What we think all the “Stranger Things” Season 2 episode titles mean

Now that the Netflix gods have shined down upon us Stranger Things fans with a (not even one minute long!) teaser/announcement for Season 2, we can’t help but let our theorizing minds wander…all the way to the Upside Down.

The video presents us with ALL the episode names for Stranger Things Season 2, which is pretty impressive considering the show won’t be out until 2017 (the exact date is TBD). We also know now that Season 2 will take place in 1984, a year later (or maybe a few months later depending on how far into 1984 they go) than the events in Season 1, which were set in November (and eventually Christmas/December) of 1983.

So what about THOSE DAMN TITLES?

Of course, they’re fairly cryptic, or at least they seem to be, but that isn’t stopping us from GUESSING what they mean. Here are some thoughts.

1. “Madmax”

Obviously, the first place your mind will probably go will be to the iconic film franchise Mad Max, starring Mel Gibson (or Tom Hardy, depending on, you know, how old you are). Made in 1979, the original Mad Max film is a pretty classic revenge tale set in a near-future dystopia with a lot of sand. Interestingly, the title hero, Max (Gibson), is an officer with the Main Force Patrol (so, basically a cop)…and who ELSE do we know is a cop? Well, Chief Hopper of course. So, perhaps the first episode will revolve around Hopper.

2. “The Boy Who Came back to Life”

This title is a lot less straight-forward than the first. Although, we MIGHT guess that this episode will be about Will Byers, since he was quite literally ~the boy who came back to life~ in the season finale of Season 1, thanks to Hopper’s CPR skills. “The Boy Who…” is a fairly common literary trope – things like, “The Boy Who Lived” (hello, Harry Potter fans!) come to mind in particular – so we’re down with this, whatever it means, because it just SOUNDS nostalgic.

3. “The Pumpkin Patch”

Maybe this means Season 2 will take place in OCTOBER of 1984? Though it could still be set in November, too, thus making the show take place one year later (which makes more sense, TBH). This title alone though makes us think of movies like Halloween or even the 1988 cult horror classic Pumpkin Head. And what about the pastoral horror film, Children of the Corn (another 1984 movie!), based on the Stephen King short story? Obviously, King was a major influence on the show in Season 1, so…

4. “The Palace”

Ooh, now this one is even MORE vague. Could the palace refer to an actual castle? Or is it a reference to an already established building in Hawkins, Indiana like the Laboratory? For some reason we can’t help think of palaces in fantasy films like The Neverending Story either – which, BTW, also came out in 1984. But what if it’s more like a MOVIE PALACE – because goodness knows the Duffer brothers are super movie nerds (in the best way possible).

5. “The Storm”

According to an Entertainment Weekly interview, the Duffer brothers said that James Cameron is a major influence for Season 2 of Stranger Things. And what film TOTALLY MADE Cameron’s career way back in 1984? The Terminator, of course. If you recall, in this iconic sci-fi action film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a killer Terminator machine (the T-800) who is on a time-travelling mission to ~terminate~ Sarah Connor. And what was one of the LAST lines in the movie? “There is a storm coming.” (To which Sarah replies, “I know.”) So maybe this episode will see Joyce (our Stranger Things equivalent of Sarah Conner perhaps?) going into ~the storm~ to save the day (again).

6. “The Pollywog”

By definition, a pollywog (yes, I googled it) is a tadpole. So is this a reference to that weird thing Will spat up in the Season 1 finale? I mean, it KINDA looked like a tadpole-ish-thing?! Other than that, this title eludes us.

7. “The Secret Cabin”

Cabin = horror, right? We immediately think of classic ’80s horror films like Friday the 13th, set at a sleepaway camp with lots of CABINS. But could this also be a nod to “Fort Byers”? Will’s (kind of) secret cabin in the woods?

8. “The Brain”

This title shouts “sci-fi!!!” to us probably more than all the others. It sounds like some awesome, pulpy, cult ’80s film like Re-Animator and we DIG IT. Of course, we know there were a ton of mind experiments done at Hawkins Laboratory on subjects like Eleven (and her mother) too, so can we assume this is some kind of illusion to those tests?

9. “The Lost Brother”

First of all, let’s just point out the fact that this is the NINTH episode for Season 2, which means there is ONE MORE episode next season than there were this year (there were 8 episodes in Season 1). But who is the lost brother? Is it a reference to Will (even though he was found)? Is it going to be about Mike, since he’s Nancy’s brother? Or maybe even Jonathan this time around?! There are a lot of brothers to choose from on Stranger Things so it’s really a total crapshoot.

Eating all the chocolate pudding until we get our answers in 2017!!!

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