Stranger Things season 4 episode 4 recap: Dear Billy

This article contains SPOILERS for Stranger Things season 4 episode 4.

As Max prepares for her supposed doom, Nancy and Robin are able to find some clues about how to stop Vecna in the fourth episode of Stranger Things season 4.

Catch up here on everything from the last episode!

For the fourth episode of Stranger Things season 4, colleagues of Dr. Owens go to the Byers’ home in California to inform Will, Jonathan, and Mike that Eleven is getting her powers back and about what is going on in Hawkins. The guys are upset that they are stuck dealing with it from California.

At Hawkins High School, Max tells her friends about her visions and how she has had all the same symptoms as Chrissy and Fred. Since she saw the clock that night, she likely only has 24 hours to live.

Lucas arrives at the school to tell them about Jason and the basketball team looking for Dustin and Eddie. Dustin shrugs this off since Max’s well-being is much more important.

Stranger Things season 4 episode 4: Hopper’s escape plan goes ahead

The next morning, Jason tries to go to Lucas’ house and finds Erica there. The little sister unknowingly lets it slip that Lucas has been lying to his teammates, so the jocks add another person to their enemy list.

Steve, Dustin, and Lucas try piecing together how Victor Creel was able to survive Vecna’s curse in the 1950s and why Vecna was dormant for 30 years. As they brainstorm, Max is off by herself writing something unknown to everyone else.

Nancy and Robin arrive with good news. Thanks to Nancy’s journalistic buddies and forged transcripts, the two can meet with the chair of the asylum where Victor Creel is residing.

Steve is left watching the young ones again since he does not fit the “academic scholar” vibe Nancy is going for, even though Robin barely does. In their Alaskan motel, Joyce and Murray are getting ready for the ransom exchange.

They bring the money to Yuri as directed and are stuck waiting as he counts it. This draws parallels to Hopper in the Russian prison getting ready but in a far less cozy way.

Eventually, it is time for Hop to escape. With Enzo watching on and after taking some guards out, Hopper is able to use a snowmobile to drive away.

While the lazy agents who are watching the trio are actually watching golf, Jonathan, Will, and Mike make a plan to drive to Hawkins using Argyle’s pizza delivery van.

Stranger Things season 4 episode 4: Argyle to the rescue

It turns out Max was writing letters to all of her friends and loved ones as a failsafe if things do not go her way. Something she expects because of her unfortunate life.

Even though they are supposed to be staying put, Max convinces Steve to drive her to her home so she can give similar letters to her mom. When she is saying goodbye to her mom, Vecna appears to psychologically torture her some more.

Nancy and Robin go to the asylum where Victor is residing, but Nancy’s “academic scholar” attempt ends up failing. This is when Robin improvises and pulls on the heartstrings to convince the asylum director to give them an audience with Creel, and it works.

The director takes the women on a tour through the low-level threat patients before they arrive at Victor’s cell. Nancy and Robin are able to convince the psychiatric hospital’s director to give them alone time with Creel.

The women tell the asylum patient they believe him and inform him that the same beast is back. Creel (Robert Englund) finally shows his face to the women, revealing how his eyes have been horrifically scarred and stitched up.

The Byers brothers and Mike are all packed and waiting for Argyle to show up when the doorbell rings. One of the agents opens the door to find out it is an ambush.

The other agent watching over them is able to protect the trio before Argyle pulls up and they all drive away. Hopper approaches the meetup spot, waiting to be picked up when Russian guards break in and beat him up.

It turns out Yuri double-crossed everyone and had told the prison guards about Enzo’s involvement. Yuri also drugged the coffee he gave Murray and Joyce planning to turn them in to the KGB as well.

Stranger Things season 4 episode 4: The truth about Victor Creel

Victor Creel finally gets a chance to tell his side of the story. He explains how his family got possession of the house.

The awful occurrences began with dead animals appearing around his home. Then his family began having the same symptoms that Chrissy, Fred, and Max have been experiencing.

One night, Victor’s wife is violently killed by the demon. He tries to escape the house with his kids but gets distracted by the song “Dream A Little Dream of Me”.

It transports him into a different kind of trance while the demon killed his kids. After Victor was blamed for murdering his family, he tried to cut out his own eyes so that he could join his family.

This is all Nancy and Robin can find out, when suddenly the hospital director returns having learned that the high school-aged girls were lying about who they were. The next location Max has Steve drive her and everyone else to is Billy’s burial site.

Lucas tries to convince his ex-girlfriend to actually talk to him instead of writing a letter, but Max is too stressed to have her mind changed. When Max gets to her brother’s grave, she reads the letter out to her deceased brother.

In it, Max says how her life has gotten even worse since Billy died and how she has imagined the two of them bonding if she had done more and Billy had survived. She blames herself for just watching at the mall and not doing more.

She apologizes and signs it off with genuine love.

Stranger Things season 4 episode 4: Vecna gets ahold of Max

After waiting long enough, Steve goes to check on Max and finds his friend in a trance and unresponsive. Dustin and Lucas try to help but they are not enough.

In the trance, Vecna presents himself as Billy as he tells his sister that she is to blame for his death.

At the hospital, Robin pieces together that “Dream A Little Dream of Me” was a lifeline for Victor so music could be something that helps Max. Robin and Nancy are able to escape to their car, get on the walkie-talkie and explain their discovery.

Dustin takes this info and brings over Max’s cassette player where his friend’s try to find and play her favorite song. As this is going on, Max explores Vecna’s domain some more to find the bodies of Chrissy and Fred, with Vecna trying to add her to the collection.

Lucas is able to pick Max’s favorite song, “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. After remembering all the good things in her life, mainly when it comes to her friends, while the song plays, Max is able to escape Vecna’s grasp and free herself from the trance.

What would be the song that would save you from Vecna’s curse?  What do you think is going to happen to Hopper, Murray, and Joyce now that Yuri turned them in?

Let us know your answers and opinions in the comments below!

Watch all of Stranger Things season 4, only on Netflix!