Plot: Through the Upside Down and in Hawkins, the showdown with Vecna begins to come into focus as Will, Eleven, and the others start to align to destroy the evil creeping into their world.
Review: While many may not be fans of the split release schedule for the final season of Stranger Things, you cannot deny that it has built some serious momentum for the feature-length series finale coming on New Year’s Eve. Debuting on Christmas, the three episodes that comprise Volume 2 of the fifth season are chock full of reveals about the true nature of Vecna’s powers and the existence of the Upside Down, along with vital connections to the stage play, The First Shadow. As Stranger Things careens towards its final episode, The Duffer Brothers take time to address questions that have been lingering since the first season, while also fulfilling as many fan expectations as possible. Be warned, this review contains spoilers for Volume 2 of Stranger Things 5.
Picking up directly from where Volume 1 left off, the fifth episode finds the various groups of characters still split in different locations. Hopper (David Harbour) and El (Millie Bobby Brown) have located El’s “sister” Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), who has been held prisoner by Doctor Kay (Linda Hamilton). They learn that Kay is using Kali’s blood to try to create more numbered children in an effort to harness Vecna’s powers. But, as El and Kali realize, the only blood that has enough of Henry Creel’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) essence is in El herself. Also in the Upside Down, Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) clash about the rift in their friendship in the wake of Eddie Munson’s death. At the same time, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) come to terms with their relationship troubles, even if it doesn’t serve as the right time for Jonathan to propose finally. It is while in the Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down that the quartet begins to learn the truth about the parallel world: it is actually a wormhole to another dimension.
Back in Hawkins, Will (Noah Schnapp) harnesses his ability to tap into Vecna’s Hive Mind. However, the connection Will forges with the enemy works both ways, as Vecna locates where Max (Sadie Sink) exists in the real world. Max has spent the last two years in a coma, stuck within Vecna’s prison, where she and Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) have been trying to escape. In the guise of Mr. Whatsit, Henry has been echoing Holly’s love for the book A Wrinkle in Time, but it is not enough to hide his true motives. With twelve children kidnapped from Hawkins, Max and Holly make their escape while Eleven tries to rescue Will from Vecna once more. All of these elements converge in the seventh and last episode of Volume 2, where Stranger Things once again delivers a massive showdown that includes the true motive behind the military wanting to control the Upside Down (a Cold War arms race with Russia), and Will finally comes out as gay to Mike (Finn Wolfhard).
While Volume 2 does not boast the deaths of any major characters, it does spend a lot of time bringing the characters back together for the last battle of the series. Stranger Things has always been better when the ensemble is all in the same place, but this run of three episodes features the strongest groupings the show has had in a long time. I appreciate the connection to the Stranger Things stage play and subplots throughout the first four seasons in a way that does not feel heavy-handed but works organically within the series-long narrative. While the scale of this story has moved further away from the Amblin-esque first season, which was an homage to Steven Spielberg films like E.T. and the novels of Stephen King, this new season feels closer to Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and King’s It in sheer bombast and grandeur. By taking the onus off of Eleven having to be the sole hero, this run of episodes gives everyone, down to supporting players like Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), a satisfying showcase.
Volume 2 begins with the second episode directed by Frank Darabont, followed by an episode helmed by Shawn Levy, and concludes with a co-directed chapter from Levy alongside The Duffer Brothers. The episodes are written by Curtis Gwinn and Kate Trefry, followed by the Duffer Brothers themselves. Darabont includes a clever nod to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which he wrote. The budgetary commitment from Netflix is on full display in these three impressive episodes. The Levy-directed sixth episode, “Escape from Camazotz,” is the best of the three in this volume and has some of the best scored moments courtesy of composers Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon. This volume feels like it could have been a season unto itself with Darabont, Levy, and The Duffer Brothers all in sync with a run that rivals any three episodes in the entire series.
Stranger Things 5 is shaping up to be worth the long wait since the fourth season, and justifies the controversial three-volume release schedule. Volume 2 is an intense and epic run of storytelling that already makes me sad that we only have one more episode to go. It was going to be an impossible task to live up to every fan theory and expectation. Still, the Duffer Brothers understood where they were always headed and have grown their storytelling and directorial prowess as much as the main cast has matured. While Volume 1 concluded with a massive cliffhanger that twisted expectations for the series, Volume 2 gives us an even more jaw-dropping tease of what comes next. Thankfully, we only have a week to wait to see how Stranger Things ends, and I cannot wait to see it.
Stranger Things 5 Volume 2 is now streaming. The series finale debuts on December 31st on Netflix.
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