The Sophomore Slump of Stranger Things

Still one of the most charming things on TV

To start off, I’m gonna do my usual novella of run-on sentences and no, I won’t be holding back on anything regarding the latest season of Stranger Things so if you have yet to watch it, don’t risk it. 

Take the warning now.

*ALL SPOILER WARNINGS HERE ON OUT*

DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T WARN YOU

Alright, enough games. Let's do this.

So right off the spiked bat, no season two of Stranger Things is not as satisfactory as the first. There’s an absolute sense of mystery that’s absent this time around. Having our beef hashed out regarding Will’s disappearance, the Demogorgon and the Upside-Down, the audience simply knows too much. That said, all lack of wonder and questions aside, the Duffer brothers have proved once again that although lightning has not struck twice, their world of the fictitious town of Hawkins circa 1980s is one of the most charming places to be in terms of what’s on the tube.

Because Lord Shadow Monster knows we all look like this when watching most TV shows

  I came to a revelation watching this second season of Stranger Things, and I’m glad that I did. I realized that amidst any feelings of doubt or repetition, I would still rather be immersed in this fictitious town of 1980s Hawkins regardless of the "dejavu" sense of shenanigans. As I felt with season one, I came to the conclusion that the show does not go without its flaws. The show falls into tropes; Plot holes are filled up with contriving mechanisms, love triangles are forced upon the audience because reasons, we suspend any and all disbelief because we simply love the show’s atmosphere and we are deeply rooted in the characters. Throughout all this, the show is instantaneously forgivable because it is intuitively and endlessly charming.

  If there’s one thing the Duffer bros wanted to prove this season it’s that they could up the stakes. Everything seemed a little bigger; the threats seemed more dangerous. All the while, old relationships crack while new ones blossom as our heroes face their biggest, most complex challenge yet: adolescence.

And this time, cooties exist!

  I came to a heartbreaking epiphany seeing Dustin’s Gaten Matarazzo on a commercial a few months ago.

 I realized these kids aren’t going to stay young forever.

HOLD ON TO YOUR YOUTH, DUSTY

  Part of what makes the show so special is how it taps into the nostalgia of its audience, for people who lived through the 80s and most impressively so, folks who never even mildly experienced the 80s. But one of the most crucial pieces to the nostalgia of it all is the budding essence of childhood.

  We love following these characters because they’re literally children; young, innocent, pure little angels (they tend to get into bigger trouble and have a knack for extra use of foul language this season, so maybe not angels but you see where I’m driving at), and so in just one short year to see these kids grow up, quite literally before our eyes is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. We connect with these kids because we were once THESE kids. We relate to their youthful mischief and so to see them become teenagers and experience things like affection and silly adult feelings is part of what makes their journey an important one to the viewer. 

  That said, although their “adulting” phase was small this past season, it was a present enough reminder to the audience that these children are not going to stay children and therefore the childlike charm of the show will eventually disappear.

It's a really big pill to swallow folks, I know.

  And THAT said, with the kids growing up we flash forward to the little weird town of Hawkins one year after the Demogorgon was supposedly defeated and at the end of it all, I had one major takeaway that was both incredibly positive and negative in regards to the show’s ability to stand on its own beyond its home-run first season. I felt that by the end of it all, this was never a new season in itself. If anything, these last nine episodes, if nothing else, served as a giant (If sometimes repetitive) epilogue to all of the first season’s dangling mystery.

  I mention that part of the bummer of this season was that there truly wasn’t a sense of mystery this time around. The biggest question hook of the season was “What’s up with Will?” and even then, do we actually care enough to find out why he's acting so strange? When season one started, Will Byers disappeared, a monster was introduced and there was some weird, sketchy-ass sh*t going down with some evil doctors at some hidden lab. 

And the audience knew nothing about any of it.

Cue the mystery flashlights

  Part of the mind-blowing fun of season one was discovering everything for the first time: The Demigorgon, the Upside-Down, the loving hatred for Steve, the truth behind the experiments of Eleven, “where is Will?” “WHERE IS BARB?” We were dying to have questions answered and we all surrendered our childlike nostalgia for a sense of wonder in a piece of 1980s pop-culture propaganda that was both a complete homage to the past while being something entirely original.

