Welcome back to our weekly look at Stranger Things season four, today we’re looking at the finale:
“Chapter Nine: The Piggyback”
Written and directed by the Duffer Bros.
The party in Hawkins enacts their plan, while El “piggybacks” from her location to confront Vecna in Max’s nightmare. Hopper, Joyce and Bauman return to the gulag after realizing the gate to the Upside Down has reopened, to help the kids by killing the Demogorgon and Demodogs running rampant inside.
1. Awesomeness upon Awesomeness
I described season three’s finale as a movie, and that was only 77 mins: this is easily the longest episode, at a whopping 150 mins, and it somehow outdoes its predecessor’s awe-inspiring display of bravery from the show’s everyday heroes, from Hopper decapitating the Demogorgon with a sword, to Nancy defenestrating Vecna with her shotgun, all set to an epic (not my description, but those of the closed captions) remix of “Running Up That Hill” by Totem:
For me, the wildest moment came when Bauman unleashed the flamethrower on the Demodogs, saving Jim and Joyce, and freeing Steve, Robin and Nance from the Upside Down’s tendrils: this is a character I never expected to return after the second season, and he’s out there in Siberia saving everyone with his intervention — truly the most incredible thing to happen on this show.
2. And Rugpull After Rugpull
Alas, Max still dies from her gruesome injuries, allowing Vecna’s gates to grow and converge, devastating Hawkins. El’s decision to restart her best friend’s heart leaves us, literally and figuratively, in the dark for some time: initially, it seems her decision may’ve undone the sacrifice and closed the gate, but as shown in the final shots, the intersecting trenches remain very much active, poisoning the land, and leaving the prospect of a Demogorgon invasion high.
Overall, the last 40 mins of this chapter are a huge exercise in having the characters know more than the audience, in stark contrast to the rest of the show, something also demonstrated by how the seriousness of Max’s condition is not conveyed until well after El visits her in the hospital. It’s also probably why El didn’t seem very surprised to see Hopper again — it’s entirely possible Owens’s men informed her of what happened in Russia, or that she saw him in the Void while checking on Joyce, during the two days between the climax and the rest of the episode.
3. The Life and Legend of Eddie Munson
Eddie Munson’s death was convenient, in much the same way Jason’s was: the Duffers knew there was no other way to avoid Eddie being falsely convicted for decades like a real Satanic Panic victim (to this day, people are still serving sentences caused by the hysteria), just as Jason had to die to prevent him from squealing on Lucas. Regardless, Eddie’s swansong was a pretty great one, from his masterful (ahem) distraction of the Demobats with his rendition of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” which scored Max’s epic horror music video moment, and gave Chrissy the tribute she actually deserved; to his last stand, that truly turned him into the wizards and warriors from the fantasy tales he loved so much. R.I.P. Eddie: may your soul find rest in a rock ‘n roll Valhalla.
4. It was Vecna All Along
Vecna reveals to El he did not become — as Dustin speculated — a five-star general in the Mind Flayer’s army, but that he was actually the Shadow Monster itself, which he fashioned from the spiders he was obsessed with as a child. It makes complete sense (it’s always been possible the Mind Flayer was One, and you can’t follow the big bad with a new subordinate), but the reveal does diminish the Upside Down: while it is perfectly hypocritical that Henry perverted this hellish Eden into a ghastly imitation of the Right Side Up, are we really supposed to accept it only echoes our world because he felt like it? I suppose that’s what happens though, when you choose to keep this story going: you have to keep heightening the emotional stakes, and ultimately the enigmatic and unknowable Lovecraftian entity that was the Mind Flayer isn’t as charismatic or engaging of a final foe as Vecna.
Continued below5. Two Years to Wait
Not that every season of Stranger Things hasn’t ended with a major question mark (the Demogorgon larva Will threw up, Hopper’s disappearance etc.), but they always largely resolved everything else, so they still felt like they could’ve been satisfying series finales. Season four, with its literally giant cliffhanger ending, is unsurprisingly content to let more questions fester: what happened to Owens? Is Sullivan still hunting El? Were Anton, Yuri, and their families relocated to the States? What’s going to happen when Nancy finds out Jonathan got accepted into a different college? Did Vecna flee, or does he only exist as a hive mind now?
It’s ironic given how long this episode was: when I heard it was 150 mins, my first thought was, “it’s going to end with something big like those two leaving for college, or Jim and Joyce getting married, right?” Despite that though, I’m not annoyed, but more eager with anticipation than I thought was possible for Stranger Things 5. That’s a great achievement given how long the wait for this (COVID-19 delayed) season was; how sluggish the initial episodes were; and how we’ll probably have to wait until 2024 for the final episodes. Will I groan if 5 doesn’t consist of eight, hour-long episodes again? Of course, but Stranger Things 4 lived up to the hype, and I feel optimistic the Duffers will stick the landing on their story — which is perhaps the strangest thing of all.
Other Things:
– As explained by Noah Schnapp, Jonathan’s scene with Will is about him recognizing his younger brother is gay, but it does feel like a meta acknowledgment the two haven’t had enough to do this season.
– Rob Simonsen’s orchestral arrangements of the music in this season were beautiful, and I sincerely hope they also receive an official release with Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s original score.
– I know Pennywise is one of the characters who inspired Vecna, but the balloon bursting into blood at Max’s recreation of the Snow Ball was a pretty blatant homage.
– El telling Max “I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer” is perhaps the funniest “because it’s true” statement of all time.
– I’m with El and Argyle, I don’t get people’s aversion to pineapple on pizza.
– It’s amazing how Ted finally had something profound to say here.
Well, that’s all for now folks: hopefully the wait for the fifth and final season won’t feel too long. Be sure to tell us what you thought of the season, and your hopes and fears for the next one, until then in the comments.
