Episode Review: Stranger Things 5x2 - "Chapter Two: The Vanishing of..."

Welcome back to the blog readers. I could not have asked for a better return to the world of Hawkins than with what we got in that premiere episode of the fifth and final season. I thought the episode did a brilliant job of catching us up with the state of the town since the end of the fourth season, and gave us some brand new character dynamics to sink our teeth into for this last adventure. I have heard the final three episodes of the "first volume" are, to borrow from one of my favorite wrestlers, "all gas, no brakes with it." Would this next episode, titled "Chapter Two: The Vanishing of...," and written and directed by Matt and Ross Duffer, be the lynchpin for that batshit insanity? Stick around to find out.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

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Before I get into what you came here for: the review of this episode, I do want to address the elephant in the room. And that is the title of this episode. When Netflix first released this episode, they had the title just as I have it in this post. But they have since changed it to be the true title of this episode, which I will reveal to you now. The real title of this episode is "Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler." I was playing into the intrigue of who was going to be getting "vanished." I mean, it seemed obvious it was going to be Holly after the ending of the first episode when the Demogorgon opened up a gate in her room. Now, on to the review of the episode.

After last week's cliffhanger, I was expecting the "balls to the wall" batshit insane things that I was promised to begin. Especially since last week's episode was such a perfect reintroduction to the world of Hawkins, as I mentioned in the introductory paragraph. This time around, I found myself glued to the seat because this episode was stellar. From the performances (especially from Cara Buono and Natalia Dyer) to the cold open, this episode is enough to thrill even the least of Stranger Things (2016-25) fans. Now, we can only hope that this will continue for the final six episodes.

I want to start by talking about the performance I was not expecting to love as much as I did, and that was the one given by Cara Buono. Between her and Winona Ryder, these two are the two most veteran names in the series in this fifth season, and Buono has never really been given the opportunity to shine as Karen Wheeler as she was able to in this week's episode. The Hulk (2003) and Law & Order (1996-2024) star is not in much of this episode, but she delivers a sense of fear, determination, and grit that I have never seen from her before. She was magnetic whenever she was on the screen, and it only makes the tension you feel for the character that much more...tense.

But the real highlight of the episode would have to be Natalia Dyer. Her character of Nancy Wheeler has been one of the best received characters in the show, and a lot of it has to do with the performance of Dyer. And I do have to say that after having a quiet fourth season, Dyer is thrust into a role this episode with insane levels of grief, underlying anger, and trauma that makes this the best performance of the young season thus far. Just her scene in the bathroom is some of the most moving stuff I have seen all year. Add a pinch of vulnerability and desperation that we see and this is the epitome of a stellar performance.

Now, we have to get to the story of this week because it just so happens to be a doozy. We pick up immediately where last week's episode ended: Karen Wheeler is about to have a bath while drunk on wine, Ted Wheeler is playing golf outside, and Holly Wheeler is screaming in fear at the Demogorgon that has made a gate in her bedroom to take her. Holly is able to escape the bedroom after a minute and races to the bathroom where Karen is. She exclaims that she has seen a monster but Karen shrugs her off until she notices blood on her youngest daughter. The lights begin flickering and she knows what she has to do. Ted even notices this from outside and enters the house, golf club and all. The Demogorgon has entered the bathroom, and Karen and Holly are hiding in the bath that is covered in bubbles. The creature is distracted by Ted entering the house and leaves the bathroom. He encounters the creature and tries to hit it with the golf club, but it takes him out. Karen and Holly escape the tub and make their way to the kitchen where the Demogorgon follows. After being warned by Will Byers of this, Nancy and Mike Wheeler, Eleven, and Lucas Sinclair are racing towards the Wheeler house: Nancy and Eleven by car, Mike and Lucas on bike. By the time Nancy and Eleven make it to the house, Karen is incapacitated and Holly is gone, but Nancy notices a gate on their front door, urging Eleven to go through it to find Holly. We see in flashbacks that Karen broke a wine bottle to try to defend her daughter (and even got in a few licks), but the Demogorgon eventually got the upper hand.

Karen and Ted are rushed to the hospital and Nancy, Mike, and Lucas are told to stay outside. Nancy makes her way to the restroom and breaks down trying to wash her mother's blood off her hands. Some time later, after she finished, she tells Mike and Lucas that this is their fault. Mike tries to tell her that they got there as soon as they could, but Nancy angrily rebukes him by saying they should not have kept their parents in the dark about everything they have been through. Mike replies that it makes no sense for Vecna to go after Holly; Nancy references the vision Vecna showed her of her family dead. She adds that he has come back to drain them of all their suffering. Lucas chimes in and adds that this does not seem like punishment since Vecna does not leave things unfinished. He questions why Vecna would leave her parents alive and take Holly rather than kill her. There are too many questions since this happened to Will almost four years ago to the day. He assures them that Eleven is in the Upside Down and that they were able to get Will back, so they will surely get Holly back. Meanwhile, the military has made their way to the Wheeler house where one of the soldiers tells Sullivan about what has happened. He orders all surveillance footage to be given to him within a two-mile radius.

