Stranger Things (Season 2)

I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with this season that happened with season 1. Whenever I watch a season of Stranger Things, I get super invested and there is an initial point where I am just in awe of the season. But the real greatness, and analysis of the show doesn't really happen for a couple of days. The problem with that is that, especially for a TV series, my memory goes away pretty quickly and eventually my thoughts get stale and I don't feel right giving a half assed review.

This was my second viewing of Season 2 and this time, I had a lot more time to sit, digest, understand what worked and what didn't work in this season in comparison with the first.

I need to write this relatively quickly as I am running very close to having the next season spoiled for me on Twitter, but especially after re-watching the second season, I realize this is a season that deserves to be talked about.

So I really loved how the second season started off because it catches you up on everyone pretty succinctly. A theme of the second season is how do people move on or cope with a traumatic experience like the characters experienced a year ago when the show starts.

Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will are back to being nerdy friends. Will is trying to integrate back into how things were before the events of Season 1 but is struggling with coping as well as being under the overprotective eye of his mother who doesn't want anything like the previous year to happen to her son ever again.

Will also gets a chance to be a little more of a character. In the first season he was lost in the Upside Down and now he actually gets a chance to show off a personality and struggles, even though he's still being haunted.

Something I found really interesting in this season was how Joyce and Hopper have an uneasy relationship with Hawkins lab, the same group that caused all the problems in the first season, to help Will transition back to normal. Paul Reiser plays a scientist who is the new head of Hawkins lab who replaced Matthew Modine. He promises that the bad people who ran the lab are all gone, but there is still mistrust in the group.

Hopper has secretly brought Eleven into his care after she escapes from the upside down. She keeps her hidden so she can be kept safe from Hawkins lab and keep their friends safe from the government.

I'll talk about the relationships more individually, but I'll note at the top that the relationship between Hopper and Eleven is something that I remember not really expecting to love as much as I did. On one hand, its really sweet considering that Hopper lost his daughter and he now gets the opportunity to have that father role for Elle. But Hopper is a pretty fallible guy and Eleven is a curious young girl. There are moments that were kind of off putting between the two of them because of the really great clash of motivations and what they hold sacred. Hopper wants to keep the peace and keep Elle safe but Elle wants to go out and live a normal life. While neither of them are evil or bad, they act out on those motivations in almost uncomfortable moments and its really well done.

And then there's the return of the love triangle between Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve.

So I'll give the Duffer Brothers some credit. On one hand, they build up a somewhat formulaic love triangle where you kind of want Nancy to end up with Jonathan by the end of the first season. While at the same time, you give a really compelling redemption arc to Steve and make him one of the most likable characters in the second. It's weird because convention would say Nancy and Jonathan should be together but this entire season you feel like Steve is just a more likable guy overall.

Regardless, the Nancy and Jonathan plot line is probably the weakest of all the plot lines because it really struggles to reach the gravity of the other plot lines and makes two characters that were kind of complex in the first season, a little more simple and not as interesting.

And I'll talk about Steve later.

Like the first season, the majority of the season is broke up into different pairings of characters. They periodically intersect but eventually they all come together in the end for the conclusion.

And here lies the first problem with Season 2, it's kind of really scattered.

In season 1, characters were lumped into units with central characters taking the lead. A good example of this is the kid group. Mike was very much a central "main" character supported by Dustin and Lucas. And this group stayed as a unit for the entire season. Even when Lucas got fed up with the group, he didn't really stray too long to go do his own adventures, they barely cut to him until the others try to bring him back into the group. But in this season, they really try to amp up the roles of characters who previously were supporting characters. Because of this, this season seems more fractured because its exploring new characters or expanding on previously supporting characters like Dustin, Lucas, Steve, and the new characters.

You also have odd pair ups throughout the season because instead of characters sticking with one group, they kind of float in their own individual strand of the story. That's how you end up with a friendship like Steve and Dustin that nobody would have thought of in the first season.

I think in that situation it works. Another good situation where it works is pairing Hopper with Paul Reiser's character and developing that unexpected relationship between Hopper and Hawkins lab. My complaint is more when it undercuts traditional pairings like Nancy and Jonathan that just feel like it slows down the plot, or significantly decreases screen time for previously important characters like Mike.

