Hi there!
I’m going to turn from the tragedies of the world (please, enough
with the shootings!) and the travesties of life (whatever stupid thing Li’l Donnie Trump said or did in the last 15
minutes) and focus my attention on… entertainment.
You know, pop culture stuff.
Today, let’s chat about Stranger Things.
Yeah, there are spoilers.
Yeah, there are spoilers.
Last year, Andrea and I came late to the party. Our daughter
Randie had already watched it but was willing to watch it again. So we doled
out the series with 2 episodes a week over 4 weeks. It was quite an experience
we were in no hurry to have come to any end. Stranger Things delighted our sense
of adventure even as it poked and prodded at the dark places where our fears
dwell.
Season 2, we finished in a week. I think we would have
rather had extended the experience but it was getting hard to avoid spoilers in
the rush of online reviews and analysis. We started on Friday, October 27th
and we wrapped things up with a 3 episode finale on the following Friday,
November 3rd.
OK, that was a whirlwind relationship.
The tricky thing about a sequel is you have to get people more of the same of what hey liked about the original but do enough things differently to keep things ,moving forward in a hopefully interesting manner. I think Stranger Things 2 was able to thread that needle for the most part.
Will Byers Is and Is Not Here
Will's absence is what drove the story last year. This year, it's his presence and whatever from the Upside Down that's taken up residence inside him that drives the narrative for season 2. Will would be shattered enough by the mental trauma of his experiences in the Upside Down. But a shadow monster from this dark and twisted realm has marked Will to help extend the monster's reach into the real world. Will's journey as the darkness keeps getting closer and closer before taking hold of him is very terrifying.
Will is and is not here as he is subsumed by a growing terrible darkness. It is a chilling thing to watch.
There's a new girl in town.
Max is the new girl in town whose presence is first made known to the boys when her high score on a game at the arcade is higher than Dustin's. Dustin is miffed that his score has been beaten; he becomes smitten when he sees the red haired girl who did it. After some stealthy stake outs that Max is very much aware of, Max becomes somewhat part of the group. Mike is still hurting after Eleven's disappearance at the end of Season 1 and isn't eager to bring this new girl into the group.
Max is a tough chick but we find out she has her own torments and pain to deal with, that she is shattering underneath that tough exterior. She's looking to her new friends in Hawkins to help her hold herself together.
And speaking of Max's pain and torment....
There's a new dick in town.
But first, a few words about Steve.
Last year, Steve Harrington confounded everyone by being sometimes a sort of/kind of all right guy and other times, a total dick. Maybe he's just using Nancy Wheeler for sex. No, he seems to really care about her. No, he's an ill tempered psycho. By the end, he's gone into battle with his nail embedded baseball bat against the demogorgon and was even nice to Jonathan Byers. Maybe there's hope for Steve?
Season 2 finds Steve not coping well with Nancy's continued guilt over Barb. Barb's parents only know their daughter is missing but Nancy knows the truth, that Bab is dead and how she died. But Nancy is compelled to keep that truth silent and it's eating away at her. It's not something Steve has a lot of patience for.
But before we write Steve off as being a dick again, he turns up in a new and delightfully unexpected role, as a "big brother" to Dustin. This extends to a larger role as guardian to the other kids against the sinister demodogs. (Demogorgon + Dogs = Demodogs).
And there's a new kid in town to show how big a dick one asshole can be, Billy, Max's bitter step brother who doesn't miss an opportunity to belittle Max or anyone else for that matter. By the end of season 2, we meet Billy's father and see where Billy has learned in lessons in dickishness from. Billy is part of a cycle of physical and mental abuse. Billy is doing to his step sister what he learned from his dad. At the end, Max finds the courage to stand up to the abuse.
Analysis: Steve, not so much a dick. Billy, new dick in town with no redeeming qualities.
Although Karen Wheeler might disagree.
Ick! Let's not think about that.
Jonathan and Nancy get busy.
You pervs, I don't mean it like that. They get busy working to bring down the Hawkins Lab to get justice for Barb.
Oh, and they sleep together.
So I guess I did mean it like that.
As for Nancy and Steve, don't worry about Steve. He's got Dustin.
Not like that! These are kids, dammit! You are disgusting! Go to your room!
The gang is not all here.
The kids are not all together this season.
Will's absence is what drove the story last year. This year, it's his presence and whatever from the Upside Down that's taken up residence inside him that drives the narrative for season 2. Will would be shattered enough by the mental trauma of his experiences in the Upside Down. But a shadow monster from this dark and twisted realm has marked Will to help extend the monster's reach into the real world. Will's journey as the darkness keeps getting closer and closer before taking hold of him is very terrifying.
Will is and is not here as he is subsumed by a growing terrible darkness. It is a chilling thing to watch.