Eleven is searching for the Demogorgon in the Upside Down, where she accidentally uses her powers to take out Jim Hopper. He questions why she is there, and she tells him he knows there is a Demogorgon there, and that it is bleeding. Meanwhile, Will and Joyce Byers and Robin Buckley are still at the radio station where they are trying to restore power after the failed crawl last episode. Robin asks Joyce if this has ever happened with Will's visions before, to which she says no. Joyce asks Robin to get backup fuses as she talks to her son about the visions. Will tells her it felt as if he was the Demogorgon. Joyce questions why Vecna would go after Holly, and he responds that he does not know but he may have tapped back into the hive mind since returning to Hawkins. After Joyce states that they had already severed the connection, Will says he does not believe the connection was really permanently severed, and that Vecna is closer than ever before. Robin, who has the fuses, chimes in and believes Will is a sort of human radio receiver. Will realizes from Robin's explanation that he could use his own connection to Vecna to find Holly. Joyce vehemently refuses to put her son in harm's way, but Will emphasizes that they have to do something other than replace fuses and keep him on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers have been forced to get a jump from a random person that Steve fails to flirt with. Steve asks Jonathan if he was able to get a hold on Nancy. He says that Ted is in a coma and Karen is in surgery, so they will not know for a few hours. Steve suggests going to the hospital to see Nancy, since it is on the way, but Jonathan is adamant they stick to the plan. Steve lights one too many fuses and Jonathan snaps back that he needs to give the competition for Nancy's attention that he is clearly having with him a rest. Steve sarcastically exclaims he is looking out for his friend while accusing Jonathan of being a paranoid pothead since returning from California. As soon as the "Squawk" van starts up, the two of them encounter a bloodied Dustin Henderson. While this is happening, Eleven and Hopper are arguing about El driving while the military is out looking for her. She counters by claiming they can and should end this quickly since the Demogorgon can lead them to Vecna. Hopper questions why Vecna would need Holly before accusing El of acting on impulse and emotion the entire night, but when El finds more blood, she explains she has been acting on instinct.

Lucas is in the hospital, still visiting his comatose girlfriend Max Mayfield, and he updates her on the situation. He wishes he had better news, but alas he does not. He tells her that Eleven is amazing, but she is going to need the help of the full party, and that includes her. He tearfully begs her to give him a sign that she is still there, but is met with nothing. Nancy tells Mike the hospital still will not give her a timeline on when they can see their parents, and Mike tells his sister he has been thinking about what Lucas said about not believing in coincidences. He asked if Holly ever spoke to her about her imaginary friend Mr. Whatsit, and Nancy tells him no. Mike tells her what Holly told him about monsters, and theorizes that Mr. Whatsit is real and involved in Holly's kidnapping. Nancy is doubtful about this theory since they have never seen this guy. The two then decide they have to find a way to get to the only person who could give them more information on Mr. Whatsit: their mother. Steve brings Dustin up to speed on how the crawl failed, and Dustin lies about getting assaulted by the basketball team, but Steve was able to figure that out. The two begin arguing but are interrupted by Jonathan, who reminds them that they are still trying to look for Hopper's signal.

Joyce is still nervously trying to radio Hopper, but cannot find him. Robin interrupts and asks about the red light on the radio. Robin says the job to fix it is for two people and pulls Will to the side. In their first ever one-on-one interaction, Robin tells Will his plan is genius and they need to employ it, leading to Will agreeing and the two departing the radio station. Meanwhile, a soldier brings photos to Dr. Kay, who is sick of these false alarms and fake sightings, and tells the soldier to come back once Eleven is captured. Her ears perk up when the soldier tells her that she is here. While still in the Upside Down, Hopper makes Eleven slow down, but it is now that she realizes he had been shot in the chaos of the convoy attack. They stop near the railroad track for El to bandage him (something she claims Max showed her how to do) and Hopper talks about his time in the military. He thought he was being brave, but he was only being reckless. He tells her the bravest person he knew was his late daughter Sara. Everyone thought she was going to beat her cancer, but it wound up being too much and she fought until the very end. Eleven deduces that Hopper did not want her joining him because he was afraid of putting her in harm's way again and losing another daughter. He claims that he has lived long enough to know that he cannot count on anything. They are interrupted by a loud growling and they depart to check up on it.

Steve tells Jonathan that he wants to make one more loop around the zone, with some chatter that they hear not coming up as anything, much to Joyce's dismay. This also makes her realize Robin was lying about the red light and that they had run off. Robin and Will make their way to the spot where Will had his vision last episode and cannot feel anything. Robin confronts him about being at the hospital and he denies seeing anything, as she claims her "friendship" with her girlfriend Vickie is complicated and nobody would understand it. He emphasizes he saw nothing before immediately remembering he heard laughter in his vision and runs off. Mike and Nancy try to sweet talk their way into seeing their mother, but the nurse reveals she cannot talk even if she wanted to. This gives Nancy an idea: she will pose as a candy striper and Mike a patient so that they can sneak past the doctors and see their mother. Hopper and Eleven follow the blood to a giant wall that El theorizes is where Holly is, since her other boot is right behind the wall. As Will and Robin make their way to Holly's school, he notices a "merry-go-round" that he realizes was why he felt like he was spinning in his vision. He realizes that he can see through the point-of-view of Vecna's victims, including Holly, who was on one of them. Mike and Nancy make it to their mother, and they begin to ask her about Mr. Whatsit, like if he had a name. She writes down the name "Henry," and they realize Vecna is the one who took their sister. We see her being brought to a house by a seemingly human Henry to what is revealed to be the Creel house as the credits roll.

Stranger Things's second offering gives us some great action, great character moments, and a hell of a twist involving Will Byers that may become uber-important as we progress throughout the season. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.