Strangers Things Season 2 Recap & Review!
Warning: Spoiler Alert!
Your Halloween weekend may have been filled with parties, booze, and haunted house. Mine consisted of binge watching the second season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. The hour-long, nine-episode season felt like it came and went in the blink of an eye. It’s been a year since the first season premiered and took Netflix subscribers by storm. The sophomore season is even better. Join me in a spoiler-filled recap and review below!
Stranger Thing’s newest season starts off in our lovely town of Hawkins, Indiana. We’re instantly reunited with our core group of dweebs: Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and no longer a brace-face, Dustin(Gaten Matarazzo). They become surprised to learn that their arcade scores have been beaten by MadMax – or Max[ine] (Sadie Sink), who is revealed to be a new, female student in school. Instantly, Lucas and Dustin crush on Max while Will has premonitions of a Shadow Monster arriving in his town to slay all the citizens.
Meanwhile, Will’s mom Joyce (Winona Ryder) has begun dating a former high school classmate, Bob (Sean Astin), even though it’s so painfully obvious the amazing chemistry she shares with the town’s chief of police, Hopper (David Harbour). Joyce warns Bob that she doesn’t have a “normal family” and tries to push him away. Nevertheless, she sets up perfect foreshadowing for the finale. Bob should’ve listened, because it’s not long before Will essentially becomes possessed by the Shadow Monster and is subdued by the scientists at Hawkins Laboratory. Will informs everyone that a new Big Bad is coming and this time, the monster is taking down the entire town.
As Will gets poked and pricked by scientists, Dustin finds what he claims to be a pollywag and names it Dart. Nope, Dart is not cute or something that should be adored – or even liked! He’s actually from the Upside Down and quickly becomes hellbent on killing. Dart virtually grows up overnight into what our group of dorks call a “Demo-Dog” – and multiplies five more demo-dogs who are thirsty for blood. They are horrifying! The Demo-Dogs kill pretty much every worker in Hawkins Lab and Joyce’s boyfriend, Bob. Check out the disgusting Demo-Dogs below:
In an intertwined subplot, scene-stealer Nancy (Natalia Dyer), ends up falling in love with Will’s brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), despite having a super-hot boyfriend, Steve (Joe Keery). Steve, feeling miserable about himself, is rivaled by the sinister beefcake Billy (Dacre Montgomery), who is also Max’s brother. Can we please take a moment to discuss how incredible Billy looks in these tight 80s jeans!?
Anyway, Nancy somehow heard the cries from the viewer’s #JusticeForBarb hastag and ends sleuths her way to getting a confession from the maniacs at Hawkins Lab that Barb Holland is dead. Nancy wouldn’t have if she didn’t choose to take a KFC dinner with Barb’s family- who are ruining their lives and going into extreme debt to try and find their “runaway” daughter. Nancy comes to terms and realizes she has to help not only herself, but also Barb’s family.
Our entire cast is fighting for their lives against the Demo-Dogs and soon arrival of the Shadow Monster when Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) shows up to help out her old pals. Eleven had been separated from our main group since she’s been hidden away in a cabin by Hopper. Her teenage angst leads her to run away and she seeks answers for her identity and family. She discovers that her mother was experimented on in Hawkins Lab – and she has an adoptive sister – an English Indian girl who shares another number tattoo – 008.
With the help of Eleven, our gang successfully closes the gate leading to the Upside Down – and takes all of the Demo-Dogs and evil with it. In the end, Hawkins Lab goes down and makes national news thanks to Nancy’s videotaped confession. The town grieves as they finally have a proper burial service for Barb. Max chooses Lucas as her suitor, Eleven and Mike share a kiss, and Nancy tells a sobbing Dustin that when he is older, he will have plenty of women flocking over him. But, a happy ending in the realm of Sci-Fi and Horror is usually not possible. As our gang is at a school dance, in another reality – the Upside Down, the Shadow Monster haunts above the school – waiting to strike and kill.
The second season of Stranger Things was absolutely miles above the first. The first – mind you – was great! It is always wonderful to see Ryder annihilate as a flawed character who defies the odds. The eye candy was upped with Montgomery’s douchey Billy – seriously, whoever is in the wardrobe department did such a fantastic job choosing the tightest jeans to put him in. While it’s clear that Brown’s titular character of Eleven is a stand out, the MVP award goes to Dyer’s Nancy. Throughout the season, Nancy has to play victim, bad ass, and flirt throughout the nine episodes and nails it each time.
If you haven’t started Stranger Things yet – what are you really doing with your life?! If you want to be involved in all of your office chatter tomorrow morning and haven’t watched, at least this article can give you a guideline so you aren’t severely left out.
What did you think of the newest season!? Please let me know! This discussion could be endless!
