Stranger Things: Why the second season is nowhere near as good as the first
When I ask myself why I love stories the answer is simple: stories move me, engage me. They’re able to go beyond our wildest expectations and effect us in sometimes such subtle ways so that hours, days or even weeks down the line we still find ourselves thinking about them. Often we do this without even knowing, I think because a great story does so much without us truly being aware of it.
When asked then why I’m so interesting in exploring story the answer is just as simple, I want to find out how and why they are able to do this; the subtle and often not so subtle techniques that go into making a story and importantly, what makes a story go from being good to great, or indeed from great to just, well, meh…
Now with that said, probably one of the best case studies in recent history to look at, and one I’m particularly passionate about, is STRANGER THINGS!
Out of nowhere this show became a cultural phenomenon and blew minds and not just for the bigger reasons such as, the direction, music, acting, or the smaller ones like the subtle/not so subtle representation of the 80’s aesthetic, production design or its use of technology to convey meaning. But why it stood so far above most other TV shows, was in its masterful storytelling and command of character. Today, I’d like to focus on how Stranger Things Season 1 managed to do this and compare it with why Season 2 just wasn’t able to get there.
So, what’s missing in the 2nd season compared to the 1st?
Introduce your desire line and threat early
Exploding into existence, Season 1 kicked off with back to back opening scenes which crucially accomplished two things to set the story up: It established the main goal for the rest of the season: find out what happened to Will and bring him home; as well as the main antagonistic threat: The Demegorgan.
The effect of the goal here is to provide the backbone for the story: we know where the story is heading providing structure to the entire season and establishing the motivations of all the characters, some of which we haven’t even met yet. The effect of the threat is to charge that backbone, at the right moments, with tension, suspense and simultaneously set up the stakes and urgency.
Now this isn’t even mentioning how brilliantly the show introduces its heart in the boys, as well as the setting, tone and keen sense of mystery in these scenes. But crucially, by the time the opening credits provide a relief in the tension we’ve met the characters, we have a taste of the story, a promise of more and most importantly, because of all this, we are now engaged!
From here on we want to know what happened, we’re trying to solve the mystery behind this monster, who’s involved and how Will was able to disappear like that. We are actively leaning forward and participating in the story.
You can see this a lot in the opening scenes of great films. In Casablanca’s for example, it sets up the goal: to escape the seemingly inescapable Casablanca and threat: attempting to do so or resist will get you killed. This is then neatly demonstrated in a short scene and this is before we’ve even met the main characters! The structure is simple and set…
With that in mind let’s look at the Season 2 opener. The first scene is spent with Kali, El’s sort of sister and her ragtag band of miscreants. Immediately we’re shocked. Where is Will and ‘the party’? No Eleven?
Okay, so maybe we’ll see a threat here. Well, the only threat established is possibly Kali herself, which we know she goes on to be a sort of rebellious sister type, not functioning as a true antagonist, protagonist or even threat.
Alright, what about a desire line or hook? The goal in this scene is simply for them to avoid the police. We’re told nothing of how these events mean anything to the wider plot, no goals are even hinted at here, let alone established. In fact, by the end of the scene we’re barely even intrigued, only minimally by the identification of Kali as another test subject with powers…And then the opening credits roll.
If the first season impressed upon how crucial and impactful the first few scenes can be, then the second season fired right back and demonstrated what happens when they’re not.
Now this whole first scene problem actually continues in the next scene whereby all that happens, bar being reintroduced to ‘the party’, is that Will sees a darkness in the upside down. But, we’re not told or importantly shown, how this threat will effect our characters throughout the season. It poses no immediacy and is left vague and mysterious, which in an already established story world can be great for generating tension, but this reveal and clarity around the goal/desire line of the season must then happen at least by the end of the episode!
Any why? Because we, the audience, need to clearly understand where we’re going and are expecting this not in the form of answers but direction!
Yet, once we get to the end of the episode, when our anticipation has built and we finally see the threat, we’re still no closer to understanding what actual impact this could have on our characters and why it even effects all of them. Indeed, once the goal: to heal Will and confront the new monster threatening Hawkins is introduced 3 episodes later, its pursued by only a few of the main characters, most of the rest not even knowing about it.
Not only that but Hawkins lab is barely a threat this season and its person in charge is a simple good-natured doctor. Hardly the ominous Brenner led ominous company in the first, willing to do whatever it takes to regain their secret weapon (El). Because of these, the spine of the story is left weaker as the focus is split, unrelated and the threat is ambiguous at best leaving the audience far less engaged.
We therefore, not only have to have the first few scenes establish, if not the goal then a threat, but both have to have a visible connection in order for there to be an effect on the characters and thus audience. In Season 1, we see what took Will and understand that everyone else’s goals are to find him. Another good example of this in a similar 80’s genre is the Terminator. Threat: The Terminator wants to kill Sarah, Goal: to Protect her. So to update the previous statement.
Introduce your desire line and threat early, and have them connect to engage the audience
Regardless of whether we already know what form the threat was from Season 1, if you do not show the audience this and connect it with a new goal in the opening scenes, your story is left weaker as a whole. For how are we ever going to be engaged with the story to come?
But there’s something else here too. Because a clear goal hasn’t been established our characters aren’t unified in their pursuit of the this goal — even if down different avenues like the first season. This has a trickle down negative effect on the rest of the plot and subsequent scenes and beats within, as without a strong goal to always refer back to and remind the characters and thus audience, of why their actions have meaning in the immediate context, each character’s storyline and action become less emotionally relevant. Which leads nicely onto my next point:
Each plotline should remain pertinent and relate back to the main goal.
