re: Stranger Things 2 Spoiler Thread

Finally finished. I didn't dislike a single thing about it. The snow ball ending was perfect. Monsters from another dimension can't hold a candle to asking a girl to dance for the first time.

Watched S2 and finished it up this past weekend. I liked it a lot, but thought it wasn't as good as S1.

Things I didn't like:

It felt like they tried harder this time to make it 80s than it feeling more natural in S1. That's not too much of a knock, because I love that time period, but it just didn't have the same feel in a lot of places with me as S1 did.

The demidogs kinda bothered me. I felt like there was this awesome "villain," if you will, the Mind Flayer, and it was very underutilized. It was supposed to mean the end of the world and all of that, but it never felt like it. Outside of it affecting Will physically/mentally (and sort of trying to come through the portal at the end when Eleven was closing it), it never felt like the threat that they wanted it to be...and started the season off showing it as...and most of the season was about the dogs and Dart and whatnot.

Jonathan and Nancy's path was just super weird in S2, and Brett Gelman's character felt weird and out of place for me. It's almost like they didn't know what to do with Nancy and Jonathan, and they sort of made that up on the fly.

I dug the addition of Max, but hated the older brother character. It just felt super tryhard and really out of place. Not to mention the dude looks like he's about 30 and supposed to be in high school. I get that they wanted a human villain on the show (especially since the people at the Lab were nicer this time around), but he fell flat for me big time. The scene with him and Mike's mom was cringeworthy.

I didn't like how most of the kids were separated for almost the entire season. I love the kids playing off each other, but mainly it was Lucas and Dustin (with some Max and Steve scattered in), then Mike and a fricked up Will. I wanted to see more of them together.

Episode 7. Stupid, and totally unnecessary IMO. I get what they were trying to do, but it could've been accomplished without wasting an entire episode on it.

Things I liked:

The addition of Sean Astin was great. When I first saw him I was like Oh great, this oughtta suck. But he was good, and I liked his addition to the story. His death was extraordinarily stupid and avoidable, but I really dug the character.

The acting. For the most part, I felt like it was solid, and better than S1 (looking at you, Winona Ryder).

The addition of Max. I liked what that brought to the dynamic of the friends, especially Dustin and Lucas sort of fighting over her a bit. That was played out pretty well with how it would've happened IRL with kids crushing on a chick.

Speaking of that, the ending with the Snow Ball. That was great too. Showed that with all things considered that are going on around them, they are still kids dealing with kid things. Sometimes asking a girl to dance is the hardest thing in the world. And sometimes it's the easiest...but you'll be rejected over and over. And sometimes you just have to fricking go for it and make a move. Nancy coming in for the save was a nice touch as well, and it was awesome that when that happened, the other bitchy girls took notice.

I also liked that the season ended on an upper, while still foreshadowing the future somewhat.

Eleven/Hopper. I thought they played well together on screen for the most part. Hopper trying to adjust to sort of having a daughter again, and Eleven trying to adjust to a parent (or a new one). Those scenes were really good a lot of times.

The humor was pretty well done most of the time.

For the most part, the SFX were well done as well. I don't know what the budget is for this show, but the SFX on it seem to be better than a lot of shows on TV.

I'm looking forward to catching up on this thread and seeing what everyone has to say about it. I have a feeling I may have liked it a little bit less than most people, but am interested to see what people's thoughts are and theories as to where the show goes from here. I expect that next season will (hopefully) delve more into the Mind Flayer and what it is all about. I also think at some point a higher level of government will get involved.

I thought season 2 was entertaining, but I suppose I liked season 1 better espically the beginning before they started showing the monster on screen a lot.

I liked the suspense in those beginning episodes of season 1 more than anything.

However, I did really enjoy the play between Dustin and Lucas in season 2. Also, the episode where Steve was giving Dustin advice about girls was pretty good as well.

I binge watched Season 1.

This season I watched one episode per week.

I think prolonging it is the way to go for season 2. It really added to my enjoyment and appreciation of it.

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CocomoLSU

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great review and I agree with most of it. However, I enjoyed both seasons equally and immensely.

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I dug the addition of Max, but hated the older brother character. It just felt super tryhard and really out of place. Not to mention the dude looks like he's about 30 and supposed to be in high school

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yep. I also like Mike's resentment towards Max. Spot on for some kids at that age when a new youth joins the group.


Episode 7, while entertaining, felt out of place.

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the ending with the Snow Ball. That was great too. Showed that with all things considered that are going on around them, they are still kids dealing with kid things. Sometimes asking a girl to dance is the hardest thing in the world. And sometimes it's the easiest...but you'll be rejected over and over. And sometimes you just have to fricking go for it and make a move. Nancy coming in for the save was a nice touch as well, and it was awesome that when that happened, the other bitchy girls took notice.

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yes to all of this. thought they portrayed and executed it all well. Enjoyed Nancy and Dustin "hooking up" as they did. Pretty sure most young boys go through a crush like Nancy. glad to see Mike and Ell finally get together. Ell and Hopper killed it for the most part. I loved how she became a smartass and obstinate- like all kids eventually do.

Not sure how it will go from here, but I'd imagine it will come down to Ell and Mike in a showdown of some sort where love conquers all. Or maybe it won't.

Curious to see if the actors/actresses remain as lovable as they grow older. Everyone loved the kids on Cosby, Home Improvement, Modern Family as they were originally cast. But growing up tends to make them less appealing IMO. I'm smitten with Eleven so I'll take her regardless of how she matures.

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Not sure how it will go from here

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I have some ideas that I think would work. But I really, really hope they don’t discover a whole batch of super powered young adults/kids. It’s ok to introduce like 1 or 2 more but more than that and it becomes full fledge Marvel shite and makes the rest of the cast useless.

I don't know if this was addressed, but why does Eleven speak the way that she does?

Her sister speaks like a normal person.

All the people at the lab spoke to her using normal English.

My guess is 008 escaped earlier and had been out in the world for quite awhile longer. It also seems that Eleven is supposed to be younger. I’m hoping they skip ahead a year+ so she can have better social skills and interact with people without it being too odd.