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There’s a new slice of sci-fi silliness starting Tuesday. It’s Pandora (Space, 8 p.m.) and it’s set in 2199, when Earth and alien planets have formed an alliance. Main character Jax (Priscilla Quintana), a tough-but-vulnerable young woman, starts a new life at Space Training Academy. Turns out she’s either the saviour of the universe or its worst nightmare.

Whatever. It’s derivative, silly and mind-numbingly stiff in execution. Jax is far from engaging, although she’s meant to be. Given the sci-fi context and the presence of murderous monsters, it makes you think of Stranger Things 3. Okay, well I did.

Now there’s a show that on conclusion, you can say, takes a distinct new path with its young female characters. (I’m summing up events and themes here, so there are spoilers. Beware reading on if you haven’t seen it yet.) It’s not revolutionary; the show’s strength is its charming depiction of youth, and it’s not overtly advocating for anything. But it was once a bromance about endearingly geeky boys and one inscrutable girl. Now it isn‘t.

The first theme to note is that several female characters are essentially oppressed at home or at work, but their strengths are unleashed when part of a gang, or community, of younger people. And when they’re under threat together.

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The enthralling Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, right), on whom so much depends, has to live under the strict rules of minder, stand-in Dad Hopper.Netflix

Most of the female characters are obliged to have a high tolerance for being patronized or ignored. The enthralling Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), on whom so much depends, has to live under the strict rules of minder, stand-in Dad Hopper. He’s a very controlling, old-school male. There is the near-requisite scene of Eleven going to the mall, getting her own clothes and makeover, and promptly dumping her boyfriend. There’s a teeny-bop silliness to that kind of empowerment. But when the monsters come and everybody, including the entire town, is in danger, it’s El who has the power to save everyone.

There’s Nancy (Natalia Dyer), who lives through unspeakable sexism at work at the local newspaper. But out of the workplace and investigating on her own, doing what the men at the paper can’t be bothered to do, she cracks the case, gets to have revenge on her horrible boss and she’s the one who fires the gun at the brainwashed Billy (Dacre Montgomery), who was a bully to begin with.

New character Robin (Maya Hawke) is the most galvanizing figure on the series. We meet Robin working at the Starcourt Mall ice cream shop Scoops Ahoy! Mainly she mocks co-worker Steve (Joe Keery) for his attempts to pick up girls. That’s pretty much what he thinks he’s good at. Then when things get serious, Robin is the one with the linguistic smarts who can crack an intercepted Russian code. She leads the gang on a dangerous mission and stays resolute. The scene in which she comes out about her sexuality to Steve is the most memorable of this season, more powerful than anything featuring ravenous monsters. Robin has no special power and no deep nerdiness. She’s just a very capable young woman.

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New character Robin, seen here, is the most galvanizing figure on the series.Netflix

Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) has spent two seasons being told by men that she’s exaggerating or imagining things. In this season, she’s presented as distinctly correct about most everything and abandons the role of worried mom to help bring down those no-goodniks with terrible power over her town. She plays a key action role in the final episode.

The promotion of tiny Erica (Priah Ferguson) is also an interesting move. Her role at first seems to be conventional sassy-mouth little sister, quick with the insults. But in Stranger Things 3, she steals episodes entirely with her droll command of the situation and very adult perspective.

There has been some criticism of this season of Stranger Things, mainly about it being on the slow side even if it’s just eight episodes. Some say it takes too long to get to the climactic battle in the final episode. But what’s happening is a more character-driven drama. More of these characters are women, and time is being taken to grow and empower female figures.

There’s no huge cultural shift happening here. What the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, have done is pull back from a boy’s adventure drama and present female characters who are at first lacking agency and then given plenty of scope to flourish in all their strength and smarts.

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