STRANGER THINGS Season 4 Ending Explained | Vol...

STRANGER THINGS Season 4 Ending Explained | Volume 2 Review, Breakdown And ST 5 Predictions

Netflix has just dropped the second volume of Stranger Things Season 4. Our Ending Explained is now here for the full season and throughout this video, we’re gonna be going through the plot, and final few scenes and we’ll also be giving our thoughts on the finale. Jump back to our Volume 1 Ending Explained if you need a refresh.

It’s time to Vecna-self before you wreck yourself one last time so let’s turn it up to Eleven and get into this mammoth of a finale that turns the entire show upside down.

Full spoilers from here on out and with that out the way, thanks for clicking this, now let’s get into Stranger Things Season 4.

We last left a lot of our characters at pivotal moments in the show. Joyce had managed to make it out to Hopper out in Russia, Eleven’s trip through Nina uncovered a big secret about Number One and elsewhere Nancy got stuck in his domain as she learned the truth about him.

We start off exactly where the last episode left off and huge shoutouts to Katy Leigh for pointing out that during the face-off between Vecna and Eleven that the rainbow actually flipped upside down when it went to him. This traumatic moment in her life is recalled and also brought back her powers which are now arguably stronger than ever, matching how Vecna has grown as well.

Rainbow is upside down in the mirror, representing The Upside Down

This feud continues throughout the two episodes with Vecna actually letting Nancy go and freeing her instead of the music box being used as we theorised.

Hopper’s Escape

Speaking of being freed, we cut to Hopper and Co who discover a lab attached to the prison that contains the elements of Mindflayer particles called The Shadow.

Rather than fleeing back to the US though, Hopper and the gang decide to stay behind in Russia to destroy the Upside Down monsters that exist in the prison. Come the end of the Season Hopper makes it back to Hawkins and this is the true father and daughter relationship that Brenner and El’s was only a shadow of. Love being empowering is very much a theme throughout this season and therefore I think that now Hop it’ll empower Eleven beyond what she already has. She says goodbye to one father figure in this entry and therefore I think Hop’s more positive influence on her will be crucial to defeating Vecna next time.

Vecna and the Mind Flayer

Now we discover that Vecna and The Mindflayer connected in the Upside Down when he was sent there by Eleven. Vecna ended up manipulating the creature and he then turned the shadow particles into the creature.

We learn that he moulded it and sent the beast into Hawkins, creating somewhat symbiosis with it This symbiosis is something that we’ve witnessed throughout the seasons and the Flayer of course took over Will in Season 2.

Come to the end of the season, Will says that Vecna is still alive and though he no longer has a physical form he still exists out there.

It’s possible that Vecna could even have become shadow particles himself and this is how he’s still out there though his body could be as well.

Even though he is beaten, the tear he was attempting to build ravages Hawkins, destroying several parts of the town. The official story is that this devastation was caused by an earthquake though there are people that believe it was a satanic cult and that the Hellfire club were involved.

Vecna's tear through Hawkins

This doorway into hell idea is thought of as just a conspiracy theory at the moment but the truth of the matter will likely come out soon.

Areas of Hawkins start to wither away and die, ending up decayed in darkness like the Upside Down.

The dimension is slowly starting to bleed into Hawkins beyond what’s come before and it might actually take the death of a certain someone who created the rift to close it once and for all. When Eleven sent Number 1 into the Upside Down, this entire thing began and therefore I think El’s death might actually be a necessity to shut things off for good.

Dr Brenner’s Intentions

Now we also discover Dr Brenner’s true intention in these episodes and it turns out he had a secret agenda this entire time. Like Netflix always tells us, trust No One and whether it’s Squid Game, this or Umbrella Academy I think it’s hilarious how this kinda keeps popping up.

I suppose Umbrella Academy One wasn’t that bad.

Anyway, after Dr Owens has a change of heart, Brenner turns against the legend and his true plan is revealed.

Turns out that through Eleven he actually wanted to try and find a way to connect with Vecna once more. Though he survived the Demogorgon attack in the first season, this time there’s no mistaking that he’s killed once and for all. Brenner is shot by a military sniper and Eleven goes Force Unleashed on the chopper that shoots him, cementing how much she’s grown to match Vecna.

Eleven destroys a helicopter

She needs this strength too as his connection with the shadow particles will make him more powerful than ever and he might not even go forth himself for Season 5. Just in the same way that Brenner helped Eleven to grow her abilities, the darkness on the upside has helped Vecna and therefore I think a powerful emotion like love will be needed to stop it.

