‘Stranger Things’ has always been a hidden kingdom of nods and homages to pop culture in the form of an 80’s time capsulebut for Season 4, the team was up against the show’s largest set of episodes yet, the longest by far.
Now that volume 2 has arrived, no less than 3 hours and 54 minutes long, there are a large number of references, winks or similarities to other fictions that focus on the exciting final stretch of the last two chapters, where the cluster of extreme situations, creatures and battles is enhanced by details such as the use of Journey and Metallica songs on the soundtrack. Let’s review a few key moments.
SPOILERS de toda la temporada a continuación
The importance of ‘The talisman’
The conclusion of volume 2 includes a scene where the friends look at a badly injured Max after dying for over a minute. Lucas is reading the fantasy horror novel ‘The Talisman’, co-written by Stephen King and Peter Straub, specifically a snippet where a character opens their eyes. It’s no coincidence that Netflix series creators Matt and Ross Duffer are working with Steven Spielberg to make an adaptation of that King novel for Netflix.
But in addition, ‘The Talisman’ takes place in other dimensions attached to this one and fits in with the general plot of season 4 since its main character goes from a normal world to another world to heal his dying mother. The novel also ends with an earthquake and furthermore, looking the authors’ names, you can immediately spot the resemblance to the Stranger Things logolet us remember that it is based on the name of Stephen King in his books, but here it even has the same color.
The heaviest Master of Puppets in history
“This one’s for you Chrissy.” Eddie Munson says goodbye like a hero playing one of the most emblematic songs of metal music, ‘Master Of Puppets’, from Metallica’s third album, which came out in 1986 and became a milestone and consolidated the band to this day. The song had a specific version for the series, played not only by the actor but also by Tye Trujillo, son of the last Metallica bassist. The first (and of the few times) that a song by the band was used was in the documentary about the three from Memphis ‘Paradise Lost’, a case that served as inspiration for the character of Munson. That the band sounds in a fantastic world is very metal.
Top Gun, Rambo, and Reagan’s Pro-Gun America
The logo of the ‘War Zone’ weapons store is very reminiscent of that of ‘Top Gun’ and has a character like Rambo on top of it in the newspaper ad. Almost like a mix of the two installments of the 80’s action movie parodyHot Shots‘, the idea of an exclusive arms supermarket is not something outlandish in the US and the association of the logo with those films has a subtle but bitter sarcasm, since the culture of the films of the era promoted the military spirit of the nation. Add to that Robin’s ‘Red Dawn’ style beret.
Halloween nights
Episode 8 shows us Eddie wearing a Michael Myers mask, a throwback to Season 2, when Max wore the same mask on Halloween to scare the panda. But in addition, it is a very appropriate easter egg since the fate of Vecna is similar to that of Myers. As in the 1978 film, Vecna is shot multiple times before falling out of a second story window, but then his body disappears. Less easy to grasp is in the Vecna houseboat scene, where a large tombstone reads “_YERS,” with the first letter covered in weeds.
Molly Ringwald fashion
‘Stranger Things’ tends to design its characters with ideas from ’80s icons, and when Robin sees Vickie in Warzone while the gang is trying to stock up for the battle with Vecna, he learns that she has a boyfriend, but Anyone who has seen John Hughes movies will recognize a Molly Ringwald profilewith the style of clothing that the actress wore in ‘The Girl in Pink’ (which also came out in 1986).
The visit to the zoo of ‘Alien: Resurrection’
When Hopper discovers a Demogorgon lab in the Russian prison, with experiments on the captured creatures and some of the particles that Vecna uses to create the hive mind break free and reanimate the monsters, the scene looks visually identical to one from ‘Alien Resurrection’, which could be an homage to Winona Ryder who starred in that movie many years before playing Joyce. Paul Reiser Saying “kiddo” like in ‘Aliens’ it also explains a lot of the Duffer’s passion for the saga.
star wars again
If we commented that Eleven was taking the path of Luke Skywalker in the George Lucas saga, and that this season was ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ from ‘Stranger Things’, the ending has only confirmed it, not only putting the option back of “leave or finish training” noted in volume I, but with a dark ending with character deaths.
