finale<\/a> to the first part of our final adventure and much of what\u2019s happening in episode five is feeling tedious in comparison. There\u2019s, like, a lot of group-brainstorming sessions this season, is all I\u2019m saying.<\/p>\nSpeaking of, when we last left our ragtag team of lovable nerds, weirdos, Sad Dads, and also Steve Harrington, Will Byers had just had a moment of radical self-acceptance and therefore was able to summon the strength to plug into the hive mind and kill three Demogorgons broken bones\u2013style \u00e0 la Henry Creel before they killed his friends. You see, kids? Accepting yourself for who you really are will make you more powerful than you ever imagined. God, I want to make fun of that so much, but it is honestly such a sweet sentiment \u2014 and also it\u2019s the holidays, and also I am a sucker for cheese, both literally and emotionally-speaking. Unfortunately, Will realizes he\u2019s ready to fly that pride flag high a little too late, and while he saves Mike, Lucas, and Robin, he is not fast enough to stop Vecna from getting other Demos to drag 11 kids into the Upside Down. Those kids, joining Holly, make 12 and are now all tied up to those spires and getting pumped with Upside Down and Mind Flayer particles via vines to the mouth. Meanwhile, Will is blaming himself for the L, and the team remaining in the Real Hawkins needs to regroup.<\/p>\n
Being able to siphon power from Vecna and the hive mind is game-changing, but it also has its limits. Will has to be close enough to something in the hive mind in order to plug into it; he can\u2019t just summon powers like Eleven. This is a problem, sure, but not a reason to shelve their new secret weapon. And while Mike and Lucas are ecstatic that their friend is an actual sorcerer now, it\u2019s Joyce who pushes for her son to jump back into that hive mind. She admits to Will that she\u2019s been underestimating him, but so has Vecna. And while she will never make that mistake again, Vecna\u2019s a dick, so he probably will. Sure, it would\u2019ve been nicer if Joyce saw the value in her son for reasons other than his supernatural powers, but that\u2019s something for Will to work out in therapy in a few years, and we don\u2019t have time for mommy issues right now. The clock is ticking. And you know Vecna has a clock kink. Here\u2019s the deal: Joyce thinks that they need to get Will jacked back into the hive mind, but this time, instead of controlling the Demos, he needs to go directly into Vecna\u2019s mind and kill that piece of shit once and for all.<\/p>\n
After some brainstorming and Bugles, it\u2019s the Sinclair siblings who come up with two practical ideas. One way to ensure Will can tap into Vecna is to find out where the guy is \u2014 maybe the other half of their team, still roaming around in the Upside Down, might have a lead. Since their whole telemetry system is on the fritz, Erica thinks they should enlist \u201cthe biggest nerd in town\u201d to help them rebuild it. Erica wants to let Mr. Clarke in to the inner circle. It\u2019s not a bad idea, but it\u2019s time-consuming. Lucas\u2019s idea is more immediate: They grab one of the Demogorgons Will killed and use the power from the radio tower to shock it and heat it up just enough that its Mind Flayer particles kick back into gear \u2014 much like how they activated those particles when they trapped Billy in the sauna in season three. If things get out of hand (that means they definitely will get out of hand), they can turn the electricity all the way up, expel the particles (like they did to Will in season two!), and pull Will out of the hive mind. This plan is dangerous, but they can put it into action right now. Joyce says why not do them both? Throw two darts, see which hits the bull\u2019s-eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cShock Jock\u201d focuses on Lucas\u2019s plan \u2014 Mr. Clarke will have to have his big moment later. With an impassioned \u201cKill the bastard\u201d from Joyce, they send electricity into the dead Demogorgon and those particles light up. Will is able to connect to the hive mind, and it\u2019s not long before he finds himself in Dipshit \u2014 excuse me, Delightful\u00a0Derek\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
