‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Finale, Episode 9 Recap — ‘The Piggyback’

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 4 finale of Stranger Things. If you’ve yet to finish Episode 9, not reading any further would be a bitchin’ idea.

Every season. Every damn season, Stranger Things reduces us to rubble at least a couple of times. And as Season 4 careened toward its eye-popping ending, the Netflix hit did it again — over and over and over. But which of Episode 9’s emotional moments made the biggest puddle of you?

There were sweet scenes aplenty to pick from in “The Piggyback,” including Steve’s admission that he’d always pictured Nancy in his family portraits and Jonathan’s reassurance that nothing could change his love for little brother Will. For our money, though, the choice comes down to three moments.

First, obviously, is Max’s “death.” The panic and pain in Lucas’ voice as he screamed for Erica to call for help demolished us every bit as thoroughly as the sight of Sadie Sink’s plucky heroine being contorted into a pretzel by merciless Vecna.

Then there’s the long-awaited reunion between Eleven and her “late” father, Hopper. Never had we imagined that just two words — “Hey, kid” — could leave a lump in our throat the size of a boulder.

Finally — and this is the one that gets our vote — there’s Eddie’s death. One second, the casualty of “bat-tle” was tugging at our heartstrings by observing that for once, he hadn’t run away. The next, he was shattering what was left of us by making a tearful Dustin promise to look after “those little sheep” after he was gone. Add in an “I love you, man,” and forget it — we were crying so hard that our tears had tears!

Which finale moment really did you in? Vote in the poll below, then hit the comments.