(Credits: Netflix)

The cultural impact of Stranger Things on Netflix clearly remains unrivalled even nine years on.

So, in the wake of Netflix releasing the first part of the show’s fifth and final season, Tudum took a trip down memory lane to celebrate and unveil those episodes, which served as anchors to bring viewers back again and again. While each and every Stranger Things episode is and will forever be iconic, some have set a benchmark on their own.

They kept the audience talking, discussing, and debating for years, not to forget about those wild fan theories. If you feel overwhelmed with the impending end of the series this year, this revisit won’t make you regret.

Just a fair warning: don’t expect a shortcut run because Stranger Things doesn’t have any one or two episodes that had the Internet buzzing more than usual. It has a whopping 14!

The Stranger Things episodes that had netizens buzzing

Season One

Chapter One: ‘The Vanishing of Will Byers’

‘The Vanishing of Will Byers’ is where it all starts when viewers are transported to November 6th, 1983, in Hawkins, Indiana. Ominous clouds are hovering over the sky above the Hawkins National Laboratory, and elsewhere, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin also stumble across something sinister on their D&D board. No one really thinks much of it, as the gameplay is cut short by Mike’s mom’s intervention – a clear signal for the boys to head home.

On his way back, Will nearly runs into a shadowy creature, leading him to crash and sprint towards the woods. Unfortunately, the thing tails him until his home, a flicker of light flashes in our eyes, and Will vanishes. Although the sequence is unsettling, thereafter, the audience is introduced to some of the most lovable characters who become Stranger Things’ mainstays over time, including Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve. And just like that, a new era begins.

Chapter Three: ‘Holly Jolly’

While viewers also meet Barb, Nancy’s best friend, in the first episode, it would technically be wrong to classify her as a mainstay, considering she ends up in a body bag. However, she does have a major impact in the season and is the first one to warn Nancy against dating Steve. But during a birthday party, when the two were busy getting mushy, Barb was dragged into the Upside Down.

Following Eleven’s entry to the scene, she uses her telekinetic powers to track down Will. We also get to understand where El comes from, at least to some extent, with the flashbacks inside the Hawkins Lab. While Hopper tries to lure more information regarding the lab, he soon has to leave the place because, clearly, they are covering something up. But the most significant scene of all from the episode is when Joyce realises Will is trying to communicate with Christmas lights.

Chapter Seven: ‘The Bathtub’

When the goons arrive, and the kids attempt an escape, El makes it clear: no one stronger than her in the game, flipping a speeding van over their heads and buying enough time for everyone to flee. On the other hand, Jonathan and Nancy finally admit they’re chasing down a Demogoron. After getting informed about El, Mike, and the kids’ situation, they rush to them before the bad men can get their hands on them. There, the kids finally explain to the adults all about the Upside Down, while plotting to make a makeshift space for Eleven, which will serve as a sensory deprivation tank, helping her to track down Will. That’s how El comes to know of Barb’s fate and Will’s location, giving Joyce and Hopper the chance to save him.

Chapter Eight: ‘The Upside Down’

‘The Upside Down’ serves as the season one finale, in which the Hawkins gang lock horns with quite an eccentric set of bad guys. Joyce and Hopper embark on their journey to search for Will and locate the gate to the Upside Down. While Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve try to distract the creature by luring it towards the Byers’ house, Dr Brenner and the other thugs catch up with the kids at the middle school, and so does the Demogorgon. Although with the help of Eleven, they survive the showdown, this is only the beginning of the Upside Down’s effects on Hawkins.

Season Two

Chapter Six: ‘The Spy’

After spending the entire first season rolling eyes at the spark in between them, Jonathan and Nancy finally give in to their romantic chapter, following a little nudge from Murray. On the other end, one of the most cherished brotherhood forms between Steve and Dustin during their hunt for Dart, the Demodog Dustin chose as his pet.

Lucas wants Max to believe the reality of the Upside Down, so he has just taken her to fight the Demodogs. By ‘The Spy,’ Will’s mysterious connection with the Mind Flayer has grown so concerning that any pain is inflicted on the creature is also felt by him. But just when Dr Owens seemed to have cracked the way out to destroying the Mind Flayer, the creatures outwit the gang, leaving them on death’s door.

Chapter Eight: ‘The Mindflayer’

Will has been rescued, but at the pace at which the Demodogs have begun infiltrating the lab, everyone needs to act fast. But Netflix chose its face of sacrifice this season to be Bob Newby, Joyce’s boyfriend, who leaves Dr Owens, Hopper, Joyce, Mike, and an unconscious Will in a security room to run towards the computer to unlock the doors of the lab so that everyone escapes.

He does his job and nearly makes it to the front door until the Demodogs catch up. Over at the Byers’ house, the main squad tries to come up with a plan to distract the Mind Flayer inside Will to get the Morse code required to close the gate. But just as the Mind Flayer locates them, the hero of the hour comes in.

Chapter Nine: ‘The Gate’

Stranger Things is not short of heroic timings, and one of the most well-regarded ones is when El returns. She doesn’t just save the day but also accompanies Hopper to shut down the gate at the lab. Simultaneously, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy carry Will to Hopper’s secret cabin to lure the Mind Flayer out of him with extreme heat.

And a fight breaks out between Steve and Billy, when the latter follows Max’s trail after being forced to ditch his date to find his step-sister, who hasn’t been answering calls. While the more important missions are accomplished and Hawkins lives another day, who knows just how long the peace will last?

