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Stranger Things 4X8: Chapter 8: Papa

OMG. All I really want at this point is for everyone to get a relaxing vacation. These people are going through it.

El proves that she's got her powers back, and after learning that her friends are about to go up against Vecna and try to kill it, she insists on leaving to stop them. Brenner tells her she's not ready and needs to stay, but Owens reminds him that they decided El could leave whenever she was ready. He tells her to go pack her stuff, and they could be in Hawkins by night. However, after she gets ready, Brenner ends up trapping her in a room and trying to convince her so stay. She says she's leaving and if he tries to stop her, she'll kill him. He ends up surprising her and injected a sedative into her. She fights back, but eventually succumbs. When she wakes up she's got a shock collar on her neck and alarms immediately start going off. Turns out, the army has found her.

Brenner gets the two of them out of the building but once outside, they see all the other scientists are dead. Then they start getting shot at from a helicopter. Brenner takes a couple of hits, but El is okay. The helicopter guy gets the okay to take her out, but El uses her powers to bring the helicopter down. Just as this happening, Mike and Co show up. El is delighted to see them, but just then her collar pops open and she realizes Brenner isn't dead. She goes over to him where he begs her to tell him she understands that everything he did, he did to protect her. She refuses and leaves.

Meanwhile, Nancy gets released from Vecna after he shows her what he plans to do after he kills his next victim (and none of it looks good). The group have figured pretty much everything out at this point- gates, clocks, victims, how to kill him. They stock up on weapons, and plan to use Max as bait.

Back in Russia, we finally manage to escape the prison, but now we're stuck with no way to get back home. Yuri claims he can fly them all home on this tiny ass helicopter that he's never flown before, but I don't know that we really have any other options at this point.

On a side note, Brenner handcuffed Owens to a pole. I really hope he's okay. It did seem like he actually did care El. I don't want anything bad to happen to him. I hope he's alive and he and El can reconnect after vacation.

Stranger Things 4X8: Chapter 8: Papa

Comments

(1) The soldiers who came to that compound type of place are led by the guy who has been looking for El all season. His last name is Sullivan... I think he's like "Lt Colonel Sullivan" He's the one who went to Owens in the beginning and accused El of being the one who murdered all those teens that Vecna killed and then it was his men that attacked the Byers home and shot at Mike, Jonathan, and Will while trying to find El. We've seen various other scenes with them as well. They've been keeping one of the agents that was trying to protect the Byers home, in solitary confinement and then interrogating him about where El was being kept. If I remember correctly that agent eventually cracked and told them where El was. (2) I really love that scene where Brenner dies. The whole scene is so powerful! The song in the background is actually a remixed version of a song that played in the background of S1. It's called "Eleven's Theme" and it played in I believe 1x02 or 1x03. It's when El is first found by Mike and Mike is at school or something. So El is walking around the Wheeler home and exploring everything. She's looking longingly at Nancy's old toys and the family pictures and in that episode the song is sort of slow and melancholy and El is newly escaped, she's been imprisoned for all her life and missed out on her childhood. At that point she didn't have a whole lot of power. In this episode they play that song again only they made it sound very cinematic and epic. And in that moment unlike S1, El has all the power now. She's making her own decisions and she's taking her power back. Brenner selfishly tried to get her to give him closure and peace but El doesn't give it to him. She walks away as the powerful music crescendos and just leaves Brenner to die alone in the fuckin Nevada desert. It's such an epic and powerful moment. (4) And then if that wasn't enough, it transitions to a totally separate and equally epic moment where the gang back in Hawkins are getting ready to fight with that amazing remix of "Separate Ways" by Journey playing in the background. The exact title of that remix is "Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix" and I had it on repeat for so long after it appeared in Stranger Things. First it was in the trailer for S4 and I was so happy when they used it again in the season itself. (4) You were right that it was Max, Lucas, and Erica that went into the Creel house and the others have to go in there as well but they need to enter the Creel house by first entering the Upside Down. So they need to find a gate first because being in the Upside Down is the only way they will see Vecna's physical body in order to hopefully kill him.

Elsa Reinsch


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