Stranger Things 5, Volume 2: An Episodic Review

Christmas this year was not just full of presents, fir trees, gingerbread houses, and jingle bells—for many avid fans of Stranger Things, the month long wait for the release of Volume 2 was all they could think about this holiday season.

Having been very impressed with Volume 1’s storyline, I was excited to see where Volume 2 would lead. Volume 1’s ending left me with far more questions about the mysteries of Stranger Things than it did answers, and I was curious to see how the Duffer brothers would wrap up some of these plot points before the finale.

But was it a success? It’s hard to say. Volume 2 had its good moments, but compared to Volume 1’s monumental reveals (such as the iconic ending of Sorcerer) this batch of episodes came across as severely lacking in plot. As of now, I am completely unsure how the Duffer brothers plan to wrap up these storylines in just a two hour finale.

5×05 — Shock Jock

Shock Jock picked up right where Sorcerer left off—which was nice to see instead of the usual “skip straight to the aftermath” that this show likes to do. Our characters were left devastated after they failed to save the kids who Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) took into his mind lair, which led me to believe that more of this episode would be dedicated to Will (Noah Schnapp) saving them. 

However, Shock Jock covered far more than just that. Some of the most interesting scenes took place in the Upside Down version of Hawkins Lab, where Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Steve (Joe Keery), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) were searching for the “shield generator” that Dustin claimed must have been hidden in there, since the lab was at the center of the Upside Down. There, however, Nancy and Jonathan discovered the “shield generator” — which was in fact not a shield generator at all, as Dustin was able to find out via Dr. Brenner’s (Matthew Modine) old notes. 

Aside from this science fiction-esque lore drop, the rest of the episode was pretty lackluster. While Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) was given some backstory as to how she ended up in the clutches of Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton), the whole explanation for it felt incredibly rushed. It was interesting to learn that Dr. Kay was attempting to recreate Dr. Brenner’s MK Ultra experiments, but it was also another plotline added on to one too many. 

Beyond episode five, the concept of Dr. Kay injecting pregnant women with Kali’s blood and trying to recreate Henry Creel wasn’t really explored, even though El (Millie Bobby Brown) was revealed to have been, in essence, an exact copy of him. Compared to the other military plotlines this show has had, however, I suppose that this one could have been much worse. The blood transfusions present a blatant allegory for the AIDS epidemic that was running rampant at the time, with the pregnant women growing “sick” from having Kali’s power-infused blood injected into them. While Stranger Things never acknowledged it directly, this was also something that they had been alluding to for a long time within the themes of their show.

However, the best part of the episode for me was Will’s venture into Vecna’s mind as he tried to prevent Vecna from killing Max (Sadie Sink). Will being able to infiltrate Vecna’s body and take it over as a ways to warn Max was  remarkable, and both Sink’s and Schnapp’s acting in that scene were top tier. However, the endeavor resulting in Will passing out and getting caught in Vecna’s mind lair was rather pointless, and only managed to sideline him for the next couple of episodes. It was an odd choice, considering he’d had so much plot relevance before with his powers activating during the iconic last few minutes of Sorcerer.

5×06 — Escape from Camazotz

Escape from Camazotz’s opening was definitely one of the most high-stakes in the series. After Nancy took the shot at the “shield generator”, the Upside Down blew up completely. The audience’s view of what the alleged “alternate dimension” was supposed to be was completely shattered, which added an interesting layer to an already ever-expanding lore. It was here where we found out one crucial detail: The Upside Down was not an “alternate dimension”. Rather, it was a wormhole, or a bridge between worlds.

However, this episode wasn’t about that, nor did it really cover any more Upside Down lore beyond those scenes. If anything, the focus was mainly on Max and Holly (Nell Fisher) as they tried to “escape Camazotz”. While one could argue that this was too many plotlines to feasibly handle in one episode (and maybe they’re right) I can’t deny that the Max and Holly plotline was incredibly engaging to watch. Once again, the coloring, lighting, and sets for “Camazotz” were a lovely contrast to the dark, grey sets of the real world. Much of the Max/Holly plot felt like a conformist fairytale, indicating how trapped and isolated from the real world Holly and Max truly were.

Will being trapped in Vecna’s mindscape was nothing short of pointless, though. While even Robin (Maya Hawke) theorized that he may have been trapped there with Holly and Max, it turned out that this was not the case at all. Instead, he was stuck in another part of the mindscape, one where Vecna confronted him on his own. Though this confrontation did involve the reveal that Will built the Upside Down tunnels under Hawkins in season two, it was overall very anticlimactic because we never got to see what else Vecna was trying to show him. For a season that claimed it was going to center on Will more, this scene really did not deliver on that.

