time, the silver-haired doctor, full of quips for both the kids on the examining table and their parents. Given how much Stranger Things 2 trumpets its devotion to Aliens, it’s no surprise that Reiser is included, nor is it a surprise that he eases back into some of Burke’s traits. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter One: MadMax’ The only stereotype he embodies is one well worth throwing tomatoes at: the male gaslighter, always willing to insincerely and half-heartedly apologize after he does damage to the women around him - only to make things even worse for them afterward. And yet, as Burke, Reiser gives us a fully realized (if despicable) figure, not an offensive caricature. To make matters more dangerous for us Members of the Tribe, Reiser is one of the great Jewish character actors, able to deploy a nebbishy panache that almost makes you wonder whether Burke was the name that the Rabinowitz family was assigned at the interstellar version of Ellis Island. Burke is the clever capitalist, eternally devoted to the dollar at the expense of human dignity, smarmily ingratiating himself while secretly planning your sacrifice at the altar of mammon. On the page, Paul Reiser’s character in Aliens dances near the border of anti-Semitic stereotyping: Carter J. ![]()
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