“Stranger Things” has exploded in popularity since its initial release back in 2016. After extremely popular demand, the program came back with a season two on Oct. 27. Season two continues to blow everyone away with this incredible show.
To start, the character development was extremely well written. They gave personalities and carefully thought out dialogue to characters that don’t play a major role.
For example, Joyce Byers (Will’s mother, portrayed by Winona Rider) has a very well-developed personality. You can easily feel the overly-protective parental emotions coming from Joyce, and the amount of concern and love she has for her son, Will. It was also a great decision on the writers’ part to give Joyce a boyfriend (Bob Newby, portrayed by Sean Astin) to show the sense of recovery after she gets her son back.
Another fantastic example of character development is the character Steve Harrington (portrayed by Joe Keery). In season one, Steve went from being a character nobody payed attention to or cared about (or even liked), to everyone’s new favorite “Stranger Things” character. Steve has sprung up so much popularity, that there have been entire fan blogs dedicated to Steve.
Many fans have gone so far as to make Steve a model as what they want their partner to emulate. Particularly, in the scene where he brings a bouquet of flowers to Nancy and planned to apologize, even when he didn’t inherently do anything wrong. This is a dramatic change between who he was last season.
A big issue in the new season is the very first scene that takes place. It shows a teenager who has the same supernatural abilities as the character Eleven, and there’s no correlation or context to that scene until the second to last episode of the season. That entire section felt unnecessary to the plot; the creators could’ve accomplished the same end goal of proving that there are other children who had the same past as Eleven and that she’s out for blood. There were characters that nobody cared about (such as the guy with the giant mohawk whose name nobody can remember) and scenarios that just seemed unrealistic in the Stranger Things universe. How did Eleven manage to escape the endless cops that surrounded the area and make her way back to Hawkins without anyone finding and recognizing her or taking her to the police? Frankly, it was a weak subplot and the same advancements could’ve been made in a much better way.
Another thing, what exactly is the upside-down? Is it a parallel universe? An underworld? Is it really located underneath Hawkins, or are they travelling into another dimension? The upside-down leaves the viewer with too many questions about its logistics.
On the other hand, “Stranger Things” has always had great cinematography. They use the 80s setting and style theme to enhance their already fantastic camera work. The beautiful fall scenery perfectly shows how small and close-knit the town of Hawkins is. It also does a great job at portraying the tone and mood with lighting, setting, and cinematography alone.
Overall, “Stranger Things” has an incredible amount of hype with good reason and is must watch for fall 2017.
Rating: 8/10
Doreen Coreen// Co- A&E Editor and Social Media Manager
