[S4E7] Truths Other Than The Ones You Tell Your...
Contemplating their next move, the group decides to go to Nancy's house (you know, the creepy-crawly Upside Down version of it), where she keeps guns in her room. Steve walks with Eddie, who is getting quite the crash course on the Upside Down, or as he calls it, "Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit." They share an absolutely precious moment where Eddie admits he has always been a little jealous of how much Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) looks up to Steve. He says, "Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It's kinda annoying, to be honest." Eddie tells Steve it was very metal what he did back there with the Demobats and admits that if it weren't for the ladies jumping in first, he never would have jumped into Lover's Lake to save Steve Harrington's ass. Nancy didn't waste a second, which was, according to Eddie, "as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen." (Do you hear that? It's the Jonathan/Nancy shippers again. Should someone go check on them?) They arrive at the Wheeler house, where, to Nancy's confusion, her guns are not where she left them. In fact, something is way off, even for the Upside Down. She flips through her diary where the last entry is from November 6, 1983, the day Will went missing, and the gate was opened. Nancy's guns aren't here because they don't exist yet: somehow, the Upside Down is stuck in the past.
[S4E7] Truths Other Than the Ones You Tell Your...
One, sickened by the monotony and pointlessness of human life, realized then that he could "restore balance to a broken world," and be "a predator, but for good." (Uh, that's subjective, Henry.) Nancy watches in horror as Henry/One tortures a rabbit in the yard, snapping its bones with his mind. One tells El that as he practiced, he realized he could do more than he ever imagined. He "became an explorer" of others' memories as he reached into their minds. He says that his parents, who presented themselves as "good, normal people," were liars, just like everyone else. Nancy at this point has run back into the Creel house where she sees a baby burning alive in its cradle. One says that Victor was naive and believed it was a demon cursing them for their sins, but somehow, his mother knew and "despised" him for it. She called a doctor (we assume Dr. Brenner) to "fix" him. Of course, One says, that left him with no choice. Nancy watches as Victor's wife flies up to the ceiling, Henry/One's eyes on her. He closes them, and her bones start to snap. One says with each life he took he grew more powerful, but he was still a child and did not know his limits. He fell into a coma and woke up in the care of Dr. Brenner, who didn't want to just study him. He wanted to control him. When he realized that he couldn't control Henry/One, he tried instead to recreate him. He started a program, and others like him were soon born, like Eleven. Nancy watches as Dr. Brenner tattoos a "001" onto Henry/One's wrist.
Eleven, at this point, is really not vibing with One's whole secret villainous backstory. Looking horrified, she tells him that he tricked her. One looks wildly offended by this accusation. He says, "Tricked you? No, I saved you. You are a prisoner here, just like me." He tells Eleven that she is superior, and that is why Dr. Brenner is so frightened of her. Together, he says, they could remake the world. He extends his hand with a smile and asks her to join him. To his shock, El says without hesitation, "No," and throws her hand out. He goes flying backward from the force of her power and crashes against the wall. They have a little telekinetic duel where it really seems like El is screwed: she is floating in the air, eyes bleeding, bones snapping (seem familiar?) when she finds strength in her memories. She remembers with fury her mother being dragged away from her, Two and the other bullies tormenting her, and all the mangled bodies of the kids One murdered. Then, the screen goes black.
Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 introduces Vecna, a terrifying new villain who is killing Hawkins teenagers. Every season of Stranger Things features another monster, but the show has switched things up for season 4; rather than a mindless creature like the Demogorgon or a monstrous intelligence like the Mind-Flayer, it features a powerful human being who has been living in the Upside Down. Named "Vecna" by the Hawkins kids, this being makes its presence felt in the real world through horrific visions that they liken to a curse.
"I have lived with a fragile faith built on the ether of vague memories from an experience that I could neither prove nor explain. When I was 12, my sister was taken from me, taken from our home by a force that I came to believe was extraterrestrial. This belief sustained me, fueling a quest for truths that were as elusive as the memory itself. To believe as passionately as I did was not without sacrifice, but I always accepted the risks - to my career, my reputation, my relationships, to life itself. What happened to me out on the ice has justified every belief. If I should die now it would be with a certainty that my faith has been righteous, and if through death larger mysteries are revealed, I will have already learned the answer to the question that has driven me here - That there is intelligent life in the universe other than our own, that they are here among us, and that they have begun to colonize."
"The development of our cerebral cortex has been the greatest achievement of the evolutionary processes. Big deal. While allowing us the thrills of intellect and the pangs of self-consciousness, it is all too often overruled by our inner, instinctive brain - the one that tells us to react, not reflect, to run rather than ruminate. Maybe we have gone as far as we can go, and the next advance whatever that may be, will be made by beings we create ourselves, using our own tech... tech... technology. Life forms we can design and program not to be ultimately governed by the strict rules of survival. Or perhaps that step forward has already been achieved on another planet, by organisms that had a billion years head start on us. And if these beings ever visited us would we recognize what we were seeing? And upon catching sight of us would they react in anything but horror at seeing such mindless, primitive, hideous creatures?"
"Once upon a time there were three, how shall I put this... geeks. Three more unlikely heroes there never were - "We defend the defenseless, I don't see any other way". It wasn't long before their naivete nearly got them killed. Until they hooked up with an FBI agent - "That's why we like you Mulder, your ideas are weirder than ours" - and began publishing a, what shall I call it... rag, called The Lone Gunmen - "The guys at the NSA and the CIA, they tremble every time we put out one of these babies". From this cramped basement office they pointed fingers at the powerful evil forces, and some not so evil. In their own unique way the three gunmen were patriots, fighting the good fight - "We tell the stories others refuse to tell" "Yeah, that's one way to put it" - and provided expertise for their friends at the FBI - "She's hot". For a brief time it looked like they might actually make a difference in the cold, cruel world. They acquired an intern who believed in their cause - "You guys fight for lost causes, I wanna help" - and a powerful, beautiful nemesis who became an ally. But the world is not kind to idealists, and those who fight the good fight don't always win."
"My name is Carl Gerhard Bush, But I've been known by many aliases during my long career with the U.S. government. It's been a humbling job, though I'm hardly known as a humble man. I've been a witness to history, much of it violent, much of it an abomination of the values Americans hold dear. I've had a privileged seat at the centers of power, held the reins of that power, making sacrifices few are capable of, of which even fewer are willing. If people knew the truth they'd riot in the streets. Too much is made of the will to power, as if our will is free, our choices our own. Our destinies are forged in our bones, made real by a raging impulse to self-destruct. I'm not a bad man, more a practical man. I've taken certain gifts I was given and made good men great; it is my greatness. I'm a father to two men who figured more in the future than they might ever know. Both would end up working for the FBI, both complex but dedicated men who sacrificed dearly, and in their dogged pursuits would end up paying a terrible price, searching for truths as I have parceled them out. Truths held only by the few who know the levers of power and the invisible hand controlling them. Is there life out there? Good heavens, to doubt it is more than a failure of the imagination, it's a failure to recognize the limits of our own stupidity. The nascency of our science, the rudiment of our tools. We listen, we search, we look for a sign as if our eyes and ears are good enough, our brains large enough, or egos small enough. I'm an old man now, I will leave my own mark upon history, more than presidents or tyrants. I don't ask for loyalty and trust, the fleeting bonds of men. I ask only for the years to show my sons and their sons I was right. What their father did... had to be done." 041b061a72