• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Bg Elvis 1970 71

      Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1971-1972)

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 29, 2017
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    Stranger Things Review: Season 2 – Totally tubular!

    By Salome G
    | October 31, 2017
    TV Blogs

    Almost a year after Will Byers went missing and then came back, life has almost settled back to normal in Hawkins, Indiana. Almost.

    Stranger Things S2 Poster 3

    The boys, who have grown up some, but not that much, spend their time doing things like pooling their money for the arcade. The teenagers fret about parties now and plans for their futures. The adults are also living, if not their best lives, then the best ones they can make.

    Stranger Things S2 Caleb Mclaughlin Finn Wolfhard Noah Schnapp Gaten Matarazzo

    Still, there are hints that something wicked this way comes. Will has to make regular visits to the Department of Energy’s Hawkins lab for physicals and he’s started having immersive hallucinations. Or are they real? Mike has apparently spent the past year acting out. Barb’s parents (Cynthia Barrett and Aaron Munoz) have hired a private investigator, Murray (Brett Gelman), to look into their daughter’s disappearance. Nancy and Steve have regular dinners with Barb’s parents, dinners that are taking an emotional toll on Nancy, who knows (almost) exactly what happened to her friend. A local farmer reports that his pumpkin crop has failed. He believes a rival poisoned it, but you can’t help but suspect an otherworldly pestilence. And then other farmers’ crops fail.

    Stranger Things S2 Noah Schnapp

    Stranger Things S2 2

    We meet Murray before we know what he’s doing in town. At that point, he’s just a stranger haranguing Sheriff Hopper about possible Russian spies in town. He mentions the multiple reports he’s gotten of a possibly psychic little girl. Of course, we know exactly what Eggo-loving child he’s talking about, and exactly why Hopper is pretending ignorance.

    But then again, that’s what everyone is trying to do, except maybe Joyce, who will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. But why wouldn’t she? What happened to her son was unforeseeable, so who can say that it won’t happen again?

    Most people would prefer not to think about that, of course. And there are new people to provide distractions. Paul Reiser joins the cast as Dr. Owens, the Department of Energy’s replacement for Dr. Brenner. Joyce is dating Bob (Sean Astin), the manager of the local Radio Shack (and founder of the Hawkins Middle School A/V Club). The boys make a new friend, Max (Sadie Sink), who’s had the misfortune of moving to Hawkins with her stepbrother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery), who’s a world-class dirtbag. We even get to meet more of the boys’ family members, including Lucas’s parents (Karen Ceesay and Arnell Powell) and adorable sister Erica (Priah Ferguson), and Dustin’s mom (Catherine Curtin). Dustin, in fact, makes another new friend, who turns out to be not what he’s expecting. (On that note: #JUSTICEFORMEWS)

    Stranger Things S2 Paul Reiser Natalia Dyer Charlie Heaton

    Stranger Things S2 Brett Gelman Natalia Dyer Charlie Heaton

    But maybe things could go back to something approaching normal. Will has PTSS, clearly, but he could learn to manage it. Barb’s parents would still never know what happened to their daughter, but as sad as it is, many people learn to live with that kind of uncertainty.

    Then someone else goes missing. And instead of being the focus of the season, as Will’s disappearance was in season 1, it’s instead the catalyst for a new kind of madness. This season, like its predecessor, finds inspiration in earlier movies, including riffs on Gremlins, Jurassic Park, and Aliens–again, hi, Paul Reiser–but manages to hide its notes a bit better this time. Even if they did put a Goonie in it.

    Stranger Things S2 1

    My issues with this season are fairly minor, in fact. The music cues can be a bit on the nose, for one thing–like Bon Jovi’s “Runaway” when a girl’s far from home, for example. They must have not gotten clearance for Diana Ross’s “Upside Down.”

    Some viewers might feel that the biggest stumble of the season is an entire episode, unfortunately. Episode 7 takes place away from Hawkins, in Chicago, and involves almost none of the characters we know. I can see both arguments for it. Yes, it can be argued that it’s filler, but on the other hand, you can argue that it gives [character] motivation to return to Hawkins and join the fight. Overall, though, if I’m just being a viewer, I didn’t like it. I didn’t necessarily think it was filler, as much as an attempt at a backdoor pilot, but the characters weren’t believable. We’re outcasts, man!

    Stranger Things S2 3

    Cool. Take me back to Hawkins? And take me back for season 3. I don’t know if I can decide if this season is better than the first, but I do know that save the seventh episode, it’s just as good. It’s all the suspense and the rollicking good time of season one, with the added bonus that (nearly) all of our returning characters (and some of the new ones) get a chance to be heroic. It falters when it leans too far into the past–not just the influences it loves so much, but the past season of the show. As the epilogue hints the story isn’t over, I’m intrigued because I want to spend more time with these characters. I don’t necessarily want to do it upside down. The best parts of this show are when characters get a chance to change and grow*, so I’m excited to see what happens when the show gets to, as well.

    Stranger Things S2 Caleb Mclaughlin Finn Wolfhard Noah Schnapp Gaten Matarazzo 2

    8/10 – Season 2 is just as rad–or okay, totally tubular–as season 1. In fact, its biggest flaw is that it repeats a little too much of what we liked about season 1 and follows the sequel rule of just multiplying that. Even with that as a weak point, it’s still one of the most entertaining shows around. 

    *┏┓
    ┃┃╱╲ In this
    ┃╱╱╲╲ house
    ╱╱╭╮╲╲ we love
    ▔▏┗┛▕▔ & appreciate
    ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲
    Steve Harrington
    ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲
    ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    NetflixStranger Things

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    6 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    PoisonIvy
    PoisonIvy
    5 years ago

    I am just getting into Season 2, so I can still reserve judgement, but so far I am hooked! And I am sure I am not alone in saying that visiting the 80’s again has been a nice little jog down memory lane as I was the exact ages of the characters in the show at the same time the show takes place.

    0
    Reply
    Salome G
    Salome G
    5 years ago
    Reply to  PoisonIvy

    Yes, although I was more like Erica’s age.

    0
    Reply
    itsjustme
    itsjustme
    5 years ago

    I loved season 2 and think it’s all kinds of magic, but I have to agree, I wasn’t really a fan of the seventh episode. I really saw it as only filler until I read this review – you’re right, it serves some purpose. But I still think it could have been executed a little better. It definitely didn’t ruin the season for me or anything, and I still enjoyed watching it, just not as much as the rest of the episodes.

    0
    Reply
    SyFyFanatic
    SyFyFanatic
    5 years ago

    This review seems like the story could be a good one. I never watched season one, however, after this review, I think I’ll go back and revisit season one. I’m always on the lookout for good shows.

    0
    Reply
    Lone Wolf
    Lone Wolf
    5 years ago
    Reply to  SyFyFanatic

    It’s a surprisingly good show. When my kids begged me to watch it, I kind of resisted and didn’t want to. I was wrong. I am as big of a fan as my kids.

    0
    Reply
    Salome G
    Salome G
    5 years ago
    Reply to  SyFyFanatic

    It’s a very cool show.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • Your official Halloween watch-list for 2017!

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 23, 2017
    • Stranger Things Review: Season 1 – Wow!

      By Salome G
      | July 20, 2016
    • The OA Review: Season 1

      By Salome G
      | December 29, 2016
    • Mindhunter Season 1 Review: A compelling look at the history of modern criminal profiling

      By Salome G
      | October 16, 2017
    • 13 Reasons Why Review: Season 1 – Greatly elevates the source material

      By Salome G
      | April 25, 2017
    • Search Party Review: Season 1

      By Salome G
      | December 28, 2016
    • Black Mirror Review: Season 3

      By Salome G
      | November 11, 2016
    • GLOW Review: Season 1 – Fun 80s romp!

      By Salome G
      | July 8, 2017
    • Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events S01E01-04: The Bad Beginning and The Reptile Room Review

      By Kevin Boyle
      | January 20, 2017
    • Santa Clarita Diet Review: Season 1

      By Salome G
      | February 15, 2017
    • Review: IT is an instant horror classic

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 10, 2017

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Doctor Who 2022 October Special Review: The Power of the Doctor – Lackluster

      By Jason Collins
      | October 25, 2022
    • Can the Doctor regenerate into a previous incarnation?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 23, 2022
    • Is the Tardis more sentient plant or machine?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 10, 2022
    • Star Trek Strange New Worlds – Season two wishlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 14, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz