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Review: Stranger Things Season 2

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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