Warning: Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 4.
In a new video, Stranger Things stars Joe Keery and Maya Hawke watch the scene where their co-star Joseph Quinn shreds the guitar to Metallica's "Master of Puppets." Quinn plays Season 4's Eddie Monson, Hawkins High School's Dungeons & Dragons Hellfire club leader. After Eddie witnesses the season's villain, Vecna, brutally murder Chrissy (Grace Van Dien), he spends much of the season running from the authorities before teaming up with the gang to take Vecna down. With Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Eddie distracts Vecna to give the others time to kill him, finally grabbing his guitar and erupting into the "Master of Puppets" riff to keep Vecna's monsters at bay.
The scene went viral upon the premiere of the season's final two episodes and even grabbed the attention of Metallica themselves. Soon after the episode's release, the band posted themselves performing "Master of Puppets" alongside Eddie on their TikTok account, captioning the video, "Eddie, this is for you!" The video has amassed almost 9 million views and over 2 million likes in three days. In addition, "Master of Puppets" shot to the top of the iTunes rock chart last week, 36 years after Metallica released it in March 1986.
Stranger Things stars Joe Keery and Maya Hawke watch and react to the Metallica scene in an interview for Netflix. From the song's first note, Hawke is slack-jawed while Keery gushes that the scene is "insane." Following the clip, Munson explains that filming the sequence allowed him to live his "adolescent fantasy" of being a rockstar, as he played the guitar as a child and "had a foundation there." He also clarifies that most of the guitar playing in the scene was done by himself. Watch the full video below:
The scene is undeniably a highlight of the Stranger Things finale, and aside from how epic it is, it packs a serious emotional punch. Unfortunately, Eddie meets his demise mere minutes after what has become his signature scene. One can't help but suspect that the Duffer brothers knew what they were doing when they ended this character's story so soon after his best moment. However, the show has a habit of killing off the revolving door of supporting characters (Barb, Bob, Billy, and the list goes on) in favor of keeping its main cast intact, so Eddie's death isn't that surprising after all.
It also feels important to highlight music's pivotal role this season, and fans have responded in droves. When Stranger Things Season 4's first batch of episodes dropped in May, Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" had a massive resurgence and became Bush's highest-charting single after the characters used to pull Max (Sadie Sink) out of the Upside Down. Stranger Things is watched by millions of young people who may have otherwise never had the chance to hear songs like "Master of Puppets" or "Running Up That Hill," and going by the success of both songs, their inclusion was a welcome treat. If the Duffer brothers want to use the upcoming final season to continue introducing lesser-known 80s gems to their fans, they're not likely to hear many complaints.
Source: Netflix