STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

Hold onto your butts, brochachos, because Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 is here! Fans had been waiting almost three years for new episodes of the addicting sci-fi show to come out, and the time has come. In the early hours of May 27, we finally got the first seven episodes of the highly-anticipated season, and let me just say they are worth the wait. This is by far the biggest season, with more thrills, horror, and of course, emotional moments. I don’t want to speak too soon, but this might be my favorite season of Stranger Things yet. It’s positively epic!

Below, we break down the first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 4, recapping the biggest moments and explaining everything you need to know. We hope you’re enjoying the new season as much as we are! Without further ado, let’s get into our recap guide below.

MAJOR spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4 part 1.

STRANGER THINGS. Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

The premiere of Stranger Things season 4 is absolutely bonkers. It opens up with a flashback scene showing Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) back in the Rainbow Room with Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) and the other children. The first eight minutes, which happens to be the opening before the theme song plays, were released to the public last Friday and shocked fans. Here’s why.

We get to see Dr. Brenner doing a few tests with Number Ten, which is nothing out of the ordinary. But things quickly get intense when they hear gunshots and screaming. Another worker at the Hawkins Lab informs Brenner that “something’s wrong,” and seconds later, the door flies off and knocks Brenner unconscious. When he wakes up, everyone at the lab is dead until he gets to the Rainbow Room. He sees a young Eleven there with blood all over her hospital gown and blood dripping from her eyes. It appears that she killed everyone!

It seems so at this point in the show. Dr. Brenner thinks she’s the murderer as he looks horrified and asks her what she’s done. Eleven just looks really scary and doesn’t answer. When we get to this scene, it definitely feels like El killed everyone. But since we didn’t see what happened, we don’t know… yet. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to this!

We then cut to the theme song and after that, we’re onto present-day. Eleven is living in California and writing a letter to Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who’s still back in Hawkins. She explains in her voiceover that Joyce (Winona Ryder) has a new job working from home, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) has been busy smoking and waiting to hear back from college, and Jonathan’s new friend Argyle (Eduardo Franco) drives them to school. Will (Noah Schnapp) is keeping to himself and painting a lot. El claims that she’s happy now in Lenora Hills, California. But what she doesn’t tell Mike is that she’s actually severely bullied at school. Spring Break soon and she and Mike will be reunited at last.

As for what’s going on back in Hawkins, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) are still dating in a long-distance relationship, while Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) are still super close friends. Max (Sadie Sink) is an outcast now, having shut out her friends and even breaking up with Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). And for Lucas’ part, he’s part of the basketball team now and is on his way to becoming popular.

While Lucas branches out to sports, Mike and Dustin are part of the Dungeons & Dragons group at school called The Hellfire Club. It’s run by Stranger Things newcomer Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), who’s a super fun character fans are bound to fall in love with.

Joyce gets a mysterious package sent to her out in California, and she notices the stamps look to be from Russia. She quickly opens it up and finds a Russian doll. Creepy, or a sign from Hopper (David Harbour)? We’ll find out soon enough.

Eleven goes by Jane at school, and we see just how badly she’s treated when she presents a project about Hopper. A popular girl named Angela (Elodie Grace Orkin) picks on her, and Will doesn’t even defend her. It’s so sad! Elsewhere in the episode, El tries to use her powers on Angela and they don’t work. It’s a super cringe-worthy moment because everyone thinks El is weird.

Max sees the school counselor, Miss Kelly (Regina Ting Chen), though she seems hesitant to open up. We learn that she’s still grieving the death of her step-brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery), understandably, and that her mom has been drinking and working two jobs. They also had to move into a trailer park which hasn’t been the best for Max. In the hallway, Max sees Lucas who asks her to come to his basketball game. They have a bit of an argument and Lucas says she’s been acting like a “ghost.”

Their split takes place before season 4 splits, but it seems pretty obvious Max and Lucas drifted apart after Billy’s death. Max is withdrawn and wants to be alone, while it seems Lucas didn’t know and still doesn’t know how to deal with that. She says she’s changed, which is probably true. She’s different now after the events of the season 3 finale.

Max seems to have a headache as she pops some Tylenol and when she’s in the bathroom, she hears a girl in one of the stalls in distress. It’s the popular cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien), who tells Max she’s fine. Max leaves the bathroom and we see that everything is definitely not fine. There’s pounding on the door and we hear a woman’s voice talking to Chrissy. The lights flicker in and out, and then some sort of monster appears outside the stall. Its voice is distorted, first sounding like Chrissy’s mom and then something entirely different. Then it disappears.

We get to know Eddie a little bit better in the lunch room when he talks about Dungeons & Dragons and how Mike and Dustin will have to take charge of the group once he graduates. They have a game that night and they’ll be facing “the curse of Vecna,” which is a pretty big deal to everyone.

Desperate for answers, Joyce calls up Murray (Brett Gelman) and asks for help with the Russian doll. He suggests she should smash it open to find out if there’s a wire tap or anything else inside it. Later on in the episode, Joyce is able to safely smash the doll and sees a note inside. The letter claims Hopper is alive!

Although Mike is visiting Eleven for Spring Break, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) won’t be spending time together, surprisingly. We get to see Nancy’s classmate Fred (Logan Riley Bruner), who she works on the school newspaper with, pester her about why Jonathan isn’t coming to visit, meanwhile Argyle keeps asking Jonathan why Nancy isn’t visiting California. They both have excuses, but it’s obvious there might be trouble in paradise for the couple.

