TV Review - Netflix's Stranger Things, Season 2

It only gets stranger.

Stranger Things is a 2016-present television series created by Matt and Ross Duffer, produced by 21 Laps Entertainment and Monkey Massacre Productions, and distributed by Netflix. The second season stars Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour. It was nominated for twelve Primetime Emmys and did not win any.

"I'm going to my friends. I'm going home." - Eleven

Plot

A year after Will Byers mysteriously disappeared, the Party is still recovering. Mike is struggling with Eleven's departure, while Will is still dealing with flashes of the Upside Down. As Hawkins Lab attempts to right the wrongs of their past, a power beyond what anyone could've imagined begins to threaten the small Indiana suburb once again.

The Sweet

Stranger Things 2 is definitely a weaker season, but it's still pretty great.

A great second season will always expand on the first season, and Stranger Things does that. Oftentimes, sophomore entries will give focus to smaller characters from season one, and I think that's where this season shines the most. The main two standout characters in this season are Will Byers and Steve Harrington. Will is one of the strangest characters on the show, because he's the focus of the first two seasons, but he doesn't have a ton of screentime. Season two gives him his dues, though, and we really see him struggling with the trauma of the Upside Down. Noah Schnapp is the most overlooked actor in the entire series, because he absolutely nails everything they give him here. He can be heart-breaking, intense, terrifying...all of this at 13 years old. Will's character has been criticized for being underutilized in later seasons, which I agree with, but he is one of the brightest spots of season two.

And, of course, this is the season where everyone falls in love with Steve Harrington. Steve was originally supposed to not be redeemed in season one and actually get killed, but Joe Keery was so charming that the Duffers changed his character. You would never be able to tell that this wasn't the original plan for the character, because the way he is written feels like such a natural progression. We saw him get humbled after being beaten up by Jonathan in the previous season, and, here, he isn't mad at Nancy when she breaks up with him. He has come so far from the self-obsessed douchebag in season one, and it is just so heart-warming to see.

I was going to mention this in the previous paragraph, but I have to devote an entire section by itself to Steve's relationship with Dustin. TV shows are always impressive when they can create an awesome duo out of two characters you would never expect to get along, and Stranger Things is the primary example of that. Steve and Dustin and Arya and the Hound are the best unexpected duos in TV, and this is a Stranger Things review, not a Game of Thrones review. Gaten Matarazzo and Joe Keery have fantastic chemistry, and the juxtaposition of Steve's cool-guy, somewhat airheaded personality with Dustin's ultra-nerdiness is just so incredibly fun. This relationship is one of the heartbeats of Stranger Things, and it all started here.

The other relationship that serves as one of the emotional cores of Stranger Things is Hopper and Eleven. Hopper is my favorite character on the show, and this dynamic that he has with El is one of the biggest reasons why. You see the father who lost his daughter get blessed with the outcast who never had a real parent, and the result is one of the most powerful, heartfelt relationships on the show. Dustin and Steve are awesome, but Hopper and El have real emotion tied to them. Their fight scene is one of the hardest scenes to watch in Stranger Things, because their conflict feels so real. Hopper can be aggressive and stern, and Eleven doesn't know how to entirely abide by societal rules because of where she grew up. Watching them figure out how to manage their new father-daughter dynamic is just absolute gold, and I think it makes for some of the most powerful stuff on the show.

I also think season two is where we get the best new characters. Max, Billy, Bob, Owens, and Murray are also introduced in this season, and literally all of them are great characters. Max and Billy serve as a foil to Eleven and Steve, respectively. I love Max's tomboyish personality and the conflict it creates within the party. Billy also feels like the truly unredeemable version of Steve, and I think he works as that. Bob is just the best. Sean Astin is so good at being this lovable nerd that is a completely pure heart. There's no twist: Bob is just a genuienly good guy who goes along with all of the craziness around him. Dr. Owens is one of the most underrated characters in the show. Casting Paul Reiser is absolutely genius, because you don't trust him off the bat. His character in Aliens was such a sleazeball, and Hawkins Lab is so suspicious, so watching Owens go from this guy you don't trust to a genuienly honest doctor who wants to help is just great writing. And, of course, Murray. One of the funniest and weirdest characters on the show who is just played to absolute perfection by Brett Gelman.

