The final two episodes of Stranger Things season 4 are here! Read our reviews below.
Chapter Eight: “Papa”
After a month-long break, Stranger Things kicks off Volume 2 of its fourth season in epic fashion. At an hour and twenty-five minutes, “Papa” covers plenty of ground. For all that though, the name of the game in this episode is setting the scene for the finale showdown with Vecna/One/Henry Creel.
Volume 1 ended with some serious cliffhangers, and “Papa” wastes no time in getting right into them. We start off with a brief return to the aftermath of Eleven and One’s battle in the Rainbow Room, before things quickly shift back to the peril facing the Hawkins crew. Nancy is caught in Vecna’s trap, and unfortunately her music tastes don’t align well enough with Eddie’s for any of the tapes in his trailer to free her from the villain’s clutches.
Instead, we get our first encouraging sign that this is going to be a less predictable ride than expected. Vecna catches Nancy, and shows her the destruction he plans to sow across Hawkins. “Tell Eleven,” he taunts her, before releasing her back to her friends.
I always expected Nancy to survive this encounter, but I never expected Vecna to just let her go. It’s a great move, and it makes sense; really, what does One have to fear from the kids in Hawkins? Nothing…or so he thinks.
From there, the episode spends a good amount of time catching us up with all the rest of our scattered heroes. Let’s break it down by location.
The great Russian escape
First up, we have Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Dmitri, and Yuri, who are still hanging out in Kamchatka prison after the daring escape from the Demogorgon pit. The Demogorgon is still raging through the Russian base. We get a few nice bonding scenes for some of our main characters, like Joyce and Hopper, before the guards outside start shooting the Demogorgon, which leads the group to discover that there’s another Demogorgon in the next room. All the creatures of the Upside Down are linked, a “hive mind” as Nancy put it in Episode 7, so when the guards shoot the rampaging Demogorgon it causes the other one to start shrieking as well.
It’s strapped down to a table; the Russians have been experimenting on these creatures. Hopper and co. walk through a spooky lab filled with Demo-corpses in tanks. The lab reminded me of the clone lab scene in Alien Resurrection, with its malformed younger Demogorgons and creepy ambiance. After seeing what appears to be a part of the Mind Flayer in a tank, the group escapes through a tunnel that leads outside the prison.
From there, they’re all but home free, crashing through the gate in a van and speeding off to the town where Yuri’s safehouse is located. I was a little surprised at how fast we moved away from the prison; I was hoping for more secrets about the purpose of all these Russian experiments on Upside Down creatures. But really, it’s hard to be too mad about it because it finally feels like Hopper and Joyce are heading toward a reunion with the rest of the show’s cast.
Yuri gets a great scene where he reminds us what an outrageous scamp he is, as he tries to convince everyone he can fly them back to America in a helicopter that he’s never even test-flown. They decide to call Owens before trying that. The call is put through, but Dmitri warns that when it gets returned the KGB will be listening, so they’ll have to speak in code.
Overall, the Russian stuff in this episode was solid. It’s nice to see Joyce and Hopper together again.
The Hawkins gang prepares for war
Back in Hawkins, we finally discover Vecna’s motives. It turns out he needs to kill four victims to create four gates, which will then spread and cause the Upside Down to collapse into the real world. These might be the highest stakes that the show has yet attempted, and the feeling of impending doom is really well done. We’ve been following these characters for years, and despite the fact that Stranger Things does all sorts of narrative acrobatics to avoid killing off its leads, I’m genuinely worried for the Hawkins crew heading into the finale.
Ultimately, a plan is hatched to go after Vecna in the Upside Down. Now that everyone knows that Vecna / Henry Creel is actually one of Doctor Brenner’s psychic children, they reason that it gives them a leg up because they are more familiar with his powers since they’re the same as Eleven’s. It’s decided that Max, who is still linked to Vecna as the fourth victim he needs, will serve as bait. When Vecna goes to kill her, his physical body will be vulnerable in the Upside Down, where the Hawkins group hopes to sneak up on him and chop him to bloody bits. Despite the fact that it is a dangerous plan where it sounds like a lot could go wrong, it feels like it’s also the only option they have since Vecna is only one kill away from completing his goal.
