[Aptorian]

4 episodes in. Things are starting to get fucked up. I say nuke the entire county and let god sort them out.

[champ]

Just wait till the end of the next episode.

Also with regards to Bob...

Spoiler

I was thinking that at first, that he may be a spy in the midst but something happened in ep 5 to leave me unsure.

Though he might have helped crack the "vine map" and then tell the agency and that was why they rocked up.

I also think there could be something more to Max's brother though he may have just warned Max off the kids as he is a jerk...

[Nicodimas]

Episode 7 and the beginning were a total waste.....

Otherwise great show

[Aptorian]

Yeah, I'm watching episode 7 now and I don't really see the point of the episode. Maybe it works in a larger picture of a larger series but in connection with the story unfolding in the town, this isn't needed. It's just a distraction from what I really want to see.

[Aptorian]

Episode 8:

Spoiler

Okay. So these hounds apparently shrug off heavy caliber riffle amunition.

Time to nuke the place. Just nuke it all. Then agent orange the county. Then salt the earth. Then never speak of this again.

EDIT: Then do it again next year. And the year after that and the year after that... Or month. Or week. Just to be sure.

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 29 October 2017 - 09:00 AM

[Aptorian]

Finished Season 2.

I was expecting something more calamitous than what we got but overall a very strong season I think. The whole 80's nostalgia thing was more played down in this season or at least I was less aware of it. Which I think was a downside. But on the other hand, besides a few tropey TV writing bits, the writing was strong and as before the characters/actors really make you care about what is happening. Everyone did a great job and I continue to love Winona Ryder's performance as a neurotic, protective mom. Just as the kids remain adorable in their own dorky/teenage ways.

Spoiler

I think things went less crazy then I was expecting at the half way point. When they showed two-three meter wide tunnels branching everywhere for miles and miles and plants dying, I was expecting a full scale invasion, plagues and the destruction of Hawkins.

I think everything got wrapped up a bit too nicely but I guess it is in line with the kind of 80s stories the show is based on.

I also feel like Eleven's role in the season was poorly implemented. They tried to deepen the background story by having her dig up her past, but it all just seemed as an excuse to send her away, so that things could go very bad, and then use her as a Deus Ex Firestarter to come save the day.

All through out the show I was annoyed with the government/military's role and was constantly rolling my eyes. It sort of plays into that generations movies, that the government is very powerful but incompetent and arrogant but I have a hard time believing that they wouldn't know the Alien was spreading under the ground, nor that they wouldn't have some serious scorched earth plans on stand by for just the slightest sign of things getting out of hand.

It was pretty preposterous that a trained soldier can't shoot and kill a dog sized alien.

But hey it's one of those "only the kids can save the day" sort of stories.

Now I need to know if the creators have said anything about a season three.

What do you guys think?

Spoiler

They wrap it up kind of nicely. Eleven closed the main hole. But is that it? They showed in the last season as well as this one, that the aliens can poke holes in the fabric of reality and come through that way. All those branches under Hawkins suggested that the barrier was very thin. Or was this just a side effect of the bigger tear?

One plot line I could see them use would be that smoke monster thingy being exorcised from the kid taking over somebody else Earth side. Or that Eleven's sister Eight might be able to poke a new hole in reality.

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 29 October 2017 - 01:15 PM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I really enjoyed Series 2!

Spoiler

Overall I thought it was very strong indeed. Also, if demodog isn't in the next D&D edition Monster Manual I think I might be a little bit upset. Loved that exchange. Also "It's like a Mind Flayer" - I just love how the show integrates D&D in an intelligent way, rather than the Big Bang Theory-esque "Look we said something geeky, what do we win?" approach.

I love the kids. They're all wonderful - new addition Max was also great fun. "See. Zoomer."

The only thing I felt was a little off was Kali and that whole arc. It did serve a purpose for Eleven but I felt it didn't get enough development or time, so it felt very shoved in and out of place. The scene where Brenner is in Kali's vision telling Eleven about her wound was genuinely scary though, brilliantly done. And I did like the portrayal of Kali as a character.

Glad they didn't hammer the love triangle thing too much, and I enjoyed the more likeable arc they've given the Steve character. The big brother role to Dustin is great.

Off to start watching it again!

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 29 October 2017 - 06:35 PM

[worry]

Well, I kinda figured the previous experiments would come up more and more as the show went along. It did puncture one of my theories though:

Spoiler

I thought the demogorgon was going to be revealed as one of the previous experiments gone awry. Nope! Just a species of monster.

