A Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Of The Stranger Things Superbowl Trailer
What does the thirty-second teaser tell us about season two?
There’s a trailer for the second season of Stranger Things. Released during the superbowl last night, it’s only thirty seconds long, but it contains several clues about what’s in store—and, at long last, a release date.
I’ve written about how much I loved Stranger Things, and I left season one with a host of theories, one of which I’m now sure about. I’ve been scanning the new trailer for clues: here’s a breakdown of what I think it tells us about season two. (If you haven’t seen season one, look away now.)
The teaser starts with an eighties commercial for Eggos, which dissolves into static as the real trailer begins. Eggos have a specific role in Stranger Things, and were last seen being left in the woods by Jim Hopper. Fake adverts in promos are a common device—Prometheus, Resident Evil and Humans have all used them—but is there a hint here about the storyline?
As the commercial fades, we hear someone (Mike?) call Eleven’s name, and the next shot shows her in the darkness, eyes wide and nose bleeding: this is Eleven after she’s used her powers. The camera angle makes it look as if she’s lying down—if so, the trail of blood toward her mouth suggests she’s just fallen, either collapsing like when we last saw her or for other reasons. (Does she look scared because she’s being attacked?) Or—is this a trick shot? Is Eleven actually standing up, and being shown upside down?
In season one, Eleven has a memorable scene with a television set, and she and Will are both able to control electrical devices. Has the trailer been cut this way as a stylistic joke, as if Eleven is the one beaming the Eggo ad onto our screens—or is it actually part of the show? Does Eleven let Mike and the others know she’s alive by causing their TVs to keep playing that clip?
It’s 1984, and three of the other kids are wearing Ghostbusters costumes. It’s hard to tell who we’re looking at here—that’s definitely Dustin on the left, but the others could be any combination of Lucas, Mike and Will. They also seem to be cycling out of town. More thoughts on this below.
Hopper is looking around a dark room. Judging by the lampshade, it’s someone’s house; judging by the lights still being off, it’s not his house. It’s possible, of course, that the power’s gone out, as it tends tends to when supernatural things happen in this series—because in the next shot, an unseen force hurls everything from one side of the screen to the other. From the looks of things, Hopper is being attacked.
Mike and his friends are back at school, again in Ghostbusters outfits. The trailer is cut so as to suggest this happens after their bike ride, but I’m not sure. In that shot, they seemed to be riding away from the school, and here—look closely—there are four of them. The trailer carefully cuts before we can see who’s standing behind Dustin, but I’m guessing it’s Will.
Other kids are heading inside—presumably this is in the morning—but none of them are wearing fancy dress, so whatever Dustin, Mike and Lucas have dressed up for, it’s not a school-wide thing. Stranger Things season two is set to be released on Halloween, and there’s at least one indication the story takes place around that date. Are these the friends’ Halloween costumes, and if so, why are they wearing them at this time of day?
Intercut with these scenes, captions tell us THE WORLD IS TURNING UPSIDE DOWN. That could just be a marketing tagline, but it’s more likely to refer to the world in which the series is set. Season one featured voyages into the upside down. Will season two show that dimension bleeding into ours?
At nighttime, Hopper drives a spear-like object downward from above his head. From the metal base of the handle, it looks to be a shovel. It’s possible he’s stabbing something or someone, but he doesn’t look like he’s been in a struggle. More likely, he’s burying something or digging it up.
A figure in a hazmat suit stands with an Aliens-style flamethrower in a yellow-lit room filling with gas. It looks like one of the same suits we saw in season one, and the flamethrower is presumably for self-defence, but whatever it’s meant to be used on doesn’t seem to be in the room. Are we back in the Hawkins lab with the portal into the upside down, with this person about to go through it? What’s the gas for, if so?
This looks like our first real peak at Will in season two; I’m guessing that’s Joyce by his side, and while it could be Brenner examining him, I don’t think that’s Matthew Modine. His hospital gown is reminiscent of Eleven’s in her flashbacks, but that may not mean anything literal—they’re both just generic hospital gowns. Additionally, Will isn’t restrained or in apparent distress, and unlike the lab, the room they’re in has windows. This seems like a fairly ordinary—certainly well intentioned—examination.
What’s most interesting here is the date of the recording: we’re looking at the three of them the day before Halloween.
This is where it gets sinister. The people watching them don’t appear to be doctors, and while some of the other screens show what could be different areas of the same building, there are no other patients there, and one camera is trained on a what looks like a tunnel in the ground. Either the facility Will is in doesn’t contain anyone else, or the snoopers are only interested in him. Is this the government agency from the first season? From the device around his head, it certainly seems like strange goings-on with Will—à la the the bathroom scene—are being investigated.
