Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 is finally.
Both literally and figuratively, Season 4 of Stranger Things is its biggest adventure
yet.
Over the course of the first seven episodes of the season, we jumped across multiple continents
and to multiple dimensions, while every episode had a run time of at least 70 minutes.
These last two episodes come in at a combined run time of nearly four hours, making for
an experience that was nothing short of epic.
As has been the trend with the series, these final episodes did answer some of our questions
somewhat definitively, while also leaving open room for interpretation and teases for
what the future could hold.
Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4 part 2.
Does Max die in Stranger Things season 4?
Eleven and Max are transported to the Upside Down by Vecna, and he almost kills them both.
Eleven is able to use her powers — thanks to Mike (Finn Wolfhard) encouraging her from
the real world — and temporarily takes out Vecna.
But it looks like it might be too little too late for Max, whose bones had already started
to break.
Max dies in Lucas’ (Caleb McLaughlin) arms, which is absolutely heartbreaking.
But there’s still a glimmer of hope.
Eleven tries another time to save Max and she actually succeeds.
At the end of Stranger Things season 4, Max is in a coma at the hospital.
She dies and comes back to life in season 4.
That’s pretty incredible.
Does Eleven kill Vecna in Stranger Things season 4?
There’s a two-day time-jump after Eleven saves Max, and we see the characters reunite.
It seems unclear whether or not Vecna is gone for good, but we soon find out that he’s
still alive.
Unfortunately, Eleven is unable to kill Vecna in Stranger Things season 4, but there’s
always Stranger Things season 5.
Back in Hawkins, the crew brings Eleven to Hopper’s (David Harbour) cabin so she can
hide out there from the military.
While they’re fixing up the place, Will (Noah Schnapp) reveals to Mike that he knows
Vecna is still alive and he can feel him.
He says that Vecna is hurting, but he will be back and he won’t stop until everyone
is dead.
We can predict that Stranger Things season 5 will be about taking Vecna down once and
for all.
Do Hopper and Eleven reunite in Stranger Things season 4?
Cue the waterworks, because Hopper and Eleven do reunite in the final episode of Stranger
Things season 4 and it’s so emotional!
Previously, Hopper, Joyce (Winona Ryder), and Murray (Brett Gelman) are able to escape
Russia with the help of Antonov (Tom Wlaschiha) and Yuri (Nikola Djuricko).
From there, they get help from one of Dr. Owens’ (Paul Reiser) associates, who brings
Hop and Joyce to the cabin.
While Eleven is in her room at the cabin, she’s shocked to see Hopper walk through
the door.
They share an adorable moment together and it’s really so great.
Joyce also reunites with Eleven and with her sons.
Stranger Things season 4 ending explained.
While Vecna had captured Nancy (Natalia Dyer) into his Mind Lair in the last episode, he
allows her to escape to inform her friends of his plan.
Nancy, along with Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Dustin
(Gaten Matarazzo), Max (Sadie Sink) Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Erica (Priah Ferguson)
realize that, much like how Max became paralyzed when she was taken to his Mind Lair, this
also leaves his physical form defenseless.
Knowing that they can essentially attack him while he's incapacitated, they gather weapons
and make their way to the otherworldly dimension.
After learning that she is responsible for banishing One (Jamie Campbell Bower) to the
Upside Down and turning him into Vecna, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) manages to revive her
telekinetic abilities.
This encounter also leads Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) to reveal his entire plan was to use
Eleven to contact One in the Upside Down, though this also occurs when the military
arrives at the facility in the desert, resulting in Brenner's death as Eleven uses her telekinetic
abilities to overpower her attackers.
Luckily, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Argyle
(Eduardo Franco) arrive to get her out of the situation.
Using her powers, Eleven discovers that Max realizes she is the final victim that Vecna
is after to open up a massive gateway between the Upside Down and Hawkins, and, given that
she's thousands of miles away, creates an impromptu isolation tank to project herself
back to where Max is using herself as bait.
Max's plan works, to some degree, though Nancy, Steve, and Robin are neutralized by treacherous
vines in the Upside Down, while Dustin and Eddie come under attack by demobats.
Eddie helps Dustin escape by drawing the bats away from him, though he earns fatal injuries
in doing so.
Despite Eleven's best efforts, Vecna confronts her and reveals that he connected with the
Mind Flayer in the Upside Down years ago, with that connection resulting in a grand
plan to bring the dark realm into the unsuspecting Indiana town.
While the nature of their symbiosis isn't entirely detailed, Vecna and the Mind Flayer
have both been using each other's powers in some capacity to orchestrate their master
plan.
ith both Eleven and Max in the clutches of Vecna, Mike appeals to Eleven back in the
real world, professing his love for her, which inspires her to overpower Vecna and free herself.
In doing so, she overpowers him in the Mind Lair, which goes on to free Nancy, Steve,
and Robin, allowing them to unleash shotgun rounds on Vecna's physical form before setting
him on fire.
Sadly, Max inadvertently left herself vulnerable in the encounter, as she earns broken limbs
before succumbing to a non-responsive coma.
Throughout all of this, Joyce (Winona Ryder), Hopper (David Harbour), and Murray (Brett
Gelman) manage to briefly defeat a demogorgon in Russia, though this comes with the reveal
that the prison holding Hopper captive also housed a number of other demogorgons and demodogs.
Even though they could potentially escape and save themselves, they choose to return
to the facility to kill off the deadly threats, ultimately taking them all on using guns,
flamethrowers, and swords.
Even though Vecna was seemingly defeated in a physical sense, he still manages to carry
out his plan, as violent and fiery rifts open in Hawkins and cause immense damage to the
town.
As all of our heroes descend on Hawkins, local authorities claim that the event was a major
earthquake, while some members of the community still claim it was the result of Satanic cults
in the area.
The final moments of the season finale show an eerie ash falling from the sky, with the
characters discovering a spread of death and decay mirroring the Upside Down in the nearby
meadow.
As they look out over the town, they see mysterious smoke and flames, confirming that Vecna managed
to succeed in his plans.
While most of his friends are seemingly relieved by the defeat of Vecna, Will feels a chill
on his neck, confirming that he can still feel his existence, hinting at the villain's
return in a nightmarish Hawkins for Season 5.
The final two episodes of Stranger Things Season 4 are the series at its most emotional,
action-packed, and tension-filled.
There are as many thrills as you could hope for, but also quite a few lovely, tender moments
between characters we’ve come to care so much about.
There are so many series-best performances that it’s hard to single out any in particular,
but it’s especially nice to see Noah Schnapp’s Will get a bit more attention than he did
in Part 1.
It still ends up feeling a tad bit unwieldy – a hard thing to avoid when juggling this
many characters and storylines – but ultimately, these four hours pack in just about everything
a Stranger Things fan could ask for.