The group steals an RV in a pretty fun scene and heads out to a weapon store called the War Zone to stock up on supplies. Along the way, we get some more great bonding scenes, such as when Steve tells Nancy how he hoped he’d one day start a family, or when Max tells Lucas she’ll focus on a happy memory with him to try and fight off Vecna’s curse. There’s an interesting thing here where Max points out that Vecna preys only on people’s darkness; focusing on the light and good memories seems to stave off his psychic assault. But just in case that doesn’t work, Lucas tells her he’ll be ready to call in Kate Bush for back-up.
Of course, Vecna’s not the only thing the group has to worry about. They have a close encounter with Jason and his basketball cronies at the War Zone. Jason really looks like he’s gone off the deep end, basically threatening Nancy. But they’ve got bigger fish to fry, and quickly jet off in their RV. No doubt Jason and his cronies will follow.
Some of our final scenes with the Hawkins group are of them preparing for the mission, and again, the ominous feeling that this is the calm before a very bad storm is everywhere. This episode is all about the set-up, and reminding us why we care about all these characters and why they care about each other.
In the end, Max, Lucas, and Erica head into the Creel House while the rest of the gang drives the RV off to get in position for the Upside Down ambush.
The Cali crew to the rescue
Across the map, the California crew is speeding toward the Nina Project bunker with coordinates they got from Suzie. One of the first hard-hitting emotional scenes comes from this group, when Will shows Mike the painting that he made in order to console him about how much Eleven and everyone else needs him. Mike is the heart of the group, and the painting is pretty damn cool. It also feels like many of the things Will is saying about Mike and Eleven are what he actually feels about Will. When Will turns to the window and holds in his tears, it’s heartbreaking. Jonathan notices, because he’s a good older brother. Very curious to see how this resolves in the finale!
Despite their hijinks, they do eventually find their way to the Nina Project bunker, thanks to Argyle picking out some military vehicle tracks heading off into the desert. Which is fortunate, because things get real at the Nina Project this episode.
Eleven strikes back
Given that this one is called “Papa,” it should be no surprise that a lot of it revolves around Eleven. After witnessing memories of her 1979 showdown with One, Eleven has finally regained her powers. She tests them out by effortlessly lifting the Nina tank; guess she doesn’t need that thing any more!
Brenner explains that after Eleven defeated One, she fell into a coma because she pushed herself too far. When she woke, she no longer had memories of the event or access to the stronger powers she’d used in the battle. But since Brenner saw what she did to One and the gate to the Upside Down, he was inspired to explore further in that direction, which brings us to the start of the series.
Finally, finally, Brenner and Owens fill in Eleven on the events in Hawkins, and give her all the details they have about Vecna’s reign of terror. Brenner has already figured out Vecna’s plan to destroy Hawkins, and uses a great metaphor that each of his murders makes “cracks in the dam” between the two worlds. When it bursts, the Upside Down will flood into the real world and chaos will ensue.
Predictably, Eleven wants to run straight to Hawkins to help her friends. Brenner tells her she’s not ready, evoking some serious Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back vibes. But Owens backs her, saying it’s not a prison and that if she wants to go, they should be helping her. The way Owens shut down Brenner made me laugh out loud; it’s nice to hear someone put that guy in his place.
However the disobedience goes about as well as you’d expect. Brenner has his goons detain Owens and traps Eleven in the Nina Project room. He tells her that she has to stay. In return, Eleven finally tells him off, pounding home that he’s caused so much pain and death over the years. God, is it cathartic to watch her call out Brenner. She even floats the idea out there that this whole mess started because Brenner was using her to search the Upside Down for One, since he always thought One was lost in the darkness somewhere and still loved him in his own demented way.
