Stranger Things Season 2 – All the Easter Eggs, References, Homages and Callbacks – Episode 6: The Spy
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Here’s the sixth step of the nine-part Stranger Things 2 article series, in which we’ll do our very best to catch all the visual easter eggs, references, homages and callback from the fabulous 80s that the author put on-screen. If you’re looking for the soundtrack and music references for this episode, click here.
In case you missed the previous parts, dedicated to the easter eggs in the first three episodes, check out the links in the Episode List below to make amend! There are two links to the right of each episode: the first one is dedicated to the visual homages, while the second lists the soundtrack & music references.
Let’s now start our journey through all the Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 6: The Spy easter eggs from the 80s (and not) that we found: feel free to tell us if we missed anything… there’s a huge chance we did!
Alien: This episode contains more and more references from the Alien franchise, the skin discovery being the most noticeable of them.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – Alien [03:02]The Exorcist: The authors pay another big homage to the William Friedkin’s 1973 movie in the scene where Joyce Byers freaks out to the science lab room, filled with clearly incompetent doctors, asking what’s wrong with her child.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – The Exorcist [06:35]King Crimson: be sure not to miss the amazing King Crimson’s 1971 British Concert Poster hanged on a wall in Murray Bauman’s room: that poster celebrates the famous band live performance at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, London, England on May 30, 1971. Poor Jonathan & Sam, even your combined music tastes can’t possibly match such a tremendous reference to these progressive rock legends.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – King Crimson 1971 concert at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, London, England [11:06]He’s Watching You: Murray’s house is full of gems: among them, the beautiful and emotionally intense poster by Glen Grohe clearly deserves a honorable mention – and a bit of an explanation as well. This striking poster has an amazing story which perfectly sticks to the series franchise: it was designed in 1942, early in World War II, by artist Glenn Grohe for the United States Office of Emergency Management. It shows the menacing, shadowy figure of a German soldier peering directly at the viewer and, from the commissioner’s point of view, it was clearly intended to motivate adherence to wartime rules about secrecy in the industrial sector. However, a 1942 government survey of the American public revealed that the poster was often misunderstood: many people perceived the stylized German helmet as the Liberty Bell, while some factory workers mistakenly believed “he” to be the “boss.” Because of this type of issue, the U.S. Office of War Information was created in June 1942 to review and approve the design and distribution of government war posters. Also, it has been noted that the figure closely resembles Darth Vader from Star Wars, which Stranger Things fans knows all to well, whose appearance might even have been influenced by this poster.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – He’s Watching You by Glenn Grohe – [11:10]Jaws: after the playbill poster which we saw in Chapter Five, the Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie gets another visible homage: the bucket of fresh meat, which Dustin and Steve prepares to find their prey… hoping to not become the prey themselves!
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – Jaws [12:40]MC5: Just when we though we couldn’t be graced by good music references anymore, we get to see another incredible poster on Murray’s house starring MC5, a rock band from Lincoln Park, Michigan, USA, formed in 1964. More specifically, that poster – designed by Gary Grimshaw, look here for the amazing color version – is from a concert featuring MC5, Pacific Gas & Electric, Wicked Religion, The Maxx held at Detroit Grande Ballroom in April 4-5, 1969. Again, kudos to Murray for being the music authority in this season!
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – MC5 Poster [18:05]Stand By Me / Farrah Fawcett’s Hairspray: When Dustin and Steve team together to find Dart, they end up walking upon a railway in a scene that is a clear homage to the movie Stand By Me (Rob Reiner, 1986). While walking, they also talk about hairs: in an attempt to describe how to hairstyle them, Steve mentions the Fabergé Organic shampoo, pointing out that you also need to apply “four puffs of the Farraw Fawcett’s Hairspray“. That’s a reference to the Fabergé Organics line of beauty products between the ‘70s and ‘80s, in which they put out Farrah Fawcett’s name. Unfortunately, McGregor Corporation bought Fabergé Organics in 1984, discontinuing most of its products – including those. How Steve (and, SPOILER WARNING, Dustin) manages to find that hairspray in late 1984 is clearly a mistery: the last Fabergé commercial is the TV spot that went out in 1982, starring Heather Locklear, which was still running in the first half of 1984 – until the aforementioned acquisition.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – Stand By Me – Farah Fawcett’s Fabergé Organic Hairspray [27:15]Aliens: more and more reference to the Alien franchise in the episode closing scenes: Dr. Owens watches helplessly his soldiers die to the monsters from the security monitors just like his counterpart Burke did in Aliens (aka Alien 2), the 1986 sequel by James Cameron. The radars are also very close to the one used in that movie: the only missing quote there is “they’re coming outta the goddamn walls” phrase!
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 06 – Aliens [47:30]That’s it, at least for the time being: if you’ve got something else, tell us in the comments and we’ll be happy to update the list!
Soundtrack, Music & Songs
For a comprehensive list of this episode soundtrack, together with all the musical Easter Eggs, References, Homages and Callbacks, read here.
