After its debut last weekend, the second season of Stranger Things dominated social media, with the show’s seventh episode being one of the most controversial. In addition to being disappointed with the film’s narrative, fans also expressed their displeasure of how incorrectly the show depicted Chicago‘s skyline.
Videos by ComicBook.com
***WARNING: Mild spoilers for Stranger Things 2 below***
In the episode, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) leaves Hawkins, IN to head to Chicago in hopes of gaining information about her own mysterious past. Throughout the episode, the iconic Chicago skyline is seen multiple times, most often lit up by its skyscraper’s lights.
The big issue that fans had with the episode and city’s depiction was that, given that the series takes place in 1984, multiple buildings were seen despite them not existing until the ’90s and ’00s.
Most notably, Trump International Hotel & Tower, which opened in 2009, the Two Prudential Plaza building, which opened in the ’90s and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower, which opened in 1997 and got an expansion in 2010, can all clearly be seen and recognized in the show.
The timeline inaccuracy wasn’t the only issue that people raised about the skyline, as the geography of the episode was also blatantly wonky.
The entirety of the city of Chicago falls immediately west of Lake Michigan, which covers over 22,000 square miles and is the second largest of the Great Lakes. Eleven meeting someone on a rooftop that was due east of the skyline would result in a building being in the middle of the lake.
Hi, from the angle of the skyline this part of the city would be in lake Michigan @Stranger_Things pic.twitter.com/Jc1G7UNo2q
โ sแดแด แดแดแดแดสสษชs (@sammcmorris) October 28, 2017
Another scene in this episode featured the character wandering around near a pawn shop, as the skyline was prominently featured in the background, which would result in this storefront also being in the middle of the lake.
The episode, which doesn’t explore any other characters from the series or any events from Hawkins, IN, was a jarring surprise for many viewers who felt the episode took them out of the show’s larger narrative. The show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, have justified why the episode exists, but probably aren’t ready to answer for so much of the show seemingly taking place in the middle of Lake Michigan.
Stranger Things season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
[H/T Curbed]
Related Posts
-
Image Courtesy of HBO -
Image Courtesy of MK McGehee -
Image Credit: MGM, Screen Gems
