\t\t\tSpoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4.Are you, too, surprised we made it out like this? I\u2019ll give the Stranger Things marketing machine its due: After weeks of teasers, trailers, interviews, theories, viral TikToks, and viral TikTok songs, it seemed the Netflix thriller might finally have reached its apex, and that the only thing waiting on the downhill slide could be…well, death. (Whether for the characters or the series itself remained arguable.) And given Gaten Matarazzo\u2019s winking tease for Teen Vogue this week, in which the actor hinted at multiple deaths in the Stranger Things season 4 finale, I fully expected to be writing this review through my tears.But the finale is, inconceivably, an exercise in restraint. I know, I know\u2014that\u2019s a ridiculous thing to say about a finale episode the length of a feature film. Stranger Things doesn\u2019t know how to do restraint! There\u2019s too much money on the line!! Nevertheless, it\u2019s true: Episode 9, \u201cPiggyback,\u201d does more to set up the next, final final battle than to truly resolve the one its season hinged upon. That dose of Marvel Syndrome might aggravate some viewers\u2014even this writer admits to an eye-roll before the credits\u2014but, still, there\u2019s something undeniably magnetic about knowing the end remains nigh. The blood is still boiling. The best is yet to come. Like Max, perhaps we aren\u2019t yet ready to die. The finale opens with our Russian crew\u2014Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Yuri, and the One Dude Whose Name I Keep Forgetting (right, Dmitri!)\u2014still landlocked in Sovietville. While Yuri hugs the buttocks\/windshield of his helicopter, Katinka, Joyce and Hopper pull out sleeping bags and change into Hulk Hogan T-shirts. Immediately, my vision sharpened: Are they…gonna bone? Joyce approaches a shirtless Hopper and expresses dismay at his scarred chest. \u201cIt\u2019s not that bad,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know, I needed to lose weight anyway.\u201d Excuse me, but let\u2019s not imbue Dad Bod Hopper with toxic beauty standards, please and thank you. Joyce mentions that part of why she was willing to take this risk\u2014you know, breaking into a Russian prison and all\u2014is because they still have a date to get to, remember? \u201cRemember?\u201d Hopper replies, dumbstruck. \u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming about it.\u201d He\u2019s gonna get two orders of breadsticks at dinner, which honestly I\u2019m surprised isn\u2019t something he normally does. \u201cYou\u2019ve been dreaming about breadsticks and lasagna?\u201d Joyce asks, laughing. Hop stands up straighter and sidles a little closer. \u201cShould I have been dreaming about something else?\u201d Why is this sexy?!Finally, they lean in for the long-awaited kiss. (Someone call Murray!) But before they can get it on, the phone rings, ostensibly with the KGB listening. On the phone, Hop learns their kids are in trouble: As we saw in the penultimate episode, Dr. Brenner, a.k.a Papa, is dead, and Eleven is \u201cindisposed.\u201d Joyce\u2019s kids are \u201coff the grid,\u201d too. (Watching Winona Ryder\u2019s not-surprised-but-nevertheless-terrified little twitch here is absolutely heartbreaking.) Trapped as they are in Russia, they realize they\u2019ll never make it back in time to save the kids\u2014but they do have access to the creatures discovered in the Russian prison last episode, which means they have access to Vecna\u2019s \u201chive mind.\u201d It\u2019s back to the prison we go. <\/p>\n
