Stranger Things 4: What happened to 008? Here's how it sets up Kali's return

30 May 2022, 17:18 | Updated: 13 July 2022, 21:43

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By Katie Louise Smith

What happened to 008 in Stranger Things 4? Kali's story might prove to be more important than you originally thought.

When they said Stranger Things 4 would finally start answering the questions we've had for years about Eleven's powers and the Upside Down, they were not lying. But thanks to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it callback in the new season, one lingering question from season 2 has now resurfaced: What happened to 008?

Cast your minds back to season 2, and the polarising episode that saw Eleven head off to meet her long lost 'sister', Kali. Yep, remember her? Season 3 went by without so much as a nod in her direction, but in season 4, orderly Peter Ballard (a.k.a. Henry Creel) mentions 008 by name in a conversation with El.

In the final episode of the season, we learn about how the lab children got their powers. And now it seems like that small mention of her name could prove that 008's storyline is going to be much more important than we previously thought it would be.

Kali Prasad is a former Hawkins Lab child, known as 008/Eight, who managed to somehow escape before the massacre in 1979. She's first introduced in season 2, and the series dives deeper into her storyline, history and powers in season 2, episode 7 titled 'The Lost Sister'.

Kali is a British Indian girl who grew up in London. At the age of 5, she was abducted and taken to the Hawkins Lab, where Brenner added her to his experiments. It seems that Kali was either born with abilities or developed them before she was brought to the lab.

The last time viewers see Kali is in season 2, episode 7. Kali and her gang disappear after successfully evading the police, and saying goodbye to Eleven who decides to make her way back to Hawkins.

READ MORE: Stranger Things 4 theory suggests Eleven's real dad is 001/Henry Creel

Kali has the ability to conjure realistic visions of real people, make herself and those around her invisible, and can also manipulate the mind to hallucinate and experience things that are not actually happening in the physical world.

In season 2, we see her conjure visions of spiders, trick the police into thinking they're stuck behind a massive wall and even makes herself and the gang invisible to avoid behind caught by the cops. She also makes Eleven hallucinate an entire conversation with Dr. Brenner.

Like Eleven, Kali's nose also bleeds when she exercises those powers.

Kali arrived at the lab around the age of 5, became friends with Eleven, and later managed to escape before 1979. She explains in season 2 that she escaped the lab once her powers had become strong enough. In season 4, Peter Ballard notes that Kali was no longer at the lab in 1979.

Given Kali's powers, it seems pretty self-explanatory as to how she was able to escape the lab. She either made herself invisible or was able to escape after manipulating the minds and visions of the guards. It's currently unclear if Kali's escape had anything to do with Peter Ballard, although it could be possible seeing as he tried to help Eleven escape too.

READ MORE: Stranger Things 4 theory explains how Eleven might lose against Vecna

The exact reason why Kali doesn't have the same powers as the other lab kids has not yet been explained – but it could still turn out to be very important when it comes to defeating Vecna.

The majority of the children at the lab were all effectively clones of 001 as Brenner made it his mission to replicate 001's powers. Some turned out more powerful than others, like 002 and then eventually Eleven.

While Kali does not have the same telekinetic powers as any of the kids from the lab, she does share some key powers with Vecna...

Kali appears to be the only Hawkins Lab child who possesses the same mind manipulation powers as Vecna.

Like Kali, Vecna can also make people see things that aren't there (like the Creel House clock appearing in random places), and can conjure entire scenarios that play out in his victim's minds. Obviously, Vecna's powers in the latter area are much much more powerful than we've ever seen Kali's.

At one point, Kali even conjures visions of spiders crawling all over her friend Axel. And as we know through Henry Creel's flashbacks, he loved spiders and even conjured them before his own terrified mother.

As much as everyone seemed to hate the Kali/Eleven centric episode in season 2, the character could still turn out to be an important factor in the show's final episodes.

Fans have already begun theorising about how Kali could be reintroduced to fight alongside Eleven in the final fight against Vecna. Noting one particular scene at the start where Dustin rolls an 11 and Erica rolls a 20 in the Hellfire Club's fight with Vecna while playing D&D, one fan wrote: "Thinking about how Erica's attack that defeated Vecna in the DnD game was a 20. 11 alone failed, but 011+008+001 = 020. Could it take El and Kali turning 001's powers around on him to defeat Vecna in the end? I don't know, just a theory."

Vecna/001's powers are El and Kali's powers – at their strongest – combined. Could Kali be the key to helping Eleven defeat Vecna?

Back in 2017, the Duffer brothers spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and teased the return of Kali in future episodes: "It feels weird to me that we wouldn't solve [her] storyline. I would say chances are very high she comes back."

Looks like we may not have seen the last of Kali/Eight after all...

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