Monday 6 November 2017

Stranger Things, Season 2 review (no spoilers)

I am woman, hear me roar...


Drew Barrymore in Firestarter, Jessica Alba in Dark Angel and Mile Bobby Brown in Stranger Things

(Drew Barrymore in Firestarter, Jessica Alba in Dark Angel and Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things)

First impressions of Stranger Things is “This series is so cool”, the 80’s vibe with the detail of music, costume, sets, cars, mannerisms and speech is spot-on.  The more you get into Stranger Things, the more similarities there is with Firestarter – the government agency called “The Shop” trying to control Charlie (little baby Drew Barrymore) and the US Department  of Energy research lab at the centre of Stranger Things.  Following this theme, you can then see how similar it is to Dark Angel & Manticore who created those pesky genetically enhanced soldiers so our screens could be graced with the awesome Jessica Alba.    

For any fans of Stephen King they will love Stranger Things, the similarities to Stand By Me, IT & Firestarter are obvious because the story is about children and their perceptions but the feeling – attributed to the lighting & soundtrack – is also so similar to most of the B movies made in the 80’s based on Stephen Kings work.  King himself is a huge fan of Stranger Things...



I like the format of a shorter season – 8 episodes in season 1 & 9 episodes in season 2.  This means you’re not devoting too much time in watching “another” series as we are drowning in stuff to watch today.  The shortened series forces the creators/directors, The Duffer Brothers, to get on with the story and of course also gives them less opportunity to mess up (read more later on about episode 7).  It’s also great to be able to watch a whole series in a few days rather than having to wait week-on-week as a series is drip fed, let’s not even mention those bloody series cliff hangers – Who the hell gets to meet Lucille up close and personal?


Anyway, to concentrate on season 2 of Stranger Things – you can comfortably manage it in 3 nights with 3 episodes per night.  Perfect.  Short and sweet.  It picks up perfectly from the ending of the previous series, telling the story of how Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is looked after by Officer Hopper (the hunk that is David Harbour who will be the new Hellboy).  You have the separate storyline of the four boys attempting to get back to normal life after the revelations in the “Upside Down”.  Hopper plays the vital role of being the common denominator, of course you know at some stage both storylines need to intertwine.

Stranger Things Season 2
  
There are unfortunately a couple of problems with the plot.  A common story line when children are involved is to split them up, throw in a bit of jealousy, unrequited love, brash racism but then have them join back together at the end of the series, hug-it-out and beat the monster.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Scooby Gang are the prime example of this, so why would Stranger Things do anything different.  Next, the story is a little bit predictable, the seemingly unbeatable monster can be slain (maybe) if the star of the show – who has been sidelined for most of the season – turns up and does her thing, which, surprisingly she does.  Unfortunately, this lack of originality means Stranger Things season 2 loses a review point here.

All of the characters (except one) are great and the acting is sublime...the cringe worthy “rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”  by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is hilarious and the cast bounces off each other really well.  Ultimately it’s a story about a group of friends banding together over seemingly insurmountable odds and winning.  I like the idea of a group of unpopular nerds (reminiscent of The Losers Club in IT) saving the day and can maybe reach out to geeks today.  My one exception is Winona “Whining” Ryder as Joyce (Will’s mother).  She spends two whole seasons bawling and needs to be in as many scenes as possible.  The story isn’t about her Duffer Brothers, we want more of Eleven! 

This brings me neatly to Eleven, HELLO!  She is the one with the super powers...let’s make a film about Superman but not actually have him in the film.  No, just No!.  We want more of Eleven, episode 7 is just a mess, it could have been so much more, exploring the origin of Eleven and her meeting her sister instead it was clearly an episode thrown in there to create a spin-off series.  Just concentrate on this series; let’s not worry about the next one quite yet.  Whining Ryder and episode 7 loses another review point. 

But, to get back to the positives, the story is still well written.  The graphics and special effects are seamless and considering our standards are so high now-a-days it does brilliantly.  I suppose this is another advantage of a short season, it keeps the budget down so stuff can be done properly, gone are the days that the cost of special effects determine major characters, plot lines and sets.  It’s a fast-paced story and you would definitely benefit by watching series 1 before you start, if you don’t have time for that at least watch the last 2 episodes.  Throughout the series, you find yourself asking – who is actually responsible, is Eleven at the heart of everything? – is Dr. Owens good or bad, does he actually care for Will or Eleven? – both of these conundrums are answered (kind of) by the end.  The fast-paced story, comedic moments, great special effects and just enough intrigue gives a great series and a must-see in the ocean of burgeoning must-see series.

Overall, 2 review points are lost so my rating for Stranger Things, Season 2 is 8 out of 10 planets.   


8 out of 10 planets review

John "The Captain" Ryan

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