Welcome back to Rib’s Tomatoes! This week, we’ll be reviewing Stranger Things 2, the latest season of the critically acclaimed Netflix series which dropped last Friday right before Halloween. Ooooo, strange and spooky!
This season was certainly stranger (nice) than the show’s premiere season. But is it objectively better? Let’s unpack that a little:
What’s Fresh (and not so fresh) in Season Two:
- Strange Science: One of the main critiques of the first season of Stranger Things was that those crazy kids literally were never in school! The Duffer Bros this time around ensure to write in one entire episode where the gang goes to class and STAYS in class. Sure, it got a little boring for a while there when Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin were just taking a biology exam for forty five minutes straight, but it brought a certain realism to the show that was painfully absent last time around.
- Will’s Doing Just Fine, Thanks: I think the Duffer Bros realized that Will Beyers deserved a break and he probably had dealt with enough stress to last a lifetime so absolutely NOTHING bad happened to him all season! He got straight A’s all semester, honed his art skills, and went to the arcade with his best friends in the world every Friday night. He was never sad again, and he absolutely didn’t make me cry at least once an episode for nine episodes.
- King Steve Harrington: I really enjoyed the episode “National Love Steve Harrington Day” where the entire episode was devoted to every character on the show giving Steve presents and telling him why he’s the best person in Hawkins(save for Eleven). I also found the after credits scene where Steve addresses the audience, stating that if they only just jumped on the Steve Harrington bandwagon after this season they’re a bunch of FAKE FANS, to be truly inspiring.
- Demagorgon Love: Another one of the critiques people had with Stranger Things was the lack of canon LGBT characters and relationships. Season two, before before it dropped five additional hetero love triangles on us, explored the passionate relationship between these two mini Demogorgons monsters. Like, there was an entire five minute scene of just full on Demagorgon sex which, I get that they wanted to have representation but I think the definitely misunderstood what the people wanted.
- Jonathan Melted into his Final Potato Toe Form: No, this is not a dig at the fact that Jonathan distinctly looks like a potato and a toe gave birth to him. But I don’t remember if he ever apologized to Nancy for taking weird pics of her? So the Duffer Bros were like “Fuck it, he’s a Potato Toe now” and I thought it was a pretty cool subplot.
Watch Stranger Things on Netflix now!
