Stranger Things 4: all the questions part 2 should answer

Stranger Things 4The problems have just begun, even though part 1 is done. Netflix’s hit new series ended on a high note. It featured Eleven fighting a formidable nemesis (more below), and Nancy in dire situations than ever. What can we do? Stranger Things 4 Are you ready for part 2? We’ve got some starting questions here.

[Ed. note: This post goes into detail about the entirety of Stranger Things 4 part 1. Spoilers abound.]

What is Vecna’s goal?

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Big Bad of Stranger Things 4 is more than just a Freddy Krueger- and D&D-inspired monster. It turns out he’s also Brenner’s first test subject, One — also known as the charmingly creepy orderly helping El in her flashbacks and Victor Creel’s son, Henry. One’s powers were discovered as he was growing up. He also discovered how little care he had for others. One began by torturing his animals, terrorizing his family and displaying visions. He eventually killed his mother and sister in 1959 and left his father to carry the blame.

Then, he was taken to Hawkins Lab where Dr. Brenner placed a chip in his neck. This prevented One from using any of his abilities after seeing the extent of his cruelty. Twenty years later, Eleven removed One’s inhibitor, thinking it was a tracking device and that the two were going to escape Hawkins Lab together. One was able to regain his powers and began the murderous spree that led us to the end of season 1. When El turned against him, the pair squared off and she pushed him into the Upside Down — likely unintentionally, as she didn’t have the same grip on her powers back then, nor did she even know what the Upside Down was. One, who was entering the Upside Down transformed into Vecna the Hawkins’ children nicknamed him.

There’s no doubt that One’s showdown with Eleven made him hunger for revenge and freedom, but does he have an endgame beyond that? In the years since One transformed into Vecna, he appears to have been building up his powers even further, trapping his victims in his mind and possibly draining them for energy — perhaps as a way to gather enough power to break out of the Upside Down.

Whatever Vecna’s final goal is, it’s possible season 4 part 2 won’t end with him defeated before he can achieve it. He was inspired clearly by Luke and Vader in his romance with Eleven. Empire Strikes Back, and that movie didn’t end with the complete defeat of the bad guy.

Now, what happens to Nancy?

Though Robin and Eddie made it through the gate no problem, Nancy fell under Vecna’s spell just as she tried to climb through to the regular world. Inside Vecna’s realm, he preyed on Nancy’s guilt over Barb’s death. But Nancy didn’t only see horrifying images from her past — she also saw glimpses of Vecna’s past, which is how she learned he’s Henry Creel.

Just because Vecna shared his history with Nancy, though, doesn’t mean he’s going to make any other special exceptions for her. When season 4 part 1 ended, she’s left at risk of being subsumed by Vecna. So, will Dustin, Lucas, Max, Eddie, and Robin venture back into the Upside Down to save her, or will it be up to Steve, who’s still in the mirror realm, to drag her back to our world? And more importantly, what’s Nancy’s favorite song?

Is the Upside Down still frozen at Nov. 6, 1983?

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That date definitely has resonance in this world — it’s the day Will vanished into the Upside Down, kicking off the events of season 1. It’s also the same day Eleven first made physical contact with the Demogorgon, thereby creating a gate to the Upside Down in Hawkins Lab and setting the monster loose in our world.

However, it isn’t clear how either of these incidents halted the Upside Down. Maybe Eleven unwittingly used her time-manipulating powers when she touched down on the Demogorgon. And if Eleven can manipulate time, what does that mean for her — and the world — moving forward?

Mike or Lieutenant Col. Sullivan will be the first to reach Eleven.

After torturing Wallace extensively, Sullivan finally got him to reveal Eleven’s location. Wallace only did so on the condition that Sullivan wouldn’t kill her, but we’re not sure how much we can count on Sullivan’s word — especially since he’s convinced Eleven is the one responsible for killing all the kids in Hawkins.

Sullivan is presumably on his way to Nevada now, but he’s not the only one racing to find El. The last time we saw Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle, they had just gotten The Nina Project’s location thanks to Suzie’s hacking skills. The coordinates for it are 37.2331N, 115.7901W (also known as Area 51). On-screen text stated that the laboratory was in Ruth (Nevada), which is three and a quarter hours away from Salt Lake City. Suzie lives there. Though Google Maps didn’t exist in 1986, so mileage may vary.

Mike and his friends should make it to El before El, as El is desperately needed at Hawkins. Maybe the long trip from Nevada to Indiana can give Mike and El an opportunity to discuss the issues that remain in their marriage before diving back into monster fighting.

