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. Felindie
    Jul 15, 2019
    7
    Don't get me wrong, season two is good, but not as catchy as the first season.
  2. GrantD243
    Jul 27, 2019
    7
    Season two is an odd duck. In many ways, it's more polished and well done than season one. But, there are a few episodes that really miss the mark and in many ways it feels like a re-hash of season one.
  3. All_ButTrU4
    Jan 4, 2022
    7
    "Stranger Things 2” delivers the winning combination of darkness, horror, humour, strong acting, and nostalgia expected from the series, although the plot occasionally meanders to familiar places
  4. Ruzaky
    Jan 22, 2019
    7
    More stranger things. This kinds will have some stories to tell when they will be old.
  5. Onlyclassicvg1
    Sep 17, 2022
    7
    This film noir portrait of corruption and morally-compromised obsessions stars Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. Charlton Heston plays an honorable Mexican narcotics investigator who clashes with the bigoted Quinlan after probing into his dark past. A memorable
  6. Fatbob15
    Oct 21, 2022
    7
    A surprising backslide from season 1, but it is still entertaining enough to satisfy it's fans, and it's still solid enough even for casual watchers
  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. 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.
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  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. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. iamkakaindecent
    May 30, 2018
    6
    The outcome was very "uninteresting" had S3 been good that was more or less.
  16. 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
  17. 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.
  18. 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
  19. 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.
  20. Deanomite
    Oct 29, 2017
    3
    It's ok if you need something on in the background while surfing internet or something. But there is no plot point until 1/2 through the season, no character progression no conflict or point or anything. That said, the music is excellent, the acting is very good for as thin as the characters are, the script is the weakness not direction or photography or editing. i am seeing this a lot lately.
  21. DiogoOliveira
    Nov 24, 2017
    3
    Não esperava muita coisa, mas tive que assistir para poder opina, e digo que a serie esta cansada da própria existência, episódio 1 fraco, previsível, desfragmentado, ruim, mal editado, quando chegamos no episódio 7 o desastre esta pronto e feito, piores episódio, a serie esta querendo fugi do cliché, mas ela própria redefiniu o conceito de cliché bom, mas nessa estraga tudo, joga tudo noNão esperava muita coisa, mas tive que assistir para poder opina, e digo que a serie esta cansada da própria existência, episódio 1 fraco, previsível, desfragmentado, ruim, mal editado, quando chegamos no episódio 7 o desastre esta pronto e feito, piores episódio, a serie esta querendo fugi do cliché, mas ela própria redefiniu o conceito de cliché bom, mas nessa estraga tudo, joga tudo no ralo, com cenas desconcertantes que foge da primeira temporada que estava clean para corre por Exorcista, fracassando também na inclusão de dois personagens que não acrescenta em nada, o masculino uma copia de um personagem já existente na primeira temporada e o segundo, que e um personagem feminino não se sabe o que faz ali, seria para um par romântico forçado? descubra você mesmo. final fraco puxando gancho para mais uma temporada, fracassando literalmente com o trabalho mediano mas aceitável da primeira temporada.… Expand
  22. Eve84
    Oct 27, 2017
    3
    Stranger Things was a puzzle out of great ideas that came together and fitted perfectly. Season two is that same puzzle spread all over the table.

    While the original show's story revolved around a great mystery, the second season has absolutely no mystery at all. It comes out right from the start with whats going on "x is happening - how will the heroes prevent it?". The story and    Stranger Things was a puzzle out of great ideas that came together and fitted perfectly. Season two is that same puzzle spread all over the table.

    While the original show's story revolved around a great mystery, the second season has absolutely no mystery at all. It comes out right from the start with whats going on "x is happening - how will the heroes prevent it?". The story and characters, while fascinating and thrilling in the first season, just seem lukewarm, flat and often misplaced in the sequel. There's no motivation besides "someone's gotta stand there and say this line". You could remove/exchange most of the characters from scenes and it would chance nothing. Even the music, one of the first season's greatest assets, seems often forced and misplaced in how it uses its 80's tracks.
    While the original subverted common tropes(Steve for example), the second season doesn't even bother. See a douchebag? Its a douchebag; no second guesses.

