STRANGER THINGS
SEASON2 REVIEW: MORE IS DEFINITELY MORE AS WE RETURN TO HAWKINS.
The second season of Stranger Things was hands down my most anticipated watch of 2017 and after the rousing success that was its debut season, expectations were incredibly high and fans were eager to dive into Hawkins and see how our favorite characters have fared since the events of season one's finale. I have to admit that I was among the many people who had doubts that Netflix and The Duffer Brothers could at least equal the nostalgic awesomeness and perfect pacing that was season 1 for the second time and for that reason I embarked on the quest of bingeing the show with my fingers crossed.
I'm pleased to say that I was grossly disappointed and delightfully so because Stranger Things 2 met and surpassed whatever expectations I had, building off the same elements that made the 1st season so great, season 2 was nothing short of a thrilling ride. So without any further ado, let's get to the good and the bad of the new season.
THE GOOD
Season 2 has so many positives to take away and a lot of credit has to go to the writers doing a very good job of fleshing out the characters and adding more depth to them for the second season as well as exploring their post-traumatic stress as a result of the events of season 1. Going into the new season we knew things would not be the same with the characters and were quickly shown how each character was has been affected and how they were dealing with the stress. The effect of Will's time at the "Upside down" is quickly made apparent to the viewers as he was struggling with being treated as fragile and damaged by his friends and family and also having to deal with being called "zombie boy" at school because everyone thought he was dead. Will's post-traumatic stress is well expressed and Noah Schnapp who didn't have much to do besides feel cold and look dead turned in a tremendous performance for season 2 and was for me the best actor amongst the kids.
Speaking of the kids who are perhaps the best thing about the entire show, season 2 did a great job of exploring their characters with Lucas and Dustin getting some expansion as we're given a closer look at their families which is something we didn't get in season 1. We see more of Eleven's backstory and the reveal that there are other children like her who were experimented on and gained powers helps to expand the scale and scope of the show beyond the confines of Hawkins and creates room for an exciting prospect to be explored in future seasons. The characters have always been the best thing about the show and in season 2 we were given enough character depth such as Lucas' and Dustin's interest in newcomer Max as well as Dustin's arc which was fun to watch and it did feel like Dustin was much more in the driving seat this season and Gaten Matarazzo really shone this season.
The new additions character additions to the show were great as well, Sadie Sink's Max was a great a great foil for the boys to bounce off and it made for some great scenes with awesome exchanges but really that was all she was great for as she didn't contribute significantly to the outcome of the series' events. Max's brother Billy played by Dacre Montogemery took up the role of hot bad boy mess left vacant by Steve and speaking of Steve his development into a much more responsible young adult as well as his exchanges with the kids (Dustin in particular) was so much fun to watch and was one of my favorite aspects of the new season.
Of all the new additions to the show, none was more important to the plot as Bob Newby, Joyce Byers' new boyfriend played magnificently by Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) who filled the role of unfortunate charmer doomed to die left vacant by Shannon Purser's Barb. Bob was even more of a charming and pure character than Barb filled with so much optimism that it hurts and all of that made his death even more painful but I have to admit I kinda did see it coming (kinda).
Speaking of the kids who are perhaps the best thing about the entire show, season 2 did a great job of exploring their characters with Lucas and Dustin getting some expansion as we're given a closer look at their families which is something we didn't get in season 1. We see more of Eleven's backstory and the reveal that there are other children like her who were experimented on and gained powers helps to expand the scale and scope of the show beyond the confines of Hawkins and creates room for an exciting prospect to be explored in future seasons. The characters have always been the best thing about the show and in season 2 we were given enough character depth such as Lucas' and Dustin's interest in newcomer Max as well as Dustin's arc which was fun to watch and it did feel like Dustin was much more in the driving seat this season and Gaten Matarazzo really shone this season.
The new additions character additions to the show were great as well, Sadie Sink's Max was a great a great foil for the boys to bounce off and it made for some great scenes with awesome exchanges but really that was all she was great for as she didn't contribute significantly to the outcome of the series' events. Max's brother Billy played by Dacre Montogemery took up the role of hot bad boy mess left vacant by Steve and speaking of Steve his development into a much more responsible young adult as well as his exchanges with the kids (Dustin in particular) was so much fun to watch and was one of my favorite aspects of the new season.
Of all the new additions to the show, none was more important to the plot as Bob Newby, Joyce Byers' new boyfriend played magnificently by Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) who filled the role of unfortunate charmer doomed to die left vacant by Shannon Purser's Barb. Bob was even more of a charming and pure character than Barb filled with so much optimism that it hurts and all of that made his death even more painful but I have to admit I kinda did see it coming (kinda).
THE BAD
As with just about any show out there, Stranger Things 2 was not without its problems and it isn't anything near almost perfect first season but really I was not expecting it to reach those heights. One of my problems was episode 7 where Eleven embarked on an episode-long journey to find Eight, one of the aforementioned kids who was also experimented on and had powers. The idea was to introduce us to other characters outside Hawkins and expanding the scope of the series which is fine by me but the entire episode felt sorely out of place, trivial and totally irrelevant to the main plot and the decision to take up the whole episode was a poor one.
Another problem is that although season 2 should be praised for great characterization, Mike did feel left out, sure we saw how he was coping with the events of the first season as well as losing Eleven but besides that, he had little or nothing to do and Finn Wolfhard was vastly underutilized which is a shame because he's such a great actor. Also as good as the new additions were, Dacre Montgomery's
Billy felt a bit forced, unnecessary and it did seem like the character was as confused as to what his motivation was just much as the writers were.
The justice for Barb arc embarked upon by Nancy and Jonathan was kinda unnecessary, it felt like it wasn't in the plans until later down the line and even if it was in the plans, it felt too much like a #justiceforBarb plot. It did not feel genuine, rather it felt like some sort of attempt by the writers to appease Barb sympathizers everywhere.
THE VERDICT
All in all, Stranger Things 2 was a fun to watch and thrilling ride. Was it too derivative of the first season? sure but it worked, the writers chose not to take too many risks and big leaps but instead build off all the elements that made season 1 the rousing success that it was. Fun characters with great chemistry, 80s nostalgia and a healthy dose of laughs.scares and thrills. Another resounding success for Netflix and the Duffer Brothers, it's too bad we have to wait another year to binge another season.
Rating: 8.8/10
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