YMMV / Stranger Things S4 E9: "Chapter 9: The Piggyback"

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• Fridge Brilliance: The argument that Eddie didn’t need to sacrifice himself doesn’t actually hold up when you look at the wider scope of things - if Eddie leaves with Dustin, the Demobats would have headed to the Creel house to attack the restrained Steve, Nancy and Robin, who would no longer be able to take advantage of the opening provided by the hive mind being weakened by Hopper’s group.
• Genius Bonus: "Master of Puppets" is playing during Max's attempt to evade Vecna and hide into a happy memory until the others can kill him. However, sharp-eared viewers familiar with the lyrics of the song might notice that only the first part of the refrain is played onscreen. That's because the second part foreshadows Max's fate:
  Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
  Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
  Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
  Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
• Karmic Overkill: With his motive never wavering from avenging Chrissy's death and stopping the murders, and him showing genuine concern for Max upon finding her in Vecna's trance and trying to save her, Jason's final fate of being bisected by the Gate opening via the radiation incinerating his mid-section from existence is considered by some to be way more than he deserved.
• Narm Charm: Mike using The Power of Love to give El her Heroic Second Wind should be cheesy as all hell, but the sheer catharsis in finally hearing Mike say those words, what both of them have been through, and the fact that it leads to El whooping Vecna's ass long enough for the others to make their move makes it a Moment of Awesome. It also helps that it had already been established that El could beat One by tapping into the emotion from memories of being loved, something that One couldn't understand.
• Shocking Moments:
  • While most did expect the characters to not come out unscathed in the finale, almost nobody expected Max to die and become comatose, especially with all the build-up surrounding "Running Up That Hill".
  • While some expected a bittersweet victory, almost nobody expected Vecna to still win in the end, opening the Gates and succeeding in letting the Upside Down into Hawkins.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Some fans lambasted Eddie's death, which ends up as a pointless Senseless Sacrifice and is only acknowledged by Dustin and Eddie's uncle. Others see his death as the Duffers not knowing where to take his story due to the fact he remains a town pariah. However, for those fans who considered Eddie pointless and redundant (he's basically the main characters, but even more of an outcast), his death actually saved the character for them.
  • It should also be noted that Eddie's "senseless" sacrifice kept the returning demobats occupied even longer while Steve, Nancy, and Robin were incapacitated and utterly defenseless in the Creel home.

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