Chris Hardwick's Blog

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY’S Black Spot Fire, Explained

The end of It: Welcome to Derry’s sixth episode cues up what is sure to be one of the show’s most harrowing events. It is an event that we know will be difficult to watch. We’re talking about the Black Spot fire, a hate crime perpetrated against Derry’s Black community that killed some forty people. Director Andy Muschietti referenced it in the films and it’s also in Stephen King’s original 1986 novel. We don’t get too much about the Black Spot fire either in the novel or in the films, beyond a reference. However, we get enough to form an idea about what is yet to come in the HBO series’ final episodes.

HBO

The timeline in Stephen King’s book is completely different from the film and TV version, of course, as much as it might stick to the general events. In King’s novel, the Losers Club faced Pennywise in 1958, with the previous cycle starting in 1929, ending in 1930. The It films, along with Welcome to Derry, switched things up timeline-wise, with the Loser’s Club forming in 1989, with the previous cycle in this universe’s Derry taking place in 1962. This means they moved the Black Spot fire from the end of 1930 to 1962 for the HBO series.

Much like we see in the series, in the book, the Black Spot was a popular hangout for Black soldiers stationed at the nearby Derry Air Force Base. In the time of the fire in the novel, 1930, the U.S. Military was still strictly segregated. So, the Black officers couldn’t mingle socially with their fellow white soldiers on base, even if they wanted to. At least not on sanctioned military facilities. So they had no choice but to make a safe space for themselves separately, even though their more open-minded white officers sometimes joined them.

HBO

In the 1930s, racial violence was rampant across America, thanks to a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. Although heavily operating in the South, the Klan was hardly limited to that area. Something like the Black Spot fire of 1930 would have been all too common. According to King’s lore, a racist, masked group called the Maine Legion of White Decency trapped the patrons inside, setting the building ablaze. Dick Halloran, described as a cook at the Black Spot, barely escaped with his life. He would go on to become a cook at the Overlook Hotel decades later in The Shining. The series Welcome to Derry changes Hallorann from a cook to a member of the military who starts the club on the site of the old facility. The fire’s survivors saw a giant black bird, holding red balloons during the fire. A clear manifestation of Pennywise.

HBO

In 1962, the Civil Rights movement was in full swing in America and the KKK entered its third major wave of orchestrated hate crimes, with the second being the one from the 1930s. So the switch from 1930 to 1962 fits actual real-world history in this case. From 1961 to 1968, there were several infamous incidents of KKK hate crimes. Among the most infamous is the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. So, Welcome to Derry is being very historically accurate here. The events of the show really don’t have to stray far from reality for its horrors. Even though places like Maine were more desegregated at the time, in a small town like Derry, a desegregated nightclub would likely have been taboo.

Warner Bros.

There are some changes from not only the King’s original novel, but also the film, which the series retains continuity with. In the first film, young Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) has a Pennywise-induced vision of burning people desperately trying to escape a raging fire from the meatpacking building downtown. This is the same one where he does deliveries for his grandfather, Leroy Hanlon. A later newspaper clipping in It: Chapter Two suggests this place was the site of the Black Spot in 1962. But Welcome to Derry tells us it was in a decommissioned Air Force storage unit on the outskirts of town.

Warner Bros.

We could just handwave this away as a continuity error. However, It the novel showed how Pennywise could alter people’s perceptions. Maybe Pennywise wanted Mike to think the Black Spot fire was there, since he often frequented that location. Also, the picture isn’t clear whether the Black Spot is the actual building we see. The smoke coming from the distance could be the Black Spot, not the building in the foreground. So, it’s easy enough to explain away if one wants to.

We know that in the continuity of the series, Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) will eventually die sometime in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s, after becoming the father of Mike. The novel says Will Hanlon dies in a house fire. Young Mike will then be raised by his grandfather Leroy, played as an older man in the first It. Leroy seems much more bitter and mean than the younger Leroy in the Welcome to Derry, played by Jovan Adepo. But by this point, he will have survived Pennywise and the loss of a son. That explains quite a lot about his attitude as a senior citizen. With only three episodes left of Welcome to Derry, we imagine many more answers are forthcoming about how it all connects.

It: Welcome to Derry drops new episodes every Sunday on HBO Max.

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WELCOME TO DERRY Confirms a Massive Pennywise Theory That Changes Everything

In a previous interview with Welcome to Derry’s showrunners, we were warned that you cannot trust any character. And honestly, that makes a lot of sense in a place like Derry where an entity is playing with people’s minds and preying on their fears. But we truly see how twisted things are in this small town full of darkness in episode five. Lilly learns that someone she’s put her deep trust in has been manipulating her all along, and that twist is directly tied to Pennywise. 

In the episode, Lilly and Ronnie have a verbal spar about everything that’s happened. Lilly wants to use the ancient weapon that saved her from Pennywise to go back the sewers and defeat the clown. However, Ronnie says they barely made it out alive and accuses Lilly of causing all the mess with her father, which isn’t 100% wrong. Lilly tries to shake it off at school, but another waking nightmare drives her away from campus and to Ingrid Kersh’s house.

Brooke Palmer/HBO

As we know, Ingrid works at Juniper Hill Asylum and seems to be the only adult that Lilly can confide in about all the strange recent events. When she goes into the house, she wanders upstairs and notices a photobook on a table. She flips back and sees a photo of a man standing with a young Ingrid. Lilly appears to somewhat recognize his face, but it doesn’t click until she rushes in for a hug when Ingrid appears. She looks behind her and sees the man in the full Pennywise outfit and realizes that there’s a connection between the two.

A flashback to 1935 reveals that Ingrid took a young Juniper Hill girl into a basement to find the clown that she spoke of. And the girl dies as a result of this choice. However, Ingrid sees her father’s face and dancing clown persona in this being and feels like she can save him. Because she’s not afraid of Pennywise, it cannot do her any harm.

Brooke Palmer/HBO

She admits that she’s been befriending Lilly on purpose and even congratulates Lilly on reawakening Pennywise. She also admits that she was the clown they saw at the graveyard that night because she wore her old outfit. Ingrid invites Lilly to help try to find her father and bring him back, but Lilly cuts her hand with the ancient weapon and leaves the house. 

That action is going to cause a terrible domino effect. It is very plausible that Ingrid was the anonymous tip who called in to report Grogan’s whereabouts. Now, the deaths that will very likely occur at the Black Spot will be her chance to make Pennywise come to her once again. Oh dear. So, unlike Mrs. Kersh from previous IT films, this one is not a manifestation of IT.

Instead, Ingrid Kersh is actually Pennywise’s daughter (well, the guy who inspired IT to take on that form) and they came into town in 1908. She’s stuck around since then, working at an asylum in hopes that some poor soul there would help her save her father. It’s very, very likely that we will see more of Ingrid in future seasons of IT: Welcome to Derry. 

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WARHAMMER QUEST: DARKWATER Is Tense Yet Super Replayable (Review)

Warhammer Quest: Darkwater delivers a tense and desperate adventure pitting a collection of heroes against the forces of Nurgle, with a mystical spring capable of healing injuries and granting immortality at stake. The new board game, the latest in Games Workshop’s occasional line of Warhammer Quest games, delivers both a fun hobby experience and a game that can be enjoyed as either a replayable campaign or as a standalone battle. Its hefty $255 price tag will dissuade many casual players. But it comes with so many top-notch minis that almost certainly will be usable in Age of Sigmar!

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WARHAMMER 40K Spinoff HORUS HERESY’s New Edition Is a VERY Dense Dive (Review)

The Warhammer Quest line provides room for smaller stories than the expansive army versus army-style gameplay found in Age of Sigmar. In Darkwater, a group of heroes converge on the Jade Abbey, the home of the mystical lifegiving Everspring. It was once a place of pilgrimage in the Realm of Ghyran. However, a corrupt priest called Gelgus Pust attempted to take over the Jade Abbey with the powers of Nurgle. Sadly, he left it as a ruin filled with rot and corruption. Gelgus Pust hasn’t corrupted the Everspring itself. However, he’s slowly descending through the lower caverns of the Jade Abbey with Maggotkin under his sway. Things have become dire to the point that a band of heroes from all walks come together to beat back the forces of Nurgle. They aim to cleanse the Jade Abbey once and for all.

The Warhammer Quest engine iterates on the classic Warhammer gameplay style of using pools of six-sided dice to determine the success of various attacks. Players control a group of four heroes that individually activate between enemy rounds. Each hero has access to three basic action cards plus some kind of hero ability that’s explained on their hero card. Each action card also doubles as a source of energy, which a player needs to activate an action. Once an action card is used for its energy, it’s no longer available as an action. Functionally, this means that players have three actions per turn.

One of the key choices in this game comes from deciding whether to expend each action card’s energy on its own listed action, or to use to activate another action twice. For instance, a player can choose to spend their Move energy to Move. Or they can spend it to attack. However, once the Move card’s energy is expended, the Move action becomes unavailable for the rest of the round. I really liked this style of action economy. It provides both flexibility and a series of tough choices during every character activation.

Enemies activate using a rudimentary dice system. On an enemy turn, one player (designated as the leader) activates each group of enemies present on the field and rolls a pair of dice (one black and one red) to determine an enemy’s action. The black die typically involves movement of some kind, while the red dice provides attack options. Attacking is very similar to a typical game of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. Enemies roll D6s to hit and players then roll D6s for saves from damage. Heroes, automatically damage on any hit they inflict on enemies, except for when enemies have a block statistic that auto-deflects damage.

Games Workshop

Gameplay itself moves rather quickly – an average session takes about an hour to play through. The hero turn tends to move much quicker than an enemy turn, in part because there’s less dice rolling. I wish there was a way to switch initiative order in between rounds to make things a little more varied. While the game supports up to four players, Darkwater is probably at its most engaging with two players. Each player can control two heroes, which means less sitting around and waiting for the next round to start.

Darkwater offers a variety of different missions, with a variety of maps, enemies, and objectives to complete. (Darkwater features a book of maps, a big upgrade from the tiles of previous Warhammer Quest games.) A campaign consists of a mix of missions and events. Players create a deck of random events and then choose between two at the start of each session. Some events offer needed reprieves and a chance to regain health (as health carries over between campaign sessions). Others offer side quests or the chance to gain rewards like one use abilities that you can activate during battles. I love that Darkwater seems to have a lot of replayability. It’ll take multiple campaigns to get through all the missions, and even the boss fights have multiple options to choose from. This means that there’s lots of variation.

Of course, this is a Warhammer board game and that means that there are tons of miniatures to build. There’s over 45 minis in Warhammer Quest: Darkwater, which are the same high quality as your typical Warhammer: Age of Sigmar miniature. Luckily for novice builders, these minis are push fit miniatures. This means that you can technically complete them without any glue. Building this many miniatures may seem like a daunting task. But most of the miniatures consist of three or four pieces. To be honest, I had the help of someone brand new to miniatures. We were able to crank through the entire box in a matter of hours.

Games Workshop

Because they are push fit, some of the miniatures do have small gaps showing from where the pegs don’t quite push into holes smoothly. I cheated a couple of times by using plastic glue to stick together a couple of pieces, but you can also slice off a small of the peg to ensure a close fit.

My biggest complaint about Warhammer Quest is the lack of storage within the box. You’ll need to come up with your own organization options, because there’s precious little in terms of inserts within the box itself. Sure, there’s a few options for saving your campaign mode. However, there’s no bags for components, dividers and storage for cards, or even a place to put your lovingly-crafted minis. I suppose that other Warhammer games leave the storage up to the player. But it’s really disappointing that the board game doesn’t have better storage solutions.

Poor storage aside, Warhammer Quest: Darkwater is a fun board game experience with top-notch miniatures and a surprising amount of replayability. If you’re looking for a fantasy-themed campaign board game with top-notch miniatures or love Warhammer in general, this is a solid purchase. Plus, if you’re looking to jumpstart your Nurgle army, you can buy Warhammer Quest and then augment it with the upcoming Maggotkin of Nurgle line refresh that will likely be coming out in the next couple of months

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I Got JUMP SCARED By My Alarm Clock Sound on STRANGER THINGS 5

This is a funny piece about Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, jump scaring me with my alarm clock sound, but it also somewhat contains spoilers. So if you don’t want that, check out our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 instead.

Yes, the time is currently approaching 3 am where I currently reside, and I’m coming to what I hope is a gentle close to my Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 watch. It’s all going well, we’re in the homestretch, and no major characters have died yet. I’m in my Hellfire Club t-shirt and eating my Stranger Things Doritos, just like they did on the show this season, having a good time, and BAM!!! There it is, MY ALARM CLOCK SOUND BLARING AT FULL FORCE throughout the WHOLE last part of Hopper and Eleven’s journey on Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. I expected to be jump-scared by Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 this evening, but the use of my alarm clock sound for such a prolonged period is both cruel and unusual. It’s setting my anxiety racing in a way that neither Jamie Campbell Bower appearing in his Henry Creel form and still being unattractive nor Steve and Dustin fighting throughout four episodes have managed to induce. Please, Stranger Things 5, I beg you, never use this alarm clock sound again. I want to be able to rewatch these scenes.

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Do you empathize with me, my fellow iPhone alarm clock users? If you, like me, enjoy being scared awake every morning by the “Classic” alarm sound, simply known as “Alarm” in the iPhone menu, then I’m sure you do understand my plight as you watch Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 episode four, “Sorcerer.” Listen, “Alarm” is terrifying, but it gets the job done. Stranger Things 5‘s Dr. Kay, played by Linda Hamilton, seems to agree at any rate because she’s set the alarm tone of her military compound found inside of literal Hell, the Upside Down, to the same frequency.

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So, to help you, all my fellow people who are currently twitching because they feel like they have overslept and missed some important meeting, here are the time codes when Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, episode 4 uses the “Alarm” alarm clock sound.

This punishment, which I suspect was devised by Vecna himself, begins at approximately the 48-minute mark and continues for about 18 seconds. It returns at about 53 minutes in and lasts for nearly five minutes. And back again at 57 minutes in, sounding on and off for the duration of Eleven, Dr. Kay, and Hopper’s scene. And then the alarm clock sound is back BIG TIME around the one-hour mark of Stranger Things 5, episode 4. BIG TIME. Then I think I’m finally safe again, but no, the alarm clock sound sounds for one last hurrah at the 1:09 mark. There’s under 20 minutes left in the episode, and it is STILL going, but incredibly, it fades after a few seconds.

The TL;DR is, every time Hopper and Eleven are on the screen after the 48-minute mark on Stranger Things 5, episode four, you will hear this alarm clock noise. SO PREPARE.

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Blessedly, we are through that war now, one scarier thanfacing Vecna and his horde of Demodogs, scarier even than only having Stonathan to ship. I’m not sure what I did to the Duffer Brothers to deserve this; maybe I asked for Eddie Munson to return to life one too many times. But I am marked UNSAFE from Stranger Things 5 jump scaring me with my alarm clock sound. Please, never again!

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Rotem Rusak is Nerdist’s Editor-in-Chief. She recently rewatched all of Stranger Things in 72 hours and is still not over Eddie Munson’s death. If Steve Harrington dies in Stranger Things 5, she will cry.

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What Happens to Max in STRANGER THINGS 5, VOLUME 1?

This post contains major spoilers for Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 and Max’s fate in it. If you don’t want to see them before you running up that hill, go watch and then come back down. (Instead, you can read our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5 right now.)

Max Mayfield died in Stranger Things 4‘s finale, but Eleven brought her back. Or at least she brought her body back to life. The season ended with Max in a coma. Now, thanks to Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, we know why Max has been unable to wake up—she’s trapped, outside of time, inside Vecna’s memory prison. And although her one attempt to escape didn’t work, Max does have a plan to get both her and Holly Wheeler out Vecna’s mind in Stranger Things 5.

Where Is Max During Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?Netflix

Max’s physical body is in the real world in a coma. Meanwhile, her mind is in Matrix-like dimension created by Vecna. It consists of his past memories. This is also where Vecna, as Mr. Whatsit, brought Holly Wheeler. Like Max, her physical body is elsewhere. In Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Holly is physically attached, via a vine, to the inside of the Upside Down’s flesh wall while her mind is inside Henry’s memories.

Max tricked Holly into going into the very woods Holly promised Henry she would avoid. There, Max convinced Holly to trust her and explained what is going on.

