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Stranger Things 2 – Quick Look

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1 November 2017

By Alex Khalil

Yes ladies and jellyfish, the second season of the critically acclaimed Stranger Things, has finally arrived on Netflix. The show stars the same cast, the same tone with a direct continuation from last season. We follow the story of Lucas, Will, Dustin and Mike as they try to figure out to stop The Upside Down blending into their world.

But is it any good?

Well, if you’re a fan of sort of okay subplots then sure.

We begin a year after the last adventure, Will is back in school, with his mother, Joyce, being overprotective, understandably, after she lost him for a few weeks. But, all is not right. If you watched to the end of last season, you will know that The Upside Down doesn’t go away that easily. Will can see something. Something huge wanting to come through to their world.

But while all this is happening, Nancy and Steve, who got together last season, are still coping with the death of their friend, struggling to stay happy as a couple

Then you have Jim Hopper, arguably the best character in the entire damn show. He has taken to looking after Eleven who returned right after she defeated the Demogorgon. He has been keeping her secret, should something happen to her, or the people from the Hawkins facility catch up to her. It’s from here we learn that Eleven had a sister of sorts. Someone else who was experimented on. Unfortunately, she feels a little redundant this time around.

Her sub-plot is good, but no where near as good as last time around.

Probably the most poignant part of the series is when it chooses to kill off one of its most likeable characters. We won’t say who obviously, but the moment comes as a shock. But it helps with the tone.

But that’s the problem with this series. While the goofs are abundant and the action is as punchy as last time, it still falls short of being as great as last time.

Some new characters are thrown into the mix too, Max, a ginger haired girl who causes conflict between the boys and her step-brother, are there to create the ‘human’ villain. But it falls short. The show could have easily gone on without them and it felt like they just wanted to have every boy at the end paired with a girl.

But, despite this, the performances are still good, and I will still do everything in my power to protect my sweet telekinetic child and these sweet boys.

4/5

Good, but goes a long time with very little pay off.

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