【Married Woman Fan Club (2020)】

The Married Woman Fan Club (2020)afterglow of binge watching Stranger Things 2is very, very strong -- believe us, we know. Unless you're a heartless, unfeeling demodog, you're probably still feeling the warm fuzzies from Steve Harrington and Chief Hopper dadding all over our strange things.

But let's put our feels to the side for a moment, and consider the ugly, upside down truth about Stranger Things 2: it's a hot goddamn mess.

A fun mess, for sure! With some great standout moments! But nowhere near the tight, expertly paced storytelling of the first season. Largely,Season 2can be summarized as basically "Stranger Things: The Strangening." You tread the exact same ground as last season, only more. And again. And it's just kind of... aimless.

In the Beyond Stranger Thingsaftershow, the Duffer brothers explained that their objective with Season 2 was, essentially: Season 1, but bigger.

SEE ALSO: Here's what that creepy 'Stranger Things 2' ending means for Season 3

It's clear that they tried to Alienstheir sequel to the surprise summer hit of last year. But instead of expanding the universe of the first season with original ideas (ala Aliens), they just added a whole lot of sagging weight. And the unnecessary glut of new, strange things in Stranger Things 2just drags every strange thing we loved about the first season down too.

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. But to unknowing millennials and nostalgic Gen-Xers, that derivativeness generally worked in its favor.

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. The show immersed us in that neighborly mentality of Hawkins in a way, using that relatability to ground its most fantastical elements. We all know a Dustin, a Steve, a Joyce -- or you are one. And that made us care about what happened to them and their town.

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.

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.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

A scene in episode 5 encapsulates this perfectly, when the new character of Max (more on her later) reacts to Lucas telling her the story ofStranger ThingsSeason 1. "I liked it," she says, but "I had a few issues... I thought it was a little derivative in parts. I just wish it had more originality, is all."

Aspiring screenwriters: please ensure that painfully obvious meta winks to the audience like this are at least earned -- and do not force your character to become a mouthpiece to excuse your own narrative shortcomings after producing only a mere 13 episodes (aka only half a season of a traditional broadcast show). I'm sorry, Stranger Things,but you're gonna have to do a lot of maturing before you warrant anywhere near that much self-indulgence.

And that's not to mention all the numerous storylines and characters which appear to exist for no other reason than to feed the beast of fan service.

Just look at what they did to Barb: Stranger ThingsSeason 1 could not have cared lessabout Barb, sweeping past her death without a second thought and dismissing any potential repercussions for her friends or loved ones. But then the internet decided to care about Barb more than her creators did, leading Netflix to capitalize on that with promotional shrines to her at Comic Con and Topshop t-shirts.

That's all fine (if annoying). But then the showrunners felt a belated sense of responsibility to smooth over their shoddy workmanship and tried to retrofit a realistic response from a high schooler who survives her best friend disappearing without a trace. As a result, this forced deference to the internet's Barb obsession stinks up the plot of Season 2, when Nancy Wheeler suddenly decides to develop a debilitating case of PTSD and guilt over a death she experienced a year ago.

SEE ALSO: 'Stranger Things 2' made #JusticeForBarb unbelievably sad

The meme-bait recalls to last season don't end there, either: Joyce feverishly solves puzzles which destroy her house again; D&D is referenced often (yet oddly never played); Nancy and Jonathan go on another sexually charged "we gotta do something" mission together; Eleven is still very into Eggos; and yet another boy in the group resists the idea of letting a girl join their party.

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The perfect encapsulation of the season's shortcomings even come from last season's arguable protagonist, Mike. Poor, emo, purposeless Mike -- whose greatest contribution to Season 2 is reminding us that his most powerful moments from Season 1 were exclusively thanks to his proximity to Eleven.

Speaking of which, a good chunk of Season 2 is occupied by retroactively walking back all the consequences that made last season feel so affecting. Because what are the answers to all of those burningquestions Season 1 left us with?

What happened to Eleven? Oh, she apparently just waltzed right out of the Upside Down seconds after "sacrificing" herself. But what about those big government baddies running Hawkins Lab, who were the main human antagonists and foils to Chief Hopper last time around? Welp, forget about all that, cause there's a new guy in charge -- and he's actually pretty nice about it! Problem solved (offscreen).

Which is another issue with Stranger Things 2: Aside from banking on the audience's goodwill toward Season 1 (while simultaneously rendering it all pretty much moot), this season fails to introduce new characters, plots, or threats in any compelling way.

