Stranger Things Season 5: Our Biggest Burning Questions After Episodes 1-4

Spoilers travel for the archetypal 4 episodes of Stranger Things Season 5, “Chapter One: The Crawl,” “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,” “Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap,” and “Chapter Four: Sorcerer.”

By the extremity of Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1, the Hawkins run against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is astir surely crippled on. Will Byer’s (Noah Schnapp) throwdown of Vecna’s Demogorgons seemingly positions him arsenic the Dungeon Master extraordinaire. But there’s inactive truthful overmuch that the Hawkins enactment doesn’t cognize astir their adversary’s endgame, including everything astatine his disposal to guarantee helium achieves the horrific imaginativeness of Hawkins that helium shared with Nancy (Natalia Dyer) successful Season 4.

As always, each caller batch of Stranger Things episodes opens the doorway for caller questions, and that’s surely the lawsuit again astatine the decision of the archetypal 4 episodes of Season 5. As we’re inactive processing the insanity of that cliffhanger, present are a fewer burning questions we’ll beryllium pondering until the adjacent 3 episodes get connected December 25, 2025.

What Is Dr. Kay’s Overall Mission?

The Duffers emotion their ’80s-era iconic actors. They’ve formed rather a fewer successful immoderate juicy parts crossed the seasons, including Matthew Modine arsenic Dr. Martin Brenner, Sean Astin arsenic Bob Newby, Paul Reiser arsenic Sam Owens, Cary Elwes arsenic Larry Kline and Robert Englund arsenic Victor Creel. In Season 5, Linda Hamilton joins their esteemed, nostalgic institution arsenic the enigmatic Dr. Kay.

In the archetypal 4 episodes, each we cognize astir Kay is that she has her ain well-funded and well-protected laboratory successful the Upside Down. She’s not precisely lukewarm with her subordinates, and is much successful keeping with the behaviour of Bishop the android (Lance Henriksen) from Aliens erstwhile it comes to their shared strength regarding alien carnal vivisection. But her acquired cognition seems to person fixed her power of immoderate of the critters, similar the 1 that chokes retired Hopper.

By the extremity of Chapter 4, we bash cognize that she’s someway recovered and forcibly taken Eleven’s (Millie Bobby Brown) chap laboratory sister Eight, a.k.a. Kali (Linnea Berthelsen). We tin presume that the aforesaid dependable instrumentality Kay uses to immobilize Eleven besides works, oregon worked, connected Eight. Now she’s harnessing Eight’s powers successful immoderate benignant of machine, but how? As a reminder, Eight tin manipulate and task illusions into the minds of those astir her, which begs the question: Is what Eleven and Hopper spot successful the laboratory real, oregon is Kali projecting immoderate Kay tells her to? It’s excessively aboriginal to archer if Kay is simply a nefarious subordinate successful the military’s probe oregon a sympathetic idiosyncratic erstwhile it comes to each things successful the Upside Down.

How Did Kali/Eight Wind Up successful the Upside Down?

As alluded to above, Kali Prasad/Eight was 1 of Dr. Brenner’s laboratory children that helium conducted experiments connected starting successful 1979. Prior to One/Henry Creel/Vecna sidesplitting each of the children successful the laboratory but Eleven, Eight had escaped the laboratory and collected her ain household of misfit runaways successful Chicago. In Season 2, Eleven seeks retired the miss who escaped and they enslaved implicit their shared experiences and peculiar powers. They portion ways that aforesaid play and haven’t reconnected until Eleven finds Eight successful Dr. Kay’s Upside Down laboratory machine. We person to ideate that she was ne'er truly arsenic disconnected the grid arsenic she imagined, betwixt Brenner’s files and possibly adjacent the tracking of Eight aft her escape. And erstwhile Kay needed to bring Eleven into her Upside Down lab, the champion bait would beryllium Eight.

Will the Wheelers Survive?

Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) and Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest) got shredded arsenic they attempted to support their youngest, Holly (Nell Fisher), from that rampaging Demogorgon successful their house. They were some slashed up truthful brutally that we really felt a teensy spot atrocious for Ted, who has been consistently inert arsenic a begetter and spouse crossed each 5 seasons. The brace were some live erstwhile they arrived astatine the section hospital, and Karen adjacent was conscious capable to place Holly’s “imaginary friend” arsenic Henry. That said, we wouldn’t beryllium amazed if one, oregon both, were sacrificed to the stakes of this finale season. On the different hand, we besides wouldn’t kick if Karen survives and gets to flight the purgatory that is Hawkins suburbia.

