 It's unsightly, it's unbecoming, that's for sure. It's how I imagine most dates with Harvey Weinstein end up. Right? Topical. It actually reminds me of my ex-girlfriend in one of her weekly excursions with a football team. She was a whore! Sorry, sorry. Is Barbara okay? Is she okay? Oh God, no, she is wrecked. She's not coming back from this, she's long gone. We'll leave it to the internet to ruin this and make a third string mediocre character into something much more important because there wasn't proper mourning over her death. Now it becomes a big thing in season two. Bit of an overreaction, but I'll allow it. Which reminds me, I should really get this feud started proper, so I'm gonna head out. I'll let you clean this up, it's a mess. Now while this show is called Movie Feuds and these aren't technically movies, I'm gonna do them anyways because it's my show and I can do whatever I want! It's Stranger Things season one versus season two on Movie Feuds. Stranger Things is a love letter to 80s flicks. The setting, the music, the way it's shot and most importantly, the characters all have a throwback vibe. It's a good old fashioned eight hour coming of age story seen through the eyes of a few different sets of people. My favorites being the four best friends, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will. Their camaraderie is infectious and it's hard not to smile whenever they bust out a game of Dungeons and Dragons or hit up the local arcade. The sequel takes the nerdy goodness to another level when we see the boys dressed as Ghostbusters and kudos to the creators, the Duffer Brothers for really going that extra mile getting the theme music. Not that shitty follow-up boy won the original. These Goonies have their own siblings too which get varying degrees of focus in the series. Mike's sister Nancy and Will's brother Charlie get a large chunk of the screen time. I found their threads to be the least interesting of both seasons but we'll touch more on that in round two. Side friends and town folk help breathe life into the fictional Hawkins, Indiana. Barbed while underdeveloped was certainly a fan favorite in season one. Along with John Raphael's doppelganger, Steve Harrington, who's even better in season two. That hair has basically become its own character. The sequel doubles down on the teens by adding a set of newcomers such as Dig Dugmaster Max, aka Mad Max, a fiery redhead who has the world's biggest douchey cliche stepbrother, Billy. Two time Academy Award nominee, Wynonna Ryder, definitely brings the most prestige to the picture and my God, she is still terrific. The chemistry between her and local sheriff, Jim Hopper is just pure perfection. Providing the audience with just enough history and small moments of clear affection without going all Ross and Rachel with it. Honestly, never thought I'd hear myself utter the phrase, oh cool, Paul Reiser's in this. I was wrong. I said that when he showed up in season two. His inclusion was a welcome treat just in time for Halloween and then we have Sean Austin. Really felt like they could have done better when dressing him up as a vampire. I mean, come on, throw him in some hobbit garbs. I know it's a bit on the nose but the books were out and he is a nerd, so it works, it fits. There are plenty of more bit players I could talk about but hopefully I covered all the major ones. Of course, I haven't covered the star of the show yet, 11. Let's talk about her. She's the test subject escapee who has the power of telekinesis. She can also communicate via blind waterboarding and get a glimpse into the upside down. That's the upside down, Adam. You shouldn't be asking me that stupid question. Instead, you should be watching season one of the show. I mean, get your shit together. What are you doing here? This is where things really separate for me. That was me separating things. I loved every moment of season one and was hooked immediately. I couldn't wait to get to the next episode to see what would happen. Here's the quick synopsis, short for synopsis. I'm in such a hurry, I don't even have time to say the whole word synopsis. Instead, I breathed it. In 1983, 11 opened a gate at the Hawkins National Laboratory during one of her forced Russian spying sessions. A pretty standard Tuesday for most. I'll continue. Whilst in her deep psychic state, she encountered a monster in the void. Upon contact, our world was breached and a bridge was formed between the dimensions. This gave the monster carte blanche to start picking off the town inhabitants, which included young will buyers. He managed to evade death with tricky kid logic and he even found a way to communicate with his mother on the other side. He's crafty, he's wily. Watch Upper Will, especially in season two. He gets really fucked up. The rest of the season focuses on our leads, trying to find will and stop this mysterious evil from taking more lives. It's really awesome, that's all there is to it. And season two could not come fast enough, but then it did come. And unfortunately, I did not. That was supposed to sound sexual because I'm mature. I'm an adult wearing a t-shirt with a show that I like. If that doesn't scream credibility and maturity, I don't know what else does. Season two brought more great characters into the fold and gave us expanded roles for some of the original cast. The earlier episodes had a lot of great kids being kids moments. And we do get genuine follow from the events of season one. Characters like Micah in a rough state, which is tough to watch because he was so fun in season one, plus the actor was also an it and he was a standout performance there. So it was tough seeing him at his lowest. It makes sense in the context of the film. Eleven is presumably dead and he's trying to cope with that. I can say though, as bad