Stranger Things season 3 - Speculations.

The trailer of Stranger Things: season 3 just landed and I’ve spent the last thirty minutes before writing this article thinking about all kinds of possible scenarios that could play out. In short it is the same game I played before with Lost and It; what will happen - what might happen.

My three sources of information are the poster, the trailer and the episode titles (and some promotional mumbojumbo from the Duffer brothers). So I might as well tackle them separately.

I won't go into the hidden messages and clues from the Behind the scenes book that got published last year.

The poster

Let’s discuss the poster first: Everybody is looking at the fireworks except Will, Eleven (Jane) and Mike. Mike is looking at Eleven whilst she and Will are looking at the camera which, in turn, emits some kind of reddish tentacles. The camera is the POV of villain here.

The kids are all dressed in summer clothing, there are fireworks; it’s obviously the 4th of July celebrations (the Cancer starsign?).

What’s interesting is the fairground with the Ferris wheel in the background, this contraption appears in the trailer as well.

So, knowing this let’s talk about the trailer.

The trailer

First impression tells me the show is going to be a lot more funky 80s colours than it ever was before. Taking place in the summer we’ve got bright coloured T-shirts, high white socks and (as the short montage goes) some highly coloured sets taking place in the Starcourt mall.

What else can we safely deduce from the trailer? Let’s go by character:

Dustin

Dustin has been to summer (computer) camp (as his T-shirt suggest). He just returned and believes his friends forgot about him.

Speculation –It’s still a mystery where Dustin’s father is. One can assume some kind of custody thing or (perhaps) the father is military. If this is the case it isn't a long shot to see his father getting involved in all of the Stranger Things.

It took me a while before I remembered it; but the kids raising that antenna in the ‘field’ is
a lot like that statue 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'.

Something tells me that the showmakers wanted to use the
American 4th of July celebration as a motive throughout the season.

Nancy and Jonathan

Nancy and Jonathan show up for one single short shot and they are both dressed rather ‘adult’-like and look nervous.

Speculation – They can’t both be having a job interview. So, the first thing that popped into my mind was the end to ‘The Graduate’. Is Nancy pregnant?

But, to be honest, this shot could mean anything. I don’t put too much stock into the fact that this shot follows directly after the reveal of the new location: 'The post office'. Not with all those diploma’s hanging on the wall behind them.

Mike/Eleven and Max/Lucas

The younger couples are also still coupled up, by the way; Max and Lucas are seen leaving together leaving Dustin behind. And Mike and Eleven are sharing yet another kiss. Mike hardly appears for the rest of the trailer - is he going to be underplayed again?

Steve

Steve has a job working at the mall (as the teaser trailer highlighted).

Steve is probably getting more fun this season. From the king of the school he is now the kind caring doofus for his young friend Dustin.

Speculation - And I’m sure he’ll get the girl (Robin) he’s working with. I mean if you escape together by sliding down an escalator you wind up together.

Steve does get injected with some blue stuff at one point in the trailer (more speculation about that later).

Hopper and Joyce

Hopper talks, but to 'who' is 'Speculation'.

Speculation -  Even though Hopper and Joyce aren’t seen together one might assume that they end up together as well. That’s one of those will-they, won’t-they cases that has been going on long enough. And now that Bob has left the building...

The mayor

There is something wrong with the mayor, that’s for sure. Played by the (he plays a villain so very well) charming Cary Elwes he’s chewing scenery in his one shot. But then again, that shot is juxtaposed by protesting civilians holding signs against the mayor. So his character is doubious.

Billy

Then, there’s Max’s stepbrother Billy who just can’t keep his shirt on –but, then, he is a lifeguard after all. Now he’s in the shower discovering some upside-down-std.

Speculation - But, and here is the question, it could also be a red herring, maybe the arm is Steve’s since he got injected by some blue stuff.

The creepy guy

There’s some creepy guy with a gun looking very impressive. Something tells me he is one of those unstopable villains.

Speculation – I he chasing Eleven?

Hopper, by the way, is -at one point in the amusement park- holding the gun of the creepy guy (with silencer and everything).

Speculation – Assuming the creepy guy isn’t on Hopper and Eleven’s team he’s sent to kill somebody. But to prove somebody is evil he/she has to kill a lesser character to prove this. This doesn’t bode well for Owens’ or Bauman who happens to be at the fair as well.

Gasmask guy

A gasmask guy gets blown away by some Tesla coil machine and, pretty much, burns to a crisp so he’s probably a minor character just there to emphasize how dangerous this new danger is.

Lucas’s sister

Lucas’s sister is seen crawling through the airvents John McClane-like.

There is at least one scene which involves Steve, Lucas’s sister, Robin and Dustin being chased by something in the mall.

Will

Will, is, as always, mysterious. When you think about it you know less about him and his experiences in the upside-down than Eleven (Jane).

Throughout the trailer he’s often found on the side of the group. Only at one moment is he seen soaking wet from the rain and crying over the Ghostbusters photograph.

Something dramatic happened just before that because you see a reaction shot of Will in the rain later in the trailer.

Speculation - Did he just have a fight? With Mike?

Al we know is that it’s him and Eleven looking at the camera on the poster.

But, I also happen to know that the Duffer brothers (as they said) decided to give the boy a break this year. So no coughing up slugs for poor Will. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get a part to play.

I always considered Will and Eleven the two pillars of Stranger Things. Him being the well raised and behaved boy thrown into a bad world. Her; the badly raised, anti-social girl thrown into the good world.

So I wonder what will happen to Will.

Eleven

Which brings me to Eleven (Jane). She’s accepted by the group (and friends with Max), still has her nose-bleed-powers plus there is some funky stuff going on at a beach.

Eleven is always the character that gets to do the coolest shots like: destroying a ghost bathtub or wearing an American flag as a blind-fold in front of a freezer full of Eggo’s.

Speculation - I specifically wonder how her vocabulary has improved. Can she speak full sentences now?

The titles

Knowing all this, let me try to explain the titles this season brings.

1) Suzie, Do You Copy?
The only Susan I know of on the show is Max’s mother. The Do you copy-part can refer to Dustin or Sherriff Hopper talking on the walkie-talkie.

2) The Mall Rats
Obviously there’s a new mall in town and the kids get to hang around there. Also there could be a 'rat'/monster lurking.

3) The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard
Who’s the lifeguard this season? Billy. The trailer pretty much confirmed that he’s not going to be happy about his new tattoo (But it could still be Steve).

4) The Sauna Test
I assume Scott Clarke (Mr. Clarke) will have something to do with this. Also, I assume, that since, in season 2, the mind-flayer didn’t like heat very much this episode will feature a literal sauna and
somebody undergoing a test there; drive the demon out as it were (Billy?).

5) The Source
Episode five, about time the pieces fall into place. Maybe the kids decide to take on the source (and lose, discover something else –because it is only episode five after all).

6) The Birthday
Whose birthday? My guess is Jane’s.

7) The Bite
The death of a mayor character I’m calling it. Penultimate episode, Game of Thrones-style.

8) The Battle Of Starcourt
The mall is called Starcourt so that’s where the showdown is. Also, if memory serves, Starcourt had something to do with He-man as well, but I could be mistaken.

The fun part of promos.

Of course the fun part of promotional material is to entice. Throwing a whole lot of questions into the mix only enhances this. This is what I like about the promotional material of It; what I liked about Lost and what I even like about the new Aladdin trailer (truly; what’s wrong with a blue Will Smith?). It leaves the audience guessing!