What Happened to Max After She Died in Stranger Things 4‘s Finale?Netflix

Vecna killed Max in Stranger Things 4‘s last episode. Her death was the fourth murder (killing humans gives him power) he needed to commit to open the massive rift that appeared between the Upside Down and Hawkins. In Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Max explained everything that happened after she died.

Max said Vecna’s curse “never goes away” and “never leaves you.” Once Vecna cursed her, Max was bound to him and his realm. Since her death, her mind has remained inside what she calls “Henry’s prison.” It’s a place made up of his memories. Max said the cave she’s been hiding in is a “memory” that exists“ inside a world of a thousand memories.”

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Are There Any Major Character Deaths in STRANGER THINGS 5, Volume 1?

She didn’t start off in that cave, though, and Stranger Things 5 reveals to us, through a series of flashbacks, how Max ended up there and why it’s safe from Vecna.

What Has Max Been Doing in Stranger Things 5 Since Her Stranger Things 4 Death?Netflix

The time between Max’s death and resurrection is nebulous in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, almost as if time itself doesn’t quite exist in the Upside Down. She doesn’t even know Eleven used her powers to bring her back to life. All she knows is something called her back. When she woke up, she was in the Rainbow Room at Brenner’s lab, the night Vecna/Henry/One killed all the children.

From there, Max walked down a hallway and entered a different one of Vecna’s memory. She found herself as an observer at high school in 1959. There she saw teenage Joyce Byers handing out flyers for the school’s production of Oklahoma. It was going to take place on November 6. That’s the same day Vecna took Will decades later. That anniversary is just days away during Stranger Things 5.

The play was also set to star people—either directly or via their kids—who have been major players in Hawkins’ war with the Upside Down. It was going to feature James Hopper Jr, Karen Childress (the Wheeler mom), Patty Newby (Bob Newby’s sister), Alan Munson (Eddie’s father), and Ted Wheeler. It was also going to introduce Henry Creel.

Netflix

From that moment, Max tried to escape by moving from memory to memory. She eventually got lost and and ended up right back at the beginning, back in the Rainbow Room. That’s when she heard Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” It was Max’s way out, a scene we actually saw earlier from a different perspective on Stranger Things 5.

Why Couldn’t Max Escape the Upside Down and Wake From Her Coma in Stranger Things 5?Netflix

Max followed the music, like before the song offered a way out of the darkness. She broke through the Rainbow Room and saw herself. It was Vecna’s first memory of her, when he cursed her while she sat in class. She then continued towards the music as it led her through other terrible memories of the horrible things Vecna did to her in Stranger Things 5. She said it felt like those memories would never end, but she eventually climbed back to Vecna’s lair in the Upside Down, the place she initially used to escape from the Upside Down in season four.

There she could hear Kate Bush’s song, and as she followed the sound, she saw a portal to the real world. It showed her inside a hospital room where Lucas was holding her hand. She could feel his touch. We had seen this scene of Max and Lucas earlier in Stranger Things 5, Volume One. It ended with Max’s heart monitor spiking. That happened because on the other side, she had started to run to the portal. Then the tape ran out. When the song ended, the portal closed, denying her the first chance she’d had to escape the memory prison.

Netflix

That’s when Henry/Vecna/One, in his white laboratory clothes, arrived. Max ran back into the memory prison as Vecna chased her. She eventually ran through the woods (the same woods Henry had made Holly promise she would never enter). When Max came to a rock wall, she ran inside, but Henry wouldn’t enter.

In Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Max found the one memory that scares Vecna and thus the only place she is safe from him.

Why Won’t Vecna Enter the Cave From His Own Memory?Netflix

Henry froze at the cave entrance. “He was scared,” Max said. “More than scared, he was terrified. There’s something about this cave. This memory. He won’t come in. In here, I’m safe.” Since that day, she has remained hidden inside the cave and that’s where she been during Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.

We think we know exactly why Henry won’t go in based on the Stranger Things stage play The First Shadow. (You can read all about here in our breakdown of what happened to a young Henry Creel in a Nevada cave and how that was where his dark journey began.) But Max doesn’t want to hide in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, she wants to go home. And she has a plan to do exactly that.

Max didn’t share specifics. We just know it will rely on Holly returning to the Creel house and pretending she never left, let alone met Max. Holly, and her newfound bravery instilled in her by her loving brother, is ready and willing to do whatever it takes.

Netflix

Vecna doesn’t know what happens inside his memory prison when he’s not there. He needs to be inside that realm himself to see and witness what Max or Holly are doing. Once he leaves this Matrix-like world of his own creation, he’s ignorant of what occurs there. That gives Max and Holly a chance in Stranger Things 5. Vecna is vulnerable to schemes planned and executed from his memory prison while he’s back in the Upside Down or Hawkins.

The girls’ friends and family need them to be successful. Vecna has big plans for Holly and the other 11 kids he took. Getting even just Holly out of there could stop him. Plus, as Lucas told a comatose Max, they will need their entire group if they have any hope of defeating Vecna. Until she wakes up and reconnects her mind and her body, they won’t be whole. But there’s reason to feel optimistic about Max’s plan working in Stranger Things 5. Holly made a hopeful comparison between this memory realm and her favorite book.

Why Does Holly Compare the Memory Prison and Henry to A Wrinkle In Time? What Does it Mean for Max and Holly? Netflix

Henry took his name Mr. Whatsit from Holly’s favorite book as a way to hide his true intentions. Mrs. Whatsit is a supernatural being of good who fights for the light.

Now that she knows the truth, though, Holly thinks of Henry as a different character from the story. She compared the Stranger Things 5 memory prison where she and Max are trapped to the soulless, sinister planet Camazotz from A Winkle in Time. She also said Max is like the missing Dad in the book and Henry is the evil IT.

Netflix

IT is a floating brain with incredible telekinetic powers that rules over Camazotz. IT is also under the influence of the dark entity that threatens light in the universe, the evil Black Thing.

In the end, Meg saves her dad, her friend, her brother, and herself. Hopefully, Holly and Max can help do the same on Stranger Things 5.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He’d escape the Upside Down if he heard Weezer’s “In the Garage Playing.” You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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STRANGER THINGS 5, Volume 1, Ending Explained

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is here, and it’s bringing us a massive ending that includes a new character with powers. If that’s a spoiler you’re interested in hearing more about, turn on your heel like Eddie Munson and head to our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.Table of ContentsJump To:Will Unlocks Upside Down Powers of His Own During Stranger Things 5 , Volume 1’s Ending SequenceHow Did Will Get Powers Like Eleven in Stranger Things 5 , Volume 1’s Ending?We Learn From the Stranger Things Play That Characters Who Visit Dimension X and Are Flayed Physically Change, Giving Them PowersVecna Gives Will Powers in Stranger Things , the Way the Mind Flayer Gave Them to HimWill’s Powers Came to Him in a Different Way than Eleven’s, But The Source of Them Is the SameDo All of Vecna’s Taken Children, Including Holly, Have Powers?Will’s Eleven-Like Nosebleed Is Bitchin and We Love the Ending of Stranger Things 5 , Volume 1

Will Unlocks Upside Down Powers of His Own During Stranger Things 5, Volume 1’s Ending Sequence

We kind of felt like this might happen. But in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Will Byers unlocks Elven-like powers of his own right when he needs them the most. But, in a twist of fate, Will’s powers don’t have to do with being one of the children taken to Hawkins Lab like Elven, Eight/Kali, and the rest. Instead, his connection is less to do with Eleven and more to do with Vecna, although Vecna, and by proxy the Mind Flayer, gave both of them their powers. But, more on that in a minute.

Netflix

Will Byers’ connection to the Upside Down Hive Mind and Vecna increased in strength all throughout Stranger Things 5—but so did Will’s belief in himself. And the two forces came to a head in the last minutes of Stranger Things 5, volume 1, unlocking Will’s Upside Down powers once and for all. In Stranger Things 5, episode 4, Vecna himself finally appears, unleashing a massive attack on the military base in Hawkins, the MAC-Z, where Will, Joyce, Lucas, and Robin have all found themselves. Vecna confronts Will directly, telling him he’s weak, broken, and the perfect vessel to control for his aims to take over the world. Will then sees, through his connection to the Hive Mind, that all around him, Demogorgons are ready to attack Robin, Lucas, and Mike.

But instead of giving in and listening to Vecna’s words, he summons up Robin’s earlier speech to him instead and thinks, not on angry and sad memories, as Eleven and Vecna have always done, but on emotional, beautiful moments of connection and friendship. As Will leans into the best parts of himself during in the ending sequence of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, he manifests powers like Eleven and Vecna.

How Did Will Get Powers Like Eleven in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1’s Ending?Netflix

But, of course, simply thinking positive thoughts in a moment of duress is not enough to have given Will Byers powers on Stranger Things 5, Volume 1’s Ending. No, Vecna actually gave Will those powers himself, by flaying him in the very first season of Stranger Things.

We Learn From the Stranger Things Play That Characters Who Visit Dimension X and Are Flayed Physically Change, Giving Them Powers

We know from the Stranger Things play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, that when people visit Dimension X, their bodies can physically change in a way that gives them access to powers they did not previously have. Dimension X is the “pure dimension” where the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons hail from, which is somehow related to but different than the Upside Down. In Stranger Things: The First Shadow, we learn that Henry Creel briefly went into Dimension X when he was a child playing in a cave in Nevada and was flayed by the Mind Flayer. And this information from the play is reinforced in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. Because of this trip, as the play tells us, Henry/Vecna’s blood changes in a way that gives him great power.

Vecna Gives Will Powers in Stranger Things, the Way the Mind Flayer Gave Them to Him

Ultimately, Vecna gives Will the powers that manifest during the ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, in the same way that the Mind Flayer gave Vecna’s powers to him. In the first five minutes of Stranger Thing 5, Volume 1, we see a flashback to Will’s time in the Upside Down during Stranger Things season one. During this flashback, we see that Vecna connects Will to the Upside Down and the Hive Mind, essentially flaying him. In this way, he physically changes the makeup of Will’s body and blood, giving Will the ability to manifest the powers that come from this physical change. When a young Henry Creel was sent to Dimension X from his Nevada cave and the Mind Flayer physically entered him, the same thing happened to him.

Will’s Powers Came to Him in a Different Way than Eleven’s, But The Source of Them Is the Same

The ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 finally brings Will to a place where he can unlock these powers. And while Will received his powers differently from Eleven, their powers are the same and come from the same place. In Stranger Things, we learn that Dr. Brenner and the government were performing MKU Ultra experiments on Eleven’s mother and that’s how she recieved her powers. But the Stranger Things play, The First Shadow, illuminates more specifically what these experiments entailed.

Dr. Brenner tells Henry/Vecna at the end of the Stranger Things play, “We’ve had 10 children survive the transfusion so far. All of them special. And none of it would have been possible without you. Without your blood. You’re as much a father to this family as I am, Henry.” That’s what happened with Eleven: Brenner tranfused Vecna’s blood into her/her mother, physically changing her so she would be able to have powers. Meanwhile, the middleman was skipped in Will’s case, and his powers came directly from Vecna flaying him and physically changing him in that way.

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But, of course, Vecna, Will, and Eleven all have the same source of power, the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer flayed Vecna, and it’s those particles inside of Vecna and his blood and the Upside down that give all three of them their powers. What does that mean for the future of Stranger Things? Nothing good. But we’ll have to wait and see the consequences exactly.

Do All of Vecna’s Taken Children, Including Holly, Have Powers?

Of course, Will unlocking his powers during the ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, opens the path for more children with powers than just Eleven and her brothers and sisters. By flaying Will, Vecna physically changed him so his body could manifest powers. But Vecna has now flayed five children, and intends to flay seven. Given that Vecna connects them to the Upside Down, his Hive Mind, and flesh wall with vines in their mouths, just like he did Will, Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 seems to imply in its ending that all these children can now manifest powers, at least physically, and that includes Holly Wheeler.

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In fact, Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 set this up in its very first episode when Mike Wheeler gives Holly her own Dungeons & Dragons figure, one he’s been waiting to give her. It’s “Holly the Heroic,” a cleric with divine powers who can “cast spells of protection to ward against evil spirits.” Even cooler, she can “cast a dimension door,” which can “teleport you to anywhere you visualize.” We smell powers for Holly Wheeler right around the corner on Stranger Things 5.

Will’s Eleven-Like Nosebleed Is Bitchin and We Love the Ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1

Will and Eleven always called themselves brother and sister, and now, it’s true in a whole new way, nosebleeds and all. The ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is a powerful moment for Will, and not just because he finally has powers, because he finally accepts himself for who he is—and what could be more powerful than that?

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Now that Will has powers and Eleven has powers and MAYBE Holly has powers, it could be a much fairer fight against Vecna. We don’t know what will come after the ending of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, but we do know, we’re happy to live in this moment for now. As Eleven would say, Bitchin!

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Rotem Rusak is Nerdist’s Editor-in-Chief. She recently rewatched all of Stranger Things in 72 hours and is still not over Eddie Munson’s death. If Steve Harrington dies in Stranger Things 5, she will cry.

The post STRANGER THINGS 5, Volume 1, Ending Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

All the NEW Vecna Reveals in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1

This post contains major spoilers for Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, and what new things it revealed to us about Vecna. If you want to avoid them, watch the episodes first and then return here faster than a demogorgon chasing a child and read our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5 instead.Netflix

In Stranger Things 4‘s finale, Vecna told Eleven and her friends that they had not won. He said their encounter was the beginning of the end and that they had already lost. We then saw what he meant. Even though they had stopped him that night, the temporary death of Max allowed him to open huge portals right through Hawkins, Indiana. Only, Vecna was nowhere to be found at the start of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. Some even questioned if he was still alive. They got their answer when he emerged in the MAC-Z.

Even before he did, though, we had discovered a lot more about him, his plans, his past, and his future. Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 might have held Vecna back until its final moments, but we got plenty of Henry Creel before that during four dense episodes full of new information, flashbacks, and lore about Henry/Vecna/One. And that’s why, despite everything we learned so far on Stranger Things, we might have more questions about Vecna than ever after Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.

If You’d Like to Jump Around Vecna’s Story in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, You Can Do So BelowWho Is Mr. Whatsit in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 , and What Does He Have to do with Vecna?What is Mr. Whatsit’s Connection to A Wrinkle in Time ?Where Did Vecna Physically Take Holly in the Upside Down?What Is the Upside Down’s Flesh Wall in Stranger Things 5 ?Where Did Mr. Whatsit/Vecna Leave Holly’s Mind in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?Why Is Max Locked Inside Vecna’s Memory Prison?Why Won’t Henry Enter Max’s Cave in Stranger Things 5 , Volume 1? What is Henry’s Worst Memory?What Did the Stranger Things Stage Play The First Shadow Reveal About Vecna?Is the Upside Down Different from Dimension X?How Did Will Byers See Through Vecna’s Eyes in Stranger Things 5 , Volume 1?Why Does Vecna Want Exactly 12 Kids on Stranger Things 5 ?Who Is Mr. Whatsit in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, and What Does He Have to do with Vecna?Netflix

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 revealed that Holly Wheeler—along with 11 other children in Hawkins between the ages 9-10—had been communicating with an imaginary friend. Only, he wasn’t actually imaginary. Henry Creel/Vecna was appearing to them (invisible to anyone else) in his human form, wearing dapper clothes from the 1950s. Henry was kind and genteel with the kids. He also warned them monsters were coming to Hawkins and he alone could keep them safe. The children, including Holly Wheeler, all believed and trusted him.

Any child who had read A Wrinkle in Time would have certainly trusted his name, but Henry Creel/Vecna was the total opposite of the character he borrowed that moniker from in Stranger Things 5.

What is Mr. Whatsit’s Connection to A Wrinkle in Time?Netflix

A Wrinkle in Time is a classic 1962 young adult sci-fi novel by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s a wonderful, creative story about a battle between good and evil taking place across the universe. In Stranger Things 5, Vecna/Henry Creel takes his name, Mr. Whatsit, from A Wrinkle in Time‘s benevolent character, Mrs. Whatsit.

