A new season of Stranger Things has finally arrived and the season wastes no time at all in diving right into the action.
As the season 5 premiere opens, we see a young Will in the Upside Down taking refuge in Castle Byers as he sings “Should I Stay or Should I Go” to himself. He begins to hear noises outside just as a Demogorgon bursts into the fort. Will runs away into the woods and climbs to the top of a tree where he sees the Demogorgon searching for him down below. It looks like Will manages to escape, but the Demogorgon scales the tree.
Hoping to get away, Will leaps to another nearby tree, but he fails to grab hold of the branch and falls to the ground. We see the Demogorgon drag an unconscious Will into the Hawkins Library and leaves him before walking away. Enter Vecna.
It turns out Will encountered Vecna in the Upside Down but simply doesn’t recall the experience as he was unconscious at the time of their meeting. As Vecna remarks that, “At long last, we can begin,” we see the tentacles that have engulfed the building hoist Will up against the wall. A tentacle emerges and attaches to young Will’s mouth, pumping an unknown substance into his body as Vecna watches on, promising him that they’re going to do such beautiful things together.
Over a year has passed since the end of Stranger Things 4
Following the flashback to the very beginning, we head to present day Hawkins, jumping to November 3, 1987.
It doesn’t take too long for the first mystery of the new season to be introduced as we watch young Holly setting the table for dinner. She sees a shadowy figure in the window and waves, leaving us to wonder who she’s seeing and communicating with. Enter the Byers, who are living with the Wheelers following the events of the last season.
We cut to Robin and Steve at WSQK aka The Squawk, where Robin has been running a radio show. She quickly catches us up on the happenings in Hawkins, revealing that Hawkins is quarantined with the military doing mandatory medical check-ups to monitor its citizens. The event from the finale which saw the Earth opening up with rifts across Hawkins has been called a natural phenomenon, and the holes in the ground have been covered with a giant metal pieces. We also learn the military control zone is known as the Mac-Z as we cut to the base and see an opening to the Upside Down, hinting at the military’s presence in both worlds.
The action moves to Hawkins High. As Dustin walks through school wearing a Hellfire Club shirt, everyone around him looks on judgingly. Andy, one of the school’s bullies, shows up and confronts Dustin about wearing the Hellfire Club shirt. He tells Dustin the Hellfire Club is over as he begins to tear the shirt. Lucas, Mike and Will arrive and help defuse the situation, with Lucas taking the lead in using his newfound popularity to send Andy on his way.
While the others have moved on from grieving Eddie, Dustin is still mourning the loss of his friend. Mike, Lucas and Will suggests that Dustin not wear the shirt, as Mike notes that what Eddie would want is for them to find and stop Vecna. They try to convince Dustin to keep a low profile and blend in, but he isn’t having it and angrily storms off after reminding the group they’ve always stayed true to themselves, no matter the cost.
As we pan to a missing person poster of Jane Hopper, we cut to Eleven in the woods running as military men chase after her. One man fires a gun and hits Eleven knocking her out, only it’s not Eleven, it’s an unknown woman who they call a burnout. We then see Eleven running through the woods in a junkyard, training and using her powers to burst pumpkin heads as Hopper and Joyce time her. Joyce suggests Eleven take it easy, but Eleven quips back about Henry not likely taking it easy. Hop tries to defuse the situation, but she orders them to reset the course so she can run it again.
Our catching up with everyone continues as we see Murray arriving outside the gate in a box truck. Turns out he’s been traveling in and out of Hawkins under the guise of being a supply delivery driver in order to smuggle in supplies for the group trapped inside the town’s military borders. He arrives at The Squawk to deliver supplies to the group moments after we see Steve and Jonathan facing off to try to impress Nancy in repairing the radio tower box.
Murray gives Nancy and Robin bullets, grenades, and other supplies he’s smuggled in, before handing Jonathan a Johnny Cochran cassette. He also informs the group that the military is planning a “burn” that night and suggests to them that perhaps tonight is the night they’ll finally find Vecna and end this.
What is a crawl in Stranger Things? We quickly find this out in episode 1
Justin walks through the hall after class dismisses and goes to see Jake, a snake, which he smuggles out of the room. At lunch, Lucas tells Mike and Will that Dustin has lost his mind as he wants to start Hellfire back up. Dustin arrives as he hears them saying he’s lost his mind, and they claim to be talking about Andy.
