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Stranger Things season 2: Get hype!!!

shaneo632

Member
Just finished it. It was decent but definitely underwhelming. My spoilery analysis:

PROS:
+ Acting is still really good across the board
+ Strong direction
+ Original music is great
+ Max is an excellent addition to the cast, also really liked Paul Reiser's character
+ Sean Astin was awesome

CONS:
- Not having Eleven rejoin the gang until episode 9 was an ambitious gamble that didn't really pay off for me. Her three main arcs weren't particularly interesting; being locked in with Hopper was good at first, but hunting down her mother was boring and the group of outcasts was goofy crap that felt like it belonged in a different show
- 80s pop-culture stuff still feels very pandering and insincere. Like Dusty with Dart was just riffing lazily on E.T./Gremlins with him hiding the creature from his family and using candy to placate him.
- Use of pop music felt aggressively on-the-nose.
- The demo-dogs were crappy and generic looking
- Some really bad CGI
- Didn't care at all for Nancy's storyline. zzzzz
- The giant Cthulu monster that featured prominently in advertising is barely in it, and the final shot is a fucking cocktease for it appearing in S3
- Final dance scene was mega-cringe.
 

dakun

Member
ok so my mini review with spoilers:

Overall i'm very happy with the season. My Con list is going to look longer because they are more specific. The Pros greatly outweigh any disappointment i have though.

Pro:
+ great character development, every character got time to shine
+ acting was superb like last year
+ new characters fit in perfectly, didn't distract from the main cast, only added to the show
+ new relationship dynamics were great (Mike/Will, Dustin/Lucas/Max, Eleven/Hopper, Dustin/Steve)
+ I gotta point out Will.. amazing kid actor. He did for this season what Eleven did last season. You were scared for him, sad for him, scared of him, etc.
+ loved Chapter Seven, and i know i'll probably be in the minority. Yes it was a comeplete 180 to the rest of the season. But i loved that they explored Eleven in a different setting with different characters. She became more badass.
+ the music was as great as last season.
+ Snow Ball.. yeah what we all wanted to see, no matter how cheesy it got.

Con:
- Nancy jumping from Steve to Jonathan came off as quite forced. They were together for like a year after the end of season 1 and somehow it took just days for her to jump emotionally from Steve to Jonathan. Should've just ended season 1 on that note if that's were they were going anyway.
- wasted opportunity to go deeper into the 008 storyline and make her more important. Showing her in the first 5 minutes of the season only to ignore her for the rest of the season (minus chapter 7) kinda got me excited for nothing (which i was after that intro)
At least it shaped Eleven's character for the last two episodes.
- Brenner MIA. I'm guessing he'll play a bigger role in Season 3 or 4.
- Eleven´s mother storyline. Didn't think it worked in Season 1, don't think it worked in Season 2. Hopefully they're done with that
 

jason10mm

Member
What? People have finished it already?

I want folks to binge an entire season (season 2!) of "24" as punishment! I gotta think most shows are just not meant to be mainlined like this, even netflix shows where the writers know its gonna happen. I wonder if the complaints against a lot of their shows (especially the marvel ones) would lessen if folks didn't try to watch 8 hours of them in one daY.
 

H1PSTER

Member
Loved everything to do with this series, I felt it built on the first and still felt very much like "Stranger Things" despite the obviously higher budget.
 

Wink

Member
Episode 3 or 4

Nancy uses the fucking phone to tell Barb's mum to meet cause she hasn't been honest... god I hate when characters established as smart and levelheaded do stupid as fuck things for plot reasons.
 

dakun

Member
Episode 3 or 4

Nancy uses the fucking phone to tell Barb's mum to meet cause she hasn't been honest... god I hate when characters established as smart and levelheaded do stupid as fuck things for plot reasons.

haha this is so funny
 
Going to start on this tonight.

Also, thanks for the OT. Seems a bit weird without the proper title format and comprehensive OP, but... baby steps.
 
Finished this tonight, loved it, was a little slow to start off with, but yeah i loved it :)

Also...
how was the pull out.... hahaha
 

SDCowboy

Member
Just started season two. The soundtrack in the first episode is phenomenal. I hope it keeps up throughout the season.
 

kittoo

Cretinously credulous
Finished it. Much worse than first season. It had its moments but by the second half I just wanted it to be over.

Main criticisms-

1. Why was dustin being so stupid about that pet?
2. The love triangle between the 3 teenagers was stupid. The girl looked like jumped to Will's brother too quickly.
3. Winona Ryder's character, of all, being the 'screaming non-acting dumbass bitch' when Bob gets attacked. Stop screaming and do something! This is the archetype I hate most.
4. That 'Eight' and 'Eleveln' story was stupid and added little value.
5. The 'things' seemed no threat at all, except one time in the lab when they get released.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
Man I went crazy and got to Episode 8. I absolutely love it so far!! It's not as good as season 1 but I'm thoroughly enjoying it however.
 

