Stranger Things

:

Season 2
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 15, 2016
Season #: 5, 4.5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 892 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 758 out of 892
  2. Mixed: 63 out of 892
  3. Negative: 71 out of 892

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User Reviews

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  1. trp2
    Oct 30, 2017
    6
    Starts strong but drops off about half way through. Story is too large and cumbersome, not much character development and not much pay off either. Important characters are tossed aside with weak stories that limp through the series. New characters are brought in, seem interesting but just fizzle out into a silly plot line. Overall it's a good series but they tried to tell far too much of aStarts strong but drops off about half way through. Story is too large and cumbersome, not much character development and not much pay off either. Important characters are tossed aside with weak stories that limp through the series. New characters are brought in, seem interesting but just fizzle out into a silly plot line. Overall it's a good series but they tried to tell far too much of a story in this season and ended up using a lot of cliches.… Expand
  2. strangel0ve
    Nov 3, 2017
    5
    It somehow lacks a character, focus, backbone, I don't know what it is, but season one had it and I can only rate it and like percieve it in relation to it. It feels like a kids show now whereas season one was a story, atmosphere, coherence. This seems to be a bit all over the place, not nearly as singular and interesting, still a lot of good things about it, I certainly appreciated nodsIt somehow lacks a character, focus, backbone, I don't know what it is, but season one had it and I can only rate it and like percieve it in relation to it. It feels like a kids show now whereas season one was a story, atmosphere, coherence. This seems to be a bit all over the place, not nearly as singular and interesting, still a lot of good things about it, I certainly appreciated nods to Aliens and Jurrasic Park (and a lot of other stuff i bet) but as far as its own thing this season didn't do it for me.… Expand
  3. MacheteDontText
    Nov 12, 2017
    6
    Sadly season 2 has almost none of the first one's charm and mistery. The cast is still great but everything else is just mediocre, with a few unneccesary characters and a couple of cringeworthy moments. Overall its disappointing, but watchable, season 1 was great, should ve leaved it the **** alone.
  4. Tony1984
    Aug 1, 2018
    6
    Season 1 was a Spielberg/King homage which wasn't original in the slightest but very entertaining and very addictive nonetheless. Season 2 is a regurgitation on 1 just weaker on whole. Season 1 had its flaws that could be forgiven on its debut. 2 has the same flaws but worse. Weak plot lines, poor writing, the obligatory PC and general silliness grate the second time around. StrangerSeason 1 was a Spielberg/King homage which wasn't original in the slightest but very entertaining and very addictive nonetheless. Season 2 is a regurgitation on 1 just weaker on whole. Season 1 had its flaws that could be forgiven on its debut. 2 has the same flaws but worse. Weak plot lines, poor writing, the obligatory PC and general silliness grate the second time around. Stranger Things is a now corporate. KFC and Coke product placements, even though KFC wasn't even around in 1984. Season 3 will be the death knell .… Expand
  5. adventure2u
    Oct 29, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Characters make or break a TV show. When a show becomes popular due to character dynamics and fulfilled character arcs all done in eight episodes, it's expected that it would be a hard point to leap off of to continue the series. Stranger Things 2 confronts this problem, and instead creating a new goal and character arcs, they focus on fixing problems from the previous season. This is the bad kind of sequel, where instead of using the platform to explore new territory, they make the choice to the wallow in the first season.

    *Plot*
    The new plot introduced feels contrived, Instead of fighting a creature in a world it shouldn't be in, now they are fighting 'darkness'^tm. The story suffers from not having a clear goal, instead of fighting one out of place monster and finding Will, they are now fighting a lot of monsters and are trying to find Will figuratively.

    *Main characters*
    Every characters story arcs seem to have repeated, it's as if the characters haven't learnt anything from their past (season 1) Will is the victim once again, Joyce is grieving and fighting for her son, Steve is having relationship issues with Nancy, so on and so on.
    They have their moments but they seem to come to the same conclusion as season one.

    *New characters*
    Bob and Kali, both introduced in the season. They seem to be in a character state similar to the fairy godmothers from cinderella; they exist to help the other characters. Bob appears only to comfort and fix electronics, and Kali's role seems to be to show Eleven how to use her powers and distract her from the plot. These characters I feel have been brought in unfairly, they don't grow as a person through the story, they don't change. Which bring us to Max and dart (the baby monster) both characters were introduced the same way (the main characters were interested to them, then they feel sorry for them, then there are reasons the main characters can't interact with them, then they become friends again.) It's contrived and they don't feel like real characters, which to be fair is more important for Max. These characters feel like a loss of potential, more than anything else.

    *Overall*
    The season may be a rehash, but its still worth it watch. This season seems like a step to get plot points out of the way before actually making a new story. A Lot of questions were answered but only to make place for new ones. I'm excited to see where they take it.    … Expand
  6. romanovich1
    Oct 27, 2017
    4
    Season 1 was a tightly-wound pleasant surprise. Season 2 is an over-wrought, convoluted mess. Some of the elegantly ambivalent loose ends from Season 1 would've been better left untouched. Add to that tons of subplots for seemingly every one of the cast of characters, and this season wears out its welcome fairly fast. Less would have been more. Not hopeful for a Season 3.
  7. gromenawer
    Nov 6, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This season felt retarded.

    El11 should have die half season for severe blood lost. We get it; she bleed when using the powers, gee. Like, she is risking brain aneurysm every time she change channels on the TV, is like Homer with a gun.

    OST is good but stop switching songs so often. Is like "Look, 80s music is cool!, ehh?, ehhhhh? Here is another one! do you member 80s music? I member!!" Jesus every single song feel force down the throat of the audience. is no longer serving and complementing the series, is completely fighting the series for the foreground.