In the novel, Mrs. Whatsit is a strange, older neighbor who is secretly one of three supernatural immortal beings. She, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which can traverse huge swaths of space-time and lead three kids on a journey to find the main character Meg’s missing dad. He’d been working on some incredible technology, a tesseract. During their journey, the kids learn about how a dark evil, called the Black Thing, is attacking the light of the universe. The kids eventually end up in Camazotz, a planet referenced during Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. It’s a creepy, soulless planet drained of any individuality and uniqueness. A disembodied brain with telepathic powers called IT rules the planet, though IT is under the control of the Black Thing. (Although Henry Creel/Vecna clearly wants to see himself as A Wrinkle in Time‘s Mrs./Mr. Whatsit, we know he’s really more of the IT of the situation on Stranger Things 5.)

The obvious connections to Stranger Things don’t end there. After leaving Camazotz, Meg returns to the planet to free her captured brother, who remains hypnotized by IT. She frees him with love, much like Max’s friends freed her from the Upside Down.

Where Did Vecna Physically Take Holly in the Upside Down? Netflix

After posing as Mr. Whatsit and gaining her trust in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Vecna sent a demogorgon to take Holly Wheeler into the Upside Down, just as he once did with Will Byers. The next night, he had his monsters take three more children he’d visited as Mr. Whatsit. (Those abductions triggered the military’s plan to put all Hawkins kids aged 9-10 in the MAC-Z.)

After the initial attack in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Vecna took Holly into his giant flesh wall of vines, giant organ-like bulbs, and other gross entities and attached her to a spire in the Upside Down. Dustin, using the power of algebra, figured out that Vecna’s flesh wall is a massive circle that runs around the Upside Down’s Hawkins. The center point of that circle/wall is Hawkins National Laboratory, where Eleven first made contact with a demogorgon, opening up a portal between worlds.

When Will saw through Vecna’s eyes during the barn attack, he saw all four kidnapped victims attached to (what appeared to be) the inside of the flesh wall in the Upside Down. That lines up with what we learned previously. Vecna took Holly Wheeler into the wall. Eleven even found her boot there on the outside. But Eleven and Hopper failed to get past or even inside Vecna’s flesh wall in the Upside Down.

What Is the Upside Down’s Flesh Wall in Stranger Things 5?Netflix

Vecna controls every part of the Upside Down because the hive mind is his mind. Now we might know how and why. It seems as though Vecna created the Upside Down as an independent realm separated from the dimension Eleven sent Henry Creel to years earlier in Stranger Things. (More on this to come.) If that’s the case, the flesh wall is likely the limits of the Upside Down’s domain. Does this Upside Down wall exist to keep the other dimension out? People and monsters inside? Both? We don’t know much about Vecna’s flesh wall just yet, even after watching Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, only that it’s impenetrable by anyone who isn’t Vecna or the creatures he controls. Additionally, we know that Vecna is dragging his kidnapped children into it and attaching them with spires to its flesh.

In addition, the internal part of the flesh wall is incredibly important to Vecna, that’s where he’s keeping Holly and the other children he intends to take on spires. Only Vecan and his demogorgons can enter it. And no one is supposed to see know or see it exists.

The military is not intimidated by the wall, though. One soldier not only peed on it without worry and Dr. Kay was seen dissecting one of its organ-like bulbs.

Where Did Mr. Whatsit/Vecna Leave Holly’s Mind in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?Netflix

Holly doesn’t know her body is physically attached to the inside of the Upside Down’s flesh wall. Her mind is in a world made from Henry Creel’s memories. A friendly Mr. Whatsit left a grateful, happy Holly there while he went off to continue executing his master plan. Holly is staying inside the beautiful Creel home as it looked in 1959 before the family’s massacre.

That seemingly idyllic realm is where she encounters Max, whose body remains in a coma in the real world.

Why Is Max Locked Inside Vecna’s Memory Prison?Netflix

Max told Holly they are inside a “memory” which exists “inside a world of a thousand memories.” But while Holly thought she was living in a beautiful home, Max said this entire place is ultimately a prison. “Henry’s prison.” Holly Wheeler and Max’s consciousnesses have ended up in a prison of Vecna’s memories in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, while Holly’s body is physically in Vecna’s flesh wall, and Max’s body is physically in the real world.

Later, Max explains exactly how she ended up there. She says Vecna’s Curse “never goes away” and “never leaves you.” Also, with each victim he took, Vecna opened another gate. When Max briefly died that opened the fourth and final gate, the one that split Hawkins apart.

Max says she should still be dead. (She does not appear to know Eleven brought her back.) Everything that happened after she died and came back took place in a nebulous time period, almost as though time itself doesn’t really exist inside the Upside Down or Henry’s memory prison. “I don’t know how long I was gone,” Max says, but she felt something call her. When she did, she woke up in Brenner’s lab in the Rainbow room with all the dead kids Vecna killed that fateful night.

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She then walked down a hallway and opened a door into an older memory of Vecna’s. She found herself, merely as an observer, in a high school in 1959. There, teenage Joyce (voiced by Ryder) was handing out flyers for the school play, Oklahoma. It was set to take place on November 6, the very same day Vecna took Will decades later in the first season of Stranger Things.

That play was set to star James Hopper Jr., Karen Childress (the Wheeler mom), Patty Newby (Bob Newby’s sister), Alan Munson (Eddie’s dad), Ted Wheeler, and Henry Creel.

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Max tried to escape Vecna’s memory prison, moving from memory to memory. But she got lost and turned around, eventually ending up right back at the beginning. But that’s when she heard Kate Bush. She followed the music—which she pointed out to Holly can pull you from the darkness—by punching a hole in the rainbow room. That took her back into Vecna’s realm, the same place she escaped from in Stranger Things 5, a place Max thought she was never supposed to see. (Yes, Will echoed similar sentiments this season.)

She could then see into a portal. It was a scene from earlier in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, when Lucas was by her hospital bedside. That moment ended with Max’s heart monitor spiking.

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Max began moving to the portal back to return to the real world when the cassette tape stopped. The portal then closed. That’s when Vecna appeared. Max fled back into the memory prison as One in his orderly whites chased her. But Vecna/Henry/One stopped when Max went into the rock wall in the same woods Mr. Whatsit had warned Holly to never enter earlier in Stranger Things 5.

Why Won’t Henry Enter Max’s Cave in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1? What is Henry’s Worst Memory? Netflix

Vecna/Henry/One would not follow Max into the rock wall where she has been living. Max told Holly what happened when Vecna arrived at the entrance to her cave in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. “He was scared. More than scared, he was terrified. There’s something about this cave. This memory. He won’t come in. In here, I’m safe.”

This is Henry’s worst memory, a past moment so terrible it had Vecna himself on the verge of tears. And even though Stranger Things 5 didn’t tease why this specific memory is so bad for Vecna, we might already know from the Stranger Things stage play.

What Did the Stranger Things Stage Play The First Shadow Reveal About Vecna?Netflix

The (supposedly canonical) Stranger Things: The First Shadow stage play, based on a story from the Duffer Brothers, revealed more about Henry Creel’s past. It also showed how Dr. Martin Brenner used Henry’s interdimensional blood to create powerful kids like Eleven.

In 1943, the United States accidentally sent a warship to a parallel world it called Dimension X. Only Brenner’s father survived the monsters the crew met there, but he returned with a new, unique type of blood. Years later, Dr. Martin Brenner set up the “Nevada Experiment” to try to learn how to return to Dimension X. A Soviet spy in his lab then stole the technology and escaped to a nearby cave. No one ever saw him again, but at some point, a local boy exploring the caves with his spyglass found the powerful technology and disappeared into Dimension X for 12 hours. There, the child encountered a shadowy figure. Like Brenner’s father, the boy came back with a new blood type. He also came back with a darker personality.

Brenner eventually found the child thanks to a spyglass he’d left behind in the cave. It was a spyglass like the one Holly used in Stranger Things 5, given to her by Vecna. And that was no coincidence. The boy who vanished from the Nevada cave for 12 hours into another dimension was Henry Creel, destined to become Vecna.

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Henry’s scared mother let the unscrupulous doctor study his son. That’s when Henry learned how to enter the Void, same as Eleven would one day do.

At first, the troubled Henry pushed back, though not always successfully, against the shadowy power manipulating him to perform evil acts. The evil force manipulating him was the Mind Flayer. Henry’s relationship with Patty Newby temporarily helped him from giving in to the Mind Flyer’s commands, but he did not fight back the night he killed his mother and sister.

The Mind Flayer wasn’t the only one pushing Henry towards darkness in Stranger Things. Brenner wanted Henry to kill people so his power would grow. He also took Henry’s blood and injected it into pregnant women to create more children like him. Eleven got her powers from Henry’s blood (just as Will partially got his power from being physically connected to the Upside Down and Vecna).

The stage play also revealed that Henry and his drama club (full of people directly connected to the events Hawkins in the ’80s) never actually put on Oklahoma. They instead put on The Dark of the Moon. But whatever did or did not go wrong with that play, it seems clear Vecna’s worst memory in Stranger Things 5, the one that scares him, took place in that Nevada cave introduced in the Stranger Things play, The First Shadow. His worst memory was the day he went to Dimension X and the Mind Flayer entered his mind. That memory is so painful and scary to Vecna, Max has been able to hide in there in Stranger Things 5.

Is the Upside Down Different from Dimension X?Netflix

Dimension X, where young Henry traveled to after finding Brenner’s powerful stolen tech in a Nevada cave, does not appear to be the same place as the Upside Down in Stranger Things‘ world. It also seems possible that Eleven sent One back to Dimension X years later. (Why wouldn’t Henry remember his first trip to Dimension X from the Nevada cave? Brenner could make his kids forget past traumatic events. Eleven forgot about the massacre at the Rainbow Room for years.)

The world Eleven Sent One to featured the same kind of monsters as the Upside Down and was untouched by humans. But it had a yellow sky and no red lightning. The Upside Down is seemingly Henry’s creation, a world possibly made from Dimension X yet independent of it.

Matthew Murphy/Evan Zimmerman/Netflix

That would explain the need for the big circular flesh wall in the Upside Down, why Vecna controls everything inside it, and why it’s a mirror dimension of Hawkins specifically. It would also explain why he needed to create it. The Mind Flyer of Dimension X controlled Henry Creel. When he returned there years later, he seemingly took it over with his newfound powers. That’s what we saw in Vecna/Henry/One’s flashback during Stranger Things 4.

Only, it’s possible Henry has never been in control. He might always have been a puppet of the Mind Flyer since the day he left that cave. Holly compared the memory prison to Camazotz and Henry to IT, the leader of the dark planet. But while, like Vecna, IT was a powerful floating brain with telekinetic powers in A Wrinkle in Tim , IT was still under the control of the Black Thing, an entity of pure darkness. Henry was just a normal kid until he met the original Mind Flyer, the one event in his past that still scares him. It feels like Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, with the help of the Stranger Things play, is hinting that it is the Mind Flayer who is the true evil, controlling Vecna to some extent, or at least superceding him in darkenss.

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Before anyone can find out if there really is an even more powerful darkness controlling Vecna, they have to deal with Henry Creel, though. Fortunately, Vecna’s own arrogance could be his undoing in Stranger Things 5. Instead of building an army to help him reshape the world, he might be building an army to defeat him.

How Did Will Byers See Through Vecna’s Eyes in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?

The season opened with a flashback to when Vecna created a psychic connection between Will and the Upside Down by putting a vine down Will’s throat. Vecna controls everything in the Upside Down as a hive mind, and Will has been part of that since that scene. We first learned that during the first season’s final moments.

During Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Will’s connection to the Hive Mind and Vecna grew stronger and more intense. He was tapping into the hive mind, and with it into Vecna’s own mind. When his brain signal was at its strongest, Will could see through the eyes of demorgorons, same as Vecna, who was controlling them. He could also see through Vecna’s eyes when Vecna was rooting around in the minds of Holly and other kids.

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Vecna never expected Will to use that connection to access his own powers in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. That arrogance could come back to hurt him if his newest victims realize what Will did in Volume 1’s last scene, that they, too, have powers given to them by Vecna, formed by their physical connection to him and the Upside down, especially since there will be so many more of them now.

Why Does Vecna Want Exactly 12 Kids on Stranger Things 5?Netflix

Will saw something he believes Vecna didn’t want him to see at the end of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. It was a vision with the Boy Scout logo at the center. It then expanded out into twelve segments or spires, each destined to have a kid attached to it. Will’s painting looked like the flesh wall flattened out. As we mentioned, this flesh wall seems incredibly important to Vecna, and he is trying to keep it inaccessible to anyone else.

Vecna’s wall is round and centered around the first opening to the Upside Down in Stranger Things 5. Vecna is also obsessed with time and clocks, which have 12 numbers on them. Coincidence? Like Lucas, we don’t believe in those anymore. Not when it comes to Vecna, the Upside Down, and Hawkins.

What exactly could he have planned for these 12 kids? How does he plan to use them to reshape the world? Well, we have to find out when Stranger Things 5, Volumes 2 and 3 premiere.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He’d escape the Upside Down if he heard Weezer’s “In the Garage Playing.” You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike.. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post All the NEW Vecna Reveals in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 appeared first on Nerdist.

STRANGER THINGS 5’s Big Cameo….Sure Was a Choice!

And that choice WAS NOT Eddie Munson. Come on, guys! It could have been Eddie Munson. Instead, Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 brought back quite possibly the LEAST requested character of all. Throughout Volume 1, Stranger Things 5 teased a major revelation, hinting that Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay was keeping someone or something behind a locked vault door. And that character COULD have been Eddie Munson. Instead, what we got was pure Stranger Things shenanigans. So, who was behind Dr. Kay’s locked vault door? In the end, Stranger Things 5, volume 1’s big cameo, its promised super-powerful surprise character, was none other than Elven’s “sister” Kali Prasad, also known as Eight. And it turns out Kali/Eight was introduced in what is widely considered to be Stranger Things‘ worst episode.

Jump To:Who Is Kali Prasad/Eight in Stranger Things ?Bitchin’Kali/Eight Is the Person in Dr. Kay’s Mysterious VaultKali/Eight’s Stranger Things 5 Cameo, ExplainedDoctor Kay Studied to Create Eleven’s Kryptonite in Stranger Things 5 , But What Else Did She Learn?Who Plays Kali/Eight on Stranger Things ?What Was the Point of Bringing Kali/Eight Back for a Cameo in Stranger Things 5 ?Who Is Kali Prasad/Eight in Stranger Things?

It’s been a very long time since we saw Kali/Eight on Stranger Things, yet, somehow, here she is again in Stranger Things 5.

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Kali first appeared in Stranger Things 2, episode seven, “The Lost Sister,” presumably to shed some light on Eleven’s past and powers. Like Eleven, Kali was taken by Doctor Brenner at a very young age and kept at Hawkins Lab in Indiana. She was one of the several other children with abilities, whose mother had presumably been part of the MKUltra experiments where Brenner infused women with Henry Creel/Vecna/One’s Flayed blood in order to induce powers and abilities in them. Eight was also seen in one of the Stranger Things‘ most replayed flashbacks, playing with Eleven as her birth mother tries to break into the lab and reach out to her.

Eventually, Eight and Eleven were separated, and Kali used her abilities to run away. When Eleven met Eight/Kali years later on Stranger Things 2, she had formed something of a gang of misfits. She used her powers not only to help her friends but to take revenge on those who wronged her in the Hawkins lab.

Kali/Eight taught Eleven how to use her emotions and rage to tap into her powers on Stranger Things. She also tried to push for them to remain together as sisters and help one another heal. But Eleven was not as disillusioned with the world as Kali/Eight and did not approve of the overly violent tactics she used. So she left Kali behind to go save her friends, including Mike Wheeler and Hopper, in Hawkins. But she did draw on Kali/Eight’s advice in order to ultimately close the Upside Down gate, season’s two big issue. Eleven did that by recalling the loss of her mother and other traumas.

Bitchin’

Notably, Kali taught Eleven the term “Bitchin,” which Eleven loves to use at every available opportunity on Stranger Things. Her sister also gave her a punk rock makeover. It’s too soon to tell if the two will say “Bitchin” a lot to one another in Stranger Things 5, but we’d bet some money on it.

Kali/Eight Is the Person in Dr. Kay’s Mysterious Vault

But how does Kali/Eight come to cameo in Stranger Things 5? The government brought Dr. Kay, a fearsome military scientist, into Hawkins to study the Upside Down and help find a way to bring it down. As usual, the government does not do things gently. Dr. Kay is convinced that Eleven is, in some way, the key to the Upside Down madness, though she doesn’t know whether she is there to help or harm. Through most of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Dr. Kay tries to hunt Eleven down. And it’s revealed in episode three of Stranger Things 5 that the military has a sonic blast they can fire that completely neutralizes Eleven. Eleven calls it her kryptonite.