  And where are we left off at the start of season two? Will is having upside-down “episodes,” the Steve-Nancy-Jonathan love triangle comes to fruition, Eleven is being secretly homed and fathered by Hopper. And you know what? It’s all glorious.

  I hit a very eccentric point during the last couple episodes of season two where I realized how predictable the events were unfolding. Dart turns out to be a Demogorgon (surprise!); Bob dies as a hero after saving everyone’s life (in the most gruesome fashion); Elle returns at a pivotal climactic moment just when the Demogorgon is about to attack the group (when else was she gonna show up?). 

  I found myself predicting a moment aloud and with each prediction coming true I encountered a funny feeling. Rather than feeling disappointment in knowing something was going to happen, I found myself more and more swept up with the absurdity of the show’s Hollywood moments. I picked up on all the movie tropes from Spielberg's work to Aliens. References were made and as result, situations became spectacularly "Blockbuster." I truly felt like I became in tune with the show’s personality and it's because of all the knowledge and familiar rendition I had with the show's first season.

And we've somehow come a LONG way from the first season.

  I made a personal and crucial discovery in watching this nine-episode follow up.

If you view season two as not a season itself but as a capsule of loose ends being tied up from season one, the show is almost more appreciated because it feels whole. Hell, not even the Duffers (nor Netflix) are even calling it season two; they’re simply dubbing it ‘Stranger Things 2.’ It’s not a follow up season, it’s a true sequel and as all good sequels do, they build upon what made the first one so good and they improve upon it.

  Now, I’m not suggesting season two is better or even as good as season one (as I keep saying, with all the lack of mystery it’s sort of impossible) but as an ending to the Demogorgon; the upside-down; the secrets of Hawkins lab, the season truly lives and breathes as a closing segment to those loose ends.

 Because let’s be honest. Do we really want to revisit these stories again? Do we want Demogorgons to be the villain again? Do we actually want to see more Will being connected with this netherworld and Winona Ryder crying over the state of “her boy”? Do we truly need to see Nancy and Jonathan split because Steve is still in the picture? I’m not suggesting we call it quits now (Duffers have confirmed at least a third season, if not a fourth and possibly final season) but what S2 embodies for me is a living, breathing reminder that if this show wants to keep its charm, they gotta change it and shake it up good.

Controversy time!

  If there’s one thing the Duffers did prove with season two it’s that they’re not ready to take many risks. The biggest risk they took this past season was having an entire Eleven-centric episode (episode seven) that focused away from Hawkins and zoned in on Elle’s character development in a world of 80s street punk sans The Warriors; an episode that received mixed criticism at best. And to be honest, I think it’s sort of tragic that audiences responded the way they did because while the episode was never once as exciting as the small town of Hawkins, it was a glimpse of expanding the Stranger universe to something different and if there’s one proven aspect from the negative backlash, it’s that fans clearly aren’t ready for different.


  Personally, I thought 'Eight' was going to be full-blown evil and we'd see an X-Men style clash of two super mutants going at it...

Considering how strong the X-Men references were in CHAPTER SEVEN...

  That said, when all is said and done, I truly feel it was important to tie up loose ends from season one and as I said, my one big takeaway was that this whole season felt like an epilogue more than a new chapter and the catch 22 of that aspect is part of what makes the show work as well as it does. Because although the audience isn’t asking many new, big questions in the grand scheme of things, we still have a hell of a time with these characters in this world of Hawkins they live in.

  For one, the character development was so sharp this season. We trade Elle’s relationship with the boys for a relationship with Hopper and their father-daughter routine made for some of the strongest highlights of the entire season, both in terms of story writing and in pure acting (the argument scene when she blew out the windows was outstanding).

  Also, not sure which Duffer brother made the decision to pair up Dustin and Steve but they deserve a pat on the back. 

BEST DUO OF THE SHOW BY A LONG SHOT

  And while on the subject of Steve, I can’t recall the last time I went from hating a character so much who genuinely became one of my favorites.
  When Steve battled against the Demogorgon with the bat last season I was legitimately convinced they were gonna kill him off (and I was sort of rooting for him to get killed off). When Steve went to do battle with the Demogorgon THIS season, only for him to be outnumbered by multiple demogorgons, I thought for SURE they were gonna kill him off (only this time, instead of rooting for it, I was crying on the inside). Character development? CHECK.

