This article is about the episode. For the curse, see Vecna's curse.

"Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse" is the second episode of the fourth season of Stranger Things and the twenty-seventh episode overall. It premiered on May 27, 2022, being the second episode of the first volume, and was directed by the Duffer Brothers.

Synopsis[]

A plane brings Mike to California — and a dead body brings Hawkins to a halt. Nancy looks for leads. A shaken Eddie tells the gang what he saw.

Plot[]

In a flashback to July 4, 1985, Jim Hopper survives the Key's explosion by jumping to a lower platform of Starcourt Base, but is captured by Soviet soldiers and sent to a prison camp in Kamchatka.

Max Mayfield awakens and takes another Tylenol as the police arrive to investigate Wayne Munson's report of Chrissy Cunningham's mutilated corpse in his and his nephew's trailer. Max catches a glimpse of her body before being ordered away by the officers while government workers listen to Chief Calvin Powell's call reporting the body.

In California, Mike Wheeler and Eleven joyfully reunite, while the former notices Will Byers' concealed painting, which Will refuses to show. Mike brings her flowers, which Eleven notices are signed "From, Mike" instead of her signature of "Love", to her slight disappointment. As Eleven walks and plans out the day with Mike, she references Angela as her friend, much to Will's confusion. They unknowingly pass by Murray Bauman, who has come to California to speak with Joyce Byers.

As Robin Buckley excitedly recounts her interaction with Vickie to Steve Harrington at their job at Family Video, a report about Chrissy's death comes on the TV, her name redacted. Hung over after a night of partying in the now abandoned Benny's Burgers, Lucas Sinclair vomits in a toilet while Jason Carver reassures him. He watches the report about Chrissy's death on the TV with his teammates, unaware that she is the one being reported on, as the police arrive outside. Nancy Wheeler and her peers at the school newspaper watch the report, and she invites Fred Benson to go along with her to investigate after Barbara Holland's name is mentioned. As Chrissy's body is taken away, the reporter muses that the once safe Hawkins has been plagued by one tragedy after another, and wonders if it can be saved.

As Dustin Henderson watches the report with his mother, Max comes to his house to informs him that the body was Chrissy and that she saw her with Eddie, who has seemingly vanished. Dustin is adamant that Eddie would never hurt anyone, but Max is skeptical. She admits that she hasn't gone to the police with her account of seeing Eddie because the lights in her trailer went haywire when Chrissy was killed, and she saw Eddie flee the scene in terror. Dustin realizes they need to find Eddie to get his account.

Bauman reads the note Joyce received, where it requests that she call a number to "make reservation" and not involve the government. It is signed by an "Enzo", which Joyce has concluded is code, "Enzo's" being the name of the restaurant Hopper asked her to a date at. Bauman is adamant that Hopper is dead, and even if he was alive and in Russia, it is more likely that the Russians tortured information out of him and faked a ransom note in hopes of luring Joyce and Bauman to them. Refusing to write Hopper off as dead, Joyce convinces Bauman to let her call the number on an encrypted signal. In 1985, Hopper is met by Russian guards in the burning lab, The imprison and beat him to try and get Joyce's name, having a security picture of her, but he refuses to give her up even when they torture him by suffocation.

Mike, Eleven and Will go to a roller rink, where she continues to pretend she has a good social life. Will privately asks her why she keeps lying to Mike, which Eleven tries to ignore. Mike and Eleven skate together, while Will, visibly dejected, skates behind them. Angela, angry with Eleven for inadvertently getting her in trouble, arrives and formulates a plan when she sees her and Mike.

As the basketball team waits for the police to interview them individually, Lucas' teammate, Patrick McKinney, assures him that it is probably over nothing. Powell and Phil Callahan interview Jason over Chrissy's whereabouts the previous night and if she had ever interacted with Eddie. Jason realizes that the dead student being reported on the news is Chrissy and leaves Benny's, ignoring his teammates and briefly breaking down in the woods. Max and Dustin go to Family Video and get behind the counter, much to Steve and Robin's protests, so they can comb the store's records and find the contact information of Eddie's friends. While Dustin searches, Max explains what she saw to them.

Nancy and Fred drive to Eddie's trailer park, where she pretends to be visiting Max to try and get past a police officer. The police officer suddenly becomes aggressive towards Fred, reminding him of an incident the previous year where he got into a car crash that killed a peer and did not call the police, causing the scars on Fred's face. As the officer's face begins to distort, he accuses Fred of being a murderer, and his scar re-opens and starts to bleed. The real officer snaps him out of it, revealing it to be a hallucination, and Nancy convinces him to let them through.