Surprisingly, one of the more standout scenes in the episode was not about Max, Holly, Will, or the Upside Down lore at all. Instead, it was the one between Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton). While the scene of the two of them trapped in a melting Upside Down version of Hawkins Lab did drag out a tad too long in comparison to other scenes this episode, its message was very clear:

Overall, though, Escape from Camazotz was about just that: Escaping Camazotz. Even if I enjoyed her plotline very much, I do think that a lot of Holly’s screentime should have been given to characters who have been mains since season one. This was the case both for her brother Mike (Finn Wolfhard) who was strangely sidelined for most of volume two, and Will, who should have had far more plot relevance than he did this volume.

5×07 — The Bridge

Since the Duffer brothers were very cagey about the plotlines contained within the series’ penultimate episode, I thought this may have been because it contained plot twists that would re-contextualize our view of the entire series.

I was wrong.

The Bridge as a whole was shockingly mediocre. Having it serve as the second to last episode was a poor choice on the Duffers’ part, as it did virtually nothing to advance the plot forward. Instead, it relied on rather confusing science—such as the Upside Down being a wormhole that bridged the gap between the real world and the desolate, newly-introduced other dimension where the Demogorgons were from—to explain what Vecna was trying to accomplish. However, even if the lore behind it could have been interesting (it seemed to be what they were building up to in earlier episodes, after all), the explanations were not. 

Numerous moments left something to be desired, such as when there was an entire group explanation as to what Vecna’s plans were for combining the real world with this other dimension. Now, instead of the stakes being some children running from monsters invading their homes (monsters which were often allegories for things like homophobia, racism, classism, and the horrors of growing up too fast), the world was ending altogether. The premise of the show was not relatable anymore, nor was it really contained within one government-corrupted small town.

Here, there was something else that made the episode fall flat: Everything was done with the “entire group”. Though Stranger Things had always suffered from having too many characters, especially in later seasons, the issue became most glaring in season five. Introducing not only Kali, but Holly, Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens), Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), the twelve children that Vecna took, and new military personnel into the plot added too many arcs that the Duffers had to resolve. Scenes where characters were attempting to explain Vecna’s plans—and, even more importantly, Will’s emotional coming out scene—came across as goofy rather than serious because of how many unneeded people were present.

What disappointed me most was how good Will’s coming out scene could have been. While Noah Schnapp’s performance was nothing short of brilliant, the scene itself came across as lazily done. What was the point of having Will almost come out to his mother, only for Mike to come in and then have Will decide he needed to come out to everyone? What was the point of Will calling Mike his “Tammy” and reducing his feelings to a mere “crush” when it has been shown, over and over again, that they run much deeper? It was hard to watch, mainly because it all looked more like a press conference than a coming out scene. Considering how important this moment was supposed to be for Will’s arc, it was hurtful to see.

Of course, there is always the possibility that the two-hour finale could resolve many of these issues. Maybe there was something we were missing this entire time regarding the plot and Vecna’s plans. Maybe there was a good reason why main characters like Mike were sidelined so the Camazotz plot could take priority. Maybe what Will said in his coming out scene—and the situation in which he said it in—will become important later on. Ultimately, we will not know any of this for sure until episode eight releases and the show comes to an end. 

Final Thoughts

If one desires to think positively about this volume, there were a lot of things to look to. Standout performances came mainly from Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, and Charlie Heaton—all of whom were offered challenging emotional scenes and delivered on all fronts. Volume 2 also brought Max back into the main plot after many episodes without her presence, something that was sorely missed in scenes where the main group of kids were back fighting monsters together.

Overall, though, the storyline in volume two fell off immensely. The pacing was off, the plot moved forward very little, and characters that should have been utilized were sidelined for ones that had just been introduced. Will’s coming out scene, which should have been a private, yet emotional moment between his loved ones, happened in front of one too many characters that have had nothing to do with Will’s arc. The story as a whole came across as hollow and absent of the nostalgic 80s charm that Stranger Things became famous for. 

My hope as of now is that the finale will make up for this sloppily-put-together volume. Otherwise, it is very possible that Stranger Things could go down as having one of the worst show endings in history.

This article is the second in a three part series that will be reviewing each volume of Stranger Things 5.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1: An Episodic Review