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Stranger Things


Ridley Prime

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I haven't checked out the new season yet. The first one was a fun binge, but the overblown media saturation kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't been that excited for season 2 as a result. I'll probably get to it by Halloween at least so it's still seasonally appropriate.

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Finished the season last night, after some breaks in between. Since I didn’t have work at this time I was able to get away with an all-nighter binge watch. :u But yeah, great season that tied up some loose ends. Possibly like it better than the 1st season. Helped too that S2 was a part of the 80’s I was more familiar with.

 

There’ll be some Stranger Things skins or somesuch on the Switch version of Minecraft too apparently... Cool.

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This season wasn't as good as the first, I feel like it was missing a lot of the character the first season had. 

 

I think a big thing was the fact that it felt more like a zombie flick, particularly the last couple of episodes, rather than a campy 80s horror movie; though, there definitely some of that. One thing that struck me was that the person that when Bob died it didn't really feel as hard as when Benny, the diner owner from S1, died and he didn't get nearly as much screen time. It felt a little forced with Bob, especially after his death all the stuff they put in to try to make you feel things. I think it also suffered from the lack of El and that trip to see 8, whatever her name was, wasn't compelling. One thing I did like a lot more was Steve, he was a lot more likable this season and his story-line made him a lot more of a sympathetic character. Last season I was kinda pissed Nancy was with him but this season I was really sad for him. I wish He had been more triumphant in his fight against Billy to give him a good win but I can understand the need for Max to defeat her own monster.

 

Overall I really liked it but I don't think it holds a candle to the first season but it also makes me hopeful next season. 

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Having finished it I agree, season 2 isn't quite as good as season 1, but overall still a good season.

 

Spoiler

Part of the problem stems from them expanding the show's world, which is good for building a bigger backstory/sense of scale but when it splits up the characters so much it hurts the show. This is such a great ensemble cast; the scenes ought to keep them together as much as possible.

 

Episode 7 is the biggest offender in that regard. It may have held some necessary character development for Eleven but it was so cliché, and the new characters so uninteresting/unlikable, and I'd even go so far as to say the actress portraying Kali was just plain bad. Though to be fair she has some stiff competition with all the other actors in the show. Will really knocks it out of the park this season; it was downright disturbing when he was screaming.

 

I was really confused by Max and Billy's addition to the cast. In the first couple episodes I thought for sure that they would be linked to the superpowered children research program in some way, i.e. one of them would be superpowered too, but nope, they're just kind of normal people (hurting, in their own way, but not from supernatural forces). I don't really feel like they were a valuable addition in the end.

 

Also Steve is MVP of the season. I love how his character has developed across the two seasons of the show, from kinda douchey 80s teenager to big brother to the kids, fighting monsters with them and doling out hair care advice. And I was actually kind of glad that Nancy and Steve were still together at the end of season 1 since it feels like such a cliché that the girl would start dating the slightly weird outcast instead, but oh well, so much for that. I hope Steve sticks around anyway, he's really cemented his position in the group.

 

On 10/29/2017 at 10:55 PM, purple_beard said:

What is the general premise and is it good?  I've liked their animated originals for Castlevania and Voltron as well as the Marvel shows...

 

Stranger Things is a straight-up love letter to 80s movies, specifically young kids confronting otherworldly forces. E.T., The Goonies, Stand By Me, Poltergeist—all clear inspirations for Stranger Things. You should definitely watch it, it's one of the best shows Netflix has produced.

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I finished season two. It was good and watchable, but it wasn't as good as the first season.

 

Spoiler

Stranger Things, like a lot of the serialized Netflix shows I've seen, has trouble with pacing. The season was frontloaded with episodes entirely devoted to setting up the main story. It's saved by the fact that a lot of the characters are fun to watch, particularly the kids, but then this season also decides to keep them separated a lot of the time - particularly Eleven who has no interaction with Mike or the others until the end, and even then they just share a couple quasi-romantic moments that doesn't build on where their relationship left off last season. It feels like Mike is barely in the season at all, which I assumed was because of scheduling conflicts with It, but it also could just be that he has nothing to do except act out over the absence of Eleven, so it feels like he's not even there. It's a waste of the talents of an impressive young actor, who is able to stand out among a really great cast of kids.

Same goes for Will, who gets more time to interact with his friends compared to last season but still ends up being little more than a plot device for his mom to get worked up about. There's not much of a character there at all, even though there's an emotional scene in one of the last episodes where the other characters bring up intimate memories from their shared past with Will. It worked on me at first, but eventually I just started to feel manipulated because I still barely know Will at all and the rest of the cast is trying to trick me into forgetting that at the eleventh hour. Even since the first season, Will has been caught in this purgatory between existing as part of the main cast and being an object meant to set the plot in motion and galvanize the characters around him. They sort of try to half-ass an emotional arc in the first few episodes before he turns into a conduit for the big monster, bringing up his feelings of isolation over being "zombie boy." Then the show just puts him through more or less the same wringer again, and then they put a bow on it by having a girl ask him to dance. The only real point to Will is for his mom, and to a lesser extent his brother and friends, to have a conflict to rally around.

Eleven does get a reasonably satisfying arc, although her solo episode is more a series of poorly done riffs on tired movie cliches than a competently told story. The misfit gang she joins is the cringiest thing the show has done so far. Still, I appreciated that Stranger Things finally decided to have an episode with a self-contained story with its own cohesive narrative rather than just setting up plot and piling up mysteries for future episodes to resolve, like usual. I actually thought the misfits were going to play a larger part in the overall story of the season than they did, considering they showed up in the cold open for the very first episode of the season. It was a relief that they were just there for that one episode. Setting aside Eleven's adventures in the big city, I thought the relationship between her and Hopper was one of the best aspects of the season. Their motivations make sense and play off each other well, and the two characters just make for an interesting contrast.

I didn't mean to write this much. Other thoughts: it was cool to see Sean Astin. It's weird that Jonathan's creepiness isn't brought up anymore at all. I like Steve.

 

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@IUI made a thread for the show earlier here, but glad you enjoyed it from the sounds of it. :P It too was what initially put me off from further progressing on Mario Odyssey at first.

 

There were a number of parts about season 2 I liked better, but the more I thought about it later, the more I realized I still prefer the first season, but S2 was great too. Glad I got to finish it on the weekend before Halloween.

 

Surprisingly, Steve might actually be my favorite character now. I was mixed and reluctant on liking him at first, but with how they made him such a sympathizeable character, especially in the 2nd season... Well I like all the characters, but he’s kinda stuck out to me more lately.

Edited by Ridley Prime
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  • 7 months later...

Oh hey, Stranger Things getting a TellTale game adaption; guess it was only a matter of time, but already feel more considering of trying that out later than the rest of their Walking Dead.

 

https://www.cinemablend.com/games/2436040/a-stranger-things-video-game-is-in-the-works

 

In any case, looking forward to the show's presumed return in October, just a few months from now.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...

 

Huh, that happened.

 

In any case, just finished season 3 which I'm glad I got to enjoy a good chunk of my July 4th watching for a day off. This show's still got it. Pretty much remains a 10/10 for me, almost feeling like it can do no wrong. That ending though... Had the saddest death by far. headengineer;

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