“If a subplot doesn’t thematically contradict or resonate the controlling idea of the main plot, if it doesn’t set up the introduction of the main plot’s inciting incident, or complicate the action on the main plot, if it merely runs alongside, it will split the story down the middle and destroy its effect…..” John Truby, The Anatomy of Story
Season 1 is able to balance each of the four plot lines and brilliantly interlink them when the time is right as the story reaches its crescendo towards the end of the season:
- Through Joyce we find out that Will is alive but trapped (Predicament),
- Through Hopper we pursue the Government cover up and investigation into these disappearances (Obstacles),
- Through Nancy and Jonathan, we find out about the Demogorgan (Threat)
- And finally through the boys and Eleven we find out about the upside down and her powers (Solution).
Each individual storyline provides constant revelations without stepping onto the toes of another, thus avoiding repetition, and importantly, each storyline becomes imperative towards dealing with the threat by the climax of the story. This interweaving web of character and plot is done so masterfully here, that when these characters finally team up towards the climax, we’re excited and anticipating all of our protagonists coming together and using the information all of them earned to save the day.
Flipping this upside down, a similar coming together happens in the second season. However, because the main goal wasn’t established early and made relevant to all characters, when it comes to the big meet up lots of these characters couldn’t bring anything new to the table.
For instance, Nancy and Jonathon were off getting #justiceforbarb and falling for each other, but not actually doing anything relevant to what was going on. Jonathan in fact doesn’t even know the extent of Will’s sickness until he shows up at Hawkins lab, coincidentally in time to watch everyone flee. Because their subplot had nothing to do with the main plot, when it came to the end, they couldn’t add any new information to help them with where they would be during the final battle. The audience feels this and can’t fully comprehend what’s gone wrong, but knows that there’s a disunity or imbalance between character and story.
With that said, we now come to the greatest example of why each plotline should remain pertinent and relate back to the main goal. The infamously controversial episode 7. To finish the Truby quote from earlier:
….The audience understands the principle of authentic unity. It knows that every story element is there because of a relationship it strikes to every other element. This relationship, structural or thematic, holds the work together. If the audience can’t find it, it’ll disengage from the story and consciously try to force a unity. When this fails, it sits in confusion.”
While there are several things wrong with episode 7, its greatest problem is that this subplot and Eleven’s arc this entire season, had nothing to do with the plot of the main story. Her goal was to find out who she was/is. This turned out to be something she ended up returning to Hawkins for anyway — and just in the nick of time for her to save her friends and close the gate. How lucky!
But can you imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t come back? How would everyone else have survived the attack on the house, let alone the assault on the gate? What if Kali had been nice and welcoming? The rest of the characters would have been screwed without their Mary Sue mage to dramatically return and Fix-it-Felix for them. On a Meta level, the audience knows this, so when she makes her dramatic entrance, we’re like yeah-duh! Who else would it be?
If the 7th episode and to a larger extent 11’s arc had something to do with the overall plot of the season, then it would have given her the necessary direction and information in order to justify her exploration and time with the group. However, there wasn’t. She didn’t have a solid goal with a physical end point that the audience can image, creating structure for her decisions and growth. Instead, she was separated from the main story and arguably her main desire, to be with Mike, and thus it felt even more forced when we were introduced to Kali and her team in episode 7 as it was just postponing the inevitable.
To extend this out a little, one of the greatest misfires in the second season was a lack of understanding of what made the first season so great: the heart of the show - the loyal and innocent friendship of the kids. In season 1, they were constantly together, almost inseparable and when they weren’t together a big deal was made, with each separate group discovering plot relevant details to bring back with them upon reuniting. E.g. When Lucas goes off on his own to the lab, he discovers they’re after El and is able to issue a warning to the group, helping them escape and upon returning, he apologises. Immediate external threat forcing internal reconcilement within the group.
This season, Eleven never really rejoined, with only a small reunion before she was carted off again. Mike was stuck playing the passive angsty friend who says things the audience seems to be discovering already like the sidekick in a Transformers film, and Lucas and Dustin are separated by plot conveniences leaving the latter to team up with Steve. Now while some things worked better than others — the pairing of Steve and Dustin (although what do you expect when you put arguably the shows two most likeable characters together) — the creators didn’t seem to quite understand what made the first season so loveable and importantly re-watchable: the simple premise of a group of kids fighting to get their friend back. Their story in Season 1 was so endearing, it’s what people couldn’t wait for in Season 2. Yet we were denied this…
Which Brings me back to the Spine of the story and why Stranger Things Season 2 lacks the magic of the first.
Every single element of your story falls back on the strength of the desire/goal
“The Spine is the deep desire in and effort by the protagonist to restore balance in their life. It’s the primary unifying force that holds all other story elements together. For no matter what happens on the surface of the story, each scene, image and word is ultimately an aspect of the Spine relating causally or thematically to this core of desire and action.” Robert Mckee
Right from the get go the second season underwhelmed compared to the first season and a large part of that was the spine of the story not being as solid. When the goal is unclear or unknown, when the characters fulfil other plot-lines that don’t build or serve the main, and when the goal and threat don’t combine to create tension, the ensuing struggle and suspense for the characters becomes unfocused and less interesting for the audience.
Now I’ve detailed here just a few reasons why the second season isn’t as good. But because in the end, as Mckee suggests, everything falls back on the strength of the desire, then you can trace every problem in Stranger Things season 2 back to this one mistake.
Creating meaningful story is far from easy and the Duffer brothers made something truly brilliant in the first season. Let’s hope they can learn from the mistakes of the second (and arguably third) season and bring the fourth back to the original’s quality. I guess we’ll see later on this year when it premieres…
