How a Moby song connects the Stranger Things season 4 finale to a heartbreaking season 1 moment
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Stranger Things season 4 finale.
Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" may have been the rightful theme song of Stranger Things season 4, but it wasn't the only musical through-line to come up in Volume 2. A Moby song that was released a decade after the events of the '80s-centric show take place also served as a throwback to the first season's most heart-wrenching scene.
Netflix Hopper (David Harbour) comforts his wife after the loss of their daughter on 'Stranger Things' season 1.
In the season 4 finale, which dropped Friday on Netflix, Max (Sadie Sink) is once again in Vecna's deadly mind lair — this time voluntarily to lure him in for a fight — but with her trusty Walkman crushed, her friends aren't able to use her favorite alt-pop tune to snap her out of it when Vecna goes in for the kill. Instead, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) calls upon her renewed powers to help get her bestie back by knocking the wind out of Vecna, causing Max's near-lifeless body to fall back to reality and into the arms of Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin).
"Max, stay with me," Lucas desperately pleads to his young love, as a weeping Eleven looks on from her psychic realm. Lucas and Eleven try to revive Max, who appears to be a goner. (It is later revealed that Max was clinically dead for more than a minute, but is now in a coma.)
The heartbreaking moment when Max's friends think they're losing her is scored by the haunting "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" by Moby, featuring the heavenly vocals of Mimi Goese. The song is the final track on the electronic musician's third studio album, Everything Is Wrong, which was released in 1995, nearly a decade after Stranger Things season 4 takes place. A curious choice for the 1986-set season, but it's actually not the first time the song has been used on the show — it's been used twice, and both instances involved children nearly slipping away.
"When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" was also featured in a gutting scene in the season 1 finale when Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) try to save Will (Noah Schnapp) in the Upside Down. Hopper has a flashback to his young daughter dying of cancer in a hospital after doctors are unable to resuscitate her, channeling his emotion as he and Joyce urgently perform CPR to try to revive her son, who comes back to life as the Moby song kicks in.
Listen to the song below.
All episodes of Stranger Things season 4 are streaming on Netflix now.
EW's Ultimate Guide to Stranger Things is available online or wherever magazines are sold.
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