Stranger Things Season 2 (Spoilers/Review)

So July has been a lot of fun, and I can't wait for more stuff to come out, but until then, let's talk some spoilers and discussion on S2 of Stranger Things? Yeah? Before we dive head first into some Stranger Things S3 discussion, which I most definitely have!

So Stranger Things S2 takes place about a year after the events of the first season. The kids and their parental figures are sworn to secrecy by the government, and they have to live their lives like nothing happened only a year prior with the disappearance of Will Byers and Barb. However, there are always nasty reminders, no matter how far back into their brains they try to put it all. Eleven is missing, and Mike isn't handling it well. He's hiding it from the others, as he sits in his basement reaching out to try and talk to her wherever she may be. Will is having what he thinks are visions/memories of his times spent in the Upside Down. Dustin and Lucas learn early on of a new girl in town who is kick ass at video games. There were only a couple of new players added to the game. Maxine aka Max aka Mad Max (played by Sadie Sink), her abusive step brother Billy (played by Dacre Montgomery), Joyce's new love interest Bob Newby (played by the wonderful Sean Astin), and the new head of the lab Sam Owens (played by Paul Reiser). I feel like all the new characters do indeed bring some new, unique perspectives and narrative's, and I feel like S2 does a great job of fleshing out the characters we already have.

Early on we pick up where everyone has been, as well as where everyone is headed. The kids are trying to be kids, and continue playing D&D in the basement. Joyce and Jim are trying not to be overbearing parents over poor Will. Steve and Nancy are trying to be teenagers, as Steve is getting ready to graduate with everything but honors. However, Nancy is still very upset about the events that lead to Barb's death in S1. This haunts her even more as not only does she have to hide it from her parents, but she sees them on a regular basis and she has to hold back. Everyone is trying to entertain the thoughts of having "normal" lives again, but let's be real, that's not really thing in this quaint little town now is it? A lot of people will tell you that S2 is really just a rehash in a way of S1, but really it isn't. Things have a few of the same beats, but you can say the same thing about James Bond movies or Star Wars movies. There is always going to be a sort of formula imbed into every JB and SW movie, but there will be new and exciting parts in between to tie it all together. So really to me, this criticism is kind of goofy? S2 does a great job of introducing us to not only new characters, but it does a great job picking up where the previous characters left off. Max is a great addition, as Dustin and Lucas kind of fight for her affection, but it's not obnoxious, and it gives Lucas time to shine as he tries to not only catch the eye of Max, but also catch her up on what has happened to this town before her arrival.

Max and Billy have come to Hawkins, Indiana all the way from California, and Billy isn't too happy about it. Every chance it gets he takes it out on Max, who can hold her own, but it's shown many times Billy is just stronger overall. He's not only a teen, and nearly an adult, but he's into lifting weights and sports. He stays in shape. This causes Billy to be a sort of "Alpha Male" and at first you do hate him, much like you hated Steve in S1 for being a bit of a douche. However, you start to see and peel back the layers as to why Billy is the way he is as the season moves along. You start to feel bad about, as well as the things he's been through, even if it doesn't actually excuse all of his behavior. Billy also manages to take over Steve's role of "king of the school" as Steve really doesn't fit into that crowd anymore since the ending of S1. Billy muscles Steve around multiple times, stepping up to him and challenging him every chance he gets. I even love throwbacks to early episodes later on when Billy knocks Steve over saying things like "I told you to plant your feet". Steve's character has the most growth in this season, and it's actually quite precious if I'm being honest. You see, as Lucas is trying to hang out with Max, Dustin spends a solid chunk of the season hanging out with the infamous Steve Harrington as Steve takes on not only a "babysitter" role through out the season, but he kind of acts like a big brother to Dustin. Giving Dustin advice and guidance through out. He even spills how he gets his hair so perfect using "Farrah Fawcett" hair spray to give him the bounce to get all the ladies. This is one of my favorite parts of the season, and it's funny that most will probably agree with me that it's also one of the best parts too.

