The new baddie does get a name in the show.
There’s one episode that is completely disconnected and can be scuttled completely and nothing of value is lost, which also killed the pacing for me right before the beginning of the end. That whole subplot felt really bad.
I was dreading this because season 1 is so good and I felt it had an ominous but complete ending. I suppose this season ties up some lose ends but it doesn’t stand on its own and is very much a continuation with some new characters. Not bad per se but I do prefer an Aliens to Alien type sequel.
Speaking of which:The scene with the hazmat “marines” in the interdimensional “alien tunnels” was a total allusion to Aliens replete with “stay frosty” line, dude back at a control panel with a bad body cam feed, and someone trying to warn them it’s a trap unsuccessfully…minus the APC escape because everyone dies.
Not to mention the motion detector.
This season 2 kind of troubles me. Theres alot of abuse of children subtext (also upfront with the new chars) that is really really dark. And it all leads to a demonic possession analogy that is horrible. Part of the charm of the first season was being taken back to a time of just kids being kids. Season 2 felt very bleak for me from around episode 4+.
Also the conspiracy dude teaching about love was VERY creepy. Kind of disturbing considering all the recent allegation of Weinstein and the Mike actor firing his agent for child sexual abuse allegations. Kids only 14. The kids played there parts very well, but the material was just too dark, or felt too dark for me. Don’t think it was intentional, but in whole it puts me off and is really sad and depressing. Kind of reminds me of the VERY dark and disturbing child abuse/sacrifice in the Dr Who spinoff Torchwood.
I loathed every second of that.
It served no purpose whatsoever and was an entire episode. If you deleted it completely, you wouldn’t even notice. It was like something out of a different show entirely. And not exactly a great one.
I assume we’ll see some continuation of it in a 3rd Season… which kind of bodes ill for a 3rd Season because holy shit did I not care about any of it or want to see anything like it again.
Totally. Made completely evident to fact the very next episode picks up EXACTLY where the episode BEFORE it ends.
As far as the purpose for it, according to the after show round table discussions it was suppose to be a “Yoda-esque” training interlude of Eleven/Janes powers to justify her ability at the end of the movie…
Since it’s all based on hate, being trained by the Emperor is probably the more appropriate analogy. ;)
That episode seemed pretty much designed to get her into a different costume.
I thought that episode was fine and lended additional backstory and character development to Eleven.
I’m with @Balasarius. So much of the relationships in the show are themed around a sense of belonging. This season, El chafes against Hopper’s surrogate parenting because he keeps her from the only group with whom she felt it, which causes her to go off the rails. She’s a believable teen girl, despite the strangeness of her upbringing. Running away is part of that tapestry.
This is where I landed on that episode, plus it’s also important for the finale. I don’t really see why it’s so reviled, tbh.
FYI the show has its own “Talking Dead” aftershow called ‘Beyond Stranger Things’.
We just finished it. My teenager was tearing up at the end.
The aforementioned problem episode wasn’t extraneous – the experience set Eleven up to know who her true family was, an also gave her the inspiration she needed to force the gate closed.
I’m doing the same. Pacing myself to one episode a day if I can.
As a result of that though, I found Episode 1 and Episode 2 very slow, with nothing compelling propelling the series forward. I was especially disappointed that Episode 2, the Halloween episode, was so low key.
But last night I saw Episode 3, and finally a lot of the foundation laid by the first two episodes is finally paying off and things are getting tremendously exciting.
That’s interesting, I’ve been noticing a lot of Netflix originals seem designed to be binged and not “savored” more and more lately. Hell, Big Mouths even does a specific gag on it, even going so far as to practically wink at the camera!
It’s worth noting that the Netflix version of an aftershow is intended to be consumed after watching the entire season of the show it is commenting on.
I watched the first episode of “Beyond”, and right away it is commenting on the finale.
Yep, and to their credit they warned everyone up front. There were some interesting insights from the after-show thing, and it was interesting to see everyone interact. My only complaint is it went a bit long (the after show, not the season).
Based on previous interviews I knew Millie Bobby Brown was mature and professional, but damn watching her in that after-show was something else. She talks like a 20-year veteran actor and not a 13-year old child.
Yeah, it’s true; she’s quite impressive.
They killed Samwise! That was probably the most traumatic part of the show, and I fully believe probably the whole reason they went that direction.
Kids and I spent the weekend binge-watching the whole thing, with pizza and extremely laziness. It was a great weekend.
I got exactly what I was expecting out of it—something down a bit from the lofty heights of the first season, but nevertheless a highly enjoyable and frequently tense few hours in an intriguing world with characters I like. My wife was a little disappointed it wasn’t as good as the original, but it’s very rare, in my experience, that the sophomore effort is.