I also think that season two works as a great sequel to season one. The Stranger Things seasons often feel independent of one another, but I think seasons one and two work as a great overall story. They find a great way to connect back to certain things that we learned in season one and explore Eleven's backstory a bit more while also capping the season off with the incredible Snow Ball that we were promised at the end of the first season. It compliments season one really well, and that cannot be said about a lot of second seasons.

The Sour

I, like most people, do think season two is probably the worst season of Stranger Things.

Right off the bat, it feels like, by focusing on characters like Steve or Will or Hopper, they took the spotlight off of some of our major characters from season. This is where the downfall of Mike begins. He is one of the best characters in season one, but he spends the rest of the series being really whiny and annoying because the writers don't have any idea where to take his character. Joyce also has a lot less to do this season. She just kind of sits around, angry at the situation that Will is in. This is disappointing, because all of the characters were so great in season one, so it's very noticeable when a few of them take a step back this season.

Of course, the major criticism of this season is the entire Lost Sister plot line. I still think they will make this plot pay off by bringing back Kali in the season five, but either way, this is the only truly bad element of Stranger Things. It feels like the actual Lost Sister episode was a backdoor pilot (an episode meant to be a secret setup for a spin-off show), and I really hate that. The characters aren't developed. The story isn't interesting. It does a good job of informing Eleven's journey, but it honestly just feels like it belongs in a different show. She is completely disconnected from the main story, so every time it cuts to her story, it just feels less interesting.

I do think that this season definitely lacks a bit of the magic of season one. Season one really nailed the tone of feeling like a Stephen King-Steven Spielberg combination, and season two doesn't hit that note perfectly. It's darker and heavier than season one, but not really in a good way. Season four is darker and heavier than the other seasons, but the tone is really good for the story they are telling. It feels like this season is darker and sucks some of the fun out of the characters. I know I complained about him already, but just look at Mike. he is such a jerk in this season because he is traumatized from season one and misses Eleven. That is a darker, sadder route for his character to take, but he suffers from that rather than benefitting from it.

This season also lacks the mystery that season one had. That was one of the main things that made season one great: it was mysterious. There were plenty of twists and turns. Will's body being discovered in the lake is a great little twist that furthers the mystery and makes you more suspicious. Season two doesn't have anything like that. You know pretty much exactly what is going on the entire time. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just feels like another negatively-skewed comparison to season one.

Final Thoughts and Score

Stranger Things 2 gives upgrades to major characters and works to create so many of the emotional bases that make the show special, but it does not quite reach the heights of season one.

Still, it's a Sweet. Age range is 11+.

SWEET N' SOUR SCALE

Sweet (Great) Savory (Good)

Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible)

"Stranger Things 2"

Fun Factor: 8.5/10

Acting: 9.5/10

Story: 8.5/10

Characters: 9/10

Quality: 8.5/10

Created by Matt and Ross Duffer

Rated TV-14 for moderate bloody violence, frightening themes and images, language, suggestive content, thematic elements

Premiered on October 27, 2017

Episode runtime: 50 minutes

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven

David Harbour as Jim Hopper

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers

Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers

Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair

Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler

Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers

Joe Keery as Steve Harrington

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield

Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove

Paul Reiser as Sam Owens

Sean Astin as Bob Newby

Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman

Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler

Linnea Berthelsen as Kali Prasad

Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler

Catherine Curtin as Claudia Henderson

Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair

Jennifer Marshall as Susan Hargrove

Will Chase as Neil Hargrove

Kai L. Greene as Funshine

James Landry Hébert as Axel

Gabrielle Maiden as Mic

Anna Jacoby-Heron as Dottie

Rob Morgan as Officer Calvin Powell

John Paul Reynolds as Officer Phil Callahan

Aimee Mullins as Terry Ives