Chrissy is still feeling troubled and we see her walk across the school field alone and into the woods. She sees a grandfather clock randomly placed on a tree and calls out to see if anyone’s there. The clock’s glass then breaks and spiders begin to crawl out of it. Spooky! Eddie appears and the clock is gone.

Eddie’s there to sell Chrissy weed, and she tells him she feels like she’s “losing [her] mind.” They have a cute conversation about knowing each other in middle school despite the two being completely different today. She asks him if he has anything stronger than weed to sell her.

That night, Mike and Dustin recruit Erica (Priah Ferguson) to play Dungeons & Dragons while Lucas is busy with the school basketball team. Despite Eddie’s hesitation to allow her to play, Erica is able to prove herself and it’s a fantastic game!

By the end of the episode, Max watches as Eddie and Chrissy go into his trailer. Eddie explains to Chrissy that he lives with his uncle, and while he goes to find stronger drugs, Chrissy is confronted again by the monster. She sees her mom with glowing eyes and black skin, trying to hurt her. She’s transported to her own home in a vision, and sees her dad with his mouth and eyes stitched closed. It’s chilling! Eddie sees Chrissy and tries to snap her out of it, as she’s clearly in a trance.

The lights in the trailer start flashing on and off again, and we hear the voice of the new villain Vecna say: “It’s time for your suffering to end.” He touches Chrissy’s face in the other dimension, and in reality Eddie watches as she starts levitating. She’s soon up on the ceiling as all of her bones start bending back and breaking. Her eyes pop out of her head and just like that, she’s dead. Eddie is understandably beyond freaked out.

We don’t really understand it then, but Vecna is able to kill Chrissy from the Upside Down. That’s how the episode ends, concluding what might just be the best Stranger Things premiere ever!

STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

We get another huge scene in episode 2 as we finally find out how Hopper survived the explosion at the Starcourt Mall from season 3! In a flashback scene from Hop’s “death,” we watch as he jumps out of the way just as everything’s blowing up. He ends up somewhere on the ground, not in the Upside Down.

Later in the episode, we see Hop climb the latter back up, only to be confronted by the Russians. They knock him out, tie him up, and ask him who he works for. Of course, he doesn’t work for anyone who wants information on the Russians, he was only there to close the gate to the Upside Down. But the Russians don’t believe him, and they torture him. They take him back to Russia.

Max wakes up in a panic in present-day and takes more Tylenol, only to see cops arrive at Eddie’s.

Mike arrives in California and he’s greeted by Eleven, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle at the airport. Will and Mike are super awkward for some reason, and it seems obvious that Will feels excluded with Mike and Eleven together. He’s definitely third-wheeling, which is a sucky feeling. Eleven lies to Mike about having friends, which confuses Will. Meanwhile, Murray arrives in California, too.

Lucas wakes up super hangover after the basketball game alongside his teammates. They watch the news and see that a student had been killed, though reporters don’t disclose the name yet. Chrissy was dating one of the basketball players, Jason (Mason Dye), and he’s there watching in fear. Chrissy was supposed to come hang out with them the previous night, but never showed. The police then arrive, making the situation even more concerning for the team.

Over at school, the yearbook club is also watching the news. Nancy has the idea to go investigate the crime scene, and she and Fred head over there. On their ride over, Nancy admits there’s something going on with her and Jonathan.

Dustin’s watching the news with his mom when Max comes over and tells him about seeing Eddie and Chrissy together. Max says Eddie is the prime suspect, though Dustin dismisses the possibility. She also explains that weird stuff started happening to her the night before, such as her lights flickering and hearing a scream. She looked out her window at one point and saw a terrified Eddie get into his car and frantically drive away. That prompts the question — did something else kill Chrissy? They know only Eddie will have the answers.

Murray arrives at the Byers’ place and reads the letter with Joyce. According to the note, the sender doesn’t want the government involved but claims Hopper is alive. The person also signed it “Enzo,” which fans know is the name of the restaurant that Joyce and Hop almost went to for their date that never happened. The letter lists a phone number, so Joyce and Murray know the only way they’ll find anything else out is by calling.

When they call, a man in a pay phone in Russia picks up, answering by the name of Enzo. He asks Joyce for a deposit of $40,000, explaining if she goes to Alaska and gives the money to someone named Yuri (Nikola Đjuričko), she’ll get Hopper back. He states that Hopper is “stuck,” but if he gets the money, he’ll make him “unstuck.”

Mike, Eleven, and Will head out rollerblading and Will confronts Eleven on why she’s been lying about having friends and being popular. He tells her Mike will be mad once he finds out. Angela arrives and sees Mike and Eleven together, which prompts her to plan a big prank.

Back in Hawkins, Jason is questioned by the police about what he did last night and eventually is told that Chrissy was the student who was murdered.

Max and Dustin go to the video store where Steve and Robin work to establish a “base of operations.” They start looking up Eddie’s friend’s phone numbers to try and find him, filling Steve and Robin in on everything in the process.

Nancy and Fred get to the trailer park and lie to the police to get in by saying they want to check in on Max. A really freaky sequence then happens, as the cop tells Fred he knows him and that Fred killed a kid in a crash. He points out the scar on his face, and then his voice becomes distorted. Bugs appear on his face and he calls Fred a murderer. Vecna, is that you?