After the Demos dragged the other 11 children off to the Upside Down and they got hooked up to the spires, they found themselves joining Holly (and Max) in Henry\u2019s mind. Like Holly, these kids are having the time of their lives. Who wouldn\u2019t? Candy, TV, and no parents? Parents are for losers! It also doesn\u2019t hurt that when Henry gathers the kids around for Mind-Hostage Kidnapped-Child Story Time, he tells them that they are going to be heroes, that they have dormant powers they\u2019ll use to help him expel all the monsters of this world by drawing another world \u2014 a much better, monster-free world \u2014\u00a0closer to them. They are going to not only save their families but the entire world. Holly pretends like she\u2019s super into this, but the first chance she gets, she bolts for the forest to find Max and tell her that whatever Henry is planning, he\u2019s doing it tomorrow. They need to find an exit from this mind trap as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
When Max and Holly discover Derek, who has seen too much in Real Hawkins to believe any of the bullshit Henry is selling (not the other ten kids, though; those kids are idiots), has followed Holly out and heard everything she said, they decide to use Derek as a distraction. If he gets Henry\u2019s attention, Max and Holly can start looking for the exit. The plan works but buys them only so much time \u2014 when Henry discovers Derek running off to the caves with that map, he realizes that Holly and Max have partnered up and he goes after them.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s around this point that Will enters Derek\u2019s mind. Still locked into the hive mind, he reports back that Derek has seen Max \u2014 the look on Lucas\u2019s face is a potent mix of joy, relief, and abject terror. That last emotion takes over when Will learns that Henry is already on the hunt for Max and Holly. Will goes on a hunt too.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Max and Holly are traveling through memories again. Max believes that the exit out of this hellhole will be in the memory of the moment Henry trapped your mind. For Holly, that means they need to return to the night the Demogorgon came for her in her bedroom. She has to watch her mother get ripped up all over again. She has to watch as she does nothing to stop it. Just when the two see that smoky red portal open over the door, it slams shut. Henry has found them. Now, as Vecna \u2014 any remaining belief in Mr. Whatsit Holly had is definitely gone \u2014 he strangles Max. He\u2019s killing her. This seems bad.<\/p>\n
But then, Vecna struggles. His leg snaps and he drops Max. It\u2019s Will. Will has found his way into Vecna\u2019s mind, and he is fighting for control. As Vecna, he screams at Max to run. It is honestly pretty badass. But Vecna is stronger than the Demogorgons, and he fights back. Max and Holly are gone, but Vecna demands that Will get out of his head. And then he pushes him out. Vecna takes off for Max and Holly, but up in the Real Hawkins, Will is unconscious. They crank up the electricity and expel the rest of the particles, but he doesn\u2019t wake up. Again, very bad!!<\/p>\n
The two groups in the Upside Down aren\u2019t faring much better, but that\u2019s less because of evil monsters and more because of the angst of youth. Also evil at times! Team Beemer \u2014 Steve, Dustin, Nancy, and Jonathan \u2014 have left the church, where they were waiting for Hopper and El to find out if Dustin\u2019s theory about a dark-magic energy generator emanating from Hawkins Lab is real. So many awful things have happened at that lab, but also it feels like home \u2014 I, for one, welcome this sojourn that is sure to end in disaster. My pessimism, by the way, has less to do with Dustin\u2019s half-baked theory \u2014 if they find and destroy this energy generator, it\u2019ll disable the flesh wall so that they\u2019ll be able to get through and find Holly and Vecna \u2014 and more to do with the insane level of tension coursing between these four. These are the four exact characters who should not be left to their own devices, at least not without a buffer. But there is no buffer, only tension.<\/p>\n
When the group splits into their usual pairings (no one is happy about it) to cover more ground, Steve and Dustin head downstairs and eventually find themselves in the Rainbow Room. If ever a room were to carry the emotions of events that went on inside it, it would be this one, so it tracks that this is where Steve and Dustin\u2019s problems boil over. What starts as a more snippy back-and-forth between the two eventually turns into an argument about Eddie Munson. Dustin calls Eddie the only real, true, supportive friend he\u2019s had. Steve says Dustin is just mad that Eddie made a bad call trying to be a hero and died for nothing. The attacks coming from Steve and Dustin, whose nerves are frayed at