Get caught up before ‘Stranger Things’ season 5, part one, premieres on November 26.
The final season of Stranger Things nears, and with that, our Hellfire Club catch-up session draws to a close. Here’s everything you need to remember from season four before the Duffer brothers’ series returns to Netflix on November 26.
If you’re new here, you can also refresh on Stranger Things season one, season two, and season three in the previous sessions of our Hellfire Club catch-up series, where we break down all the important things we think could come into play for the show’s epic conclusion.
Season four did an excellent job at raising the stakes with the Hawkins crew being ripped apart across the world. Joyce (Winona Ryder) started off in California with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who is on a school break visit. Before, of course, the arrival of a mysterious package from Russia, alerting Joyce that Hopper (David Harbour) might still be alive and skipping town with Murray (Brett Gelman) to rescue her man. The kids don’t notice immediately but wrangle up trouble when El fights the popular girl at school who picks on her, alerting the government of her whereabouts. Thankfully Doctor Owens (Paul Reiser) steps in.
Meanwhile, back in Hawkins, a series of grotesque deaths haunts the halls of Hawkins High. Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), the game master of the Hellfire Club that Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Erica (Priah Ferguson), and Mike are a part of, becomes the prime suspect thanks to the 80’s D&D Satanic Panic. But of course, the deaths have the marks of the Upside Down all over them, so the remaining Hawkins heroes help hide Eddie. Meanwhile, Max (Sadie Sink) begins to realize she might be next, as her mind gets plagued with dark visions that put her friends on high alert to protect her. Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), and Robin (Maya Hawke) lead the investigation with the kids and uncover Hawkins’ darkest secrets along the way, which reveal that the whole town may just be in mortal danger from a way bigger threat.
A lot happens in season four, including a lot of events in Russia, where Hopper gets his own movie essentially, but we’re not going to focus too much on that, as this season unveiled that the whole Soviet thing was a red herring for a danger much closer to home in Vecna/Henry Creel/One (Jamie Campbell Bower).Dungeons & Dragons and clues
The story in Hawkins is established by two games, a basketball one where Lucas saves the team and wins the game in the last minute, and the Hellfire campaign against the D&D version of Vecna. In the tabletop world, Vecna almost gets the gang, but Erica swoops in to save the day. Like the game in season one, which hints at an early move causing an initial loss, maybe this will foreshadow things to come next season.Hopper lives!
Joyce receives a mysterious package, which includes a Russian doll with clues that Hopper is alive and in a KGB prison.
