It's almost Spring Break and the group finds themselves split apart. Eleven/Jane writes an upbeat letter from California to Mike, that is full of tales of her new friends and successes at school. Back in Hawkins, Lucas has found a new group of friends on the basketball team. This puts him at odds with Mike and Dustin, who have joined the Hellfire Club, an ongoing D&D game... which happens to have the climactic game of their campaign at the same time as the championship match.
Joyce, while working from home, receives a strange package in the mail, that appears to be from the Soviet Union. She contacts Murray who tells her to open it and inside she finds a porcelain doll.
Max, meanwhile, has problems of her own. She and Lucas have broken up. Her mother is drinking heavily and life at the trailer park really sucks. It's about to get a whole lot worse.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptational Wimp: A Show Within a Show example. Vecna as a final NPC villain in the Hellfire Club's Dungeons & Dragons session would have had to have been statted in such a way that he could possibly be defeated even by a 14th level adventuring party, when Vecna in the official materials list him as a demigod who is described as "a being far beyond the power of virtually any adventurer to confront and destroy." To put things in perspective, Vecna is 30th level, has 150 hit points, has 25 in all his stats, has two attacks per round, automatic initiative, complete immunity to any weapon of less than +5 enchantment, 70% resistance to all magic cast by mortals, regenerates 1 hit point every turn, a cumulative fear/morale/madness aura, access to all wizard or priest spells including Wall of Force, Time Stop, Disintegrate and Wish, all with 0 casting time. In-game, Vecna is a Hero Killer all the way, and every adventure where he's made a physical appearance, physical confrontation with him has been described as impossible barring extraordinary circumstances that usually involve Summon Bigger Fish. note .
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Ms. Gracey pulls her away, Angela demands El tell her she didn't do anything wrong. El's too shaken up from the bullying to respond.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Jane/Eleven gets constantly bullied at her new school in California.
- All Therapists Are Muggles: Max has been seeing the school counselor since Billy's death in the previous season finale. Problem is, even if she were willing to open up about her trauma, it's a bit hard to explain to an ordinary person how your brother's death was caused by an Eldritch Abomination from another dimension.
- "Awkward Silence" Entrance: When Mike rushes into the school's library with great noise to look for his sister, he is greeted by a cold silence and angry faces from the students he just disturbed.
- Beeping Computers: Suzie's computer beeps on every button click when she hacks into the school database to improve Dustin's score.
- Blatant Lies: When the counselor asks Max if she's had nightmares, Max denies it while we get treated to a Flashback Echo to Billy's death in season 3, indicating that she in fact is haunted by Trauma Induced Nightmares.
- Bloody Horror: The Hawkins Lab is filled with corpses' blood littering the walls after Eleven's rampage in 1979.
- Body Horror: Chrissy's death is arguably the most visually horrifying way a human has been killed thus far. From Eddie's point of view, she is flown to the ceiling, her limbs break in unnatural angles, blood starts pouring from her eyes, and her skull eventually caves in with a wet squelch, her pulped corpse dropping to the floor.
- Both Sides Have a Point: It's not Lucas's fault the championship and the campaign finale are the same night, and he's not wrong to branch into new interests or want high school life to be easier, but at the same time, the Hellfire Club has been building to this all semester and have a lot invested, and it's not as easy to reschedule as he makes it sound like. And while Eddie is as a bit of an ass about it, he's not wrong to point out that there are other members of the club who have been looking forward to the end of the campaign and who would be much more inconvenienced by rescheduling than Mike or Dustin would.
- Brick Joke: Steve and Robin bonded over mocking Tammy Thompson's singing in Season 3; she returns to Hawkins from Nashville, decked out in full country singer regalia, and the audience gets to hear her singing firsthand.
- Content Warnings: Being released only three days after the Robb Elementary School shooting
, the episode features a content warning due to its plot involving the mass murder of children. - Crossword Puzzle: In the opening scene we see Brenner timing himself to solve a crossword puzzle.
- Cut-and-Paste Note: The message announcing Hopper's survival that Joyce finds is made using various cut-up pieces of paper to spell words.