this point, are surprisingly mean. Next thing we know, Dustin knocks Steve down and takes a few swings, and while Steve fights back at first, he eventually stops and just wants Dustin to stop too. Steve doesn\u2019t want to do this \u2014 he doesn\u2019t want to hurt him. Enough, he yells at him. Both are in tears as Steve stomps out of the room. Let\u2019s not be too worried about this friendship; it was always going to have to fall apart in order to be built back up. This is part of the healing process, people. And in the meantime, the kerfuffle leaves Dustin in the perfect spot to notice an open door to Dr. Brenner\u2019s office. He finds a bunch of old journals with notes and drawings, some that look suspiciously like big balls of energy \u2014 could this be about the energy generator?<\/p>\n
Well, yes and no. Whatever Dustin reads in that journal scares the shit out of him. He had it all wrong. He tries to radio Nancy and Jonathan to tell them not to touch it. If they destroy it, everyone will die. But the walkie was damaged during Dustin and Steve\u2019s fight and he can\u2019t reach them. He starts running up the stairs toward the roof, but Dustin is too late.<\/p>\n
While the two guys were expressing their complicated emotions with their fists rather than words, Nancy and Jonathan took the upstairs half of the lab to look for the generator. This pair, too, has some emotional tension they\u2019re trying to avoid, although theirs is much less interesting. They are both miserable in their relationship, both lying about how they really feel, and both are terrible liars. Has one ever been so excited to find corpses of military men mid-scream and trapped in melted floors and walls as these two? At least they don\u2019t have to talk about their feelings now. Instead, they follow the path of the melted hallways and stairwells all the way up to the roof. It\u2019s there, up in the sky, that they make out some moving, electrically charged, giant ball of energy, and while Dustin futilely climbs up stairs and yells into his broken walkie, Nancy moves forward with their plan: She shoots a bullet right into that thing.<\/p>\n
Even if Dustin is wrong and messing with the energy ball doesn\u2019t somehow destroy all of existence, the team will still have another issue to deal with. As Hopper, Eleven, and Kali wait to get in touch with the Hawkins Lab group, Eleven and Kali have time to catch up. As Kali reveals how she came to be kidnapped by the military and strapped up to that machine, we finally learn what Dr. Kay\u2019s up to. Kali has been powering that sonic kryptonite, yes, but she was initially taken for her blood. It turns out that Eleven, Kali, and all the numbered kids got their powers because their pregnant mothers were transfused with Henry\u2019s blood. His blood created all of them. Dr. Kay wants to restart the program and build more superpowered kids to use as weapons. During one of her escape attempts, Kali found dozens of pregnant women on operating tables, receiving transfusions of Kali\u2019s blood. Her blood, however, was killing all the mothers \u2014 it wasn\u2019t working. This is why Dr. Kay is hell-bent on capturing Eleven; she was the closest replica of Henry \u2014 Dr. Kay thinks only Eleven\u2019s blood will work. Dr. Brenner. Dr. Kay. The cycle doesn\u2019t end until there\u2019s no blood to use to create more of these kids. Kali doesn\u2019t have to explain much more for El to realize what her sister is telling her. \u201cThere are no happy endings, Jane. Not for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 It\u2019ll be interesting to see what El does with this news \u2014 and Kali\u2019s implication that they need to die in order to stop this from happening \u2014 since the episode starts out with El reeling from the discovery that Hopper was secretly planning on sacrificing himself to protect her and stop Vecna. She was devastated to learn he had a secret fail-safe plan, but is she going to do the same thing?<\/p>\n
\u2022 From the beginning, Lucas has theorized that whatever Vecna\u2019s plan is, it is going to be completed on November 6, the anniversary of the day Will was taken. That certainly fits the timeline Henry gives to his little captives. We\u2019ve got 24 hours, folks.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Even though Derek knows Henry is a monster and can definitely kill him, when Henry holds him down and demands to know who gave him the map of the woods, Derek\u2019s response is \u201cYour mom.\u201d A king among men, this kid!<\/p>\n
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