Stranger Things Season 2

Anybody watching this?

I'm on episode 5 right now. I thought season 1 was only okay, it had good acting, but the story seemed derivative- like a fanfiction mix of all 80's movies and TV shows.

Season 2 is much better- the characters aren't so cliche anymore and the story is better. I even read somewhere that its beating TWD in ratings, which is a good thing.

Binge watched it in a day. Absolutely loved it.

The show is supposed to be derivative, though. It is an intentional homage to 80s movies and it is one of the things I enjoy most about the show.

I definitely enjoyed the character development this season.

My problem with season 1 is that it went overboard on the derivativeness and it therefore suffered from a lack of originality. Season 2 explores their characters better and so it has improved a lot imo.

Aside from episode 7, I absolutely love it. I felt like they were going too big on the scale of the "problem" but somehow managed to leave very few unanswered questions.

I agree, it feels largely fan fiction derivative + 80's cash in on nostalgia, that's a very accurate way you characterized it.

It almost watches like a kids show, reminds me of goonies or stand by me or something. Then the kids start using profanity, and it feels out of place. The boys in general are all over emotional and swing from extreme to extreme, except zombie boy obviously. Just like the sister and her boyfriend, very extreme in their behaviors. And Winona Ryder...the pinnacle of one-track extreme acting, so sad. I like the main cop guy OK, and I really liked the guy in the diner on season 1, that big irish guy that was on the show the Knick...too bad he's not part of the show any longer.

Because of the rarity of sci-fit/supernatural/fantasy shows, I watch most of them regardless of how bad they are. This is definitely one of the shows that was really hyped, and was really mediocre overall. I'll finish them I think though, they have fairly good production value. I was unable to continue with Fear the Walking Dead, in contrast. And the new The Mist series, bad, but so far just barely watchable.

To be more positive, I love the intro theme, it also reminds me a lot of the theme to the Knick. It's retro, but I feel it's done well.

It is probably the most popular show in my house. I agree that season 2 is technically better, but I love all of the interaction between eleven and the rest of the kids in season 1. The kids in the show really impress me with their acting ability.

The series sort of lost me toward the end of Season1 and I have only seen the first episode of Season 2. I feel the same as when I stated GOT and the dragon/egg episode played and again when one of the female characters gave birth to the ‘black cloud’ thingy. I thought my imagination was broad, but maybe not so much........

4 episodes in, loving it.

Find the Jimmy Kimmel spoof "Perfect Stranger Things", very funny

PoS said:

Anybody watching this?

I'm on episode 5 right now. I thought season 1 was only okay, it had good acting, but the story seemed derivative- like a fanfiction mix of all 80's movies and TV shows.

Season 2 is much better- the characters aren't so cliche anymore and the story is better. I even read somewhere that its beating TWD in ratings, which is a good thing.

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I enjoyed the first season much more and found myself largely bored with this one. Lots of reasons, keeping most of the cast apart from each other until the end was IMO a mistake. Here is another minor complaint, somewhere about half way through the season I told my lady that they should have called this "Driving to and from Stranger Things" because the show spent an inordinate amount of time showing us the characters as they drove to and from locations in the show. Once I noticed that, we were forced to giggle throughout the second half of the season each time someone got in a car and............drove somewhere. Even when showing us the drive to whatever location the next story development was going to occur in was not necessary, they did. It got to be downright funny. Frequently. Here is to hoping season three is an improvement over season two.

Spartacus FPV said:

Aside from episode 7, I absolutely love it. I felt like they were going too big on the scale of the "problem" but somehow managed to leave very few unanswered questions.

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Is episode 7 the Chicago episode? If so, I hated that episode, and considered it a "throw away" episode.

I love the show, and it's something that my daughter and I do together. We binged it all already. Would have done a one day binge, but I had a lot of things going on, and we had to do like 2 episodes a day over a handful of days.

I am a fan, and especially of the 80s nostalgia, since that is when I grew up. I told my daughter how all the music takes me back to my childhood.

Superfly said:

Is episode 7 the Chicago episode? If so, I hated that episode, and considered it a "throw away" episode.

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Yep, totally ruined the momentum of the season too, if you binge watch.

Spartacus FPV said:

Yep, totally ruined the momentum of the season too, if you binge watch.

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I read that it was a "back door" pilot, intending to setup a possible second ST series revolving around those characters. Given the universally negative reception to that episode, it looks like we will be spared that second series. Which is good, because as I pointed out earlier, this episode also suffered from the "Driving to and from Stranger Things" problem the rest of the second season did!

Spartacus FPV said:

Yep, totally ruined the momentum of the season too, if you binge watch.

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TERRIBLE. I wondered if I was the only one that felt that way.

I did love the Jurassic Park nods, though. That was pretty cool. I can't remember if that was 7 or 8.