Darkness Falls Across the Land...

Monika L Haskell
Jul 26, 2017
7 min read

First, watch the trailer, then read my breakdown of all the events that occurred.

The trailer begins with the kids riding their bikes to the local arcade- nothing can be more 1980’s than this. The kids are playing the 1983 arcade game Dragon’s Lair. This is probably more than just another fun 1980’s homage/reference and is more likely there to serve as a metaphor for the adventure the boys are about to embark upon- much in the same way that their Dungeons and Dragons game was an encapsulation of the first season. Remember, in the D&D game in Chapter One, Will uses fireball against the Demogorgon, which foreshadows Nancy, Jonathan and Steve setting the Monster on fire in Chapter Eight.

Okay, so after some research, the popular theory is that the storyline of Season 2 may closely follow the premise of the Dragon’s Lair. The game goes like this: a knight named Dirk the Daring is attempting to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe, who has locked the princess in the foul wizard Mordroc’s castle.

Could the Princess Daphne be Eleven stuck in the Upside Down?

Is Will Byers Dirk the Daring attempting to rescue Elle?!

Now I am getting goose bumps!

Okay, back on track. The kids die in the game with the evil dragon burning the heroic knight alive. The next shot shows Will looking at something outside the arcade.

Outside it appears to be snowing… or is it the debris that floats around in the Upside Down?

Think back to the last time we saw Will Byers at the end of Season 1, he coughed up a weird black, slug-like thing that probably came from the Upside Down. Then we see Will’s environment change from the normal bathroom to the alternate dimension version of the bathroom in the Upside Down. Will seemed to be having a flashback or vision of the Upside Down. Well, he is having another one in this trailer, as well.

There is a flicker of light outside, and now it is abundantly clear that we are in the other dimension.

Red lightening comes from the sky outside the Arcade.

As the lightning lights up the landscape, Will sees a huge six-legged creature that is slightly less horrifying than the Demogorgon from Season 1- yet we are only seeing a wide shot. Who knows what that thing would look like up close.

Will is knocked out of his inter-dimensional day dream when Mike comes outside to ask him if he is okay.

Will looks back up at the sky which previously had the huge creature and everything is back to normal. What is going on in the Upside Down? We know the kids killed the Demogorgon, so what is this new creature? Could it have something to do with the eggs we saw in the Upside Down in the first season?

We have been told by series creators The Duffer Brothers that this season will leave Hawkins a few times. We also know there is a new character played by Linnea Berthelsen named Roman, who is described as “an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab.”

Whose car is this? The next shot may give us a clue.

Mike is peering over at an empty seat, which seems likely to be Will’s old seat in the classroom- as the two kids sitting in front of Mike are their two other friends- Dustin and Lucas. Has Will moved away from Hawkins? Is it possible that his mother decided they needed a change of scenery? Or did something else happen that kept Will out of school? Mike seems concerned about the predicament.

Then there is a super quick shot of Steve walking away from Nancy, who doesn’t seem too pleased. What has happened here?

Next, Joyce Byers is worriedly looking over at her son, who is laying in a hospital/laboratory bed with nodes all over his head.

It is revealed that the lab is being monitored by video and we pull back to reveal that not only is that room being videotaped, but all the hallways and the whole facility… Who could be watching? And what do they want with Will Byers?

We cut to a room with men listening in as large magnetic tape machines record whatever is going on. The voiceover has Will telling his Mom that he “saw something” but he doesn’t know what.

This season will take place right before Halloween of 1984, and here we see a bunch of scorched pumpkins.

Hopper and Joyce have worried looks on their faces as they stand at Will’s Bedroom door.

What is Will looking at? Is he having another Upside Down episode?

The next shot, in my opinion, truly shows what an incredible actor Noach Schnapps (Will Byers) is. This scene is terrifyingly haunting, as Will cries telling his Mom that he “felt it everywhere.” I am getting goosebumps just writing about this scene. It is horrifying, scary and sad while simultaneously building the suspense to an entirely new level.

Joyce is covering her mouth with her hand as she is looking as worried and manic as ever. Maybe this is why Joyce brought her son to the lab to be checked out?

We cut to Mike, Lucas and Dustin looking at something outside of school.

Cue Thriller! “Darkness falls across the land,” says Vincent Prince.