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And, look, we don't envy the Duffer brothers -- introducing new characters to the small town vibe of of Hawkins was always going to be awkward at first. But the two new major ones, Max and her abusive brother Billy, exacerbated the inherent difficulty of bringing strangers into a tightknit group by also being inexplicably useless additions to it.

We spend most of our time with them trying to solve the mystery of who the hell they even are, why we should care about them, and what they contribute to the Stranger Thingsuniverse. (Except, of course, for Billy and Mrs. Wheeler's scene -- which very nearly justified his character's entire existence).

At best, these characters feel like the writers checking the obligatory box of expanding a cast in Season 2. At worst, they are poorly-disguised plot devices trying to pass for flesh and blood people.

Max serves the function of being a source of conflict and object of desire for both Dustin and Lucas (which, ew, can we just stop doing this to female characters?). Meanwhile, her stepbrother serves as a source of conflict for her (and the rest of the gang), as the writers' clear attempt to bring any sort of dimensionality to the conflict-disguised-as-a-person that is Mad Max.

Both fail at even fulfilling these basic functions. I mean let's not forget: the culmination of Max's character arc is her seeming to permanently solve the issue of domestic abuse in her household by threatening a beaten, drugged, and bleeding Billy. Once.

Billy gets a tragic backstory at least, shoehorned near the end of the season in a half-hearted attempt to humanize him, but never further developed. Now, compare that to the character journey of Steve Harrington throughout both seasons. I mean, can you understand why we're a bit... underwhelmed?

SEE ALSO: 'Stranger Things 2': Meet the new Barb

Then there's Kali (aka Eight). God bless actress Linnea Berthelsen, because she does as much as she can with the one-dimensional role she was given, and her chemistry with Eleven still manages to feel movingly believable. But why on earth would they dilute the realism of that relationship by surrounding Kali with a gang of dead-weight misfit caricatures who feel even less like actual people than Billy or Max?

Worst of all, these walking Blade Runnertropes only exacerbate the missed opportunity of Kali, limiting her to the role of their leader and a single standalone episode which (despite Eleven's awesome punk makeover), sticks out like a sore thumb.

Sure, all of this helped the Duffer Brothers achieve their stated goal: Stranger Things 2certainly isbigger. But... why? And at what cost? Because "bigger" does notequal "better." Especially not at Hawkins.

Even the developments in the Upside Down's mythology via introduction to the "Shadow Monster" (aka "Mind Flayer") proved frustratingly vague, too. The creature, which the cast calls "The Sentient" in theStranger Thingsaftershow (and why the hell they wouldn't use this rad AF title in the actual show is beyond us) is so wildly underdeveloped that we were too busy trying to figure out what the hell it was even supposed to be to actually feel scared of it.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Unlike the Demogorgon, which the Duffers related to a Jaws-like threat, this new part of the Upside Down's food chain ironically lacks any real weight or shape. That might come from the Duffers' desire to make the new monster ominous and omnipresent, but instead it just renders the stakes of its threat woefully intangible.

Sure, the Demogorgon might've felt "smaller" by comparison. But at least an alternate dimension shark presents a discernible, immediate danger that the audience can follow. The Mind Flayer is just... there, I guess. I mean, it makes me feel bad for Will?

Overall, Stranger Things 2remains enjoyable, mostly because Season 1 did such a good job of establishing its lovable characters, and at this point, we just enjoy spending time with them, no matter how repetitive their storylines are. The narrative missteps don't get in the way of the visceral emotional beats that the show doespull off (RIP Bob, who was the only great new cast member, before being immediately escorted off stage left). If you take the show as a momentary distraction designed to fill your weekend before being discarded, it's consistently entertaining enough to leave you full, if not satisfied.

SEE ALSO: 'Stranger Things' finally solved its biggest mystery

But Stranger ThingsSeason 1 wasn't momentary. It was a cultural phenomenon. And this just is not.

The binge-watch model doesn't really give audiences the time to think critically about the content they're feverishly shoving into their eyeholes -- that five second gap between episodes doesn't invite deep analysis.

So, let's try a thought experiment: Take a step back. Look beyond the tears in your eyes at Eleven and Hopper's heartbreaking daddy/daughter reunion, and ask: What does Stranger Things 2's "bigness" actually amount to? Where does the story lead as a whole -- and where does it even go from here? Will it just keep getting bigger, and bigger, until it collapses under its own weight? (Ask the rest of the Alienfranchise how well thatmodel worked out.)

Because, from our perspective, Stranger Things 2might've gone big -- but it didn't go home.

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Topics Netflix Stranger Things