Stranger Things

Void said:

I was fine with the new girl, but thought it was dumb that Mike in particular kept telling her that she wasn't in the party.

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Mike was defending Eleven's spot in the group. He tried every day to talk to her so naturally he would push back against anyone, particularly another girl, moving in and occupying what he had come to see as Eleven's place among them. Did he do it in a rather immature way? Sure. He's a kid. That's what made it seem very natural, to me anyway.

Royal said:

Mike was defending Eleven's spot in the group. He tried every day to talk to her so naturally he would push back against anyone, particularly another girl, moving in and occupying what he had come to see as Eleven's place among them. Did he do it in a rather immature way? Sure. He's a kid. That's what made it seem very natural, to me anyway.

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That is how I read it. It is an awkward boy who was in love refusing to anybody try to replace his missing girlfriend out of her place in the group. I think season three probably has a lot of him apologizing to max for being a dick.

Good, but not nearly as good as season 1. Steve was the shit though. Would have never guessed he'd be one of the best parts of season 2 after the first season. All of my gripes about the season have been listed a number of times already so I don't really need to rehash all of that.

I enjoyed this season.

It is clear that a lot of the episodes are there as a stepping off stone for future episodes. I had no problem with the sister concept, even if it did deter from the four kids. There are other numbers that exist. I would guess that a few of them are dead. Some might still be in the system and unable to escape. The writers can do a lot with this story. The difficult part of writing this will always be keeping a story that effects the world, contained to a small town with 4 main kids. If I were to hazard a guess as to the origin of the dimensional threat, I would think that it was created. The fact that they chose to write in another female lab rat, leads me to believe that the world was accidentally made. They are attempting to learn more about it but also trying to fix the mistake that could very well have been caused by "one". In fact the Mind Flayer could be "one".They really can take this story anywhere.

Overall I liked this season better than s1. If anything in my mind they're both around a 9 either way.

Steve was a surprise hit for me, he really matured as a person and a character and it was awesome.

Lot of quality throwbacks for me, but I was born in 83 so didn't "live it" like old fogies did. I don't mind tiny inconsistencies at all and I don't focus on then either.

I liked the season, it was not what I was expecting but it built up the world more and lots more of the Upside Down so that's always good.

Beyond Stranger Things was kind of entertaining as far as those things go, as well. It's interesting how much priority they had on some scenes and things happening and how some other iconic ones were more last minute things.

If you assume she lives a fairly happy life for the next year or so you could connect she'll lose the vast amount of power she has/had by no longer being angsty. Or it'll be like every super human ever the evil science man (poppa) will have some way of controlling her with a device.

Valderen said:

I think the biggest issue they have moving forward is how to deal with Eleven and her powers. They dealt with that this season by splitting her up from the main group, but they can't really do that all the time.

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Well it clear from the set up they have done for future that story wise Eleven is the focus.

How that works out is the question mark for the show, because show has succeeded based upon being an ensamble cast. How do you abandon the cast that have made show work. To run off to Chicago with just Eleven and maybe Hopper. I think they have a real problem with this going forward.

LiquidDeath said:

Spoiler

I just don't understand the needless increase in power this season. Last season she did some powerful things, but it clearly took its toll on her. This season she just had to conjure up angry thoughts and boom.

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LiquidDeath said:

Spoiler

I just don't understand the needless increase in power this season. Last season she did some powerful things, but it clearly took its toll on her. This season she just had to conjure up angry thoughts and boom.

It would have been more interesting if they would have kept her at a lower power level. She could help fight off one demidog but not a group like the bus scene. The ending could have been the same, but instead of just going super saiyan, she and Hooper could have been overwhelmed by the dogs as the shadow monster reached out and touched her. Cut to the standard Eleven-esque telepathy scene of the shadow monster looking to overwhelm her mind but instead she latches on to it and uses its power to push the dogs away and seal the portal. Easily allows for the same super-powered ending for her, but without making her difficult to put in bad situations going forward.

Unfortunately, they'll have to do what Tenks said and make up some (most likely) bullshit reason that she loses power for the next season that won't be nearly as satisfying.

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Puberty. She's got sort of a built in bullshit retcon, tbh.


I liked the season. Not as good as 1, but it wasn't going to be. Still a very solid follow.

