Yeah I stopped watching after the second episode. I feel that the music while great doesn't fit the mood at all, it sounds like it was made for something like tron. I wasn't feeling any of the characters, none of them felt believable. It's hard to put a finger on why exactly I feel that way. It's just subtle things in the dialogue and acting that just didn't gel for me. And like you said, the pandering to 80's nostalgia was laid very thick, and I love 80's stuff.
Got to disagree with this- the music worked wonderfully for the show and really helped me get into the atmosphere it was creating. I hold no nostalgia for the 80s as I was born after but I still think it worked well in creating that feel of the 80's that old shows/movies used to do without feeling too overbearing.
1)
2) it actually makes sense given that
Barb had to be left behind in the Upside Down, and she is basically (for everybody besides our group) a missing person.
[spoilers]Yeah... Not really sure how they could explain that one, more so with no body. "Sorry, but your daughter was dragged into an alternate shadow dimension where she was promptly killed and forced feeded slugs by a monster that was most likely using her to create more of itself."
At that point it's probably just better to let them believe their daughter ran away.[/spoiler]