SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 ARE BELOW! NO
SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2!
After the first season of Netflix’s Stranger Things became the most talked
about show of 2016 The Duffer Brothers, the show’s creators, found themselves
in quite a predicament. How can we possibly make a follow up that’s worthy of
the original season’s brilliance? The Duffer Brothers don’t quite get there
with season two of Stranger Things.
However, Stranger Things is still the
most fun you’re going to have watching a television show.
The second season picks up one year after
the first season ended and largely involves the characters attempting to return
to a sense of normalcy. However, the Upside Down, the alternate dimension
haunting Hawkins is still active. The characters ultimately realize that
returning to a normal life isn’t possible at that moment and realize that they
must do battle once again against the Demogorgons that threaten to take over
the small town of Hawkins, Indiana and once again Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is
at the center of the conflict.
First thing I need to get off my chest is a
mild critique of the Stranger Things soundtrack.
The 80-inspired synth score is tremendous and the use of popular music from
that era is great as well because it reflects certain character personalities.
Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) listens to punk and 80s alternative rock, which
reflects his character’s outsider status, and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery)
listens to 80s rock bands like Queen which shows he’s one of the popular kids. The
only problems I had with this season’s music is that I did not hear one Prince
or a Bruce Springsteen song despite the fact that 1984 was the pinnacle of
their careers. Another thing I noticed is that despite the fact this show takes
place in 1980s Indiana, I did not hear one song from Indiana native John
Mellencamp in either the first or second season. This didn’t ruin my enjoyment
of the show, though. I’m just nit-picky when it comes to music.
New characters are introduced in the second
season with mixed results. A young girl named Max (Sadie Sink) starts school
that our protagonists attend. She immediately draws the attention of Dusty
(Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) who both clumsily vie for her
affection. Mike (Finn Wolfhard), on the other hand, can’t stand her because he
hasn’t gotten over the apparent death of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and
doesn’t feel Max is worthy of being included in the group. The group ultimately
comes into conflict with Max’s abusive older step-brother, Billy (Dacre
Montgomery) who is a bully that pays tribute to every bully that was in a 1980s-teen
movie. This character serves absolutely no purpose other than to give the kids
a human antagonist instead of a Demogorgon. Another new character that was
added is Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) who is now in charge of the research facility
that created Eleven. Unlike his predecessor, Owens is much more helpful to the
main protagonists as he attempts to find out what’s wrong with Will. Sean Astin
also plays a new character named Bob Newby, who is Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder)
nerdy new boyfriend. Astin’s performance is one of the highlights of the show. He
plays the nerdy father figure convincingly because that’s probably what he is
in real life.
Episode seven is when a whole other group
of characters are introduced. The tone of the show shifts during this episode
and I’m still not quite sure what to think of it. Unless the characters and
plotlines from this episode carry over into the third season, then I’m not sure
what the point of it all was other than to extend an eight-episode season into
a nine-episode season. I didn’t love this tonal shift in this episode, but I
didn’t completely hate it either. However, I felt it dragged down the overall
flow of the season.
The acting performances in this series are
top notch once again. Winona Ryder is absolutely fantastic as Joyce Beyers.
Winona changes her performance from a frantic and at times crazy mother looking
for her son into a protective and brave mother. Ryder may not have kids of her
own and had I not known that before watching this show I would’ve thought
otherwise. Ryder truly knows what kind of lengths a mother is willing to go in
order to protect her children. David Harbour’s portrayal of Chief Jim Hopper is
good as well as the character finds himself in a similar situation to Joyce’s.
Charlie Heaton’s performance as the lonely Jonathan Byers really conveys how
certain young men are unable to properly convey the emotions they feel towards
girls that they have feelings for. Joe Keery is given a bigger role in this
season as Steve Harrington and he knocks it out of the park. In the first season,
he was a jerk that ultimately had a heart of gold, but that changes in the
second season as he is struggles to maintain his relationship with Nancy Byers
(Natalie Dyer) who still feels guilty over her friend Barb’s death in the
previous season. Nancy and Steve’s relationship in the second season of Stranger Things is similar to many
relationships high schoolers have. One is madly in love with the other person,
but that other person doesn’t feel the same way.
The performances by the kids in this show
and their chemistry together is still the backbone of Stranger Things success. Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown will
probably have the most success long term out of all the kids. These two are
already starting to get big roles in Hollywood movies. Wolfhard starred in It (2017) and Millie Bobby Brown will be
starring in the new Godzilla film. The funniest and most heartwarming scenes
from this show come from all of these gifted child actors. The final scene of
this season epitomizes that as it captures the awkward transition from pre-teen
to teenager perfectly.
Was the second season of Stranger Things as good as the first?
No, it missed by just a hair. However, Stranger
Things is still one of the most exciting shows on TV and people my age will
be watching this show with their kids when they get older. Stranger Things is this generations equivalent to The Goonies (1985) and Back to the Future (1985). It’s a piece
of popular culture that will be recalled with great reverence by the people who
were lucky enough to experience it when it first came out.
Overall Rating: ****1/2
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