Stranger Things (Netflix)

[dashrendar44]

 

"I'm sorry! You ate my cat!"

 

Reference game wise, the Duffer bros stop feeding off King and Spielberg to go Cameron's Aliens route (bigger, louder), with a touch of Exorcist bathed in Lovecraftian ether spiced up with Ghostbusters and Gremlins gravy.

 

New characters (That mullet Zac Efron douchebag is disturbing, I couldn't take him seriously in all of his scenes because of his troubling resemblance ) and new issues arise, writing wise. Nostalgia berries are not enough anymore to substitute for character development and text/subtext so the directors/writers have to develop a mythology and characters of their own based on their own universe (and not the ones they lavishly co-opted as a short cut) and that's when things get a bit wishy-washy.

 

 

 

Though the first season was a relentless ride like a movie divided in 8 episodes, this second season is slower to get going then finally set up stakes in Episode 3's cliffhanger (The shadow Monster "infecting" Will and threatening Hawkins) but goes tangent*(Eleven's "sister", Eight, from the first episode) to get back on a fast track to stick the landing, the ride is uneven in pacing and writing, almost get stalled by constant back and forth between timelines, locations and characters "quests" as though the writers were getting lost to organize and tie all those threads they drew out in a tight and focused fashion.(kinda mirroring Will's plot drawing meandering tentacles in a sense). It's a hodgepodge, it develops things that weren't explored in the first season as in Lucas and Dustin's respective family ties, the friendship between Mike and Will, the context behind Hawkins lab but Nancy/Jonathan fling is annoying, Steve becomes the more interesting character out of the love triangle.

 

Ryder still overacts like a banshee ditching "WHERE'S MAH BOY?!!!" for "WHAT HAPPENS TO MAH BOY?!". Yeah, character development!

 

Sean Astin's presence as Ryder's new BF is a nice touch but he just plays a nice guy who is...just a nice guy dying...as a nice guy.

 

Of course, if you reference Aliens and cast Reiser, the writers are going to play up our expectations when we intensely expect the moment he will reveal his slimy dipshit side betraying our protagonists like Burke...

 

(OTOH, how could Johnathan aka 80's indie music fanboy mistook the party girl's Halloween costume as a Kiss cosplay when she's clearly wearing Siouxsie And The Banshees attire and make-up. She didn't even correct him; SMH).

*That episode 7 was like a side story out of a different TV series (Heroes or Legion because of the heavy X-men nod) being shoehorned in a straight-forward narrative. It's like the writers struggle to develop the Eleven's backstory that alienates and parasites the main narrative. Everything about Eleven's side story feels forced dragging down the main narrative aka the Apocalypse is coming and Will is its messenger. It doesn't quite gel, in fact, you could skip the seventh episode entirely and not miss anything necessary to understand the following episodes.

 
 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by dashrendar44

[Water Bottle]

Watched the second episode. I thought it was pretty good.

 

[*] Still no focus which remains concerning. A lot of it right now feels like it's treading water.

[*] Eleven's story of what happened right after she defeated the demargogon was good. Her plot really added to my enjoyment of the episode. Feel so bad for her!

[*] Pretty good cliff-hanger. Almost made me break my decision to do only one episode a day. Damn it! What's in the freaking trash can?

[*] Jonathan might not like Bob but I like Bob. 

 

Grade: B+

Season Grade (so far): B

[The Stingray]

Season 2 never really grabbed me the way season 1 did. I thought S1 was much more focused, engaging and heartfelt.
 

[Joel M]

Just finished. It did many things better than season 1 while also having some of its own problems. It might seem slightly worse than s1 because it doesn't have the same out-of-nowhere surprise factor of the forst time, but I actually think it's a little bit better than s01 overall.

Spoiler

Let's get the bad out of the way.

-The main arc wasn't as gripping as the first time around, it was bigger in an Alien-Aliens way but it took a lot of set up to get the narrative going, and some of the repeated elements felt a little too much. Especially Will's drawings on the wall which were so blatantly Christmas lights 2.0 it doesn't even work as a meta moment.