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After being exposed to this weapon, Hopper and Eleven are eventually able to take down and interrogate one of Dr. Kay’s soldiers while in the Upside Down. They want to understand more about the situation, including what Dr. Kay is up to, what the military knows, and any information about Vecna. Eleven enters the soldier Akers’s mind and sees Dr. Kay pass through a secure door at her facility. At the end of the hallway is a vault door. Akers says he doesn’t know what’s behind there, but Eleven knows he doesn’t want her to see the “secret shit” inside. Akers is in agony but swears he doesn’t know what is in the vault. Eleven uses her powers to tear the door off, and Akers passes out. All Eleven ultimately understands is that someone powerful like her is behind the door.

At the time, Eleven and Hopper believe this person is how Kay learned Eleven’s Kryptonite. Eleven thinks it must be Vecna, though a skeptical Hopper says that doesn’t make sense after the vanishing of Holly Wheeler. Of course, the person behind Dr. Kay’s vault door in Stranger Things 5 is not really Vecna, but Kali/Eight. Here’s what happens.

Kali/Eight’s Stranger Things 5 Cameo, ExplainedNetflix

Desperate to destroy Vecna, Hopper and Eleven fight their way to the vault. But at the last minute, Hopper prevents Eleven from entering into it with him. He intends to blow himself and Vecna up to guarantee Eleven’s safety, but no explosion comes.

Instead, Hopper emerges once more and beckons Eleven into the room. And YES, there inside the vault in the secret room, the big Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 revelation and cameo arrive: it’s Eleven’s sister Eight/Kali.

Netflix

Eight/Kali is hooked up to all sorts of medical equipment, and her hair is shaved as Eleven’s used to be on Stranger Things. But all we really get here is the reveal of the character and a brief exchange of the word “sister” between the pair, because that’s the last we see of Hopper, Eleven, and Eight/Kali in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.

Doctor Kay Studied to Create Eleven’s Kryptonite in Stranger Things 5, But What Else Did She Learn?Netflix

But what ultimately is the purpose of Kali/Eight’s Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 cameo? Well, we learn that the military and Dr. Kay have been studying Kali/Eight to develop weapons that work against those with powers. As more people might end up with powers sooner rather than later (looking at you Holly Wheeler!) this could be an issue for our heroes soon. HOWEVER, if these weapons are also Kryptonite to Vecna, who shares a power source with Eleven and Eight, they could be a part of taking him down.

We don’t yet know what else Dr. Kay learned from studying Kali/Eight, but we feel it’s probably not good news if she did gain any other knowledge.

Who Plays Kali/Eight on Stranger Things?

Kali/Eight is played by Linnea Berthelsen on Stranger Things 2. Linnea Berthelsen returned to play Kali/Eight in her Stranger Things 5 cameo.

NetflixWhat Was the Point of Bringing Kali/Eight Back for a Cameo in Stranger Things 5?

Unanimously, fans did not enjoy the episode in which Eleven went off with Kali in Stranger Things 2. But we suppose now that Vecna appears to have given Will powers, and now that Vecna’s origin/backstory has come into sharp focus in Stranger Things 5, the story of all the number children with powers will play a major role in the narrative going forward. We guess that story does need wrapping up of some kind. Will Eight/Kali feel kinship to Vecna? (She did get her powers from his unique blood…but then so did Eleven and Will.) Or will she fight against him? Will she then become Hopper’s second adopted child? We’ll have to wait for more Stranger Things 5 to release to know for sure.

But, we have to say, we’d still rather have Eddie return.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Rotem Rusak is Nerdist’s Editor-in-Chief. She recently rewatched all of Stranger Things in 72 hours and is still not over Eddie Munson’s death. If Steve Harrington dies in Stranger Things 5, she will cry.

The post STRANGER THINGS 5’s Big Cameo….Sure Was a Choice! appeared first on Nerdist.

Who Is Linda Hamilton’s Character, Dr. Kay, on STRANGER THINGS 5?

It was exciting news when Linda Hamilton, also known as Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies, came aboard Stranger Things 5. After all, just because it’s the show’s final season doesn’t mean there can’t be some awesome new characters in the mix. And that’s exactly the way we feel about Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay after Stranger Things 5, Volume One. Before Stranger Things 5 aired its first episodes, all we knew about Dr. Kay was that she’s a “hyper-intelligent and intimidating” scientist who, if she needs to, can get into a fight and shoot a gun.” But now we know a lot more about this woman, what she’s after, and what surprises she has in store for our heroes. So just who is Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay on Stranger Things 5? Join us as we break it all down.

Jump To:Who Is Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay on Stranger Things 5 ?What Is Dr. Kay Doing in Hawkins?Dr. Kay Doesn’t Know or Care if Eleven is Good or BadDr. Kay Found Eleven’s ‘Kryptonite’—a Sonic Weapon She DevelopedDr. Kay’s Mysterious Vault Contains Someone PowerfulWho Does Dr. Kay Have Trapped in Her Stranger Things 5 Vault?Is Dr. Kay Still Alive at the End of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?What Will Linda Hamilton and Dr. Kay Return in Future Episodes of Stranger Things 5?Who Is Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay on Stranger Things 5?Netflix

In Stranger Things 5, Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay has come to Hawkins to ostensibly study the Upside Down, Eleven, and others like her. Although she is a scientist, she is also a feared and fearsome military commander. (A.K.A. she can shoot a gun.) We see Dr. Kay as a Machiavellian character on Stranger Things, she wants to save people and stop the Upside Down, she just doesnt care what it takes to do it. Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay isn’t necessarily evil on Stranger Things 5, though she isn’t a good person either. We’ll call her an antagonist.

For example, Dr. Kay was willing to endanger children in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, by bringing them into the Upside Down. When a subordinate called her out for being reckless, Kay merely challenged him to keep them safe.

What Is Dr. Kay Doing in Hawkins?

In Stranger Things 5, Dr. Kay leads the military compound that the government built inside the Upside Down. The military accesses this compound from the highly secure, off-limits MAC-Z. That’s where a gigantic, building-sized portal to the Upside Down remains open in Hawkins.

Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay is also doing her own personal research inside the Upside Down base. Her work includes studying monsters, like the tentacled creature she keeps caged right in the main laboratory. Dr. Kay also made her first appearance on Stranger Things 5, volume 1, while dissecting a giant, bulbous, pulsating, spleen-like organ, which we later learned came from the Upside Down’s flesh wall.

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One of Dr. Kay’s chief missions is finding Eleven, whom she believes she “needs.” Dr. Kay thinks locating Eleven is vital because “people are dying, innocent people.” (And presumably, she would also like to study Eleven for her own purposes.)

Dr. Kay Doesn’t Know or Care if Eleven is Good or Bad

Dr. Kay thinks Eleven took the four missing kids in Hawkins (who Vecna actually took) in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. Kay didn’t know or care if Eleven was trying to kill or protect those children, showing she has no idea who Eleven really is and how she’s involved with the Upside Down.

Dr. Kay Found Eleven’s ‘Kryptonite’—a Sonic Weapon She Developed

In Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Eleven tries to rip open a path through Vecna’s giant flesh wall by using her powers in the Upside Down when the military shows up. The convoy arrives with a type of sonic blast speaker that completely neutralizes Eleven. Hopper calls the machine Eleven’s “Kryptonite.” Dr. Kay is behind the development of this sonic weapon on Stranger Things 5, clearly hoping it is enough to weaken Eleven and capture her.

The sonic blast all but paralyzes Eleven and causes her to cry out in pain. The moment Hopper knocks the speaker out, Eleven is fine, but she is not prepared for the smaller “Kryptonite” machine located inside the military command center inside the Upside Down.

Dr. Kay’s Mysterious Vault Contains Someone PowerfulNetflix

After their entanglement with Eleven’s Kryptonite, Hopper and Eleven kidnap the convoy’s unit leader, Akers. The special forces leader claims Dr. Kay “wants the freak,” and that’s all he knows. But Eleven is able to enter his memory and learn more about the lab Kay works in. She uses Akers’ mind to follow Dr. Kay through a secure door at the facility. At the end of the hallway, there is a vault door. Akers says he doesn’t know what’s behind there, but Eleven knows he doesn’t want her to see the “secret shit” locked away. Inside the memory, Eleven used her powers to tear the door off Dr. Kay’s vault. At that moment, Akers passed out.

