The second season of Stranger Things concludes very, very strongly. The characters all meet up, confront the problem across multiple tense, dangerous episodes, and have room for character development along the way. It's gripping, well-paced, and well-written.
Unfortunately, it comes after far, far too much jerking the audience around and wasting their time.
Here's a simple question: what's the "inciting action" for the first season? The disappearance of Will Byers. Now, what's the inciting action for the second season? To the extent that there is one, Will Byers being overwhelmed outside the school. The former took place at the beginning of the first episode. The latter doesn't happen until the end of episode three, nearly a third of the way through the series.
Worse, while the first season's inciting incident drove all four main plots, all the plots are scattered now with characters chasing their own, often hum-drum agendas instead of actually working on the main problem. Eleven goes on a quest for her origins, which introduce fan-unfavorites that I agree distract from the story and serve to make her less special, but is at least marginally more entertaining than most of the other sideshows. Lucas and Dustin fight over a new girl in class, who, while not totally annoying, serves an annoying narrative purpose of padding out the narrative with lame teenage drama, especially the introduction of her one-dimensionally antagonistic brother who hates the rest of the cast for no reason.
And the teenage plot continues to be the absolute pits, since it turns out to be not only boring but pointless.
This relentless subplotting slows the show's pace and makes big tracts of it a slog, waiting for the actual stuff I'm here for to come back. And there's not nearly enough Mike in most of it, since he just doesn't have much to do until the endgame. I'd almost rather have him come with Eleven, just to develop their relationship.
It's not all bad: Steve and Dustin striking up a brotherly/mentorish friendship was a pleasant and engaging surprise, as was the further development of the former's character. Joyce's new boyfriend, Bob, is the most charming and surprisingly-capable dork ever. And the actual main plot is creepy and engaging, when it actually gets to happen. Again, it really sticks the landing.
But sticking the landing doesn't mean I'll forget the botches in the routine before it.
Also, the music is a hefty downgrade. I loved the original synth score of the first season, but the second's is a victim of the show's success. Now that they can afford to chase the nostalgia dollar with lame pop music I haven't heard and don't care about because I'm not from the 80's and don't have 80's nostalgia, they do, and do far too often, meaning the original score isn't around nearly enough.
...Don't think I'll forget about the rest of the routine just because you stuck the landing.
The second season of Stranger Things concludes very, very strongly. The characters all meet up, confront the problem across multiple tense, dangerous episodes, and have room for character development along the way. It's gripping, well-paced, and well-written.
Unfortunately, it comes after far, far too much jerking the audience around and wasting their time.
Here's a simple question: what's the "inciting action" for the first season? The disappearance of Will Byers. Now, what's the inciting action for the second season? To the extent that there is one, Will Byers being overwhelmed outside the school. The former took place at the beginning of the first episode. The latter doesn't happen until the end of episode three, nearly a third of the way through the series.
Worse, while the first season's inciting incident drove all four main plots, all the plots are scattered now with characters chasing their own, often hum-drum agendas instead of actually working on the main problem. Eleven goes on a quest for her origins, which introduce fan-unfavorites that I agree distract from the story and serve to make her less special, but is at least marginally more entertaining than most of the other sideshows. Lucas and Dustin fight over a new girl in class, who, while not totally annoying, serves an annoying narrative purpose of padding out the narrative with lame teenage drama, especially the introduction of her one-dimensionally antagonistic brother who hates the rest of the cast for no reason.
And the teenage plot continues to be the absolute pits, since it turns out to be not only boring but pointless.
This relentless subplotting slows the show's pace and makes big tracts of it a slog, waiting for the actual stuff I'm here for to come back. And there's not nearly enough Mike in most of it, since he just doesn't have much to do until the endgame. I'd almost rather have him come with Eleven, just to develop their relationship.
It's not all bad: Steve and Dustin striking up a brotherly/mentorish friendship was a pleasant and engaging surprise, as was the further development of the former's character. Joyce's new boyfriend, Bob, is the most charming and surprisingly-capable dork ever. And the actual main plot is creepy and engaging, when it actually gets to happen. Again, it really sticks the landing.
But sticking the landing doesn't mean I'll forget the botches in the routine before it.
Also, the music is a hefty downgrade. I loved the original synth score of the first season, but the second's is a victim of the show's success. Now that they can afford to chase the nostalgia dollar with lame pop music I haven't heard and don't care about because I'm not from the 80's and don't have 80's nostalgia, they do, and do far too often, meaning the original score isn't around nearly enough.