Jonathan Byers and Argyle discuss the former's woes over not being able to see Nancy. Jonathan reveals that he did not apply to Emerson like he and Nancy planned, unwilling to leave his family behind, but also unwilling to tell her, not wanting her to risk her own dreams to be with him. Angela approaches Eleven and plays into the idea that they are friends, taking her out on the rink. Will notices one of Angela's friends filming them and realizes something is happening, informing Mike of Eleven's lying. The rink's DJ changes the song, dedicating it to "the local snitch" and Angela's friends circle Eleven, taunting her. As Mike tries to stop the DJ, the song climaxes, and Angela's friend throws a milkshake on Eleven, making her fall over. She flees the rink in tears.

Bauman reroutes Joyce's call to another state, warning her to make the call quick and demand proof that Hopper is alive. The call goes to a Russian phone booth, where "Enzo", who demands she brings forty thousand dollars to "Yuri's Fish and Fly" in Nome, Alaska in two days if she wants to trade Hopper for the money. She demands to speak to Hopper, but Enzo states that Hopper is "stuck" while a woman outside yells at him in Russian. He hangs up, leaving Joyce and Bauman to wonder what just happened. Unable to get any information out of Hopper, the Russians send him to the Kamchatka prison camp, where he has been for nine months. They shave his head and face and warn him that he will be killed if he tries to escape.

Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan arrives in Indiana to look at Chrissy's mangled body, while Jason rallies the basketball team against Eddie and the Hellfire Club. Lucas insists that Hellfire is just a Dungeons & Dragons club, (passing off his knowledge as his sister being part of it when asked) but Jason insists that Eddie is insane and that they need to avenge Chrissy and burns a Hellfire poster while Lucas looks on nervously.

Robin, Dustin and Max call around for Eddie's whereabouts, Max discovering he buys his drugs from a man named "Reefer Rick". Steve suggests going to the police to find Rick's identity while also telling them Max's story. As he and Dustin argue, Robin realizes they can put Rick's first name into the store's system and hopefully pick him out by his movie taste. They discover a "Rick Lipton" has checked out several Cheech and Chong movies, and finds his address is out by a lake in the middle of nowhere. The group leaves to go investigate.

Having no luck with Eddie's neighbors, Nancy goes directly to Wayne, asking that she speak to him directly and promising not to twist his words. He insists that Eddie could not have hurt anyone, but he remembers a series of murders when he was a child done by a man named Victor Creel, who killed his own family in a manner that left them identical to Chrissy. Creel has been institutionalized since, but Wayne hypothesizes that he may have broken out. As he talks, Fred is lured into the woods by the sound of a grandfather clock, finding it in a clearing just as Nancy realizes he is gone. Fred sees a family in funeral attire standing before him, whose faces and hands distort, accusing him again of being a murderer. He flees deeper into the woods.

Relistening to the recorded call, Joyce notices the woman shouting in the background and replays it over Jonathan's speaker system so Murray can hear it better. He realizes the woman is using Russian slang to call Enzo an angry word for cop, and they realize that Enzo is a prison guard. Joyce leaves to withdraw the money from Hopper's trust fund for Eleven. As Mike searches for Eleven, he accuses Will of being a bad friend by not telling him of her situation, only for Will to point out that Mike has forced him to third wheel all day, which he hates. Mike brushes him off, and Will points out that Mike seems mad at him, having not called him at all and pointing out that they used to be best friends, which Mike again deflects.

Eleven, hiding in an employee's only closet, overhears Angela laughing at her. She emerges and confronts her, only for Angela to taunt her about Hopper, prompting an enraged Eleven to strike her in the face with a skate. The hit cuts her face between her eyebrows, and the scene attracts the attention of the entire rink as Angela cries in distress and pain. A shocked Mike asks her "what did you do?", prompting a repressed flashback of Martin Brenner and the corpses of the dead test subjects.

Arriving at Rick's cabin, the group finds the house locked, but Max notices a light on in the boathouse. Waiting inside, Eddie attacks Steve, but Dustin convinces him to let him go and tell them about what he saw. After he starts to tell them, he expresses worry that they will not believe him about how Chrissy died, so Dustin reluctantly reveals to him the existence of the Upside Down.