Max is obviously welcomed to the group by Dustin and Lucas, but Mike isn't having it. Mike doesn't openly say it, but with some of the things he does say and how he acts, it's almost a defense mechanism to the threat of Max replacing Eleven. I'm sure this is obviously on purpose, as it parallels well with what Mike HAS been doing without the others knowing, trying to reach out to Eleven every single night. Max is a skateboarder and a top notch arcade player, and is a nerd like the others, but brings other perspectives that are even more fleshed out in S3. You feel bad for Max a bit in S2, because when she isn't being treated like shit by her brother, she has Mike acting like a dick to her for reasons she doesn't fully understand. Her reaction to Lucas catching her up on what has happened in the last year is pretty priceless too. I loved seeing Max added to the group that consisted of 4 guys and occasionally 1 girl.

Eleven is found to be hanging out with Hopper, as Hop has her cooped up in a small cabin in the middle of the woods about a month or so after the ending of S1. I think that while Hopper is a bit overbearing early on in S2, it makes sense for the character, as well as it makes sense to us as we've seen what the government was willing to do in S1 to get her back. He's paranoid and it starts to erode his relationship with Eleven as the season carries on. Hopper so badly wants to be a good father, but hasn't had the chance to be one with the passing of his own daughter years back. I love the parallels they made with the two of them, and how it did affect Hop's judgement on how to handle certain events. It humanized him past the yelling and sarcasm. I also loved his attempts at trying to be a decent father by building Eggo Waffle towers with whip cream and M&M's.

Of course this season also gave us some great moments with Will played by Noah Schnapp. In the first season, poor Will disappeared in the first episode, and wasn't around a whole bunch. Showing up periodically to give us a little hint at where he was at and showing us he was still alive through it all. S2 let's the character breath a bit, but also challenged the young actor in a multitude of ways and I felt he really stepped up and knocked it out of the park. From being scared of the "dreams/memories" to being possessed by the Mind Flayer, Will had it pretty rough in BOTH seasons, but it was a much more deeper impact to see it all unfold with S2. This also changed Joyce's character a bit too from being a scared mother not knowing where her baby was through out S1, to becoming a protective mother who wanted this "thing" out of her child in S2. I loved her growth in this season, and I love that she was the first to notice things weren't right. It's a theme that is seen through out all three seasons with her. Then of course, we get to Bob Newby. Good ol' Bob (who once again is played by the brilliant Sean Astin) is the love interest of Joyce. He has NO idea what happened in the previous season. I've seen some people say that Bob was really just a stepping stone for Hopper, and it couldn't have been further from the truth. Bob helped bring stability to Joyce's world after the events of the first season. He not only consoled her, he made her feel less alone and crazy. But the biggest thing he did, so big in fact it carried over to S3 and we will talk more about it there is, he put it in her head to move. To leave the memories and the craziness that apparently has now begun to hover over the once lovely town of Hawkins. To start over and put the whole incident with Will behind them. Bob helps push Joyce out of her comfort zone without being overbearing. He's charming and nerdy. He's also the reason Will got possessed in the first place, but that's besides the point. I love Bob Newby, and his untimely and gruesome death was felt by all of us.

