An In-Depth Look At The Plot Of ‘Stranger Things’ Season Two Based Purely On The Episode Titles

Stranger Things is one of the biggest pop-culture phenomena of 2016. It’s been ranked as one of the best shows of the year, and its incredible cast have gone on to become cult heroes. We’ve finally got confirmation that its coming back for a second season so it’s time to wildly speculate on what sort of drama will hit Hawkins, Indiana (and probably its upside-down equivalent) this time around.

The problem is we don’t have a lot of information to go off. To try and plug the gaps left in season one Stranger Things fans have been very creative when it comes plot theories, or even just making up random, absurd facts. Our favourite is the alleged link between Steve and Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation.

But with the release of the season two teaser trailer we do have one big clue: episode titles. Yeah, it sounds sort of dumb and completely baseless because it kind of is. But bear with us! We now know the titles of all nine upcoming episodes and they could hold the secret to what’s in store for the show’s second season. After all, the episode titles for season one ended up being pretty literal.

The first episode of season one was called ‘The Vanishing of Will Byers’. In the episode Will Byers… vanished. Episode six is called ‘The Monster’ and it tells the story about how the monster made its way through the upside-down into our world. Episode seven, ‘The Bathtub’, features a bathtub. Etc. You get it, the episode titles all end up relating to key plot points.

So based on our existing knowledge of Stranger Things and the new episode titles what we can hypothesise about season two? Let’s find out.

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Madmax

This one’s easy. Obviously we jump ahead in time to some point in the post-apocalyptic future where oil is scarce and everyone is Australian.  Eleven is now a soldier serving under a brutal dictator but decides to betray him in order to save his concubines from a lifetime of enslavement.

More seriously, the episode title is almost certainly a reference to a new character. The show’s creators have already confirmed that at least four new characters will be introduced and one of those is a teenage girl called Max. According to TVLine, Max’s “appearance, behaviour and pursuits seem more typical of boys than of girls in this era.” She also “eschews Hawkins’ primary mode of transportation — the bicycle — for a skateboard, which she uses to get around everywhere.”

So episode one is probably going to introduce us to Max. But why is she mad? Maybe because she sounds like the coolest character in the whole show and was neglected for the entirety of the first season? Time will tell.

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The Boy Who Came Back to Life

Sounds eerily like the title of the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, ‘The Boy Who Lived’. Maybe it turns out Will, Mike, and the rest of the gang are all wizards? It could explain Eleven’s telekinetic powers. Imagine Jim Hopper as an Auror… this is quickly turning into an amazing bit of fan-fiction.

This episode probably focuses on how Will is dealing with coming back from the upside-down and having some weird tentacle thing shoved in his month. What impact did spending that much time there have on him? Why’s he spewing up weird slug things? Hopefully we’ll get some answers.

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The Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkins are a pretty terrifying fruit. Yeah, that’s right they’re a fruit. Just because you have to cook something doesn’t make it a vegetable. Pumpkins have seeds. They are the fruit of the squash plant. They are definitely a fruit and they are very scary.

You know what else is scary? Stranger Things. It’s horrifying. I have no idea where I’m taking this other than pointing out that both pumpkins and Stranger Things are both incredibly scary, and one of them is also a fruit. But you know what’s even scarier? Pumpkins… in Stranger Things. Which it sounds like we’re in store for in episode three.

This is definitely going to be an episode you want to watch during the middle of the day with lots of lights on.

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The Palace

There’s a couple of potential angles on this one. We know the kids in Stranger Things love playing the fantasy themed role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. The monster in the show is called the Demogorgon, after a demon-prince from the game. I’ve never played it, but it sounds like the kind of thing that has palaces.

If the Demogorgn is a demon-prince maybe he has a palace? Maybe he hangs out in some sort of upside-down version of the Disney logo? The other possibility is the episode title referring to an actual building in Hawkins. Given how big and imposing palaces are there’s only one that fits the bill.. the Hawkins National Labratory, where Eleven was experimented on.

If the lab is a palace does that make Eleven a princess? And if the Demogorgon monster is a demon-prince… oh my god. It all fits!

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The Storm

This episode is tricky. We can probably (but not definitely) rule out an X-Men tie-in. Though it would be great to get Halle Berry into Stranger Things.

Here’s the thing about storms: they’re full of electricity. Each lightning bolt contains hundreds of megawatts of electrical power. That’s a lot of energy. Guess which government department runs Hawkins National Laboratory? The Department of Energy.

Here’s our guess: There’s a big storm. The energy is somehow harnessed by the folk who run Hawkins National Laboratory to open up a massive portal to the upside-down and all hell breaks loose. It’s gonna be dope AF.

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The Pollywog

Pollywog is another word for tadpole. Seems kind of obvious doesn’t it? Those slug things that Will was spewing up at the end of season one are obviously the tadpoles that grow in fully formed Demogorgon. That’s it, game over, log off Junkee, you’ve solved it.

WRONG.

Pollywog is also a term used to refer to sailors who haven’t yet crossed the equator. Given Hawkins is a landlocked town we probably aren’t talking about a literal sailor here. But what could serve as the proverbial equator in Stranger Things? It’s obvious isn’t it? The portal to the upside-down! Those who haven’t yet crossed over are a lot like the rookie sailors of yore, venturing into the unknown. No doubt in this episode we’ll see someone step into the upside-down for the first time.

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The Secret Cabin

Throughout most of the first season Will stays hidden in the upside-down version of his wooden cabin. That’s it. That’s all we’ve got. Who knows what the episode is about. The producers of the show need to stop being jerks and just tell us what the hell is going on already.

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The Brain

There’s a lot of really smart people in Stranger Things even though they sometimes do quite dumb things. The boys are giant nerds. Nancy’s a giant nerd. Even Johnathan gives off pretty nerdy vibes. It’s basically a show about nerds. So who is ‘The Brain’? It could any of the above, or it could be… Eleven. After all she’s got the power to move things with her mind.

Maybe in this episode we find a little bit more about what makes her tick? Where did her powers come from? Where they always there or are they the result of government experimentation?

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The Lost Brother

Poor Joyce. She went through a lot in season one. Could she have to face it all again in the second season? Is it Johnathan’s turn to go missing? While that seems like an obvious reference, it’s probably unlikely. After all, this is the season finale.

The last season finale was called ‘The Upside-Down’. It was something we’d been building up to all season. It’s likely The Lost Brother’ is going to be something similar. Who could have a long lost brother? Again, the answer is probably Eleven. We don’t know much about her backstory but that seems like an obvious thing to flesh out in the second season.

If it turns out Eleven has a missing brother, who has similar abilities, the season finale seems like the perfect place to introduce him to us and keep us on the hook for a potential season three. Or maybe we already know who him? What if it’s Mike? Or Lucas? Or Dustin?!

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Well, there you have it. 1,500 words of completely unfounded speculation on the potential plot points of season two of Stranger Things based entirely on episode titles. Season two will air sometime in 2017 and until then, this article is really all you have to tide you over.

The adventure continues. @Stranger_Things 2 is coming 2017. pic.twitter.com/wD6BamGfuR

— Netflix US (@netflix) August 31, 2016