As Nancy informs the police of Fred's disappearance, he stumbles out onto the road where he got into the accident, seeing a vision of the flaming wreckage and the victim crawling towards him, begging for help. Fred stumbles backwards into a grave where the victim's corpse is waiting, covered in black widow spiders. As Eddie describes Chrissy's death, the figure that killed her stalks towards Fred and asks him to "join me." In the real world, he starts to rise into the air. As Dustin describes Chrissy's trance as "Vecna's curse", and the figure touches Fred, causing his bones to break and his eyes to explode in the same manner as Chrissy. Vecna awakens in a room in the Upside Down, suspended in the air by tendrils and lowering himself to the ground. He is revealed to be in a large house, where dozens of bat-like creatures swarm around outside.

Cast[]

Starring[] Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers David Harbour as Jim Hopper Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair Noah Schnapp as Will Byers Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers Joe Keery as Steve Harrington Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair (credit only) Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner (credit only; archive footage) Paul Reiser as Dr. Sam Owens (credit only) Also Starring[] Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna Eduardo Franco as Argyle Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson Sherman Augustus as Lt. Col. Jack Sullivan Logan Riley Bruner as Fred Benson Catherine Curtin as Claudia Henderson Mason Dye as Jason Carver Vaidotas Martinaitis as Warden Melnikov Rob Morgan as Chief Powell Elodie Grace Orkin as Angela John Reynolds as Officer Callahan Joel Stoffer as Wayne Munson Myles Truitt as Patrick McKinney Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri Antonov

Co-Starring[] Logan Allen as Jake Saulius Bareikis as Russian Doctor Larkin Bell as Rink-O-Mania Employee Michelle Bowman as Teen Skater #4 Sarah Bowman as Teen Skater #3 Cuyle Carvin as Soldier Tammy Chavez as Happy Mom Leedy Corbin as Annoyed Girl Ethan Dennis as Teen Skater #1 Karyn Greer as Beverly Moss Jayden Griffin as Freshman Teammate Joe Grisaffi as Army Medical Examiner Scout Hamrick as Candace Cindy Hogan as Annoyed Neighbor Elizabeth Howlett as Young Girl Clayton Johnson as Andy Karolis Kasperavičius as Smirking Russian Guard Gabe Kessler as Rink-O-Mania DJ Mark Lawley as Shrugging Neighbor Jennifer Marshall as Susan Hargrove Stacy Melich as Paranoid Neighbor Margaret Murphy as Monstrous Mourner #3 Natalie Otano as Cute College Girl Alex Parkinson as Monstrous Mourner #2 Andrius Paulavičius as Lead Interrogator Ryan Paynter as Dying Teen Glory Quintana as Teen Skater #2 Agneška Ravdo as Annoyed Woman Hunter Romanillos as Teammate Jeff Sprauve as Officer Glenn Daniels Fedor Steer as Monstrous Mourner #1 Gabriella Surodjawan as Mean Girl Alex Wagenman as Mean Boy Jim Wilkey as Taxi Driver Tomas Žaibus as Russian Guard

Music[]

Soundtrack[]

• "Surf Time" by The Surf Riders - El, Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle leave the airport as El tells Mike that she has the whole day planned out for them; Murray arrives and hails a cab.
• "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive - Mike, El, and Will arrive at the Rink-O-Mania.
• "Rock Me Amadeus (The Gold Mix)" by Falco - Angela and her posse arrive at the Rink-O-Mania and see Mike and El skating together.
• "Diamonds and Emeralds" by The Interior Castle - Fred and Nancy discuss Jonathan's absence while driving to Forest Hills Trailer Park.
• "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora - Angela and her posse skate up to El, Mike, and Will's table.
• "Wipeout" by The Surfaris - Angela brings El to the center of the roller rink and begins humiliating her by spinning around with her friends and taunting her while her friends record it on a video camera. Mike asks the DJ (whose in on the prank) to stop it, and complies, only to yell "Wipeout!" as Jake skates up to El and dumps a milkshake on her, causing her to fall on her back.
• "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads - The basketball players get ready to hunt Eddie.
• "Burning Up" by Donnell Pitman - Eleven confronts Angela and her posse. When Angela takes it too far by insulting Hopper, El retaliates by hitting her in the face with a rollerskate.