All together though, giving individual characters isn't bad, I just don't think the format is as forgiving to a huge cast like this one has. Compare Stranger Things with another show that had an even bigger cast, Lost. Lost went week by week for 20+ episodes. This allowed for a big cast because if Locke, Claire, or another one of your favorite characters didn't get featured very strongly in one episode, you knew they would get an episode that focused on them in a week or so. Stranger Things is 8 episodes that makes the season feel like a very long movie narrative-wise. Episodes don't feel episodic, they feel like a piece of a mini-series, continuing an ever progressing narrative. So when the cast expands and everyone gets a motivation, love interest, or whatever, the episodes lost a little bit of focus because they're jumping from one character plot to another as opposed to Season one where it would go from the boys and Eleven, to the adults (Joyce and Hopper), to the teenagers (Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve).

The pairings are a little hard to define because, again, they shift. But essentially, you have the core kid team of Mike, Dustin, Lucas, sort of Will, and a new character, a girl named Max who is new to town and has her own issues.

Lucas and Dustin find themselves fawning after Max in their own way. I really enjoyed these characters as well as the addition of Max, but I think Lucas and Max end up closer to the boring side of Nancy and Jonathan because their individual story lines aren't as exciting and then they tag along with more interesting ones.

Dustin becomes more interesting because he finds a little demogorgen spawn and falls for it. I think this is a good example of how Gatan Matarazzo is going to do well after he's done with this show (as long as he stays away from reality punk shows that make him seem like a tool), but this was a portion of the show that, while I didn't outright hate it, it was kind of weird seeing Dustin avoid any kind of rational thought because he liked this little hell spawn creature.

While Dustin has always been a comic relief, he's also pretty smart. So when a new creature that is obviously from the Upside Down, and Will says its from the Upside Down, Dustin decides to keep it and be far too cavalier about it.

One difference, as mentioned before, is that Mike kind of takes a back seat in this season. Dustin and Lucas get a lot more screen time with trying to court Max or finding baby demogorgens that Mike is actually kind of a downer in this season because he's just moping over Elle being gone.

The weird thing is, I don't think I can really name one Mike did in this season that made him 100% necessary to the plot. There were honestly scenes that I forgot Mike was in the room and upon the second viewing, I realized that that's just a crazy shift from the first season where Finn Wolfhard was one of the break outs.

I am willing to guess that Finn Wolfhard had a busy schedule (filming IT included) and probably worked out a way to have a reduced role but still be an important part of the show. I noticed it the first time around, but this time I realized that Mike doesn't do much besides mope around waiting for Elle and be support for Will. And to be fair, I like those moments, especially in the last two episodes. Mike seems like he's the only friend that can really connect with will. But there are so much better moments between Will and Joyce or Jonathan that everything Mike does feels like its just doubling a role that's already been taken. The last two episodes is where he really shines and reminded me that Finn Wolfhard is a really good actor, but those two episodes do come with the caveat that it is weird that Mike suddenly starts to matter after quite a few episodes where he had about 6 lines of dialogue in total.

I've already talked quite a bit about how these two had the least to do in this season. On the surface, it's interesting because Nancy feels guilty about Barb as she never got the real justice that Will Beyers sort of did at the end of the first season. This is paired with the love triangle that kind of gets thrown aside for a quest to reveal the truth where they're paired up with an eccentric conspiracy theorist played by Brett Gelman. I don't think it's bad, its just not as interesting as hopper investigating the effect of the upside down is having on the world, or Will dealing with a smoke monster.

Once again, I really have to hand it to David Harbour because he plays just an amazing character in Jim Hopper. While he has a lot of influences from characters from 80's films, he's able to make his own fallible and complex, but also lovable character just come to life on screen. You don't always agree with his decisions or his methods, but at the end of the day you love the crap out of him and he brings a lot of the action.

Aside from a heart wrenching relationship with Eleven, which I will touch on more when I talk about her plot lines, Hopper takes the plot into the investigative realm where he's searching for clues as to the mysterious and ominous stuff going on around town. Again, the relationship between him and Hawkins lab is really interesting and intriguing.

