Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
“Stranger Things Season 2 sucks.”
Okay, I actually don’t think that, primarily because I haven’t seen it yet, but also because I am genuinely and sincerely excited about the Netflix original’s return. But–knowing how the internet internets–I know for a fact that that is going to be a sentiment felt by many vocal viewers. Call it the need to be contrarian or reactions to overhyped expectations, either way I sense a totally exhausting pop culture war coming our way during the last weekend of October.
There’s no way it’s not going to happen. Pretty much every time something is universally loved, the follow-up always falls flat–sometimes because the follow-up is legit bad (The Matrix Reloaded), or sometimes just because it’s suddenly cool to hate it (Friends season 2). And when it comes to universally loved, Netflix has never had a horrifically heart-warming success like Stranger Things.
Season 1 had ’80s Stephen King VHS nostalgia baked right into it, but it offered up so much more for fans to latch onto. It gave us the Winona Ryder comeback we’ve been craving, the instantly iconic Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a gang of rambunctious kids that have made every red carpet way more fun the past year, and introduced gays like me to David Harbour (Hellooooo, Hopper!). The show was so popular and the reaction so intense that even a total side character (Barb) became a figure that fans rallied around, much to the bewilderment of the show’s creators. Barb even got an Emmy nomination!
We all felt passionate about Stranger Things Season 1 because it was truly outstanding television (make no mistake!), but also because we all discovered it by word of mouth. The show dropped with little fanfare, making it kind of an underdog last summer. How many convos started with, “Have you heard of Stranger Things? You gotta watch Stranger Things!” The subsequent surprise success made the show all the more lovable. It was an underdog, just like those kids trying to kill the Demogorgon.
That’s not the case this time around. Stranger Things Season 2 is now subject to the thing that has wrongfully wrecked follow-ups for decades: hype. No one is gonna stumble across Stranger Things on Netflix, unsure of what it is. We all know what it is, and we’ve all spent the last year thinking about what Season 2 should be. We’ve seen a parade of badass homage posters and analyzed every shot in its moody trailer. When some fans watch Season 2, they will do so while clutching their Barb and Eleven Funko Pop!s.
Hype does nothing any favors. Depending on the feeds you’ve cultivated, you’ve seen people hate on everything from Avengers: Age of Ultron to Marvel’s The Defenders and the second season of Mr. Robot–all follow-ups that the hot take hive-mind turned against. And there are those of you reading that sentence thinking, “Well duh, all that stuff sucked!” And there are those of you reading that sentence thinking, “Uh, I loved _____, what are you talking about?” And that’s the problem: there’s no way we’re all gonna agree on Stranger Things Season 2 the same way we all seemed to agree on Stranger Things Season 1.
For instance, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a massive hit with everybody: it earned a 93% from critics, an A from movie audiences, and became the highest-grossing movie of all time domestically. What happened when it was announced that Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams would take over directing duties from Colin Trevorrow? My feeds were flooded with sighs and eyerolls and groans because the director of a movie people loved is coming back for another chapter. I spent a day re-litigating boring-ass gripes from tired haters upset that the successful director of a film that positively impacted pop culture was taking over from this guy.
There are people that get a certain thrill to typing “meh,” I guess. It’s cool not to care, and it’s even cooler to hate on those that still care. For those people, there’s literally nothing Stranger Things can do to win them over a second time. It’ll either be too much like Season 1, or too different from Season 1. Barb fans might be angry she’s not back from the dead, or Mike fans might be mad that Will’s getting too much attention. Eleven will either be too powerful or not powerful enough. Maybe the show will include too much fan service, or maybe fans will be angry that it’s too loose with continuity. Even if Stranger Things manages to thread all those needles nimbly, there will still be people who are all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ –and want to make sure you know they’re all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Thoughtful, noncombative criticism is all well and good and needed (and I’m sure I will have my own critiques), but I warn all Stranger Things superfans to prepare yourselves for the sting of bluntly dismissive tweets or op-eds (remember the Baby Groot is bad trend?) writing off everything about a thing you love.
Fight back by being vocal about what you love. Don’t let one or two bad things tank a whole season of television for you. Listen to the critiques when they’re thoughtful, especially if they have legit points to make about social issues, but dismiss the ones that feel like needless attacks from nasty trolls. But most of all, be vocal about what you love, especially right now, especially with a show as rad and fun as Stranger Things.
It’s gonna happen. That’s just how the internet operates. And to be honest, Stranger Things Season 2 is nothing compared to the potential backlash whiplash of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The fall is here, but winter is coming.