    But the worst offender is the Eleven sideplot, which takes 7 episodes to complete and adds absolutely nothing and goes literally nowhere; ending with what can only be seen as a metaphor for "I'm going to be in the show now!" The star of the first season doesn't even need to be in the show up until that point. She's literally doing nothing, but irrelevant side adventures.

    The season is fascinating in how bland the ideas of expansion are. "How do we follow up on the success?" "Well, with a bigger and/or more monsters of course! That'll do!" is what the creators must have thought here.

    Its an uninspired sequel in the same vein other uninspired sequels: completely overloaded with what people loved about the original, because the creators couldn't think of anything but "add more".
    Nothing here really fits together.
    Where the first season is tightly knit, this one is just stuff thrown at a wall, to see what sticks. Not too much...

    With season two Stranger Things has become "Random Things." One can only guess how thick the 80's nostalgia must run through the people's veins these days, to hype an uninspired mess driven by nothing but references and 80's rock. Because that's the only two things season 2 is good at: references and music(even though the latter is misplaced a lot.)    … Expand
  23. Lookingforheart
    Mar 14, 2018
    3
    I truly enjoyed the first season of the show. In spite of it being so blatantly derivative, it was very well made, very well acted, and very heartfelt and entertaining. It had genuinely rousing moments, good pacing, and a great sense of tension. The sum was larger than its parts.

    The new season was a disappointment to say the least. There is a fine line between inspiration and an honest    I truly enjoyed the first season of the show. In spite of it being so blatantly derivative, it was very well made, very well acted, and very heartfelt and entertaining. It had genuinely rousing moments, good pacing, and a great sense of tension. The sum was larger than its parts.

    The new season was a disappointment to say the least. There is a fine line between inspiration and an honest to goodness ripoff, and I struggled to find a single original idea here: the show's creators sticky fingers lift ideas ranging all the way from Akira, to the Exorcist, to Alien, to H.P. Lovecraft, to Star Wars, to every John Hughes movie ever made, to E.T. again, and it isn't a passing nod of admiration, no, we are talking ideas and shots plucked straight out of other titles. It's so thoroughly creatively bankrupt, anyone with any degree of familiarity of genre films or series of the past 40 years would be hard pressed not to scoff or roll their eyes at some point. Not good, not good at all.

    The series relied on nostalgia very heavily in the first installment, and that is doubled down on here. In the original it was obvious, but it was second to some very good story telling, whereas here, it seems to be the central focus. This is made more awkward by the fact that some of the anachronisms are incorrect: Reese's pieces didn't have chocolate in them, Kentucky Fried Chicken wasn't called 'KFC' in the 80s (I suspect that last one was due to product endorsement issues), among many others. Nitpicking, perhaps, but it tarnishes the sense of immersion, all the same.

    Some of this could be perhaps be forgivable in service of a great story, but the overall plot is also wooden, predictable, and in places, straight up boring. There's an episode in the middle that is a complete throw away (and yet another opportunity to be 'inspired' by Akira), and when we finally do get back to the main event, it is done in such a trite fashion as to be laughable. You won't have to guess what's about to happen in the slightest. From there events unfold in a series of episodes that are films and shows you have probably already seen, and done better, elsewhere.

    The new characters that are added serve no purpose other than to fill up space and disrupt the terrific ensemble from the first series. Were they left out of the script entirely it would not have changed a thing or even been noticeable, but for the opportunity they provided for still more nostalgia signaling.

    All in all, season 2 is watchable for the most part, and the performances are still great, that can't be overstated. You will love the kids as much as ever. The ending is supremely sweet, but getting there is an exercise in the worst kind of lazy writing and production, designed specifically to play on nostalgia and its related emotions that you may or may not even possess in lieu of quality or depth or anything resembling fresh, creative ideas. The setup for season 3 is impossibly lame, and if the mediocrity of episode 7 was an indication of where they are headed, count me out.