\tNetflix<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Surfer Boy Pizza gang\u2014Eleven, Will, Mike, Jonathan, and Argyle\u2014are trying (unsuccessfully) to book a flight via pay phone. Eleven realizes that, if Vecna can hijack Max\u2019s mind, so can she; she\u2019s done it with her mother and with Max\u2019s late brother, Billy, before. But for that she\u2019ll need a sensory deprivation tank\u2014or at least a bathtub with a lot of salt in it\u2014and Argyle knows just where to get a fix. They bus over to the local Surfer Boy franchise and take over the kitchen, with the help of a stiff joint, and discover the 600 pounds of salt Argyle promised. \u201cFirst-ever mind fight held in a pizza dough freezer,\u201d Argyle says. Right on.The remaining Hawkins team\u2014Nancy, Steve, Robin, Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Erica\u2014devise a four-phase plan to take out Henry\/Vecna\/One. They agree not to deviate from the plan, no matter what. (Guess what I think they\u2019re gonna do? Deviate from the plan!) Everyone but Max, Lucas, and Erica all hop through the Upside-Down hole in Eddie\u2019s trailer ceiling and wind up back in Vecna territory. The latter trio, still in the \u201creal world,\u201d hunt down Vecna\u2019s location using lamps. Thus begins Phase One.Now, now, you didn\u2019t forget about the Jocks, did you? Hawkins High\u2019s golden boys are growing increasingly impatient, with Jason, in particular, looking more and more deranged in every frame. Turns out, they\u2019ve got a lead: Someone saw Erica running out of the \u201cmurder house on Morehead.\u201d Uh oh. Looks like a showdown\u2019s coming, and at the worst possible time for Vecna\u2019s would-be assassins. In the Upside Down, Eddie finds his electric guitar waiting for him, \u201clike she was destined for an alternate dimension.\u201d While en route to the UD-version of the Creel house, Steve thanks Nancy for giving him a thump on the head, metaphorically speaking, and then reveals his Winnebago fantasy from last episode\u2014the road trips, the six mini Harringtons?\u2014includes her. \u201cYou\u2019re there,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve always been there.\u201d At this point, Steve was No. 1 on my Most Likely to Die list. They find the Creel house and move into Phase Two, which involves baiting Vecna. Max removes her headphones and shuts off Kate Bush, which is more than I\u2019ve been able to do on TikTok. But things don\u2019t quite go according to plan: Even when Max isn\u2019t running up that hill, Vecna isn\u2019t taking the bait. So she sits down and talks to him, almost like she\u2019s confiding in a close friend: \u201cI thought about what you said. About how I wanted my brother to die.\u201d She admits to praying that something might happen to Billie back when he was alive, just so she wouldn\u2019t have to live with his abuse anymore. She\u2019s tried to forgive herself but can\u2019t. \u201cSo now,\u201d she says, \u201cnow when I lie in bed at night, I pray that something will happen to me\u2026So that\u2019s why I\u2019m here. Because I just want you to take me away.\u201d There\u2019s inevitably some truth to this monologue, which is exactly why it works so well. Within seconds, Vecna\u2019s in her head. Phase Three. <\/p>\n
\tNetflix<\/p>\n
In an absolutely incredible turn of events, Eddie and Dustin decide to lure Vecna\u2019s army of flesh-ripping bats to them with a rendition of Metallica\u2019s \u201cMaster of Puppets.\u201d (I highly recommend turning on subtitles for this part. Just take my word for it.) Dustin grinning and head-banging along is a highlight of the entire episode. But Steve, Nancy, and Robin are too busy fighting off Vecna tentacles to appreciate the Upside Down\u2019s sick new playlist. Lucas has his hands full, too: Jason has arrived on the scene, and he\u2019s pointing a gun right at his teammate\u2019s forehead. Thankfully, Lucas has a killer right hook, and the two take to rumbling.Eleven, now emerged in the salt bath and connected to Max\u2019s mind, starts flipping through Max\u2019s memories. But she\u2019s struggling to reach the one where Max is (mentally) hiding from Vecna: last season\u2019s Hawkins Middle Snow Ball, which is slowly turning into a Vecna-themed murder party with bursting balloons of blood. As Hopper and Co. orchestrate a method for trapping the demo-creatures in the prison pit and lighting them on fire, thereby weakening Vecna, Eddie and Dustin rally to wield off the remaining hell-bats. Shockingly, there\u2019s too many of them, so Dustin surmises the only answer is to run back to the real world. But Eddie\u2019s done enough running lately. This time, he\u2019s going to fight. Back in Max\u2019s mind palace, Vecna is about to contort her limbs, but Eleven intervenes before he can kill her. When Max asks, we get what will surely become another iconic Eleven quote, emblazoned on Reddit graphics and T-shirts everywhere: \u201cI piggybacked through a pizza dough freezer.