WTH Just Went Down in the 'Stranger Things' Season 4, Volume 2 Finale?
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This story contains spoilers for Season Four, Volume Two of Stranger Things.
Can I make a deal with God to go to sleep for the next 48 hours? Holy hell. Raise your hand if you thought Volume Two of Stranger Things would look like it had the production budget of Godzilla vs. Kong, have the guts to have Vecna mutilate one of our favorite characters, and force a friend of mine—definitely not me—to restock on tissues the morning after. Sure, Volume One bottled up and injected new life into the series (it needed to after Season Three didn't quite meet fans' hopes). Volume Two? It not only managed to thrillingly reframe Stranger Things as we knew it, but the final moments of Episode Nine set up a fifth and final season that will surely generate wild hype until the very second we're able to press play. Maybe we're all getting ahead of ourselves. We have a finale to recap, don't we?
RIP Eddie—and Max, For a Terrifying Minute
First of all, let's give it up for Joseph Quinn, who imbued Eddie Munson with an astounding level of heart, one that few new characters entering an established show like Stranger Things are able to pull off. In Volume Two, he becomes the rocking 'n rolling embodiment of Stranger Things's motivating question: What does it actually mean to be a nerd? An other? In Eddie, at least, we learn that nerdom means living a life that is true to you and only you—and sticking by that even when staring into the face of literal hell. We see a similar lesson play out with Lucas this season, who learns that he's most himself when he's alongside his loveably loser-y friends. With a metal as hell rendition of Metallica's "Master of Puppets," Eddie gets his hero moment. We'll miss you, dude.
Now, what to do about Max? Eleven managed to save her midway through Vecna's horrifying death ritual, and bring her back to life after her heart stopped. Before Max (temporarily) dies, she says she can't see or feel anything. Eleven isn't able to find Max through mind-travel, either. You have to wonder if she'll end up like Robert Englund's Victor Creel, who lost his eyesight permanently after facing his son. But there might be something more to surviving a scuffle with Vecna. Scroll down to the very bottom of this breakdown if you want a couple theories about Max.
Upside Down, B.C.
You thought the Henry-is-One-But-Also-Vecna twist was the ace up Stranger Things's sleeve this season? Well, how did you feel during the reveal that Vecna created the Upside Down? (But he also has godlike powers to create evil, sentient life?!) In a flashback sequence during Episode Nine's final battle, Vecna says that the Upside Down was a sort of formless, directionless wasteland when he showed up. But Vecna also quips that he saw a ton of curiosities while journeying this place, a la the Demodogs. Eventually, we're led to believe that he formed the Upside Down as we know it, right down to the Mind Flayer. In short? It's been Vecna the whole time.
While the twist firmly locks the show's past, present, and future into thrilling coherence—we're left with a few questions. What exactly is the place Henry first found? Simply an alternate dimension? How and why were Demodogs already there? Do the abilities of the Hawkins Lab students have any limits? This is all fodder for Season Five. But Stranger Things is much, much better off for firmly setting up and positioning Vecna as its endgame villain.
The Russia of It All
The corner of this Stranger Things season reserved for Hopper's prison escape had its moments, sure. The bromance between Hopper and Dmitri. Brett Gelman's Murray cracking us up. Picking up where Joyce and Hopper's actual romance left off. But the stakes in Russia never felt nearly as high as the drama in Hawkins, where the fate of, you know, the entire planet is at stake. Of course, all of the adults make it back home safely. But the mystery of why Russia is so juiced about harnessing the power of the Upside Down isn't quite yet clear. Are we just supposed to understand that interdimensional (it's a word, at least for today) doors are scattered around the world, so chaos could reign at any point? After seeing where Henry/One/Vecna's story ended up—but how long it actually took to reach the payoff—I have little doubt that this plot thread is leading somewhere important.
Stranger Things: Endgame
Let's talk about the final shot. A large contingent of the Stranger Things gang looks over a hill of flowers, decaying from the intrusion of Upside Down, and sees something that scares them shitless. Hawkins is an absolute disaster site: the ground is cracking and breaking, grey clouds are swirling overhead, the plebes in the town are questioning whether or not they actually know what an earthquake is. Suddenly, we finally know the endgame of Stranger Things. Season Five will see our friends do everything they can to track down and kill Vecna, before he's able to recover and lead a full-on takeover of Earth.
Ding Ding Ding, Theory Time!
What's an Esquire finale breakdown if we don't end with some rampant speculation? Here are a couple theories to keep yourself busy during the years (!) we'll likely have to wait for Season Five to drop.
Vecna Jr.: My partner-in-crime in Stranger Things bingeing, Esquire's own Executive Director of Entertainment Randi Peck, thought up a pretty damn heartbreaking scenario. Remember Will's whole speech about how he could feel Vecna? And that he was hurting, but not dead? She thinks that when Will was in the Upside Down, Vecna saw a scared, but smart little boy—one not unlike the one he used to be—and chose his successor to be the King (Czar? President?) of the Upside Down. This would obviously be a hell of a twist if Vecna somehow lured Will to the dark side. Hell, they're both good at drawing!
Mr. Wheeler: Vulture's hilarious interview with Joe Chrest—who plays Daddy Doofus, Ted Wheeler—has me convinced that pops simply must fist-fight Vecna himself.
P.S.: Randi also suggested that Eleven will sacrifice herself to save Max in the final, final battle with Vecna. I think the opposite will happen—that Max will return the favor from Eleven's Volume Two rescue.
The Girl Who Lived: I wrote about this in our Season Five preview, but I'm convinced that Stranger Things won't end without another one of the kids developing powers. It could be Will, after his vacation in the Upside Down. But what about Max? We already know that she won't escape her brush with Vecna unscathed. Barring another miraculous recovery, Max could be left permanently blind and/or partially paralyzed. What if Volume Two's final battle ended up as a Harry Potter-Voldemort situation, where Max will have a permanent tie to Vecna? It could be a psychic one, like Will's is. Call me crazier than a Demodog, but I think we'll see Max develop Eleven-esque powers by the series finale.
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