Serving as the final episode before part two, the storylines are more jam-packed than usual making this episode the most high-stakes one so far. The performances of all the actors are highlighted in this episode as well complimenting the excitement the storylines bring. Picking up right where we left off Joyce, Murray, and Yuri enter the prison and are greeted by Hopper along with the other prisoners fighting the Demogorgon. The action pack sequence shows all the other prisoners charging the beast but getting almost instantly killed, highlighting Hopper’s expertise with the creature. By hanging back and waiting he can fend off the creature with his lighter creating a torch. While he holds the creature back, Murray and Joyce can open the doors letting Hopper free and trapping the Demogorgon on the other side. Immediately after a heartfelt reunion is seen between Hopper and Joyce.

Back in Hawkins, Dustin, Lucas, and Erica try to find patterns in Vecna’s behavior in an attempt to get Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie out of the upside down which they all entered in the previous episode to help Steve. After some witty pondering, they all realize that gates have been opening at each site of Vecna’s murders meaning there should be a gate at Eddie’s trailer where Chrissy was murdered back in episode one. Once again in classic Stranger Things fashion the two groups communicate via different lights throughout Nancy and Mike’s house. What makes these scenes so special is the fact that audiences have never really seen how the upside-down operates. Back in season one with the iconic Christmas light communication we only saw the receiving end, fans loved the choice to include both ends of this conversation between the upside down and the normal world.

The events of the episode take a sharp turn when Nancy, Robin, Steve, and Eddie are trying to escape the upside down. As the gang reunites in Eddie’s trailer, Robin and Eddie can successfully escape, Nancy however becomes possessed by Vecna who shows her the answers to all the questions they’ve been asking. Nancy discovers that Vecna is Henry, Victor Creel’s son, and is the one behind the murders of his mother and sister via his psychokinesis abilities, during this, he was able to frame his father. Shortly after that he was put into the care of Brenner AKA Papa, and soon became 001 beginning his tests to recreate his abilities. We also see that Henry later becomes a lab orderly that El befriends in her early years at the lab. From a writing and storytelling perspective, finding all this information out at once felt incredibly fast. However, the shock factor was still there and audiences everywhere lost their minds over the twist. By the end of the episode, Eleven finally remembers that she is not the one behind the massacre at Hawkins but it was Henry attempting to escape and making a scene along the way. When Eleven refuses to help Henry continue the two fights cause Eleven to overpower Henry and send him upside down where he became Vecna. This plot line as well came as a shock to die-hard fans of the show, since it’s also the very first time we’ve seen the events that occurred right before the start of season one. Despite the season not even being over at this point, audiences were already theorizing about Vecna’s potential involvement in Will Byers’s disappearance back in season one. Videos are popping up everywhere of fans pointing out faint clock sounds as Will gets abducted in the very first episode.

Serving as the final episode before part two was released, it met audiences’ expectations of resolving all the questions while simultaneously ending on such a strong note. The choice to wait almost a whole month in-between parts to build hype was also a great choice by The Duffer Brothers as well as Netflix. The hype continued past the release of part two and with no end in sight, Stranger Things season four content continues to dominate social media on all platforms from Twitter to Instagram and most prominently TikTok. Despite fans also taking note of how long it took for this season to hit Netflix, it didn’t take long for all those hard feelings to disappear. Overall the reveal of Vecna, though very sudden did work in favor of the storyline, especially for fans who were just incredibly eager to understand what’s been going on this whole time. As mentioned earlier the way fans are already speculating what the next season is going to look like simply based on the little information we know about Vecna’s involvements with past situations is incredibly telling of how dedicated and passionate the fans of Stranger Things are despite storylines and release dates not going exactly how they speculated.

Rating: 8.0/10