Eleven tries to leave, and Brenner stabs her in the neck with a syringe. In return, she starts trying to kill him with her powers, but passes out before she can finish the job. As much as I absolutely loath Brenner, it’s nice to see him returning to his old villainy one last time here. He’s always been a character prone to doing horrible things, and despite the show giving him a slight redemption this season, we needed to remember that before the end.
Eleven wakes up with one of those shock collars on, but hardly has time to panic about it before the military arrives to destroy the Nina bunker. Lt. Colonel Sullivan is convinced Eleven is responsible for the murders in Hawkins, which is still just a little frustrating. Now that we know that One is Vecna, I can’t help but wonder why no one ever thought to explain the whole situation to Sullivan. Sure, he has a hard time believing in monsters, but if he’s already convinced that one of Brenner’s psychic children was committing these acts, would it really have been so hard for him to believe it was a different child?
I digress. The Nina Project sequence is exciting, because this late in the show it feels like every character is in danger. True to that, we get our first death of Volume 2 when Brenner carries Eleven up to the surface only to get shot by soldiers in a helicopter. But when those soldiers try to take out Eleven, she uses her powers to bring the chopper crashing to the ground. The display of power is pretty wild; this is a stronger Eleven than we’ve ever seen, and it is exciting.
As the dust settles, the California crew speeds up in Argyle’s pizza van. El’s reunion with Mike and Will was an emotional cherry on top of this episode. She gets one final scene with Doctor Brenner, saying goodbye to him as he bleeds out in the desert. Despite all the horrible things Brenner has done, he insists that Eleven is the closest thing he has to family. His dying act is to open the shock collar, freeing her to go help her friends. And unlike season 1, this time we see the body. Brenner is well and truly dead. Here’s hoping we never have to hear anyone call him “Papa” again.
Stranger Bullet Points
- Vecna stalking Nancy is one of the creepier scenes we’ve gotten with the villain.
- Eddie wore a Michael Myers mask when he was stealing the RV! A fun nod.
- Volume 1 may have been all about that Kate Bush, but “Papa” did a great job of bringing in more ’80s songs to liven things up, including tunes by Creedence Clearwater Revival, James Taylor, and Journey. The soundtrack is in top form here.
- My heart broke for Robin when she saw her crush kissing a boy in the War Zone. Steve pointed out that something smelled fishy about it, and I’m going to hope he’s right. Robin deserves some happiness!
- Eleven using her powers to find her friends was so nice to see in this episode. I missed those scenes, and the way she eavesdropped on the whole plan to go after Vecna was a great way to make her aware of the situation in Hawkins.
- Brenner noted that One grows stronger each time he kills a victim, consuming their memories, strengths, and power. This makes me even more nervous for Vecna and Eleven’s looming showdown in the finale, but is a cool touch.
- Speaking of Brenner, man did that guy have an episode. In his final minutes, we got to see Brenner be both reprehensible and caring toward Eleven, reminding us why he’s always been such a complex character. His death scene is surprisingly emotional, pretty much entirely because Millie Bobbie Brown and Matthew Modine kill it.
- Eleven and the Cali crew are 2,000 miles away from Hawkins. How will they get there in time to help their friends?
- I love the Hawkins gang making all their weaponry and preparing for war in the field. I have a feeling we’re going to look back with melancholy on that scene as the last good moments for that group before everything goes to hell.
Verdict
“Papa” was an all around solid episode and a great way to kick off Volume 2. It wrapped up just enough to put all of our major players in position to cross paths in the season finale, and had plenty of great emotional moments. Hopper and Joyce are seemingly on their way out of Russia, the Nina Project is no more, El got her powers back and was reunited with Mike and the Cali crew, and Vecna stands on the brink of victory. To top it all off, Brenner finally bit the bullet, preparing us for the bloodbath ahead. This was exactly the type of set-up episode the season needed before its big finish.
