(Credits: Netflix)

First of all, who gave the Duffer brothers the right to end Stranger Things volume 2 like that? Because that wasn’t just an episode, that was an emotional crime scene. The MAC-Z gate part? The Abyss reveal? The moment with Eleven and Kali where everything just stops for a second and you realise someone might not be making it out? Yeah. We had to pause. Breathe. Unpause. Panic again.

This whole volume feels like they took every insane theory we had and decided to make it bigger. The Hawkins crew is jumping through gates, dodging demon vines, and climbing radio towers into the sky, and the Upside Down? No, no, forget what you thought it was. Because now it’s a wormhole, and there’s this other place, “The Abyss”, and Eleven is literally planning on walking into Vecna’s mind while Hopper will be punching monsters, and it was all Steve’s idea? What? Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington is more than a babysitter now?

We know, it’s all a lot to take in, but the question here is, what hit the hardest? The little moments. Max being Max, even when she is not sure she’ll make it. Dustin and Steve are being idiots and geniuses in the same breath. Will FINALLY say the thing we have known for five seasons and break everyone while doing it. And Nancy and Jonathan just deciding to end their relationship mid-apocalypse, like that’s a totally regular time for a breakup? What is this show?

And now we wait. They gave us a soft cliffhanger, but make no mistake, because the world is ending. Vecna is not done. And Kali? Well, she has got a plan that feels more like a goodbye. Eleven is not okay. And this finale? It’s not just going to wrap things up. It is going to destroy us. Let’s break it all down: what just happened, what exploded, and what it means for the very last episode of Stranger Things.

So… what just happened?

OK, so first thing: the gang makes it through the MAC-Z gate. That’s right, everyone gets across, no last-minute deaths, no last-minute sacrifices. Just a perfectly executed escape. But you feel immediately that something is going to go wrong, as it’s too smooth, too easy, and Eleven? She is not okay. That moment when she looks at Kali? You know. There is something way bigger going on.

Because it turns out Vecna, sorry, Henry (the dude’s real name is Henry, and it makes everything creepier), is using the twelve kids he kidnapped as living batteries. He wants to merge Hawkins with The Abyss, this freaky other world that is darker and way weirder than the Upside Down. And he is using the kids to fuel that process. Like, literally using their thoughts and energy to punch a hole through dimensions. Holly? Derek? They are all trapped, pumping power into his evil plan while Vecna monologues about light and darkness like he is running a cult retreat in hell.

Max finally wakes up and tells Holly how to get out of a nightmare memory. Meanwhile, Will finally comes out to the group! FINALLY. And Nancy and Jonathan finally break up, and yes, all of it happens mid-apocalypse.

And the biggest twist? The Upside Down isn’t even a dimension. It is a wormhole. A disgusting, flesh-walled, exotic-matter-powered bridge that links Earth to the Abyss. Which means when the gate explodes… if it explodes… everything is going with it. The Upside Down, the Abyss, and maybe everyone stuck inside. Including Eleven, because Kali is asking her to stay behind and make sure it all collapses for good. So now we are not just talking about saving the world. We’re talking about losing her in the process.

The Abyss, the Upside Down, and what just broke

So, let’s break this down. We thought the Upside Down was the main villain. Nope. Turns out it is just a bridge. The real enemy is the Abyss. That creepy dimension Henry got tossed into after Eleven blasted him in season four. It is where Vecna found his weird army of monsters, it’s where the Pain Tree is growing (yes, actual name), and it is where all those kids are being drained like batteries.

Now here is the deal: the flesh wall surrounding the Upside Down isn’t just a gross design choice; it is being powered by “exotic matter”. And when Nancy shot at that sphere above the lab? It didn’t just crack; it ripped. Everything started collapsing, Hawkins Lab melted into grey sludge, people were nearly pulled into the void, and the entire wormhole structure became unstable. But they didn’t fully destroy it, which means the bridge is still open. The worlds are still merging.

What this sets up for the finale

Everything. This sets up everything. Because here is where we are: Vecna still has the kids. The Abyss is literally leaking into Hawkins.

Dustin basically figured all of this out, and Steve (legend) comes up with “Operation Beanstalk”, which is insane but also the only plan that might work. They’ll let the rift open, let the radio tower poke into the sky, and have Eleven go full psychic-nuke inside Henry’s mind. Meanwhile, Kali and Max are both jumping in with her, and Dustin is planting an actual bomb inside the exotic matter.

Eleven is maybe going to stay behind. Kali wants her to. And Dustin is holding the last card with that bomb. If they fail to detonate it or don’t make it out in time, everyone gets trapped.

But the biggest setup is that this was just the calm before the last storm. Vecna’s not done. That final episode? That is where we find out who survives and whether Hawkins or the entire world even exists after midnight.