\u201d But the good humor doesn\u2019t last, as Vecna regains his strength and takes both Max\u2019s unconscious body and Eleven\u2019s writing one to his blood-red Creel lair in the Upside Down. \u201cPapa is dead,\u201d Eleven tells him, trying to calm his wrath. \u201cHe made you into this. He is the monster, Henry. Not you.\u201d But Vecna\u2019s got a monologue he wants to perform, and Eleven is ru-in-ing it! \u201cDo you not see, Eleven?\u201d he tells her. \u201cHe did not make me into this. You did.\u201d Classic victim-blaming!We learn\u2014again via monologue\u2014that Henry\/Vecna\/One \u201cbecame an explorer of a realm unspoiled by mankind\u201d when a younger Eleven first sent him unwittingly to the Upside Down. There, he discovered \u201ca means to realize my potential\u201d: the Mind Flayer. But when Eleven and Co. defeated the Mind Flayer, Vecna looked inward, realizing he\u2019d need to open the four gates himself in order to spur the apocalypse. He would then \u201cpick up the pieces\u201d of the broken world and remake it \u201cinto something\u2026beautiful.\u201d Alright, Thanos. <\/p>\n
\tNetflix<\/p>\n
In the real world, Max begins to levitate, a sure sign things aren\u2019t going so hot. Also, Eleven is coding in the salt bath, and Mike confesses his love in order to get her to stick around. He pleads with her to fight, and so she does: The tentacles release from around her neck and joints. But it might be too late. Max\u2019s limbs have already started snapping, and blood is streaming from her eyes. Eddie is getting eaten alive by bats. A demodog is inches away from chewing through Hopper\u2019s face. Are we…losing?Of course not. Eleven finds her bottomless reserve of power and bursts Vecna backward as Hopper and Joyce make a run for it. With the demo-beings contained in the pit, Murray rains fire from above. As Vecna\u2019s restrained by Eleven, his tentacles release Nancy, Steve, and Robin (they were, uh, suffocating for a long time there, huh?), and the bats surrounding Eddie collapse. One demogorgon survives, and Hop takes up Excalibur\u2014sorry, some random sword on the ground\u2014to fight it.Nancy, Steve, and Robin find the real Vecna in the Upside Down and prepare a roast. (Phase Four!) But he has a warning for Eleven: \u201cThis is only the beginning. The beginning of the end. You have already lost.\u201d The trio set him ablaze, and a now-flaming Vecna rises to stalk them. Robin throws another Molotov while Nancy advances on him, shotgun-blasting at closer and closer range. Steve just stands there lookin\u2019 cute, as is his prerogative. Finally, Nancy shoots Vecna through a window of the Creel house, leaving his ostensibly dead body smoldering on the front yard. But alas. When they race downstairs, his body is gone. It\u2019s now or never: If anyone is going to die, the time has arrived. Eddie is, of course, the first to go; unlike Steve, he\u2019s unable to withstand numerous bat bites. Although a new character to the Stranger Things brigade\u2014and thus one we\u2019ve had less time to grow attached to\u2014Eddie\u2019s death is nevertheless a gut-wrenching blow, particularly when Dustin begins to sob by his side. \u201cI didn\u2019t run away this time, right?\u201d Eddie asks his friend. No, Master of Puppets. You did not. Back in the Creel house, Max has awakened, but she can\u2019t see or feel anything. Her eyes have turned foggy; her limbs are shattered. Lucas screams to Erica to get an ambulance as Max blubbers, \u201cI don\u2019t wanna die. I\u2019m not ready.\u201d Of all her emotional scenes this season, Sadie Sink\u2019s delivery here is her best. It\u2019s absolutely horrid to watch. Lucas and Eleven both shriek with agony as four chimes erupt from Vecna\u2019s grandfather clock, signaling Max has passed on\u2014and the curtain between Hawkins and the Upside Down has fallen. Viscous, red-hot cracks tear through the floor, splitting Jason in two as they carve a path of carnage. (Was that really necessary, after everything we\u2019ve been through?) Buildings collapse into the track of UD lava as the earth rumbles and moans. Mike tries to wake up the real Eleven, but she\u2019s still in Max\u2019s head, where she whispers, simply, \u201cNo. You\u2019re not going.\u201d Wait\u2014does Eleven have resurrection powers I don\u2019t know about? Before we can find out, the screen cuts to black, and a \u201cTwo Days Later\u201d card alerts us to a time jump.<\/p>\n
