Sadie Sink | Stranger Things | Season 5

"Chapter One: The Crawl"

While hiding in the Upside Down in 1983, Will is caught by a Demogorgon and is brought to Vecna, who infects Will with a tentacle. In 1987, 19 months after the Rifts incident, a contingent of the US military, led by Dr. Kay and Lt. Robert Akers, have placed Hawkins under quarantine and created a base camp within the Upside Down while still on the hunt for Eleven, who trains in hiding with Hopper and Joyce. Will, Lucas, and Mike lay low, though Dustin provokes the school basketball team by continuing to honor Eddie. Steve, Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy work at WSQK, a local radio station, where they relay coded messages to the group about opportunities to sneak Hopper into the Upside Down, which they call "crawls", to find Vecna's hideout. Dustin is viciously beaten at Eddie's grave, causing him to miss the next crawl, which goes awry when a Demogorgon attacks a military caravan, forcing Hopper to take shelter within the Upside Down. Will telepathically witnesses the attack and sees the Demogorgon head towards the Wheeler residence just as it tears open a gate in the bedroom of Mike and Nancy's younger sister Holly.

"Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler"

The Demogorgon attacks and severely injures Mike and Nancy's parents, Karen and Ted, before disappearing with Holly to the Upside Down. Eleven follows the Demogorgon through a gate into the Upside Down and finds Hopper. The two then search for Holly until they encounter a giant wall surrounding the edge of Hawkins. Jonathan accuses Steve of competing for Nancy's attention before a bloodied Dustin finds them, while Lucas continues tending to a comatose Max in hopes she will wake up. As Karen and Ted remain hospitalized, Nancy and Mike theorize that "Mr. Whatsit", Holly's imaginary friend, may be real and involved in Holly's disappearance. Robin proposes using Will's telepathic link to Vecna's hive mind to track Holly in the Upside Down. Karen informs Nancy and Mike that Mr. Whatsit's first name is Henry, whom they realize is Vecna's human form, Henry Creel. Will discovers that his earlier visions were actually from Henry's point of view as he stalked Holly, realizing he can know Henry's targets before they are taken.

"Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap"

Henry targets Holly's classmate and bully, Derek Turnbow, as his next victim. Hopper and Eleven fail to break through the massive wall and are ambushed by soldiers, but manage to overpower them. Hopper and Eleven interrogate Akers, concluding that Dr. Kay is holding Henry at the base. Will, Nancy, and Mike inform the group that Henry lured Holly by claiming he was her imaginary friend, prompting them to devise a plan to use Derek as bait to trap the Demogorgon, and implant a tracker in it to reach Holly before more children are taken. The group arms themselves using weapons smuggled in by Murray and enlists Erica to drug Derek and his family. The team splits up, transporting the unconscious family to an abandoned barn while converting Derek's house into a trap for the Demogorgon. The plan unravels when Derek wakes up and Will realizes the Demogorgon has located his group. Meanwhile, Holly finds herself in Henry's childhood home. In the nearby forest, she encounters Max.

"Chapter Four: Sorcerer"

Hopper and Eleven infiltrate the military base, intending to kill Henry. They defeat Dr. Kay and her soldiers, discovering that the captive inside is Eleven's adoptive sister, Kali. Max explains to Holly that they are trapped inside a psychic realm made of Henry's memories, nicknamed "Camazotz" by Holly, where Max has remained ever since her brief death. Will's group is attacked by a Demogorgon until Dustin, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan chase it into the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the military detains children in Hawkins who could be potential victims. Will experiences a vision of Holly and three other children being restrained by tentacles in Vecna's lair, with empty spots for eight more. Will's group infiltrates the base to smuggle the children out of Hawkins. However, Henry, in his Vecna form, and three Demogorgons emerge from the Upside Down, slaughter most of the soldiers at the Hawkins base, and kidnap Henry's targets, including Derek. Before retreating into the Upside Down, Henry tells Will that he intends to use the children, whom he calls "perfect vessels", to reshape the world. Will then unlocks psychic abilities and kills the Demogorgons to save Mike, Lucas, and Robin.

