Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.

In the time between Stranger Things seasons 3 and 4, Max broke up with Lucas, and this time it stuck. Stranger Things 4's Max story is one of the season's central points, focusing on her reaction to Billy's sacrifice and what the fallout of his death has done to her home life. Her grief is palpable during the season, but it's only one of the reasons she broke things off with Lucas.

Stranger Things season 3 suggests Max has dumped Lucas a number of times since they first started dating at the end of season 2. Treating breakups as more of a cooling-off period, Max would dump Lucas whenever she felt he needed to apologize to her or make things right. In Stranger Things season 4, a distance between the two of them is suggested that feels less like the games of young love.

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One focus in Stranger Things season 4 is Max's guilt over Billy's death, symbolized by the Kate Bush song, "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)." It's suggested that Max has survivor guilt, wishing she could go back and switch places with Billy. While Lucas shows that he wants to be there for Max, he doesn't really have a frame of reference to help understand or contextualize her feelings and the changes in her life. While everything between them seemed okay at the end of Stranger Things season 3, grief can take time to manifest fully and many of the changes in Max's life were only just beginning at that point. Lucas shows that he's also undergone many changes in the season break and seems to be at a crucial point of change in his life.

Max reads Billy a letter at his grave in Stranger Things season 4.

Max is haunted by Billy's death—so much so that Billy returns in Stranger Things 4 through Vecna's curse to haunt her at his grave. Max's grief is so central to her season 4 character that she even dresses differently than in prior seasons. Her new color palette is more muted and drab, reflecting a loss of color in her life. Max's step-dad leaves at some point following Billy's death and her mother is forced to work two jobs to make ends meet. Dealing with survival guilt as well as having to move to a house she doesn't like all while seeing her mother struggle and descend into alcoholism makes a perfect storm for Max's life to just keep getting harder.

Max and Lucas' breakup is also likely to be aided by changes in Lucas' life. He expresses a desire for popularity and has found a new passion in basketball—along with new friends on the team. While being focused on himself during such a formative period is understandable, it might also lead to Max feeling left behind or stuck in the time her step-brother died while Lucas is looking forward and trying to move on.  Lucas has been frequently characterized as a problem-solver and this could lead to problems between the two of them: grief isn't something to be solved. Max isn't going to just find new meaning in life and get over Billy's death. It's something that she'll have to grow around and internalize.

Grief is hard to deal with for anyone, let alone teenagers who are still figuring themselves out. While the future of the Stranger Things characters might be up in the air, the circumstances leading to Max and Lucas' breakup are natural and make sense. Stranger Things shows once again that it takes great care with its plot and characters, elevating a great show even further.

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