Stranger Things Season 2 Analysis (SPOILERS AHEAD)

For the past couple of days, I have been analyzing season 2 of Stranger Things. The second season of the Netflix Original TV show came out on October 27, 2017. It is one of my favorite TV shows more many reasons. First, the casting is absolutely amazing and all the characters are so well played out and watchers can get a sort of relationship with them. Second, all of the key elements of filming are perfected in each shot and episode.

Synopsis

Basically, Stranger Things is about 5 middle schools kids who meets a girl, who they call Eleven. She has superpowers that might have resulted from being a lab experiment, which she escaped from. The 1st season is based on her backstory in the lab and a boy, named Will, being abducted by a monster from an alternate dimension called the Upside Down. During this season, the kids try to find Will and figure out who Eleven is. Eventually, the chief of police and the Will's mother goes to the Upside Down via the gate (that was opened by Eleven) and rescues Will. Eleven tries to kill the monster who took Will but gets sucked into the Upside Down right after she kills him. That is the last time you see her.

Season 2 starts a year after Will was rescued. the friends of Will develop more and a new girl character is introduced. The new girl, Max, just moved to the city and is a tough girl the same age as the boys. Lulus, one of Will's friends, tells Max all about what happened the year before and the rest of his friends, Dustin, Mike, and Will, get mad at him because they don't want another person in their group. But, she gets accepted eventually. Will sees visions of the Upside Down once in awhile and a new shadow monster takes over his body and Will unwillingly becomes a spice for this monster. The audience finds out that Eleven was able to go back to the real world and Hopper, the chief of police, finds her, hides her for her safety, and takes care of her for a year. When Hopper goes out for his job one day, Eleven runs away (she is mad from a fight they had the night before) and tries to find her mother. Once she finds her, Eleven finds out that her name is Jane. Her mother, mental incapable of doing anything, lets Jane into her mind and shows Jane a girl in the lab who is also a lab experiment. Jane then goes and finds this girl, 10 years older now, and stays with her and her friends for a couple days. Jane is then dragged into a mess of killing scientist who worked in the lab that destroyed their lives. Jane refuses and leaves. She comes back to the city and helps her friends with destroying the lab. She eventually s able to destroy the gate she opened in the first season and the city is able to go back to normal.

Character Analysis

My favorite character of season 2 was Dustin. Everything about him, I truly love. He keeps a slug-type thing from the upside inspire of his friends not wanting him to because he is a such caring person. The slug thing eventually becomes into a monster and brings more monsters to the real world and Dustin was still able to not get killed by them because his previous pet was able to calm down because of their special bond. Dustin's smile is also the cutest thing on this planet and I wanna give him a hug overtime he smiles. He also has a crush on Max and tries to get her to like him but she "chooses" Lulus in the end. My heart tears in the last scene because Dustin is rejected many times at a school dance when he asked a couple girls to dance. But that problem resolved when Mike's sister came and danced with him and all those girls got jealous.

6 Key Elements of Filming

Writing

The writing in Stranger Things Season 2 is some of the best I've ever seen. Transitions between memories of season one and then "present" time of season 2 are really smooth. There is a lot of drama in each episode but it all makes sense and makes me very engaged to each episode. Episode 7 of Season 2 was very unnecessary and could have been skipped.

Editing

The editing is very good. The transitions between each scene is very natural. The filters on some of the scene clearly shows that it is either a memory or present time.

Cinematography

Each shot has a purpose. Something is shown that makes the story different in each shot. There is so much detail in each setting and each shot makes sure that all of the detail is shown. Also, the different prospectives of either the masters, the flashbacks, or the characters are very nicely shown.

Lighting

I feel like the ;fighting in each scene is different enough to show the mood of each character and each shot also shows the intricate lighting.

Audio

When there is overlapping audio, it is done very well because everything still makes sense. The audio of the 1980's tech is also done very well.

Directing

I admire the director of Stranger Things. The fact that Matt Duffer's vision was able to be portrayed so well shows how good of a vision and directing skills he has.