Robin gets the radio back up and then begins playing “Upside Down You Turn Me” by Diana Ross to send a message in code to the rest of the gang. In talking about the history of the song, Robin sends a coded message to the others informing them when and where to meet for a crawl. A crawl is essentially what the group has been referring to as a tactical mission in which Hopper has been heading into the Upside Down for recon missions when the military opens a gate to the Upside Down.
While going through the plan, Steve questions whether Vecna is dead and we learn that no one has seen him since their battle last season. He suggests that perhaps Vecna died and they already won, which is when Jonathan interjects to question whether Steve has forgotten about the vision of Hawkins burning he had shown to Nancy. They proceed with the plan, as Nancy and Will both agree they need to make sure Vecna is dead for sure and never coming back.
As Dustin, Mike and Lucas chat, Will pulls off into a trance as he looks up to the sky which begins spinning. When the others ask if he’s okay, Will brushes it off and says he had a crazy feeling and the sky was spinning. He says it might be nothing, and maybe he’s nervous but, Mike thinks it means Vecna is close. They split up with the plan to meet back up at Squawk at 6 pm.
Holly’s mystery friend is named Mr. Whatsit and it’s clear he’s not who he says he is
Interestingly, at this same time, Holly is spinning on a playground merry-go-round, looking up to the sky. Her classmate Derek shows up and begins spinning it faster on her before running off. As the teacher calls the kids in from recess, Holly goes off waving to a figure. She rushes over to the figure and greets them, but as we cut to Holly’s teacher we see Holly talking but no one is present.
We cut to the military lab in the Upside Down and meet Dr. Kay. It seems she is running point on the operation taking place in the Upside Down and her primary goal appears to be bringing in Eleven.
Back in the Rightside Up, we learn that Eleven has been training to get her time under 12 minutes and 30 seconds in order to accompany Hopper on the crawls in the Upside Down. She’s certain she came in under time during her last drill, but Hopper says he didn’t see the timer due to Robin’s message coming through over the radio. Eleven is desperate to find Henry and wants to accompany Hopper on the next crawl, but Hop isn’t having it and tells her she can try to find Henry via the tub if she wants to find him so badly.
A conversation with Joyce after reveals that Eleven had indeed made the time with a second to spare, but Hop wants to keep Eleven out of the Upside Down. He knows he’ll need El, which is why there’s no point risking her life for recon missions.
Circling back to Holly, we find Mike waiting outside the school for Holly. When she doesn’t come out, he goes in and begins yelling her name and eventually finds her sitting on a bench reading outside her classroom.
As Mike and Holly talk, she tells him about her mystery friend, whose name we come to learn is Mr. Whatsit. She tells Mike Mr. Whatsit is trying to protect her from the monsters in Hawkins who are trying to eat kids like her. Mike assures her that he gets scared too sometimes, but the stories aren’t true. He tells her when he gets scared, he turns to Mike the Brave as he pulls out a D&D figure. Mike pulls out a custom figure he’s made for Holly and suggests that maybe next time she gets scares maybe she just needs Holly the Heroic, a cleric with divine powers who can open a door to any dimension.
There are a lot of mysteries around who Mr. Whatsit is, but we have a bad feeling he’s going to be more of a foe than a friend in the end.
Vecna seems to be closing in as one character’s life hangs in limbo
Will mentions getting a weird feeling and suggests that it means Vecna is close and maybe they’ll find him on this next crawl. As the cameras pan out we learn that he’s telling this to Max, who is still in a coma. Will goes to get a drink. Lucas puts a cassette into the boom box and begins playing “Running Up that Hill” for Max as he sits by her bedside
Will gets his coke from the machine and Robin arrives, he calls out for her, but she ducks into a room. Robin goes to see Vickie. Robin has to cancel their plans due to the crawl, but she’s made a reservation for Enzo’s the following night. After Vickie agrees to the change in plans, she and Robin kiss as Will looks in from the hall through the crack in the door. The kiss catches him by surprise, and he drops the Coke and runs off, but not before Robin sees him sprinting away down the hall.
Ahead of the crawl, Dustin goes to visit Eddie’s grave which continues to get graffitied as the town still does not know the truth about how Eddie died and the sacrifice he made. When Dustin touches the writing on the grave, he notices it’s blood not paint and finds pieces of the snake he had hid in Andy’s locker earlier at school chopped up on the ground below Eddie’s headstone. As if on cue, Andy and his goons begin to surround Dustin, seeking revenge after Dustin used the snake earlier to scare Andy in front of his classmates and friends.