Forearms

Member
I'm going to start watching next week as my wife and daughter will be out of town for a couple weeks. I may even rewatch season 1 before I dig into 2. I'm excited :).
 
Episode 3 or 4

Nancy uses the fucking phone to tell Barb's mum to meet cause she hasn't been honest... god I hate when characters established as smart and levelheaded do stupid as fuck things for plot reasons.

I don't think you understand what she was doing

did you not get the fact that she called her over the phone on purpose so they would get caught and be able to record the scientist inside the lab??? like cmon man use your head
 
I love these characters. It has some issues but it's overall great. I don't think it's significantly worse than the first season. I can't wait until season 3.
 

Atrus

Member
Just finished a long day of work and settling in for some Lovecraftian 80's adventure.
Time to dive into the Upside Down.
 

gatti-man

Member
This feels like stranger things “fear the walking dead edition”. Nothing is happening. The show is moving at a snails pace. Huge step back from the first season. I’m not all the way done but six episodes in id give it a C. Just watching bc of season 1 if it wasn’t for being invested I’d be out.
 

ClumpSoul

Neo Member
I liked S2 over S1, better character development and the acting is on point, also the character moments between
Hopper and 11
where a highlight of the entire series.

However I think we can all agree..

That Chapter
7
is some straight trash, really off the mark with this episode, felt like some generic
superhero "find yourself/origin story" bullshit. just awful
.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Watched the first 5, not really digging it so far. This show ONLY works binge watching because if this aired week to week, people would've dropped it. The pacing is just incredibly stretched out. Usually these Netflix shows have a problem where nobody is telling them to edit down scenes, don't really see that problem here...the main story just isn't grabbing me. Feels like a lot of splitting people up again to draw things out.
 

gatti-man

Member
Watched the first 5, not really digging it so far. This show ONLY works binge watching because if this aired week to week, people would've dropped it. The pacing is just incredibly stretched out. Usually these Netflix shows have a problem where nobody is telling them to edit down scenes, don't really see that problem here...the main story just isn't grabbing me. Feels like a lot of splitting people up again to draw things out.

Agreed. It’s a problem when you can fully explain an entire season of show in a couple of minutes to someone. It feels like the show is in love with itself in season 2
 
U3Q2eEz.gif


Absolutely not as good as the first season. Really seems like they didn't have a good idea where to go with the show after it became successful.

Just another victim of a studio trying to catch lighting in a bottle twice.
 

shaneo632

Member
What? People have finished it already?

I want folks to binge an entire season (season 2!) of "24" as punishment! I gotta think most shows are just not meant to be mainlined like this, even netflix shows where the writers know its gonna happen. I wonder if the complaints against a lot of their shows (especially the marvel ones) would lessen if folks didn't try to watch 8 hours of them in one daY.

I actually did this years ago before "bingeing" was even a thing. I kept watching 24 until I fell asleep. Lasted until the start of Season 3.
 

G-Bus

Member
Oh man,the lack of thread activity is going to take a bit to get used to.

Liking it. Two episodes in. Wife and I are doing our best not to binge the whole thing in a day or two. See how well that goes...
 

Vkandrew

Member
My wife and I just finished watching Season 1 for the first time and can’t wait to binge season 2, hopefully on Sunday. We absolutely loved the 80’s nostalgia so we’re hoping for more of that.
 

t-storm

Member
Absolutely not as good as the first season. Really seems like they didn't have a good idea where to go with the show after it became successful.

Just another victim of a studio trying to catch lighting in a bottle twice.
The Duffer Brothers have said they’ve always had the story mapped out until season four, maybe five.

I binged watched all the way to half of episode four.

I’m liking it! Was worth the wait. And yes, just like the first episode, the music stays solid throughout :)
 

McLovin

Member
I’m on the last episode this shit is so ass
Edit-Then again I’m watching it on acid so it might just be that:shrugs:
 

Kremzeek

Member
I'm not bingeing it- I'm limiting it to no more than 2 eps per day.
Otherwise the eps just kind of blend together and I get fatigued and I don't appreciate it as much.
 
I’m 4 and a half episodes in and I’m really liking it so far. I was excepting a complete retred of the first season after some of the reviews, as far as I’m concerned it hasn’t. It going into a couple of interesting new directions.

Minor spoiler

loved the use of the gremlins music in one of the dart scenes

It’s on par with the first season for me.

Final note hop continues to be the best thing about this show. Fascinating character
 
This thread giving some bad vibes.

I'll say that when I finished the first season I would have been perfectly fine with it ending there. I never cared that much about the UpsideDown

edit: Also did anyone here feel like the actress playing Nancy looks really unwell in this? Like she has an eating disorder.
 

Z..

Member
Just finished episode 3. Sorry, this is going nowhere fast. Why such obvious narrative devices and the exact same tropes? -.-'
 

TTOOLL

Member
Watched episodes 1 and 2. The setting and the music are too good. I love it.

Story wise it seems really similar to S1 so far...
 
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