While I'm on that, the supernatural/science fiction elements of the show are again still really on point. I think the show was in a weird place because there's an inherent urge to up the ante. The first season was so succinct in the fact that there was one monster, a world we knew very little about, against characters the show took its time to make us really care about. This time around they needed to keep that same feeling but make the threat greater while allowing room to grow. They needed to explore the world without getting too technical or dispelling it. This is a very tough line. I think the show did a good job as it was taking on a big challenge, but any of the issues come from the fact that they were following up a pretty stellar first season.

Joyce gets the opportunity to be more fleshed out in this season because in the first she was always on the verge of losing her mind because her son was missing. In this season, she's still over protective, but she's a normal-ish character. She's got a new boyfriend named Bob (played by Sean Astin) who is one of the best characters in the season. She has a really nice working relationship with Hopper that I really liked (and am worried they're going to ruin in the third season). But the most important thread is that she's still worried about Will. She's trying to help him deal with that they initially think is just PTSD from what he experienced the previous year. And I didn't remember this until the second viewing, but holy crap does Winona Ryder just bring her A+ Acting game, especially in the last two episodes.

Side Note: Bob man... who doesn't just love Bob. The show is trying to give a little bit of a wink towards his role in Goonies because this show is soaked in 80's nostalgia, but I will always see Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee and this show just makes me love him more.

Another Side Note:

This guy does nothing for the plot. He is literally only in this show to make fun of mullets, foreshadow how horny Season 3 is going to be, and be an asshole. I was amazed by how they brought his character in for the sole purpose of just being a straight up chaotic evil heel for almost no reason whatsover. I don't remember if we thought it was a misdirect, or if it was just meant to be a personal dilemma for Max, Steve, and the boys to overcome, but it's amazing how cruel this guy is just for the sake of being evil. He's not some big bad guy, he barely contributes to the plot, he's just an asshole.

So I want to talk about Will.

I am split on Noah Schnapp and his overall impact on this season. On one hand, I have to give him credit for expanding on a very small role from the first season to actually create a character, not just one we knew the old characters loved, but one that had real feelings and insecurities. So well done. But they also needed to create him in a way where it's almost like 'here we go again' as the upside down forces work through Will in the show in a slightly disturbing but interesting way.

I would say at the beginning, Will is a lot more interesting because he's coping and trying to get back to a normal life. At a certain point though, he becomes pretty one note because the shadow monster is inside him. It doesn't allow him to be a real character and that's where we rely more on the fact that established characters love Will and so should we. I think Noah Schnapp did a really good job, I just think they could have built up that possession just a tad more so when there's a twist, its a little more devious.

Relating to Will is the obvious 80's influence this show pulls from. It's still very much there. However, Season 2 finds itself in a difficult but familiar position of being the sequel and the influences relate to this. In the first season, they derived their main plot lines with homages to ET, Jaws, Goonies, and Stand By Me.

This time around, they take influences from much darker films like Aliens, The Exorcist, and Gremlins.

Let me be very clear up front, I by no means am calling Goonies better than Aliens or the Exorcist (or even Gremlins, I don't like Goonies). I'm also not saying Season 1 wasn't scary at moments. I am more saying that Season 2 delved into the edgier, less mainstream 80's films that, like a lot of sequels, feel darker. Some of that really works for this season, it just feels a lot darker. An example of this effect is how I imagine my parents would react to both seasons. My parents were more likely to watch a movie like ET or Close Encounters of the Third Kind before they would watch The Exorcist or Gremlins. Season 1 was already kind of dark, pulling from Night on Elm Street and Poltergeist, I just feel like it upped the ante that works for me, but maybe not some more mainstream audiences that were on board for the first season.

But finally, I want to talk about Elle.


Oh boy does Millie Bobbie Brown have a bright future.

So Elle has quite a bit going on in this season. She escapes from the Upside Down and goes to live with Hopper. I've talked about their relationship and how it's a father-daughter relationship with two people who don't know how to do functional relationships very well. It's great.

But Elle also has her own story of wanting to back to her friends but also figure out who she is. This ultimately culminates in her finding her mother, discovering what exactly happened with that situation, and then having an strange diversion episode where Elle goes off and meets another person like her who has powers. I remember when this season came out, people were not a fan of episode 7.

