Stranger Things 2 is not only better than season one, but proves that the Duffer Brothers have created one of the best shows on Netflix. This season takes place almost one year after the first season, and everything from the characters to the CGI (Computer Generated Images) is a great improvement.

One of my favorite things about this season is that we got to see Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) more. In the first season, we only got to see his personality through flashbacks and barely got to see him because he was introduced in the first episode. We see that he is getting bullied from what happened last season, and how the Upside Down has an effect on him. This part also adds to Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) character development. We see her become a loving mother, rather than the concerned and scared mother from the first season. We finally are able to see her happy, especially when she is with Bob (Sean Astin) and Jim Hopper (David Harbour). It was great to see more of Will and Joyce being happy.

One interesting decision of this season is not having Mike (Finn Wolfhard) as the main character. Throughout this season, we see Mike struggle with not being able to see Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). This leads to Mike not really having a lot to do early on, but in the last half he becomes a major part of the season. Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper act as the main characters in this season. Even though I enjoyed the interactions between the kids more than the adults, I didn’t really mind this decision because of how interesting the adults were this season. I even enjoyed the romantic parts of this season that involved the adults. If this were done wrong, then it could have come off as cheesy and forced, but it felt natural and added depth to the characters.

My favorite part about season one was Eleven. We see Jim Hopper takes on the role of a father figure for E. She is still the most intriguing part of the show and every time she was on the screen I was laser focused and wanted to find out more about her. Episode seven, “The Lost Sister,” is entirely dedicated to her character; although it was the weakest episode of the season, I enjoyed it because El’s character and power grew.

We also get to see a lot more of Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). We see Dustin and Lucas compete for the new girl in the school, Max (Sadie Sink). This was a great part in the show because it shows how these kids are going through puberty and adds a great comedic element to the series. We also get to see Dustin as he finds an amphibian in his trash that he takes in as a pet that he calls Dart. Dart ends up being a major part of this season, and made me interested in seeing what was going to happen with Dustin.

I was also happy to see that Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) became a very likeable character. He acts as a babysitter to three of the kids in the second half of the season, as he does things like teaching Dustin how to get girls. Throughout the season, he goes head to head with Max’s older brother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery), another new character this season. This provided a great conflict and was very entertaining to watch Steve and Billy as Mono y Mono.

There are a ton of new characters. My favorite of these characters is Bob, who is Joyce Byers boyfriend. He was funny and a great role model for the kids to look up to. One of my favorite scenes involves Bob with Will as he takes him to school. Bob is telling Will about the time that he got rid of his fear of clowns. This shows a lot about Bob and how much he cares about Joyce and her family. Later on he shows how smart he is when he tells the Byers’ family that Will was drawing a map of Hawkins. He ended up being one of my favorite characters in the entire season.

The CGI is better than last year, but there are scenes where the CGI was terrible. When there was closer shots of something, it looked amazing and seemed real, but when there was a wider shot, it was noticeable and quite bad.

The biggest problem with this season was the character of Max. It felt like they were trying to replace El, which was a terrible decision. The character was there to serve as a love triangle with Dustin and Lucas. Everytime she was on the screen I was annoyed. They try to flush out her character and make her interesting, but it was a failed attempt. I like that she was there for Dustin and Lucas to have a love triangle, but she didn’t need to be in the show for as long as she was. I felt just like Mike did — that is, I wanted her to leave and never comeback  because she was too forced and was and an annoying character.

If you liked season one, you should watch Stranger Things Season 2 as soon as possible. This season proves to be one of the best shows on Netflix and proves that the Duffer Brothers have a bright future.

Grade: A