Original score[]

• "Caught a Body at the Munson Trailer" - The Hawkins police discover Chrissy's mutilated body in the Munson trailer, and Powell calls it in.
• "Hellfire Club" - The people of Hawkins react to Chrissy's death on the news.
• "See Any Rain?" - Dustin and Max leave his house to find the others.
• "The Elephant" - Russian guards torture Hopper so he can reveal Joyce's location.
• "Journalistic Instinct" - Dustin and Max invade Robin and Steve's space at Family Video to settle their base of operations.
• "A Realm Unspoiled by Mankind" - Fred's mind is infiltrated by Vecna.
• "Palm Tree Delight" - Jonathan reveals to Argyle that he's planning to end his relationship with Nancy, and the stressed duo decide to use Argyle's Palm Tree Delight to destress.
• "Eleven Is Gone" - El is humiliated at the center of the Rink-O-Mania rink by Angela and her cronies. She skates away in tears as Mike calls out for her.
• "Musso" - Joyce and Murray discover through Jonathan's stereo that "Enzo" is a prison guard.
• "Hellfire Isn't A Cult" - Lieutenant Sullivan arrives in Hawkins; Jason and the basketball team plan to hunt down Eddie to avenge Chrissy.
• "Rolling Out the Pool" - Robin locates Reefer Rick through the Family Video rental receipts; Dustin, Max, Steve, and Robin leave Family Video.
• "It's just a clock, right?" - Wayne tells Nancy of who Victor Creel is while Fred approaches the flaming car.
• "In the closet (at Rink O Mania)" - Mike and Will argue about their failing friendship; Eleven cries in the closet as she cleans off the milkshake stains off of her dress.
• "Burning Baby" - Nancy frantically looks for Fred at the trailer park.
• "There are some things worse than ghosts..." - Dustin, Max, Steve, and Robin tell Eddie about the Upside Down while Fred as killed by Vecna.

Influences and references[]

See also: Influences & references

Films[]

• VHS tapes of the following films are seen on the shelves of Family Video:
  • 12 Angry Men (1957)
  • The African Queen (1951)
  • Airplane! (1980)
  • The Amityville Horror (1979)
  • Animal Farm (1954)
  • Basket Case (1982)
  • Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
    • Coincidentally, Paul Reiser starred in the film.
  • The Birds (1963)
  • Black Beauty (1971)
  • A Christmas Story (1983)
  • Citizen Kane (1941)
  • Convoy (1978)
  • Coogan's Bluff (1986)
  • A Doonesbury Special (1977)
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
    • A VHS of the film is seen on the shelves of Family Video, which Reefer Rick also had rented in Family Video's rental records.
  • Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
  • Grease (1978)
    • A VHS of the film is seen on the shelves of Family Video, which Rick Joiner also had rented in Family Video's rental records.
  • High Noon (1952)
  • Mad Monster Party? (1967)
  • Old Yeller (1957)
  • One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
  • The Toy (1982)
• The following films are shown to been rented, as shown in Family Video's rental records:
  • Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980), Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams (1981), Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke (1978)
    • Rented by Reefer Rick.
  • Annie (1982), Dumbo (1941)
    • Rented by a Rick Alderman.
  • Romancing the Stone (1984), Sixteen Candles (1984)
    • Rented by a Rick Conroy.
  • Footloose (1984), Mask (1985)
    • Rented by a Rick Joiner.
  • The Blue Lagoon (1980), Splash (1984)
    • Rented by a Rick Kimbrough.

• The following films have posters or cutouts at Family Video:
  • The Coca-Cola Kid (1985)
  • Flashdance (1983)
  • Gremlins (1984)
  • Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  • The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)
  • National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
  • The Outsiders (1983)
  • Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
  • Pete's Dragon (1977)
  • Teen Wolf (1985)
  • Weird Science (1985)
• Bambi (1942)
  • When Mike and El skate together at the Rink-O-Mania, Mike says he's terrible like, "Bambi on ice".
• Carrie (1976)
  • Angela and Jake mirror Chris and Billy, as they're both vengeful couples that take pleasure in ostracizing a respective peer of theirs that harbors telekinetic powers.
  • El being publicly humiliated by getting a liquid thrown on her is a direct reference to when Carrie is publicly humiliated on prom night when bullies spill pig's blood onto her.
  • El snapping and hitting Angela in the face with a roller skate mirrors Carrie snapping and taking revenge on her student body, though El's revenge is less violent.
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
  • Robin recommends the film as her and Steve's morning movie to watch, noting the plot revolving around doomed love, while also noting how attractive Julie Christie is in the film. Later, Steve recommends the film to a female customer.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  • Murray tells the cab driver that the Byers' home address is 4819 Lonzo Way; Lonzo is the same street address the Thomas family lived on, though it was 7121 Lonzo Drive in the film.
• The Endless Summer (1966)
  • Max has a poster of the film in her bedroom.
• Halloween (1978)
  • Wayne compares Victor Creel to the "white mask" that "killed the babysitters" to Nancy.