Dustin starts to laugh and says he was just thinking how in Eddie’s last campaign how he used a violet Prismatic Spray to defeat the villain. He then grabs the chemicals he brought to clean the grave and throws it in the faces of Andy and his friends. It’s no use as they all get the upper hand and begin beating Dustin. They throw him to the ground and begin kicking him as Lucas tries to get through to him over the radio as he’s an hour late. This is the last we see of Dustin in the episode, leaving us to fear for just how far Andy and his friends took things.
Stranger Things 5 episode 1 ending explained: Who is coming for Holly?
As the group prepare for the crawl, El and Mike hug as they all come together at Squawk. El asks Mike if he thinks Dustin is okay and Mike tells her how he was acting weird today, not himself. She says Hopper was the same, not himself. Mike says maybe things are getting to them what with being stuck in Hawkins and trying to find Vecna. He mentions Will having a feeling and that perhaps they’ll find Vecna and end this for all. El asks what next when they defeat Vecna, and Mike explains that after a party is won, the party heads to a peaceful, far off land to start again together. She asks if he thinks that could be real for them and he says yes, of course. If Vecna’s gone, what’s stopping them from getting a happy ending.
Their conversation is cut short as Lucas calls for Mike and Eleven to join them as the group gears up and heads out for the crawl. Steve heads to the van to turn the satellite and begins picking up a strong signal. He needs someone to accompany him in heading out given Dustin is MIA and Will volunteers to help, but Joyce shuts that idea down and sends Jonathan instead.
Jonathan heads out to help with the satellite as Steve drives off, Mike and Lucas follow on bikes. Hopper and Joyce reach the woods and Hopper heads down into a bunker. She tells him to get back to her, and he says she gets more beautiful every day as he heads down.
At Mike’s house, Holly is in her room and puts the figure Mike gave her on a necklace. She puts it on as she hears her mom and dad arguing about how she was standing at the fence talking to no one. Holly heads up to her room and begins crying in bed as the camera fades to Hopper in a tunnel underground. He reaches a ladder and begins climbing. He comes out in what appears to be an abandoned Radio Shack building located near the military base.
From the library, Mike and Lucas are on lookout. Lucas notices four trucks at the east gate. We see a pair of burners heading to the gate to the Upside Down. Using flamethrowers they light the gate up, creating an opening for the trucks to move in. We see the four trucks enter the camp and then get waved on to enter the rift to the Upside Down. Hop climbs on the back of one of the trucks, which are then waved into the Upside Down base. Once through, the gate closes behind them.
Jonathan manages to pick up Hopper’s signal in the radio van and gives Steve the sign to head out. Nancy and the team begin tracking the movement of the van using a map and a projector. The military cars get into a crash and Jonathan orders Steve to stop the van as they’re losing his signal. He manages to pick it back up, but Hop isn’t coming through to Joyce over the radio. When Hop finally responds to the call, he explains they slammed to a stop. El comes in and expresses concern that the soldiers know he’s there. Will then gets a feeling with his neck tingling, he sees a vision inside the Upside Down.
We see glimpses of a Demogorgon attacking the military men. The van with Hopper begins to take off and he sees a Demogorgon giving chase after it. It jumps to the top and rips out the driver throwing him to the ground. The Demogorgon then jumps out as the van crashes into a tree. Will then collapses to the ground, having a seizure as the fuse box begins to go off.
Hopper gets out of the van in the Upside Down, he calls back to the Squawk, but no one copies. He races off into the woods to hide, while back in the Rightside Up, Will is seizing and Joyce tries to bring him to. We see the Demogorgon running to the Wheeler house. Will comes to and tells Joyce he saw it: The Demogorgon is coming, it's coming for them, as he reveals it's on its way to Nancy’s home.
Nancy and El head out as we cut to Ted Wheeler is out golfing in the yard and Karen pouring a glass of wine in the kitchen. She heads upstairs and passes Holly’s room. Holly is still in her room crying in her bed when she begins seeing the nightlight in her wall flickering. As the episode ends, we hear menacing sounds and the ceiling of her room then begins to crack open as a portal to the Upside Down opens and a Demogorgon comes through the ceiling.