Stranger Things 4 ends, explained

[Ed. note: As you might’ve guessed or hoped for, this post goes into detail about the end of season 4 of Stranger Things.]

After release, Stranger Things 4 part 2 is a sloth, and is not just for runtime. In the last part of the episodes, the entire The cast of characters finally reunited on Hawkins and beat Venice – Sort.

Even though they survived the battle, the fight still unfolded in a very realistic way, like VecnaThe Upside Down’s efforts to unite the Upside Down world and the regular world pose a greater threat than ever as four inter-world rifts scar the town they love. Plus, there’s still the Upside Down county monster/darkness that Joyce and Hopper saw in Russia.

All of this sets up a pretty big final season for the streaming game in which I’m sure the Upside Down monsters will be worse than ever. Knowing that the end is near, naturally every lingering question feels a little more weighty than it might otherwise be. While Strange things is known to increase the length of some episodes, there is still a (relatively) limited amount of time to summarize the journey of everyone in the cast. And that’s all before we tackle their latest Upside Down issue.

What happened to Venice?

Image: Netflix

Despite Nancy’s ground attack, Robin and Steve successfully neutralized Vecna ​​- both shot him out the window. and much burned him – by the time they got out, he was gone, leaving only a soot stain on the ground Upside Down.

Does that mean that the dead Vecna ​​is actually healthy? No, at least not according to Will. His upside-down Spidey senses tell him that One/Vecna/Henry still abounds. “Now that I am here, in Hawkins, I can feel him. And he’s injured, but he’s alive,” Will told Mike. “It’s strange, now that I know who’s who all this time. But I can still remember what he thought, and how he thought. And he won’t stop. When. Not until he took everything and everyone. We have to kill him.”

What does that mean for Hawkins?

A few days after Vecna’s attack, many Hawkins residents moved away from the “earthquake” that caused a large rift in the town. The Upside Down seems to be bleeding all over our world, as vines break through cracks and onto buildings, electrical storms appear, Upside Down dust begins to fall and the ground becomes infected killing trees around town.

Will’s Spidey Upside Down senses let him know storm clouds are approaching. And soon, everyone in town is looking up, trying to understand what’s happening now. While our main cast certainly knows better than ordinary townspeople what’s spreading through the air and under their feet, they look more incapable of stopping it – yet. As Eleven looks back at the town in the final moments of episode 9, it’s clear that the Upside Down is starting to take over Hawkins. As Vecna ​​told Eleven: “This is just the beginning. The beginning of the end. You have already lost.”

Is Max dead yet?

Photo: Netflix

No, but Eleven couldn’t find her, not even in her own space. Max held out as long as he could, but Eleven’s victory in the psychic battle and Steve, Nancy, and Robin’s victory in the Upside Down came too late. He began the process of killing Max, hanging her in the air and systematically breaking her bones. When Vecna ​​is dispatched, Max falls and wakes up from a coma, but tells Lucas she can’t hear or feel anything. She died soon after.

El refuses to accept this and uses her power to bring Max back to life – to a point. The last time we saw Max in the hospital, where she was in a coma, the doctors weren’t sure she would wake up. When El touches mind with her, she finds Max’s brain space completely blank. Where did Max’s mind go – and whether it can ever make it back into her body again – is one of the biggest questions heading into the final season. Although it’s hard for me to believe this is the last time we’ll see Max on Strange things.

Will Hopper and El still have the right haircut in Stranger Things 5?

Who knows. Maybe they’ll really stick with it at this stage and develop it together. They can even complete the look with matching father and daughter outfits.

OK seriously: What’s going on with Will?

Image: Netflix

Though Will eventually had to show Mike his art and talk to him, it almost immediately left Will sadly alone as he looked out the window. When describing the thought process behind his painting, Will talks about how difficult it is to be different from others and be quite clear about his feelings.