Jonathan and Argyle have a serious conversation about Nancy, where Jonathan says he felt a little relieved she didn’t get off the plane with Mike. As it turns out, Jonathan was accepted to Lenora Hills Community College where Argyle is going, and wants to go there, too. He no longer wants to go to Emory University with Nancy, explaining he can’t leave Will and Joyce alone. He says he doesn’t want a dream that isn’t his. Argyle advices him to tell Nancy the truth.

Over at the rollerblading rink, Angela goes up to Eleven and Mike and is fake nice to them. She grabs Eleven and takes her skating, meanwhile another popular kid is recording. You already know something bad is about to happen. As Will fills Mike in on Eleven’s reality, explaining that she actually doesn’t have friends and is bullied, the popular kids play a mean prank on her. They circle around her and one of them throws a milkshake at her, which causes her to fall down.

As the United States Army arrives in Hawkins to try and figure out how Chrissy was murdered in such an unusual way, Jason takes matters into his own hands. He blames her murder on Eddie, naturally, and says The Hellfire Club is a cult. He thinks that Eddie believes he’s actually living the game in real life. Despite this belief, Eddie is definitely not the one to kill Chrissy. That would be Vecna’s doing.

Finally, Max finds a lead at the video store after finding out Eddie gets his drugs from someone named Reefer Rick. Steve suggests going to the cops with this information, but they shut him down. Robin looks up all the Ricks in the system who rent videos from the store, and finds someone named Rick Lipton who had rented Fast Times at Ridgemont High and multiple Cheech and Chong movies. Of course, that has to be him!

Over at the trailer park, Nancy tries to interview people about what happened to Chrissy and starts talking to Eddie’s uncle Wayne (Joel Stoffer). He tells Nancy that Eddie wouldn’t kill anyone, and that whoever committed the murder is evil. He mentions Victor Creel (Robert Englund), a man who allegedly killed his family and cut out their eyes years ago. Creel is now living in the Pennhurst Mental Hospital. Wayne compares him to Michael Myers, which is really frightening.

Meanwhile, Fred walks into the woods near the trailer park and sees a grandfather clock on the ground. He seems to be hypnotized, and then sees a group of really creepy people in black standing behind him. One of the girls points her fingers at him and calls him a murderer.

Mike and Will try to find Eleven at the roller rink but she’s off hiding. She does come out soon, however, and confronts Angela. She tells Angela to tell Mike that they’re actually friends, to which Angela makes a terrible joke about Hopper being dead. Out of rage, Eleven grabs a rollerblade from someone sitting nearby and smacks Angela in the face. She starts bleeding profusely, and Mike and Will show up. Mike asks Eleven what she did, which gives her flashbacks to Dr. Brenner asking her the same question in the Rainbow Room.

Max, Dustin, Robin, and Steve arrive at Reefer Rick’s house and notice a shed out back. Eddie appears and explains everything that happened. Of course, given all their experience with the Upside Down, they believe Eddie and share with him everything they’ve gone through in Hawkins.

Back at the trailer park, Nancy can’t find Fred and lets the police officer know he’s missing. We see Fred walk out of the woods into the road only to find a car flipped over and on fire. He then falls into what appears to be a grave and can’t climb out. Vecna appears and tells him he wants Fred to “join [him],” as we see Fred out in the street levitating. Fred is killed the same way as Chrissy and then see Vecna in a house waking up.

What becomes apparent in this episode is that previously, Fred killed someone in a car accident and fled the scene. Vecna uses this against him to lure him in and murder him. It’s wild!

STRANGER THINGS. Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

We get transported to another location in episode 3 when it opens up in Ruth, Nevada. Lt. Colonel Sullivan (Sherman Augustus) from the Army shows up at Dr. Sam Owens’ (Paul Reiser) place looking for answers. Even though Owens doesn’t work at Hawkins Lab anymore, the Army thinks Eleven is still alive and believes she’s responsible for the murder of Chrissy. They raid Owens’ house trying to find her.

Over at the roller rink, EMTs arrive to care for Angela and it’s a big scene. Argyle and Jonathan pick the kids up and try to make Eleven feel better about what she did. It’s an awkward car ride as El is clearly ashamed and Mike is disappointed in her. When they get home, Murray’s there making dinner and he acts like he happened to be in the area.

Over dinner, Joyce tells everyone that she has a work trip coming up in Alaska and asks Jonathan to be in charge. Everyone’s surprised about Joyce’s trip, and she decides not to fill them in about Hopper. The next morning, Will and Mike make waffles for Eleven but she won’t come out of her room. Mike finally goes to talk to her and she tells him he doesn’t understand what she’s feeling. She thinks she’s a monster, and confronts Mike about the fact that he can never tell her that he loves her.

Mike tells Eleven that she’s a superhero to which she doesn’t believe anymore because she doesn’t have her powers. The cops then arrive at the Byers and Eleven is arrested for what she did to Angela. Joyce and Murray are gone, so no one’s there to protect El besides Mike, Will, and Jonathan. Mike and El do not break up in season 4 volume 1, but this is the biggest fight they’ve ever had. Whenever they reunite, they’ll have a lot to talk about.

Back in Hawkins, the group brings Eddie food and tells him the cops think he killed Chrissy and they’re looking for him. They decide all they have to do is find Vecna, kill him, and prove Eddie’s innocence, which is obviously way easier said than done. Without Eleven, they don’t have much of a plan.

