Stranger Things season 4, part 2

Episode 8 opens right back where season 4 episode 1 began, with a bloodied Eleven standing over the massacred children while Dr Brenner asks "What have you done ...

A powerful psychic teen known as Eleven escapes and joins forces with a crew of local nerds, Mike, Dustin and Lucas, to fight monsters like the demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and season 4's big bad, a demon named Vecna. Episode 8 opens right back where season 4 episode 1 began, with a bloodied Eleven standing over the massacred children while Dr Brenner asks "What have you done?!" Stranger Things is back for the final showdown.

And there's really probably only one video you need to watch, the brief recap made by Netflix summing up the first string of episodes, which ran for about nine ...

They’ve discovered that music can help pull people out of the trance, which is how Max, despite being “marked” by Vecna, manages to escape. And there’s really probably only one video you need to watch, the brief recap made by Netflix summing up the first string of episodes, which ran for about nine hours in total. Even though it has only been a month instead of a few years like the gap between seasons 3 and 4, you still may want a refresher on what exactly happened in those first seven episodes.

After a finale with major character twists and deaths, here's a breakdown of what happened and what it means for Max, Vecna, Hawkins, and Season 5.

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. 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. 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? 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. 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 the mystery of why Russia is so juiced about harnessing the power of the Upside Down isn't quite yet clear. 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. While the twist firmly locks the show's past, present, and future into thrilling coherence—we're left with a few questions. 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. 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. 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. 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?

Stranger Things season 4, part 2 brought Vecna's story to a memorable end, but what does the finale mean for the future of the show?

What did you think of Stranger Things season 4, part 2’s finale? Here’s hoping we see more of Joseph Quinn on Stranger Things season 5 – one way or another. It all set the stage for Stanger Things season 4, volume 2, which arrived just over a month later.

Stranger Things season 4, part 2 did not hold back on the drama, tension or the heartbreak. Who didn't make it out of Hawkins alive?

Have you watched Stranger Things season 4, part 2 yet? With that in mind, who died on Stranger Things season 4? And with that, we got a larger-than-life season finale that single-handedly changed the game for Stranger Things season 4, season 5 (and indeed the entire show).