\tNetflix<\/p>\n
As the Surfer Boy Pizza Bros. drive back into town, they come up against a long line of fully packed cars hightailing it out of Hawkins. Finally home, everyone shares tender, bittersweet reunions, some more optimistic than others: Robin sees Vickie at a makeshift relief camp and the two hit it off; Dustin, weeping, gives Mr. Munson Eddie\u2019s guitar pick and a brave memory to remember his son by; Nancy and Jonathan try to suss out if their relationship is \u201cokay\u201d (it\u2019s not); and Lucas reveals Max is in a coma, one from which she might never wake up. At Hopper\u2019s cabin, father and daughter are together again, and Eleven even thinks Hop\u2019s slightly emaciated look is \u201cbitchin\u2019.\u201d But Will knows, perhaps better than anyone, that the day is not won: Vecna is still alive, and Will can feel him, \u201cthat he\u2019s hurt, he\u2019s hurting, but he\u2019s still alive.\u201d The hairs on the back of Will\u2019s neck stand up, and they all look into the sky: A storm is coming. Snow\u2014Upside Down snow, not real snow\u2014begins to fall. Together, they walk to a clearing and find the flowers have withered and died. The Upside Down and Hawkins are merging. The final battle has come. And that\u2019s the end: A next-season set-up worthy of a Marvel post-credits scene. \u201cOnly\u201d one main character died\u2014unless we\u2019re also counting Max, whose fate remains to be seen. In some ways, \u201cPiggyback\u201d was not the sucker-punch I was expecting, though it delivers on the action and the horror Stranger Things is beloved for. My first instinct was a bizarre disappointment. All this build up, and I didn\u2019t even have a panic attack by the end?It\u2019s true that not all fans will find \u201cPiggyback\u201d a particularly satisfying conclusion, especially given its run time and the way its preceding episodes were split into chunks. There\u2019s not much we learn here that we didn\u2019t already know: Vecna is Henry\/One, he\u2019s on a mission to end the world, and it\u2019s going to be really hard to stop him. All those same things are still true, except now Eddie is dead, Max is in a coma, and Vecna is likely pulling a Voldemort and healing while the Hawkins-Upside Down merge marinates. And yet. Maybe I showcase a tendency to fall for basic fan-baiting, but the moments \u201cPiggyback\u201d wanted to feel epic did feel epic. By the time the credits rolled, I had enough adrenaline pumping through my system to crank out this story well into the wee hours of the morning. I don\u2019t want to give the Netflix series too much credit\u2014Stranger Things gets far more accolades than it honestly deserves\u2014but the show might be on to something with its slow but steady approach. Forgive the crude analogy here, but it\u2019s a bit like edging\u2014bringing us closer and closer to what we know is inevitable (a huge, gravity-defying emotional release) but refusing to, in this case, actually twist the knife. Eddie\u2019s death was a precursor to what, almost certainly, will be a more controversial loss next season. That could be Max. Or Eleven. Or\u2014God forbid\u2014Dustin. Next season will be the show\u2019s last. The battle is near. Perhaps, then, Stranger Things wanted to make sure we were ready for the fight. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLauren Puckett-Pope
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAssociate Editor
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers news and culture.<\/p>\n
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<\/p>\n