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It took me a few seconds to realise that was Paul Reiser. Dude has not aged well at all.

People age - especially over 30 years, and especially when they were adults 30 years ago.

Aliens is 31 years old.

Few actors from the 80s look as good as they did back then.

I really liked it overall. As other people have said the strength of the show comes from its characters, who are all well drawn, engaging and well acted. The plot is fine, it's happily derivative, but it changes things just enough to keep things interesting.
For instance, when Paul Reiser started I think most people assumed he'd be reprising his role from Aliens, pretending to contain the problem while actually exploiting it, but then it turns out he was actually a fundamentally decent guy who really was trying to contain the problem. Because it adds those little variations the show manages to be familiar without being completely predictable, which is nice.

I've still got a bunch of nitpicks, mostly around the world building, though. People commented a lot about how Barb was pretty much forgotten about for much of season 1, and they made an effort to resolve that this season, and showing some closure for her parents at the end was nice. But it just made the other forgotten casualties stand out even more - I mean there would have been a few hundred casualties in that building. But the only person mentioned in the news that night was the girl who died a year beforehand.

There's also an issue with the other's threat being driven entirely by plot. Demo-dogs can be knocked aside by a teenager with a bat, and unable to tear through the side of a bus, then the same creatures are able to break through poly-carbonate and shrug off bullets to slaughter a whole government compound, before finally bullets start working again when Hopper shoots them.

I agree with you there, the demodogs were very inconsistent in their abilities. Also the weird "mist". It was implied at one point that it kind of followed them around and could be conjured, yet there were several instances of them swarming (such as when going through the compound, or when the kids are in the tunnel at the end) where there was no such debilitating mist present.

I think overall the reception toward season 2 is going to get worse over time, as people have more time to digest the episodes and the writing. It's a GOOD show and I enjoyed it alot, but the writing was a lot shakier this time around on pretty much every level I feel.

SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING!

 Nostromodamus wrote:
Really enjoying it so far. As soon as I saw Paul Reiser playing a shady company man who says "trust me" a lot, I knew where the story was going

'Cept he wasn't shady. At all. He cared about people, almost sacrificed himself, and came through for them in the end.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
... I don't think I've seen such a blatent Aliens rip off for a long time.

Pastiche. Homage.

It wasn't a rip off.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING!

 Nostromodamus wrote:
Really enjoying it so far. As soon as I saw Paul Reiser playing a shady company man who says "trust me" a lot, I knew where the story was going

'Cept he wasn't shady. At all. He cared about people, almost sacrificed himself, and came through for them in the end.

I meant more like it reminded me of his role in Aliens and that we were getting Aliens in our Stranger Things. I'm glad his ST character turned out like he did though.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Nostromodamus wrote:
... I don't think I've seen such a blatent Aliens rip off for a long time.

Pastiche. Homage.

It wasn't a rip off.

Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but the similarities were strong and often.


I think the only episode I didn't enjoy was episode 7. That really didn't need to exist at all.

 BlaxicanX wrote:
I agree with you there, the demodogs were very inconsistent in their abilities. Also the weird "mist". It was implied at one point that it kind of followed them around and could be conjured, yet there were several instances of them swarming (such as when going through the compound, or when the kids are in the tunnel at the end) where there was no such debilitating mist present.

I think overall the reception toward season 2 is going to get worse over time, as people have more time to digest the episodes and the writing. It's a GOOD show and I enjoyed it alot, but the writing was a lot shakier this time around on pretty much every level I feel.

I don't think so, at all.

Other than the oddly placed pilot within a Season that is Episode 7, I think Season 2 works quite well on every level.

Now, hopefully Will will (!) be something other than a victim in Season 3!

Yeah, Will was definitely underused/developed. After the end of S1 there was the implication that he'd be back with the gang again and I was looking forward to him in that dynamic, all too quickly he became a plot point again rather than a character.

I enjoyed the season, overall. My only observations have already been echoed in this thread - yeah, the demodog escalation did remind of Aliens, which I assume was a 100% intended homage.

I also noticed the.... flexibility in danger from the demodogs. Sometimes they were supernatural mortal threats, sometimes they were no more dangerous than an actual dog.

I'd like for next season to delve further into the Upside-down, and try to explain what it is, and how it has come to resemble the real world.

I've got a theory that is probably wrong, but which I'd like to have disproved. My theory is that the Upside-down is really just a parallel dimension to our own, in that until recently it was inhabited normal people who lived normal lives, which would explain why every building in Hawkins also exists there.

Which also means that there must have been normal Upside-down versions of all the Stranger Things characters as well, who have later succumbed. This parallel dimension Earth was then invaded by one or more interdimensional or intergalactic Mind Flayers, which led to the complete corruption of the planet. By the time of the second season, the Mind Flayer has been alerted to the rift which has appeared in Hawkins and is trying to explore and/or exploit it to gain a foothold in "our" dimension.

Ehh, my guess is the "Upside down" is kinda like filler space between realities.
Also, while the kids SAY its like a mind flayer that wants to contrrol, we dont know its true motives, if it has any. it could just be a monster with the only directive being "Expand" with no need to actually do so

Wasnt as strong as the first season imo.
The upside down felt less threatening/interesting for me this time around and basically came down to a bunch of demidogs running around with some underground tentacles.
Episode 7 was also awful, a cheap way to introduce a possible spin off/next season. Yuk.

Having said that overall it was watchable and it did expand the setting/characters which was good. Just didnt recapture the magic of that first season. The kids all felt a little disjointed as a group this time which irked me.

We just finished it last night. Overall, it wasn't as good as season 1, but it was still enjoyable.

The actors that play Dustin and Lucas certainly got better. Their acting was probably the weakest parts of season 1.

 Ouze wrote:
I enjoyed the season, overall. My only observations have already been echoed in this thread - yeah, the demodog escalation did remind of Aliens, which I assume was a 100% intended homage.

I also noticed the.... flexibility in danger from the demodogs. Sometimes they were supernatural mortal threats, sometimes they were no more dangerous than an actual dog.

Only if you remember to feed them nougat!

Finally finished it tonight. Enjoyed season 2 a lot, bummed I gotta wait a year for season 3 :(

I think Bob was my favorite character this season.

Enjoyed it.

Spoilerly thoughts in spoiler tag:

Agreed!

Since it is set in the 80's, the Russians HAVE to make an appearance at some point!

Yeah, in season 3 they need to kill off one of the kids' dads, while he's stuck behind a fence yelling "Avenge me!"

I also liked the Aliens reference with Paul Reiser, and also Bob looking at the map asking if that's where they have the pirate treasure.