'Stranger Things' Spoiled Max's Big Finale Moment
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Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 spoilers follow.
Before volume one of season four had even dropped, Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer told IGN that Max is the "emotional center of the season". But even that feels like he was underselling it a bit.
When volume one did finally arrive, all anyone could talk about was Max's two-pronged fight against Vecna and her own depression, which culminated in one soaring confrontation set to Kate Bush's most haunting song.
Max's struggles, both internal and external, resonate more than anything else Stranger Things has ever achieved. Because while all these strange, scary things keep happening around her, it's Max's pain and her drive to keep fighting despite that pain which anchors the entire story, heart and soul.
Which is to say that it's now become impossible to imagine this show without Max. Yet, for a few brief minutes, that's exactly the future Stranger Things wants you to believe is unfolding right before your eyes.
In the final episode of season four, Max decides to offer herself up as bait so she can distract Vecna long enough for the others to kill his physical body in the real world. But he's not buying it, not at first. So Max opens up about her brother Billy and the dark places where his abuse once took her.
"Billy made my life a living hell, every chance he got. So sometimes when I would lie in bed at night I would pray that something would happen to him, something awful... I wanted him out of my life forever. I wanted him to disappear."
But when Max finally got her wish, when Billy actually died for real, it sent her spiraling into an even darker place.
"I've tried to forgive myself. I've tried, but I can't. So now, when I lie in bed at night, I pray that something will happen to me. That something terrible will happen to me. So that's why I'm here. Because I just want you to take me away and I want you to make me disappear."
Lucas reacts badly, but it's not really Lucas. Because when Max opened up, Vecna wormed his way into that opening to take hold of her mind. And this time, not even Kate Bush can save her, not now that her tape player is broken.
Eleven fails too, leaving Max entirely vulnerable to Vecna's power. And then it happens. The one thing this entire season has been leading up to.
First, Max floats in the air again, just like she did once before. But this time around, she isn't rescued. Suddenly, snap goes a limb. And then another. Blood pours from Max's eyes as Vecna finally sacrifices her to break down the barrier between worlds.
Even though the creators teased that at least one death was on the cards, we could have never imagined that Max would be the one to follow in her brother's footsteps. As previously mentioned, she's the "emotional center of the season". And what's a show without that?
"I'm so scared," cries Max. "I'm so scared, I don't want to die. I'm not ready." And it turns out that the writers weren't ready either because Eleven steps in at that point with the words: "No, you're not going". Memories that the pair share then flood into Eleven's mind before the screen fades to black.
Two days, and a bunch of reunions later, we finally learn that Max did in fact survive after all. Well, sort of. "She died," Lucas reveals. "I mean, clinically. But then she came back. Doctors don't know how. They say it's a miracle."
A miracle indeed! Although our initial relief at seeing Max's survival quickly gave way to disappointment. Because, yes, Max has become the heart and soul of this show, but by bringing her back so easily, it greatly undermines the impact of her "final" moments, not to mention Sadie Sink's stunning, award-worthy performance.
By going down this route, the writers really did have their cake and eat it too, because Max needed to "die" so that Vecna's plan could unfold – thereby raising the stakes more than ever – but they also couldn't risk losing a fan-favorite before the final season.
There's a moment where Lucas suggests that Max might never wake up again, although we all know that's not true. As much as the writers want to make us think that this situation is a hopeless one, it's painfully obvious that Max will be back in action for season five.
You could argue that none of this matters because the stakes were raised by other deaths instead throughout these last two episodes, but none of them have had the same impact that Max's demise would have.
It always seemed likely that Dr Brenner would snuff it this time around, and we already predicted that Eddie would die too, because it's much easier to kill off a newbie than one of the core gang. And then there's that annoying jock whose death barely even registered with us, to the point where we couldn't even be bothered to Google his name for this piece.
Killing off Max for real would have signified a real game-changing moment for Stranger Things, one that could have even eclipsed her big Kate Bush moment. But instead, it all falls flat thanks to the show's cowardly backtracking.
Let's just hope that the plot armor comes off for at least some of the core gang in this final upcoming season. Because now that the end is near, perhaps even the "emotional center of the season" could very well be at risk. And the show would be a lot better off for it.
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