Brenner has a Mask-esque death scene. He calls Eleven his family, saying that he only wanted what was best for her. However, that was a f**king lie and he very much had ulterior motives that were constantly driving him. El shows her true feelings towards him in the end and though she could say something like ‘I love you, Papa.’ She gives a pretty cold goodbye.

Again as I touched upon earlier, this death will likely leave her feeling empty and therefore Hopper’s return will fill this void and empower her to go to the next level. The battle at the prison is brilliant and watching the group take on Demodogs and Demogorgons is a great action subplot, that though a bit distracting when you are watching the main fights, still works well.

Now Eleven is rescued by Mike and the gang and learning that she created the big threat in Hawkins makes her realise she needs to save the world.

 

Elsewhere

Will reveals his painting which is a Dungeons and Dragon-esque picture with the group fighting a red three beast, of course playing on Vecna. Mike is labelled as the heart and come on Will, just tell him mate.

David Harbour also gets to tout off his Christian Bale weight loss programme and he and Joyce almost get it on.

Hunting Vecna

Across the country, the other group of pals mount up and after talking to Nancy they realise that Vecna likely becomes paralysed when he’s astral projecting. They head out to defeat him and as always we get some awesome 80s movie nods along the way.

They arm up at Warzone and the advert for this contains a character that looks like Rambo. Max also wears a Michael Myers mask and she dressed up as the character for Halloween in Season 2.

The group split up and Max leads some to the Creel house whilst the rest go with my boy Steve.

He and the group climb into The Upside Down through Eddie’s trailer. The plan is they lure Vecna out throughout using Max as bait and whilst he’s paralysed take him down. and Eleven and the gang make an impromptu Nina up in a freezer and put in place what they need to do to help Eleven carry out her psychic battle.

Now Max’s plan works when she really plays up her feelings of guilt and after he appears as Lucas it once more puts her into the trance that she experienced in that banger episode in the graveyard. Absolute banger.

Now though the plan starts to fall into place Steve and the gang are attacked by the vines whilst the bats swarm Eddie and Dustin. This leads to another big death in the season as Eddie gives the final performance of his life.

Eddie Munsen playing guitar

Great scene of him sacrificing himself where he decides to be the hero to save Dustin and though I hated seeing him go, was a nice end to his arc in which he learned to stop running up that road…running that hill. Eddie felt cowardly after fleeing earlier in the season and even though he’s a newbie this was the biggest death for me in this entry. It hit hard when it happened but damn, watching Dustin hand over the plectrum…man that wrecked me.

Eleven arrives in the Upside Down to battle it out with Vecna and she saves Max at the last moment. She gets tied up and in the first moment of compassion in his life, Eleven actually reaches out to Henry and tries to talk about Brenner.

She blames him for turning him into the monster he’s become but instead, he discusses what happened when he arrived in the Upside Down. Vecna of course wanted to wipe humanity out to save us from our dull and meaningless lives and here he found a world untouched by humanity.

The Mind Flayer became that way that he could transform into the predator he’d always been born to be. Vecna ended up creating it and we get it confirmed that it’s always been him. His psychic abilities and the combination of the creatures allowed him to enact his plan to find Eleven and harness her powers. Initially, he did want her at his side but now he just wants her to watch.

Mike professes his love to Eleven, similar to Lucas and this further pushes her to break free of Vecna’s grasp. He also says she can fly and move mountains, and later they reference Super girl potentially hinting toward some more powers being developed in Season 5.

Vecna starts to levitate Max to kill her but at the last moment, El breaks free and saves Max before she can become the Twister world champion.

Killing the Monsters

Murray burns the monsters out in Russia and due to the hive mind that the Upside Down has, Nancy’s group is freed. Nancy and the gang destroy Vecna’s body and get ready to see Running Up That Hill go to Number One, again and again, because this scene BANGS. After going Sarah Conner on him Vecna is burned alive further tying back to the Freddie Krueger iconography. This is how Freddie was killed, he of course attacked people in dreams and Robert Englund made a cameo in the season.

Nancy shoots Vecna

However, we get somewhat of a Halloween ending to Vecna’s arc with his body not being there when they go to check.