One other thing I'm going to talk about that I loved, that will be pretty controversial to most who read this is, I actually liked Episode 7 in S2. Yep, I said that. You read that right. Why though? How could I? It didn't fit the ST universe at all! The characters were so cliché! Yada, yada, yada. I've heard it all before (Thanks Barenaked Ladies!) and honestly, I disagree with MOST, but not all the criticism placed on this episode. I agree that it wasn't placed right. I argue to this day that if the episode was swapped with the 6th episode and some of the scenes were just tweaked, I think it could have lend itself a bit more leeway. What do I mean by that? Well remember, through out the episode, Eleven sees visions of Hopper and Mike. She see's something is going on, but she isn't sure just what it is. We know what it is, because we saw those things in the prior episode. However, if it came before, it would have been more tense, and wouldn't have undermined the tension E6 brought to the table by the end of that episode. Hell, E6 is one of my favorite episodes solely for the Aliens references, let alone the fact that it's just a well shot, edited, and wrote episode. E7 comes on the heels of one of the most tense episodes in the show's 3 seasons thus far and it halts all momentum for this episode. That doesn't make the episode bad in my eyes. Just simply misplaced. The crack on the characters being "stereotypes" is either people missing the whole point of this show, or they do understand it, yet somehow want it to change JUST for this one episode. The biggest parts of this episode consist of finding out there are other "super powered" characters out there, while also sliding out the fact that Dr. Brenner is in fact still alive and somehow hiding his presence from Eleven. He knew her the best, so I'm sure he knows how to, but he's still doing it, and that's impressive all on it's own. The episode wasn't meant to be taken SUPER seriously, but it was suppose to flesh out Eleven's mom a bit more, from what happened to her in the first place, and establish the bigger world around the town of Hawkins. The issue is literally misplacement, and I still find it silly people hate that episode so much.

Cinematography was excellent in this show, I don't think it's ever bad, but with each season it does a better job then the previous showcasing that very point. Wide open shots that do a great job mixing CGI, practical effects, and the actors all in the same shots. Certain character moments are also just given more depth because of the astounding cinematography and lighting on display through out S2. If I had one solid complaint of S1 that I didn't put into that review, it would be that the season sometimes was a bit too dark. They fixed that in S2 and S3 easily by trying to back off the dark corridors and jump cuts a bit. Some of it will lend to the horror feel, but too much and you miss things like most of the scenes with the Demogorgon in the S1. Music is also just as astounding her in S2, as it was in S1. Great 80's hits take place as well as the original music created for the show itself give you upbeat feelings in certain scenes, as well as dreary feelings in others. The great synth sounds let you know when something good/bad is happening. While a lot of the beats returned to form in S2, they did manage to add some new themes to list to cover some of the newer characters. Creature design was great too, and menacing, even though the "Mind Flayer" is basically a giant black cloud, something about it's size and emotionless face strikes fear into me even to this day.

I don't have too many complaints about this season, but I felt like with the mix up with E6 and E7 is really the biggest issue for me. There were some "same-y" story bits in the formula, but it was the second chapter of an ongoing story, so honestly it makes sense and doesn't bother me like it does with others. But they could have mixed things up a little bit more. I loved the pairing up of certain characters. As I said before, Steve and Dustin were amazing and easily one of my favorite parts of S2. The conversations they had and trouble they got into was A+. Will, Mike, Joyce, and Hopper were great on the horror front as well. I'll touch more on it with S3 review, but with S4 and MAYBE S5 I wouldn't mind seeing even more new groups of our heroes as the different personalities clash and give us great humanizing moments as well as moments of absolute hilarity.

In the end S2 of Stranger Things was great, if not amazing. Stranger Things has become one of my, if not my, favorite shows of all time and I totally recommend watching through it at least once a year just to see what you might have missed the last time around. The cast is great and they bring it with each episode. Lighting, Sound, and Cinematography are all top notch and continue to get better with each episode and each season. The story is unique and the set up of the things like the creatures and the "Upside Down" are amazing. I'd say that S1 was just a bit better then S2 with it's pacing and once again the episode mix up. Once again, there wasn't much I'd change up, but I'll admit that some of the surprise and "freshness" of S1 didn't quite do as much in S2. However, there were still some great new threads and ideas here in S2, so with Stranger Things 2, I'd give it an...

9/10

That also includes my seal of approval. It belongs on your shelf, and if you want it there, Target does sell both seasons in some great packaging for like $20 for the Blu-Rays and $30 for the 4K. So that's it for this one, I've got Jessica Jones S3 up first to wrap up talking about the end of the MCU, and then I do have S3 of Stranger Things as I'm watching back through it to catch things I missed on the first binge of it. So stay tuned for that, and I'll see you guys on the next, OnTheShelf.