Stranger Things fans, do you copy? The finale of one of Netflix’s most beloved shows Stranger Things has been released and Volume One’s release alone had the Netflix servers being crashed and flipped upside down. Yet I, for one, believe it was worth it.
From just the first episode, it feels like you are being taken on the adventure too. Episode One: “The Crawl,” reintroduces us to our dear main characters of the show, and what Hawkins has been going through. We see that Hawkins has been heavily under military quarantine and monitoring as the military try to understand the Upside Down. We watch as the crew flesh out their plan to get back into the upside down safely, and once and for all end Vecna. Eleven practices her skills to prepare herself for what is close ahead, and though Hopper is reasonably worried for her safety, he knows and believes she is ready for this. The episode gives us a smooth introduction to the new season, and a brief glimpse into what is ahead.
In Episode Two: “The Vanishing Of Holly Wheeler,” we start to see things begin to happen, new things, such as Holly Wheeler having a suspicious imaginary friend who she calls ‘Mr Whatsit,’ but her brother Mike tries to reassure her that monsters are not real. Later on, after the demogorgon attacks the Wheeler family and steals Holly into the upside down, Eleven and Hopper embark on a rescue mission to save Holly and return her back home while also trying to avoid the scientists and military that built a base in the upside down and are on the hunt for Eleven to stop her in fear of her powers. This episode was very surprising and new things got thrown at the audience like canon fire. It features one new thing after another! Plus, Will’s story runs full circle with Holly being taken right around when Will had been taken years prior.
The next episode, Episode Three: “The Turnbow Trap” got fans entirely even more invested. With Will’s new ability to see through the eyes of Vecna and his monsters, the crew learn that Vecna’s new targets are Holly Wheeler and Holly’s classmate and bully Derek Turnbow, who he has been mentally manipulating through his ‘imaginary friend’ persona “Mr Whatsit.” The crew then sedate the Turnbow family and kidnap Derek to save his life. The crew turns the Turnbow family house into a trap to catch a Demogorgon and tag it with a tracker to track it through the upside down — a chaotic and wild sequence of events if you ask me! Holly explores her new, suspiciously nice surroundings guided by “Mr Whatsit,” where she later finds a mentally alive and awake Max Mayfield. Hopper and Eleven get dead-ended by a wall they encountered in the upside down, and also by a new scientific military technology designed to be Eleven’s kryptonite.
In the Volume 1 final episode, Episode 4: “Sorcerer,” Will’s new ability to see through the eyes of Vecna and also the hive-mind eyes of the upside down realm as a whole, enable him to find multiple other missing kids along with Holly. The military becomes tighter in Hawkins, after they realize that local children of Hawkins have been going missing. They take the remaining Hawkins children to the military base in an attempt to keep them safe, but Derek begins a secret plan with the crew to get them out and truly to safety. With Holly, Max explains how she’s been stuck in “Henry’s memory mindscape prison,” and she wants to come up with a plan to escape it with Holly. Meanwhile, Eleven and Hopper break into the base built by the scientists and military in the upside down, they run into challenges such as El’s kryptonite, and Hopper’s fight with the scientists and soldiers. But soon after, they encounter an unexpected, but pleasant surprise in the guarded room of the base. Later, the military base becomes under attack by the demogorgons even though the crew attempted to warn the stubborn soldiers, and once the demogorgons successfully killed every soldier in sight. Vecna walks through the gate and hurts anyone left in sight, then reveals his plan to Will and why he had stolen children specifically. But Will taps into Vecna’s powers (after remembering an empowering speech from his dear friend Robin), channeling the powers of Vecna and brutally breaking and killing the remaining living demogorgons, leaving viewers with an astonishing plot twist.
After an ending like this, fans around the world could barely wait for Volume 2 to release, along with the heavy anticipation for the grand finale of Stranger Things, especially after the chilling trailer for the next volume and possibly the anticipated finale. The Duffer Brothers’ use of releasing this season in Volumes with Volume 2 being released on Christmas Day and going so far as to enhance the gravitas of the Season 5 finale by putting it in theaters for its New Years night release was a genius way to present the conclusion of this beloved show.
Stay tuned for the upcoming Volume 2 review!
Let’s have one last adventure together, nerds. Over and out.