editor’s Note: This story contains major spoilers for the first volume of “Stranger Things” season 5.
Congratulations: You’ve taken time off from your Thanksgiving holiday and completed about 5 hours of watching Netflix and are updated (for now) on the final season of everyone’s favorite retro-’80s horror tale, “Stranger Things.”
If you’re not, run back to the Upside Down, because you’re about to be screwed.
While the story certainly ended on a high note at the end of episode 4 (more on that below), there were some other truly standout moments in the first of three segments that will make up the final season.
Let’s talk about everything from extremely horrifying to extremely gratifying:
The end of Episode 1 and the beginning of Episode 2 feature one of the most frightening and violent scenes so far this season, as little Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher, a new addition to the cast this season after the character grew up), sister of Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), is taken from her home by the Demogorgon after brutally attacking the Wheeler parents and leaving them for dead.
The slow-motion scenes of mother Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) being clawed by the monster and Holly watches covered in blood are almost too much. They’re only tempered by a slightly delicious moment earlier, when Karen — like many unfortunate parents in the ’80s supernatural titles that inspired “Stranger Things,” like “Poltergeist” and “E.T.” — finally discovers that her assurances to her daughter that “there’s no such thing as monsters” are completely, patently false.
While Karen and her famously laid-back husband Ted (Joe Crest) survive, no one is out of the woods yet. By the end of this batch of episodes, the pair are still in hospital and Holly is still missing, lost in a certain foreboding utopia.
Sure, we could see it coming, but when it comes to Holly’s non-fictional friend Mr. Whatsit, it’s no less satisfying to see “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer borrowing from another great throwback title.
Upon Holly’s disappearance and with the help of mother Karen, Mike and Nancy make the connection that Mr. Whatsit – linked to Madeleine L’Engle’s watershed science-fiction work, “A Wrinkle in Time”, which Holly is seen reading on the show – is, in fact, Henry Creel/series arch-villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
If you’re keeping score, this is far from the last reference to “A Wrinkle in Time”, as we now know very well what Camazotz refers to.
Season MVP: Erica Sinclair (obviously!) and…Derek Turnbow?
This season may only be halfway through, but it’s definitely not too early to crown Erica Sinclair (Priya Ferguson) the all-time “Stranger Things” MVP. Lucas’s (Caleb McLaughlin) zero-nonsense little sister is perfectly happy the second time she appears in Season 2, but this time around, she reaches true young boss lady levels when she shows up at the Turnboos with a benzo-laced pie to lay a trap for the Demogorgon to take them out.
When her best enemy Tina (Caroline Elle Abrams) refuses to eat pie, Erica takes out the needle and says, “And I told you to eat your damn pie!” This is a far cry from the well-mannered young actress who talked about how she was afraid of hurting her co-stars’ feelings in Netflix’s Season 2 rewatches.
It’s also worth mentioning a unique new addition, Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly), a previously highly unlikeable rogue who comes face-to-face in Episode 4 and becomes a vital asset to our tenacious team of Hawkins heroes. He goes from “dipshit Derek” to “delightful Derek” in a surprising turn, even leading a highly effective guided meditation.
While (at least so far) nothing can come close to how Kate Bush’s timeless “Running Up That Hill” came out in Season 4, the ’80s pop hit “I Think We’re Alone Now” is brilliantly featured in this season’s Episode 3, in which Holly is gifted a Tiffany cassette tape by her strange new friend with a perfectly tubular Sidestep stereo.
The sequence showing her dancing and twerking while baking chocolate cakes with sprinkles and wearing beautiful outfits is enough to make anyone want to go back to being a kid. Of course, as is often done artfully on the show, the nostalgic euphoria soon turns to a dangerous feeling just beneath the surface, when Holly is interrupted by a loud knock at the door and instructions to head into the woods.
The Duffers said they designed each batch of episodes this season to lead to their own climax, and boy, were they right when it came to Volume 1. At the end of Episode 4 – titled “Wizards” – Will (Noah Schnapp) finally goes on the offensive against the Demogorgons, becoming a Vecna himself in the process. Speechless doesn’t even cut it.
There are still larger, pressing questions: Does his nose bleeding mean he’s now like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)? Or do those eyes indicate that he is becoming Vecna himself?
Regardless of those answers, seeing the character go from being a constant victim for four seasons to this new iteration is thrilling and opens up a lot of new possibilities. The hardest part now is to wait until Christmas, when Volume 2 premieres, to see how it all plays out next.
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