stranger things second season disappointing

I thought it was a little derivative in parts. 'I liked it,' she says, but 'I had a few issues. Joyce is as disappointed as we are Credit: netflixĪ scene in episode 5 encapsulates this perfectly, when the new character of Max (more on her later) reacts to Lucas telling her the story of Stranger Things Season 1. In Season 2, instead of paying homage to the past while telling a new story, the show started paying homage to itself, becoming a self-referential ouroboros of nostalgia that couldn't stop eating its own derivative tail. Stranger Things 2, however, largely destroys these intimate bonds, while also expanding the Upside Down in bafflingly predictable ways ( you thought one Demogorgon was bad? Try a bunch of baby demodogs on for size!), and ultimately robbing Season 1 of its impact. And that made us care about what happened to them and their town. We all know a Dustin, a Steve, a Joyce - or you are one. The show immersed us in that neighborly mentality of Hawkins in a way, using that relatability to ground its most fantastical elements.

It worked because of two core aspects that kept Stranger Things feeling fresh in spite of the familiarity: 1) The larger, compellingly inexplicable but hostile mystery of the Upside Down, and 2) The intimate connection we developed for its characters. But to unknowing millennials and nostalgic Gen-Xers, that derivativeness generally worked in its favor. Last year, the overarching critique of the cultural phenomenon came down to its derivativeness, as an unabashed stew of our favorite '80s horror and sci-fi tropes. And the unnecessary glut of new, strange things in Stranger Things 2 just drags every strange thing we loved about the first season down too.

But instead of expanding the universe of the first season with original ideas (ala Aliens), they just added a whole lot of sagging weight. It's clear that they tried to Aliens their sequel to the surprise summer hit of last year. Here's what that creepy 'Stranger Things 2' ending means for Season 3

Stranger things second season disappointing