The one song that connects the Stranger Things 4 finale with its very first season

Danny Jones

And no, it’s not the Kate Bush one

Spoilers ahead

With Stranger Things 4 having recently reached its exciting conclusion and left fans on edge until season five arrives, there’s not much left to do other than theorise about what might happen next and play “Running Up That Hill” for the 1000th time.

However, as viewers binged the previous series ahead of this latest series’ climax, many have noticed one particularly telling song which links the finale of season four part two to the end of the Duffer brothers’ very first season.

The final episode of season four entitled “Piggyback” once again saw Vecna penetrate Max’s mind, only this time on purpose as half of the Hawkins crew attempted to lure him into her head whilst the group in the Upside Down planned to take him out.

If you’ve watched the finale, you’ll know that things don’t go according to plan and Max’s Walkman is crushed as her young love Lucas tries to protect her from the ill-informed Hellfire Club-hunting jock – and, in turn, her favourite Kate Bush song along with it.

As a result, she is unable to be snapped out of Vecna’s trance and even with Eleven fighting him off and seemingly saving her life at the last minute, she is still unable to stop her from being lifted into the air, having her body mangled and left potentially blind as he nearly kills her. It’s at this point that the music starts to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaLmt-h7TCw

As Lucas desperately pleads, “Max, stay with me”, she reveals she cannot feel or see anything and Moby’s “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die” begins to score the emotional scene. Although El just about manages to revive her, it is revealed she was pronounced clinically dead for more than a minute and is now in a coma, which led some of the audience to think back to a familiar scene.

It may not be an 80’s track like the others, having been released in 1995, but it isn’t the first time this Moby hit has been used in the show. In fact, the last time we heard it was when we saw one of the other kids on the verge of dying and also the last time we saw a comatose character lying in a hospital bed: when Hopper and Joyce save Will and Hop has flashbacks to his own daughter’s death.

For those who can’t remember it, here it is:

Many of you may have never noticed Moby in the Stranger Things’ soundtrack up until this point but it’s clear that this song plays an important role in punctuating these moments, as not only does it share parallels with previous moments of loss in the show and a shared hospital setting – but it also signifies when two of the younger cast members are brought back from the edge.

While we won’t yet know Max’s final fate until season five drops sometime next year or perhaps even later than that, it would seem she’s just about hanging on and that more and more each season, music is playing a vital role in the writers’ storytelling.

Whatever tune they decide to spotlight in the fifth and final season, it’s certain to be about more than just 80’s nostalgia.