To make matters worse, being this close to death leaves Max blinded and broken. She’s left in a coma come the final closing few scenes and it’s difficult to say whether she’ll stay this way or not. Her eyes make it seem like she’s blinded and Creel senior of course suffered from something similar making me believe that she may even end up staying this way. Technically Max died but she’s on the road to recovery and I hope those broken legs heal and she can keep running up that road, running up that hill.

The Creel house tears itself in two and this wipes out not only Jason but also most of the town. This gave me a lot of IT vibes and in the book, upon the defeat of Pennywise, most of Derry was destroyed. This was downplayed for the movie but there were major incidents of flooding and several citizens were killed when Pennywise perished which I believe they took inspiration from.

This tear ends up opening the quote-unquote doorway into hell and the community bands together. We get a hint of some romance between Vicki and Robyn, a hint towards a future with Nancy and Steve.

Now Will goes off into a chilling speech about how Vecna is still out there, desperately seeking everything and everyone. He’s likely gonna cause more psychic issues with Eleven who is now trying to reach out to Max through other means.

It’s even possible that he might exist in some form through Max as he entered her brain and could be being kept alive through that. I think it would be a big twist to learn that he’ll stay alive as long as she is and it could take us into some really dark territory.

We also get another Coca-Cola reference with several of these showing up throughout the season.

 

Closing Scenes

Hopper returns with Joyce after getting some help and though it should be a happy ending. Dark clouds close in with the dust from the Upside Down falling.

Will grabbing his neck also signifies that Vecna and The Mind Flayer are close and this cloud of darkness blankets the entire area.

Hawkins is in danger

Now going forward I think we will watch as the Upside Down merges with Hawkins and as I talked about earlier this bleed will cause the entire area to decay and die. The clouds that shoot up into the air end up looking like the Mind Flayer and it signals the villain’s arrival next time.

It’s important to bear in mind (flayer) is how Vecna very much views himself as being and thus losing his body could make him become his final form. The Upside Down also exists with a hive mind so it makes sense that even in death, one’s consciousness could shift around.

What Can Eleven Do?

Now the rifts and doorways can be closed by Eleven, she’s only managed to do small ones before so I think that this could likely cost her her life. The whole series is built up around the idea of sacrifice to save the ones that someone loves and I think Eleven dying to finally close the gateways once and for all will, unfortunately, be something that needs to be done.

This casualty of war will take her ability to open doorways along with her and with Vecna and The Mind Flayer both being psychic beings I can sadly see that being how things close out.

There is also the possibility that she survives which I would much prefer. I could actually see them doing something where it seems like she died but we learn she’s actually on the other side of the Upside Down and locked herself in on the way out. This would be a cliffhanger that would give us some hope, Lots of possibilities going forward and I’d obviously love to hear what you think.

 

Season Review

Now as for my thoughts on the whole season, I have to say I really loved it. For as strong as the other seasons are this felt like a massive step up and it’s arguably up there as being one of the best seasons of a show ever. What’s more impressive is that we’re four deep and whereas a lot of shows would be falling off by now this continued to get better every episode. I think a lot of its strength comes from the horror elements and through having Vecna as a villain. In the past, the series has suffered slightly when it comes to them as they’ve been monsters such as the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer. Though they’re intimidating they don’t have that human side to them that allows them to actually have a character and making Vecna someone who was originally human was an inspired choice I think.

So yeah, nailed it on the villain for the series.

Now on top of this, the group have all really come into their own and throughout the entry, there have been some brilliant arcs where they’ve really had to grow as people. Hopper surviving the Gulag was enthralling, Eleven having to take a trip down memory lane to confront her past was inspired and some so many people have been expanded upon in really interesting ways.

There’s also the general production of the show. This feels so cinematic throughout it and you can definitely feel the amount of time and effort that they’ve put into it. The budget is really on display here and I think it’s one of those shows that transcends TV. Haven’t really got much to criticise about it and normally when episodes are super long like this I’d bash the length or pace of them but I don’t even really have an issue with that when it’s this gripping.

Turning into a f**king shill, gonna be a shillionaire by the end of this and Netflix just back up the money truck cos Kevin Spoilers is about to spoil himself with a spoiler spending spree.

Nah but really great show, my only complaint is that it’s over so fast and hopefully in the future, Netflix set up weekly releases. I know the conversation is split on this but for as good as it is I’d be happy to spend a couple of months in Hawkins when it’s this high quality.

Stranger Things Season 4 was excellent and it gets a 9.5/10

I’d of course love to hear your thoughts so make sure you comment below or over on Twitter.

 

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