-Eleven spends the entirety of the season on the bench. I understand why they did it, but it definately hurt the show a bit that her and by associaton Mike who were essentially the leads last year got sidelined for almost the entire season. I think they used eleven to do some mythology building through her backstory since this show will last at least 4-5 seasons, but the execution was clumsy. The already much hated episode 7 is just not very good but it looks even worse by how it is placed in the season. It def felt like a backdoor pilot to a new show but I assume 08 or other lab rats like Eleven will eventually (re)appear on the show down the road.

-The #JusticeForBarb stuff didn't bother me, but they felt like a redundant subplot especially in the earlier episodes. At least the guy who played the conspiracy nut reporter was fun.

-I'm also not that crazy on the megamonster from the upside down being the tease for season 3. Yawn.

 

The good.

-Pretty much the season as a whole was much better structrured (episode 7 aside) and made the last 2 episodes where "all the things happen" much more rewarding than season 1 even did. The coda in the winter dance was all the feels because of all the character stuff that happened before.

-The 80s references are slicker and more diversified. They 're still everywhere, but it doesn't so directly riffs on one thing like how season 1 was a shrine of E.T. and some of them are really fun like Paul Reiser not being the exact douchebag anyone who's seen Aliens expects him to be.

-The New Characters. Billy was kinda worthless but he was more there to help establish Max into the show. Max was a fine addition, the show didn't overuse her nor tried to make her Eleven's substitute. She quietly assimilated into the group from premiere to finale. And what about Bob? He was a fine stock sidekick and then he got a glorious hero exit. 

-The Hopper-Eleven connection, Lucas and Dustin tension because of Max, Will getting some well deserved screentime and like every cast-member being much more confident and relaxed this time around. They all felt more natural and the world of Hawkings felt a little more lived in.

 

The Greatest thing ever

-That Dustin-Steve pairing was totally my jam. You can have the upside downs, the giant monsters and all of the kids with superpowers from 001 to Eleven. Just give my a Dustin spinoff with Steve as his older brother/mentor type. I'll take 7 seasons of it.

 

[Rorschach]

My ratings of the episodes:

1. MADMAX- B+

2. Trick or Treat, Freak- A-

3. The Pollywog- B

4. Will the Wise- B+

5. Dig Dug- A-

6. The Spy- A

7. The Lost Sister- C-

8. The Mind Flayer- A-

9. The Gate- A

Overall season: B+

I thought it was relatively the same in quality to the first season but episode seven was just so friggin bad. It felt like a C-grade X-Men spin-off series or some shit like that. It completely side-tracked from all the tension that episode six had built to. It honestly pissed me off. Thankfully the last two episodes are phenomenal so I can forgive at least one bad episode. On a whole, it was a good season but it wasn't nearly as great as the first one.

[AniNate]

Yeah, I get why episode 7 is... divisive. But otherwise this was a really terrific season. Kept my attention for nearly the entirety of my viewing. Definitely looking forward to season 3.

[DeeCee]

Spoiler

Millie Bobby Brown was still great in the episode but as others have said it felt like a back door pilot to an X-Men show and was out of sync with the rest of the season.  The pay-off with regards to 11 harnessing her powers just wasn't worth all the effort.  Also, with 8 being the teaser at the start of the season it gave you the expectation she would also come back to Hawkins and not actually effectively be a teaser from some future season.

Episode 7

Edited October 30, 2017 by DeeCee

[The Panda]

My thoughts

 

I thought it was overall a strong season.  It does some things better than the first and does many things worse.

 

I think it could have used more focus, and that it meanders a little throughout, especially with a few arcs that seem pointless.  I didn't like Nancy's arc, the conspiracy guy was annoying, the Jonathan thing felt like course correction from the previous season (even though I think Steve and Nancy were the better options to choose).

 

I liked that Dustin and Lucas were developed more, and Max was a good addition.

 

I wish there was more group interaction like last season, things felt a little disjointed until the end.  I also felt like Mike and Eleven were on the bench of some sort, despite being the driving force behind last season.

