‘Stranger Things’: 5 Fascinating Clues About the Final Season We Found in Season 2
We are just two weeks away from the premiere of Netflix‘s Stranger Things 5, meaning it’s the perfect time to rewatch Stranger Things Season 2.
Last week, we tackled Stranger Things Season 1 in honor of November 6, aka Stranger Things Day, aka the day Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) originally vanished. What stood out to us all these years later about the first season of the Netflix hit were all the bits of foreshadowing the Duffer Brothers layered into the Stranger Things from the very beginning. The Dungeons & Dragons game the boys are playing seems to tease Will the Wise’s own perilous journey to come. X-Men 134, the comic book that Will wants to nab from Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), could be analogous to Eleven’s (Millie Bobby Brown) imminent arrival to the club or Will’s future betrayal in Season 2 and beyond…
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Similarly, as we dug into Stranger Things 2, a bunch of details and moments we previously overlooked seemed to hint at major events still to come. Some of these, like the Russian spy storyline or the importance of the rainbow room, have already come to pass, while others seem to be teased in Netflix’s trailers, teasers, and promos for the final season of Stranger Things.
While we could never forget the noble sacrifice of Bob Newby (Sean Astin), the gang’s “embarrassing” Ghostbusters costumes, or the adorable young romance of the Snow Ball, here are five things we did sort of, kind of, forget about, but which all seem potentially important for Stranger Things Season 5…
Mike Wheeler’s (D&D) Party Rules
The influence of Dungeons & Dragons on Stranger Things goes deep, as the show not only features fans of the RPG as its heroes, but cribs monster names and concepts from its storied lore. However, it wasn’t until Mike (Finn Wolfhard) broke down the “party” for Max (Sadie Sink) in Season 2 that I realized how much even the characters themselves have been shaped by its concepts.
Mike is not only the group’s preferred DM (or Dungeon Master), plotting the campaigns and employing strategy, but he is the Paladin, a devoted, front-line fighter. “Will the Wise” is the party’s Cleric, which the official D&D site describes as a “miraculous priest of divine power” with the ability to reach out and channel power from the “Outer Planes.” You know, like how Will can literally communicate with the Upside Down?
Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) is the Ranger, a highly-trained and focused fighter, often on reconnaissance. Think of his slingshot and binoculars. Dustin is the Bard, the heart and soul and inspiration of the group. El is the Mage, a super-powered magic-user.
Mike explains to Max that there’s simply no room for her, so she makes up a class called a “Zoomer.” Mike initially scoffs at this, but later in the season, Max is the one who is able to drive their group into battle, thus proving her worth.
Expect these roles to be spot on for what our heroes will be doing in the line of battle in Season 5. Also note that in the Stranger Things 5 trailer, Eleven cautions Mike that this isn’t like one of his campaigns. (Except, it kind of is?)
Could We Find “The Lost Sister” Again?
Back when Stranger Things Season 2 hit Netflix, a lot of viewers complained that Episode 7 “The Lost Sister” was a waste of time. It brought the overarching arc of the season to a screeching halt and featured Eleven hanging out in Chicago for less than 24 hours with Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), or Eight, her “sister” from the Hawkins Research Lab.
However, it is Kali who teaches Eleven how to better harness her powers. It is Kali who tells El that Brenner (Matthew Modine) lives. Most of all, it is Kali, or Eight, whom Victor Creel/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) name-drops in Season 4 when he’s trying to help a young Eleven learn how to control her powers.
The show could have completely retconned her out of the saga during the Season 4 flashbacks, but making none other than Vecna aware of her feels important. Could Kali be the calvary in Season 5? Coming to help at a key moment of need? (Linnea Berthelsen was spotted on the Stranger Things Season 5 red carpet last week.)
Will Byers is, Like, Super Duper Powerful
Maybe this is just my personal perspective, but early seasons of Stranger Things tended to frame Will Byers as a victim more than a hero. In Season 1, he was kidnapped by an evil cosmic mirror universe. In Season 2, he not only expresses pain at how much he’s babied, but becomes invaded by the Mind Flayer. Like Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), I often want to protect him.
However, if my Stranger Things rewatch has made one thing clear, it’s that Will Byers is hella powerful. His trick with the lights in Season 1 is precisely how Terry Ives (Aimee Mullens) is able to initially reach Eleven in Season 2. He was able to repeatedly evade the Demogorgons in the Upside Down and resist the Mind-Flayer in Season 2. He possess massive psionic powers that maybe haven’t been honed because he was raised in a loving home and not a lab.
Netflix released the first five minutes of Stranger Things 5 last week and they confirm that Vecna purposely wanted Will, and Will alone, to help him with some master plan. Not Eleven, not Eight, but Will the Wise. This echoes the end of the Stranger Things Season 5 trailer, where Vecna needs Will to help him “one last time.” Is Will going to harness these latent powers at all in Season 5?
(Video) Game Theory
Stranger Things Season 2 opens not with a D&D game, but our band of heroes going to the local arcade. There, they play two specific games that both seem to foreshadow the future.
Dustin’s beloved Dig Dug literally inspires one of the episode titles and seems to refer to the ways in which Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) digs into the subterranean tunnels that lead to the Gate. So what about the other game the boys are playing? What does Dragon’s Lair have to do with Stranger Things?
Dragon’s Lair is a game where you play as Dirk the Daring to save the beautiful Princess Daphne from a dragon. Dustin is attempting to beat the game when he strikes out, prompting Lucas to brag that Princess Daphne is still his. The implication is this is Lucas’s best game.
Well, in Stranger Things Season 2, Dustin and Lucas develop crushes on Max, but it is Lucas who gets the girl. Max dies in the Season 4 finale, but it brought back to life by Eleven, only to linger in a comatose state. Max is like this because of the hold that Vecna had on her. In the Stranger Things Season 5 trailer, Lucas is seen carrying and protecting the still unconscious Max. This leads me to believe that Lucas will slay a monster and save Max in the final season.
All That Season 3 and 4 (and 5?) Foreshadowing in Plain Sight…
Stranger Things Season 2 introduces us to investigative journalist Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), who is hectoring Hopper about his conspiracy theories regarding the disappearance of Barb (Shannon Purser). He believes it’s all connected to a Soviet spy conspiracy, imagining Eleven is a Russian asset and Barb was kidnapped by her handlers. Hop (and the audience) scoff at this because we know the truth.
However, in Stranger Things Season 3, the Russians are operating their own counter investigation into the Upside Down right under the mall. Then, in Season 4, Hopper is a Soviet prisoner, meaning he was kidnapped by the Russians.
What else is Murray right about that we’ve laughed off? Could aliens actually factor into the final season? Or is that a reach?
Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 debuts on Netflix on Wednesday, November 26 at 8 PM ET.
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