The punk episode though. I mean I like that they Annie Lennox'd her up... but the rest of that episode was sort of hot garbage. I get the central conflict of it, and the choice she made. But it was incredibly clumsy in the context of this series. It would have made more sense as an episode of buffy or something.

It amused the shit out of me though that they found a Rob Lowe lookalike.

Seriously, Max's brother... dye his hair black and put his ass in Saint Elmo's Fire.

iannis said:

It amused the shit out of me though that they found a Rob Lowe lookalike.

Seriously, Max's brother... dye his hair black and put his ass in Saint Elmo's Fire.

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He looks more like Collin Ferrell to me.

I have no problem with elevens power creep. I mean look at what she was facing at the end. It took everything for her to push back against the Shadow Monster that was still pushing from the other side. I think the series is always going to be Eleven doing the heavy lifting, the boys acting as analogy liaisons for adults to understand whats going on, as well as playing a support role ( the distraction ). Joyce worrying, and Hopper shooting stuff. I can get down with more of the same.

Springbok said:

The last scene at the dance particularly, was probably the strongest sequence in the entire series and hit me right in the feels.

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yeah, the reunion of Mike and Eleven was maybe the best part of s2 but that's only because we'd been hoping for it the entire season and they dragged it out, giving us missed attempts when she sees him with Max and the mini reunion in the previous ep.

This scene undoubtedly has a bigger emotional impact, I had to watch it again before finishing this post and I'm not ashamed to say it made me a little bit teary fuck lol

This is probably the best sequence of the entire series, the build up, the drop, the save and the bad ass way she enters with the music and the nonchalant way she deals with the two bullies, then her collapse and apology.

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The thing that was a little bit weird and took me out of it is that there are scenes, if you go back and rewatch it, where they forget wether she had a bloody nose or not.

From one angle she'll have a bloody nose. Cut to someone else, cut back to her... and there's no blood on her nose. Cut away and back again, and the blood is back.

It's a very small thing, but i noticed it in at least 3 episodes. I mean jeez, she bleeds so fucking much.

But that's really a very minor complaint. The black kid's character came away as not a stereotype this season. Shit, his character came as far as Jocky Bighair McDouchebag's.

The idea that everyone would have been cool with him and max kissing at a dance in a small town in illinois was a little bit hard to take seriously. That was a bit of a retcon. It's not that anyone would have gone all Nazi on them, it's that shit like that -was not done-. But for the sake of the story i'm pleased with it. It's not Hunky McAngryFists the brother that woulda beat the hell out of him... his own parents woulda told him to stop doing that shit. I had a black girlfriend in gradeschool. As much as you can have a "girlfriend" in gradeschool. And I remember when one time she said to me, "Daddy is wrong. I can TOO date a white boy."

I didn't understand wtf she was babbling about at the time. Keisha was just funny. It took 20 years for that one to sink in.

I thought the romantic angle was good. Better if they were a little bit older, but they know that too. There were a few moments where they pulled away at the last moment and you can SEE them thinking in the script, "Dude. These are kids, not 17 year olds". You can see exactly how the truncated the scene. And that's great.

S02 solid. Definitely worth watching. Lots of great new subtle nostalgia from Aliens to Children of the Corn. Once again they do a great job of delivering the nostalgia with just the right amount of touch, giving it to us with a nod and a wink rather than relying on it to support the story.

No idea what they were thinking with Episode 7. Total zero-effort zero-impact throwaway. There are way better ways to give El a makeover or set up stuff for the next season. Not only was the episode itself worthless, but it broke up the flow of the season a little bit for me.

Assuming that you toss out Ep07 altogether and if you account for the fact that any sequel season is going (by necessity) to lack the "freshness" of the first season, I'd say it's almost as good as S01. No sophomore slump- which is impressive.

Agree with previous posters that they cast this really well. Will, El, and Dustin are all fantastic and the other actors aren't far behind. I've liked Winona Ryder since Heathers and Beetlejuice. The frantic energy she brings to her character is easily overlooked but really ratchets up the suspense of the show.

8/10 on Arden's Unnecessarily Critical Review Scale

Something I find somewhat amusing is the constant destruction of Winona's house. Feels like every scene in her home they're knocking holes in the wall, ripping out the phone line, covering everything with weird drawings, etc etc. Wonder what her repair bill is up to?