Welcome back to our spoiler-filled thoughts on Stranger Things 5, now covering the second batch of episodes, released December 25, 2025.
Written by Kate Trefry
Directed by Shawn Levy
Shooting the singularity in the Upside Down grants Eleven, Hopper, and Kali the opportunity to return to Hawkins, but leaves Nancy and Jonathan trapped in the dimension’s version of the lab. Vecna uses the unconscious Will to find Max’s location, and sends the Demodogs after her, all while she and Holly make their way back to the waking world.
The biggest of reveals
It’s revealed right at the start that the Upside Down is not another dimension, but a wormhole to the actual homeworld of the Mind Flayer and the Demogorgons. I owe the Duffer brothers an apology here, because when Vecna’s origin was shown in season four, I’d assumed he terraformed the world he’d landed on into what we now know is a quantum duplicate of Hawkins, which was very silly in retrospect. (Not that opening the gate recreated the town isn’t silly, but it makes much more sense.) That said, we don’t usually imagine wormholes as being so fleshy, and that lends the major exterior shot of it a surprisingly phallic quality. No wonder this season is rated TV-MA instead of TV-14!
Speaking of um, that, we also find out in the opening minutes that Mr. Clarke (who gets summoned in the middle of the night by Murray and Erica to locate Dustin) has been hooking up with town librarian Marissa (Christi Waldon). Marissa (who, unlike Clarke, did appear in season four) dated Jim before the events of the show, making this an even more amusing coincidence than it already is — it’s very amusing Clarke continues to get more action than the much more macho Hopper has as well, although in fairness, Jim and Joyce are very busy (no pun intended.)
M marks the mine shaft
After a neat bit of reverse psychology while scouring the desert in Vecna’s memories, Max and Holly discover a mine shaft where a young Henry Creel encountered an injured, irrational scientist, whom he killed in the ensuing struggle. Screenwriter Kate Trefry also penned The First Shadow, the play that revealed Vecna’s full backstory, so it’s unsurprising scenes from it would reemerge here, but not having watched it, it was startling to see Creel’s fixation with using his left hand when controlling people apparently stems from the bullet injury he received there.
The scene ends before we see what was in the briefcase Henry opened, but it achieves its main purpose of providing a more sympathetic context for his murderous childhood, as opposed to the nihilistic justification he provided as an adult. He was robbed of his innocence well before he was driven to insanity by the thoughts of his family, and it was all because of the reckless, thoughtless actions of this stranger (no pun intended), whose murderous response to this kind child trying to help him only ignited the greater cycle of violence we’ve witnessed across the entire series.
Plastic Titanic
The storyline in the Upside Down culminates in two very touching, cathartic moments. Firstly, Dustin and Steve’s friendship begins to heal when the former loses it over Harrington risking his life to rescue Nancy and Jonathan from the melting top floor of the lab, making you realize he was essentially still in the “anger” stage of grieving for Eddie, and that fear of losing another close friend again was causing him to close himself off from the others. Their hug is a really sweet moment of vulnerability between them, that reminds everyone anger is not the only emotion two young men should share with each other.
Jonathan and Nancy’s scene, where they finally air out their differences, is simply delightful. The tension between them has been far from the most interesting storyline, but this culmination is incredibly cute and funny, capped off by Jonathan asking Nancy if she would marry him, if not for their imminent demise. The Duffers have clarified the pair are breaking up in this scene (something made clearer by how they don’t kiss), but Trefry’s dialogue is smarter and more ambiguous than that. Either way, the two are agreeing to slow down, and not be “suffocated” by the expectations their “shared trauma” was creating for their relationship.
Optimist Prime
El, Hop, and Kali’s return to our world winds up feeling slightly perfunctory, since we’ve already realized what Kali’s discovery portends for El’s future. Still, it gives Mike a good moment to remind us why he’s effectively the party’s leader, as he encourages his girlfriend not to give into despair about the threat they will face even after Vecna’s defeat. Jim and Joyce also have a strong, relatable moment where they reflect on how you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t, when it comes to being overly protective of your kids or not. (They really deserve a nice, long honeymoon.) It was also good seeing El rescue Will, as the two haven’t had enough nearly enough screentime together, despite being stepsiblings.
Release the hounds
When Vecna threatens the girls at the cave entrance, it seems he’s implying he’s going to take control of Holly’s mind and force them to fight each other. However, it turns out he has something far worse in mind, tearing into the memories of the unconscious Will (who’s unfortunately experiencing a severe case of “one step forward, two steps back”) to pinpoint Max’s location at Hawkins Memorial Hospital, and dispatches the Demodogs to finally kill her. Fortunately, Robin and Lucas are there, having deduced she’s not in a coma, although Robin has been pulled away by Vickie and the military police over stealing the drugs used on the Turnbows.
It’s a tense sequence, complete with a one-shot sequence, that leads to two of our favorite couples hiding for dear life in the hospital laundry, even though Lucas insists on continuing to play “Running Up That Hill” to wake up Max. It’s hardly rational behavior, but his hope that she will finally return to them is so sweet, and besides, turning off the music may’ve made the Demodogs even more suspicious. It’s fortunate they were saved by Karen Wheeler, who cleverly uses a heated washing machine to detonate an oxygen tank. Let’s not forget she’s still recovering from nearly lethal injuries, so if anyone still had any doubts she’s a badass, they definitely won’t have them now.
It’s also great Vickie got to join the fray, even though her character has been added so late to the series. She must definitely be relieved her girlfriend isn’t living through a drug-induced fantasy, although she likely also wishes this wasn’t because alien monsters were devouring soldiers’ faces. (Seriously, it’s good that gory shot was out-of-focus.) Amybeth McNulty brought a lot of the flustered energy she had on Anne with an E for Vickie’s rant, which really showed you why she was cast as Robin’s partner: the pair could probably talk to Vecna to death if they needed to.
A long goodbye
Max and Holly’s separation is suitably touching, with the older girl reminding the youngest Wheeler she’s far braver than she realizes, and heroic where it counts before they go towards the light. However, it is odd they don’t seem to be in a rush, given they’re standing where Vecna caught Max before. It’s definitely a tricky thing, to make what’s effectively a speech still clear while characters race off to their next destination, so you can’t fault Shawn Levy if he decided Sadie Sink should just ditch any attempt to be more realistic with her dialogue.
Speaking of Levy and Sink, it’s pretty funny Max realizes she didn’t need “Running Up That Hill” to escape, just the emotional memory of Lucas’s touch, given Levy previously directed “Dear Billy,” where she first escaped Vecna to the sound of Kate Bush‘s iconic track (and an orchestral arrangement.) Still, even if she apparently doesn’t need it, the show certainly benefits from it, as it’s easily become her theme and that of our heroes in general persevering, and it certainly ends this episode on a similarly stirring note.
See you soon for the penultimate (!) chapter, “The Bridge.”