They meet up with Nancy at the trailer park and explain everything that’s happened, deciding to split up once Nancy has a hunch about something. She and Robin head to the library while Max, Dustin, and Steve head to the school counselor’s after they discover Chrissy was also going to her for sessions. Nancy wants to know more about Victor Creel and tells Robin she thinks he could be involved in the murders somehow.

While all of this is going on, the basketball team is out on a mission to find Eddie. Lucas joins them and they go to one of The Hellfire Club member’s homes to interrogate them. To Lucas’ horror, they give up Dustin’s name and the group decides to head to his house. When they get there, Lucas sneaks into Dustin’s room and calls his friends on the walkie talkie, to which Max tells him to come meet them at the school. Jason and the team find Lucas inside and question him. Trying to distract them, Lucas says he found a clue and knows where Eddie is hiding.

Eleven is questioned by the police, telling her that she gave Angela a concussion. When asked if she was trying to kill her, Eleven admits that she doesn’t know. They decide to transfer her to a juvenile hall, putting her in a van and driving her off. El looks out the back window and sees Mike in the street, devastated.

As for Hopper, he’s getting ready for his grand plan to escape to come together and asks a fellow prisoner to hit the shackles on his ankle with a hammer. Joyce and Murray arrive in Alaska to go meet this Yuri person. Later on, Hop takes a look at his ankle in his cell and it’s in really bad shape. He tries to move it around to remove the shackle, but it’s too painful. It seems like his plan is to dislocate his ankle so he can slide it out, but right now it’s just not possible.

Max goes to talk to Ms. Kelly to find out information about Chrissy, however she won’t tell her anything confidential. Disappointed, Max snoops around and steals something before running outside, urging Steve to drive fast out of there. Over at the school, they look through Ms. Kelly’s files and notice that she was also seeing Fred. There’s an obvious connection between all of Vecna’s victims.

As Eleven is being transferred by the van, cars start following them and corner them. A woman comes out of the car and asks to take El, and when they open the back doors, El tries to escape. However, she’s shocked to see Dr. Owens get out of the car and greet her.

We see Robin and Nancy researching at the library and they talk about Steve a bit. Robin wants to make sure Nancy knows there’s nothing romantic between them, though Nancy brushes it off. They pull up old issues of a newspaper called The Weekly Watcher, where they find an article about Victor Creel. Apparently, he believed his house was cursed by a demon at the time his family was killed.

We cut to a diner called the County Line Cafe where Dr. Owens is sitting with Eleven. He’s got a lot of explaining to do! He tells her that she’s not in trouble for the roller rink incident but instead sought her out because Hawkins is in danger. He describes the evil in the town as a virus that keeps getting stronger each time it returns. “A war is coming,” he tells El. The only way to save Hawkins once and for all is with Eleven’s help, but Owens assures her that it’s her choice. He could bring her back home if she wants, but she could also go with Owens.

Of course, a major concern for Eleven is that she lost her powers. How can she save Hawkins again if she doesn’t have them? Owens tells El that he thinks there’s a way for her to regain her powers, and that he’d been preparing for something like this. The Army believes Eleven is the cause for all of this evil, but Owens thinks she’s the cure. As the waitress comes by the table with their food, we see that they’ve already left, showing that she El agrees to go with him.

The final scene in the episode is back at the school, with Max learning more of the connections which link all of the victims together — and even link her to them. Fred and Chrissy had nose bleeds, nightmares, headaches, and were experiencing trauma before their deaths. This is the same thing Max is going through. She walks into the hallway and sees a grandfather clock on the wall before Vecna calls her name and his glowing blue eyes appear.

STRANGER THINGS (L to R) Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Sadie Sink as Max, Joe Keery as Steve, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

This episode is a big one for the season! It opens up with a couple of Dr. Owens’ colleagues going by the Byers house to let the boys know what’s going on with Eleven… sort of. They basically just give them the bare minimum information, which makes them really angry. Two agents are placed with the guys to watch over them and make sure they don’t try to go to Hawkins or find Eleven.

Robin and Nancy meet back up with the group at school, and Max explains her connection to Vecna’s victims. She thinks she might die tomorrow based on the timeline of Chrissy and Fred’s deaths. The group talks about how the Upside Down could’ve been around for millions of years for all the know, and wonder why Vecna would choose now to strike. Max starts writing letters to everyone, including one to Billy, as she prepares for her potential death.

Desperate for answers, Robin and Nancy create a plan to pretend they’re psychologists so they can get into Pennhurst and talk to Victor Creel. They meet a Dr. Hatch (Ed Amatrudo) at the asylum, who they surprisingly convince into letting them go meet Creel.

Over in Lenora Hills, Jonathan notices a Surfer Boy Pizza coupon on the fridge, which is where Argyle works, and hatches a plan for them to get out of there. He suggests to the agents that they should order pizza, and they agree. Jonathan hopes once Argyle arrives, he, Mike, and Will can escape. Elsewhere in the house, Mike talks to Will about his fight with Eleven, saying it felt more adult than ever before. He’s suspicious of whether or not Owens can actually protect El.

Meanwhile in Alaska, Joyce and Murray arrive at Fish and Fly to meet Yuri, who ends up being a complete goofball. They give him the $40,000, and are under the assumption he’ll help them get Hopper back.

