Stranger Things 5 – Chapters 1&2 – “The Crawl” and “The Vanishing of…”
The end begins with Stranger Things 5. After rifts into the Upside Down opened up across Hawkins, Indiana, the town has entered into martial law, under the watchful eye of Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan (Sherman Augustus), who has been searching for the missing Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) are under instructions to keep living their lives as normal and not draw attention. Meanwhile, Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) plan regular secret “crawls” into the Upside Down, with the help of Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke).
The objective of the crawls is to find some sign of the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), who hasn’t been seen since the opening of the rifts. Meanwhile, Nancy and Mike’s younger sister Holly (Nell Fischer) begins seeing a man warning her about monsters in Hawkins. During the crawl, Demogorgons attack and make their way to the Wheelers’ house.
Stranger Things 5 Chapters 1&2 Synopsis
Stranger Things 5 is the fifth and final season of the Netflix sci-fi horror series, with the first two chapters written and directed by series creators Matt and Ross Duffer. The seasons set in the fall of 1987, a year and a half after the events of Stranger Things 4. While most of the protagonists attempt to live normal lives under martial law, Dustin is still despondent over the death and demonization of Eddie Munson, and Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) remains in a coma in the hospital. Meanwhile, Eleven has to live in hiding with her adoptive father, Jim Hopper, as she trains her psychic abilities to become strong enough to stop the monstrous Vecna.
The main new face in Stranger Things 5 is Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, a military scientist, who is desperate to find Eleven, presumably for different reasons than Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan, the latter of whom blames Eleven for the carnage caused by the monsters of the Upside Down. Also joining the cast is Nell Fisher (Evil Dead Rise, Bookworm) as Holly Wheeler, the younger sister of protagonists Mike and Nancy. Holly ends up playing a major role in the inciting incident that sets the plot of this final season in motion.
My Thoughts on Stranger Things 5 Chapters 1&2
Stranger Things began nine years ago as a homage to Amblin Entertainment films from the 1980s. The scope of the series would change as the young protagonists grew older, leaning more into the horror elements of the narrative. There is also the challenge of the young actors aging out of their roles, as most of the stars are now in their early 20s, playing characters who are still supposed to be teenagers; in the narrative, only four years have passed since the first season. However, I am not someone to criticize Stranger Things on such superficial elements (the same thing happened with Harry Potter), but I am going to focus on the content of the first two episodes of this final season.
Stranger Things 5 goes back to the beginning in the opening sequence by showing what happened to Will when he was taken into the Upside Down in the first season. The sequence confirms that Jamie Campbell Bower’s Vecna was the one behind Will’s disappearance, with the latter being subjected to some horrific experiments. While not immediately apparent, this pre-credit sequence sets the stage for how history is about to repeat.
The first chapter ends with a crawl into the Update Down, going sideways after a Demogorgon attack, and Will has a vision that the monsters are heading towards the Wheeler House. This is how episode two kicks off as the Demogorgons seriously injure Karen (Cara Buono) and Ted (Joe Chrest) Wheeler and end up taking Holly. This leads to the unredacted title of the episode being “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,” echoing the title of the very first episode of the series.
The rest of the second episode deals with the immediate aftermath of this incident. Eleven runs into the Upside Down after Holly and ends up finding a stranded Jim Hopper. The two trace Holly’s trail and discover a huge protective wall blocking their way. This led to the cliffhanger of the episode, where Mike and Nancy learn from their other that the imaginary friend Holly was seeing was in fact a vision of Henry Creel, the human form of Vecna.
While I can say that I generally enjoyed these first two episodes, I still have some criticisms. My biggest issue comes from the recharacterization of Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin Henderson as an emo teen, wearing a torn Hellfire Club shirt and continuing to be victimized by the jock bullies. This new attitude has also seemed to affect his friendship with Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington, who may or may not be regressing to the jerk he was in the first season.
The jury’s still out on the introduction of Linda Hamilton this season as Dr. Kay. All signs seem to point towards her as the main human antagonist of Stranger Things 5. However, she only has a couple of scenes in the first two episodes, so her motivations and why she wants Eleven are still unclear.
I’ll be back in a day or two with my thoughts on Chapters 3&4 of Stranger Things 5. Then it will be a long month-long wait for the final episodes during the holidays.