 

Hopper was done well, and probably the most complete character arc this season.  Winona Ryder keeps her schtick up, and it's fine, a little more bearable this season.  I also liked the direction they took Will.

 

Episode 7 is weak overall, but Millie Bobby Brown saves it and remains gripping as Eleven.  The squad wasn't a terrible idea, but it was too out of the blue to work.

 

Bob was a good addition, but his death didn't have full impact because he just felt expendable.

 

Everything with the kids continues to be great and Steve becomes a much more interesting character.

 

It comes together really well though, and the final two episodes are really great.  The performances and atmosphere are still top notch, and there's some really funny and heartwarming moments.  

 

I also loved the Snowball scene at the end, as well as Eleven's return.  They were too precious.

 

Overall probably an A-

 

[Water Bottle]

Third episode down. Would have watched it yesterday but some baseball game took forever to end. Am I right or am I right @Squadron Leader Tele?

 

Anyways:

 

[*] The Nancy story isn't as bad as people say it is but it's not working so far.

[*] Dart added a lot of focus to the boys story and Joyce realizing that Will's Upside Down aren't mere flashbacks is starting to add some momentum to the season. Woo!

[*] That was one hell of a cliffhanger. I hope Will is alright...but it's only episode 3

[*] Poor El. Kept prisoner then when she gets out, she thinks Mike is with another girl.

[*] Max is starting to work for me more. Her not-brother? Not so much.

 

Episode Grade: B+

Season Grade (so far): B

[Lordmandeep]

Continued trend of Netflix shows never matching up to their first season

[Cmasterclay]

My brother had the second season on and it just appeared to be mostly characters standing around in dimly lit rooms saying "we have to do at x at y or else z!" Did this turn into the Defenders while I wasn't looking?

[filmlover]

Finished 2 last night. Not as strong as the first season, and there was definitely a weak episode in there (#7), but I ended up digging it overall in the end and look forward to the third season.

 

Noah Schnapp is the MVP, although Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour weren't far behind.

[Ozymandias]

I haven't read much reactions but to me this felt like pretty standard stuff.  Its more than watchable, but it just doesn't have that focus and novelty that Season 1 had.  

 

And yeah, episode 7 was awful.  Wtf was that?

[DeeCee]

The last episode of season 1 suggests Brenner is still alive.  Towards the end the camera pans over some newspaper articles and one of says that Brenner is refusing to comment.

[Hatebox]

I enjoy this show in fits and bursts, but it's such a hot mess. The basic storytelling mechanics in any given episode are often pretty terrible.

[JohnnyGossamer]

On 10/29/2017 at 7:19 AM, The Stingray said:

Season 2 never really grabbed me the way season 1 did. I thought S1 was much more focused, engaging and heartfelt.

Couldn't be more obvious that this was planned initially as an anthology series. Second season was a complete dud. 9 episodes that could've covered 3 or 4.

[Rorschach]

 

This is great!!!

[4815162342]

Finished Season 2.

 

I think my favorite part of the season was Babysitter Steve trying to wrangle the Scooby Squad in various episodes.

 

 

Least favorite parts were the continuation of the Barbara stuff as well as the entire spinoff episode devoted to the Chicago gang. I think that the idea of more Power Kids floating around out there is something that should definitely be explored, but it should be a Major Plot Focus of a season, not something spun into a single episode. Eleven/Jane being split off from pretty much every major storyline for the first eight episodes also hurt I think, given she didn't have much to do other than her visit to her mom and the spinoff episode.

[75Live]

I decided to buy the season one special box for this.  The gimmick sucked me in with it being in a VHS cover and tape

 

I just got 100% on the normal setting on the mobile game too.

 

I still liked the second season even with the little flaws here and there.  I am probably going to give it a second go around soon

[RobinHood26]

Hated the prologue and episode 7. episodes 1-6 were good/fine, its was fun just hanging with the crew although the pace was kinda slow. I actually pretty much loved the last 2 episodes though for the most part.

 

I don't really grade TV shows but Ill give ST a B+ in general I guess.