Stranger Things season five is finally here, tonight if you’re in the US or early morning tomorrow for those of us in the UK. The fifth and final season for the Netflix show has got Stranger Things hype at absolute fever pitch and everyone is salivating for it. The entire show has ran for a decade though and it can be hard to remember all the details and lore when there have been big gaps between the seasons. Since it’s too late now to get a full rewatch done before the new season drops – the creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers, have revealed the four episodes you must rewatch before season five drops.
Super helpful, love you guys, let’s get into it.
The Duffer Brothers explained why these four episodes are crucial for a rewatch
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Duffers explained “Season two is when we really started to build out the mythology and started to dive into everything, and how this was going to be an ongoing [series]. That’s where we started to really plant the seeds for the mythology, and I think probably that’s why that is as relevant as it is. Season four is also highly relevant — ‘Massacre at Hawkins Lab’ is a good one.”
Ross Duffer added “That [episode] starts unveiling some of the Upside Down mythology and starts giving some answers, and, of course, all the stuff with Henry (Bower) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) continues to resonate throughout season five. Those are some good ones to revisit.”
The episodes:
Will the Wise (S2, episode four)
This is the episode where Will starts furiously drawing vines and the Upside Down and demanding the house be cold. It’s also the episode where Nancy and Jonathan get captured and are taken to Hawkins Lab where Nancy finally gets her confirmation that Barb did die in the Upside Down and the lab is covering it up in the hope foreign governments don’t get wind of what’s happening.
The Spy (S2, episode six)
Via Netflix
This episode sees the gang make the connection that Will is connected to the burning tunnels and when they were set on fire in the previous episode it also hurts Will. Nancy and Jonathan also get forced to confront their feelings for each other whilst they’re with Murray – and with the latter’s help they send out their leak from Hawkins Lab about the coverup to newspapers across the country.
The Massacre at Hawkins Lab (S4, episode seven)
This is an extremely lore heavy one that it’s easy to see why the creators would choose it as one of the four episodes to rewatch before Stranger Things season five. So much happens. Joyce, Muray and co reunite with Hopper in Russia and make their escape – but most importantly the gang come to the realisation that Vecna was opening gates to the Upside Down at his murder sites and then Vecna possesses Nancy. When she’s possessed, she learns his origins – Henry Creel and what he did to his family as well as how he became 001 and his connection to Eleven.
The Piggyback (S4, episode nine)
The big finale of season four is what we’ve all been left on. So much happened in this ep, heartbreakingly Eddie sacrificed himself in the Upside Down. The group enacted their plan to stop Vecna which killed Max in the process but Eleven brought her back and she’s no comatose. Vecna was weakened and dropped more lore about how he controls the Upside Down after Eleven sent him there – and we finally see how he managed some success because of Max’s brief death and now the Upside Down is infecting real life Hawkins after the ‘earthquake’. It’s all to play for.
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