Max is the new girl in town whose presence is first made known to the boys when her high score on a game at the arcade is higher than Dustin's. Dustin is miffed that his score has been beaten; he becomes smitten when he sees the red haired girl who did it. After some stealthy stake outs that Max is very much aware of, Max becomes somewhat part of the group. Mike is still hurting after Eleven's disappearance at the end of Season 1 and isn't eager to bring this new girl into the group.
Max is a tough chick but we find out she has her own torments and pain to deal with, that she is shattering underneath that tough exterior. She's looking to her new friends in Hawkins to help her hold herself together.
And speaking of Max's pain and torment....
But first, a few words about Steve.
Last year, Steve Harrington confounded everyone by being sometimes a sort of/kind of all right guy and other times, a total dick. Maybe he's just using Nancy Wheeler for sex. No, he seems to really care about her. No, he's an ill tempered psycho. By the end, he's gone into battle with his nail embedded baseball bat against the demogorgon and was even nice to Jonathan Byers. Maybe there's hope for Steve?
Although Karen Wheeler might disagree.
Ick! Let's not think about that.
Jonathan and Nancy get busy.
You pervs, I don't mean it like that. They get busy working to bring down the Hawkins Lab to get justice for Barb.
Oh, and they sleep together.
So I guess I did mean it like that.
As for Nancy and Steve, don't worry about Steve. He's got Dustin.
Not like that! These are kids, dammit! You are disgusting! Go to your room!
The gang is not all here.
The kids are not all together this season.
- Dustin is so off on his own, he winds up teaming up with Steve Harrington as they bond over demodog hunting, how to relate to women and hair care products.
- Lucas tries to bring Max into the fold by sharing the story of what happened in season 1; Max finds Lucas's story "derivative".
- Mike, still smarting from the loss of Eleven, is torn to see Will slipping away from the trauma of his past and the fresh hooks that some dark evil seem to have in him once more.
The eleventh hour.
Our psychokinetic super-powered escapee from an experimental lab is alive and well. Mostly well. She's living in a cabin where Jim Hopper is keeping her hidden away. Eleven is starting to chafe at the restrictions of her existence in the cabin. Hopper keeps promising her that soon, she can see her friends and rejoin the world. Eleven, after nearly a year, has no faith in the word "soon". She discovers in Hopper's files that her mother is alive; Hopper had told her she was dead.
Eleven hits the road to meet her mom who as we found out last season is in some kind of quasi-catatonic state. At her mom's house, Eleven learns her name is Jane and she wasn't the only child being experimented on in the government lab. Which brings us to....
Seven is the most hated number.
Episode seven was a matter of no small debate among Stranger Things fans. A lot of people didn't like it. Other than a couple of mental images of Mike and Hopper, Eleven is the only one of the cast to appear in this episode. It moves the action away from Hawkins to Chicago. And it pairs up Eleven with a gang of 1980's era punks right out of central casting.
Still, the episode is an important development as Eleven meets Kali, another escapee from the Hawkins Lab. Kali's mental powers make others see or not see what she wants. Kali has made it her mission to seek revenge on those who harmed her in the lab. Under Kali's guidance, Eleven hones the use of her powers.
Eleven joins Kali and her gang on their latest mission of vengeance, a former lab guard who tortured Eleven and Kali at the lab. Eleven balks at killing the guard when she discovers he has children. Kali's not happy to be denied her fatal revenge. Eleven realizes this is not where she belongs and decides to return to her friends in Hawkins. Kali says Eleven's friends can't save her. "No," replied Eleven, "But I can save them."
Our psychokinetic super-powered escapee from an experimental lab is alive and well. Mostly well. She's living in a cabin where Jim Hopper is keeping her hidden away. Eleven is starting to chafe at the restrictions of her existence in the cabin. Hopper keeps promising her that soon, she can see her friends and rejoin the world. Eleven, after nearly a year, has no faith in the word "soon". She discovers in Hopper's files that her mother is alive; Hopper had told her she was dead.
Eleven hits the road to meet her mom who as we found out last season is in some kind of quasi-catatonic state. At her mom's house, Eleven learns her name is Jane and she wasn't the only child being experimented on in the government lab. Which brings us to....
Seven is the most hated number.
Episode seven was a matter of no small debate among Stranger Things fans. A lot of people didn't like it. Other than a couple of mental images of Mike and Hopper, Eleven is the only one of the cast to appear in this episode. It moves the action away from Hawkins to Chicago. And it pairs up Eleven with a gang of 1980's era punks right out of central casting.
Still, the episode is an important development as Eleven meets Kali, another escapee from the Hawkins Lab. Kali's mental powers make others see or not see what she wants. Kali has made it her mission to seek revenge on those who harmed her in the lab. Under Kali's guidance, Eleven hones the use of her powers.