It seems that way, but not in episode 4. Out in Russia, Hopper is in total escape mode as we watch him knock out a guard and start to get away. He hides in one of the sheds to get the chains off of him, but another guard finds him and they get into a physical fight. A gun goes off, which alerts all the other people around the shed, but Hop thinks fast. He sets off some dynamite as he climbs out of the top of the shed and it blows up just as he’s getting away.

Hop gets away to a nearby town and grabs a hidden key to a building. In there, he finds boxes of peanut butter to eat and a bed to lay on. It seems like he’s finally free! But is he? Not yet. Guards show up and capture him just as it’s revealed that Yuri actually betrayed them. He decided to reveal their plan to the Russian guards for more money. Back in Alaska, Joyce and Murray realize they’ve been drugged.

Max goes home to see her mom and gives her the letter she wrote her, which quickly turns into a really chilling scene. She startles her mom by asking “what if something happens to me?” and suddenly a dark cloud comes over them and her mom turns into Vecna as they’re hugging. “You’ve broken everything. Your time is almost at its end,” Vecna tells Max. It’s a scene straight out of a horror movie!

Robin and Nancy meet Creel, letting him know that they think whatever killed his family is back in Hawkins. We get an awesome flashback sequence here as Creel is recalling what happened all those years ago. We see a young Creel played by Ozark‘s Kevin L. Johnson who moves into his new home with his family. He says they had about one month of peace in that house until evil appeared. Dead animals started showing up, spiders were everywhere, and strange, unexplainable encounters started happening. Creel believes the house was cursed by a demon.

One fateful night, Creel was stuck in some type of trance and when he came back to reality, his wife and daughter were dead. They were killed in the same way Vecna kills Chrissy and Fred. Creel’s young son, Henry, however, was in a coma. He never confirms whether he lived or died.

Creel remembers thinking he heard an angel who was singing the song “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” and tried to follow her. But he was too late. While locked up for the murders, Creel tried to kill himself and ended up cutting out his own eyes. Though it’s widely believed he killed his family, we know that can’t be the truth. Not with what we know about Vecna.

When Nancy tries to ask about who the angel was, Hatch appears and says he knows she and Robin lied. They don’t have long to get out of there before the cops arrive.

Mike and Will have a cute moment as a car approaches the house, and they think it’s the pizza delivery. However, once one of the agents opens the door, members of the Army come in and start shooting. There’s a full on gunfight that’s so intense! Eventually, Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Agent Harmon are able to flee with the help of Argyle who shows up just at the right time. However, Harmon’s been shot and might not make it.

At Billy’s gravesite, Max reads her letter for him aloud. Darkness soon falls and she hears an eerie laugh. After watching her for a little bit with Dustin and Lucas in the car, Steve decides to go check on her to make sure she’s okay. When he gets over there, he realizes she’s in some sort of trance as her eyes are rolled up. From Max’s perspective, it seems like Vecna is playing mind tricks on her as she’s in the Upside Down and is confronted by Billy.

That’s right, Billy is in Stranger Things season 4! But he’s not brought back from the dead. Instead, Max sees a vision of Billy that Vecna creates in the Upside Down. He tells her that he thinks she feels relieved and happy that he’s dead, which Max denies. Billy then turns into Vecna and Max runs away, deeper into the Upside Down.

Dustin calls Robin and Nancy on the walkie talkie as they’re trying to avoid getting into trouble and escape Pennhurst. Nancy realizes that Creel’s mention of music has to be important, like listening to a pleasant song can bring someone back to reality if they’re under Vecna’s curse. When they finally reach each other over the radio, Nancy tells Dustin to play Max’s favorite song for her, as it might end up saving her.

Thankfully, Max does not die in Stranger Things season 4! Not in volume 1, anyway. In the Upside Down, she journeys further and further until she reaches Vecna’s home. He’s surprised to see her there and even seems a little annoyed she found him. But once her favorite song starts playing, “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, a portal opens up and she can see the real world.

In the real world, Max starts levitating and the guys are terrified just waiting to see what will happen. In her mind, Max sees all of her favorite memories from Hawkins and is able to get out from Vecna’s hold. She runs to the opening and enters reality again. The episode ends with her coming back to the real world, safe.

STRANGER THINGS (L to R) Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix � 2022

Episode 5 opens up with the Surfer Boy Pizza truck driving away as Agent Harmon is bleeding out in the back. Jonathan says they have to go to the hospital, but are surprised when Harmon says they should go find Dr. Owens because “the girl” a.k.a. Eleven is in danger. He mentions the name Nina, which confuses everyone because they don’t know a Nina. He tries to give them a number, but he doesn’t make it. He dies after handing out a pen he had, which the guys don’t think anything of yet. They notice a car is following them so Argyle has no choice but to drive off the road.

Meanwhile at the Byers’ place, the Army tears up their house and finds a note Eleven left for Mike which told him she was going to become a superhero again. They threaten the wounded agent who’s still there, demanding answers as to where Eleven is.

Eleven and Owens arrive in Nevada and go through a secret door in the middle of the desert to find Owens’ underground lab which he repurposed for this very occasion. Owens explains that the workers there left their lives and families because they believe in Eleven that much. The isolation tank machine they have is called Nina – which is what Agent Harmon was referring to earlier – and we get a surprise return from a character we haven’t seen in a long time.

