Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Stranger Things: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 26, 2018

In 2016, rising industry powerhouse Netflix released Stranger Things, a Mystery/Sci-Fi period show that earned immediate, and overwhelming, critical and audience acclaim. The story of four preteen friends in a sleepy 1980s Indiana town, the frightening mysteries they uncover, and the new friends they make quickly became the the most talked-about show of the year and almost overnight became a popular culture icon and part of the modern lexicon. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, themselves children of the 1980s, Stranger Things has now completed two full seasons with a third season scheduled to release in the coming months. Netflix has once again partnered with Target on a store-exclusive Blu-ray release alongside a companion UHD, this time released simultaneously with the Blu-ray rather than mysteriously appearing on shelves just weeks after that season's Blu-ray release, itself kept under tight wraps at the time. Both sets are, like the matching season one releases, problematic in several areas but are home to what is unquestionably about 7.5 hours of the best television of the year.

Below is a plot summation that contains spoilers for both seasons one and two.

Things have returned to normal in Hawkins, Indiana, at least in that things have returned to the new normal of strange occurrences and deadly realities that grip the town beyond the shadows and, now, under the feet. The story begins following a nearly year-long lull from the strange new norm. The boys -- the previously missing Will (Noah Schnapp) and his friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) -- are in school and meet a new friend named Max (Sadie Sink) who has not only toppled their high score in Dig Dug but also happens to be a girl. Things again take a turn for the bizarre when Will continues to have terrifying visions of (or visits to) the Upside Down and Dustin befriends a strange creature he calls “Dart,” short for D’artagnan, that may be a new species or something much more sinister. While the boys come to terms with the new girl in their lives and pull her both into and away from their group, Mike continues to miss Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who has been in hiding under the care of Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) and under strict instructions to not make contact with the outside world, which includes Mike and the gang. Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) relationship with Steve (Joe Keery) hits a few bumps, opening an opportunity for Will’s older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) to make a move. Jonathan and Will’s mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) is in a relationship with the kindly electronics guru, Radio Shack employee, and all-around smart guy Bob (Sean Astin). At Hawkins National Laboratory, Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) has taken leadership.

Season two is a finely tuned nine-episode run that is both fresh and familiar. The season introduces new blood into the Hawkins dynamic. Bob and Max are introduced quickly but developed slowly. Each plays an important part in the season, Bob more directly and Max more in a way that bends the dramatic current a bit from the season one dynamic, and her mysterious relationship with her equally mysterious and combustible older brother Billy, played by Dacre Montgomery, makes for one of the season's most compelling and slow-reveal arcs. Season two is more expansive beyond its newly introduced characters, offering viewers a wider spectrum coverage of the Upside Down world without moving too far beyond the familiar confines of Hawkins proper, though the show does stretch its wings beyond the show's Indiana world, moving one of its key characters, temporarily, to the big city in a critical fact-finding and soul-searching mission. Season two is quick to introduce new dynamics but absorbingly slow to explore them and even slower to answer questions small and large alike. One of the draws is the ever-evolving landscape, the gradually developing dangers, and the introduction of quickly developing large-scale threats to characters and the world they inhabit alike. Season two is nearly every bit season one's equal. It understandably lacks season one's novel allure if only because the world, characters, and core storylines are already in place, but it's a near-perfect continuation, not evolution, of the Hawkins story.

Stranger Things: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stranger Things' first season was of near reference quality on Blu-ray, but such is not the case with the season two release. The opening Pittsburgh sequence, a nighttime car case, features some heavy noise which is just the first of many, albeit often isolated, trouble points. Viewers will spot some macroblcking in places, insignificant for the most part but very clearly visible as it appears, particularly in lower light situations. Some shots at the beginning of episode two are a good example. Black levels are sometimes prone to appearing a little too flat and bright, again evident in the first six minutes of episode two. There's a noisy and purple push at the beginning of episode four. Banding is an issue in places. It can be heavy at times, with some of the most prominent struggles coming in the penultimate episode in the darkness that defines much of the first 15 minutes. These issues are not isolated to the timestamps above but are rather semi-common occurrences throughout the season.