Episode Grade: A
– Daniel Roman
“Chapter Nine: The Piggyback”
The big two-and-a-half finale is here! Did it live up to the month of anticipation? Sort of! I liked “The Piggyback,” but I don’t think it had to be this long and I’m disappointed the show didn’t go further to sell how dire the situation is.
The episode does deliver some big moments we were all looking forward to, starting with a rematch between El and Vecna. We all knew this was coming, right? In order to make that happen, the Nevada crew is able to jerry-rig a sensory deprivation tank at a Surfer Boy Pizza location, which is a nice way to pay off Argyle’s existence. I liked that they cut him making a pizza in with the rest of the intense prepare-for-battle montage.
After she’s in the tank, Eleven projects herself to Hawkins, where Max has successfully baited Vecna into trying to kill her again. This episode is chock-full of dramatic speeches, but Max’s — where she gets frank with Vecna about there being some truth to his accusation that she wanted her brother dead — is the best. I fully bought Sadie Sink’s performance here, and my heart went out to Max. The bit where “Lucas” started to say horrible things to her was effectively creepy, too.
Anyway, Max tries to hide for a while in the happy memory of the Snow Ball from season 2, but Vecna eventually busts through, which is when El gets to have her come-to-the-rescue moment. It’s a fun bit — of course I love seeing El toss Vecna through gym benches — although the ebb and flow of the battle that follows is a little predictable. El starts losing the fight, because your hero can’t just win throughout, during which time Vecna reveals more of his origin story; after Eleven blasted him into the Upside Down, he became an “explorer” (check the Hellraiser vibe) and eventually found a big formless cloud of evil that he…I dunno, absorbed to make himself more powerful. He’s the Mind Flayer, basically, and his plan is to invade the real world (which I’m now calling the Right Side Up) and remake it in his horrific image. It’s fairly standard megalomaniacal villain stuff, but there’s nothing wrong with that when it’s sold this well.
But then, at the last minute, Mike talks Eleven back to confidence in what I’m gonna say was the third best dramatic speech of the episode; let’s call it the “you’re my superhero” speech. I was surprisingly moved by Mike’s earnest declaration of love and trust. I rate it three out of five ugly cries.
Anyway, Eleven gets back up and is able to lay Vecna out, which gives Steve, Robin and Nancy the opening they need to attack Vecna’s body in the Upside Down. Nancy looks great firing a sawed off shotgun and it’s fun watching Vecna go up in flames. Mission accomplished?
No! The twist is that Vecna actually does manage to kill Max before Eleven uses the power of love to uncoil the tentacles around her neck. This checks off everything on his evil shopping list, and the Upside Down does start to bleed into the Right Side Up in a way that nobody could possibly ignore.
Only they kind of do? Let’s get into some of the frustrating bits.
Strange half-measures on Stranger Things
So Hawkins is now riven with horrific flaming gashes that the news is writing off as the result of an “earthquake”…and people apparently buy it. Stranger Things wants to tell an epic story where the whole world is at risk, but it doesn’t seem to want anybody but this small group of Indiana kids helping to fix it. That means that a lot of people have to act very very dumb, most immediately the parents. When Mike and the gang returned to Hawkins in the final minutes of the episode and Mike’s mom made a big deal out of never letting him go again, I rolled my eyes so hard I swear I saw my own brain. Oh, so now you care where your kids are? They’ve been helping wanted criminals, faking their way into psych wards and fighting magic serial killers for episodes and you’ve barely lifted a finger. And doesn’t Max have a mother out there somewhere?
Oh, speaking of Max, she’s not dead. Well, she was medically dead for a minute, long enough to meet whatever standard needed to be met for Vecna’s “invade reality” plan, but then Eleven brought her back. Only she didn’t bring her back all the way, and now she’s in a coma.
This feels like a half-measure to me. I get that they want to keep Max around, but how many times can the show almost kill a character only to bring them back? (And if Max weren’t back in fighting shape for season 5, I’d be surprised.) If the show wants to tell a story with stakes, it’s gonna have to put some people in real danger. I don’t feel like Stranger Things is willing.
