Stranger Things Season 4: What happened in Episodes 1-9?

Episode 1 – “The Hellfire Club”

Stranger Things marks its comeback with The Hellfire Club, the first episode of the fourth season. Much about the episode is a reintroduction to the characters. Eleven, Jonathan, Will, and Joyce now live in California. El no longer has her powers and is in an unfortunate situation of being targeted by bullies. There are also some indications that Hopper might still be alive. Chrissy Cunningham, a cheerleader at Hawkins High School, falls victim to an evil spell. Max, who is still grieving Billy’s death, notices the cheerleader entering Eddie Munson’s home, apparently to buy drugs. Soon afterward the cheerleader dies a gruesome death. Meanwhile Dustin and Mike are now members of the “Hellfire Club,” a group of Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts led by Eddie.

Episode 2 – “Vecna’s Curse”

Hopper is indeed alive. The explosion beneath the Starcourt Mall didn’t kill him after all. He is now in a Russian prison, being tortured. A ransom note arrives, asking for $40,000 for the safe return of the sheriff and telling Joyce to call the number written on the page. After the call and a conversation with an individual named “Enzo,” both Murray and Joyce realize the person is a Russian corrections officer Hopper bribed in the previous season. The drop point for the ransom is Alaska.

Fred and Nancy visit the neighborhood where the body of the cheerleader Chrissy is found. Unbeknownst to anybody else, Fred was in a car crash last summer; he accidentally killed an entire family. Now he also suffers from hallucinations. Somewhere in the woods, Fred sees the same strange clock that Chrissy did moments before her death. The family he killed in the car crash is also there, pointing their blame at him. Terrified of the situation, Fred makes a run for his life through the woods only to get killed in the same way as the cheerleader. Dustin, Robin, Steve, Max, and Eddie think that the mysterious deaths are somehow related to Vecna’s Curse, a dark spell casting its shadows over Hawkins.

Episode 3 – “The Monster and The Superhero”

El is involved in a fight with Angela, after which the latter suffers a concussion, and the El is taken into police custody. Dr. Owens intercepts the police car for two reasons: he has a plan to help El regain her power and that the mystery in Hawkins will be easier to solve if she is on board for the investigation. Robin and Nancy do some research about Vecna and think Vecna has always been in town since 1959. Assuming they are right, Victor Creel was wrongfully convicted for the murders of his family. Max and Nancy develop the same unexplainable symptoms as Fred like nightmares, nosebleed, headaches, and visions of a clock. 

Episode 4 – “Dear Billy”

Murray and Joyce are in Alaska to deliver the ransom money. The worst happens: Yuri takes the money and then calls the warden along with the KGB to arrest the Americans. Max feels like she only has one day left before the curse takes her life. She writes a farewell letter to her friends and family. Robin and Nancy meet with Victor Creel, who tells them it was a demon who killed his family decades ago. Some detective work by the two leads them to Max at Billy’s grave. They come across Max being possessed and break the spell by playing her favorite song “Running up the Hill” by Kate Bush. 

Episode 5 – “The Nina Project”

Hopper remains in a Russian prison. Murray and Joyce, while on their flight from Alaska to Russia, hijack the plane from their kidnapper and make an emergency landing in the middle of nowhere. In Hawkins, the crew discovers that Vecna uses the Creel family mansion as his lair. Vecna preys on another soul, Patrick. In an ICBM silo somewhere in Nevada, Dr. Owens and Dr. Brenner put their “NINA” project to good use for helping El access her lost memories. It’s a questionable tactic, but it works albeit for only a short while. Convinced of the benefits of the experiment, El is willing to keep on trying.

Episode 6 – “The Dive”

Joyce decides to disguise herself as a smuggler, and Murray pretends to be Yuri in the hope of infiltrating the Russian prison where Hopper is. In prison, Hopper is suspicious of a large feast being given for the prisoners. He thinks the guards are only trying to fatten them up so they can be fed to the Demogorgon. He steals a cigarette lighter, knowing the monster is terrified of fire. When Dustin realizes his compass doesn’t point north, he knows there is a gate to the Upside Down not far from his location. He follows the clues and determines that the gate is somewhere in Lover’s Lake. Steve takes a dive to have a better look and is attacked by a swarm of demonic bats. Back in Nevada, El remembers she killed people in the lab as a child.

Episode 7 – “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab”

Vecna possesses Nancy, who then sees that Vecna is Henry, son of Victor Creel. Young Henry was capable of psychokinetic powers and used them to murder his own sister and mother, while framing his father for the crimes. Dr. Brenner used Henry as a test subject in an attempt to replicate his abilities. El now remembers Henry committed a massacre in the lab. She was the one who sent Henry to the Upside Down, where he transformed into Vecna.  