- De-power: El's abilities still haven't returned, and when she makes the mistake of trying to use her anger to trigger them, she ends up making herself look foolish in front of dozens of people.
- Developing Doomed Characters: Chrissy gets a number of scenes to develop her character where few to none of the main cast are present. All of this serves to build up some sympathy for her before she's graphically killed by Vecna in the episode's final sequence.
- Digital De-Aging: Millie Bobby Brown's head was superimposed and digitally merged with a younger body double's (Martie Blair) to recreate Eleven's Season 1 appearance in the opening flashback of this episode.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Brenner cradling Ten's body after Eleven's rampage.
- Downtime Downgrade: Max and Lucas broke up (again) sometime between Seasons 3 and 4.
- Down to the Last Play: Two simultaneous examples. Lucas' basketball finale only has enough time for one more play before the clock runs out, and Lucas is brought in from the bench for the first time in the season. Meanwhile, the titular D&D Club is down to only two surviving players in their battle against Vecna - Dustin and Erica, who can kill him if they manage to hit before his turn but will certainly die if he gets his own attack off. Both events are cut together with equal weight, both of them ending on a final throw. Lucas gets his shot in to just beat the other team, and Erica rolls a natural 20 to obliterate Vecna.
- Drives Like Crazy: Argyle speeds and takes corners aggressively in a delivery van, and doesn't appear to be fond of seatbelts either.
- Emerging from the Shadows: Vecna makes his entrance in Chrissy's nightmare by emerging from the shadows.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Dr. Brenner is genuinely horrified at the destruction Eleven has apparently caused in the Hawkins National Laboratory, and mournful of the deaths of Ten and the other subjects.
- Even Nerds Have Standards: Even Hawkins High's chess players reject Mike and Dustin's offer to join the D&D club out of hand.
- Expy:
- While Angela is one of Chris Hargensen from Carrie (while Eleven takes the role of Carrie herself in this scenario), Eleven's new English teacher Ms. Gracey seems to be one of Miss Desjardin, being the only person in the school who seems to genuinely care about Eleven and will stick up for. She allows Eleven's historical figure project to be on her father Hopper, even though he was only viewed as a marginal local hero in Hawkins at best (at least to the general public), and when she finds Angela picking on Eleven in a "Plug it up!" like bullying sequence, she's every bit as much of a hardass as the Desjardin when discipling Angela and just as comforting towards Eleven.
- Chrissy is one to Tina from A Nightmare On Elm Street, being the first victim of the new villain, who dies while being pinned to the ceiling and experiencing a horrific nightmare at the same time. Tina is short for Christina as well.
- Eye Scream: As the monstrous force damages Chrissy's body, it seems to suck her eyes into her skull.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Chrissy has a nightmare in which her mother and father turn around to reveal their Nightmare Faces.
- Feedback Rule: Tammy Thompson's Hollywood Tone-Deaf performance of the national anthem gets made more awkward by the mic giving off a feedback.
- Footsie Under the Table: A classmate of Will's does this to him in class. He is not into it and pulls his foot away.
- Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Eddie seems like your average petty delinquent and an eager bully given his wardrobe and hairstyle. If anything he's the complete opposite - a charming, friendly fellow who hosts Dungeons & Dragons for his fellow "freaks" and sells weed on the side. Compare to Jason, who's the captain of a basketball team and dresses conventionally handsomely, but shows signs of being not as wholesome as others see him as.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: At the school's courtyard, when Eleven tries to use her power against the Alpha Bitch but fails miserably, the entire school starts laughing at her.
- From Bad to Worse: Eddie finds Chrissy in a fugue state. Which he can't wake her up from. Then she begins to levitate. Then she slams into the ceiling. Then her bones begin to break. Then her eyes disappear.
- Gang of Bullies: Angela and her friends who all take pleasure in tormenting Eleven.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: An Establishing Shot of Max walking down the school hallway with her headphones on to demonstrate her reclusiveness.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Tammy Thompson sings a horribly off-key rendition of the national anthem. Robin agrees with Steve that she sounds like a Muppet when she sings.
- Huddle Shot: The D&D team with Erica assumes this pose when discussing their strategy during a tight spot in their current mission. It's clearly meant to look like a sports team deciding on their next move.