We also have Eleven lifting the capsule Nina as Luke’s X-wing Yoda or Dustin with the look of Endor (between an Ewok and Luke), but also we learn a new “force power” from Eleven, when she does a pinned resurrection to Kylo Ren’s to Rey at the end of ‘The Rise of Skywalker’.
The ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ series
The ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ role-playing game has always been the hidden engine of the Netflix series, but until now we’ve never seen a direct reference to the animated series that was successful in the 80s, and it makes a lot of sense, especially the Will’s comparison of Mike as if he were the Knight of the group pointing at an illustration with cartoon characters.
Autopsy of an alleged demogorgon
The experiments at Area 51 are a constant in pop culture, and season 4 makes a Soviet version of them, it’s impossible not to think about them. the fraudulent recording that recreated an alleged medical examination that would have been performed on an alienafter the Roswell UFO incident in July 1947.
The recording gained notoriety in 1995, when it jumped to all the media that even treated it as a real possibility. The gorgon dog split open is very reminiscent of that incident of ufological trickery.
The power of Hulk Hogan
When Joyce and Hopper meet at Uri’s hideout, they are in desperate need of new clothes. But all they can find is Hulk Hogan t-shirts, the most prolific Wrestling fighter of the 80s, a great star at the moment in which the season takes place. With those same shirts they will face the monsters of the Russian base.
More Stephen King: Carrie and ‘It’
Max remembers one of the happiest times of his life as a way to hide from Vecna, going to the dance scene from Season 2, which turns into a horror scene when Vecna shows up, taking us away. to images reminiscent of ‘Carry’, with its glitter aesthetic and overall blue color. You can also see how the balloons start to burst and blood comes out of them, leading to another Stephen King creation, ‘It’ and its 1990 adaptation, with a similar scene in a library.
The power of ‘Doctor Sleep’
And we return to Stephen King with a more recent version, and that is that the plan for the “distance” use of Eleven’s recovered powers is very indebted to many ideas developed in ‘Doctor Sleep’, and has some similarities between the rivalry of people extraordinary that take both fictions to the field of dark and horror versions of ‘X-Men’. Specifically, the “possession” inside Max’s head from the tank resembles Abra’s substitution for Dan Torrance in the carand the final part, the trap in the hedge maze is also reminiscent of the Vecna space, tailor-made for the “cathedral” where Rose the Hat keeps her memories.
Conan’s Savage Sword
In one of the key confrontations of the last episode, the Atlantean sword appears from ‘Conan the Barbarian’ (1982), the adaptation of the comics starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many wonder how he ended up in the prison of the Soviet Union, but yes it was shown in episode 7, it is one of the weapons provided from the box office, when the prisoners were forced to fight the Demogorgon. Jim’s pose is perfect and very much in tune with his similar moment in ‘Hellboy’.
The daughter of ‘Pulp Fiction’
Episode 9 takes a dramatic turn when Eleven manages to fight off Vecna, strengthened by Mike’s love, at the same time Murray launches a flamethrower attack on the Demogorgons in Russia. Shock runs through the Mind-Flayer’s hive mind, releasing Steve, Robin, and Nancy into the upside-down world. “I don’t believe in a higher power or divine intervention, but that was a miracle.Robin says, remembering the famous scene with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in ‘Pulp Fiction’which starred… his mother, Uma Thurman.
The Spiders of Vecna
The season 4 finale revisits ideas planted in the past to deliver surprising twists, and so we learn that the mindflayer is shaped that way because Henry modeled the power he finds in the upside down world after his fondness for spiders.revealing that his attempts to enter the world, both through Will (who feels his presence again) and through Billy, were always with his hand behind.
Nancy Connor in ‘Aliens Return’
The final scene burning Vecna looks like the moment Sigourney Weaver burns the Alien Queen’s eggs, but it’s also reminiscent of ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, with Nancy taking on the role of Sarah Connor when using a shotgun, specifically when final, when Linda Hamilton shoots the T-1000 several times with a shotgun and each shot pushes it back into a vat of molten steel.