We then see a close-up on some Halloween decorations: a bunch of plastic tombstones. The one in the middle has a skeleton hand rising from the grave. Vincent Prince continues, “The midnight hour is close at hand.”

Something is going wrong in the laboratory, but what?

We see a blood covered chair. Vincent Price continues, “creatures crawl in search of blood…”

“…to terrorize y’awl’s neighborhood.”

The kids are out trick or treating when we see a Reagan/Bush sign outside the Wheelers’ house- setting the 1984 story perfectly.

The Stranger Things dream team is dressed up as the Ghostbusters.

Hopper is investigating something on topographical maps, but what could it be?

It would appear that Hopper is close to making a breakthrough here. Vincent Price continues. “And whosoever shall be found…”

All the boys are back in the classroom, as someone in red walks by, they all pay close attention. This new character is Max, a girl who moved to Hawkins from California. One of the episodes in Season 2 is titled “MadMax,” a reference to this new character.

In his bedroom, Mike glances over at the secret hideout where Elle used to sleep. She has been gone for awhile and it is clear that Mike misses her.

Dustin moves towards a moving trashcan to investigate what could be inside. Vincent Price’s intro continues, “Must stand and face the hounds of hell.” It would seem that the famous Michael Jackson lyrics are being cherry-picked specifically so that they are well choreographed with the images.

The kids huddle around a contraption on the table that is jolting around on its own. The intercom seen in the foreground can give us a clue to where the kids are- the school.

The contraption opens and we are looking up at the faces of the kids- but wait, Max is also in the scene… Vincent Price continues, “And rot inside a corpse’s shell.”

Three of our Ghostbusters furiously bike away from the camera.. but why the rush? And where are they going?

Hopper has found a blue-colored slime somewhere in the woods. Is this residue of a monster from the Upside Down? Hopper notes in a voiceover, “whatever is happening, it's spreading from this place.”

Jonathon and Nancy are looking in somewhat shocked awe at something. Notice the computer equipment behind them.

Will seems to have been mapping out blue paths, but what do they mean? Are these the tracks of our new monster? This blue path seems to be trying to recapture the magic of the Christmas lights from Season 1.

Joyce and Hopper look at the creation and try to make sense of it.

Will, in an Upside Down daydream, stares outside his door.

Hoppers aims his gun; Steve is on his right.

Nancy also points a gun. We can see that they are in Will’s house as the drawings are overtaking the floors and walls in the background.

Hopper hurls a shovel into the ground, what is he digging up?

The bad kids are partying and now Michael Jackson’s Thriller is pounding loudly during the trailer.

Here we see Nancy really upset/freaking out- who’s to blame for her current state of over-stressing?

A flame thrower ignites; someone a hazmat suit tries to destroy something with the fire.

Joyce is shaking Will calling him to come back to her. Will seems to be stuck in another Upside Down episode, while all his friends are standing around him witnessing what is going on.

Will is surrounded by swirling blackness in his Upside Down episode.

Hopper enters a cave. Perhaps this is part of the hole he was digging? The camera tilts as he walks forward, and hopper is now almost upside down, possibly visually indicating this is a portal between the two dimensions?

Here we get a firs look at a new character named Bob Newby. We see him in what appears to be hospital or lab scrubs, running away from something with a flashlight in hand. There seem to be dead bodies in the background.

It is totally worth noting that Sean Astin's (Bob Newby) character in The Goonies was the basis for Mike’s character in Stranger Things, thus making this fantastic casting.

A baseball bat with nails sticking out of it is being used as a weapon.

The gang is going through a hole to what seems likes the Upside Down.

Dustin is screaming “Abort! Abort!”

We see someone running down a hallway, probably in the high school. A black monster with twisting arms of smoke is quickly following.

The trailer suddenly cuts to darkness and we hear Mike say “If you’re out there, PLEASE, just give me a sign.” We come back to a close up of Eleven as she wakes up. She has a bloody nose and is presented upside down, probably because she is still stuck in the Upside Down.

She appears in the Upside Down version of Hawkins school. Notice the periodic table of elements in the background. Also take note of her clothes- the same clothes she had been wearing throughout Season 1 with the boys.

Eleven makes her way down the hallway. The weird vines are all over.

Eleven has come to a spot in the wall where the vine-looking things surround a glowing portal. Has the monster from the Upside Down found a way to escape to the other side?