- Hypocrite: Angela, who chose Helen Keller as her hero, citing Keller's work to change people's perception of disabled people to make attitudes toward them less dehumanizing. When El tries to give a presentation about her dad, citing the reason that he saved people's lives, the girl laughs at her and mocks her, with the clear implication that she perceives El as disabled.
- It's All About Me: Lucas asks Mike and Dustin to speak to Eddie about postponing their D&D game, as the basketball team now has a game scheduled for the same time which means he'll have to miss the session plus he wants his friends to watch him play in the championship game. Eddie outright refuses, pointing out that several members may not have time to play in the future due to preparing for their impending graduation.
- Jump Scare: Eleven's rampage in 1979 starts off with a surprise shockwave that blasts a metal door into Brenner.
- Kick the Dog: Angela goes out of her way to mock and bully El on two occasions. The first time she makes fun of El and her choice of hero, the second time, she trips El and has her cronies destroy her diorama. The second occasion backfires on her when Ms. Gracey notices what's happening and drags Angela away to discipline her.
- Kill the Cutie: Sweet Chrissy suffers a Cruel and Unusual Death by the hand of Big Bad of the season.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Eddie reminds the D&D team that there is no shame in running. However, they decide to face the challenge with odds of 20-1.
- Marionette Motion: During Chrissy's death she starts levitating and then hits the ceiling before her body starts bending and twisting in unnatural ways.
- Mook Horror Show: We get to see the aftermath of El's apparent rampage in the lab from Dr. Brenner's perspective. It's not pretty.
- Never Tell Me the Odds!: This line is dropped by Dustin when a fellow D&D member reminds him that their chances of success are 20-1.
- Nightmare Sequence: Chrissy gets several of these. They start out frightening and progress to horrifying in short order, finishing off as literally deadly.
- Pet the Dog: Dr. Brenner seems entirely friendly during his test session with Ten, and isn't even offended when the boy points out his dog drawing looks more like a cow.
- Satanic Panic: Eddie, the DM of the Hellfire Club's D&D game, reads (and mocks) an article about the phenomenon.
- Scenery Censor: Murray talks to Joyce on the phone in various states of undress, and the shots are framed so his household items cover the naughty bits when necessary.
- School Grade Hacking: Suzie does Dustin a favor and hacks into the Hawkins Highschool system to change Dustin's Latin score from a D to an A.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: When Erica and Eddie lock horns at the D&D meeting.
- Spider Swarm: During one of her hallucinations Chrissy sees a swarm of spiders come out of a broken clock face.
- Tears of Blood: Eleven sports them after she turns to Brenner in the 1979 Hawkins Lab flashback.
- Terrible Artist: Dr. Brenner tries to draw a dog that, as Ten says, ends up looking more like a cow, and then admits that he "was never much of an artist."
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Mike and Dustin go through a montage in which they fail to recruit anyone to replace Lucas for their D&D game.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Two separate conversations with Jonathan and Nancy with their respective friends are intercut with each other since both are talking about how much they love the other and how there is nothing wrong with their current relationship.
- Unreliable Voiceover: El's letter to Mike describing life in California is very positive, but we see it's nearly the opposite in many ways.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Robin feels this for her bandmate Vicky, but as she points out to Steve, a lot needs to happen for her to test the waters: if he shoots his shot with a girl and fails, he can just move on. If Robin does that with a girl who turns out to be straight, there's a very real risk of her being publicly outed, with all the nastiness that entails, given the attitudes towards queer folk at the time.
- Unusual Euphemism: El writes to Mike that she knows Jonathan and Argyle smoke "strange plants" that are "all-natural", apparently not understanding what marijuana is.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Chrissy is shown puking into a toilet, but the camera angle obscures any vomit.
- Wham Line: An in-universe example during Eddie's D&D campaign. The players all immediately realise what Eddie is talking about when he describes the cult leader villain and react with horror.Eddie: But there is one you do not recognize, his skin shriveled, desiccated. And something else. He is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!
Everyone: No! No!
Jeff: Vecna's dead!
Mike: He was killed by Kas!
Eddie: So it was thought, my friends. So it was thought. But Vecna lives!