Spoiler

I also kinda expected Matthew Modine was going to still be alive somehow -- and even though we didn't get full-onscreen confirmation of that, the flashback where his assistant was Pruitt Taylor Vince confirmed something important was gonna happen, and then their 'visit' with him pretty much verbally confirmed it. I dunno, I thought everything about that episode was important, not least of all because the weirdly eccentric punk gang is one of the best 80s tropes. Now I wanna watch Return of the Living Dead.

[worry]

I wish

Spoiler

the mousetrap/bullet warning system had gone off. That felt like a Chekov's Gun type of thing.

[Nicodimas]

As many have pointed out I did like the reference of 11 + 8 = 19

And was that gremlins music at that one point ?? I couldn’t been the only one that caught that....

[paran falcon]

Watched S2 in 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. Felt it lived up very well to nearly impossible expectations because of the excellence of S1. I agree with others that Ep 7 seemed a little awkward/out of place but I think the purpose of it may have been

Spoiler

that this was their way of: expanding the "world" somewhat and teaching Eleven a couple of lessons in a rather rushed way. I actually thought that they were going to make it necessary for 008 to come to Hawkins with Eleven to deal with mess that was bigger than S1's. But after the ep was over, I think the point may have been to try to convince us that Brenner still lives (S3 plot point?) and to show Eleven that maybe no life is going to be perfect. It seemed to me that they were stressing the conversation Hopper had with Eleven about compromise and his explanation of what it means. Eleven goes to her Mother and Aunt's, where she is told she is home but the situation is far from ideal and she seems to think the Aunt betrays her when she hears the Aunt call for Hopper (I believe that's who she was trying to reach). Then she goes to find her "sister", who also offers her a home, which also has issues. What she had with Hopper doesn't seem so bad in retrospect and she also feels duty bound to help her friends, so she returns to Hawkins. I also think they used that ep as a way to introduce that slicked back hairstyle, which looked awesome! There is an after show called Beyond Stranger Things with interviews with the writers, director and cast members and they explained that Ep 7 was an homage to other movies also. They showed a still shot of a scene from The Warriors next to the shot where 008's posse comes walking out of the warehouse to go on their mission and its a very similar scene.

I agree with AG that the 80s nostalgia seemed a good bit less this season. The part that really got me was seeing the old camera flash cubes! Did those things have 4 flashes in them and then they were spent? i can't exactly remember. And then the very next scene showed Mrs. Wheeler using a Polaroid, which was probably the newest tech in cameras then.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed the whole season but am bummed its already over! May have to go back and binge both seasons again!.

[champ]

I loved the season and I actually really enjoyed ep7.

I think it was there to expand the universe out for s03, we're obviously going to see 008 again.

Also a decent article:

http://uk.ign.com/ar...nding-explained

[Nevyn]

Really enjoyed season 2. Only character that fell flat to me was the stepbrother. Other characters sort of start as stereotypes and grow out of it in interesting ways.

But I think with him they were trying to avoid turning a bad guy good again like S1, and went needlessly over the top. They either needed to do more to set up his aggressive dickishness, or have his character reined in a bit as a minor foil.

[acesn8s]

paran falcon, on 30 October 2017 - 01:53 PM, said:

The part that really got me was seeing the old camera flash cubes! Did those things have 4 flashes in them and then they were spent? i can't exactly remember. And then the very next scene showed Mrs. Wheeler using a Polaroid, which was probably the newest tech in cameras then.

Yes, those are one shot flashes. The lever to advance the film would also turn the cube.




Kodak had another camera model that would have stick of flashes (5 in a row) and each picture use just use one up on the stick and then you'd flip it and use the other row.



My father worked for Kodak from the 70s - 90s. We had all the different types of camera models.

[QuickTidal]

Absolutely loved Season 2! Great throughout, and a great slight shift to 80's Monster/creature movie style...and yes the first time Dart got away in the school, they played the GREMLINS score. Which was AWESOME.

Standout surprise badass of the season? Steve! Holy shit I was not expecting that trajectory for Steve, and it was SUCH a rich way to weave his character in a new direction. Great stuff!

Also, Nancy! Who knew?

Hopper and Eleven are still my faves on the show, but damned if Steve doesn't possibly overtake them.

Also, what the hell was the point of that Billy character? Asshole older stepbrother with an abusive dad? Sure. Am I expected to see anything else in him?

They say the plan is 4 seasons. So at this point I expect a POSSIBLE Eleven VS Eight season 3, and then season 4 can bring back in the Mind Flayer who is quietly brooding and focused in HARD on Eleven from the Upside Down.

[Vengeance]

QuickTidal, on 06 November 2017 - 01:39 PM, said:

Absolutely loved Season 2! Great throughout, and a great slight shift to 80's Monster/creature movie style...and yes the first time Dart got away in the school, they played the GREMLINS score. Which was AWESOME.

