The Piggyback
The Piggyback is the ninth episode of season four, and the longest episode inside of the show. Inside of Russia, Yuri Ismaylov is attempting to fix his helicopter and tells Dmitri Antonov that he owes him some rubles. Murray Bauman tells Yuri that he could supply the rubles if the helicopter worked, because he didn’t think that it would work during this attempt at fixing it. Meanwhile, Jim Hopper tells Joyce Byers that she took too long to save him, but Joyce fights back, saying that it was her choice to save him and not his choice. They then get a phone call. Back inside of Hawkins, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley, and Steve Harrington review their plan, while they are keeping Eddie Munson stuck inside of a trash can that is blocked up, keeping him unable to escape. Their plan; Nancy, Robin, and Steve would keep Erica Sinclair posted on where Vecna was, and when Vecna entered Max Mayfield’s house, they would scream at the top of their lungs. Max would then roll a D20. Dustin would take Eddie to the mines as a sacrifice, as they believed that if Eddie was the final sacrifice for Vecna, the curse would end. And finally, Nancy, Steve, and Robin would sneak attack Vecna after he snapped Eddie. The group splits up. Meanwhile, Jonathan Byers attempts to book the fastest camel to Max’s house. Meanwhile, Eleven sees a billboard that depicts a body spray being used on a person, and she comes up with a plan. She decides that since most body sprays are flammable, she can use them as bombs to break into the mines and then she could try saving her friends. Mike Wheeler and Will Byers tell Argyle about what is happening, and Argyle tells them that there isn’t much camels in this part of Hawkins, but they could still try. Erica turns on lights inside of Max’s house because it is very dim, but Andy sees this and tells Jason Carver that there is someone inside of Max’s house, and how if it was Max, Jason could propose to her. Yuri’s plane malfunctions again and Hopper, enraged, forces Antonov to watch over Yuri as they go back to the prison to find their credit card information, because Hopper received a phone call telling him that his Amazon package would be delayed unless he gave his credit card information, and Hopper realized his card was in prison. Inside of the prison, Joyce, Hopper, and Murray notice how much people the Demogorgon must have eaten. Meanwhile, Antonov is slapping Yuri, forcing him to go faster. Erica signals that they can start calling for Vecna to come, and Max and Erica start calling for Vecna. They then go upstairs. Mike finishes setting some cans of body spray on fire and starts having some slap battles with Eleven, while Will angrily watches. Jonathan tells Will it will be alright. Eleven enters the mines, as Argyle is still arranging a camel. Eleven eventually reaches the house and starts spying on them. Meanwhile, Dustin and Eddie enter the mines where Dustin fights against Demobats. As a swarm of Demobats get through, they hide inside of a hole. Jason starts entering Max’s house, and Nancy, thinking that it was Vecna, starts yelling. This makes Max shocked and she quickly rolls a D20 just as Jason comes in. The dice lands on one, though, summoning Vecna. Murray, Hopper, and Joyce decide that because of how much Demogorgons and Demodogs were in prison, they would have to burn all of them down, and maybe even burn down the prison. Eddie realizes that unless they fought back against the Demodogs and Demobats, they would probably be attacked. Dustin tells Eddie to help hold them off at the other side, but Eddie runs away, leaving Dustin alone and surrounded by Demobats and Demodogs. Nancy, Steve, and Robin start sneaking into Max’s house to surprise-attack Vecna, not knowing that Vecna was actually behind them. Hopper realizes that he is doomed, as he is inside of the laundry room with no person to help him, as he is surrounded by Demodogs. Vecna is in front of Max just as Erica is arguing with Jason, stating that their plan isn’t to make Vecna snap anyone but to defeat Vecna, but Jason says that he believes they are part of the Hellfire Club, so they must get shot. Jason says that he knows that Eddie made Chrissy Cunningham snap, and Erica cannot argue against that. Erica then lunges at Jason, causing both of them to tumble down the staircase and causing a gunshot that hits Andy in the balls. All of a sudden, Eleven jumps through the window and starts wrestling with Vecna. Eddie runs away, while all of the Demobats start chasing him. He yells about not wanting to be a sacrifice, and climbs onto his motorcycle. Eleven and Max play a slap battle, but that is interrupted by Vecna, who throws Eleven out of a window and pins Max to a wall. Eleven tells Vecna not to be a monster, but Vecna states that she was the monster, and how she and her friends are the ones who summon him and how they have already lost; Erica is being stabbed by Jason, Hopper is being eaten by a Demodog, Dustin has already been eaten by Demobats, Nancy, Steve, and Robin are being eaten by vines, and Eddie is not doing his job of being a sacrifice for Vecna to get defeated. Vecna starts to make Max snap as Erica watches in fear, Mike tells Eleven how useless she is, and Eleven decides to finally finish of Vecna by ripping off his meat, causing blood to spurt everywhere, Jason and Erica start to duel each other for the gun, since Erica knows that Jason would shoot her if he could, as she sees Max collapse on the ground in pain of snapping so much, Erica decides to finish Jason by shooting him. Hopper starts electrocuting the demogorgons as Murray sets them on fire. The Demobats decide to let Eddie free and they fly away, and Steve, Nancy, and Robin find Vecna in the attic. Eleven tells Vecna that he has lost. Hopper sees a Demogorgon, and cuts it’s head off so that he can have new living room decor. Joyce finds Hopper and they have fun together. Dustin collapses at the Demobats attacking him as Eddie comforts him one last time before pulling out his revolver, Erica hear a bang as she defeats Jason, looking out the window and seeing Dustin, Erica helps comfort Max, but she dies of her injuries, Eleven comes and starts crying with Erica. Erica is mad at Jason and uses a chainsaw to cut him in half, causing organs to spill everywhere. Nancy, Robin, and Steve find Vecna stuck in vines in the attic, and they decide to finally finish it, Vecna starts to slowly walk towards the teens, Nancy fires a shotgun and spills out parts of Vecna’s brain, Robin tosses knives at Vecna, cutting his lungs, and Steve uses a flamethrower to set him on fire. Steve realizes that Vecna is getting too close, and in one final attempt to save them, he grabs Vecna and straps bombs onto him, as Steve thinks about his happy memories with Nancy, and how she was better off with Jonathan instead of him, he smiles one last time, before he detonates the entire house and causes it to collapse with Vecna’s remains inside of it, jumping out of the window and collapsing from the fall, as a true hero. Nancy and Robin run out the front door as they see Steve on the ground, causing Nancy to cry as he mutters for Nancy to live on without him. 2 days later, the government broadcasted about the collapse of the house and saying that it broke from an earthquake, Lonnie Byers returns to Hawkins for Max’s funeral and asks Will what happened to Lucas Sinclair, causing Will to burst into laughter and Lonnie to be confused. Erica is at Max’s funeral, where the doctors said that she had no hope of living after dying from injuries from the earthquake. At Hawkins High, Wayne Munson starts to put up missing posters for Eddie, and Dustin tells Wayne that Eddie unfortunately ran away from battle. Wayne is upset because he believes that Dustin is lying and rolls a D20. It lands on 20, summoning Vecna. As the other kids watch Dustin snap, Will says that he thinks Vecna survived.
