Stranger Things 2 WRAP UP! *SPOILERS*
A_Ron_Hubbard
Cincinnati, OH
I don't know that we actually need this thread, but why not. This is the place to gush or groan about the latest season. I'll be combing this all all the other threads for feedback. Our watch has now ended, the final podcast for Chapter Nine will be going live in moments. Thanks so much for watching with us, we had a great time!
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Comments
I’m not one to go all fangirl over things generally, but I was squealing with delight when Steve was being all mother hen with his brood at the house, and then driving Dustin to the dance. I want a Steve/Dustin spin off web series where they give advice to teens about issues.
MVP was definitely the little boy who played Will; after barely seeing him last season, they gave him so much to do this year and he knocked it out of the park. And you have to be pretty good to stand out among those other really good kid actors.
All in all, worth the wait, exceeded my hyped up anticipation. Bring on next season.
Oh, oh - also, that hug Hopper does where he pulls the person in and kisses the top of their head (he did that at least 3 separate times)
I was emotionally affected by the scene with Mike punching Hopper. And Hopper and 11 finally making up.
Did 11 ever tell the party to call her Jane? I've already forgotten if they addressed that.
Random thoughts
Max's joke about Lucas' recap of season 1 being "derivative" was the best joke of the season.
I am 100% team Steve. Forget Johnathan, forget Nancy cause Steve can do better.
BOB! NO, WHY?!
3 Musketeers is definitely one of the worst candy bars.
Isn't calling Will "Zombie Boy," even when asking him to dance, kind of a dick move?
I hope we don't end up with 11 total super powered kids. That would make all the normal characters completely superfluous, and its their interactions that are the bread and butter of this show.
The writing is nice and tight with significant stuff happening every episode. I was trying to pace myself with the podcast, watched 2 episodes Friday night, then my control broke and I watched the remaining 7 all on Saturday and then my Netflix started playing the after show stuff with the Duffers and I had to watch two of those before finally going to sleep after 1am.
I want to say ep 7 was weak because it kind of pulled you out of the narrative, but I think it was important to the story with the stuff on 11’s mom and 8 and learning how to channel the power better, I don’t know that they could have interwoven the plot line well with the events in ep 5 and ep 6 so in retrospect I think the choice was fine especially in the context of a binge. I’d have been annoyed with that ep if this were once-a-week viewing.
My thoughts:
- The soundtrack was awesome, but then again I was a child of the 80's and basically love all the music from that decade. Even though Billy was a douche, his taste in music was EXCELLENT!!
- Bob is this season's Barb . . . #JusticeForBob (*sniff*)
Also watched the Beyond Stranger Things after show, which I thought was pretty good. I liked the insights with the Duffer Brothers and Sean Leavy as to what their thinking was on character arcs and story ideas they worked through for season 2. I thought it was weird that they pretty much had all the major actors involved with this aftershow, whether in studio or on video, except for Wynona Ryder. It looks like they did all the episodes in one day so maybe she wasn't available, but I still found it weird and they didn't give it any mention either . . . or none that I heard anyway.
Back to the Future came out in July 1985; Super Mario Bros. came out in September of that year. Those seem like natural possibilities.
I agree with a previous post, Bob = Barb this season. Though Bob got more of a story arc. If there is a Stranger Things 3 and we see a new nice, nerdy character whose name begins with a B they better watch out!
Minor negatives - the whole upside down world and how it relates to ours seems sort of vague and a bit inconsistent. And why didn't the heroes use water more? Could have been a cool re-use of the kiddie pool if they had it ready at Will's house and were standing in it with guns at the end there. And maybe Bob should have turned on sprinklers throughout the whole lab? I don't know. Seems like fire and water were two known weapons that were not used much on the show.
So much good to say about the characters and acting. Mostly covered in the podcast already so I won't gush too much. That Will kid actor was scary good. A standout among all the other great performances.
There is a lot of ways future seasons could go with the way they left it. I guess the kids could be going to prom in a couple seasons so maybe some Carrie references coming up? What would the Duffer remix look like with Eleven showing up at a dance and a bucket of pigs blood? That was a 70s movie though technically, but there is a lot of Carrie resemblance to Eleven's character already. And there is a lot of 80's left to mine for references.
Really enjoyed the ST2 Podcasts. Thanks for watching all weekend guys
I think people are way too quick to dismiss bad plot points or casting as "oh it is just a nod to the 80's, duh." Compared to TWD I would give this season a 10/10, but compared to season 1 I would give it a 7/10. I am still excited for season 3 because this season finale really did a good job. I just can't get passed episodes like El's "Lost Sister" one, which was terrible.
I'll put money down right now on this--one or more of the kids will have an NES with the packed in SMB/Dick Hunt cartridge, and try to shoot the dog.
All that "Com Truise-y" synth throughout the series. Love it.
I don’t know if they missed a trick or escaped a trope but, after 8’s Vader style ‘use your anger’ tutelage, I was expecting Elle/Jane to have to have to do the opposite and use the love in her life to find the strength to push back the Shadow Monster and close the gate. I imagined her trying to use her anger and slumping, defeated while Hopper or Mike has to convince her of her strength using their love for her and her for them. Elle was lucky enough to find people who showed her love and compassion (and com-promise) which she felt confident enough to return whereas 8 did not. I thought that this ending would set up a potential future story line where Elle and 8 are pitted against each other, the dark vs the light so to speak or would this now have been too predictable and passè?
1) (tie) Dustin / Steve
2) Bob
3) Nougat
4) Punk-rock Eleven
5) Mrs. Wheeler in a bathtub
6) Lucas
7) Hopper
8) Joyce
9) Nancy
10) Dr. Paul Reiser
It's an interesting story and well acted but a tad predictable.
I found the first half of season 2 a bit slow and sometimes even boring. Second half - good.
I think they made a mistake in killing Bob. A great fun character which could have enhanced future seasons.
My hope is that they tell a completely different story for season 3 - Don't just have the portal open up again.
I might be way off but was there a reference to Temple of doom with the Nancy and Jonathan scene when they had separate rooms?
One, which I think is pretty solid, is the symmetry between Will's connection to the Mind Flayer and Harry Potter's to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
The other, which is MUCH weaker (and I'm almost ashamed to say I recognized...ALMOST, but not quite), is that Callie's super-ability of making people see what she wants them to see, is the same power one of the Twilight vampires from the Amazon family had. (Don't judge. #TeamJacob)
Did anyone else notice a more recent YA sci-fi reference this season? I'll be interested to see if I find more when I watch it again.
I think IF this is actually intentional, it's an effort to relate more of what's awesome about this show and the way the story is told to a broader audience than just us Gen-Xers. My kiddo is 15 and she digs Stranger Things, but a lot of the really lovable moments go right over her head.
These connections are there, but I am not sure how intentional they were. I thought of Will's Connection to the mind flayer was more of a reference to the connection between Eliot and ET, keeping with the whole 80's theme.
Callie's power is similar to the dad character in the Steven King novel, Firestarter. Stranger Things as a whole has a lot of similarities to the plot of Firestarter actually. I read it a long time ago, but refreshed my memory with the Wikipedia plot summary after watching Stranger Things and you can see a lot of direct parallels.
Anyways I can't think of anymore recent YA similarities specifically but I think they reached ahead to the 90's a bit with Bob at the end. Reminded me a lot of Jurassic Park. It is interesting how similar plot elements can be used over time in different ways in different stories. I am a gen xer with a 15 year old kid as well who loves the series and I bore her to tears I think pointing out all the 80s stuff. She took Bob's fate pretty hard. And she is a twilight fan though I am not - but I am not a hater