‘Stranger Things Season 4 Vol. 1’ Ending, Explained: What Happens In Stranger Things Season 4?
Stranger Things is coming back better than ever. Season 4 is a true example of what can be done in streaming television when creative, financial, and technical proficiency are all working together at the same level. The show brings back the characters we all know and love and places them into storylines that raise the stakes to new levels and expand the universe that the show has been creating since season one.
The show also brings new characters to the show and each of them works amazingly well. There is a lot of story in this first batch of episodes, or Volume 1 as Netflix is calling it. These seven episodes are very well written and directed. The Duffer Brothers should really be proud that they have accomplished, making such a wonderful show. Volume 2 will come to us at the beginning of July, so we might have to wait a bit to see the proper end of the story. However, these seven episodes end on a very strong note.
Beware! The next paragraphs are filled with spoilers for Volume 1 of Stranger Things, Season 4.
What Happens To Eleven in Stranger Things Season 4?
Stranger Things has become a show with a lot of characters. So, in order to properly develop the characters and each of the storylines, the characters have been divided into four groups. It makes for a more comprehensible and entertaining way to watch the show without having to get into complex editing or jumping back and forth in time a lot.
Eleven is, of course, the main character of the show, and her storyline this season is quite juicy. At the start, we see Eleven living in California with Joyce, Jonathan, and Will. It all seems well, but in reality, Eleven is having a hard time. She doesn’t only miss Hopper very much, but she is also a victim of bullying at school. Eleven feels that she is too different, and she doesn’t belong anywhere. Even when Mike visits her over spring break, Eleven’s mood doesn’t change, she is definitely in a bad place.
As new terrifying murders start happening at Hawkins, the military starts hunting Eleven. Dr. Owens comes to her rescue and offers Eleven two options. She can tell him to go back home, to live with her family and friends, or she can go with him, and try to get her powers back. Owens tells her that she might be the world’s only hope when facing what is coming, a new and dangerous threat from the Upside Down.
Eleven says yes, and Owens takes her to a new installation, where she meets Dr. Brenner once again. Eleven doesn’t want to work with Brenner, but does it anyway to help her friends at Hawkins. Brenner puts Eleven through a terrible training where she relives her experiences at Hawkins Lab. In this season, we finally see what really happened when Eleven escaped the facility way back in season one.
We are told that inside the facility, Eleven met an orderly who befriended her and helped her escape. This orderly is revealed to be, in fact, One, the first subject in Brenner’s program. The program was actually designed to recreate One’s powers, and from all test subjects, only Eleven developed powers at the level of One’s. Before escaping, Eleven decides to take out the inhibitor chip from One’s. However, instead of escaping, One kills almost everyone at the facility.
It is revealed that Eleven didn’t really kill anyone while trying to escape the facility, but she in fact created the first portal to the Upside Down when fighting with One. Her memories of her killing everyone in the facility are only the misguided efforts of her mind to conceal such a traumatic event. The last episode leaves Eleven unlocking this memory and learning the truth.
What Happens With Mike And Will In Stranger Things Season 4?
The California storyline is the least stuffed with things this season, but not for that is the least exciting. The storyline sees Will, and Mike coming back together in California during spring break and learning how to get closer once again as friends. It is made evident finally that Will has a crush on Mike and doesn’t know how to reveal his feelings to his friend.
Mike, on the other hand, spends most of the time trying to get to Eleven. The group’s research leads them to be visited by members of The Nina Project, people who work with Dr. Owens. However, even when Owen’s men try to protect them, they are attacked by the military, and they escape through a blaze of bullets. One of the agents that were protecting them gives them a clue, a phone number that connects with a computer, if they manage to make contact they can learn where Eleven is.
Mike, Will, and Jonathan finally meet face to face with Dustin’s girlfriend, who manages to crack the code and gives them the address. The last episode leaves us with Mike and his friend on the way to Eleven’s location.
What Happens with Steve, Max, Nancy, and Dustin In Stranger Things Season 4?
The Hawkins’ storyline is the one that is packed with the most characters, but it is also one of the most interesting of the season. A series of creepy murders start happening in the town, and the new character, Eddie, has been made the pariah. He runs from the law, but Dustin and the rest of his friends want to help him, as they believe the killings are being done by something coming from the Upside Down.
Nancy and Robin find out that the killings follow the same method as the ones happening at the end of the 50s. They learn that a man named Victor Creel suffered the same way as Eddie and is now in a mental facility. Creel didn’t actually kill his family, the murderer was his son, who is revealed to be One from Eleven’s storyline, and also the creature called Vecna, who is performing the killings around town. Vecna opens a portal to Upside Down every time he kills, his intentions for opening, so many portals are still a mystery, but they are probably not good.
Vecna tries to kill Max, who has been suffering from trauma since the end of season 3 when her brother Billy died saving the group. Max manages to escape with the help of others, as music is revealed to come across Vecna’s mind spell and opens a way back to reality.
When trying to explore one of the Vecna’s portals located in a lake, Steve gets sucked into the Upside Down, and Nancy, Robin, and Eddie follow him. The group fights many terrible creatures, and they manage to escape through the portal made by the first of Vecna’s victims. However, when crossing, Nancy falls inside Vecna’s realm.
The last episode leaves Nancy facing Vecna, while Steve’s life is in danger as he received many wounds from the Upside Down creatures. His status remains a mystery at this point.
What Happens to Hopper and Joyce in Stranger Things Season 4?
The last storyline of the season belongs to the adults. Hopper, the greatest dad ever, is presumed dead at the end of season 3, but in fact, he was captured by the Russians and sent to Russia where he remains alive, but in prison. One day, Joyce received a message from Hopper asking for forty thousand dollars, to let Hopped escape. It is there that Joyce decides to leave for Alaska to make the exchange and bring Hopper back home.
Hopper suffers a lot while in prison, and he tries to escape several times. In one of those escapes, he is captured alongside Dimitri, the guard who sent the message to Joyce. They are put on a sort of death row where along with other prisoners they are going to be sent into an arena to fight a Demogorgon. Hopper and Dimitri get ready for the fight, but things are not looking good.
Joyce, accompanied by Murray, managed to get inside the prison and capture the control room. Joyce’s help comes at the right moment. Hopper and Dimitri managed to survive their fight with the Demogorgon, and the last episode leaves us with Joyce and Hopper embracing as they are finally together after so long. This storyline ends with a very happy ending in contrast to the other ones, but we have to wait until July 1st when Volume 2 releases, to see if it stays that way.