By now, most of us Stranger Things fans have already finished all four episodes of Volume 1 (I won’t judge if it was before Black Friday), but for those of you who haven’t, beware–there are spoilers ahead.
This series has grown into one of the most popular shows Netflix has ever created, and with any exceptionally good show, there were a lot of expectations going into the final season. For some of us, there may have been fears as well–fears that the ending might destroy a show that we all treasured for almost a decade. Now, I’m not at all knocking the Duffer Brothers, because so far they’ve continued to exceed our expectations with every season. I am simply stating what we all have seen happen time and time again–the pressure to make the ending exceptional and unforgettable ends up pushing creators to give us an ending that shocks us in the worst way possible (Cough, cough Game of Thrones). That being said, let’s evaluate whether Volume 1 led us toward a successful conclusion or foreshadowed the finale’s anticlimax.
Episode by Episode Analysis
Chapter One: The Crawl
The season begins with a flashback of Will being chased by a Demogorgon after he first enters the Upside Down. It was an epic moment, but I was a little distracted by the strange CGI Will. I get that in real life, he’s aged into an adult and couldn’t exactly play an eleven-year-old again…but honestly, I’d have been happier with a look-alike actor. CGI Will was almost more frightening than the Demogorgon chasing him.
It continues into an hour-long reset that helped us understand the new Hawkins. To sum it up, they are in a military quarantine, and our main characters have been organising secret ‘crawls’ into the Upside Down in a search for Vecna, whom they have yet to find after like 37 crawls. I feel like they probably could have stopped risking Hopper’s life on these crawls after not finding Vecna on like the tenth one–but hey, what do I know about defeating a psychic villain who controls monsters with flower-shaped heads made of teeth?
I didn’t hate this episode, but it wasn’t that exciting for me. Therefore–
Points towards a successful conclusion: 1
Points towards an anticlimax: 1
Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler
The second episode revved up the action a bit when the Wheeler household came face to face with a Demogorgon. And by Wheelers, surprisingly, I don’t mean Nancy or Mike but rather their parents and little sister, Holly. The latter of which we haven’t seen much of in earlier seasons, but now has a much bigger role, and it starts with her having some sort of imaginary friend named ‘Mr. Whatsit’ and then a Demogorgon kidnapping.
Hands down, the best part of this episode was Karen attacking the Demogorgon with her wine bottle, screaming, “Stay away from my daughter!” I didn’t predict Karen would have such a heroic moment; however, I am glad that when she did, they made it true to her character by using the wine bottle. Sure, many fans are arguing that the bottle actually causing a gash in the creature was unrealistic, being that bullets barely make a dent, but I’m willing to overlook that plot hole simply because I just felt like it fit Karen’s character so well.
The rest of the episode involves Eleven jumping into the Upside Down to try and save Holly; Nancy and Mike investigating Mr.Whatsit and discovering his name is actually Henry(oh no), and Will realising he could not only see through the eyes of the Demogorgons but also Vecna himself.
All in all, this episode was better than the first, but I felt like the excitement died out after the Wheeler attack, so…
Successful Conclusion: 2 / Anticlimax: 1
Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap
If you aren’t sure what the title entails, even after watching the episode, let me clarify. In this episode, Will uses his new Vecna vision to discover that he wasn’t just kidnapping Holly, but other children, and the next is going to be a classmate named Derek Turnbow. So, as you can probably guess, our Hawkins heroes decide to create a trap, one meant to catch the Demogorgon they assume is coming for Derek.
This is where things got a little bit questionable for me. At first, I thought their plan was for the sole purpose of saving Derek, but then I realised it was to simply place a tracker in the Demo so that it would lead them back to Vecna. The worst part is the lengths they went to for this trap: they had Lucas’ little sister give the Turnbow family a pie laced with sedatives, stole the family to hide in a barn, and then destroyed their house while creating this very elaborate trap. Like–was all of that really necessary? Eventually, Steve and the crew in his car end up bursting through a tear into the Upside Down to follow the Demo. And then, of course, Derek wakes up too soon, alerting the Hive to their hiding spot.
All the while, Hopper and El are still in the Upside Down, discovering a military base that somehow managed to appear there. They learn the mini-villain of Volume 1, Dr. Kay, has a powerful being captured there and assume it is Vecna’s human form. Also, Holly is just existing in some otherworld, which we learn is Vecna’s memories, and she encounters Max, who is also stuck there. The odd part is–the rest of the team doesn’t seem all too concerned with what these characters are doing. They’re too busy running through fences and giving sedatives to innocent families.
Because the plot seemed a little hole-y…
Successful Conclusion: 0 / Anticlimax: 2
Chapter Four: Sorcerer
The final episode of Volume 1 started off similar to the last episode, with most of our main characters enacting some intricate, yet seemingly unnecessary plan. A bunch of children are captured by the military in the real world, and our real-world group finds a way to help them escape through the tunnels. And of course, they get caught towards the end of it, both by the military and the horde of Demogorgons sent to kidnap them.
Meanwhile, Hopper and Eleven defeat Dr.Kay and discover that she had actually captured Kali, also known as 8. I mean…were we really supposed to think they had Vecna? Somewhere nearby, our love triangle group (plus the fourth wheel, Dustin) discover that there is a wall inside the Upside Down that surrounds Hawkins. And then, in an alternate Vecna mind dimension, Holly and Max discuss a plan to escape.
Just as I was starting to feel as if a disappointing end was on the horizon–Will saved the day, quite literally, with one of the most epic moments of all time. The kids are taken, and Vecna walks through the veil to take out the remaining military guys before delivering his villainous monologue to Will. Vecna made a point to highlight Will’s ‘weak’ nature and his inability to fit in, claiming he was defective.