Dr. Brenner is back and very much alive! He and Owens are working together, and unsurprisingly Eleven is horrified. She doesn’t trust Brenner and so she tries to run away, but the guards stop her and inject her with something to knock her out. “You’re home now,” Brenner says.

Out in Russia, Dmitri is now in prison alongside Hopper and explains to him that Yuri ratted them out. Now they’re out of luck, which makes Hopper very angry. Yuri plans to bring Joyce and Murray to Russia with the hopes of selling them and buying himself a new house. Later on, Hopper has a great monologue where he talks to Dmitri about feeling like he’s a curse. He recalls his daughter Sara’s death and his experience in the war. It’s really emotional! Dmitri tells him he’s heard rumors of a monster at the prison and says they’re going to die.

During one of the experiments at Owens’ lab in the isolation tank, Eleven starts to recall her memories. She wakes up in her “11” room back at Hawkins Lab, and walks to the Rainbow Room. Other kids are there and she starts talking to an orderly (Jamie Campbell Bower), who tells her not to go too far. This moment keeps playing on a loop as El refuses to recall more memories from this time.

Out in California, Argyle, Mike, Jonathan, and Will bury Agent Harmon’s body out in the desert. Argyle starts to freak out, meanwhile Mike and Will have a heart-to-heart. They realize the pen Harmon gave Mike doesn’t work, which is suspicious. They open it up and see there’s a phone number written on a piece of paper rolled up. But what phone number is it? Argyle drives them to a pay phone and Mike calls the number but it just makes weird noises, signaling to them that the number is actually for a computer. They realize they need someone super smart to help them hack it, and they’re off to Salt Lake City to visit Suzie!

One of Lucas’ basketball teammates, Patrick (Myles Truitt), starts being followed by Vecna as he sees a grandfather clock at Chrissy’s funeral. The team realizes that Lucas is part of The Hellfire Club and call it a cult. One of them has the idea that they should add Reefer Rick’s house to the list of where they’re searching for Eddie. When they arrive, they see fresh food on the stove meaning Eddie doesn’t have much time to get out of there.

Steve, Nancy, Robin, Lucas, Dustin, and Max decide to go pay a visit to the Creel House to find out any information about Vecna. The grandfather clock is inside, and they agree to split up to investigate different rooms. The lights start flickering as they wonder if Vecna is close. Nancy and Robin have a cute moment together while Lucas and Max share a sweet conversation as well. The group senses Vecna might be there as their flashlight flashes red.

We finally see that Vecna is underneath the house, floating in the air in the Upside Down. Creepy!

Back in Eleven’s memories, she remembers being picked on by the other kids before another memory flashes of people screaming and blood everywhere.

Yuri has Joyce and Murray hostage and is flying them to Russia, but Joyce and Murray have another plan. However, Yuri catches them colluding and he gets into a physical fight with Murray. Eventually, Murray knocks Yuri out which turns out to be a huge problem because neither Murray nor Joyce know how to drive a plane! It starts to go down and they crash it in the snowy woods. Fortunately, they make it out alive. As does Yuri.

Back at Reefer Rick’s, Eddie manages to escape by a small boat in the lake behind the house, but the motor won’t work. Jason and Patrick jump into the water as Eddie tries to desperately row as fast as he can. Patrick starts freaking out and gets pulled underwater and soon enough he begins levitating. Unfortunately, you know what comes next. As this happens, all the lights break and shatter at the Creel House.

Owens and Brenner bring Eleven back to reality and she tries to escape again, using her powers! But they don’t work for long. She says she doesn’t understand and agrees to work with Brenner again because he’s dedicated to bringing her powers back for good. Now they’re in this together.

STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, and Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

The cops arrive at Rick’s and see Patrick laying in Jason’s arms. Jason is questioned by them and they aren’t listening to his story. They’re still blaming Eddie for everything, but Jason says that Eddie was simply a vessel after making a deal with the devil. He really thinks D&D is dangerous. The cops go out to the water to investigate what happened and to find Eddie.

Out in Nevada, Brenner tells Eleven that when she was attacked in Hawkins last year, her mind was scrambled as if she had a stroke. That’s why she lost her powers, and that’s how Brenner is so confident that she can relearn them again. He explains why remembering her trauma is so important, telling her that she has “demons in [her] past.” But he warns her to take it one memory at a time because she can get lost in the “darkness.”

Eddie’s able to flee the scene and steals a walkie talkie from a construction site. He’s headed to Skull Rock.

Mike, Jonathan, Will, and Argyle arrive at Suzie’s and a little kid opens the door. There’s absolute chaos inside with some kids running around, some recording a movie, and some cooking. Argyle falls in love at first sight with one of the siblings, and they find Suzie out on the roof.

After the plane crash in Russia, Joyce and Murray demand Yuri help them and bring them to the prison to save Hopper. Over at the prison, Hop and the other prisoners are brought into a room with a huge feast, surprisingly. Everyone starts chowing down but Hopper chooses booze and drinks some vodka instead. All the men believe that they’re being fed so that they can fight the mysterious monster and defeat it, but Hopper knows different. He has a hunch that the monster is a Demogorgon they brought back from Hawkins, and he doesn’t think these men will be able to survive it.

Hop tells the men that the reason they’re being fed so much food isn’t so that they’re strong, but instead so that they’re big and fat for the monster to feed on. He confirms what the monster looks like and tells everyone that he’s encountered one before.