Before I talk about that episode though, I should mention that they did a clever little writing maneuver with Elle, especially since she only becomes more powerful in this season. One problem the Duffer Brothers faced by having a character like Elle is what do you do with a character who has OP level abilities and can solve a lot of problems by just mind powering it away. The same thing happened with Peter Petrelli after the first season of Heroes when he gained the ability to just take people's powers when he was around them. You can get away with ignorance and them not knowing about the problem for a little bit but Season 2 did what a lot of shows do and sent Elle on her own little side quest so she can't mind power the problem away until the end for a great climax. I like the way this season ends, but I did have a couple of moments where i thought, this problem could have easily gone away quite a bit ago if Elle was around to use her powers.

So about Episode 7.

I do understand some of the gripes about this episode, mainly due to where its placed in the season. Because you're probably binging the show, you saw all the build up to a bunch of demogorgens coming to tear Hawkins lab a new one and suddenly, boom, we're getting that story disrupted by a 40 minute episode of The Lost Boys meets Chronicle and yeah, it's a little weird. Its such a strange shift in tone, color, and story momentum that it feels weird.

However, I really like this episode.

Not only does it point towards more avenues where this show could go, it does some really good character building with Elle and her half sister Kali (or Eight). Early on, there is a really solid relationship that is built between these two's shared past and while it is an odd change of pace, it is pretty interesting if you take it out of the context its in.

It also shows off Mille Bobbie Browns acting talent as Elle starts making that transition from a starring mute science experiment, to an actually realized character. She has to reconcile her powers and the fact that she hasn't been able to have a normal life. She starts having real conversations and not just screaming. She gets some great acting moments and at the end of the day this episode worked for me.

I think one thing they could have done was get her to Chicago earlier and integrate some scenes with her there before hand instead of just dedicating a whole episode to that but I honestly

- About Episode 7: Early on, there is a solid relationship that is built between Elle and Kali (or Eight). I do agree that if you're watching the season the way it was meant to be watched, binging it, you may feel a little miffed if you're getting into the main story and suddenly that flow gets disrupted for a 40 minute episode of The Lost Boys meets Chronicle. Kali and her band of misfits are also really bad criminals. This episode does give Millie Bobbie Brown some really great acting moments. This season she really makes the transition from the wide eyed almost mute science experiment, to an actually realized character. She has to reconcile her powers and the fact that she hasn't been able to have that normal life she wants. She starts having real conversations and she's not just screaming, she's got some really great acting moments for her. I actually really like Episode 7 at the end of the day.

It also pointed towards the possibility that Matthew Modine's character would return and after a couple of viewings of both Season 1 and 2, I'm actually all for that.

So what are my expectations for Season? Well at this point, I have watched at least one episode of the new season and I like where its going so far. I'll leave any real thoughts on the season for my next review but the intriguing part about Season 3 is that Season 2 really wrapped up pretty clean all things considered. They of course allude to the fact that the Upside Down is still there and that of course alludes to more adventures to be had, but there's no clear antagonist. There's no clear direction its going and it could go anywhere.

I think one take away is that if the new season is anything like its predecessors, no matter how flawed Season 2 can be at times, I am a little more privy to Netflix's strategy in the next few years.

There has to be some recognition that there are a lot more streaming services coming out and the big Mouse in the room is Disney+, taking all the Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, etc movies off Netflix and putting them on their own streaming service. Netflix has always had competition but Disney+ and the past year have been the first time that I've heard more people express that they might end up cancelling Netflix in the future.

Netflix clearly can't live on Stranger Things alone, but I do think it lays the ground work for the kind of content Netflix needs to be creating in order to stay relevant. They not only need to create good content, but it has to be marketable and catch fire the way this show did.

I think Netflix had a pretty good thing going a few years back where they were focusing on original science fiction and horror stories. Obviously that can't be the only thing, but I think Netflix needs to expand this more as well as figure out what they're gonna do when The Office and Friends leave the streaming service, but that's a different conversation.

I find this intriguing because while I've gotten bored with Netflix, they still remain a pretty reliable source for some really good and unique science fiction stories. Stranger Things is a great example, but The Haunting of Hill House blew my mind. Russian Doll and Black Mirror expanded the imagination and even Umbrella Academy had me curious for what's next.

I'm just saying, I've always seen Netflix as pretty reliable and I think other people feel the same. I don't want that to go away.

But overall, where does Season 2 of Stranger Things rank? Do you prefer the edgier 80's movie references in this season over the first season? Comment and discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for Reading!