9 Things I Like
9. Sassy Sister
I love Lucas’ little sister, Erica. She needs an expanded role in the show. (And as hard as I try to avoid spoilers, I have it on pretty good authority from friends that she gets one going forward.)
Just give me more of her making fun of Lucas and his friends for being nerds and I’ll be happy.
8. Bob the Brain
Bob is so cringe at times because he’s so goofy, and because he puts Joyce on such a pedestal. But I like his role this season for a couple of reasons…
One goes back to the season premiere. It’s obvious he’s not the right fit for Joyce long term, but his brand of “normal” is exactly what she needs after the nightmare she dealt with last season when Will was lost in the Upside Down.
Bob is never anything short of kind, genuine, and supportive toward her AND her boys. He doesn’t always have the right answer or best advice, but he always tries. And he doesn’t ask for much in return.
The other reason I like Bob is that he shows it’s never too late—even for a middle-aged man like him—to rewrite his story and have a heroic arc.
Bob never stops being the bumbler he’s been all season. But he steps up and figures out how to find and rescue Hopper in the Upside Down. And he sacrifices his life helping the group escape the lab after the Demogorgons attack—despite his immense fear.
“Bob Newby, Superhero,” indeed.
7. Elevator to Hell
My favorite visual of this season is the makeshift elevator that’s been set up in the lab to go down to the Upside Down. We see it in use just a couple of times, the last of which is when Hopper takes El down so she can close the “gate” and end things.
It looks like the most terrifying elevator ride imaginable—because it really looks like they’re descending into Hell.
6. Two Lost, Combative Souls Saving One Another
El stays away from the main group for almost the whole season. That surprised me. I thought she’d be back in the mix by Episode 4 at the latest.
In some ways, it might not have been the most satisfying thing to only have her interact with Hopper as far as the main cast goes. But it leads to one of the most important relationships on the show.
Their conversation in the finale does a good job showing how much both of them have grown, even though they had some serious bumps along the way.
Their argument earlier in the season, when it gets so bad that El uses her powers against him, and I actually thought Hopper might hit her, is one of the most powerful they’ve ever done in terms of character relationships.
But in the end, they realize that Hopper keeping El sequestered 24/7—even if it’s meant to keep her safe—isn’t living. And despite being so stifled in the cabin, El gets to feel something like parental love for the first time in her life.
5. Mad Max
I wasn’t a fan of the season premiere having this title because Max doesn’t do enough in that episode to feel like she warrants it. But she grew on me all season.
We never see her try to find other friends in school besides the boys, or other kids invite her into their clique. So I don’t know if I should see it as a “favor” that the new girl takes to the nerdy boys. But it’s cool that she wants to be their friend. And it’s even better that she stands up for herself when they treat her like crap, asking for her help but not letting her join the official party.
Ultimately she stands up for herself not just to them but also to her asshole step-brother, Billy. She also causes some tension among the boys because Lucas and Dustin both like her (LIKE like, that is), while Mike actively rejects her because apparently if he can’t have a girlfriend then his friends can’t either. But she perseveres and becomes an integral part of their group. And she and Lucas have a cute little thing going on now. I’m excited to see what’s next for her.
4. Snow Ball
This was my favorite thing about the season finale. So much of the show is about the mythology—the Upside Down, the monsters, and how the lab factors in. But the personal stuff is just as important. And in a coming-of-age story that centers around a group of teenagers, it doesn’t matter if the whole world is about to end—there’s still going to be drama, fighting, and romance.
The Snow Ball captures that better than anything else this season. Not only do Mike and El finally kiss again, and Lucas and Max share their first kiss—we also see Dustin really starting to find himself and bust out of his comfort zone.
3. King Steve Emerges
Steve has a fascinating journey this season. I haven’t been the biggest fan of his love triangle with Nancy and Jonathan, but the breakup with Nancy has given him room to grow into a real leader. He shows it in standing up to Billy… in taking on a caretaker role with the kids… in stepping out front as they go into the Upside Down… and even in the friendship he develops with Dustin. Steve has come a long way in my personal power rankings of favorite characters.
2. Army of Darkness
I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was when Dart turned out to be a Demogorgon. I guess since the Demogorgon they faced in Season 1 was the main (monster) villain, I wasn’t expecting to see another one.
Little did I know we’d wind up seeing so many more.
The army of Demogorgons leads to a couple of the most tense and riveting scenes this show has ever done. The first is when Steve and the kids hunt Dart from the bus. That’s when we see for the first time that Dart isn’t the only Demogorgon they have to worry about. And it was crazy enough for Steve to leave the bus with his spiked bat just to lure in Dart for a fight. The realization that there are four or five monsters stalking them at that moment is terrifying.
Then, there’s the assault on the lab. The Demogorgons emerging from the Upside Down, breaking through the “indestructible” glass, and massacring most of the lab employees—and killing Bob in the process—is another incredible scene.
There’s so much table setting early in the season related to the Upside Down—probably a little too much—but it pays off spectacularly here.
1. Will the Wise
Will isn’t my favorite character on the show. But purely in terms of performance, Noah Schnapp is the MVP of this season.
Looking at how awesome he is portraying Will—his uncertainty, his pain, his fear, and his courage in the face of everything the Upside Down has put him through—it’s hard to remember he’s barely on screen in Season 1. He’s a central figure, of course, but he spends most of the season trapped and away from the action.
So to add a performance of this caliber on top of the great actors who joined the show is such a boon for the season.
It’s easy to see and root for Will as the innocent victim of these evil forces. But he’s surprisingly believable as the possessed host of the most evil entity we’ve seen so far. Every emotion he exhibits—whether it’s his fear when he doesn’t understand how the Mind Flayer is taking over, his desire to not be coddled and treated like a freak, or his desperation when the Mind Flayer is being exorcised from his body—is spot-on. He’s a joy to watch.
4 Things I’m Mixed On
4. El vs. Max
Maybe I’m wrong that this is coming—and I’m kind of projecting into next season a little here—but I don’t want to see a rivalry between El and Max.
I understand and like the scene when El first lays eyes on Max, sees her and Mike laughing in the gym, and uses her powers to knock Max off her skateboard in a fit of anger.
But when El returns to the group before the finale, it’s immediately clear Mike has missed her as much as she’s missed him. She’s got no reason to be mean to Max in that scene. And now that it looks like she’s paired off with Mike, while Max and Lucas have their thing going, it really wouldn’t make sense anymore.
3. Whose Side Is He On?
I really like Paul Reiser’s performance. But I could never quite get a handle on Dr. Owens, especially early in the season.
Is he really trying to help Will when they have their sessions? He tries to protect Will later in the season when he realizes that their burning of the vines in the Upside Down causes him excruciating pain. But I don’t think that tells us where his allegiance has been all along. I was constantly confused by him—but not in a way that felt like I had a fun mystery to unravel.
2. Resolving Barb’s Death
Early on, I loved that Barb’s death—and the lack of closure for her parents—was still hanging over the show. This gave Nancy a huge conundrum to work through. And it eventually leads to some great scenes with Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray—who’s awesome in his very limited screen time. But the resolution—watering down the story of how Barb died to make it more palatable for the public—was so uninteresting to me. I really wanted to see how the town would react to allegations of monsters and the true work happening in the lab.
1. The Mind Flayer
I never got all the way there with the Mind Flayer as the Big Bad.
As I said, the fact that it possesses Will leads to another layer in my favorite performance of the season.
But they do such great creature work on this show, which we’ve seen all along with the Demogorgons, that it’s disappointing the Mind Flayer is only seen as a Shadow Monster until he possesses Will.
The illustration from the D&D manual is ridiculous, but something about it makes me think it would’ve been awesome if they brought THAT to life on screen.
Then there’s the “hive mind” concept, which I never loved. It would be one thing if the Mind Flayer only controlled the Demogorgons. But when you also bring in the vines and tunnels as sentient creatures that are part of this, it becomes a little more confusing.
3 Things I Don’t Like
3. More Mr. Clarke, Please
I’m still waiting for them to bring Mr. Clarke into the fold. The boys almost do it when they’re about to show him Dart, but they back out at the last second.
Obviously this is just a nitpick and not something I really hold against the season. I just love this character and want to see him get more time.
2. The Man of a Hundred Clichés
I’m tempted to move Billy up to the “Mixed” category, because he becomes more interesting toward the end of the season when we see that his father abuses him.
But still, he’s so full of clichés. The way he dresses, smokes, and drives… the bad attitude toward women, including his step-sister… his rage…
Then on top of all that, they add his issues with Lucas, and it sure seems like he’s a racist on top of everything else. It felt like he couldn’t be any more of a walking cliché.
I don’t care whether or not he gets a redemption arc. He can keep being a dick . But in Season 3, I hope they continue to add more nuance to his character like they did at the end of this season.
1. The Lost Sister
Kali could’ve been a great character. And this could’ve been a great storyline if we saw more of her wreaking havoc with her powers throughout the season.
Instead, they got my hopes up by introducing her in the cold open of the season premiere, only to wait more than half the season to revisit her. And in revisiting her, we got an extraneous episode that’s reviled by most fans—right when momentum for the season is at its peak.
I wish I had something positive to say. I wanted this storyline to be cool. But you can skip this episode without missing anything other than an explanation for El’s new look.
Tim Matassa