Back in El’s memories, she has a conversation with the orderly again who tells her that she reminds him of Number One. He claims that although Dr. Brenner says Number One doesn’t exist, he does. This is obviously really exciting for us viewers who have wanted to know about the first test experiment for a long time. “This place and the people here are not what you think,” he tells Eleven, while out in the real world Dr. Owens tells Brenner that they should have told Eleven the truth. Eerie!

El remembers more memories of her being bullied by the kids at the Hawkins Lab, and one in particular is really nasty. When she comes back to reality, she’s convinced she’s the one who killed everyone in the Rainbow Room.

After Patrick’s death, the police have a meeting at the town hall, and the parents and townspeople are really angry that more murders keep happening. Jason and the basketball team appear and Jason gets up on the mic to tell everyone what happened. He believes Eddie was doing ritualistic sacrifices for the satanic cult he’s part of, a.k.a. The Hellfire Club. Erica yells at him from the crowd and tells him the club is just a group for nerds, not satanists. Jason passes out flyers with a picture of The Hellfire Club on it to everyone, and obviously Mike’s, Dustin’s, and Lucas’ parents are very concerned.

Yuri leads Joyce and Murray to his warehouse in Russia and they see all of his weapons. They want to get going to the prison as soon as possible. Meanwhile at the prison, Hopper is drunk and yelling at Dmitri. They get into a physical fight, and he tries to knock out one of the guards but loses. In their cell, Hopper explains that the Demogorgon hates fire, which is why he has the vodka and now has a lighter which he stole from the guard when hitting him. Dmitri starts laughing at the chance they might actually survive the Demogorgon.

Out in Utah, we learn more about Suzie’s unusual family, and she uses her father’s computer sneakily to try and figure out what the number is. She gets a location in Nevada and prints it for the group. Of course, this location is where Eleven is.

The Hawkins group try to figure out where the other gate to the Upside Down is, and make it to Lover’s Lake. Nancy, Steve, and Robin take a boat out with Eddie, while Dustin, Lucas, and Max stay back. Steve takes his shirt off in preparation to dive into the water to see what’s down there, and it’s obvious Nancy is staring! The back-half of Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 heavily suggests that she and Steve are going to get back together. Poor Jonathan!

Underwater, Steve sees fish bones, a red light, and a gate! He touches the opening and a tentacle comes out, causing him to start swimming back up. However, the tentacle pulls him deeper underwater and into the Upside Down. Freaking out because he’s taking so long, Nancy then jumps in after Steve. Robin decides to jump in too, leaving Eddie alone. Begrudgingly, Eddie jumps in, too.

In the Upside Down, there’s creepy bats in the sky who start to attack Steve. As he’s hitting them off, a tentacle comes up and strangles him. We end the episode on a cliffhanger, with fans bound to be on the edge of their seats at the fact that Steve is in serious danger!

STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

We’ve made it to the final episode of Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 and you’d better prepare yourself because it’s a wild one! It opens up right where we left off with Steve in the Upside Down.

You can all breathe a sigh of relief because Steve does not die! Nancy, Robin, and Eddie arrive just in time and save him by hitting the bats with the oars from the boat. They get into a big fight with the creatures as they try and attack each one of them, and when they see a huge swarm of them flying towards them, they flee to the woods. There, Nancy reveals she has guns at her house so they decide to go there in the Upside Down.

Eleven is seriously discouraged with the tests, understandably, and she calls herself a monster. Brenner says she’s going backwards, and asks her to try one more time. Back in the isolation tank, El remembers being bullied again by Number Two, who gets in trouble with Brenner.

Dustin, Max, and Lucas are questioned by the police back at the Wheeler house where all of their parents and siblings are. They deny everything, but Erica calls them out and says they’re lying. Everyone starts arguing and the cops decide they’re going to question to kids one by one. Dustin and Lucas eventually explain everything to Erica who starts helping them brainstorm their next move. They realize that Vecna opens a new gate every time he kills someone.

Hopper and Dmitri are getting ready for the Demogorgon fight and they talk about their plan, with Dmitri saying they have 1000 to 1 odds to defeat this thing and escape the prison. They have a nice conversation about being parents and their own fathers. Hop thinks he can still help Eleven even if it’s the last thing he does. They realize they’re going to need a miracle.

Meanwhile, Murray arrives at the prison impersonating Yuri. He’s got a new look, new accent, and hilarious one-liners that actually work. Joyce and Yuri are tied up in the back of the car, with Murray stating that they’re his American captives.

In the Upside Down, Steve and Eddie thank each other for having one another’s backs with the bats, and Eddie calls Steve “metal.” They have a really funny moment where Eddie compares Steve to Ozzy Osbourne’s iconic moment where he bit the head off of a bat. Steve, somehow, doesn’t even know who Ozzy Osbourne is.

Eddie then goes into a bit where he tells Steve he’s surprised he’s such a good guy because he’s popular. He’s disappointed himself for not being more heroic and reveals the only reason he jumped into the water before was because he was too ashamed to stay behind. Eddie also tells Steve he should get back together with Nancy. I love this new friendship!

Nancy and the gang get to her house in the Upside Down to get the guns and Steve hears Dustin’s voice from the real world. When they get upstairs to Nancy’s room, she discovers her guns are no longer there and starts to notice things in her room from years ago. Her room is completely different, with old flashcards and shoes from sophomore year of high school. When she opens up her diary, she sees an entry about Steve from November 6, 1983 – the day the gate to the Upside Down was opened and the day Will went missing. They’re in the past and realize that the Upside Down is stuck in time.

