‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 Reviews: The Nostalgic Magic Is Back

If you’re like me, you’re politely turning down all social invitations for Friday to stay home, open up an array of junk food, and prepare to binge “Stranger Things” season 2. The loose pants will be in full effect as Matt and Ross Duffer bring everybody back to the Upside Down, and the verdict is that fans won’t be disappointed.

The reviews are in, and they are almost unanimous — the magic is back. Journalists were heavily embargoed, and if you’re like me, you may still be irritated by some of the things revealed in certain reviews. So you might want to steer clear of the full write-ups. But if you want to get a sense of the vibe of season two, the select quotes from “Stranger Things” reviews below should tide you over until the weekend.

E!: “Have no fear, kids: ‘Stranger Things 2’ lives up to the hype.”

Gamesradar: “Simply put, Stranger Things season 2 lives up to the hype.”

USA Today: “It’s a more intimate, exciting and character-driven story, but is occasionally hampered by its bloated length and by hewing too closely to the structure of the first chapter.”

The Telegraph: “The pressure has been on to create a season that could match the staggering hype eventually poured onto the first. This second outing more than lives up to it.”

The Independent: ” ‘Stranger Things 2’ may be a safe move, but it’s a smart one. Founded in the familiar, it’s allowed to put to the side any temptation that might arise by show’s enormous success. Namely, we don’t get a season that becomes too wrapped up in its own mythology: in the origins of the Upside Down, or the history of the lab. There is power in that mystery, and in that simplicity, we can revel in what ‘Stranger Things’ does best – nostalgia in its sweetest, most wistful form.”

Uproxx: “Not all sequels live up to the original; this one does better than I ever would have imagined. The show itself couldn’t possibly sneak up on me a second time; how entertaining it continues to be absolutely did.”

Polygon: ” ‘Stranger Things 2’ is a convergence of the fantastically extraordinary we wish we would experience and the understandable reality that we exist in; the combination of which creates one hell of a television experience that’s very much worth your time.”

Indiewire: ” ‘Stranger Things 2’ remains the series it’s always been, only bigger. Though repetitive in places and absolutely bursting with plot, the reference-heavy, nostalgia-driven “2” still succeeds at bringing families together for nothing but a good time.”

GQ: Well, whoah boy, just wait until season two, which at times feels less like a nostalgia-tinged romp, and more like a theme park with a ride from every scary Eighties and Nineties movie ever made: ‘Welcome… to Spielberg Park!’ ”

THR: ” ‘Stranger Things 2’ is quite good and, if your expectations are in check, largely satisfying. The Duffer Brothers fall into very few traps of self-importance or self-awareness and they deliver a second season with an expanded assortment of ’80s influences, an expanded cast of instantly embraceable characters and some expanded ‘Stranger Things’ mythology without the bloat that inevitably dooms sequels.”

Collider: “Like that first season, not everything works perfectly, but its cumulative effect is one that is again joyous, emotional, satisfyingly spooky, and most of all, makes us care deeply about the fates of these outsiders who band together as heroes.”

Variety: “Until ‘Stranger Things 2’ really gets going — and that takes a while — it trails an air of self-consciousness that veers into strained fan service at times. The good news is, the show’s core cast remains an extremely versatile and effective ensemble, and once the story kicks into a higher gear about halfway through the nine-episode season, a lot of the old magic returns.”

TV Line: “In the parlance of Mike Wheeler and friends, ‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 is the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ to the first season’s ‘Star Wars,’ in that it’s a highly anticipated follow-up where the stakes are higher for a band of unlikely heroes. But also because just as Luke Skywalker spent much of that sequel on his own journey, so does Eleven here — which is perhaps the otherwise engaging sophomore season’s only shortcoming.”

Vanity Fair: “…everyone at HBO interested in a second season of the perfectly ended ‘Big Little Lies’ should watch ‘Stranger Things 2’—a meandering, intermittently entertaining follow-up that dims our memory of the original fun, of that excitement and sense of occasion. I still ate it up in one big gulp. But I was hungry again an hour later. Only, not for more of the same.