How Stranger Things 2 Addresses Season 1 Criticisms

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the second season of Stranger Things, streaming now on Netflix.

The debut season of Stranger Things was met with near universal praise, and for good reason. The show was the perfect blend of horror and sci-fi, neatly packaged by Netflix as a nostalgic coming-of-age tale for fans of stories like The Goonies, E.T. and Stephen King books in general. However, it wasn't without its flaws, with some viewers pointing out that, as opposed to homage and inspiration, quite a few arcs in the show felt like straight rip-offs of said influencers.

These critics found the series too derivative, believing it aped the older films rather than placing a contemporary, updated spin on the genres involved. This was actually made fun of this season where Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) tried to divulge what happened in Season 1 to a newcomer to Hawkins, Indiana, in Max (Sadie Sink). She laughed it off and basically called it unoriginal, echoing some of the flak thrown at the show.

Thhe #JusticeForBarb movement wondered why everyone was concerned with the disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and not Barbara Holland (Shannon Purser). Then we have the reaction over Lucas, the show's one black character, and his family, who were placed in the periphery while the white kids and families got more screen time. This time around though, the Duffers, well aware of these red flags, were more than ready to address these issues head-on, even attempting to rectify them.

Forever Nostalgic...

The Duffers have never shied away from admitting what influenced their storytelling, taking The Goonies influence in particular a step further by casting Sean Astin for Season 2. He played Mikey Walsh in Richard Donner's 1985 classic film, and as Stranger Things 2's Bob Newby is a nerdy gem of a person. He cares for Will thanks to the romance with his mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), and also because he sees himself in a youngster who is bullied at school. In a way, the Duffers made Bob feel like an older version of Mikey, transplanted to Hawkins, looking at maps, solving puzzles and, basically, helping save the day.

Aliens, The Thing and The Exorcist were also among the many influences seen this season, reaffirming the Duffers' love for old-school film, but the time machine didn't stop there. '80s gamers willhave recognized a couple of arcade games thematically linked to the show's narrative this year. Dig Dug tied directly into the Upside Down infecting Hawkins through underground tunnels, while Dragon's Lair paralleled Lucas and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) fighting over Max, who an analogy for Princess Daphne (the object of the hero's affection in the game).

This reiterated that the Duffers are kids of the '80s, making it clear that whether it's walkie-talkies, kids biking as in E.T., walking on train tracks as in Stand By Me, offering refuge to a mysterious Demodog as in Gremlins, or whether it's Eleven's (Millie Bobby Brown) rebellious punk gang as per James Cameron's Terminator 2, what shaped their formative years as teens and eventually as creators, will always have a place in Hawkins.

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#JusticeForBarb

The hashtag #JusticeForBarb spread like wildfire when fans realized virtually no one in Hawkins was making noise over the character's disappearance. The Duffers ended any hope for her when we saw Barb, slug-infested and rotting in the Upside Down. It was a cruel fate for a caring person, and the creators promised to address it. They did so by cleverly placing the blame on the U.S. Department of Energy, who covered up Barb's death in order to hide the terror they wrought with Project MKUltra, its experiments like Eleven, and exploring the rift to the Upside Down.

Though the U.S. Department of Energy managed to cover up Will's kidnapping by the Demogorgon, the new man in charge, Paul Reiser's Dr. Sam Owens, actually had to intimidate Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) into keeping quiet. He warned them that if Barbara's death in the Upside Down went public, it would invite trouble and endanger not just the town, but the entire world, as America's enemies would also try to explore the dark dimension. The teens recorded this conversation and used eccentric investigator Murray (Brett Gelman) to leak it to the media, eventually shutting down Owens and the Hawkins National Laboratory.

Most importantly, Barb got her funeral, after the blame was placed on the Department of Energy, reported as responsible for her death due to a chemical leak. While the truth wasn't fully out there, still, some sense of closure was gained for Barb's friends and family. The Duffers achieved this by making Nancy the voice of the show's Internet fans, as she constantly campaigned, albeit out of pain and especially guilt, to make sure that justice would be delivered for her best friend, that she would never be forgotten.

A Diverse Hawkins

The Sinclair family, namely Lucas' parents, were a glaring omission from Season 1. It was a bit understandable because the show focused on the Byers family searching for their Will, as well as the Wheelers, due to Mike (Finn Wolfhard) secretly harboring Eleven. If anything, the Duffers could have easily deflected any accusation of potential marginalization by pointing out a similar lack of focus on Dustin Henderson's family in the first season. Instead, they took it in stride, especially the Saturday Night Live parody that addressed the Sinclairs, and made amends.

Sure, we got funny moments with Dustin's mom and her cat Mews (#JusticeForMews, anyone?), but the Sinclairs really lit up the screen up. Lucas got much more screen time due to his love triangle with Dustin and Max, coming off like a lead character as a result. When he asked Mike if he was automatically supposed to play Winston (Ernie Hudson's Ghostbusters character) for Halloween just because he's black, you can tell how playfully meta the series has become. And when his parents (played by Arnell Powell and Karen Ceesay) attempt to teach him how to win Max over, you truly appreciate what the Duffers have done for the character.

This was also seen in Lucas' sassy little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) who constantly torments him about being a nerd, reinforcing a focus on the show being about the kids rather than the adults. At the end of the day, it was a breath of fresh air seeing the show take this route, making Hawkins feel more wholesome and diverse. In the Beyond Stranger Things after-show, the Duffers warn the audience not to expect too much of the larger family dynamic moving forward though, because as they put it, back then parents often didn't know what their kids were off doing -- which in this case, usually means saving the world!

Now streaming on Netflix, the second season of Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery.