The first volume of the final season of Stranger Things is just hours away! As we eagerly wait to find out how this “never ending story” will end, here is everything I noticed during my seasons 1-4 rewatch this past month!
Season 1
One of the biggest I noticed during my rewatch was how many times the ticking and chimes of a clock can be heard. As we know in season 4, clocks play a big role in the story, but it was very interesting to see that a clock can be heard since the first episode of the series. When Will is taken in Episode 1 you can hear a clock chiming and a clock is heard again in Episode 5 when Eleven is shown going into the void the first time. Then in Episode 6 when Eleven makes contact with a demogorgon for the first time in the void, a clock chime is heard again. In Episode 7 when Eleven is in the void looking for Will and Barb (RIP), the clock is heard again. A clock is then heard one last time in Episode 8 when Joyce and Hopper enter the Upside Down to try and find Will.
Some other small things I noticed was that the Eleven is the first one who calls the Upside Down its iconic name. She explains to Mike, Dustin, and Lucas that Will is “upside down” by flipping over a board game board. From here, the boys call the other world the Upside Down. It makes me wonder if the government and Hawkins Lab also calls it the Upside Down or if they even have a name for the other world. Something that was also funny to notice was that Shawn Levy, the director of two Stranger Things episodes per season, had a small cameo in Episode 4 as one of the men who does “Will’s” autopsy.
When Will is taken in Episode 1, the creature that is standing in the distance has a very similar appearance to Vecna, not a demogorgon. When Will runs to his shed to hide, the light is already on inside and the door is open. Once Will locks himself inside of the shed, the lock is somehow opened using telekinesis and Will is taken. A big fan theory is that it was Eleven who opened the lock to Will’s shed and let the demogorgon/Vecna inside. The Duffer Brothers have said the creature that appeared in the distance wasn’t Vecna, but did confirm that the lock to the shed was opened using telekinesis, which hints at the idea that it may have been Eleven.
In Episode 7 when Eleven finds Will when she’s in the void, we see him singing his favorite song, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” by The Clash, to himself. This was a hint at Season 4 since we learn that music keeps Vecna away. On November 6, Netflix released the first five minutes of Season 5 and in the clip it was revealed that Vecna was the one who was after Will in the Upside Down. This was hinted at in Episode 7 when Eleven is in the void and finds Will in Castle Byers, and he then disappears, meaning he left the castle.
Season 2
Just like in Season 1, we can hear the chimes of a clock. We hear the clock for the first time in Episode 4 when Hopper enters the Upside Down and discovers the vines. The clock chimes happen much less this season, but it’s still very cool to see how they’ve been there the whole time.
When watching Season 2, viewers are meant to believe that it is the Mindflayer that has taken over Will, but signs have been pointing at the fact that it was Vecna the whole time. In Episode 1, Will explains that when he gets his visions he “feels frozen.” In Season 4 we learn that when Vecna gives visions to his victims it makes them become frozen in place. Then in Episode 4, Will tells Joyce to make the bath water cooler because “he likes it cold.” In Season 4, Vecna gets weaker when he is lit on fire, or getting warmer. Although we know heat and fire is a weakness for the demogorgons and the Mindflayer, it also is for Vecna, which hints that the “he” Will was referring to was actually Vecna the whole time.
I was lucky enough to see the Broadway play Stranger Things: The First Shadow back in September. When rewatching Season 2, I caught a lot of things that were referred to in the play. In Episode 1 of Season 2, Bob calls himself “Bob the Brain” which was a nickname he had in high school according to the play. In the same episode, Joyce and Hopper reminisce about when they used to smoke before 6th period and got caught, which was also a scene in the play. In Episode 4, Eleven finds Hopper’s box of stuff from his time fighting in Vietnam, and the play ends with Hopper on his way to join the war.
Something else I did catch during my rewatch was in Episode 6 when Will wakes up from being possessed, Will makes a face when he first sees Bob and seemingly has forgotten him. According to the Broadway show, Vecna does know Bob, so if Vecna was actually in control of Will, that may be why Will made a face.
Season 3
Just like the first two seasons, clock chimes are also heard this season – and this time it’s much more evident. When Billy is first taken by the “flayed” in Episode 2, a clock chime can be heard. A clock can be heard again in the same episode when Billy becomes possessed and is burning up at the town pool due to the summer heat. The most clock chimes of the season then happen later on in the episode when Heather finds Billy possessed in the locker room.
In Episode 7, possessed Billy explains to Eleven that the flayed have been building up the Upside Down and that they’ve been “building it for you” and that “now it’s time to end it.” When Eleven doesn’t give in, she and Billy get into a physical match. Knowing from Season 4 that Vecna was vanished to the Upside Down by Eleven and that he felt “betrayed” by her, it makes sense that possessed Billy would want to kill Eleven after she didn’t agree to join them. If Billy wasn’t possessed by Vecna how else would the flayed know who Eleven was and that she has powers to stop them?
In Episode 7, Holly Wheeler sees the trees moving in the distance and her parents don’t acknowledge what she’s saying. Back in Season 1, Holly also noticed the lights flickering when Will was in the Upside Down. The full title of Episode 2 of Season 5 hasn’t been released yet, all we know is that it’s titled “The Vanishing Of…” It’s clear that Holly has noticed things before so it’s only a matter of time until we find out if it’ll be Holly who vanishes.
After it was revealed in Season 4 that the Upside Down is stuck on the day that Will went missing, there is a fan theory that the group will have to time travel to fully beat Vecna and end the Upside Down. In Episode 8, Steve and Robin watch Back To The Future. After the movie, the two have a detailed conversation about the film and how Marty McFly had to “go back to the future because he’s in the past so the future is actually the present.” This scene felt suspiciously long and detailed for a conversation that is “just about Back To The Future.” Later in the episode, Hopper also makes a speech about time travel. It’ll be interesting to see if this comes true.
Season 4
The biggest reveal of Season 4 was the fact that Vecna is the same person as Henry Creel and 001. This was hinted at in Episode 1 when all of the kids in the lab are dead and their bodies are twisted the same way that Vecna kills his victims.
It was very interesting to me when one of the first times we hear the clock in the season is when an “11” is rolled during the D&D game. The clock obviously plays a big role in season 4, so a big thing that stood out to me is that every clock Vecna’s victims see is set at some time between the hour of 3 o’clock. When 001 and Eleven have their big blowout in Episode 7, the clock is set after 3 o’clock, which may be why the clock he shows his victims is always around that time.
In Episode 2, the dogs at the trailer park are barking after Chrissy’s body has been found. This makes me wonder if animals can see Vecna and the creatures of the Upside Down. (Especially since Will’s dog was barking after he got taken in Season 1.) In the Broadway show it’s revealed that Henry was killing the town’s animals, so if the animals can in fact see Vecna, this would make perfect sense. Another little thing I did notice is that the abandoned building where the basketball team hangs out is Benny’s Diner from Season 1. (The diner where Eleven hides out after escaping the lab.)
A few interesting details can be caught in Episode 9. For one, the theory that it was Eleven who opened the lock to Will’s shed in Season 1 is hinted at when Vecna tells Eleven that she “opened the door for him.” Another catch I had was that the meeting place for each of the four gates is the Hawkins library – which is where Joyce and Hopper found Will in Season 1. We also learn in this episode that Henry formed the Mind Flayer, but we still don’t know who really is the most powerful.
It will be really fun to see if any moments from Seasons 1-4 hint at what will happen in Season 5. Happy binging!