Is Eleven able to use her full power back?

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At the end of Season 3, Eleven was bitten by an Upside Down monster. Many believed that her ability to disappear was an aftereffect of the encounter with the Beast.

However, when she was at the underground lab, Brenner explained that Eleven’s powers were all still there. Similar to stroke victims, her brain signals were just becoming confused.

The Nina Project was designed to restore Eleven’s powers by allowing her to reexperience her past. We saw Eleven temporarily use her powers after she had relived her past with One. Now that she recalls everything that happened with One, does that mean she’s back to full strength — or even stronger than she was before?

What will Hopper, Joyce and Murray do to get out Russia?

Yes, Joyce and Murray triumphed over a group of guards and Hopper and Dmitri survived the Demogorgon, but they’re still inside a well-staffed Soviet prison camp. To escape, will they have to beat every government official and guard? Or perhaps Joyce’s haphazard button-pressing will have unwittingly caused some chaos that they could use as cover to escape?

Even if they are able to make it out of the prison camp unscathed, there’s still a ton of Iron Curtain to get on the other side of — which will be difficult given that Yuri’s plane went kaput. With Yuri as their captive and Dmitri now a seeming ally, perhaps the duo’s local knowledge will be enough to get the group back to the States relatively safe and sound … all so that they can face off against an otherworldly monster alongside their kids.

Is Steve and Nancy back?

It’s just what you think Stranger Things was done with the love triangle, we’re back studying amorous trigonometry again. Steve tried to find the perfect girl throughout this season. Nancy tried to minimize her worries about Jonathan’s long-distance relationship, which she didn’t know was a problem. She has decided to stay in the same country as Jonathan and go to college. Even though it’s been a while since they dated, Steve and Nancy still have such obvious chemistry that they each received unsolicited pep talks to Take into considerationThey have a strong connection. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once Jonathan shows back up in Hawkins. And speaking of which…

Where will they all meet?

It has been a season of spreading the Stranger ThingsThe cast spanned a greater distance than ever before and in the finale, characters were split among Russia, Salt Lake City (Nevada), regular Hawkins and Upside Down Hawkins. That’s a lot of ground to cover!

What point in time will our players all be back together? It’s likely that we’ll at least see all the kids come together in Hawkins by the end of part 2, but Joyce doesn’t even realize her kids aren’t in California anymore! And it’s not like Jonathan has a cell phone she can ring up to ask where he is whenever she makes it out of Russia.

Will you be gay?

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However Stranger Things often seems to forget about Will when he’s not in mortal danger (or in mortal danger of getting the worst haircut), the show appeared to be building toward something with Will this season — something he’s seemingly afraid to share with the others.

Throughout part 1, there were hints that Will was holding something back, such as when reminded El that friends don’t lie and melancholily consoles Mike as he worries about his relationship with Eleven. “Sometimes it’s just scary to open up like that and say how you feel,” he told Mike in a charged moment in episode 5. “What if the people you care about the most don’t like the truth?” Many have interpreted these moments as indicators that Will is going to come out as gay.

There’s also the fact that Will had been painting a lot but refused to show anyone what he’d been working on. The work is clearly extremely personal and important to Will, since he brought it with him to the airport to pick up Mike and even made sure to grab the painting when the kids fled the agents and left the Byers’ California home.

This isn’t a big current, but it suggests something beyond Will trying to deal with creatures from The Upside Down and find Eleven. It’s certainly possible that whatever Will wants to reveal has nothing to do with his sexuality, but we hope that his friends accept Will’s truth, whatever it may be.

How about Hawkins’ Satanic Panic?

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Beyond the otherworldly horror of Vecna and the militaristic terror of the Soviet prison camp, there’s also the more human, but still dangerous problem of the Satanic Panic sweeping through Hawkins. After watching one of his teammates get killed by Vecna, basketball star Jason became convinced that Eddie was the leader of a satanic cult committing the murders rather than simply the DM of a Dungeons & Dragons club.

Jason presented his theory to a local meeting. This whipped citizens into an frenzy, and he launched a search for the Hellfire Club. After being apprehended in the woods by police, Lucas, Max,and Dustin managed to get away with it. This means Lucas, Max and Dustin technically are on the run, but they will be interfering with Upside Down affairs.

Will we ever get the Kate Bush anthem “Running Up That Hill” out of our heads?

It just keeps going, and they keep doing it. We get it. But we’re wondering how many other Kate Bush needle drops there will be in the two episodes (and nearly four hours) left of the season.