“Stranger Things” is something that if my little sister hadn’t pressed me on it’s possible that it would have passed me by like many other acclaimed Netflix series I just don’t watch. So thanks Lily!
I wanted to wait to make sure plenty of readers had finished. Overall I thought the new season was pretty good. A little “Ghostbusters 2”-ish with a little too much repeating, but enough new stuff to make it worth it. Still I love the show and can’t wait to see whatever is coming next. Some things I’m more excited about than others. I think it’s self explanatory, but SPOLIERS ahead.
Honorable Mention: Maybe Don’t get Joyce and Hopper Together
Bob (Sean Astin) was just a great guy all around. Accepts all of Joyce and her families’ quirks while never judging. He never tries too hard at the whole stepdad thing, he was just an awesome superhero of a man. I can’t help but feel if Joyce just gets together with Hopper then Bob is meaningless. I guess you could say his purpose was to give Joyce a reason to want revenge against the Mind Flayer. Otherwise her motherly instincts wouldn’t have allowed her to do what was needed. We have so many romantic relationships why not just let Hopper and her be close friends if for no other reason then for something different.
5.) Where are the other ‘Numbers’
Who here liked episode 7 of the second season? Show of hands….. that’s what I thought. Neither did I, but for me I’d say it was more of a case of its placement than the episode itself. Putting the episode after that pretty interesting cliffhanger of episode 6 was a mistake. We have an entire hospital full of the demodogs, the heroes have to get out AND… Then it’s like when you’re watching a show that you like and an older sibling comes in and takes the remote away. This is an important episode for Eleven as a character and setting up things I’m sure will come into play in later seasons. However, it feels so tonally different. The new characters introduced aren’t terribly interesting. So what will it mean for season 3? I’m sure we’ll meet even more “numbers,” maybe they’ll come back to kidnap/recruit Eleven. Maybe the Shadow Monster will try to possess Eleven’s mom, her body is just sitting there not in use. Plus, I could see it wanting to utilize the powers that she apparently has.
4.) Where is Dr Brenner?
We’ve been wondering about this since the end of season 1 and we got sort of an answer in this season. It’s stuff like this in episode 7 why I emphasize it did have some important stuff going on. Just his short appearance in Eleven’s flashbacks (or visions) was fun to see. I liked that even though he’s not there physically, his presence is felt throughout. His influence on the lab itself and the other doctors is unmistakable. Makes you wonder if the reason the doctors were so OK with letting Will die was because that’s how Brenner operated things. Or did the lab and the work itself affect Brenner and the doctors like that. Like maybe at one point he was a good man, but dealing with the Upside Down changed him into someone who was OK treating Eleven and the other “numbers” the way that he did. Of course that all leads us to Paul Reiser’s character. Now partly because of the show itself (but also partly because of “Aliens“) I was fully expecting him to be a bad guy, but I was pleasantly surprised that he really was a good doctor trying to help. So how will this affect things with Dr. Brenner especially now that the lab’s abandoned? They don’t seem like the kind to forget things. What will this mean for the reporter and the teens?
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3.) Steve continue his Growth
The next batch of entries may seem not as important as the earlier 2, but that’s how this show succeeds the way it does… its characters. If you had asked me what I thought of Steve in the last season I’d give you an entire list of complaints. He was a douche, but apparently he was originally even worse. It was the fact the actor himself was such a nice guy in real life that they changed things. I’m willing to bet the little line saying that it was his friend who spray-painted the actual slut shaming on the theater was supposed to be Steve himself. So I was incredibly shocked that they found a way to redeem him. They had a difficult balancing act with making him a better person while getting Nancy and Jonathan together. Yet not making it seem like all the crap was happening to him unfairly. Will he have his own new love interest in the next season? Will he continue fighting Billy? Fun Fact: the creators said Billy’s character was basically Steve’s original one. It’s literally the old and new version of Steve fighting.
2.) Where is Dustin Headed?
It is said that the reason Dustin and Steve were teamed up was due to the Duffer Bros. not having a full plan what to do with either of them. All the other characters had their arc or were wrapped up in stuff, so put them together and magic happens apparently. Still he had some of the best moments of the season like the snowball dance. I think the reason it’s so heartbreaking is that even though he swears like a sailor he’s a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of character (think Greg from “Over the Garden Wall”). So when he does eventually break down it’s all the more sad. Screw you Stacey! I found it interesting that he’s the character that’s most into science. We have that body of the demodog that he’s apparently keeping. We saw how excited he was to show Mr. Clarke. Will he experiment on the body? Will he find his own love interest?
1.) More Mike and Eleven
If I had one complaint with this new season it’s that I wanted more of the relationship with Eleven and Mike. They did what I was afraid and delayed it as much as they could. That’s one thing I normally like about streaming shows versus network. There tends to be less of that crap. Still I admit that it made the reunion itself feel very special. Although I would argue that they could have done it in episode 1 and people would have eaten it up just the same. After all, the best part of season 1 was those two crazy kids. I know from the whole #JusticeForBarb thing that the Duffer Bros. do listen to the fans (one reason why I’m not too worried about episode 7) so I have this one plea. Please don’t just keep finding ways to separate Mike and Eleven in each season. There’s just so much to play with. How will Eleven and Mike change as they get older? I mean people change enough through puberty and when one has powers plus becoming a woman at the same time it’s bound to cause plenty of conflict and drama to keep the relationship interesting.