  Also, let’s take a moment to discuss the action for a sec. Sure the show may have traded the kid-centric charm for a lot more digging through decomposing pumpkin patches and upside-down tunnels, but because the audience was already caught up to speed with the mysterious aspects of the show’s inner-workings, it allowed for us to jump right into the gunfire of it all (sometimes literally).
  Where the first season featured only one Demogorgon, it was not only brilliant but absolutely terrifying of the Duffers to introduce multiple Demogorgons (or Demodogs as Dustin puts it) this round. The entire Demodog lab invasion during the blackout was the Duffers’ Aliens moment and they fully earned it. It was tragic. It was nail-bitingly intense. It was badass.

Not to mention absolutelty horrifying. 

RIP BOB

  I appreciated all the upped stakes more because it never once felt like a cop-out. Even with the “Shadow Monster” being the big-bad (quite literally); even by having the heroes defeat said big bad, causing all the little bads to die at once (I mean how many times in how many movies has that exact thing happened?), it never once felt cheap. If anything it all felt like a much, MUCH larger-scale version of ‘more of the same’ but in a sense, doesn’t the same go for Aliens and Terminator 2?

Larger scale = Crank it up to 11: SUPER SAIYAN ELEVEN

  Stranger Things still works because it’s in a sense exactly more of the same. We’re still following around kids on bikes, communicating via walkie talkie; they’re still getting into trouble; the world is still on the brink of being taken over by paranormal monsters even if that world is just a weird small town.

  We accept the routine of season two because the Duffers remind us WHY we all fell so hard in love with this show in the first place. Of course one can make essays of arguments as to how the show’s charm only exists to serve the nostalgic nature of the 1980s and in many cases, those arguments wouldn’t be wrong. If you cut and paste the stories and characters and plop them in 2017, the idea of the show instantly becomes less likable. So yes, part of the show is kinda cheating because it taps into the past and we all resonate with the past in a nostalgic way.

  But it’s not just that the Duffers are good at capturing 80s culture; They’ve perfected it. Between the visual look of the town’s autumn atmosphere and the show’s synth-soundtrack, this is the closest thing we’ll ever experience to a time machine to the 1980s. It looks 80s, it sounds 80s, it so strongly embodies the decade you could swear that the show smells 80s. And without the rich characters or their oddly bizarre encounters, I would argue that the 80s is just fluff but it’s icing on a grand-ass cake. 

  The show is flawed and season two proves it even more so. We arguably lose part of the childlike charm of the children, but the show’s themes of growing up are so strong that we still resonate with all of it. Even with newcomers like Billy the irrelevant bully, or Mad Max the shoehorned-in love interest for the boys, the show’s core is still so rich.

  The characters are so charming and by immersing them in this small town of 1980s Hawkins, the Duffers truly allow the audience to feel like they’re growing up with Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Eleven... and Will (Poor Will. Always having bad sh*t happen to him. The story is always about him but he’s constantly benched in favor of better characters).

He’s like Doug from The Hangover. 

  In conclusion, no season two is not as quality of the first. Much of it is very much so just more of the same. It took one major new risk by featuring a controversial episode seven, because people seemed to forget that Eleven needed character development. But in the end, the show was no longer new. We jumped right back in. It was bigger. It was sometimes funnier. It was definitely an Aliens to Alien even if it lacked the grandiose of why it was such a bigger sequel. It tied up loose ends. It gave us new chemistry. It paired up Eleven and Hopper and even better, it paired up Dustin and Steve.

  The show made us laugh, it may have made some cry. It hit us all in the feels. Watching it, you almost forget what quality TV looks like. We tolerate so much hot garbage that when we see a show that’s so skillfully crafted; so well cared for, we’re blown away. And in this day and age of streaming, we can watch nine hours, take it all in during one sitting, as one long-ass movie (especially if you count this as more of an epilogue like I did, then the whole show is TRULY a long-ass movie).

  And when it’s all over? We can slowly let our depression sink in as all the feels; all the upside-ups and upside-downs weigh in the pit of our stomachs and rot while we wait for something this perfectly nostalgic and this charming to sweep us off our feet once again.

 Here’s to a future season three and here’s to the inevitable adulting of these once proud and innocent children.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE MYSTIQUE OF ADULTHOOD, KIDS 

IT’S NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK. STAY YOUNG. 

STAY HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN. 

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHERISH IT.