"Chapter Five: Shock Jock"

In Camazotz, the kidnapped children awaken, and while most believe Henry's claim that he saved them, Holly and Derek do not. Max and Holly traverse Henry's memories of Holly to search for an escape as Derek distracts him. Henry discovers the plan, threatens Derek's family, turns into Vecna, finds Holly, and strangles Max. Will's group reanimates a dead Demogorgon using the radio tower's voltage so Will can reconnect to the hive mind and kill Vecna. Will possesses Vecna's body, breaking his leg and speaking through him to tell Max and Holly to run; Henry expels him from his mind soon after, causing Will to pass out. In the Upside Down, Hopper and Eleven escape the military base with Kali, who reveals Dr. Kay was using her blood, just as Dr. Brenner used Henry's blood, in failed experiments to give children powers. At Hawkins Lab, Dustin theorizes that the wall surrounding the Upside Down is a protective shield that, if destroyed, can weaken Henry. Nancy and Jonathan find a mysterious sphere on the roof of the lab. Dustin finds Brenner's journal and realizes he is wrong, but fails to warn the others before Nancy shoots the sphere.

"Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz"

Dustin explains to Steve that the Upside Down is not an alternate dimension but a wormhole to another realm, held together by a mass of "exotic matter", which they realize is the sphere on the roof. The exotic matter detonates upon being shot, causing the building to begin melting; Nancy and Jonathan become trapped in a collapsing room. Believing they will die, they end their relationship on good terms; the melting eventually halts. Max and Holly find a memory of a young Henry killing a man in self-defense in a cave. Erica and Murray recruit Mr. Clarke to help locate Dustin's group. Henry uses the unconscious Will to track Max in the real world and sends Demodogs to kill her at the hospital. Hopper, Eleven, and Kali reunite with the others in Hawkins, and Eleven frees Will. At the hospital, Lucas, Robin, and her girlfriend Vickie protect Max from the Demodogs, with Karen ultimately saving them by detonating a laundry machine to kill the creatures. Seeing her exit from Vecna's mind formed via Lucas's music, Max tells Holly she needs to find her own way out and reminds her of her past bravery, allowing both to escape separately.

"Chapter Seven: The Bridge"

Max awakens safely in the real world, while Holly awakens inside Vecna's lair and escapes through a gate, falling through the Upside Down before being pulled back by Vecna. Erica, Murray, and Mr. Clarke map Dustin's location in the Upside Down to the lab, and Eleven opens a rift so the group can reunite. Dustin deduces that the Upside Down was created when Brenner forced Eleven to contact Henry, and now serves as a bridge to a separate realm,"the Abyss", which Henry plans to merge with their world, likely that night. The group decides to let Henry draw the worlds close enough to climb the WSQK radio tower into the Abyss, rescue the children, and then destroy the Upside Down with by detonating a time bomb near the exotic matter to stop the worlds from merging. Max volunteers to guide Eleven through Henry’s mind, and Kali insists on joining. Will comes out as gay to the group, reasoning that confronting his fears weakens Vecna's hold. Henry manipulates the kidnapped children into turning against Holly; she is forced to join hands with the children and Henry, who puts them in a trance.

"Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up"

As the others make their way to the Abyss, Eleven, Kali, and Max enter Henry's mind and stop him from merging the worlds, but he transforms into Vecna, escapes, and tricks Hopper into breaking the link. Akers' forces assault the lab and kill Kali; Eleven kills them in return. Holly leads the other children out of Henry's mind while Eleven enters the Abyss to fight Henry. Will witnesses Henry's past and learns he was corrupted by a fragment of the Mind Flayer, which he fully embraces despite Will's pleas. The Mind Flayer rises as a giant kaiju, which the group kills while Eleven and Will overpower Henry. The group rescues the children, and Joyce decapitates a dying Henry. Upon returning to Hawkins and detonating the bomb they placed in the Upside Down, the group is arrested by Dr. Kay, but released when Eleven chooses to stay behind in the collapsing Upside Down. 18 months later, life returns to normal; the older teens reunite, Hopper proposes to Joyce, and the younger teens graduate and play one last Dungeons & Dragons game. Mike imagines their futures and theorizes how Eleven may still be alive, with the others choosing to believe him.