Stranger Things
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Hive mind, baby!
Its all about that hive mind.
Doesnt it always feel better when the band gets back together?
There was a good reason they explained the concept to us repeatedly this season!
But before we get to the main action in Hawkins, shall we set the scene a little?
Im glad I thought of it.
Lets kick things off in the Soviet Union becauseI cannot contain myself.
Did I immediately begin to wonder when the last time Hopper had brushed his teeth was?
Did I enjoy it nonetheless?
It happens while theyre still standing around and waiting for a call back from Dr. Owenss people.
He tries to play it off like its not a big deal.
He apologizes for ever sending her that message.
She might be alive, but he still carries guilt over the danger he put her in.
But Joyce knew it would be dangerous and she made her own choice to make the trip.
Even knowing everything thats happened, I would choose it again, she says.
Then Joyce says that Hopper should use his imagination when thinking about what could happenafterdessert.
Then Hopper says who needs imagination?
before swooping in for a frenzied make out.
Then I say, between sobs, all of my dreams are coming true right now.
Its great and Im sweating.
That is, of course, when the phone finally rings.
They feel useless … until Joyce remembers, yep, you guessed it, hive mind.
Our team out in Nevada feels just as useless as Hopper and Joyce.
Theres no way theyll be able to get to Indiana in time to save their friends.
Its Eleven who comes up with a way to reach them regardless of distance: a piggyback.
Shes been able to mind-travel into peoples memories before she did it with her mother and Billy.
Its a mind fight, everybody.
Were squaring up for a mind fight.
to properly do this, Eleven will need some sort of makeshift sensory-deprivation tank.
Back in Hawkins that means weve completed Phase Two of Nancy Wheelers Four Phase Plan to Save the World.
), is taking their places in the Upside Down.
Aw sweetie, thats so cute.
Things get dicey pretty quickly.
As if Steve Harrington hasnt been choked out enough already this season!
Anyway, things seem dire for that group, too.
And what of Max and Lucas and Eleven and Vecna?
Shes come to rescue her friend.
If you touch her again, I will kill you, again, Eleven tells him.
I mean, the amount of yammering this guy does!
No big deal or anything.
The spiders shouldve been the clue.
He is the creator and king of the Upside Down as we know it.
The reason the Mind Flayer/Shadow Monster from season two looked like a giant spider?
Its because Vecna/One/Henry is obsessed with them.
When Eleven closed the gate after that?
(Remember, Brenner did warn Eleven that One consumes his victims, takingeverythingfrom them.)
He needed them to make his own gates so that he could consume this dimension.
Its always been Vecna.
Its your classic good versus evil you knowStranger Thingsloves a throwback.
So who wins this matchup?
Well, its complicated.
Things are looking bleak for our side.
Eleven is strung up and has no fight left.
Vecna is proceeding with killing Max.
Fucking Jason, everybody.
Maxs bones begin to snap and her eyes bleed.
Eddie is being attacked by the demobats and it doesnt look good.
Steve, Robin, and Nancy are running out of time (and air!).
In the Soviet Union, Hopper is trapped by a demodog.
After the demogorgons are destroyed in the Soviet prison, Vecna screams out in pain again.
The plan is working.
Eddie, sweet, dear Eddie, dies from his wounds in Dustins arms.
I didnt run this time, right?
he tearfully asks his friend.
Max, too, succumbs to her injuries as Lucas screams out, holding her.
And then Vecnas clock chimes four times.
His plan worked, he made his fourth gate.
All four of the gates continue to grow until they create one giant x that rips through Hawkins.
But that problem is for later because, guys, Max is dead.
I know this whole sequence is heart-wrenching, but the absolute joy I feel when I think about it!
But then there are footsteps.
It is joyful and lovely and heartbreaking all at once.
Am I crying just thinking about it?
I will not be sharing that information at this time!
But it is another reunion cut short with foreboding.
Those instantly recognizable dusty particles begin to slowly fall all around them.
Its just like what Vecna showed Nancy.
The Upside Down has arrived in Hawkins.
More Strange Things!
Will never explicitly comes out (maybe season five?)
All over a salt bath in a pizza-dough freezer!
Youve always been there, he tells her.
Just get to it, already!
Youre killing me with all the fat jokes,Stranger Things.
You do not need them, I promise you.
Is Caleb McLaughlin the MVP of the season?
Ill never get over the wailing!
Other contenders for the title are Sadie Sink, Joseph Quinn, Joe Keery, and the demobats.
I think its my year, Henderson.
I think its finally my year.
Yeah, that one will take a while to shake off.
No one is just dead weight along for the ride and the series is always stronger for it.
Even silly stoner Argyle becomes an asset!