Eleven joins Kali and her gang on their latest mission of vengeance, a former lab guard who tortured Eleven and Kali at the lab. Eleven balks at killing the guard when she discovers he has children. Kali's not happy to be denied her fatal revenge. Eleven realizes this is not where she belongs and decides to return to her friends in Hawkins. Kali says Eleven's friends can't save her. "No," replied Eleven, "But I can save them."
Oh, the feels. The feeeeeeeeels!!!
Our little psychokinetic super-powered escapee from an experimental lab is growing up!
Jim Hopper has issues.
It's nice that Jim has taken it upon himself to be Eleven's protector against those who would hurt her. But he seems a tad obsessive about it to such a point that it's not mentally or emotionally healthy for Eleven.
Of course we remember from last season that Hopper is inwardly a broken man, shattered by the death of his young daughter and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage. In that light, Hopper seems a bit more understandable.
But we're not given that context until last episode when Hopper finally opens up to Eleven about his own loss from his past. Without that context, it looks less like Hopper is protecting Eleven and more like keeping her prisoner.
Can we trust this schmuck?
There's Sam Owens, a new guy in charge at the Hawkins Lab, the self described schmuck hired to clean up the place. Owens is played by Paul Reiser. If you know him from My Two Dads or Mad About You, you might think you can trust this schmuck.
But our 80's obsessed producers are looking to a different role, Reiser as the corporate stooge who sells out the space crew to monetize the killer creatures in the 1980's sci fi hit, Aliens. If you're thinking of that guy, maybe you shouldn't trust this schmuck.
Ultimately, Sam Owens is a schmuck so, yeah, he seems to be OK.
Oh, and the former head of the lab, Martin Brenner, the non-schmuck like sociopath Eleven called "Papa" played by Matthew Modine? May not be dead.
Perhaps more on that in Season 3?
Of course we remember from last season that Hopper is inwardly a broken man, shattered by the death of his young daughter and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage. In that light, Hopper seems a bit more understandable.
But we're not given that context until last episode when Hopper finally opens up to Eleven about his own loss from his past. Without that context, it looks less like Hopper is protecting Eleven and more like keeping her prisoner.
Can we trust this schmuck?
There's Sam Owens, a new guy in charge at the Hawkins Lab, the self described schmuck hired to clean up the place. Owens is played by Paul Reiser. If you know him from My Two Dads or Mad About You, you might think you can trust this schmuck.
But our 80's obsessed producers are looking to a different role, Reiser as the corporate stooge who sells out the space crew to monetize the killer creatures in the 1980's sci fi hit, Aliens. If you're thinking of that guy, maybe you shouldn't trust this schmuck.
Ultimately, Sam Owens is a schmuck so, yeah, he seems to be OK.
Oh, and the former head of the lab, Martin Brenner, the non-schmuck like sociopath Eleven called "Papa" played by Matthew Modine? May not be dead.
Perhaps more on that in Season 3?
Too good to be true? Or too good to live?
OK, guys. What about Bob?
Bob Newby, Radio Shack manager and boyfriend of Joyce Byers. A total dork. Earnest and sweet. Maybe too earnest and sweet? Too good to be true? Is he some kind of government plant to keep watch over the Byers family and insure they remain silent about what they know? Is he an agent of the evil that lurks in the Upside Down?
No, Bob was true, in love with Joyce and devoted to her sons, especially Will. Totally clueless about the craziness surrounding the Byers family. Until he is abruptly brought into the loop. And he does NOT freak out. Yep, he's a bit stunned by all the supernatural weirdness but he quickly buckles down to do what his adopted family needs him to do.
Bob Newby, computer guy. Bob Newby who knows Hawkins like the back of his hand. Bob Newby who loves the Byers family. Bob Newby, super hero!
Alas, Bob Newby, too good to live.
*Choke!*
*Sob!*
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
So that was Stranger Things season 2. There were enough callbacks to season 1 to make this comfortably familiar but with sufficient differences to make it worth a return trip.
So a thumbs up to the 2nd season of Stranger Things.
And, alas, a mournful tear for Bob Newby.
_________________________________________
More pop culture stuff to come on the blog with posts about Thor: Ragnorok and (of course) Doctor Who.
And what show have I now become of fan of in the last couple of months? More on that to come.
So that was Stranger Things season 2. There were enough callbacks to season 1 to make this comfortably familiar but with sufficient differences to make it worth a return trip.
So a thumbs up to the 2nd season of Stranger Things.
And, alas, a mournful tear for Bob Newby.
_________________________________________
More pop culture stuff to come on the blog with posts about Thor: Ragnorok and (of course) Doctor Who.
And what show have I now become of fan of in the last couple of months? More on that to come.
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