Other[]

• Mickey Mouse
  • In the Munson trailer, a Mickey Mouse cup is hung on the wall next to Chief Powell as he calls in Chrissy's body.

People[]

• Ted Bundy
  • When Dustin defends Eddie's innocence to Max, she mentions how Ted Bundy used his charm to look innocent while murdering women.
• Hulk Hogan
  • Murray's cab driver has a Hulk Hogan card hung on his mirror.

Television[]

• Fables of the Green Forest (1973)
  • A VHS of the film is seen on the shelves of Family Video.
• Misfits of Science (1985-1986)
  • Max watches the show in her living room when the electricity begins to short-circuit.
• ThunderCats (1985-1989)
  • As Jason approaches the T.V., he asked what happened to the show they were watching, causing Andy and Patrick to explain that the news has interrupted every channel to report a murder.

Gallery[]

For this subject's gallery, see Vecna's Curse (episode)/Gallery.

Notes[]

• The title of the episode was revealed on November 6, 2021, on the occasion of Stranger Things Day.
• This episode is the 11th episode to be named after a character, following:
  • Will Byers ("The Vanishing of Will Byers" & "Will the Wise")
  • Eleven ("The Weirdo on Maple Street")
  • Holly Wheeler ("Holly, Jolly")
  • The Demogorgon ("The Monster")
  • Max Mayfield ("MADMAX"),
  • Kali Prasad ("The Lost Sister")
  • The Mind Flayer ("The Mind Flayer")
  • Suzie ("Suzie, Do You Copy?")
  • Heather Holloway ("The Case of the Missing Lifeguard")
• A cutout of Freddie Krueger is seen inside Family Video, hinting of Robert Englund's presence in the season.
• Jason's line, "First hangover feels like you're gonna split in two." foreshadows his demise in "The Piggyback".
• Benny's Burgers makes its return, having not been seen since the first season.
  • As Jason prepares his breakfast, a drunken, passed-out basketball player is slumped in the same position as Benny's corpse in "Holly, Jolly".
• When Angela and her friends approach Mike, El, and Will’s table, a man in the background is seen wearing a face mask, a production error as a result of precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This episode takes place on March 22, 1986.
  • This date was originally established to be Will's birthday, as stated by Joyce in "The Mind Flayer"; the Duffer Brothers have stated this was accidental.
• Millie Bobby Brown said the bullying at the Rink-O-Mania was so intense, it caused Noah Schnapp to break character and burst into tears.^[1]
• Actress Maya Hawke's younger brother, Levon Thurman-Hawke, cameos as a punk-rock customer at Family Video; he's seen entering the store as Steve defends himself not believing Eddie is innocent. When production stills were leaked to the public in the fall of 2020, Levon was mistakenly reported to be playing Eddie.
• Maya Hawke said the scene of Robin, Steve, Max, and Dustin going through the Family Video's computer to find Reefer Rick's full name was her favorite to film, since it had her favorite line, "That's a lot of Ricks!"^[1]
• One of the Ricks whose name appears on the screen is Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty.[1]

References

Episodes of Stranger Things
Season 1	The Vanishing of Will Byers • The Weirdo on Maple Street • Holly, Jolly • The Body • The Flea and the Acrobat • The Monster • The Bathtub • The Upside Down
Season 2	MADMAX • Trick or Treat, Freak • The Pollywog • Will the Wise • Dig Dug • The Spy • The Lost Sister • The Mind Flayer • The Gate
Season 3	Suzie, Do You Copy? • The Mall Rats • The Case of the Missing Lifeguard • The Sauna Test • The Flayed • E Pluribus Unum • The Bite • The Battle of Starcourt
Season 4	The Hellfire Club • Vecna's Curse • The Monster and the Superhero • Dear Billy • The Nina Project • The Dive • The Massacre at Hawkins Lab • Papa • The Piggyback
Season 5	The Crawl