“But this is only the beginning.
The beginning of the end.”
Stranger Things Season 4 was absolutely fantastic.
It eluded to where this story is headed in the first seven episodes, and it doubled down
with even more clues in the final two.
The most on the nose of those was this sign here.
Do not be overcome by evil.
But overcome evil with good.
In Season 2, Dustin befriended a Demodog.
Dart.
Dustin loved the little bastid, and the feeling may have been mutual.
After all, Dart had a chance to kill Dustin, and it didn’t.
In Season 3, the Mind Flayer took over Billy.
But El reminded Billy of a happy memory with his loving mother, and Billy snapped out of
it.
He went on to sacrifice himself for the others.
So Billy died a hero just like Bob and Eddie Munson.
It’s easy to say that Bob, Billy, and Eddie are heroes because they were.
It’s also easy to say that Dr. Brenner was a monster, but he wasn’t.
Not entirely.
Dr. Brenner told El that she spoke of monsters and superheroes, but that was the stuff of
myth and fairy tales.
Reality, truth, is rarely so simple.
People are not so easily defined.
And it’s true.
People are complex.
At times, Dr. Brenner was a monster.
He imprisoned Henry, El, and others.
He repressed Henry’s powers and he beat him.
But Dr. Brenner did love El like a daughter, which is why he released her from her collar
before he died.
He also told El that he still loved Henry even after all that Henry had done.
Why?
Because Dr. Brenner believed that he himself had failed Henry.
When Vecna trapped El inside of his mind, she tried to convince him that he was not
the monster.
That Dr. Brenner was.
She even referred to him as Henry.
Vecna countered that Dr. Brenner didn’t do this to him, El had when she had threw
him into the upside down.
And it was there that he had found a means to becoming the predator that he was meant
to be.
So El attempted to get Henry to forgive himself by blaming Dr. Brenner, but it didn’t work.
It didn’t work because she didn’t go back far enough to the source of his pain, his
suffering, and most importantly his guilt.
Vecna showed Nancy, and One told El how he was different as a child.
It was implied that Henry had been bullied, so his family moved to Hawkins.
Unfortunately, he was bullied there as well.
That is when he saw the black widow spider and sought to become a predator.
That is when he began to kill animals and eventually killed his mother and his sister.
Nowadays, Vecna’s mind consists of a shattered home.
His own family’s shattered home.
Since he was the one who shattered it, Vecna is now living in a self-imposed prison of
his own guilt due to what he did to his family.
Vecna has opened the fourth gate and is set on remaking the entire world, and he might
be too powerful to kill.
Since El has already tried to get him to forgive himself, she should give it a second shot.
This time with an understanding of what is causing his guilt.
And they may need to do something similar for Max.
Billy had made Max’s life a living hell every chance that he got.
So, sometimes, she would lay in bed at night and pray that something bad would happen to
him.
Something awful.
She would imagine him crashing his stupid car because she wanted him out of her life
forever.
To make matters worse, the day that Billy died, Max had just stood there and watched.
Not because she was scared or weak, but because she didn’t know if he had deserved to be
saved.
Nowadays, Max feels incredibly guilty for having had those thoughts.
As a result, she cut herself off from the world, from her friends, and from her boyfriend.
She prayed that something would happen to her.
So, just like Henry, Max has been living in a self-imposed prison of guilt.
Although Lucas had begun to pull her out of that, Max never truly forgave Now, she’s
in a coma.
And here’s where things could get very interesting.
“You must understand.
When One kills he doesn’t simply kill.
He consumes.”
One takes everything from his victims.
Everything they are and everything they ever will be, including their abilities and their
memories.
That raises the question: does Vecna have Billy’s memories?
And can the kids use any of those memories to help Max forgive herself?
El used this worry that she was the monster, but Dr. Brenner was right.
Monsters and superheroes are the stuff of myth and fairy tales.
Reality, truth, is rarely so simple.
And people such Max and even Henry are not so easily defined.
So high level, Stranger Things is a story about people who are different.
A story about pain and suffering.
A story about self-doubt and guilt.
But it also a story about happiness and love.
A story about forgiveness.
Forgiveness of others and also forgiveness of one’s self.
“It will all be over soon.”
“And this is going to be beautiful.”