Standout surprise badass of the season? Steve! Holy shit I was not expecting that trajectory for Steve, and it was SUCH a rich way to weave his character in a new direction. Great stuff!

Also, Nancy! Who knew?

Hopper and Eleven are still my faves on the show, but damned if Steve doesn't possibly overtake them.

Also, what the hell was the point of that Billy character? Asshole older stepbrother with an abusive dad? Sure. Am I expected to see anything else in him?

They say the plan is 4 seasons. So at this point I expect a POSSIBLE Eleven VS Eight season 3, and then season 4 can bring back in the Mind Flayer who is quietly brooding and focused in HARD on Eleven from the Upside Down.

We finished it over the weekend as well. I am also expecting to see Modin's character (evil doctor/papa) again. Yeah I was really liking Steve this season. Billy is there for the same reason that Steve was there in season 1. Bad guy human character/Asshole highschool guy.

[Tattersail_]

Vengeance, on 06 November 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 November 2017 - 01:39 PM, said:

Absolutely loved Season 2! Great throughout, and a great slight shift to 80's Monster/creature movie style...and yes the first time Dart got away in the school, they played the GREMLINS score. Which was AWESOME.

Standout surprise badass of the season? Steve! Holy shit I was not expecting that trajectory for Steve, and it was SUCH a rich way to weave his character in a new direction. Great stuff!

Also, Nancy! Who knew?

Hopper and Eleven are still my faves on the show, but damned if Steve doesn't possibly overtake them.

Also, what the hell was the point of that Billy character? Asshole older stepbrother with an abusive dad? Sure. Am I expected to see anything else in him?

They say the plan is 4 seasons. So at this point I expect a POSSIBLE Eleven VS Eight season 3, and then season 4 can bring back in the Mind Flayer who is quietly brooding and focused in HARD on Eleven from the Upside Down.

We finished it over the weekend as well. I am also expecting to see Modin's character (evil doctor/papa) again. Yeah I was really liking Steve this season. Billy is there for the same reason that Steve was there in season 1. Bad guy human character/Asshole highschool guy.

Aka Venge

[Nevyn]

Vengeance, on 06 November 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

We finished it over the weekend as well. I am also expecting to see Modin's character (evil doctor/papa) again. Yeah I was really liking Steve this season. Billy is there for the same reason that Steve was there in season 1. Bad guy human character/Asshole highschool guy.

But as I said, they went needlessly over the top with Billy.

They wanted a bad guy to replace Steve. They didn't want him becoming a good guy like Steve. But the nuance of having the high school popular jerk maybe not being 100% jerk was some of their best writing in the series. And with Billy they got caught between two dimensional a-hole and enough backstory that they are trying to do something.

If you just want an a-hole human foil, tone it down a few levels, give him less time, and let him be a forgettable jerk like Steve's old wingman. If you want to develop how he's gotten to this point and have him be seriously messed up, it takes more than a car rant, stepparents, and one scary scene with a dad.

The only good Billy moment in the whole season is his flirting with the mom.

[Vengeance]

Tattersail_, on 06 November 2017 - 04:37 PM, said:

Vengeance, on 06 November 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 November 2017 - 01:39 PM, said:

Absolutely loved Season 2! Great throughout, and a great slight shift to 80's Monster/creature movie style...and yes the first time Dart got away in the school, they played the GREMLINS score. Which was AWESOME.

Standout surprise badass of the season? Steve! Holy shit I was not expecting that trajectory for Steve, and it was SUCH a rich way to weave his character in a new direction. Great stuff!

Also, Nancy! Who knew?

Hopper and Eleven are still my faves on the show, but damned if Steve doesn't possibly overtake them.

Also, what the hell was the point of that Billy character? Asshole older stepbrother with an abusive dad? Sure. Am I expected to see anything else in him?

They say the plan is 4 seasons. So at this point I expect a POSSIBLE Eleven VS Eight season 3, and then season 4 can bring back in the Mind Flayer who is quietly brooding and focused in HARD on Eleven from the Upside Down.

We finished it over the weekend as well. I am also expecting to see Modin's character (evil doctor/papa) again. Yeah I was really liking Steve this season. Billy is there for the same reason that Steve was there in season 1. Bad guy human character/Asshole highschool guy.

Aka Venge

I didn't bloom into an asshole you know until after highschool. In highschool I was just a mild asshole with homicidal tendencies.

Also you should see some of the Strangerthings aftershow. They go into the formation of Billy and why they put him in. I suspect that we might start to see changes in store for billy next season. The back story with his dad is to show that not all bad guys are born that way..aka..mind flayer. Some are taught hate. The scene with his dad show cases the impact that hate in parenting can have on children growing up.

[Malankazooie]