5 questions Netflix wants you to ask after watching Stranger Things season 5
Author: Chris Snelgrove Published
Netflix makes bold spin-off decision stranger thingsSeason five is divided into three parts, with the first four episodes airing earlier this week. Fans are quickly devouring the episodes like they’re a box of delicious Eggo waffles, with everyone counting down the days until the next three episodes are released on Christmas Day. Until then, however, fans are still faced with some serious pressing questions.
What problem are we talking about? Get on your bike and grab some tissues in case you get a nosebleed, because we’re going to delve into the biggest questions we still face after the premiere (beware of spoilers, everyone) stranger thingsSeason 5!
1. What on earth is the army doing?
in season five stranger thingsAfterwards, the Army quarantined the town of Hawkins and conducted strange experiments in the Upside Down. The experiments are led by Dr. Kay, a creepy scientist played by franchise newcomer Linda Hamilton. She has a lab in the Upside Down, and she’s learned enough to partially control some of its creatures, like when she strangled a hapless Hopper with the tentacles of one of the creepy creatures.
That being said, we don’t know what the purpose of her experiment was. Is she (in the fine tradition of films like Alien ) trying to find a way to weaponize the Upside Down on behalf of the government? It’s also unclear what she’s doing with Number Eight, Eleven’s “sister” who also has psychic abilities. At this point, since Eight can project mental hallucinations, we’re not entirely sure how much of what happened between Eleven and Hopper in the lab was real as opposed to some kind of psychic projection.
As for Linda Hamilton, we believe (to paraphrase one of her more famous co-stars) that “she’ll be back,” and we’ll get answers to some of those questions in the coming episodes.
2. What happened to that wall of flesh?
One of the most visually striking things stranger things Season 5’s Wall of Flesh feels like it’s straight out of a David Cronenberg movie. This organic wall surrounds the Upside Down Laboratory and Dr. Kay’s creepy laboratory. Speaking of the mad doctor, we see her experimenting on the wall, which is where she uses the creatures to attack Hopper.
But is this wall where Vecna holds the children he kidnapped? Is this the same wall we saw him stick Will against in the flashback sequence in the first episode? By the time Vecna shows up and kills one poor soldier after another, he’s already a ball of muscle, does this giant wall have anything to do with him?
So far, we have more questions than answers about the wall. What’s certain is that the answers to these questions hold the key to solving some of the show’s wildest mysteries.
3. Is Max dimension X?
Season 5 stranger things It is revealed that Max’s body is still in a coma, but Eleven managed to transfer her mind elsewhere. She appears to mentor young Holly Wheeler, herself one of the children kidnapped by Vecna for unknown reasons. While their interactions are fun, and the show clearly has Max playing an important role in defeating Vecna, we’re left with a more fundamental question: Where the hell is she?
She appears to be in Vecna’s memory, while Vecna himself was originally sent to Dimension X, where he first gained his weird powers. So, is Max in Dimension X, in the villain’s mind, or both? The answer to this question may have to do with whether she woke up “normally” in the real world, or whether she was forever changed by the psychological trauma she experienced.
4. What is the use of Will’s new abilities?
most popular moments stranger thingsseason five (at least so far) is the reveal of Will’s own Eleven psychic powers. At the end of episode four, all hope seems lost: most of the children have been kidnapped by Vecna, and his demon is about to devour our protagonists. Suddenly, however, Will’s eyes turned white and he channeled some of his newfound spiritual magic into killing the creatures, twisting their limbs in a way that would have made Vecna proud.
It’s a really great moment, but it raises some big questions. Does Will now have the same powers as Eleven (he even gave her her signature nosebleed), and if so, did Vecna give him those powers? So why would Vecna make his first victim super-powerful, unless he planned to weaponize Will later? Or will Will’s powers be limited to Demogorgon and the other Vecna minions because of their strange psychic connection?
If Vecna intentionally gave young Will such magical powers, it could be a sign that he wanted to do the same to all the children he kidnapped. This could mean he’s building an army to take on the most unexpected of big bads: the Mind Flayer.
5. Vecna or the Mind Flayer: Who’s the Boss?
stranger things We’ve had a lot of retcon on its villain: After Season 1 established the Demon King as a standalone bad guy, we later learned that the Mind Flayer is the show’s true big bad. Or is he? Season four introduced the idea of Vecna being the ultimate bad guy, manipulating the mind flayers for his own nefarious purposes.
However, the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow The idea is introduced that Vecna (when he was just Henry) first encountered the power of the Mind Flayer in a cave in Nevada. From there, the Skinner gave the young man the power to murder his family, eventually becoming a Carrie-esque figure whose blood was used to give Eleven and others their own magical powers. In season five, we see Max wandering through Vecna’s memories (or possibly Dimension X), sometimes hiding in caves that Vecna is afraid to enter.
The area looks like Nevada, which would expose Henry to the same cave where the Mind Flayer’s powers began the journey to transform him into Vecna. This has led some fans to believe that if Vecna is still afraid of the Upside Down’s resident monster, the Skinned One might actually still be in charge. This may have something to do with Vecna’s reason for kidnapping children: if he shared his blood with them while twisting their minds, he might have an army that would eventually destroy the Mind Flayer, freeing him from its clutches once and for all.
