So, that Super Bowl trailer for Stranger Things, right?
I know, I'm freaking out too. What could it all mean? Well, lucky for you, I've gone through the video pretty much frame by frame, and here's what I've found:
- The first bit is presumably the #iconic Eggo commercial, with a sister and brother.
- Is this a parallel to Nancy and Mike? Or are we intended to see a connection between Eleven the Eggo-lover and another character?
- (I have my suspicions about some sort of mental connection between Eleven and Will, to be honest…)
- WHAT is with the spinny ARCADE sign? I don’t remember that at all from season 1.
- I definitely checked to see if there was anything written in the syrup. I am so far gone.
- ELEVEN IS GOING TO GET A JON SNOW-STYLE REVIVAL SCENE AND I AM HERE FOR IT.
- Seriously, the lighting and the angle look so similar (except, ha, it’s UPSIDE DOWN).
- And her nose is bleeding, so there's been some telepathy stuff going on.
- The spots of light (I counted six)--is this an intercut from the bit in the first season in which they were searching for Will at night with flashlights? Or has somebody else gone missing?
- Only three of the squad riding bikes? Who’s not among them? Will, again? Or somebody else?
- What just exploded near Hopper?
- “THE WORLD IS TURNING” as the text turns, haha show I see what you did there.
- Dustin, my adorable baby Ghostbuster son, what do you see???
- Hopper is digging, or at least ramming something into the ground. It doesn't look like he's in the same place where he dropped the Eggos off at the end of season 1, though.
- Could he be digging up his daughter's grave?
- I literally have no foundation for that conjecture, but the possibility popped to mind.
- “UPSIDE DOWN” -- yeah, ya don’t say.
- Now what is this beautifully set up shot at 0:15? It almost looks like we’re back in the lab, and those suits definitely remind me of the biohazard suits from S1, but who’s wearing them? I think it’s two people, and there’s a significant height difference--Joyce and Hopper again, or others?
- And what’s that two-pronged blow torch thing? Some kind of taser or other weapon?
- It took me a zillion years to pause exactly on that MINISCULE closeup of the security monitor. I thought at first the kid in the chair was gonna be Eleven but NOPE, no way that’s her. Even if she has grown her hair out, the eyes look too big. Given the floofier hair, my money’s on Mike--though why would Mike be in that situation?
- It could be a new character, maybe. We don't know anything about Max, for example.
- And you know what, if Millie Bobby Brown’s appearance on the EW cover indicates her season 2 look, that definitely isn't her in the chair.
- Whoever it is, they’re on some sort of examination chair on October 30, 1984, at 3:02 PM.
- I can’t tell much from the other security camera screens, unfortunately. They all feature really bland, basic interior locations.
- The kid covering their face with their hands… that looks like Mike’s hair, but I’m honestly doubting everything at this point.
- Also, does Mike have a shirt like that in season 1? With the red stripes? It's been a while since I rewatched the season--somebody help me out here.
- And why are they clutching their head? Angst or telepathic shenanigans?
- The next shot is of the REALLY DARK drawing, and I’d bet money it’s on Will’s desk because he's such an artist.
- What’s with the other drawings? Is the tree drawing specifically of the forest where Will went missing?
- That other one, too--looks like graph paper with some sort of Celtic knot drawn along the edges?
- Sheesh, I never thought I’d regret not knowing my Celtic knots.
- I could be wrong, but this house doesn’t look like any house we’ve seen so far.
- I wouldn’t blame Joyce for wanting to move after what happened last season, though.
- The kid in this shot… his hair isn’t quite as floofy, so I think it’s Will.
- BUT WHO OR WHAT IS OPENING THAT DOOR
- WILL IS TOO FAR AWAY TO BE OPENING IT
- I’M SCARED
- WHOOOOOOOO THE BIG DADDY OMNIDROID THING IS HERE TO RUMBLE JUST LIKE IN WILL’S DRAWING
This trailer was only about 25 seconds long, but there was a lot to it, and everybody’s most pressing question appears to have been answered: Eleven is alive! But there are still so many unanswered questions…
- Is Eleven on Earth or trapped in the Upside Down (which seems possible given the lighting in that shot of her)?
- What exploded in Hopper's office?
- Is Mike okay?
- Is Will okay, for that matter?
- Did Will have some sort of vision of the big daddy omnidroid thing before he drew it? Was the shot at the end of the trailer real or a vision on Will's part?
- Just from the way they edited it, I'm inclined to think the end of the trailer is real but Will saw it before it happened and drew it. Which feeds into my hypothesis about him having latent psychic tendencies...
- Is the big daddy omnidroid thing a different creature from the Demogorgon, or is it related in some way?
- What's the deal with the new characters? If one of them is on that chair, as seen on the security footage, is it because they're telepathic like Eleven or for some other reason?
- What happened to Hawkins National Lab? And if they aren't the ones watching those security cameras, who is?
- Where are Nancy and Steve and Jonathan? (And when will they, in Mallory Ortberg’s words, throuple up?)
- Where is Joyce, for that matter? How is she doing? Does she get enough sleep? (I worry about Joyce a lot.)
- Can we just fast-forward to Halloween now?