Update:
This looks like Will as well, but the shot lasts less than a second and most of the face is covered up. It’s possible it’s Mike, or Sadie Sink’s new ‘tomboy’ Max—but based on the rest of the teaser and the care it takes not to show Will, I’m pretty sure he’s the distressed kid here.
And this is definitely Will’s drawing. In the first season, he and Eleven both draw, but it’s a plot point that his work is distinctive: while she draws stick figures, his drawings are artistic and unusually detailed—like this one. (The doodles on the graph paper also suggest this is a child enrolled in school who draws habitually.) The Lovecraftian creature shown here is one we haven’t seen before, but one we’ll shortly see again.
The wider shot all but confirms this is Will Byers’ desk. Pencil crayons and an eraser are scattered about the place—again, they’re used regularly—and the other objects each offer clues. The blue box belongs to a Star harmonica; behind it we see a baseball and matching glove, and behind that the base of a Hawkins Middle School Junior Physicist Award: these are the possessions of a young teenage boy who’s geeky and enjoys music.
The biggest giveaway is the other drawing: either the trees near the Byers house or those Will recalls from the upside down. He’s been recording his supernatural experiences in crayon—but is the main picture a memory, a nightmare or a premonition?
We’ve had nods to Ghostbusters and Aliens already; the next shot is an unmistakeable Close Encounters shoutout, with a kid in a beige t-shirt (with a single mother) summoned out of their home by a deep orange light. This is indisputably Will—even without the drawings and the pudding bowl haircut, it’s the same door the monster unbolted from the outside in season one, appearing in silhouette through the frosted glass.
The front door swings open in front of Will, either under its own weight or because it’s being controlled from outside. Or is he moving it himself? In any case, there’s symbolism to this door being magicked open again: Will is about to walk out of the same door he bolted behind him in the first minutes of Stranger Things. The upside down isn’t done with him yet.
What we see next—presumably from his point of view when he goes outside—is the creature from his drawings, looming above the trees. (Note the flecks of ash hanging in the air: it’s the same substance that lands on everything in the upside down.) The sky flashes with red-orange electricity, just as his drawing shows, and even the telegraph poles in the foreground are there. But does Will draw this before or after he sees it?
In line with the caption—THE WORLD IS TURNING UPSIDE DOWN—the creature in the sky doesn’t seem to have entered Will’s world the way the demogorgon did, so much as just appeared in it; the same way Will appeared in the upside down while standing at his bathroom sink. Maybe the boundaries between the two worlds are decaying, and Will shifts in between the two without a physical doorway. What does this monster have to do with the slug he coughed up?
Clearly this is season two’s release date, but with the story taking place the week of Halloween, could it double as a subtitle? The way the shots are cut together make it sound like a sequel: Stranger Things 2—Halloween. (It’s also worth noting that captions in this show’s trailers don’t normally appear in the neon red typeface of the series name.)
The trailer opens with Eleven upside down; it ends with Netflix’s own logo inverted. Stylistically, it’s as if the upside down is spreading, seeping past its own boundaries and affecting things in other worlds—again, as if the boundaries are fading. The fake advert at the beginning also ties in with that theme, as if Eleven’s powers are reaching into the real world.
Theories
What are the takeaways from this trailer?
1. Eleven is back (but not out of the woods)
We knew her character would be returning months ago, as soon as season two’s cast was announced. What’s surprising about this first look is that she barely appears in it. The single shot of Eleven we get shows she’s still under threat, and that her powers are still at work. If October 30 or 31 is when the story starts, it might take a few episodes for her friends to find her.
2. Will plays more of a role
While Eleven is on the sidelines here, Will Byers is front and centre, with more screentime than anybody else. I’ve written before about how their arcs mirror one another, and it looks like season two will be his story the same way season one was hers. Will may have left the upside down, but it hasn’t left him, and I’m willing to bet he has paranormal gifts of his own.
3. Worlds collide, and there’s a greater threat
There’s no sign of the demogorgon here, and it seems a far grander monster has taken its place, with the dividing line between Will’s world and the upside down beginning to blur. Last season’s story was about a missing friend, but the threat here seems less personal and more apocalyptic. The emphasis on Halloween also suggests a darker tone.
4. Glimpses and hints
For all of the above, the teaser drops a lot of hints and leaves it there. Hopper is in trouble; the government conspiracy is still in play; Steve, Nancy and Jonathan don’t appear, nor do any of the new characters. Promos nearer the release date will no doubt show us more, but if this one was designed to outline the second run, all signs are good.