    Literally the whole El11 plot is worthless. You could had cast the actress for the 30 minutes of the last episode and would have been so much impressive. Mother plot is lame, the SJ-punk-W is stupid. A complete derail of minutes and resources. You could have given all of that time to Max and Max's brother. Show the father of Max is better parent but got screw in the divorce, show some dichotomy on the **** brother because is abuse by the father. Something.

    And the whole story is full of scify troopes, you can see everything coming from miles away. No surprises whatsoever: "you see that glass, is everythingproof! CRACK- well, not so much", the zerg hivemind, the grumpy coop, the crazy conspiracy guy, Demidogs are bulletproof except in the last 5 minutes.

    I hope that there is a season 3 with one episode. The demigorgon-ubergod destroying the entire stupid town.    … Expand
  8. mydumbreviews
    Nov 24, 2017
    6
    I'll start by saying Stranger Things season 1 was one of my favorite shows ever.

    Stranger Things season 2 was just okay to me. I didn't feel any of the emotion I should have felt. It was good television overall, but it was a disappointment from the quality season 1 had. (spoilers) First of all, there's plotholes galore: The demidogs are immune to bullets whenever the plot needs    I'll start by saying Stranger Things season 1 was one of my favorite shows ever.

    Stranger Things season 2 was just okay to me. I didn't feel any of the emotion I should have felt. It was good television overall, but it was a disappointment from the quality season 1 had.

    (spoilers)

    First of all, there's plotholes galore: The demidogs are immune to bullets whenever the plot needs them to be. Like halfway through the series, Bob is killed by demidogs and Hopper tries to shoot them but the bullets just bounce off. At the end of the series, Hopper is able to shoot them successfully. Not to mention they get hurt by Steve wielding a baseball bat like halfway through the show. I guess all you needed was 100 baseball-bat Steves to take down the hivemind, huh?

    Speaking of hivemind, the show contradicts itself when it gives Dustin's pet demidog some individuality. It clearly disobeys the hivemind when it shows mercy to the party, which is a plothole and a cheap emotional moment. It didn't feel real to me.

    Eleven meets up with another girl with powers, and she was actually an interesting character, but they abandoned her quickly. I hope she comes back.

    There was nothing surprising about this season and everything just went exactly as expected. Me and my roommates were able to predict the plot perfectly as it unfolded, nothing like season 1 where we were left guessing.

    They tried to mirror season 1, which I thought was cool, but it just wasn't anywhere near as good. They repeated the same exact story instead of mirroring it in a meaningful way.

    The characters felt worse this season too, and the acting wasn't as good. I didn't feel any goosebumps and shivers the way the first season made me feel. I didn't cry when Will was ultimately saved. It wasn't emotional at all for me. When the season ended I was just like "that's it?"

    I hope they use this season to set up for something amazing in season 3, but somehow I think they will just produce something sub-par and the fanatic audience will eat it up. Same thing that happens to all great television (I'm looking at you, Game of Thrones + Walking Dead).    … Expand
  9. partyfavor
    Apr 25, 2018
    6
    I liked this show but not the same love I can give from the first season. The story started strong (I loved the other mutant's storyline) but it felt flat after a while and the pacing of the story became tiresome. The actors are still lovable, but the characters are somewhat not that like-able anymore. What really destroyed this for me is the last scene where it teases another "possible"I liked this show but not the same love I can give from the first season. The story started strong (I loved the other mutant's storyline) but it felt flat after a while and the pacing of the story became tiresome. The actors are still lovable, but the characters are somewhat not that like-able anymore. What really destroyed this for me is the last scene where it teases another "possible" sequel to this mess. It annoyed me that Netflix is just milking this franchise and it will be just a matter of time before it becomes a hot mess.… Expand
  10. Ankhthiel
    Oct 29, 2017
    6
    This show in season two was pretty good in most aspects. Was weaker than season one but that was to be expected with the surprise out of the box. The biggest let down was the liberal preaching that was way too prominent. Not interested in conservative bashing or liberal diversity carols in my entertainment. Sermon is for Sundays not for sci-fi shows 6/10.
  11. JulianIncen
    May 5, 2019
    6
    It didn't get any better and it had more than enough footage (for example the ep. 7). There were creative transitions and that is something to recognize. Collapse
  12. iamkakaindecent
    May 30, 2018
    6
    The outcome was very "uninteresting" had S3 been good that was more or less.
  13. Maxdom77
    Jul 26, 2022
    6
    Esta es la peor temporada de la serie, la mas plana, aburrida y poco original, es hasta salteable. Solo vale la pena por la trama de eleven y hoop.

Awards & Rankings

53
#53 Best TV Season of 2017
5
#5 Most Discussed TV Season of 2017
23
#23 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Dec 15, 2017
    80
    As with last year’s introductory season, a Spielbergian sense of wonder and a John Hughes-like knack for underage anthropology invigorate the show’s approach to scary science-fiction.
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  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Nathan Frontiero
    Nov 6, 2017
    75
    Stranger Things 2 ultimately feels less like a cash in on the success of the first season and more like its narrative complement, allowing the creators to fully explore the ramifications of the world they created.
    Read full review
  3. We Got This Covered
    Reviewed by: Lauren Humphries-Brooks
    Oct 30, 2017
    80
    All in all, Stranger Things season 2 is ultimately more of the same, but still a very worthy sequel, which is good news for those of us (like me) who only hoped for the Duffer Brothers to manage to carry through the success of the original run with an affecting, and believable, continuation of the story.
    Read full review
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