When Is Steve Going to Call Dustin connected His Shit?

As Steven Harrington (Joe Keery) has evolved from lunkhead precocious schoolhouse jock to emotionally perceptive adopted dada of the Hawkins misfits, the writers person recognized that he’s their concealed limb for large quality moments. He gets to onshore immoderate information bombs connected Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) successful this artifact of episodes, but we’re truly waiting for an overdue thrown down betwixt him and bestie Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). The typically enthusiastic subject nerd hasn’t processed Eddie Munson’s (Joseph Quinn) decease from past play at all, and it’s turned Steve’s small bro into an angry, bitter shadiness of his erstwhile self. In turn, their bromance plays retired much similar a troubled matrimony successful these archetypal episodes arsenic they snipe and bicker astatine 1 another. We cognize it’s conscionable a substance of clip earlier Steve gets to the bottommost of what’s going connected with Dustin and erstwhile it happens, we don’t expect to past it without immoderate disfigured sobbing.

Is the Organic Wall Connected to Vecna’s Evolved Look?

The integrated substance that energizes Vecna successful the attic of the Creel location has been an evolving organism ever since we archetypal got a bully look astatine it successful the Upside Down successful Season 1. We’ve seen those tendrils connect to Vecna and replenish him during his regeneration time. And past helium seemed to usage them to hindrance and incorporate his victims successful the Upside Down mentation of the Creel house. But what they are and if they’re autonomous from Vecna remains a mystery.

In Season 5, the monolithic integrated partition discovered by Hopper and Eleven successful the Upside Down is reminiscent of the partition that Vecna attaches Will to successful the season’s archetypal episode, conscionable writ large. Is the size of it present indicative of Vecna’s power? When helium appears done the portal into Hawkins successful "Chapter Four: Sorcerer,” Vecna looks different. His erstwhile humanoid-looking close limb is nary much and matches his full assemblage successful appearing much thorny, with progressive question slithering crossed his form. He’s jacked excessively now, truthful possibly the size of that partition is straight connected to this much ‘roidy-looking Vecna. Is determination a mode to harm what the partition parallels successful the Rightside Up successful bid to weaken the demon?

If Max Is Revived From Her Coma, Will She Be Changed Irrevocably?

For 584 days, Max (Sadie Sink) has been roaming wrong Henry Creel's memories. Even though she’s recovered a harmless abstraction wrong the stone cave — a spot Henry won’t participate — the question remains: What volition the outgo beryllium for Max to walk truthful overmuch clip trapped wrong that monster’s head? Even if Holly is the cardinal to Max’s flight from the cave and the coma, volition she beryllium irrevocably changed for the worse? The champion lawsuit script is that her clip successful Henry’s caput volition assistance the pack fig retired however to instrumentality the villain down. Maybe she tin look to Will’s burst of powerfulness to fig however to harness what she’s learned from Henry’s memories to usage them against him?

How Does Will Pull Off an Eleven Power Move — Bloody Nose and All — astatine the End of Episode 4?

The prologue of "Chapter One: The Crawl" makes it precise wide that from the infinitesimal Will Byers was yoinked into the Upside Down, his transportation with Vecna has been physical, intentional and portion of a agelong game. It was chaotic to spot tiny, susceptible Will encased successful integrated substance and forcibly face-hugged by Vecna arsenic helium did who knows what to the kid. But it surely confirms that each Will cervix tingle, each phantom feeling, each barfed-up slug has been strengthening immoderate Vecna initiated betwixt them. What we don’t cognize is if Will’s Eleven-style powerfulness determination astatine the extremity of "Chapter Four: Sorcerer" was ever portion of Vecna’s plan, oregon if Will’s expanding assurance paired with his emotion for his household and friends manifested successful his siphoning of Vecna’s power, which facilitated that Demogorgon massacre? Either is interesting, but the second is simply a twist that could yet tilt the powerfulness tables against Vecna.

What were your biggest questions astir the archetypal 4 episodes of Stranger Things Volume 1? Let’s sermon successful the comments!