Although Mike continued to be oblivious to what Will was going through throughout the season, it was eventually Jonathan (fresh out of the weeds) who latched on. While preparing for Eleven’s sensational tank/pizza freezer, Jonathan told Will he was saddened by how far apart they were from each other. already. “I don’t want you to forget that I am here. I will always be here, no matter what, because I am your brother, and I love you,” said Jonathan. “Nothing in this world – absolutely nothing – will ever change that.”

Unfortunately, after a hug, Will is back in the supporting role, and we don’t get any resolution to whatever’s been going on with him throughout the season. In Season 1, when he’s comforting Mike melancholy, he talks about El in a way that feels like he’s talking about his own fears. “Sometimes it’s scary to open up like that and say how you feel,” he tells Mike in a reprehensible moment in episode 5. “What if the people you care about most don’t like it? truth?”

While he maybe just unsettling about issues in Mike and El’s relationship, is something going on with him and his own coming-of-age story? Some feel that it is building a story about Will debuting his friends and family. But since Stranger Things 4it is not clear.

Will Nancy and Steve get back together?

Photo: Tina Rowden / Netflix

Just when you think Strange things has been done with a love triangle, we go back to studying polyhedron trigonometry again. After spending the whole season trying to find the perfect girl, Steve finally makes it clear to Nancy that she’s the one in his fantasy of raising six Harringtons and stumbling across the earth. country. Hearing this, Nancy sounded amused, or at least flattered.

She’s certainly interested in protecting how Steve has “grown up” with Jonathan, her boyfriend from whom she has been estranged (physically and emotionally) throughout. Stranger Things 4. Though they ended up getting back together in Hawkins, the season ended with those two dancing around awkwardly if they were still sensible to each other. He apologizes to Nancy for being separated, but also lies about his plan to hope to go to the same school as her. And it’s clear that the events of this season have prompted Nancy to rethink her feelings for Steve. All in all, it doesn’t look like it’s clear skies for Jonathan and Nancy, Vecna ​​or not.

Where will the Russians stand?

It took the kids a whole season to learn that Joyce, Murray, and Hopper were in the Soviet Union, let alone that they are supporting the fight against Vecna’s forces by attacking the monsters that are related to the hive center. Ultimately, the mission to rescue Hopper to Russia is crucial, but it often feels quite complementary for the rest of the season.

However, important discoveries were made: The Soviet Union was continuing to communicate with the Upside Down and seemed to have done better than Brenner at figuring out exactly its deal and how to exploit the monsters. its. Joyce and Hopper stumble upon a laboratory (now gone) of Demodogs, other Upside Down monsters, and a “seed monster” that resembles the original Mind Flayer form.

Is the US military still looking for Eleven?

Even though they were disabled as a plot element after Eleven shot down their helicopter in the Nevada desert, they were (for a while) very worried about how Eleven would handle her powers. Now she has become her own and Hawkins, Indiana seems to have turned into a giant portal, one might think the military would have the bones to pick her up – and/or an apology for not helping her stop this! What better time to mend fences and work together than the end of the world?

Is there a time jump in season 5?

Photo: Netflix

Although the last moments of Stranger Things 4 seems set to return to battle, there will likely be a skip period. First, Mike said El doesn’t feel like she’s ready to fight Vecna ​​again, and so she might have to practice with Yoda more to access the true depths of power. mine. Plus, Vecna ​​is still recovering and if Max starts acting up, she needs her body to heal in addition to Eleven finding her missing mind.

The Duffer Brothers have said in interviews that there is a possibility of a time jump, in part because they have to cover up the fact that the cast is constantly growing. “I’m sure we’ll do a time jump,” Ross Duffer told TV Line in June 2022, noting the fact that young stars are aging rapidly. “Ideally we would have shot [seasons 4 and 5] back, but there is no possible way to do it. So these are all discussions we will have with our writers when we start the room. “

While it’s hard to imagine Hawkins’ background can withstand also Plenty of time passes between seasons, which inevitably gives El more time to train and maximum time to recover.

Not seriously – will we ever get “Running Up That Hill” out of our heads?

Now there’s a heavy synth remix in the mix? Hoo boy. This is the revival of Kate Bush!