In case you are like us and are still pondering what it all means, here’s the ending of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 explained.
A strange murder brings about a new mystery
Going into Season 4, the biggest question is, “Who is Vecna?” Trailers revealed the first look at the new villain, whose humanistic characteristics and menace make him much scarier than even the Mind Flayer. Haunting Hawkins, Indiana from the Upside Down, Vecna is able to enter the minds of students in the small town and torment them until he kills them, starting with the innocent cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien). Her death leads police to point the finger at the alternative, Dungeons & Dragons-loving Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), who is with Chrissy when she is supernaturally murdered. But, of course, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), and the rest of the main crew instantly know that something more sinister than plain murder is going on here. Netflix
We learn who (but not what) Vecna really is
Throughout Season 4 Volume 1, Vecna and his backstory are a major mystery, even as Max ventures into his realm of the Upside Down. Then, a surprising storyline gives us the answer. As Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)—whose time in California is riddled with bullying and loneliness—tries to get her abilities back, she meets Vecna before he became the creepy red creature. As it turns out, Vecna is originally just a boy named Henry Creel (played by Raphael Luce as a child) whose family moves to Hawkins. Okay, so maybe he’s not “just a boy,” given he appears to be born with strange mental abilities that he quickly starts experimenting with, basically haunting his own family. Eventually, Creel kills his mother and sister, with his father barely surviving the encounter. In the aftermath of the horrific murders, Creel is taken to Hawkins Lab by none other than Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), where he grows up as One, developing his powers. But one mystery remains—why does Creel have powers in the first place?
Eleven faces her past trauma to regain her powers
Years after One first goes to Hawkins Lab, a young Eleven meets One as a friendly orderly (played by Jamie Campbell Bower). She has no clue who he is or what he’s capable of, and so One manipulates Eleven into removing a chip that prevents him from using his abilities. Finally free of Brenner’s control, One goes on a massacre in Hawkins Lab, a crime that Eleven initially believes is her doing. Facing the dark memory, she sees the truth: One kills almost everyone in Hawkins Lab and then asks her to join him. In response, the young and extremely powerful Eleven literally tears him apart. Unfortunately, this sends One to the Upside Down, where he is put back together as Vecna. Now, Eleven has control of her powers again, but only time will tell if she’s strong enough to defeat Vecna again in his new state. Netflix While Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 reveals how Vecna ends up in the Upside Down, we still have no idea how or why Creel has powers in the first place, or how exactly he is reborn in the Upside Down. Hopefully, some of these mysteries will be solved in Season 4 Volume 2.
Will, Mike, Jonathan, and Argyle head to Hawkins
For all of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1, Will (Noah Schnapp) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are away from the rest of the group in California. They are soon joined by Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who comes for spring break, and Jonathan’s new friend Argyle (Eduardo Franco). The time spent worrying about relationship trouble and other natural teen drama is interrupted when a hostile government faction arrives and shoots at the home trying to kill Eleven, who they believe is responsible for the deaths in Hawkins. Luckily, the group escapes, but the men guarding them don’t. On his deathbed, Agent Harmon (Ira Amyx) leaves them with a phone number as a clue for the Nina Project. In order to figure out what the number means, the group enlists the help of Dustin’s genius girlfriend, Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), and she gets them the location of where Eleven is. Season 4 Volume 1 ends with the group heading to Nevada, where the Nina Project’s bunker is. But can they get there before the government faction does?
Joyce Byers and Murray rescue Jim Hopper in Russia
Throughout the new episodes, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) pretends to be happy in California with her sons and Eleven, but it’s pretty obvious how much she misses Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Then one day, she receives a box postmarked from Russia and inside is a doll. With the help of Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), she finds a strange note talking about Hopper and referencing the date that the couple planned before he disappeared at the end of Season 3, something only Hopper could know. Following the note’s instructions, Joyce and Murray fly to Alaska with a bunch of money as part of a deal, so that a man named Yuri (Nikola Djuricko) and a Russian prison guard named Dmitri Antonov (Tom Wlaschiha) will free Hopper from the prison he’s being held in. Netflix Well, things don’t exactly go according to plan, with betrayals, tricks, and a Demogorgon in the mix, and Joyce and Murray must infiltrate the Russian prison themselves. Luckily, they succeed, and Joyce, Hopper, and Murray are reunited. Now, they just have to get out of the prison and Russia alive.
Max, Lucas, and Dustin finally reunite as friends
At the end of Stranger Things Season 3, Max watches her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) sacrifice himself to the Mind Flayer to save Hawkins, and at the start of Season 4, she has definitely not faced the trauma. Max is closely watched by the high school’s guidance counselor, Ms. Kelly (Regina Ting Chen), who urges her to talk about her problems with her. While dealing with all of this, she pulls away from the others, even breaking up with Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin). Adding to that, Dustin and Mike are feeling disconnected from Lucas because the latter is really involved with the school basketball team. But thankfully, investigating Vecna and fighting to save Hawkins once more brings them back together as friends. It’s about time too, as they need all the help they can get to stop Vecna and whatever else is going on in the Upside Down, as Vecna almost succeeds in making Max his next victim. But thanks to her friends (and Kate Bush), Max is safe, at least for now.
Robin, Eddie, Steve, and Nancy visit the Upside Down
Another major team-up in Season 4 Volume 1 is Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), Eddie, and Nancy. Working with Dustin, Lucas, and Max, the group realizes that everywhere Vecna kills someone, he opens a gate to the Upside Down. So, of course, they head right over to the nearest one, which happens to be at the bottom of a lake. After swimming down and confirming that it exists, Steve gets pulled through the portal by some creature. As fearless as ever, Nancy follows him, and so Robin and Eddie do the same. After saving Steve, the group realizes that they have arrived in a strange, past version of Hawkins. To try to get back home, they head to the Wheeler house, where Nancy realizes that they can connect with the others in the normal world through the same light manipulation trick that Will does in Season 1. So, using a Lite Brite, they communicate the plan to head to Eddie’s trailer, where the first gate opened up after Chrissy’s death. Netflix There, Robin and Eddie are able to scramble through the gate to the real world, and just as Nancy is moving to do the same, Vecna pulls her into a trance, using Nancy’s guilt for Barb’s (Shannon Purser) death to influence her. This is where Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 ends. The creators of the Netflix series, the Duffer brothers, really know how to create a suspenseful cliffhanger, and in this case, there are a few of them. While Eleven has her powers back, she’s still in the bunker, where the government is heading to try to kill her. Meanwhile, Nancy is in Vecna’s trance, with Steve and the others scrambling to save her. Do you think everyone will make it through Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 alive? Check it out on July 1. Next, 7 Burning Questions We Have After Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1