The show does kill off Eddie, which is a shame cause he’s fun, but he was a character introduced this season. That’s kind of the show’s MO: Barb died in season 1 a few episodes after being introduced. Ditto Alexei in season 3. Now it’s Eddie’s turn.
Although I have to mention that Eddie does have a very fun moment before his death. He and Dustin try and lure the Demobats away from the Creel house by fortifying Eddie’s trailer in the Upside Down and then having Eddie shred away on Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” Any image from this scene would make a great cover for a heavy metal album; it was cool.
I don’t know why Eddie had to die, though. The Demobats start making their way into the trailer so Dustin escapes back to the Right Side Up. But Eddie elects to stay to “buy more time.” So he runs out of the trailer and has the bats follow him…but they were already going at the trailer very hard; why was a further distraction needed? It felt like the writers wanted to kill a character but didn’t wanna sacrifice any of the main players, so they inserted a half-hearted plotline about how he’s “not a hero” and came up with this. Meh.
I did get a little choked up when Dustin told Eddie’s uncle about his nephew’s death, though. Gaten Matarazzo brings it.
Oh, Jason the basketball asshole also dies in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it moment when the gash in reality bisects him at the stomach, but don’t tell me anyone’s going to miss him.
Stranger Romance
What else can I complain about? Well, now that I’ve seen the whole season, I stand firm in my belief that bringing back Hopper was a mistake. I liked the bit at the beginning of the episode where he and Joyce flirt — Winona Ryder and David Harbour have winning chemistry — but I don’t think the show got enough out of his resurrection to justify what it lost. The Russia plotline was consistently the least interesting thing about season 4, Joyce looks like a negligent dolt for leaving her kids behind during this disaster, and it would have been better for the development of the other characters if they didn’t have Hopper to lean on.
Oh, and the episodes could have been shorter. And where did Hopper get that sword?
Circling back to romance, I kind of feel like the renewed Nancy-Steve affection came out of nowhere, or at least from far away. I don’t remember any hints that he was holding a candle for her in season 3, but there’s clearly more of this to come.
I did like Max and Lucas reconnecting through primitive text message. That was cute.
Oh, and we have to talk about Will for a moment. So, Stranger Things isn’t required to have LGBT representation, but it’s odd that Robin gets a full story arc about having a crush on a girl (the finale preserves hope on that front, by the way) but that it tip-toes around Will having a crush on Mike for nine episodes and doesn’t give us a resolution. And I’m not making this up; that is clearly what the show is hinting at, but apparently it’s too timid to follow through? Why? They even had a perfect chance to bring it up during Jonathan and Will’s heart-to-heart at the pizza place (the second best dramatic speech of the episode, for the record), but just sorta…didn’t.
Verdict
For all my whining, I did enjoy watching the episode. Stranger Things is a frustrating show to me, because it’s full of talented people who clearly care about what they’re doing and lavish every scene with hand-crafted detail, but it also makes these broad strokes mistakes that rub me the wrong way. I’m still looking forward to the fifth and final season, which could feel less constricted now that the writers don’t need to keep everyone around for next time.
Stranger Bullet Points
- I loved Robin’s Guardian Angels battle beret.
- “I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer.” Okay, that made me laugh.
- The balloons bursting into blood at the Snow Ball is very IT. And of course Lucas is reading a Stephen King book at the end.
- For the record, Lucas’ mid-fight speech to Jason about how “wanting to be normal” was a mistake was my least favorite of the episode. I like the sentiment, but it seemed overwritten considering what was happening at the time.
- Vecna: “You have already lost.” Eleven: “No, you have.” I think you can write a better stinger than that, guys.
- Erica Sinclair is always fun to watch, but she had way too little to do this season. She was more short-changed than Jonathan.
- A lot of people screamed “son of a bitch” this episode.
Episode Grade: B
– Dan Selcke
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