Welcome to the debate arena (arena… arena… arena…)! Okay, just kidding but here’s a new debate article about the brand new season of Stranger Things! Nicole Azof and Natalie Jeziorski debate over the different reactions of the public to the Netflix Original Series. Enjoy!

*Spoilers Ahead!*

Nicole Azof (12th Grade, Stranger Things enthusiast):

The highly anticipated second season of the famous netflix original series Stranger Things was finally released on Friday, October 27th.

Last summer, Netflix released this original series that became vastly popular and adored by many fans. While on his way home, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is snatched by a mysterious creature, known as the demogorgon. When his mother, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) discovers Will is missing, she sets out to find him. Meanwhile, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and his friends go on a search on their own to find their missing friend. On a search in the forest, they meet a girl named Eleven (Millie Brown), who has telepathic powers. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) teams up with Mike’s sister Nancy (Natalie Dyer) to take down the demogorgon. All these characters contribute a part in these paranormal dangers, but have one goal in common: saving Will. In which of course they succeeded in, but lose Eleven in the process.

The events in Season 2 take place a year after Will’s disappearance and the attack of the the demogorgon. Will begins to have strange nightmares of a mysterious shadow that wants to hurt everyone in Hawkins. Joyce, who fears for her son’s health and safety, takes him to the doctors for some tests. The doctors state Will’s “episodes” are just his imagination, but in fact they are real.

The second season does a fantastic job of delivering each of the character’s stories. Each episode has good pacing, and makes you want to keep watching more. The actors portray their characters excellently. Finn Wolfhard does an amazing job in portraying Mike’s feelings. We see how Mike has changed from season 1. He continues to be the great friend and leader, or as Mike refers to himself the “paladin”. The viewers watch as Mike becomes more interested and concerned for Will, and more involved in his problem, but at the same time shows how upset he is about Eleven’s disappearance. Finn’s amazing performance continues when he discovers Eleven has been with Hopper (David Harbour) the police chief the whole year she was gone.  

Mike’s transition from anger to sadness while yelling at Hopper for keeping Eleven away is portrayed fantastically and lets the viewer feel sympathy for Mike. Schnapp, who portrays Will Byers, also does a fantastic job showing Will’s pain and fears of the demogorgon and his nightmares. Watching Will suffer and watching him live through the nightmares gives the viewers a look on what Will is feeling and makes us feel as if we are there, and wanting to tell him everything’s going to be okay.

The evolution of the characters is executed perfectly. Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), goes from the stereotypical high school jock to a caring friend. The three high school friends, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan become more involved with Will and his friends. Jonathan’s character is shown to become less awkward and more engaged with Nancy and his brother. Nancy shows more care for her brother Mike and more concern for Will. Steve helps Mike’s friends in the upside down and deal with the demogorgon. The evolution of Eleven, or as her friends call her “El,” is interesting and gains the viewers focus and attention on her story and growth of becoming more human.

One issue I would say is the romance. A good thing was the romance subplots did not take up too much of the season. And while it was shown very little, it was portrayed with such a cliche way. Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan have the stereotypical girl dates jock and starts to fall in love with the geek. Yet, the actors portray it in such a way, you can feel the chemistry between these highschool lovebirds. A new character Max, (Sadie Sink) is introduced as a new student and new resident in Hawkins, Indiana. She is shown to have an interesting story and relationship with her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) who happens to start a rivalry with Steve. Max is a cool character, but the romantic love triangle subplot with her and two of Will’s friends felt forced and unnecessary.

In addition to the release of season 2, Netflix releases a special behind the scenes mini t.v. series, Beyond Stranger Things, where the actors sit down and talk about their experiences in making the show, and discuss the season’s events.

Season 2 continued the story in an amazing way, and developed the characters well, with of course the actors delivering the character’s emotions fantastically, and most of all, maintains the love and excitement we feel for the show. Stranger Things 2 truly lives up to its hype.   

Natalie Jeziorski (9th Grade, Stranger Things critic):

Although Stranger Things 2 has been talked up over the past few months, there have been negatives responses swarming the internet since it came out october 27th of this year.

The first bad reaction the show got was by Jess Joho who posted a blog after binge watching all of Season 2. She believes that the Duffer Brothers, creators of the show, made it seem like they were trying to extend an already amazing show. She wrote almost three pages on how Season 2 ruined Stranger Things‘s reputation and they can’t dig themselves out of this big of a hole.

She claims “Binge watching can’t disguise how bad this is.”

Some of the cast members have commented on how they deal with the hate that they get on the daily.

Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, says, “I don’t look at negative comments because my parents and family don’t let me. My big sister controls my Instagram and my big brother controls my Twitter.” She even made a video calling out fans for hating Finn Wolfhard (who portrays Mike) to defend him and explain how great he is.

As for the rest of the cast, no one has made any movement on the wave of hate that formed over the past few weeks and they most likely don’t plan to. Most of the negative responses are coming from older viewers instead of teens, who are the main audience for the show, which explains why most of the reviews are so positive.

Most people are noticing that a lot of the details in the show seemed unnecessary and overly dramatic.

VanDerWerff, of Vox, states, “So many other storylines seemed to exist solely to keep the plot from advancing too quickly”.

Even though Stranger Things 2 has gotten a load of hate, it has still made its way to be one of the most top known shows on netflix.