On the plus side, the digitally photographed 1080p image boasts ridiculously high levels of detailing. Facial textures are extremely crisp and intimately defined, whether considering Sheriff Hopper's beard, Max's freckles, or Steve's hair. Period clothes are likewise complex, and effortlessly so. Environmental detailing is striking, even in low light around the bowels of the Hawkins National Laboratory or inside Hopper's rustic, away-from-it-all cabin that is decorated with variously clear and well defined accents but dominated by the dusty, character-infused woods that hold it together. Colors are bright and accurate in daylight and hold serve at nighttime and in low light. Highlights include red and orange glowing space heaters pushing beyond their limits near the season's end and period attire seen in well lit school hallways and exteriors. The digital image occasionally passes for film in terms of depth and textural intimacy, but the season is littered with some fairly significant source and encode eyesores that detract from the otherwise excellent presentation.

Stranger Things: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Stranger Things 2 features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack which actually carries over to the UHD this time. The Blu-ray's lossless presentation is largely terrific. The show's synth/electronic score features prominently throughout the season, of course, and notably over the opening titles. It's often accompanied by extreme surround saturation which sometimes (early on in particular) overpowers surrounding elements, including dialogue. There is also some deliberate distortion to some of the score which adds to a retro feel that's not ever-present but that does punctuate some key moments. The track is also comprised of various 80s Pop and Rock tunes that don't miss a beat and deliver energetic guitar riffs, Rock You Like a Hurricane being a terrific example. The track folds in various, and high quality, discrete effects, from more mundane details like rustling corn stalks in episode one to buzzing flies in a few scenes around the mysteriously rotted pumpkin patches. Open, airy dialogue in chapter three of episode six also creates a sense of sonic expanse within the listening area. More prominent effects like swirling thunder and electrical storm type sounds when Will experiences his visions of the Upside Down engulf the listener in the frights and madness of each occurrence. Gunshots engage from around the listener in the opening minutes of the seasons' penultimate episode, but shots in the final minutes of the final episode want for added depth and power. A few instances of dialogue sounding a little shallow are obvious but the spoken word is generally clear, distortion-free, and well prioritized. Most shortcomings are usually infrequent and intermittent. Generally, sounds command the stage with rich clarity, wide and deep engagement, and usually a complimentary, balanced, and well defined low end accompaniment.

Stranger Things: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Stranger Things 2 contains no supplemental content, as was the case with the season one release. Disc menus do offer brief episode synopses. DVD copies are included but no digital copy has been bundled in, which is not a surprise since the show was born and airs on a digital service.

Michael Reuben recently coined the phrase "Stupid Disc Authoring" and that applies to this release. A forced trailer (2:42) for Netflix's Lost in Space plays every time the first disc is inserted into the player. It's like The Terminator. There is no reasoning or bargaining with it, there is no pressing chapter skip or fast-forward, and the top- and pop-up menu buttons do nothing to sneak past it, either. It will not stop until it's done. Netflix did the same thing on the season one Blu-ray release with a forced trailer for Stranger Things 2, so while the studio hasn't learned to make trailers skippable like most others, there's at least no unforgivable forced spoiling of the next season this time around.

The packaging is very cool, at least on the surface. Rather than the cardboard slip for season one that housed the discs in a box disguised as a (very large) VHS tape, season two ships in a hard clamshell case that feels much better in the hand and more closely replicates a true video store rental box from back in the day. This review is not going to get into packaging specifics beyond to say that opening the case reveals a pocket on the left that houses five photos of cast and crew while on the right is a liftable VHS-looking flap (rewind it!) underneath of which are the six discs. They are clumsily housed on flaps and on foamy hubs, which don't hold the discs very securely. Good luck navigating to the DVDs; it requires a good bit of dexterity to hold open various flaps and keep discs from sliding off of the nearly nonfunctional hubs.

Stranger Things: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stranger Things 2 ends with a final shot that could be tricky for season three to navigate if only because there's more than one direction the show could take, including recycling main storylines from season two. But the Duffer Brothers have yet to disappoint audiences, and the smart money is on season three living up to the standards of narrative construction, agreeable character growth, thrills, chills, and heartache that have driven the first two. Netflix's three-disc Blu-ray set for Stranger Things 2 delivers flawed, but very watchable, video. It includes a high quality 5.1 channel lossless soundtrack but contains no supplemental content. Packaging is very good and more attractive than the season one retro VHS style, at least on the surface. Seasons one and two don't match in terms of construction but they do match in size, at least. Very highly recommended, but hopefully Netflix gets its act together for season three: BD video more in line with season one, matching exterior packaging, more manageable and secure interior disc management, extras, and no forced trailers. A show this good shouldn't have so much going on around the periphery, and Netflix definitely should have learned from season one. At least BD and UHD released on the same day and the UHD has HDR and lossless audio.