When it comes to the Netflix original series Stranger Things, there are a seemingly endless
supply of Easter Eggs and knowing nods to other movies and pop culture properties.
In fact, it might be faster to list all the bits of the show that don't actually refer
to something else, rather than those that do.
And that's not all.
Sometimes what looks like an Easter Egg — like Lucas's collection of He-Man action figures
and Maxine's nickname of Mad Max — are actually just details that come from a show set in
the 1980s.
But in the interests of making your next rewatch more satisfying, here's a not-anywhere-close-to-complete
list of some of the more overt Easter Eggs you might've missed in Stranger Things Season
2.
And before you get mad and open up your face with rage like the demogorgon, just remember:
spoilers ahead.
Sean Astin never says die
Sean Astin, who plays Joyce's doomed boyfriend Bob Newby, got his start as an '80s movie
icon, playing Mikey in 1985's The Goonies.
That movie, which featured a group of plucky kids getting in way over their heads on a
huge adventure, is one of the most obvious sources of inspiration for Stranger Things.
But it's actually one particular line of dialogue in episode 5, "Dig Dug," that makes Astin's
casting truly work on a list of Easter Eggs.
While helping Joyce, Will, and Mike try to find Hopper in the maze of tunnels underneath
Hawkins, Indiana, he jokingly asks about where the map leads.
"That's the objective, find the X."
"Yeah?
What's at the X?
Pirate treasure?
Heh heh."
"Bob!"
And Goonies, as you may recall, revolves around Mikey and his friends' quest to follow a treasure
map to find the lost loot of the pirate One-Eyed Willy.
"It's Willie!"
"One-Eyed Willie!"
Mad about Paul Reiser
While he's probably best remembered these days for his role as Paul Buchman on the 1990s
sitcom Mad About You, actor Paul Reiser appeared in Stranger Things as Doctor Owens.
He's the new guy running the lab in Hawkins, who's trying to figure out just what the heck
is wrong with Will Byers.
But back in 1986, Reiser provided one of moviedom's most memorable bad guy turns in James Cameron's
action-sci-fi sequel Aliens.
He played Burke, a two-faced corporate goon who sends Ripley and the space marines to
find more xenomorphs, despite knowing that they'd all probably die horribly in the process.
Owens has similarly dubious motivations here, since neither Joyce nor the viewers can tell
if the good doctor is really very good at all — at least not at first.
We find out by the end of the season that Owens is more Buchman than Burke, though it
costs us a Bob along the way.
Not much luck if your name begins and ends with a B in Hawkins, huh?
Staying frosty
Want more proof that Reiser's appearance in Hawkins is a direct nod to Aliens?
Among the many popular franchises Stranger Things refers to throughout its second season,
Aliens might be one of the most prominent.
In episode 6, "The Spy," Doctor Owens oversees a group of gun-toting soldiers who make their
way through the tunnels under Hawkins to try and confront the shadow monster the kids later
refer to as the mind flayer.
He watches on monitors as the soldiers are ambushed by the demo-dogs who've flooded the
tunnels.
That moment takes its cue from a similar scene in Aliens, when Burke and Ripley watch the
space marines investigate the alien-infested colony.
Later in the movie, Corporal Hicks talks to Hudson and Vasquez about the need to be on
high alert:
"We're all in strung out shape.
But stay frosty."
So it wasn't too surprising to hear one of Owens' soldiers say this towards the end of
the episode:
"Alright, stay frosty, boys."
Do Raimi
One of the other major influences that you can find all over season two of Stranger Things
is the movie Evil Dead, the 1981 horror classic by Sam Raimi.
For starters, when Eleven is home alone in Hopper's cabin in episode four, "Will the
Wise," she discovers a secret door in the floorboards that leads to a hidden basement
that contains secret knowledge about Hopper and her own past.
The shots that lead her there are pretty visually similar to the scene where Ash and his friends
discover the Necronomicon in the basement in a woodland cabin of their own.
Then there's the abundance of "shaky P.O.V. cam" shots, which is when a camera zooms along
the ground quickly to show the ominous movements of an evil force.
Raimi used that technique to show the point of view of the evil spirits stalking Ash and
his doomed friends in all three Evil Dead movies.
Meanwhile, the Duffers bring shaky P.O.V. cam to Stranger Things when Will sees the
now-memories of the mind flayer, who's tunneling under Hawkins and spreading his own brand
of evil.
Add the abundance of creepy vines wrapping themselves around human bodies to hold them
against their will, and the similarities are impossible to ignore.
Still somehow not convinced the Duffers are paying direct tribute to Raimi with season
two?
Take a look at this Stranger Things promotional poster — and then look at this original
Evil Dead movie poster.
Raimi should maybe get a co-directing credit for Stranger Things season 2.
The Regan era
Finally, as if throwing Aliens and Evil Dead into a blender with Goonies weren't enough,
the Duffers and the rest of Stranger Things' producers threw in a healthy dose of The Exorcist
from 1973 for good measure.
We've got it all.
There are young innocents being subjected to a bunch of pseudo-scientific tests to figure
out what's wrong with them.
Angry mothers demanding that a bunch of quacks be less terrible at their jobs.
And there are possessed kids being strapped to a bed for their own good while the demons
are being forced out.
The only thing that's missing is projectile vomit:
Oh, wait.
That's in Stranger Things too.
Never mind.
Hail to the King
Matt and Ross Duffer, the twin brother creators of Stranger Things, make no secret of their
appreciation for the works of Stephen King.
So there are plenty of subtle and not-so-subtle nods to the guy whose work inspired so much
of the show.
For instance, Bob tries to tempt Joyce with the prospect of relocating her family from
Hawkins, Indiana.
Where does he suggest?
Maine, which just so happens to be the creepy northeastern state that features prominently
in so much of King's work.
Then there's the character of Eleven, whose psychic powers look pretty reminiscent to
those we see in the 1984 King adaptation Firestarter.
A little girl violently busting stuff up using only her mind?
Yup.
Finally, there's the secret knock that Hopper uses to let Eleven know that he's home.
"(knocking)"
A post on Den of Geek points out that if you convert the knocks to Morse code, it translates
to the word "ITS."
That sure seems pretty similar to the title of Stephen King's legendary novel It, which
features a group of outcast friends banding together to defeat a monster that's terrorizing
their town.
The fact that actor Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike on Stranger Things, appears as Richie
Tozier in the 2017 big screen adaptation of It, potentially making Hopper's knock one
of the best-hidden Easter Eggs in the whole series.
He's back!
In Easter Egg form
Near the end of Episode 4, "Will the Wise," Dustin comes home to spend time with his rapidly
growing pet demon, Dart.
That's when he's shocked to discover that Dart has broken out of his cage and found
a new favorite cuisine: Dustin's cat, Mews.
What could this be a reference to?
You guessed it:
"Hey Willie!"
"Alf!"
"Willie!"
"Alf!"
"Willie!"
That's right, ALF — that wacky puppet from the planet Melmac who had his own sitcom in
the late 1980s — also liked to feast on felines.
"Any last meows?
Nope?
Then I'll see you in a few days."
Is it possible that this Easter Egg is actually just more of a coincidence than an intentional
one?
Yeah, probably.
But is it way more fun to imagine that the Duffers and the rest of their team spent hours
trying to think of a way to cram an obscure reference to ALF into their hit TV show and
that only super ALF nerds would recognize?
Absolutely.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this other cool stuff we know you'll love too.