By Kevin Ludy ’19

Watch out Westport: Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Will are back. The Netflix original series “Stranger Things” came out with a second season on Oct. 27, following a critically acclaimed first season. The question is this: did the new season live up to the last?

This season featured many familiar elements from the first, along with introducing new ideas. The core group of kids, Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Will (played by Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp respectively) return, with a new member of the group, Max, played by Sadie Sink.

On top of that, everyone’s favorite character, Eleven, who is played by Millie Bobby Brown, comes back for an even more prevalent role this season.

Season two takes place a year later and brings a new threat to the town of Hawkins, Indiana, which the main characters have to stop. In the last season, Will was kidnapped to the alternate dimension of the “Upside Down” by a demogorgon, an evil monster which, spoiler alert, they were able to defeat and ultimately save Will.

This was a very traumatic experience and you can see the effects it had on Will in the second season. Will has flashbacks to the Upside Down and struggles to get back to normal life. As the flashbacks keep continuing though, he begins to question if these are flashbacks, or current visions into the Upside Down.

The visions show an upcoming force threatening Hawkins, and as the season progresses, you can watch the town go toward chaos, as the path between the Upside Down and the real world opens up again.

This season was very entertaining and I enjoyed watching every episode. It definitely has a reputation of being a very “binge-able” show, but I personally think watching each episode and fully understanding what happened is the best way to watch it.

Some standout episodes include “Trick or Treat, Freak” and “The Gate.” The trick or treat episode takes place on Halloween and it is perfect for this time of the year. The season finale “The Gate” was outstanding, and kept you on the edge of your seat for the whole time.

One episode I felt didn’t match with the style of the show was “The Lost Sister.” This episode featured a subplot of Eleven joining a gang of self proclaimed outcasts who murder criminals. This episode was unlike any episode they had done before and although I appreciate the risk they took, it ultimately did not succeed and took you out of being engrossed in the “Stranger Things” universe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this season and would recommend it to any fans of the series. Although not all of the episodes live up to the first season, they feature enough returning elements to satisfy even the harshest critic. “Stranger Things” is a remarkable show, and I am already looking forward to season three.