    This is 21st century film-making in every worst possible sense of the notion with some terrific moments thrown in, seemingly almost by accident or as an after thought. Its a shame, and indicative of Netflix in general as time goes by - I can't decide if their shows are indeed penned by algorithms or just people that have been trained to write like them. One point for the cast, one point for the production values, and one for the truly sweet ending.    … Expand
  24. Gatocosmico
    Nov 21, 2017
    3
    the script is bad with unclear characters that do not change anything in the plot that if they disappeared would not change anything, the end was something exciting but expected much more, has no comparison with the first season
  25. funnymystical
    Sep 15, 2022
    3
    omg emos so cool
    plot: 5/10
    characters: -10/10
    writing: 2/10
    cgi: 7/10
    humor: -1/10
  26. noirfx
    Oct 29, 2017
    2
    Waste of my time, just like the season 1. Almost every action characters make are stupid, the plot is garbage, acting is lame and the whole thing feels cheap and slow. The only good thing about this show is the mood and style of the 80s and the soundtrack. Everything else fails miserably.
  27. mikeasmith1234
    Oct 28, 2017
    2
    nothing really interesting about this season. felt very forced. eleven suddenly trains like a part x man slash jedi but is barely in the series, her whole story is irrelevant until the end. the rest is all very straightforward. 2/10 will not watch again
  28. Archimdus
    Sep 18, 2018
    2
    Takes everything that was awesome in the first season and removes it. Decides to base the entire season on the old game "dig dug" where creatures have created an underground hive that it takes Hopper way too long to figure it out. Joyce makes her entire house into an arts and crafts project again. Mike has basically checked out. Will is possessed by a lame alien who's picky aboutTakes everything that was awesome in the first season and removes it. Decides to base the entire season on the old game "dig dug" where creatures have created an underground hive that it takes Hopper way too long to figure it out. Joyce makes her entire house into an arts and crafts project again. Mike has basically checked out. Will is possessed by a lame alien who's picky about temperature and likes to sleep a lot. Eleven is non-existent until she decides to go on a weird little angst vacation and joins a group of psychotic murders (think villains from classic Ninja Turtles but super lame) for a few days before finally returning to mike (in the last episode of the season) looking like an awkward, tiny hooker. Mike doesn't seem to mind. Eleven screams a lot and waves her hands around and saves the town again. Mike and Eleven go to a school dance. She kisses him in the most obligatory and apathetic way possible. The end.… Expand
  29. GamerJones
    Nov 5, 2017
    1
    This is one of the most overrated Shows in recent tv-history. I can accept it as an mediocre, entertaining homage to the oldschool "Scary Movies" and tv-shows of the 80-90's. Its a kind of hybrid between movies like Carpenters The Thing (the monsters and score ring clear here), Spielbergs E.T., and Stephen Kings IT (the kiddie-cast). Also with undertones of The X-Files, Twin Peaks,This is one of the most overrated Shows in recent tv-history. I can accept it as an mediocre, entertaining homage to the oldschool "Scary Movies" and tv-shows of the 80-90's. Its a kind of hybrid between movies like Carpenters The Thing (the monsters and score ring clear here), Spielbergs E.T., and Stephen Kings IT (the kiddie-cast). Also with undertones of The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Goosebumps etc. This is why i find the show so unoriginal - we've all seen these plots before, but better.

    Thats the next thing, the acting. The kids are so bad! At first this might be attributed to bad writing, but the kids jus seem like genuinly bad actors, all of them. This, combined witht the poor writing, makes the characters extreemely unlikeable. With the exception of the semi-retarded super-nerd, Justin perhaps, none of these characters came across as likeable, if anything they were just plain annoying. The kid that the shows storyline is centered around, Will, is especially loathable, my good god i hate that kid. After the introduction, everytime you see him on screen he acts like a whiny little ingrate. Sure he might have been infected by some interdimensional parasite, but does he have to be such an stupid **** I hate him. Also the "Elleven" character is ridiculous. Millie Brown might be one of the worst kid acters i have ever seen (i had to plain skip episode 7 of the 2. season), only topped by Danish Linnea Berthelsen from episode 7 - just skip it.

    I really hate this show and all the unworthy attention its getting, because this is a indicator of how many ****s exist out there, with no taste or critical sense whatsoever, some are even close friends of mine... Wake up, this show is terrible!    … Expand
  30. meta_king
    Aug 16, 2020
    1
    Its soooo coooooooooooooool! I must write 75 letter, why why? Holy molyyyyy :)
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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

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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.
    Read full review
  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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