Steve tries to communicate with Dustin from the Upside Down and the group tries to use lights like Joyce once did to talk to Will. They see these weird particles or sparkles in the light that they become fascinated with. Thanks to Eddie, they use morse code to send an SOS to the real world. Out there, Erica notices the lamp flickering. They think it might be Vecna, but then understand the SOS sign, signaling to who it really is.

In Eleven’s memories, she talks with the orderly again who convinces her she needs to escape. He tells her that the other kids are going to try and kill her and that Brenner will just let it happen. The orderly has a plan for El to get out of there, and tells her she has to listen to exactly what he says if she wants to make it out.

Dustin has the idea to take a Lite Brite from Mike’s little sister and use the lights to communicate with Steve and company in the Upside Down. They’re successful, and after some trial and error are able to tell them to meet them at Eddie’s trailer because they believe another gate to the Upside Down is over there. The group in the Upside Down grab bikes while the group at the Wheelers’ sneak out from the police and do the same, and we get this really fun shot of everyone riding their bikes down the road, some up in the real world and others down below in the Upside Down.

The Demogorgon fight is about to start in Russia just as Murray, Joyce, and Yuri are led up to a balcony to watch. They’re obviously horrified about what could happen, but Hopper’s got a plan that somewhat works out. He lights a sphere on fire and keeps the monster away with it as it kills almost all of the other prisoners. Fearing they don’t have much time left, Murray threatens one of the guards to open the door so Hopper can get out of there, revealing his true identity. Though the guard doesn’t budge, he and Joyce manage to get the upper hand again and Joyce opens the door so Hop and Dmitri can get out just in time.

Yes, thank goodness! Hop and Dmitri are let out of one room and walk right back into another, fearing that it’s impossible to actually escape. However, the next door opens and Hop sees Joyce. They share an emotional embrace that’s enough to make any diehard fan cry!

Over at the trailer park in the Upside Down, Steve, Nancy, Robin and Eddie see something moving in the wall of Eddie’s trailer and a gate opens. They can see Dustin and crew waiting for them; all they have to do is go through the portal. In a really cool scene, Robin goes first as she climbs through to the other side. Somehow, as Nancy goes last, she falls through the Upside Down again and her body looks possessed with her eyes rolled back.

Out in the Upside Down, she’s standing in a swimming pool and is met by Vecna’s voice. She sees a very-much-dead Barb, and Vecna brings up the fact that Nancy still feels guilty about her death because she was killed while Nancy was hooking up with Steve. “When I kill someone, I never forget,” Vecna tells Nancy, seemingly referring to Barb.

Back in the Rainbow Room in Eleven’s memories, we start to see the season 4 opening scene begin, this time from El’s point of view. She goes along with the orderly’s plan to escape, but once it’s time for her to flee, he tells her that he cannot go with her because he has a tracking chip inserted into his neck. Feeling bad for him, Eleven decides she’ll help since he helped her so much. She uses her powers to remove the chip from his neck and now they’re in this together. They get caught by a few guards but the orderly uses his powers and kills them. The orderly is Number One!

Eleven’s told to wait there for the orderly to return, but she starts to hear screams and decides to walk through the lab. There’s blood everywhere and Dr. Brenner is on the floor passed out. Everyone’s dead, and she didn’t do it. She walks into the Rainbow Room and the orderly yells at her for not waiting. But now he has no other choice but to explain everything.

As the orderly begins explaining everything to Eleven in her memories, Nancy starts to put the pieces together in the Upside Down as she sees the Creel House and discovers who Vecna really is. The orderly remembers his childhood and we get a flashback of Victor Creel and his family, confirming Number One is Creel’s son, Henry! He remembers growing up at the Creel House and how he became obsessed with spiders and hated people. He hated the made-up rules and routines people followed and wanted to restore balance to the world.

Because of this, Henry discovered his powers and started using them on animals to get into their minds. But once his mom realized something was wrong and called a doctor to come see him, he decided he would kill her. With each life he took, he became stronger, like each person became a part of him. He went on to kill his sister that night too, and almost killed himself because he was so young and used so much of his powers. That’s why he went into a coma.

When Henry woke up in the hospital after the incident, Dr. Brenner was there to take him. Brenner wanted to control Henry and his powers, but when he realized he couldn’t, he started taking other children and creating his experimental program. Henry was the blueprint; he was Number One.

In real-time in Eleven’s memories, Number One asks El to go with him, but she refuses. She throws him at the wall and they get into a fight, and as Eleven remembers some of her traumatic memories like being bullied and her mom being taken from her, she pulls in enough strength to gain control. In the process, she opens up a gate to the Upside Down and throws Number One in there. As he’s flying through the Upside Down, lightning and thunder crashes on him, transforming him into the monster we’ve been following this whole season so far – Vecna. Before the episode ends, the camera zooms into Number One’s wrist, which still has the 001 tattoo.

This is such a bananas ending which definitely leaves me wanting more! Even though I had a feeling the orderly might be Victor Creel’s son, I had no idea how much all of this would connect. I cannot wait to see what’s next! Be sure to keep up with us at Netflix Life for all of our Stranger Things news, and don’t miss Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 when it comes out this July.

How much are you enjoying Stranger Things season 4 so far? Let us know in the comments below!

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