Stranger Things 4 Recap: Watch This Before Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Stranger Things 4 Volume 1, now streaming on Netflix. “Your friends are not prepared for this fight. Hawkins will fall,” Dr. Martin “Papa” Brenner (Matthew Modine) warned Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in the Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 trailer, teasing an Upside Down showdown with villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). “You’re not ready.” If you’re not ready for the return of Stranger Things 4 Part 2 — the super-sized two-episode finale streaming July 1 — Netflix has released an official refresher recapping the events of Volume 1. Watch the three-minute recap video below.

In May, Volume 1‘s “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” left off with Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) about to escape the Upside Down’s frozen-in-1983 version of Hawkins with friends Robin (Maya Hawke) and Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). Following the revelation that Vecna is Henry Creel, a.k.a. “One” — the first of Brenner’s experiments at Hawkins Lab — it’s revealed Jane/Eleven’s psychic powers banished One to the Upside Down years earlier. 

With the power of a Walkman and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” Max (Sadie Sink) escaped Vecna’s Mind Lair — only for Nancy to fall victim to Vecna’s curse to end Volume 1. On the other side of the Upside Down gate, the party of Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) headed to Nevada to find Eleven; meanwhile, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Murray (Brett Gelman) sprung Jim Hopper (David Harbour) from prison in Kamchatka, Russia. 

Related Story: Who Dies in Stranger Things 4 Part 2?

Stranger Things 4 returns with “Chapter Eight: Papa” (runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes) and the season finale, “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback” (runtime: 2 hours, 19 minutes). 

“It’s just this massive, massive climax,” showrunner and co-creator Matt Duffer told EW of the super-sized finale. “Not to say it’s all action, there’s a lot of action in it, but there’s a lot of big, emotional character moments.” Teased Ross Duffer, “[There are] character reveals, there are also big plot reveals. I mean, episode 7 is the big, big one with Vecna, but we have a few big, more surprises to come.”

Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 is streaming Friday, July 1 on Netflix. 

Stranger Things Season 4 stars Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Robert Englund (Victor Creel), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna).