The Hellfire Club
Season 4 starts off with the main group of kids being freshmen in high school. Mike and Dustin are avid members of the Dungeon and Dragons club called Hellfire, led by senior Eddie. Lucas is on the basketball team and will be playing in the championship game. Mike and Dustin decide to miss Lucas’ game to play D&D. Max, the ex-girlfriend of Lucas, has PTSD from the death of her older brother, Billy. Popular cheerleader Chrissy has been seeing the guidance counselor because she is having visions of her mom abusing her. They are caused by a monster, named Vecna. In a vision, she saw a grandfather clock, meaning she will die within the next 24 hours. She goes to Eddie’s trailer to buy drugs from him and she is killed by Vecna there. In California, Joyce receives a mysterious porcelain doll in the mail. Inside the doll, there is a cryptic message saying that Hopper is still alive. Joyce calls her friend Murray for advice.
Vecna’s Curse
After receiving the call from Joyce, Murray decides to fly out to California. Together, they call a number that was in the letter saying that Hopper is alive. Prison guard, Antonov, answers the phone call. Antonov tells Murray and Hopper to go to Alaska with a ransom for Hopper’s freedom. For spring break, Mike goes to California to visit Eleven. Eleven, Will, and Mike go roller skating. Classmate, Angela, is bullying Eleven again and she sticks up for herself. In Hawkins, the police tell the public that Chrissy was murdered and that Eddie was the prime suspect. Max is a neighbor of Eddie and goes to Dustin to tell him that she saw him run from his trailer the night of Chrissy’s murder, visibly frightened. Max and Dustin go to the work of friends Steve and Robin to tell them what Max witnessed. They go out looking for Eddie. After finding him, they explain all the supernatural events that have led to this moment and how Vecna is responsible for Chrissy’s death. Nancy and friend Fred, school journalists, want to write about the incident. Nancy interviews Eddie’s uncle. He believes that Eddie is innocent and that Victor Creel is behind the murder. Victor Creel resided in Hawkins in the 1950s, but was imprisoned after he allegedly murdered his family. The deaths of his family match how Chrissy also died. Just like Chrissy, Fred is also having visions. Instead, he is having visions of a student that he accidentally killed. His visions lure him into the woods, where he is killed by Vecna.
The Monster and The Superhero
Murray and Joyce finally leave for Alaska with the ransom money. Sam Owens, former head of the Hawkins Lab, is visited by Army Colonel, Jack Sullivan. Sullivan thinks that Eleven is responsible for the death of Chrissy, so now Sullivan is trying to find Eleven. Eleven is arrested for assaulting Angela, but Owens intercepts. He explains to Eleven that Hawkins is in danger and that he wants to work on a way to get her powers back. She agrees to go with him so that she can finally get her powers back. Hopper bribes his cellmate to break his shackles with a sledgehammer. Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Max find Nancy and they get her to join them to save Eddie. Nancy and Robin go to the library to research Victor Creel. They find out that he claims that a demon, Vecna, killed his entire family. Chrissy’s boyfriend, Jason Carver, along with the rest of the basketball team decide to go on a manhunt for Eddie to get revenge. Lucas abandons the manhunt to help out his real friends. Max visits the counselor’s house and retrieves the files of both Chrissy and Fred. She learned that they both suffered from PTSD symptoms similar to herself. Max hears Vecna call out her name and she sees the grandfather clock. She has 24 hours left to live.
Dear Billy
Armed soldiers attack the Byers household. Will, Mike, and Jonathan escape with the help of Argyle, a friend of Jonathan. They bring a wounded soldier along, Agent Hermon, with them. Joyce and Murray deliver the ransom money to Antonov’s contact, Yuri. Yuri tries to drug Joyce and Murray and give them to the Russians for money. He contacts the prison where Hopper is and gets Antonov imprisoned. Robin and Nancy interview Victor Creel, at the mental hospital. He recalls how his family was tormented and killed by unknown forces, while he was wrongfully imprisoned for their deaths. Fearing that Vecna is about to kill her, Max writes letters to the people that mean the most to her. She goes to the graveyard where her brother is buried and reads the letter to him. While reading the letter, Max gets possessed by Vecna and she finds herself at an altar in the Upside Down. Nancy and Robin inform the rest of the group that music can break Vecna’s curse. They play Max’s favorite song on her cassette tape. A portal opens, allowing Max to return to the real world.