Chapter 8 “Papa”

Episode 8 begins with an imminent problem: El in Nevada and the trio in Russia must get back to Hawkins at once to help everyone in town defeat the demonic Vecna. While Nancy is still under the curse, she has a glimpse of what Vecna intends to do. He wants to establish balance between Hawkins and the Upside Down. If the plan succeeds, it will basically remove the town from its real-world existence and make Hawkins an inseparable part of another dimension. To accomplish the objective, Vecna must open four gates, each requires a soul. Three are already in his bag. 

Then Dustin has a brainiac idea. Vecna can only inflict death through the mind, and maybe, just like El when she exercises her power, her physical body is vulnerable. In the same way when Vecna intends to kill, his body is prone to attacks. Dustin also knows Vecna uses the attic in the Creel mansion as a lair. They must find Vecna’s body when he is busy attacking the fourth victim to have a real chance of ending his terrors. The problem is no one knows when the next attack will be. Max steps up. She knows Vecna still wants her soul, so she offers to be the bait for the plan.

Back in Nevada, El senses the far-from-perfect Hawkin’s plan and realizes to have a real shot at killing Vecna, the team needs her. Now that her powers are fully restored, she is ready to fight back, but this is where the “Papa” talks come to scene. Dr. Brenner keeps telling her that everything he has done thus far is for her own good, because he loves her like his own child. Furthermore, he tries to convince El that her abilities are still no match to Vecna’s powers. Thankfully El comes to realize that Dr. Brenner is the true monster, and all the regretful events in Hawkins are triggered by his desperate attempt to recover Henry from the Upside Down. When Henry was a boy, his anger put El in no position to do anything but open the first gate to the Upside Down in 1983.

The realization, however, angers Brenner, who then resorts to restraining El. The arrival of General Sullivan along with his heavy military power to kill El, forces Brenner to hide his hostage. During their run, and as a Surfer Boy Pizza van arrives thanks to Suzie’s tracking ability, Brenner takes a shot from a sniper in a helicopter. El responds to the attack by taking the aircraft down. The pizza van will take her to Indiana. 

Murray, Joyce, Hopper, Antonov and Yuri manage to escape the Russian prison through the sewage pipes. They also discover a room full of Demogorgons in the prison. Antonov calls Owens to see if he can get help for them to return to Indiana.

Chapter 9 “The Piggyback”

Hopper and Joyce, in the season finale, kiss. It is a moment of joy before the phone rings. An agent working for Owens tells them that Eleven and the Byers kids are going to Hawkins to fight an evil that’s terrorizing the town, but the kids have gone radio silent. The first thing Joyce can think about is the Demogorgon, followed by the hive mind, and finally the Upside Down dust particles that are in the prison. She knows the “evil” must be connected to them as part of one massive organism. Attacking the hive should also inflict damage to the evil in Hawkins. So Joyce and Hopper go back to the prison to fight the Demogorgons.

The Surfer Pizza Van team in Nevada cannot possibly reach Hawkins in time. Eleven, with her superpowers, decides to mind-travel to Max’s memory and fight Vecna there instead. The plan seems to work, as Vecna intimidates Max and is about to execute her, Eleven pushes him back. Murray, Hopper, and Joyce have the upper hand against the Demogorgons. The moment Murray fires his flamethrower at the monsters, the bats fall to the ground and Vecna screams in agony. The vines also loosen their strangling grip on Nancy, Steve, and Robin.

As it turns out, Vecna/Henry/One is the undisputed ruler of the Upside Down. The Mind Flayer of the previous season existed with the sole purpose of taking away Eleven’s powers, but she did not lose her powers. The monster stole the powers from her on behalf of Vecna. Even with her powers now back to their full potential, One is simply too powerful a demon for Eleven to challenge. Thanks to Mike’s motivational (if not cheesy) speech, however, El feels empowered and throws Vecna away from Max. The blast renders Max unable to feel or see anything, and she falls into Lucas’ arms.

Nancy, Steve, and Robin locate Vecna’s vulnerable body. They throw some explosives, setting the body on fire. Nancy wields a shotgun and shoots Vecna out the window. Curious about what happens to the body, they go out for a look but see nothing. Vecna is not there, which only means he’s still alive and strong enough to run away. Then his clock chimes again, always four times. A giant X-shaped opening begins to consume Hawkins. Max is in a state of comma. The four gates are growing larger, and the Upside Down is finally in Hawkins.

Matt Duffer has confirmed Season 4 will conclude with some loopholes. The statement implies there is going to be at least another season of Stranger Things, and clearly, with the bad guys still running amuck and little hope to stop them, we have decided there WILL definitely be a Season 5.