Stranger Things 2: the Good, the Great and the Not-So-Good
I confess that a year ago I was one of those sad souls that tried to resist the pull of Stranger Things. No, it had nothing to do with the ‘hype’. In fact, the hype is what made me finally give in. It had to do with my initial resistance towards being sucked into yet another television show. After all, watching any TV series is quite a commitment!
When I finally sat down to watch the first season I was blown away by it. I could see all the little nods to movies and books I had grown up with –we children of the 90’s enjoyed quite a few reruns of 80’s movies and TV shows. But, most importantly, I could get behind each of the characters. The kids in particular –played by excellent young actors!- caught me by surprise.
So, of course, as soon as Season 2 was announced I was simultaneously excited and terrified.
As we all know, horror doesn’t always do well when it comes to sequels. Most of them end up jumping the shark, obliterating the magic of the original, or the filmmakers simply try to recreate the formula over and over until it feels worn-out.
To my surprise, season 2 of Stranger Things manages to escape this ancient curse of the genre!
I binge-watched the entire season in one day, and I must say it matched –and in some matters even surpassed- its predecessor.
Here are some of my initial appraisals regarding this new installment. Keep in mind that I will be delving into Spoilers territory, so peruse at your own risk!
Also, I have only watched the series once, so it’s very likely I missed some elements in my first viewing. All the more reason to watch it once more!
The Good
All characters move forward
A common sin of sequels is either ditching its original characters entirely, or having them regress to their starting point. Stranger Things does neither of the two.
One of the characters that worried me the most throughout the entire season was Steve (Joe Keery). After his incredible turnaround in Season 1, I was terrified that he would end up returning to his pompous, bully self. And in some moments, particularly during the early stages of his breakup with Nancy (Natalia Dyer) I thought to myself: ‘Oh, here we go!’.
Fortunately, the show moved away from doing that. Yes, Steve shows some jealousy regarding Nancy and Jonathan’s (Charlie Heaton) budding relationship. However, it’s understandable. And he also doesn’t lash out at his ‘rival’ or tries to coerce Nancy into staying with him. He accepts and even supports her choice.
This palpable growth can be appreciated in all of the other characters as well.
The kids, the teenagers and even the adults make conscious choices that sometimes turn into mistakes, they learn, and they move forward. And isn’t that what we want from the characters of any narrative?
Eleven and Hopper
Of course, the heart and soul of Season 1 resided largely in both Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour). Looking back, both have a slightly similar quest of finding redemption as well as learning how to re-enter the ‘normal’ world. So, why not put these two characters together in Season 2?
Fortunately, the writers do just that. Both characters still have a lot of healing to do, and seeing them stumble as they try to find a way of doing so is heart-warming and exciting.
What I enjoyed the most is that the showrunners didn’t fall for the easy cop-out of making Eleven adjust immediately to normal life. Instead, she struggles, as she is entering her rebellious teenage years while simultaneously trying to understand how her powers work and the consequences of using them. It can’t be easy! And the writers understand this.
Likewise, Hopper must also fight with his own demons. On one hand, he has the completely normal parental instinct of wanting to protect his child, and on the other, he has to deal with the serious magnitude of having this kid in particular be found by the wrong people.
Eleven and Hopper are two broken souls trying to mend and grow together, and the promise of Hopper adopting her in a year means we will be seeing more of this development in Season 3.
I can hardly wait!
Will
Physically absent throughout most of Season 1, Will (Noah Schnapp) is finally put under the spotlight in this new season. And boy, it pays off!
One of my worries going into this new installment was that I wouldn’t like having the character so heavily featured this time. While I enjoyed the actor’s portrayal in Season 1, the truth is he appeared in it only briefly. I was afraid the dynamic of the boys would be messed up somehow, or that I wouldn’t be able to believe him when so much of the plot relied heavily on him.
Luckily, Noah Schnapp is quite a talented young actor, and he delivers fully in every single one of the more demanding scenes. And there are many! He was definitely a standout in this new season.
Now, I do hope Will doesn’t continue to be the victim in Season 3. It’s time to have him fight back and have some time to develop him as a character as well.
‘Mad Max’ and surprising new characters
Season 2 of Stranger Things brought some new characters into the mix, most of whom really complemented the group beautifully.
One of my favorites was probably ‘Mad Max’, or Maxine (Sadie Sink). I confess that similarly to how I felt about Will being more prominent this season, I was initially iffy about her presence. I feared she was going to be used merely as a new love interest to help Mike (Finn Wolfhard) forget about Eleven. And although a rivalry between the two girls is indeed hinted at, it didn’t play out in a stereotypical way. In fact, it ends up being a misunderstanding.
Having Max be Lucas’ (Caleb McLaughlin) romantic interest was a surprising twist for me. Just as surprising was the fact that Max is actually a great character. She is tough, brave, intelligent, and her initial reaction to Lucas’ story about what went down in Season 1 is actually believable and organic. Having a new character like her, with her reservations, keeps the story fresh and interesting.
Also, that little wink of using her to push back against the –undeserved- backlash Season 1 received due to its ‘lack of originality’, was both hilarious and genius!
Another character I liked quite a lot was Bob (Sean Astin). At first, I was utterly convinced he would turn out to be a bad guy. He was way too perky and all-around good to be anything but a spy! Yet, the show actually surprised me by going the opposite direction and making him kind of a hero. He actually was good!
If there is a complaint I have regarding him is that having his character die in this season was extremely cruel to us. Showrunners: how dare you!
Finally, another surprising ‘good’ character was actually Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser). After planting the seed of the evil scientists in us from Season 1, I was also convinced he was actually interested in harming Eleven –was anyone else feeling a little paranoid at this point?-. But, yet again, the show pulled the rug under our feet!
