Great show where everything is done right: casting, music, writing and visuals. The most eye-catching performance in the first season is a superb Winona Ryder, the second season doesn't have any particular star but introduces some interesting newcomers. The show is chock full of flashbacks to the 80s and not just because it takes place in 1984 but often winks to sci fi classics from the 80s via movie posters, toys (of course, everybody has the Star Wars Kenner toys) dialog references, little TV fragments (The Thing) and what not.

The small town setting, which much attention to the personal woes of it's locals, is reminiscent of Stephen King but the focus on it's nerd kids screams Stephen Spielberg louder than E.T. could phone home. It's horror concept of the Upside Down parallel world and it's monsters is very H.P. Lovecraftian. And it's depiction of high school problems is very John Hughes.

This is where the criticism comes in: it's very derivative and constantly points out things from the 80s that you loved, or loved to hate, to get that sense of familiarity. For instance, the second season shows the Dragons Lair Arcade game infamous for it's excruciating difficulty and Terminator running in the theaters. You constantly get that tap on the shoulder: "hey, you liked that though back in the day, didn't you?" But if the answer is: hell yes you bet I did"", then there's no problem really.

While it would have never been made without the inspiration of many 80s sci fi and horror classics, Stranger Things has enough strength on it's own and has proved with it's second season there's more, much more where this came from. While the first season was too reminiscent of E.T., this second season went into new and interesting directions. Can't wait till the 3rd comes!