Spoiler Warning. Reading ahead may result in spoilers.

The newest installment of the Netflix hit Stranger Things came out on Friday, October 27 of this year. Many fans of the show feared that it wouldn’t meet the hype but it did. In fact, it far exceeded the hype that had built up around it. All the things that made the first season of Stranger Things so great were blended in nicely with all the new things they added to Season 2.

At the end of of the first season we are left with Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour, leaving some Eggos in a box in the woods. The second season picks up seamlessly by showing the cabin in which he has been hiding Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, for some time. This transition was a subtle indication at time’s passage in the show’s timeline.

This season deals mostly with how people cope with life changing events such as the world turning topsy-turvy from a realm called the Upside Down, a seemingly fragile girl capable of amazing feats with her mind, and nightmarish creatures whose faces open up to reveal gaping maws that will eat you whole. Stranger Things 2 introduces some new characters: Max, played by Sadie Sink, Billy, played by Dacre Montgomery, and last but not least, Bob Newby as played by the lead Goonie himself, Sean Astin. Numerous others joined the cast playing smaller roles on screen.

So what do you do when your world has just be turned upside down? You go on. A prominent theme of this season was how everyone was carrying on with their lives, with last season’s events haunting them in the back of their minds.Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, has it the worst. After having spent a good amount of time in the Upside Down, in the first season, he begins to experience strange supernatural phenomena and no one seems to know what it is or the cure for it. Mike, played by Finn Wolfhard, is having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Eleven is gone and can’t contact him do to Hopper getting in the way, and Dustin and Lucas, played by Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, are stuck in a love triangle with the new girl Max. Hopper is trying to help cover up what the lab is doing in the town of Hawkins.

This season was fantastic. It contained everything that was praised in the first season and more. It was more emotional and character driven than last season. Stranger Things 2 did contain the freaky monsters that we love and lots of the 80’s, which is always a good thing. The season set up and answered the questions people may have had and it fill in the gaps left by season one. At the same time, it set up plot holes anticipated to be filled in a third season. Perhaps the hottest topic of debate from last year that was answered this season was how Steve, played by Joe Keery, has such great hair.

This season did many things right but nothing compared to how they fleshed out the character development. They took the bases of great characters and added more history and backstory. They made the characters feel more human. Who wants to go into a dank tunnel in the ground? No one, that’s who and they made sure that not every character was 100% on board with crazy ideas such as that. The Hopper-Eleven relationship was very much like a father-daughter relationship. He tried to do what he thought was best to keep her safe but just made things worse off than they started. The human aspect of the season made it appealing to everyone .The crazy monsters from the Upside Down helped out but this season was driven by the people, little things like reactions to bad news or a love triangle, or the relationship between a boy and a creature and how they bonded over nuget that we’re all throughout the season and that is what made it fantastic.