s1: really nostalgic atmospheric lovingly-made slow-paced and optimally filmed (directed, cinematography, art direction, consecutive pallette, great editing, written, LIGHTING, props, TONE) tribute to the 80s through its use of homage-like film moments, cinema archetypes, political horror, magical mundane, and memory-wise
s2: literally none of that and used the 80s as window dressing rather than to enhance and enrich the plot in a truly immersive and engaged/active way
im really surprised actually when i see constant praise that this show is such an amazing recreation of 80s cinema when objectively s2 decreased in quality so much. like it is almost an entirely different show in s2 and seemed to take every element of s1 and instead of expanding upon it, reproduced and regurgitated it in more bloated and less narratively-progressive manner. but for s1, i agree with the praise.
i always wonder if netflix forced them to come up with a s2 as fast as possible to bank on the show's popularity and thus they kind of just carbon copied s1 in a sillier, bigger, more cgi, less thoughtful, more disney ? way (- see: suddenly the main antagonist of the show The Lab is now their good pal and hopper, the disenchanted government critic vietnam war vet who spent s1 as a reserved and tormented detective uncovering their horrifying lies to his own peril but to help a friend regain a child in a way that he could not, literally works with and for them?, el literally comes back through a hole 5 feet from where she disappeared mere seconds later negating her whole beautiful 80s film glory sacrifice when she could still be involved but not return so simply and quickly? nancy and mike who both lost friends to trauma, discovered an alt world, and emotionally finally connected never have even 1 conversation in s2? jonathan has no scenes and never once talks to steve bc apparently since only 1 of them can date nancy they no longer speak or debrief or wonder about the horrifying interdimensional monster they fought together? karen who was a huge mirror to joyce and maternal presence in the show is pretty much written out? the whole fascinating and pivotal political and government angle to the show is written out? el has a literal blood aunt but she gets left with hopper in a very plot devicey type way? the list is literally endless for every single character), when it seems it wouldve been more faithful to their vision to do something less chummy.
it seems like the show wouldve been a more loosely structured dnd-esque adventure of the core 4 losing and gaining friends, fighting villains, and maturing along the way as they grew to adulthood, but that kind of got derailed into a more freestyle, less tight plot - which didnt really work at all with this.
i feel like the only things that were original to s2 were will's amazing arc in s2 as the groundwork for that was laid in s1, and kali who never got the screentime or exposition she deserved in a season which had terrible pacing and editing. the duffers always speak of wanting to add an element of human evil to the show with billy but... they had one. The Lab and the government experiments. that remains the scariest villain of the show to date and i always wonder why it was dropped. and with better writing those things could be linked or it couldve had breadcrumbs to that effect in s2 (i always assumed billy was also an experiment as s3 stuff seems to confirm but, ... it couldve been written way, way better).
st is not like say breaking bad which has a perfectly consistent tone in every single ep for 5 seasons, which made that show one of the very few modern masterpieces for its commentary of villainy, societal expectations, the half man half beast trope, as well as the destructive nature of our modern economy, social expectations, and health system etc.
im not saying st is a bad or unenjoyable show - its an awesome and fun show that i love. i was just v surprised by s2 given the quality of s1 and am always surprised at the praise it gets for being such a consisent and beloved 80s throwback when s2 had honestly none of that vibe at all. i hope we go back to s1 type vibe with the badass horror blood and guts throwback.