Eleven shares with Hopper that she’s understood there’s “Kryptonite” behind Dr. Kay’s vault door. She says Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay is is keeping someone powerful like Eleven behind it, and that’s how she figured out how to neutralize Eleven with the sonic weapon. Eleven believes Dr. Kay has Vecna locked away in her vault, which is why Hopper wasn’t able to find Vecna during his crawls in Stranger Things 5 and Eleven couldn’t find him with her powers.

The two eventually break into the base, even though Hopper doesn’t think it makes sense that Vecna is in Dr. Kay’s Vault. He assumes the “Kryptonite” that stops Eleven would also stop Vecna. In that case, Vecna never could have taken Holly. But he is willing to go along with the idea and the pair set off to break into Dr. Kay’s compound and vault.

Who Does Dr. Kay Have Trapped in Her Stranger Things 5 Vault?

After a fight with Dr. Kay in her compound, Hopper steals her access key, locks Eleven outside the vault, and enters it, intending to blow himself and Vecna up to ensure Eleven’s safety. Vecna is not behind that door, though. At the same time that Vecna emerges from the MAC-Z’s portal into the real world in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, Hopper returns from inside the vault.

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In the next moment, we and Eleven get to see who is inside of it. The person Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay has captured, studied, and locked away in her vault is Eleven’s “sister” Eight/Kali, last seen in season two. We weren’t too thrilled with this surprise Stranger Things 5 cameo, but that’s neither here nor there.

Is Dr. Kay Still Alive at the End of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1?

So is Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay still alive at the end of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1? And will we see her return in Volume 2? Yes, is the answer to that. Dr. Kay is still alive at the end of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.

Before Hopper and Eleven are able to enter the vault, they have a big showdown with Dr. Kay and her soldiers. In the end, Hopper finds himself in the graps of one of the tentacled monster that Dr. Kay studies. Kay explains to him that the creature gets stronger with cold but can’t handle the heat, and she would only free him if she gave up everything he knew. This includes why he would risk Eleven’s life for “the other” powerful figure behind the door (Kali/Eight). Dr. Kay desperately wants to know what Hopper knows that she still doesn’t, but she never gets the chance to find out.

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A weakened Eleven emerges, distracts Kay and stabs her, buying enough time for Hopper to escape. He then knocks out Dr. Kay—without killing her. And that’s the last time we see Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay on Stranger Things 5, Volume 1.

What Will Linda Hamilton and Dr. Kay Return in Future Episodes of Stranger Things 5?

Given that Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay is still alive at the end of Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, we feel certain she will return for Stranger Things‘ final episodes— definitely for Volume 2. Whether she’ll make it out of Stranger Things 5, Volume 2 alive is a different question altogether.

When Dr. Kay awakens, though, will she be more amenable to working with Hopper and Eleven? We bet not. And we’re sure we’ll find out from Kali/Eight that Dr. Kay has not been very nice to her at all.

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But, ultimately, we’re glad that Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay will return for more Stranger Things 5 episodes. As we said, Dr. Kay is a Machiavellian figure on Stranger Things, someone who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil, a woman who will do anything, no matter how ruthless or dangerous, to keep the world safe. And that’s an interesting character to watch.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Rotem Rusak is Nerdist’s Editor-in-Chief. She recently rewatched all of Stranger Things in 72 hours and is still not over Eddie Munson’s death. If Steve Harrington dies in Stranger Things 5, she will cry.

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How STRANGER THINGS 5, Volume 1 Brings Will’s Story Full Circle

This post contains major spoilers for Stranger Things 5: Volume 1 and Will’s journey in it. So if you want to avoid them, make like Henry Creel and disappear into another dimension before coming back. (And read our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5 instead.)

Stranger Things‘ story began with “The Vanishing of Will Byers.” Now, after Stranger Things 5: Volume 1, we know why Vecna specifically targets children. He told Will that kids are “weak in body and mind” and are easily broken, reshaped, and controlled. The Upside Down’s ruler knew that when he took Will. But he only learned the depth of what’s possible when his first young victim broke so easily. Vecna explained why that happened with Will during their faceoff in Stranger Things 5. He said, “Some minds, it turns out, simply do not belong in the world.” Instead, they belong in his dark realm of pain and suffering.

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When Vecna told Will he was weak in their first Stranger Things 5‘s confrontation, we saw flashbacks to moments when Will felt tremendous anger, sadness, and loneliness. But Will isn’t weak. He never has been. And he realized that when his friends needed him most. During Stranger Things 5, Will’s connection to the hive mind grew stronger and more intense. He could see through the eyes of demogorgons. Will could even see through Vecna’s eyes when Vecna stalked the minds of his prey. By the time of the attack on the MAC-Z, Will had completely tapped into the hive. Then, as demogorgons raced at Will, Lucas, and Robin to rip them apart, Will heard a different voice and saw different memories inside his mind.

Throughout Stranger Things 5: Volume 1, Robin and Will bonded over their sexuality without either ever having to say they are gay, and they became one of our very favorite duos in the season. Will had seen Robin kissing her girlfriend at the hospital. When he finally asked her questions about how the two girls had found one another, Robin understood why. In episode four of Stranger Things 5, Robin stopped her friend as they traveled through the underground tunnels. She wanted to tell Will about her own journey out of the darkness that once consumed her.

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Are There Any Major Character Deaths in STRANGER THINGS 5, Volume 1?

Robin had convinced herself that if she could just be with the girl she adored, she “wouldn’t be scared anymore.” When she realized they’d never be together, Robin fell into “despair.” But one day, she found an old family film reel. It showed her as a carefree child who loved every part of herself. That’s when Robin understood something she hoped Will would recognize about himself in Stranger Things 5. It was always just about her.” An emotional Robin said, “I was looking for answers in somebody else, but I had all the answers. I just needed to stop being so goddamn scared. Scared of….who I really was. Once I did that, oh, I felt so free.. It’s like I could fly….”

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Will heard those words as the demogorgons sped at his friends. But unlike when Vecna mocked him, instead of seeing memories of pain and anguish, Will remembered himself as a child who was happy, loved, and content. He saw the day he became friends with Mike and playing together. He also saw his mother being proud and supportive of him, and his protective brother Jonathan building him that shed that meant so much to him. In that Stranger Things 5 moment, Will was not scared. Not of who he was or of Vecna. He was free of everything that had always held him back.

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Only, he didn’t fly like Robin. Will became the Sorcerer that Mike believed Will innately was, the same one who’d protected his mother from the demogorgon in the barn without realizing it.

Sorcerer Will tapped into Vecna’s full powers right then* in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. And in that moment, he rose as powerful as Henry Creel or Eleven. He then held the demogorgons frozen before breaking their bones and necks just as Vecna had killed his human targets. And with his friend safe, Will fell to the ground and wiped the blood now dripping from his nose, newly anointed a wielder of powers in Stranger Things 5.

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*That was possible because Will had more than just a strong psychic connection to the Hive Mind. Not just any kid can do that. When Vecna put a vine down Will’s throat inside the Upside Down, he changed Will’s blood. Eleven’s pregnant mother was also given Henry Creel’s unique blood, which Henry got when he traveled to a parallel dimension as a kid. (The Stranger Things stage play, The First Shadow, established that important lore and explained that Eleven and Will both have powers because of a physical connection to Vecna and his dark realm that changed their own biology.)

Did Vecna take Will by random chance and then learned why it was easier to target kids with traumatic pasts? Or did Vecna, who had been a troubled child himself, specifically target Will because he was a gay kid whose abusive father abandoned him over his perceived weaknesses? We still don’t know, but before he went back into the Upside Down with his new young victims, Vecna certainly believed Will was still the weak, easily broken, reshaped, and controlled child he’d always been. Instead, in Stranger Things 5 Will was realized just how strong he is. Because he was always enough. He just needed to realize that. Now that he has, Eleven isn’t the only powerful kid in Hawkins capable of taking on Vecna.

Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He’d escape the Upside Down if he heard Weezer’s “In the Garage Playing.” You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike.. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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