Moments later, Vecna returns to the Upside Down, and Will falls to the ground as the Demogorgons prepare to slaughter his friends. But then there’s a flashback to a young Mike and Will playing, and suddenly Will realises that his uniqueness was never a weakness, it was a strength. In the most perfect D&D parallel, Will proves himself to be the ultimate sorcerer and uses his connection to the Hive to take control of the Demogorgons, stopping them just in time and saving his friends.
To be honest, this end saved Volume 1 for me–all of the plot holes, strange character dynamics, and slow pacing were worth my time because I was able to experience such a powerful moment in the end. Therefore–
Successful Conclusion: 5 / Anticlimax: 0
Ending Scores
Successful Conclusion: 8 / Anticlimax: 4
Based on the scores, I’d say that the show has a good chance of ending well. Yes, there were several things I wish had been done differently–but one thing we have to keep in mind is that this was just the first half. This was the set-up of the finale, and that is likely why it may have seemed ‘slow’ or a bit off.
Fan Theories and Their Likelihood for Volume 2
- The Mind Flayer is Actually in Control, and Vecna is just a Puppet
Out of all of the theories, this is the one that I think is most plausible and has the most backing. For those of you who don’t know, there is a prequel play titled The First Shadow that explores the backstory of Henry Creel before he became Vecna. In that play, Henry ends up being possessed by the Mind Flayer after ending up in an alternate world. In prior seasons, we were led to believe that Vecna was controlling the Mind Flayer, but the play pretty much proves that this was not the case. Therefore, the likely scenario is that our core group is going to face off against Vecna and realise that he was not the ultimate boss–The Mind Flayer is.
- The Thessalhydra Theory
Alright, so this one goes down a rabbit hole a bit, but I can see how it could happen. The Thessalhydra is a reptile-like beast with several heads and a tail with pinchers that originates in D&D lore. At the end of season 1, they play a game of D&D where the boss was in fact a Thessalhydra and was defeated when Will rolled a fireball spell. This could have been a foreshadowing of the final battle, where Will will be vital in defeating the ultimate villain. How might that connect with the Mind Flayer and Vecna? I’m not entirely sure, but it seems like they all aren’t fans of fire, so it’s certainly possible a connection exists.
- The Time Travel/Wormhole Theory
There have been several strong clues that allude to something occurring that involves a wormhole or some sort of time manipulation. In Volume 1, Mr Clarke even explicitly discusses Einstein-Rosen bridges (also known as wormholes), explaining they could allow for travel between dimensions–or time. Was this for no reason at all? Unlikely.
To add to that, there have been several references to two popular time-travel movies: Back to the Future and A Wrinkle in Time. Episode 6 is titled ‘Escape from Camazotz’, and Camazotz is the name of a mind-controlled planet in A Wrinkle in Time, so we can assume there will definitely be some parallels between the two stories. Will that involve time travel…who knows?
A final clue to this theory is Vecna’s weird obsession with clocks. In Season 4, when he was hijacking the minds of certain Hawkins individuals, there was often a Godfather clock in their visions. Even Steve said, “What is his obsession with clocks? Is he like a clockmaker or something?” Perhaps this wasn’t just a brainless comment but instead a foreshadowing of the final season reveal.
The Final Four Episodes
Chapter Five: Shock Jock 👀
The title of this first episode has me concerned. In my previous article, I shared my thoughts on the survival prospects of our favourite characters, and while I said Steve is definitely at risk, I ultimately believed he would survive. But now, I have serious doubts. I mean, the title makes it blatantly obvious that Steve, the jock, is probably going to be ‘shocked.’ Sure–it could be a play on words and maybe something ‘shocking’ happens to him–but it seems unlikely with all of the electrical shock foreshadowing.
For one, in the first episode of this season, there is a scene where Robin warns Steve to turn off the high voltage before climbing the radio tower they are configuring. Following that, Dustin continuously made comments about Steve using the word ‘shocking.’ And to top it off, Joe Keery even mentioned that Steve’s biggest moment would be in episode five. The signs are almost too obvious at this point that Steve is going to be fried. Let’s just hope he somehow survives because I’m still rooting for Stancy.
Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz 🏃🏼♀️
As mentioned earlier, Camazotz is a strange planet from A Wrinkle in Time controlled by some sort of dark entity. So it can be assumed that this episode likely deals with the world that Holly and Max are trapped in (Holly already nicknamed it Camazotz in Vol. 1). Now that several other children were taken, they will likely end up in the same place and need to join Holly and Max’ escape.
Chapter Seven: The Bridge 🌉
This is the episode with the most questions, especially since it is the penultimate episode. The biggest of which is–what do they mean by bridge? Is it a physical bridge, like perhaps one that helps get past the wall in the Upside Down? Maybe. However, I believe that it refers to a scientific bridge. If the wormhole theory has any backing, then this episode might revolve around an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, a wormhole that connects two distant points in space-time. Perhaps it includes the creation of a wormhole that helps them reach Vecna or one that helps close the current one that connects the real world to the Upside Down.
Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up ⬆️
For the finale, they gave us a pretty straightforward title. The Rightside Up obviously being the opposite of the Upside Down, which alludes to restoring the world to its correct state and hopefully closing the rift to the Upside Down for good.
Chapter 8 will be available to stream on Netflix on December 31, but it will also play in select theatres for the week following the release. Let’s hope the Duffer Brothers can help start the year off right by ending this story with the fireworks it deserves! 🎇