Season Three

Chapter Four: ‘The Sauna Test’

As Joyce and Hopper dig deeper into the Russians, they have a showdown with Mayor Kline. Meanwhile, at the Starcourt Mall, Robin, Dustin, and Steve hire Erica Sinclair, tasking her to make her way through the ducts to the clandestine room where the Russians store the boxes. They initially come across some green canisters, only to realise that the room is a cover for an elevator.

In a different scene, Mike plots to trip Billy into the sauna in an attempt to find out whether he’s been possessed by the Mind Flayer. While the answer isn’t something they didn’t guess, when El ends up injured, they are finally able to grasp just how terrifying the creature’s grip in Hawkins has become.

Chapter Eight: ‘The Battle of Starcourt’

The Stranger Things gang had twice the threat to address this season: the Russians and the Mind Flayer. And since they cannot ignore either, they assign each and every gang member a respective role in their multipart plan. The adults, including Hopper, Joyce, and Murray, take the lead towards the gate underneath the Starcourt Mall to destroy the machine; a group led by Steve, consisting of Robin, Erica and Dustin, reach Dustin’s radio tower to help Murray and others with instructions.

Nancy, Jonathan, and the remaining kids try to escape, but end up trapped in the mall by Billy and the Mind Flayer that has possessed him. Although El’s power has depleted after suffering from a blow from the creature, she manages to restore a bit of Billy’s consciousness, which sees Billy sacrificing himself for the kids. Joyce, too, has to make a tough decision during her mission, as it means life and death for Hopper.

Season Four

Chapter One: ‘The Hellfire Club’

The season picks up pace at the Hawkins Lab in 1979 when Dr Brenner is seen with several gifted kids, gifted with special, unique powers. But soon the mundane day is silenced by horrific bloodshed, where multiple staff and children are killed. The only person standing is Eleven, and then we’re cut back to present day, that is, 1986. El now goes by the name Jane Hopper and has shifted to California with the Byers’ family following the tragic events of the third season. To worsen the stakes, El has also lost power.

Back in Hawkins, Lucas has signed up to play for the basketball team, and Mike has joined a new D&D group led by Eddie Munson alongside Dustin. Max is constantly overwhelmed with grief and guilt after Billy’s death, and the only thing that keeps her going is Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill.’ Along with Eddie, there are more newcomers, like Chrissy Cunningham, who is experiencing visions and seeking help with drugs. While she asks Eddie for help, she succumbs to Vecna’s curse at his trailer home.

Chapter Two: ‘Vecna’s Curse’

When, in the Stranger Things third season finale, it seemed like we had lost Hopper, the post-credits scene revealed the answer we needed the most. While that’s the good news, Chrissy’s death has managed to shake up the entire town, and the blame is most likely to fall on Eddie. Joyce and Murray pair up to track down Hopper. And with the assistance of Robin and Steve, Max and Dustin are trying to find Eddie, after giving it a thought that the situation certainly has something to do with the Upside Down.

As Nancy probes into Chrissy’s murder, she learns about Victor Creel, who killed his entire family in 1959, similar to how Chrissy was murdered. But as Mike arrives in California, he soon finds out that El had been lying the whole time.

Chapter Four: ‘Dear Billy’

What we saw in ‘Dear Billy’ is bound to remain etched forever in our minds: the image of Max levitating over Billy’s grave, succumbing to Vecna’s trance. She already knew that she had been experiencing the same hallucinations and visions that Vecna’s previous victims had confronted. As a result, suspecting her nearing death, she decides to write every one of her friends a letter.

Meanwhile, Nancy and Robin go undercover to lure out more information on Victor Creel when they discover that he didn’t kill his family but reawakened to find his wife and daughter murdered and his son comatose. Robin figures out that the music had saved Victor that day, and they convey the findings to Dustin, Lucas and Steve, who quickly blast Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ in Max’s Walkman.

In Alaska, Joyce and Murray finally encounter the mysterious Yuri Ismaylov, and in California, Mike, Will and Jonathan plan an escape plan, throwing dust in the eyes of the agents to track down El.

Chapter Seven: ‘The Massacre at the Hawkins Lab’

This is the chapter that becomes our compass to understanding Vecna and his connection with Eleven. This episode also sees Joyce reuniting with Hopper at a Russian prison right after his face-off against a Demogorgon. Dustin somehow cracks it up that the gates to the Upside Down are the sites of Vecna’s victims’ deaths. They relay the information to Nancy, Steve, Eddie, and Robin, who are trapped in the shadow dimension, and they all head towards Eddie’s trailer, where Dustin opens the gate.

Just when they are almost through, Vecna catches up with Nancy and puts her in a trance. At the same time, Eleven is recovering her powers and regaining the memories she couldn’t recall. So, both Nancy and Eleven see the same vision at the Hawkins Lab in 1979, which confirms that Henry Creel was behind the bloodshed and that Eleven banished him to the Upside Down, where he transformed into Vecna.

Chapter Nine: ‘Piggy Back’

Season four finale indeed packed a punch when the Hawkins gang rolled up their sleeves to infiltrate the Upside Down and lure Vecna into his house. Parallelly, Joyce and Hopper return to the prison to confront the Demogorgon to distract the hive mind. Simultaneously, it occurs to Eleven that she could save Max from the Void, and to help her do her thing, Mike, Jonathan, Will and Argyle construct a sensory deprivation tank.

While everyone puts their all into forcing Vecna to loosen his hold on Max, unfortunately, the damage cannot be undone, and Hawkins faces its biggest threat yet.