Warning: this post contains spoilers for Season Two of Stranger Things.
The new Stranger Things is about 90 percent totally fine. It's everything you loved about the first one but with a few new characters, sharper character development, and better writing overall. Sure, it's lacking in the overall mystery that made the first one so compelling, but the Upside Down still has more than a few surprises in store.
Plus, that closing scene at the winter dance was truly a joy to watch. Seriously, you could have given me an entire season that took place at the school dance and I would have watched all nine hours. Dustin and Nancy dancing to Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" was the cutest damn thing I've ever seen. I lost it at the line, "Out of all my brother's friends you're my favourite ... Girls their age are dumb." Hell yeah, Nancy.
I gotta know, did Nancy spike the punch? What the hell "does pure fuel" mean? Mike and Eleven dancing together. Lucas and Max. So damn good. All of it. Then you have the moment between Hopper and Joyce—Hawkins's only two responsible adults—outside. Seems like all those Jopper shippers are going to get their wish in Season Three. And the absolute highlight of the entire series might have been Steve and Dustin walking on the railroad tracks—all the Steve and Dustin scenes, really. I want a spinoff buddy series starring those two.
The Duffer Brothers had unbelievable standards to live up to, and they absolutely pulled it off.
But, there are two things that are really bothering me. One of them is the addition of Sean Astin's character, Bob. When it was first announced he'd be in the show as Joyce Byer's love interest, my first thoughts were "What the hell happened to Hopper?" and "He's definitely going to die." As the character unfolded in early episodes, my thought was, "He's either bad somehow, or he's definitely going to die." Lo and behold, Astin's character was one of few surprises—his brutal death included. How would you explain him? He's the nice, boring dork. That's about it: He was basically around to do five things: Provide occasional tech support, give Will some shitty advice that led to the boy getting possessed, delay Joyce and Hopper's eventual fling, briefly work a computer, and die.
How does working at Radio Shack give you the skills to work a highly advanced government computer? In what world would Winona Ryder ever be with Sean Astin? Bob was a one-note character that didn't even need to be there besides the very obvious Goonies connection. Clever! What fun! There is no justice for Bob because Bob got exactly what he deserved, joining Barb as another boring casualty of Upside Down monsters.
The other problem I have is with Dart. When Dustin first found that fucker rooting around in his trash can, I was really hoping for a cute Stranger Things gremlin friend. I would have absolutely bought a stuffed one to put on my desk. Nope, instead we got Dart: a shitty, slimy thing that killed Mews, Dustin's cat, who was the only truly innocent casualty of the Upside Down. (#justiceforMews) Dustin was clearly a star of this season, but it makes no sense why he would keep the damn thing when it was clearly becoming a monster.
Which extends to my problem with the monsters as a whole. The beauty of Stranger Things' first season was the mystery revolving around what the monster would look like. The anticipation was everything. And the most visible monsters in Stranger Things 2 are just smaller dog-like versions of the one from last season? Lame! (Also, a direct rip-off of Tremors 2: Aftershocks.) Plus, the conclusion of the Dart arc made absolutely no sense. We went through all of that bullshit just so Dustin could briefly tame it randomly in a tunnel? And maybe this is looking into it a little bit too much, but we're supposed to assume these dumb dog things have a hive mind, right? So how, if they're part of the hive mind, did one of them express free will and not kill the kids when it saw Dustin? Is this like some sort of nature vs. nurture situation? I'm really going to need some sort of Upside Down biologist to investigate this for me.
While as a whole, Stranger Things 2 is a success, it's really hard to ignore some of these lazier aspects when they're such integral parts of the story. So much work and love was put into this show, from the costumes to the characters and the nostalgic references, and it's weird to see things like Dart and Bob go so half-assed. Thankfully, though, the rest of the new season is so damn fun, it makes up for it here. And at least we know there won't be any Bob in Stranger Things 3 (please: no zombie-type situations, Duffers).
