Chapter One: MADMAX

The beginning of new season was really lame and not very creative but the ending of first episode made it more decent.

This lays the groundwork very well. I have to admit I had to rack my brain to pull together the events of last season, but it didn't take long. We have our foursome trying to just be kids, but they seem to tempt fate. The episode starts with a car chase where the van being pursued vanishes into thing air, along with its occupants. We have the boy who disappeared and "came back to life" dealing with the nastiness of adolescence. A new character is introduced. She is Max, a redhead, who is a master game player and extremely formidable with others. The boys are immediately take with her, even though she leaves a message for these creeps to stop looking at her. Will has apocalyptic visions and it's obvious that the bad guys are still at work, messing with evil. Nice job.

Just in time for Halloween :D the "Stranger Things" is back, at the first couple of scenes you'd think the show appeared to be really fast and thrilling yet a bit disconnected especially with that new girl "number 008", but you won't wait longer till they rapidly hit us with a the new strong fast Multi-sub-plots still based on the wired unexplainable things that happen in that small Indiana town thing but feel so fresher and alive.

Still loving the visuals, it all feels so 80's , everything is on point, i mean like that moment with the crow in the "poisoned" field,right in the last part with the garbage bin scare !! it was so real ,, like for a show has a overall Mystery/Sci-Fi i hardly put it in the Horror genre but damn there are a couple of scenes really makes you jump your seat.

Will Byers character is still a big part of the story and this season he's having more time and big chunk of the story.

This season there are a new set of characters like number 008 and that Mad Max girl and Dr. Owens played by Paul Reiser and that weird bearded "Believer" Murray Bauman played unexpectedly by Brett Gelman but they all look to be adjusting and acclimating very well in the environment of "Stranger Things".

Finally Eleven appears in the last scene with her new look just makes you play the next episode right on.

Done with episode one and the events are steadily building up to hopefully a big finish as i'm planning to watch the whole season today, and that's why we love Netflix.

The hype leading into Season 2 was no laughing matter, and I think it was a stroke of genius to let this (re)introductory episode focus on the larger picture of Hawkins, Indiana. There isn't really a central character (yet, at least), and they're all just pieces on a game board.

To that end, it's an exciting board game to return to, and opens things up for new faces (Paul Reiser and Sean Astin); and the existing characters have just the right amount of familiarity. Dustin's efforts to maintain his Dig Dug high score made for some of the best scenes. To a great extent, this is just a big Welcome Back sign. While this show has been about creating eerie environment, it's a place I've been wanting to get back to. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the song selection really helps enhance the mood.

In the end, it's really that mood (not the '80s references) that pulls me time and again. This is a hell of a start to a new season.

8/10

Season Two of Stranger Things starts in fine form with an exciting chase scene, a van full of robbers being pursued by the police, at least until one of the gang, a girl with special powers and a tattoo on her wrist, helps them to make their getaway.

After this fast paced opening, things settle back into the leisurely pace that typified the first season, episode one setting the scene for things to come, much of the running time spent reacquainting the viewer with the show's kids—Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Eleven, Nancy, Jonathan and Steve—while introducing several new characters: Sean Astin as Bob, Joyce Byers new love interest; Paul Reiser as mysterious Dr. Owens; Sadie Sink as arcade ace 'Mad' Max; and Brett Gelman as conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman, who is sure that there is something strange afoot in Hawkins, something vehemently denied by town sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour). A brief glimpse of the upside-down reveals what appears to be a Lovecraftian creature of immense proportions, a 'character' we will no doubt see more of in episodes to come.

As before, directors The Duffer Brothers steep their show in nostalgia, featuring arcade games, BMX bikes, video tapes, and an excellent soundtrack of '80s classics, all of which makes matters more fun for those who were teenagers during the decade that taste forgot.

All in all, not the most gripping episode, but I have high hopes that now the groundwork has been laid, we can get on with the really good stuff.