The Nina Project
Owen takes Eleven to an abandoned intercontinental ballistic missile silo in the Nevada desert. There, Owen and Dr. Brenner developed a specialized isolation tank, called Nina, that will help Eleven access memories from her childhood at the Hawkins Lab, with the other children inmates. After her first time in the sensory deprivation tank, Eleven attempts to escape from the silo and temporarily regains her powers. This convinces her to continue the project. Agent Hermon dies from injuries from trying to protect Will, Mike, and Jonathan at their house. Before he dies, he gives them a pen containing the phone number of the Nina Project. They need the help from Dustin’s girlfriend, Suzie, in Utah, to find the location given to them. While flying to Russia, Murray and Joyce manage to take over Yuri’s plane and crash-land it into the wilderness. The group in Hawkins meets up again after being separated. They decide to investigate the Creel house. Inside, they encounter flashing lights, which they trace to the movements of Vecna in the Upside Down. Jason and his basketball teammates locate Eddie trying to escape in a boat in Lover’s Lake. Jason and teammate Patrick attempt to swim after him. While in the lake, Vecna kills Patrick with his trauma from his physically and verbally abusive step father.
The Dive
While using the sensory deprivation tank,recalls being taunted by the other test subjects. She also recalls later memories of her befriending a lab worker, who leads her to believe that she is responsible for a lab massacre killing many children and destroying much of the lab. Suzie helps locate the Nina Project’s coordinates. Joyce and Murray force Yuri to take them to a nearby town to get weapons. Murray sneaks into the prison as Yuri. Jason talks the town into thinking that the Hellfire Club is actually a satanic cult and that Eddie Munson is their leader. The group in Hawkins finds Eddie. Dustin’s compass is acting off due to a portal to the Upside Down underneath Lover’s Lake. Steve dives down into Lover’s Lake to find the gate, but instead gets yanked into the Upside Down by some bat-like creatures. Nancy, Robin, and Eddie help him, but they all get trapped in the Upside Down.
The Massacre at Hawkins Lab
After the plane crash, Joyce, Yuri, and Murray witness the prisoners fighting the Demogorgon. Hopper scares the Demogorgon off with fire, allowing Joyce and Murray to sneak past the guards and help Hopper and Antonov escape. Dustin, Lucas, and Erica Sinclair theorize that Vecna has spawned a gate at each of the murder sites. They communicate this to the group in the Upside Down. The two groups reunite where Chrissy died. Robin and Eddie are safely able to get back into the right dimension. Vecna tells Nancy that he is the son of Victor, Henry. He is the one responsible for killing his family with psychokinetic powers. Dr. Brenner took him and became the first test subject in the Hawkins Lab. Henry actually commits the massacre at the lab, not Eleven. After she doesn’t cooperate with his orders, he tries to take her life. She overpowers him and sends him to the Upside Down, where he becomes Vecna.
Papa
Eleven uses her powers to find out what is happening in Hawkins. Owens takes her there to visit. Brenner takes Eleven before she could leave, so that she could finish up her training. Sullivan and his troops arrive at where Brenner and Eleven are and kill Brenner. Will tells Mike to rekindle his relationship with Eleven. Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle reunite with Eleven in the Nevada desert. Hopper, Joyce, Yuri, and Antonov escape from the prison after encountering many other monsters. The group in Hawkins thinks that Vecna needs four gates to overtake the town. Max offers to lure Vecna into attacking her so that the rest of the group can attack him while he is distracted.
The Piggyback
The group with Eleven makes her a deprivation tank so that she can access Max and fight Vecna for her. Vecna overpowers her and attacks Max instead. To help Eleven fight Vecna better, Mike tells her that he loves her. Eleven uses her powers to revive Max. They drive to Hawkins afterwards. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray kill the rest of the demogorgons, weakening Vecna. They decide to return to Hawkins. The plan to overthrow Vecna is now in full swing. Lucas, Max, and Erica go to the Creel house. Steve, Nancy, and Robin go to its counterpart in the Upside Down to attack Vecna. Eddie and Dustin fight the bat-like creatures. In the process, Eddie sacrifices himself and dies. Jason wants revenge on Lucas and finds him. While fighting each other, Max dies from her injuries. Steve, Nancy, and Robin find Vecna’s physical form and set him on fire. They think that he is dead. Even though Eleven has revived Max, Vecna’s gates reopen and tear through Hawkins. This ends up killing Jason. Two days afterwards, Hawkins is still recovering. Everyone reunites back in Hawkins. Max is still in a coma. Eleven tries to reach her mind, but is only able to get to a black void. Will senses that Vecna is still alive. The series ends with the Upside Down starting to invade Hawkins.