Overall, these three new characters definitely surprised me, and I’m actually excited to see Max and Dr. Owens be more fleshed out in the next season.
Unexpected team-ups
Continuing with the characters and their evolution, it’s impossible not to mention the different combinations we got throughout the 9 episodes. It’s also particularly exciting to see the three generations (kids, teens and adults) having to work together to fulfill their goals.
Some of my favorite interactions during Season 2 came from unexpected associations, like Steve and the kids, or, like I mentioned before, Eleven and Hopper.
The relationships that were hinted at in the previous season are better explored in this one. For example, we delve into the depth of Will and Mike’s friendship, we see the romance between Nancy and Jonathan bloom, and we even get a glimpse of the family dynamics of Lucas and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo).
It’s an excellent choice that helps further the lore and makes the characters feel like actual individuals instead of walking horror tropes.
No easy solution
Having a show be heavily based on previously cemented genre rules and archetypes is difficult. It can make the plot easy to figure out due to the audience’s knowledge of this preexistent material. Luckily, in many cases, Stranger Things strays away from what seems to be the predictable easy way out.
A great example of this is in Will’s interrogation scene, when the characters recount shared memories in order to stir his human side and ‘wake him up’. It would be a cheesy way out, but most of us would expect it and accept it because it’s familiar to us.
However, the show ends up turning away from the easy solution. Instead, the character not only continues to be possessed by the alien creature, but has to communicate with his family and friends through an alternative method. And it takes picking up on a very small movement to actually realize what is happening.
Similarly, other moments in the series are planted as possible mechanisms of getting rid of the menace, yet they prove to be ineffectual and naïve.
Yes, the show does lean into some less complex solutions at times, but it’s refreshing to see the characters struggle realistically instead of having everything handed out to them.
Cinematography
There is no denying it: Stranger Things is a beautiful show!
In this new dawn of television, we are getting more and more used to seeing larger-than-life productions that look and feel like one long film split into smaller pieces. And this one is no exception.
In fact, Season 2 looks, for the most part, even better than the original. With one very noticeable exception –which I will mention later in this article- it maintains the ‘small town’ vibe, but it also feels larger in scope and risks, with some really great moments, beautiful frames and great pacing.
The Great
The Reunion
Yes! It was the moment we were all waiting for throughout the entire season, and which successfully made my heart skip a beat.
The reunion between Mike and Eleven was quite possibly the most beautiful moment of Season 2, followed closely by Eleven’s reunion with her mother. Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown give possibly some of their most emotional performances in the entire show in just minutes. It’s heartwarming, gratifying, and it’s set up beautifully so that as soon as you see the door open you know exactly what’s going to happen.
What follows after in episode 9 is just as exciting, and the big finale with the kids is marvelously rewarding and sweet after a season full of tension and heartbreak.
The Not-So-Good
Episode 7
Of course, not everything was on point this season, and one of my biggest grievances was with episode 7.
Granted, I understand why Eleven/Jane needed to make the voyage out of Hawkins to meet her long-lost ‘sister’. She was presented –not so subtly- as a kind of spiritual advisor that could teach the girl how to harness her powers and use them for good.
Nonetheless, the tonal shift was quite noticeable. The style of the episode didn’t fit at all with the style we had become familiar with throughout Season 1 and the first 6 episodes of Season 2. It also didn’t help that it was perhaps the most predictable of episodes, and it was full of characters that were mostly tedious and terribly clichéd. Only Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) is mildly interesting, but even her actions can be foreseen from miles away.
The only two elements that redeem the episode are Eleven’s ultimate choice, and the possibility that Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) might actually be alive. But since the latter revelation has no payoff in this season, we might have to wait until Season 3 to see what it’s all about and how it will affect Eleven.
Billy
Like I mentioned before, some of the newer characters are actually praiseworthy additions to the cast. But although I’m tempted to say the same about Billy (Dacre Montgmery), I feel like this character ended up being way underdeveloped.
As a fan of evil human characters, I thought Billy’s interactions with Max showed a lot of prospect for something great and terrifying. In fact, I thought he would be the equivalent of Henry Bowers -from Stephen King’s IT- to the children. The scene in which he almost runs them over certainly seemed to hint towards that.
Yet, despite a couple of menacing scenes, he crumbles easily and ends up fulfilling no other purpose than terrifying Max, being inexplicably racist, and antagonizing Steve. Basically, all I feared Steve would be in Season 1.
What I did appreciate is what seemed to be some visual callbacks to Jame Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs. From his little dance in front of the mirror, to his father calling him a ‘faggot’, it seems like there’s something to explore with this character that just didn’t seem to be fully accomplished in this season.
Granted, Billy is not the only unfledged secondary character in this season, but it’s certainly the one that seemed to have the most potential out of all of them.
Effects and editing
Finally, although I do stand by my assessment that this is a beautiful season, I did notice a few missteps when it comes to the visual construction of the show.
One of the biggest strengths of the first season is that the monster remained mostly unseen. It appeared in the shadows, briefly, leaving it to us to complete the image. However, this season placed the monsters under the spotlight, while also increasing their numbers considerably.
As a result, in some scenes, the monsters look like something out of a video game instead of a real menace, as the effects don’t seem to be fully done.
Moreover, some of the editing needed a little bit of work. For example, on several occasions, the characters can be caught repeating the same movements in different frames. It’s a minor detail, but it took me out of the story a few times.
Overall, I loved Season 2 of Stranger Things! I can’t wait to rewatch it more calmly and see what other tidbits I can catch. If you haven’t seen the show at all, do consider catching up on this Halloween weekend.
You won’t regret it!
