STRANGER THINGS SEASON 2 IS HERE! If you haven’t already heard, the journey of everyone’s favorite band of middle schoolers, fighting for the future of Hawkins, Indiana, and the world, is back for a second season. Now, we will try and keep the spoilers to a minimum, but if you haven’t already watched season one, you need to put down this article and go binge watch that right now. As we know from the previous season, Will Byers is back from the upside down, saved by Hopper, the police chief, and his mother. However, Will is experiencing ‘episodes’ that seem to be related to something going on in the town. Eleven is also missing; after giving herself up so save Will, nobody has seen her for a year. That’s where season two begins.

A year after the incidents of season one, everybody is still trying to cope with what happened and deal with the aftermath. This season includes a whole nine episodes instead of eight, so you have a whole extra 45 minutes to binge watch. One of the best parts of Stranger Things is the ambience and mood of the show. If you have ever listened to the soundtrack or paid attention to the sound, you’ll notice a large use of music that helps move the story along and convey emotion. One major point in the season one soundtrack was the use of nostalgia. A lot of synths and 80s sounds fill the original season of the show, trying to give us this distinctly ‘80s’ ambience that helps set the scene for where the characters are and what time period the story takes place.

While season two also has a lot of this as well, it feels as though the creators know we are already familiar with the place and time period, so the soundtrack seems to be used to tell the story rather than describing the setting. The other sounds present in the show, like the sound effects being used and the ambient noises, really give off this unnerving, creepy vibe to the show. Many parts of season two have scenes that put you on edge, the creepy atmosphere, the music, and the ambient noise use make your spine tingle and prepares you for what might happen next.

While last season was all about the thrilling aspect of the show, season two focuses more on horror as one of it’s primary drivers. There are more jumpscares, more unnerving scenes, and more ‘under the blankets’ moments in this season. The first half of the season is spent primarily setting the scene and giving us lots of questions that will get answered in the second half. If you are as into Stranger Things as we are here at BD, you will be on the edge of your seat the entire time. You can find all nine episodes on Netflix as well as Beyond Stranger Things, a talkshow similar to Talking Dead (the talk show for the series The Walking Dead), where the actors come on and discuss the season as well as reveal secrets about production and the world itself. But unlike Talking Dead, most people recommend you watch the entire season before delving into the aftershow, to both keep the immersion in the story and to avoid unwanted spoilers.

Image by Netflix.com