Spoiler Alert: This review draws upon the entire season.
The only frustration I have with a binge-worthy Netflix TV show series is they tend to leave a string of unanswered questions. While Stranger Things 2 does elaborate on the mysteries of the first season, it also introduces some intriguing new questions, setting us up for another thrilling season in one year’s time.
The first question I had as the credits rolled in the season finale was whether or not Dr. Brenner is still alive. Eleven had a vision of him in episode seven, and the man she and her sister Kali were interrogating seemed to believe Brenner was still alive.
The question — or rather the hypothetical question — is where did he go? Furthermore, how would he have survived the Demigorgon? In the season one finale, the last we see of Brenner is when a Demigorgon attacks him, but the scene cuts away, leaving viewers suspicious as to his fate.
If Brenner is still alive, then his return to Hawkins could potentially be a focus of the next season. In this case Brenner’s return could pose a threat to Eleven, as he might want to continue the experiments he started. Obviously this is just speculation, but the fact that Strangers Things 2 brings up his potential existence suggests that he may play a significant role in the next season.
Although the season two finale itself didn’t leave us with any major cliffhangers, there were brief moments during the episode and a previous episode that could indicate that the infection wreaking havoc on Will isn’t entirely gone.
Yes, it does appear as though Will himself is cured, but there are two other characters that may have been infected: Hooper and Dustin. Both explored the mysterious tunnels that appear to be some sort of bridge between the real world and the upside down, and both encounter a weird flower that sprays them with an unidentified substance. Are they now infected?
In addition to the virus Will procures as a result of being held captive in the Upside Down for so long, we are also introduced to other living organisms that inhabit this mysterious dimension. Most prominent — and most tied to the virus itself — is the Shadow Monster.
As of season two’s last episode, we can infer that the shadow monster is most likely at the top of the food chain in the Upside Down — it commands the Demigorgons and uses them as an army — but we still don’t understand all of its capabilities.
Furthermore, if it is considered the leader of the Upside Down’s demonic creatures, then why did it decide that Will would be spared by the Demigorgons and not Barbara and the others who have been captured? I can totally see this as a question that will never be definitively answered in the following seasons, but because Will’s survival of the Upside Down is the basis of this entire series, I expect the question will eventually come up.
The other creature that is introduced is the “Demi-dog” as Dustin calls it. It seems as though the Demi-dog could just be a less mature version of the Demigorgon, but we never see any of the so-called Demi-dogs morph into something bigger.
Going back to the conflicts surrounding Eleven in this season, we learn the psychic child has a sister who was also tested. However, we don’t really get to know a ton about her, as she was merely introduced for a two-minute, car-chase scene in the opener. She was also shown running about Chicago with a murderous vengeance for the people who were experimenting on her and Eleven during episode seven.
I honestly won’t care if the Duffer brothers don’t touch on this storyline again. The episode where Eleven visited her “sister” in Chicago was by far the worst in the series. I understand that it’s customary for a TV series to interrupt a season with an episode on a backstory or a character’s sidestory — and this episode did seem like it was heading in that direction — but this episode only brought the whole season down.
It was like a combination of Suicide Squad and an outdated X-Men movie. In other words, the episode sounded good in theory, but its overarching tone wasn’t really compatible with Stranger Things. The episode also took place at a very critical junction in the season, making it even less necessary in my opinion.
On a more positive note, I think Stranger Things 2 as a whole was very successful. As of now, there hasn’t been a date disclosed for season three, but it has been rumored that filming will start within the next six months. In addition, it sounds like there will most likely be a fourth and fifth season, so get ready for more all-day binges and unanswered questions!