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  • So, I guess I was the only one on this board who watched this. Right?

    Of course not. Chime in, folks!

    I loved it, even it does crib a lot of beats from the first season. Well, it's not like anyone else can do them.

    I've opined elsewhere that this show really only works as a period piece. Something happened in the late '80s and early '90s that changed American childhood profoundly: The home computer.

    But during post-war America until that time, childhood in America was a remarkably universal experience. Kids rode their bikes everywhere, played outside a lot, played board games indoors when it rained, and were generally free agents, with benignly neglectful parents who generally had no idea where they were. Stranger Things is set in the early '80s, but with only minor tweaks could have taken place in the '70s, '60s or '50s. 

    I'm no sociologist, but that era is over. I ascribe the change to the home computer, but I'm not sure that's really it or all of it. But sometime between the mid-1980s, children stopped riding bikes (to the extent they once did), parents became helicopter parents, a lot of horror tropes became irrelevant due to cell phones, and kids stayed inside a lot more -- where their parents knew exactly where they were. (Is being grounded still a punishment? Seems more like a reward these days.)

    I don't really know what it's like to grow up as a kid in America these days, but I DO know what it's like to grow up like the Stranger Things kids -- my childhood was a decade earlier, but was virtually identical. So I'm instantly in synch -- and the nostalgia factor doesn't hurt.

    Another good thing: Stranger Things doesn't play by the "rules." Standard cliche storytelling says Steve should have been revealed as a coward in the last season, so the skinny chick and Jonathan could hook up guilt-free. Instead, Steve has turned into a heckuva guy, making skinny chick's feelings more confused, the triangle much harder for anyone to decide, and the "resident a-hole" job has been taken over by Billy. 

    Any bets Billy becomes a hero in the third season? He's already been made more sympathetic by the scene with his abusive father. That looks like "road to redemption" to me.

    OK, one more thing. I didn't get any response to this on the Ditko thread, so I'm hoping for a little more love here. And it's this: When this scene appeared on TV, I said to my wife: "They're swiping Ditko!"

    1936924628?profile=original

    It didn't take me very long to find what it reminded me of, either:

    1936924748?profile=originalDon't see it? Let's zoom in a bit:

    1936926627?profile=original

    1936926761?profile=originalSee it now? Or is it just me?

  • We've watched the first three episodes so far. My only complaint is Dustin's adoption of the little creature - after all that happened the previous year he isn't just a little bit concerned about bringing this thing into his house? Seems like a stretch.

  • Love this show. It's Freaks and Geeks meets Super 8 with a little bit of the "It" tv adaptation. (Pus a ton of other 80s touchstones) And yeah, the bit with Dart really isn't consistent with how smart these kids normally are. Also, it's cribbed almost completely from a show called Surface that was unfortunately canceled just when it was starting to get good. 

  • Finally watched the last two episodes of Season 2 this weekend. Overall it was almost as enjoyable as the first season, although for me there was less "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what in the heck is going on??".  I did like how the characters continued to develop, especially with Steve going from a big jerk to actually being likeable. The finale at the dance was great and of course the big bad is still out there lurking. Looking forward to watching Beyond Stranger Things for a look behind the scenes and hopefully a peek at what may be coming.

  • We watched the first episode of the second season when it dumped, but haven't watched one since. I imaging now that all of our broadcast series are now on hiatus we'll get caught up.Still not used to the Netflix paradigm.

  • My wife insists on binge-watching Netflix shows to completion right away, even if it puts our regular shows on hiatus. I'm happy with that, because it means we watch the shows in their entirety while people are still talking about them, whereas if we watched an episode here or there it would have less of an impact and would take six months to watch it. We got through both Stranger Things 2 and Punisher in 3-4 days each.

  • The only binge watching I ever do is with the reality based car shows that I enjoy - Roadkill and Jay Leno's Garage for example. With Stranger Things I prefer watching episodes one at a time - with only eight or nine episodes per season I like to make the experience last as long as possible.

  • That makes sense, too, Doc. 

  • I've never gotten used to the binging idea, either. Watching two episodes in a row is as close as i get. As Doc says, I'm not in a rush for the experience to end.

  • Netflix is running Beyond Stranger Things 2, a seven episode interview show that includes most of the actors, the director and the Duffer Brothers. Great fun seeing the actors in this setting. Lots of behind the scenes info is shared. Do not watch until you have watched the entirety of ST2 - lots of spoilers.

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