Diksha Sundriyal
In the final season of Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things,’ Vecna prepares to execute his plan of taking over the world. The children of Hawkins are an important part of the plan, and their kidnapping prompts the others to investigate the true intentions of the villain. The first one to be abducted is Holly, but she soon discovers that she is not the first one to be trapped in his mind’s prison. Max, who slipped into a coma after a showdown with Vecna last season, is also there and has been trying to find a way out for a long time. Eventually, the girls discover that the only way out is through, so they delve deeper into Vecna’s memories and make some disturbing discoveries. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Max and Holly Uncover a Path Out Through Henry’s Memories
After falling into a coma, Max is trapped inside Henry’s mind and tries to find a way out. At one point, the door to her freedom is right in front of her, but Vecna shows up to stop her and pushes her back into his mind’s prison. While her attempt fails, it confirms for Max that the way out can only be found by tapping into a person’s memory of the time when they were dragged into the Upside Down and imprisoned by Vecna. When Holly arrives, Max asks her to recall all the times Henry visited her in the real world, as she is convinced that one of those memories holds the key to the way out. As they wade through Holly’s memories, they go through the points where Henry first showed up in front of Holly.
This also includes the memory of Henry watching Holly, which she was unaware of. Eventually, Holly remembers the day the Demogorgon showed up at her house, injured her mother, and took her away. As expected, the way to the Upside Down is outside of that memory, but before they can open the door and leave, Henry shows up. He shuts all the doors, so they are not able to leave. He almost kills Max, but luckily for her, Will taps into the villain’s mind at the exact moment. As he takes over Vecna, Will gives Max the window to run and hide. Unable to open the door to the Upside Down, Max and Holly are forced to retreat and hide in the caves where Vecna can’t reach them.
The monster’s inability to enter the cave sparks Holly’s interest. Max theorises that it’s probably because something traumatic happened to him here, but she hasn’t been able to find that memory. Holly likes the theory and believes that the answers lie beyond the caves and in the desert stretching out before them. Max says she has scoured the whole place before, but Holly is not ready to give up. After hours of searching, she realises that the cave’s opening from a distance points towards what could potentially be the location they are searching for. At first, Max is not convinced, but then they stumble upon a hole in the ground, which provides a way out.
A Series of Fortunate Events Paves the Way for Max’s Escape
Inside the hole in the ground, Max and Holly find an injured man, who is killed by a young Henry after the man threatens to shoot him. While the girls don’t fully understand what’s happening, it is enough to convince them that this is Henry’s repressed memory and their way out. They meet a dead end in the form of a stone wall, but they pick away at it and eventually form a big hole that allows them to escape Henry’s mind and enter the Upside Down. Meanwhile, in Hawkins, Will’s effort to take over Vecna and kill him leads everyone to discover that Max is alive and trapped in his mind.
Realising that she is trying to escape at the same time, Lucas rushes to the hospital and plays the Kate Bush song to call out to her. Even when Vecna sends Demogorgons after Max, Lucas refuses to stop the song because he knows it is the beacon that Max needs to find her way home. And sure enough, she wakes up. Having found their way to the Upside Down and with Lucas playing the Kate Bush song to call her back, Max sees a portal open towards her body. This is her way out, but it’s not for Holly. She explains that to open her own portal, Holly needs to focus on something that makes her happy and gives her strength. At first, Max thought it was the Kate Bush song that drew her to the real world, but in truth, it was Lucas.
The last time she came close to escaping, Lucas was by her side in the real world, holding her hand. She asks Holly to think about the same thing. Initially, Holly is panicked because she doesn’t have a boyfriend, but Max explains that it doesn’t have to be a boyfriend; it can be anyone or anything else. She points at the necklace Holly always wears, asking her why it holds such importance for her. Holly reveals that Mike gave it to her as a representation of being brave and strong. As she focuses on those feelings, the portal opens for her as well. With a way, both girls run towards their portals. Max wakes up in the hospital next to Lucas in Hawkins, and Holly wakes up in a strange place, with a vine in her mouth, connected to Vecna.
Holly’s Escape Takes a Shocking Turn
Max had told Holly that after crossing the portal, she would most likely wake up in the Upside Down, which is like Hawkins. But when Holly frees herself from the vines and runs out of Vecna’s lair, she realizes that this is not only not Hawkins, but it is also not the Upside Down. At the time, Holly doesn’t know enough to realise that she is in the Abyss, but she has no option but to run away, especially as Vecna wakes up and comes after her. While running away from him, she notices a red glow in the ground and decides to crawl through it, hoping it will lead her where she needs to go.
Shockingly, when she claws her way through it, she finds herself falling from the sky towards the Upside Down. She cries out for help, which is heard by Nancy, who is in the Upside Down at the time with Jonathan, Steve, and Dustin, looking for her sister. The group is shocked to find her falling from the sky, but before they can think about a way to catch her, she stops falling. Holly is suspended in the air for a second before she is pulled back into the sky. While Nancy and the others don’t see what has pulled her back, they have no doubt it is Vecna.
He has used his powers to drag her back into the Abyss, return her to his lair, connect her to the vine, and bring her back into his mind prison. When Holly wakes up in the Creel house again, she is shattered. She tries to explain things to the other kids who are also trapped there. But they have all been manipulated by Vecna into believing that Max is the monster who tried to get Holly. When she tries to run away, they attack her and hold her back. With her own friends turning against her, she has no choice but to stay in the house and wait for her brother and his friends to arrive in time to rescue her and the other eleven kids.
Read More: Stranger Things: Why Can’t Vecna Enter the Cave? What was in the Briefcase?
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