as things get for him, he's in a hell of a lot better state than his buddy, Will is. He's in trouble. He's in a tough state of affairs. The movie went full Harry Potter with it. A new monsters in the mix, one that's much bigger, more stronger, more powerful than anything they've seen before, they call it the mind flayer and it's infected Will and is now tethered to him. Will suffers when it suffers and this thing can even take over the poor kid's mind, which is used brilliantly towards the end of the season. That's a lot of good I just said. So now let me say something bad. The biggest issue for me here is Eleven is completely wasted for most of this freaking run. I don't think they could figure out what to do with her. So they hid her away, locked in a cabin, out of reach from the evil government agency and from the viewer. Now don't get me wrong, she gets some great character moments, especially with Hopper, this whole father-daughter relationship they have going. Just wasn't enough for me. And I really don't like the path the writers took her down later. Especially when episode seven rolls around. Now I've been looking around the internet lately because I am a curious cat and I like to see what people have to say. And there's two camps here. There's the people that think episode seven sucks balls and then there's the idiots. A complete disappointment for me that could have been cut out of the show and nothing would be missed a bit. I hated these new rejects they introduced and I think her name was eight. The sister, terrible. I don't want to see Stranger Things Suicide Squad. I caught myself off guard being a little annoyed of Dustin in season two. Mainly because of his decision to raise a demo dog which gets absurd pretty quickly and ultimately has zero payoff at the end. This whole plot point was actually done in a TV show about a decade ago. It was called Surface. Perhaps I am judging too quickly and this will lead to a bigger revelation in season three that these Demogorgon creatures have some form of feelings and emotions but as it stands, it was just kind of pointless. Nancy once again has the lamest storyline which revolves around stupid Barb and her awesome death. It's another thread that doesn't have much of a resolution here but will most likely lead to bigger things in the season to follow. Even with all the gripes I had, I still had no issues blowing through this second season in two or three nights. It still keeps you on edge, keeps you wanting to see more. The dialogue, the countless nostalgic references to films like Terminator, Alien, Ghostbusters and so on keep you constantly searching the foreground in the background for many tips of the hat to older properties. Much like Terminator, this film teases a judgment day of sorts that never sees the light. We get a glimpse though through the looking glass of a final shot as the camera tilts to see this creature, this looming death, right next door. It's gripping, it's haunting, it's a perfect lead to season three and hopefully we get a bit more. Let it be known that nostalgia took hold of the late teen years in the 2000 generation with reboots, remakes, rehashes, sequels, prequels, sidequels and everything else, TV show revivals but once in a while, gold is struck and that's where Stranger Things comes in. The series really does feel like an overly long 80s movie with the benefit of today's tech. There is so much to appreciate about these seasons from the clothing to the set design. The town is rich with great landmarks and quirky characters and its quaint setting works wonderfully well with the cold, dark, lifeless version of the upside down. The lack of any real life in this new dimension outside of this weird demogorgon make this deeply disturbing. The ashy-like particles that float from the sky, the dead blackened trees, the dilapidated remains of buildings, it's crafted perfectly. What's not so hot are the effects on the creature itself. The directors wisely keep it in the shadows or in walls a la the frighteners for most of the first season. Think it was a really big misstep to introduce the dog demons in season two. It's getting too close to real world creatures and it made the dimension less scary for me. Plus, and I'm gonna be frank with you, their faces kinda look like dicks. The big bad, however, did work for me. The hive queen, labeled by the kids as the mind flayer, is a sight to behold and I'm glad they kept it in the distance out of true form. I wanted to talk about music, but I don't think I can properly give it the praise it deserves because it's on another level. What a damn treat for the ears. Composer Kyle Dixon completely knocks it out of the park here with this synthwave song treatments. The music does such a good job blending these two worlds together with the nostalgic beats mixed with more intense effects. Then there's the 80s hits that come and go sprinkled along our journey, giving you just one more reason to hurry up and start the next episode to hear what classics are in store. The Clash, Foreigner, Peter Gabriel, Bon Jovi, Jefferson Airplane, and the sunglasses at night wearing guy himself, Corey Hart, make this for an unstoppable playlist and these hits keep coming. Bottom line, which I imagine early just drew, the Duffer brothers have great taste in music. Even though Stranger Things season two was a step back for me, it's still a joy to watch and it's still one of the best shows on TV to date. It has great characters and fun situations. The music, movie, and game callbacks are just icing on this cake. I gave you my thoughts, now I'd love to hear yours. Leave a comment, vote for your winner, and remember, this is more than just reviews, this is movie feuds. Corey Hart, play me out. I mean, it's copyright infringement, but it's worth it. It's so damn worth it.