It's Time To Unpack That Intense "Stranger Things 4" Volume 1 Ending
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
*Spoilers for Stranger Things 4 below!*
This is a code red, Stranger Things stans. The highly anticipated fourth season of the Duffer Brothers' hit sci-fi series dropped just in time for our Memorial Day Weekend binging pleasure, and it's darker than ever. In the last (almost 2-hour long) episode of Volume 1, titled "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab," we finally get answers to the mystery of the Upside Down's creation, how Will Byers went missing in season 1, how the Russians are involved, and Eleven's connection to the alternate universe that's been wreaking havoc in Hawkins. On top of all that, the true identity of this season's chilling psychological villain, Vecna, is also revealed.
There's plenty to unpack from the Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1 end because we're left with questions that still need to be answered in Vol. 2 when it drops on Netflix on July 1. So let's get into it.
Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie discover another gate to the Upside Down
After the elder teens witness one of Hawkins' jocks fall under Vecna's curse at Lover's Lake, they discover how the villain's powers work. While on a raft, they row Eddie away to safety from the cops and discover another gate to the Upside Down that opened at the bottom of the water — or, as Dustin jokingly calls it, Watergate. Steve dives in to scope the scene but ends up being taken by the portal into the Upside Down. Nancy immediately jumps into the water to save him, which prompts Robin and Eddie to follow. The foursome all end up in the Upside Down, where they run to the Wheeler house to grab some weapons for protection. When she can't find her guns, Nancy realizes that the Upside Down may be stuck in a different time plane upon checking her diary entries. The last entry was November 6, 1983 — a.k.a the day Eleven first opened the gate to the Upside Down and Will went missing in season 1. Nancy, Robin, Steve, and Eddie then find out how Will was able to communicate through lights and attempt to reach Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Erica, who are in the Wheeler house in the human universe.
Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Erica cracked Vecna's patterns
While Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie run from the cops, Dustin, Lucas, and Max create a diversion for Hawkins PD so the elder teens can get to safety. Little do they know that their friends are actually in the Upside Down while the cops bring them to their parents at the Wheeler house. They begin interrogations with Max while Dustin, Lucas, and Erica are trying to figure out the connection between Vecna's murders and the Upside Down. They discover that new gates to the Upside Down appear wherever Vecna kills his victims. Erica then realizes a chandelier flickering, which turns out to be the foursome trying to communicate in the Upside Down. Dustin uses a Lite-Brite toy to speak with Nancy and devises a plan to help them escape through the gate at Chrissy's murder site, which Steve, Robin, and Eddie successfully accomplish after fleeing the cops and their parents at the Wheeler residence. Nancy's attempt doesn't work as she is brought deeper into the Upside Down as Vecna's next victim.
What happened with Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle?
While the Hawkins heroes are still cracking the case of Vecna's Curse, the last we saw of our Cali crew was when they were burying the government agent who left them with the phone number to Nina, a futuristic capsule created by Hawkins lab. We can only assume they're on the way to Ruth, Nevada to save El from Dr. Brenner and the Hawkins scientists.
Murray and Joyce rescue Hopper in Russia
Upon escaping Yuri's trap, Murray forces him to switch places so he and Joyce can successfully rescue Hopper. So, Yuri is held captive and acts like Murray while Murray uses his fluent Russian skills to swindle the prison guards and get to Hop. However, the prisoners are about to meet their demise as the Russian guards release a Demogorgon to attack. How or why the Russians have a Demogorgon readily available isn't really clear, but Hopper and Dmitri are prepared to attack with fire as Demogorgons are afraid of flames.
While the other Russian prisoners, unfortunately, lose their battles with the Demogorgon, Murray and Joyce open the gates for Hopper and Dmitri to escape. Hopper throws his spear into the Demogorgon's throat before the gate closes and brings him back to safety and an emotional reunion with Joyce.
Vecna's true identity is revealed... and he has a terrifying connection to Eleven
Okay, bear with us here, because there's a lot of back and forth between the past and present during Eleven's portions of this episode. In present reality, Eleven is at a secluded lab in Ruth, Nevada where Dr. Owens and Dr. Brenner (a.k.a "Papa") are trying to help her gain her telekinetic powers through psychological trials to jog her memory of a traumatic experience that changed the world as she — and evidently, all of Hawkins — knew it. In order to do so, Eleven has to relive flashbacks from the Hawkins lab on November 6, 1983, where she met Peter Ballad, a "caring man" who works as an orderly. Throughout the episode, Peter seems to take a liking to Eleven when she is brutally bullied by the other telekinetic subjects in the lab and he helps her come up with an escape plan. In turn, she offers him her help and we soon find out that Peter is 001, or One, the first telekinetic subject in Hawkins.
Using her powers, Eleven removes a tracking device from his neck, and One wards off the lab's guards with his powers, which are extremely strong like Eleven's. He tells her to wait so they can escape successfully, but he goes off into the rainbow room where he murders the other subjects — a.k.a the vision present-Eleven had seen since the beginning of the season. When she finds the bodies surrounded by him, One explains how his powers grow stronger with each murder. Upon Nancy's discovery of Vecna in the Upside Down, it's revealed that Peter/One is actually the son of Victor Creel, and his telekinetic powers are actually responsible for the murders his dad is locked up for. At the end of the episode, we see past-Eleven strike One with her powers in her 1983 flashback, which in turn opened the first gate to the Upside Down at Hawkins lab. The camera then pans to Vecna and zooms into his wrist, where a "001" tattoo is revealed on his wrist.
As for the secluded lab in Ruth, Nevada, it's unclear what Brenner's intentions are with Eleven as she successfully unlocks the memory of Peter/001's cruel actions. All we know is that Brenner wants to send Eleven off in a capsule named Nina, which will most likely be explored in Stranger Things 4 Vol. II.
Want to know more about Stranger Things 4, including exclusive cast interviews and fan theories? Stay tuned to Seventeen Watch Club for the latest on the series.
You Might Also Like
