Stranger Things 5: Duffer Brothers Recommend Watching THESE Episodes Before Finale - Recap Of What Happened There

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Stranger Things gears up for its long-awaited fifth and final season, Netflix has delivered an urgent message to fans, and it comes straight from the creators. "CODE RED! The Duffer Brothers have an emergency watchlist for you,” the streamer posted, revealing four key episodes viewers should revisit before diving into the explosive finale. Spanning Seasons 2 and 4, these chapters trace the emotional, psychological, and supernatural threads that will likely shape Hawkins’ last stand. Here’s what happened in each and why they matter now.

Season 2, Episode 4 - Will the Wise

This early Season 2 installment marks a major turning point in Will Byers’ lingering trauma from the Upside Down. After collapsing and suffering terrifying visions, Will begins showing more severe symptoms that suggest the otherworldly force inside him is gaining control. Joyce and Hopper scramble to understand what’s happening as Will insists that the threat he senses is not just imagined, it’s growing. Meanwhile, Eleven pushes back against Hopper’s attempts to protect her, leading her to seek answers about her origin and long-lost mother. Dustin secretly adopts a mysterious creature, unaware it’s linked to the Upside Down. “Will the Wise” sets the stage for the battle between Will’s humanity and the Mind Flayer’s influence.

Season 2, Episode 6 - The Spy

By this episode, Will’s connection to the Mind Flayer has evolved into something far more sinister: he becomes an unwilling informant. Doctors at Hawkins Lab monitor him closely, believing they can study and contain the threat, but Will’s loved ones quickly realize the entity is using his body and memories as a strategic weapon. Joyce, Hopper, and Mike desperately try to protect him as his identity begins slipping away. Meanwhile, Dustin teams up with Steve in one of the series’ most unexpected partnerships, attempting to trap Dart, the creature he raised. Elsewhere, Nancy and Jonathan continue exposing the lab’s secrets. The episode reaches a devastating climax when soldiers walk into an ambush in the tunnels beneath Hawkins, proving the Mind Flayer has turned Will into “the spy.”ALSO READ: Stranger Things Season 5 OTT Release Date and Time LIVE

Season 4, Episode 7 - The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

This pivotal episode unpacks Eleven’s past in its most unfiltered form. Through recovered memories, she confronts her childhood relationship with Henry Creel aka One, whose quiet manipulation eventually reveals him as a powerful, unstable psychic. When Henry unleashes his brutality on the children and staff inside the lab, Eleven refuses to join him, instead fighting back with everything she has. Her power ultimately sends him into the Upside Down, where he transforms into Vecna. Parallel storylines continue unfolding in Hawkins and Russia, with Hopper still fighting for survival. This chapter reframes the series’ mythology and reveals the true origin of its central villain.

Season 4, Episode 9 - The Piggyback

The Season 4 finale delivers one of the series’ most ambitious battles. Eleven enters Max’s mind from miles away using a psychic “piggyback,” racing to stop Vecna before he claims his final victim. In Hawkins, the team enacts a layered plan to weaken Vecna by attacking him in the Upside Down, while Max willingly puts herself at risk. Across the globe, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray battle Demogorgons inside a Russian prison to disrupt the hive mind. But in the end, Vecna succeeds in opening the fourth gate when Max briefly dies, fracturing Hawkins and unleashing visible cracks across town. Though Eleven revives Max, the damage is irreversible, and the war has officially begun.With production wrapped and Stranger Things 5 arriving soon in three parts, the first being tomorrow, fans now have their official rewatch roadmap. The past holds the clues, and Hawkins’ future depends on remembering it.