Stranger Things Season 2
When I finished rewatching Stranger Things season 1, I posted a blog entry about my top five favorite moments. While Season 2 is brilliant, I think instead of a top five list, I’ll write a list of ten observations.
Before I get to the list I should mention that I think season 2 is a bit odd in a way because of the end-season cliffhangers. Season 2 is really the resolution to the season 1 cliffhanger, but also it sets up so much of season 3, that in a lot of ways it doesn’t feel like its own season. I think this happens a lot in television and other series. The creators do the first season, maybe not certain that they’re getting a second one, and sure they have notes and such, but it’s not the same thing as having it written. Or I’m projecting. My fourth novel came out recently, and in theory there’s a series of follow up novels waiting to be written. They’re outlined. But I’ve learned long ago that no outline survives contact with the first draft, so there’s a big difference in having drafted the novels and having outlines and notes on what I believe will happen.
I also think season 2 is more complex than season 1. This also happens a lot with series. Guardians of the Galaxy is a nearly perfect movie in my opinion, the second film is not quite as even, but the second film is attempting more. I get that sense with Stranger Things as well. Season 1 was almost a string of perfect moments. Season 2 has plenty of brilliant moments, but it’s more complex, and whereas season 1 feels like a dream of a production, season 2 seems more like a production, a very good one, but it’s no longer a perfect dream of a memory of a film the way season 1 felt.
1. When I watched the second time, I really noticed how awesome the Hawkins arcade is. Somehow I missed this the first time. Stranger Things thrives on nostalgia, and there’s nothing more nostalgic than portraying the past so much better than it ever was. There’s not one bad machine in that arcade. All the best games from the period are there. All of them. No wonder Mike is eager to pinch quarters from his sister’s purse.
2. Steve Harrington becoming Dustin’s de facto big brother. The characters and relationships in Stranger Things are brilliant and wonderful, and none more so than the “brothers we choose” relationship between Dustin and Steve. Like much of season 2, this plays out all the more in the third season, but it’s great to watch its beginning.
3. Another Byers House Art Project and Bob gets roped in. In my previous post I talked about how any time someone visits the Byers House they realize that things have progressed well past where they thought things were. In season 2 poor, not-read-into-what-occurred-before, Bob, stumbles into the Byers house after it has been filled with Will’s art collage detailing the tunnel system now running underground between the science facility and Hawkins. Bob, as one might expect, is concerned that this isn’t healthy for Will and Joyce, but of course he still thinks this is all fantasy. But fantasy or not his desire to solve the puzzle gets the better of him, and Bob is pulled against his better judgement into the full story.
4. Steve Harrington gets his ass kicked and wakes up in the back of the car. I love the transformation of Steve Harrington from typical high school douche into a de facto member of the party. In this scene Harrington attempts to help keep the kids safe from abusive dick and the new typical high school douche, Billy Hargrove. Billy kicks his ass, badly, but Billy’s sister and party member, Max doses him with the sedative that had been used to keep Will out. By the time Steve gets his bearings again, he’s in the back of Billy’s transam with the kids that he’s supposed to keep safe, driving very fast by the aptly monikered Mad Max
5. “It’s like Mr. Clarke taught us.” I said in my previous post that Mr. Clarke is my favorite character despite being a side character, and in some ways my one disappointment with season 2 is there’s no big Mr. Clarke moment. They try to take the tiny demogorgon pup to him for identification, and he gets a few fun moments, but nothing like sharing multiverse theory with the kids at a wake like in season 1. That said, I love that the kids rely upon and reference things that he taught them. Mr. Clarke, super heroic middle school science teacher, you remain awesome.
6. The Music. The music in season 1 is great and effective, but in season 2 it feels like the composer has gained confidence and the creators are willing to go all in with that confident composition. The discordant John Carpenter-esque keyboard pieces are masterful and create mood and tension on their own.
7. “She’s never wrong, son.” Having more about Lucas’ family really pays off in season 3, but this statement that his father makes about Lucas’ mother is brilliant and a quality bit of parenting in raising Lucas to understand that women are likely going to be right and to listen to them.
8. “Should I teach you French while I’m at it?” I loved this bit of Bob being mildly frustrated with Hopper. And yes, this bit of bravery led to Bob’s gruesome death, but I felt like for story purposes that character had to sacrifice himself. What he told Will made perfect sense. Bob didn’t know he’s in a horror story, so of course it makes sense to stand your ground and confront an imaginary monster, but if that monster isn’t imaginary… It might seem harsh to argue that Bob, who is a good character always trying to do the right thing needed to die, but I’d argue that it’s more impactful for those reasons. If Bob were a jerk, no one would care. Stranger Things consistently does a great job of investing the viewer in its characters.
9. Nancy and Jonathan “Tall Blond Man With One Dark Shoe” the enemy. In the Tall Blond Man (as well as its not as good American remake), a spy knows that a rival in his agency is spying on him, and sets a trap by intentionally putting false information into a bug. Knowing they’re being listened to, Nancy and Jonathan set up the government spooks with a well placed phone call, knowing that they’ll get picked up, and Nancy keeps her tape recorder going in her purse the whole time. The two kids on Resident Alien did something similar recently, using the fact that they know they’re being spied upon to set up the bad guys, but the kids on Resident Alien have come up in an age of cell phones and gadgets, Nancy and Jonathan thinking this up with the tech available to them is pretty awesome.
10. The drive to the facility with Eleven and Hopper. There’s this excellent scene in the final episode where Hopper and Eleven are driving to the science facility knowing that it’s overrun with monsters and an open gate to another dimension, and yet there’s this quiet and beautiful moment where they apologize to one another, hold hands, and we get to see the love and respect they have for one another. It’s great for developing their characters but it’s also a good moment because it provides contrast, the eye before the storm to all the action. I wish that I could make the Star Trek Discovery creators watch this scene. On Star Trek Discovery there are great characters and performances but the dial on the tension is always set to max, something is always exploding and we never get those quiet moments for contrast and also to enjoy and invest in the great characters. Here Stranger Things shows that you can have those quiet moments without diffusing the tension.
Next week I start season 3, hopefully keeping up to be ready for the first part of season 4 when it starts May 27th.
