Stranger Things season 2, episode 1, Madmax, recap: something wicked this way comes

Warning: this recap contains spoilers!

Stranger Things became a wildfire sensation when it debuted on Netflix last year, its runaway popularity catching even the streaming giant off guard. The Duffer Bothers’s earnest mash-up of Stephen King, John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg and The Goonies spoke to audiences jaded by a dark and self-serious television landscape – with the return of Winona Ryder an additional lure to ageing Gen Xers and a lack of fashionable irony appealing to Millennials. 

Second time around, the element of surprise is obviously absent. If anything, Stranger Things 2 (the retro sequel title a nod to the show's Eighties setting) arrives under a weight of crippling expectation. After all, what other TV series had the audacity – or the mass appeal –  to drop its first teaser snippet during Super Bowl half time?

 Last week's "final trailer", meanwhile, garnered an incredible 12 million YouTube hits over the course of a few days –  confirming Stranger Things as belonging in the same popularity league as Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Twelve months ago Stranger Things crept up on us (much like the extra-planar monster hiding in the woods outside Hawkins, Indiana). This time, people are watching and waiting. 

Could a mere TV drama possibly live up to such hype? Episode one of nine answers the question with a distinctive “maybe”. It’s fun catching up with our favourite characters: dorky preteens Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas; anxious mom Joyce (Ryder), deadpan police chief Hopper (David Harbour). Plus, there is the “surprise” – the event having been heavily hinted in trailers – return of psychokinetic government conspiracy victim Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). 

Yet there is a sense, too, that the Duffer Brothers are taking their time setting up the pieces on the game board. Several new protagonists are introduced, but it's unclear how they will tie into the story of Eleven – or that of Will, the still-traumatised kid rescued from the “Upside Down” netherworld last season. 

1. Can we all pretend to be shocked that Eleven is alive?

At the end of a low-key opening, the Duffers hit us with the first genuine twist – albeit one already revealed in the trailers. Assumed to have been consumed by the Upside Down when vanquishing the Demogorgon at the conclusion of the series one, Eleven has survived and made it back to Hawkins. She has been taken under the wing of Hopper (David Harbour) and is hiding out in his cabin in the woods (to be fair her resurrection was also foreshadowed last season with Hopper leaving snacks for her in the woods).

They make for an agreeably unlikely double–act – the hard-bitten police chief with the soft exterior, and the determined child often overwhelmed by the confusing world in which she finds herself. "Dinner first – then dessert," says Hopper as he comes home to find Eleven hasn’t bothered with her supper. We love Stranger Things for the monsters and Eighties references – but also for these moments of plain-spun, unforced humanity. 

2. Who are the punks at the start?

Things go a bit Lost Boys as a cold open tracks a gang of snotty, tall-haired punks in Depeche Mode leathers leading police on a merry chase through Pittsburgh. Their A-Team style van appears to be cornered, until passenger-seat occupant "Kali" – is it significant she shares her name with the Hindu death goddess? – performs a Jedi mind trick causing the cop on their tail to believe the tunnel into which they have disappeared is collapsing. 

He crashes to a halt as they zoom into the night. The blood dripping from her nose confirms Kali possesses powers similar to those of Eleven – while the "008" tattooed to her wrist implied she had been part of the same MK Ultra-esque covert programme at Hawkins National Laboratory.  The actress is officially credited as “Young Kali” – hinting, perhaps, that there will also be an “Old Kali”. We want to know more.

Stranger Things | Season 2 recaps

3. Nerd alert: Winona Ryder is snogging a hobbit

Geeks of a certain vintage will have had a moment of out-of-body trauma as Winona Ryder's Joyce fell into a clench with goofy new boyfriend Bob, played by Sean Astin – aka Samwise Gamgee from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies (in a reference within a reference, he was also in the Goonies, to which Stranger Things is shamelessly indebted). What madness is this! 

4. We know Dr Owens is evil because he's portrayed by the actor who played Burke in Aliens

Will may have been rescued from the Upside Down, but a year on from the Demogorgon’s rampage he is experiencing disturbing visions in which clouds churn hellishly on the horizon. Concerned about his recovery, his still frazzled mother Joyce, and police chief Hopper take him to an expert at Hawkins Laboratory (the secret source of the evil last year). In a delicious hat-tip to fanboys, Doctor Owens is played by Paul Reiser – immortalised in sci-fi culture as snivelling company man Burke in Aliens. 

With his ingratiating manner and dead eyes, Owens is clearly nefarious too. He pretends to be Will’s kindly confidante when he obviously has a murkier agenda. So it comes as little surprise that, having confirmed to Joyce and Hopper that Will would likely continue to suffer out of body episodes, he immediately retreats to a dimly-lit underground lab, where experiments are being conducted on a portal to the Upside Down. We have our first confirmed villain. 

Stranger Things: all the hidden (and not-so-hidden) references

5. Are the Duffers cutting back on the pop culture references? 

From Dungeons and Dragons to Poltergeist, the first Season of Stranger Things brimmed with Eighties nods. This year, the nostalgia has seemingly been dialled back, with the first episode limiting itself to a wink to notoriously unplayable video game Dragon's Lair and the presence of poodle-rockers Scorpions on the soundtrack. The super-imposition of the “2” in the title sequence is, for its part, a gesture towards the opening credits of Ghostbusters II. But in general the Duffers appear more interested in fleshing out the characters and weaving a multi-layered storyline than pushing our nostalgia buttons. Is that what we want, though? 

6. How much should we care about the new kids?

Dustin and Lucas have a crush on tomboy new-comer Max (Sadie Sink) – who is rendered all the more unattainable when she is revealed to be the “MadMax” who demolished Dustin’s high score on Dig Dug. But where are Max’s parents – and what are we to make of her Jon Bon Jovi-haired older brother Billy? 

7. Barb is still gone but not forgotten

Early Demogorgon victim Barbara “Barb” Holland became immortalised in a zillion memes, gifs and ironic t-shirts last year. Back in Hawkins, her parents are still holding out hope that she is alive (which we know she is obviously isn’t) and are selling their house to pay for a private detective. Meanwhile, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) – inexplicably sticking with Steve-of-the-ridiculous-fringe (Joe Keery) – continues to come to terms with the loss of her pal, breaking down when joining the Hollands for a heartbreaking dinner of KFC-from-a-bucket. 

8. Something wicked this way (obviously) comes

It’s Stranger Things, so dark and uncanny forces are of course hurtling towards the good folk of Hawkins. In his latest out-of-body experience, at the video game arcade, Will watches the sky glow scary red – and warns Dr Owen that, whatever is out there, it will destroy everyone in the town.  As of now, the encroaching doom has only manifested itself in fly-infested pumpkin patches. Worse is obviously yet to come.