Stranger Things 2

JustinAnimal wrote: »

aeloine wrote: »

JustinAnimal wrote: »

I know when someone voices an opinion contrary to the group, it's immediately done for some kind of hipster purposes. Anyway, my personal opinion is that this season was fairly inferior to ST1. The bad guys were rehashes of the original bad guy; the new, main bad guy barely got any play in this season and that's the bad guy I was really looking forward to.

There are probably spoilers here.

I thought Bob was boring. So was the new doctor. Paul Reiser and Sean Astin, those names look awesome on paper. The reality was pretty disappointing.

Ell's own episode, the stuff with Kali and her gang, was completely throw-away for me. I don't get how that furthered the storyline or her character, other than maybe to show she's becoming a little more confident and independent (still seemed pretty masturbatory... a chance to show 80s punks and throw on some rockin' music).

The newcomers, the long-haired jock and his red-haired step-sister, they didn't do much for me either. I suppose you could argue something along the lines of providing a love interest for Lucas, which ends up happening for two others (three of the four) original members, which also allows Dustin to dance with older sister and display that kind of 80s, sentimental trope.

Anyway, it was enjoyable enough. I didn't hate it or anything and there certainly was some enjoyment. It just didn't live up to my own, hyped up expectations.

I think I have to agree that it was worse than ST1, especially in terms of the bad guys.

I liked Bob, though. He provided SOME normalcy and made Winona Rider not as hyper and nervous as she normally is.

Wasn't a huge fan of the red headed step child (except for the pun!), but her brother was a really good foil character for Steve. Steve grew from his interactions with the new guy. Plus, you CAN'T tell me you didn't laugh out loud when he was talking to that cougar

I kind of liked the new doctor. I think he'll be back for season 3, and will provide a lot of answers regarding 1-10 kids.

The whole Kali episode was overkill. Hated that whole story arc. Can't wait to see what the other 1-10 are like, though.

I still think they did a better job setting up season 2 than they did setting up season 3.

Well, I have to say that I really appreciate your genuine response over sarcastic ones. I genuinely enjoy the conversation about this stuff.

I totally agree about the Cougar scene and never really thought about how Steve actually grew and became kind of a guardian over the gang, as opposed to the jerk new guy who was just a tormentor.

I agree that Bob helped Winona not be so nuts, but you totally saw his death coming. Maybe that was intentional and a good thing, or at least another 80s trope. These guys are so good at emulating 80s stuff, but not just posters in the background so much as themes and such of 80s films themselves. I expected jerk new kid to truly try to kill Lucas (the black kid), because it would have been so very out of the original film version of IT.

Good times, good times.

JustinAnimal wrote: »

Ell's own episode, the stuff with Kali and her gang, was completely throw-away for me. I don't get how that furthered the storyline or her character, other than maybe to show she's becoming a little more confident and independent (still seemed pretty masturbatory... a chance to show 80s punks and throw on some rockin' music).

aeloine wrote: »

JustinAnimal wrote: »

aeloine wrote: »

JustinAnimal wrote: »

I know when someone voices an opinion contrary to the group, it's immediately done for some kind of hipster purposes. Anyway, my personal opinion is that this season was fairly inferior to ST1. The bad guys were rehashes of the original bad guy; the new, main bad guy barely got any play in this season and that's the bad guy I was really looking forward to.

There are probably spoilers here.

I thought Bob was boring. So was the new doctor. Paul Reiser and Sean Astin, those names look awesome on paper. The reality was pretty disappointing.

Ell's own episode, the stuff with Kali and her gang, was completely throw-away for me. I don't get how that furthered the storyline or her character, other than maybe to show she's becoming a little more confident and independent (still seemed pretty masturbatory... a chance to show 80s punks and throw on some rockin' music).

The newcomers, the long-haired jock and his red-haired step-sister, they didn't do much for me either. I suppose you could argue something along the lines of providing a love interest for Lucas, which ends up happening for two others (three of the four) original members, which also allows Dustin to dance with older sister and display that kind of 80s, sentimental trope.

Anyway, it was enjoyable enough. I didn't hate it or anything and there certainly was some enjoyment. It just didn't live up to my own, hyped up expectations.

I think I have to agree that it was worse than ST1, especially in terms of the bad guys.

I liked Bob, though. He provided SOME normalcy and made Winona Rider not as hyper and nervous as she normally is.

Wasn't a huge fan of the red headed step child (except for the pun!), but her brother was a really good foil character for Steve. Steve grew from his interactions with the new guy. Plus, you CAN'T tell me you didn't laugh out loud when he was talking to that cougar

I kind of liked the new doctor. I think he'll be back for season 3, and will provide a lot of answers regarding 1-10 kids.

The whole Kali episode was overkill. Hated that whole story arc. Can't wait to see what the other 1-10 are like, though.

I still think they did a better job setting up season 2 than they did setting up season 3.

Well, I have to say that I really appreciate your genuine response over sarcastic ones. I genuinely enjoy the conversation about this stuff.

I totally agree about the Cougar scene and never really thought about how Steve actually grew and became kind of a guardian over the gang, as opposed to the jerk new guy who was just a tormentor.

I agree that Bob helped Winona not be so nuts, but you totally saw his death coming. Maybe that was intentional and a good thing, or at least another 80s trope. These guys are so good at emulating 80s stuff, but not just posters in the background so much as themes and such of 80s films themselves. I expected jerk new kid to truly try to kill Lucas (the black kid), because it would have been so very out of the original film version of IT.

Good times, good times.

See, I didn't grow up in the 80's, so Bob dying REALLY surprised me. DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I about fell out of my chair when the thing got him.

"I may have been a kitten boyfriend but turns out I'm an awesome babysitter".... who knew?!

I actually kind of liked that the new kid had a hard background. You see him as this tough jerk, but he's dealing with a LOT at home. It was kind of a humanizing scene. And even after everything, he really DID make a lot of effort to go find his step sister (eg: cougar scene), and he was trying to be protective of her when it came to boys. It may have been kind of over the top and closed minded, but it came from a good place.

cee134 wrote: »

laurenebargar wrote: »

vingogly wrote: »

RoxieDawn wrote: »

If you watch Beyond Stranger Things 2 after you have finished the season, it explains many things ... Not crazy on the very end, kind of short and I gasped for something else to lead me into season 3, but I can forgive that.

The Duffer bros. said they didn't want to have the ending full of loose ends because they didn't want to box themselves in. But there were actually a lot of clues regarding season 3 sprinkled throughout the show:

"Papa" may not be dead after all.
More kissy-kissy and romance is coming.
Dustin and Hopper inhaled some sort of spores in the tunnels.
I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of Kali and crew.
Ditto with Murray and his romance with vodka.
The Mindflayer is still wanting to cause trouble.
Teen angst will likely be the most annoying thing about next season.
What's the deal with the supposedly dead demodog in the fridge?
There is likely to be more backstory revelations and character development.
Eleven will still like Eggos.

Season 2 makes you appreciate the acting skills of the cast, and the Duffer bros. talent. It's only a matter of time before they do another feature film - hopefully they won't blow it.

The bolded part above I see playing a big role in season 3

As stated above. Will hasn't stopped being transported to the upside-down.

Also,

• Is Kali going to become an enemy?
• The Mindflayer seems to know where Will is and may be aware of others now.
• Was the original portal to the upside-down closed when Jane/El closed the underground one? If not, there is nothing stopping the vines from spreading back into Hawkins.