Fans have been patiently waiting for the release of the first volume of Stranger Things Season 5. Now, it’s here, with so much fanfare and pomp that Netflix’s servers crashed when it went live.

Be warned: spoilers ahead.

We open to a flashback to the upside-down, the night that Will Byers went missing. The Demogorgon sneaks around Camp Byers and roars at Will. Will escapes from the monster’s clutches and climbs a tree, the demogorgon close behind. Will jumps from one tree to another, falling down to the ground and passing out. The Demogorgon drags him to the Creel house, where Vecna ties him up and puts the slug in his mouth. Vecna declares that he and Will are going to do “such beautiful things.” Then, the credits roll.

At Mike’s house, Holly Wheeler waves to a mysterious man out her window. On the way to school, the gang listens to a radio channel called WSQK “The Squawk”, where Robin and Steve are the DJs. Robin informs Hawkins that the military has quarantined the town, though Murray is able to smuggle goods in and out, and officials have put a “steel band-aid” over the upside down. Robin plays a song for Vickie, but the song cuts out for no apparent reason. Dustin Henderson is still wearing the “Hellfire Club” shirt to school, which garners the attention of the school bullies.

The military has been chasing down suspects who look like Eleven in hopes of capturing her and bringing her to the new, nefarious Dr. Kay, played by Linda Hamilton, but they’ve been unsuccessful thus far. Instead, El’s been training her endurance and powers to be able to join Jim Hopper on his “Crawls.” Hopper has been going to the upside down to search for Vecna around Hawkins, and El’s been wanting to join him.

Murray smuggles weaponry into Hawkins for Hopper and the rest of the group, while the older kids try to get The Squawk back online. In hopes that they’ll find Vecna, Robin broadcasts a coded message, informing Hopper, Joyce and the kids when the next crawl will take place. Dustin is in charge of tracking Hopper while he’s in the upside down, while Joyce, Will, Lucas, and Mike are in charge of manning the radio from the Squawk. Eleven wants to go with Hopper, convinced that she’s ready, but Hopper refuses.

Holly is at school being bullied by a big kid named Derek. When the kids are called in from recess, Holly lingers outside, talking to her imaginary friend Mr. Whatsit- a reference to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time. We smash cut to a lab in the upside-down, created by the military, where Dr. Kay tells her subordinates that she needs the girl. To get around Hawkins without being seen, El and Hopper travel via the tunnels created by Demodogs in season 2. Hopper forbids El from joining him on the crawl.

The bullies who tortured Dustin get their lockers vandalized with a dead snake. After school, Mike picks up Holly. Holly’s getting in trouble for talking to her imaginary friend. Will and Lucas sit by Max’s bed. She’s still comatose. While Will is out grabbing a Coke, he runs into Robin and Vickie sharing a moment and planning a date. Dustin sits by Eddie’s grave and cleans it from vandalism. The bullies surround Dustin and beat him up.

Everyone, aside from Dustin, meets at the Squawk at 6 pm. They all prepare for the crawl, even though Dustin isn’t there to man the radio antenna and track Hopper. Joyce volunteers Jonathan to take Dustin’s spot, even though Will says that Jonathan isn’t prepared for that job. Joyce is too protective of Will to let him go in his place.

Hopper is able to sneak into the upside-down, but Jonathan loses the signal, as Will had supposed he would. Now, without radio contact, Hopper is completely alone. Suddenly, Will gets a vision and falls to the floor. He’s seeing out of the eyes of a Demogorgon, ripping apart soldiers next to Hopper. Hopper escapes. Before Will comes to, he sees the Demogorgon rushing over to the Wheelers’ home.

In Holly’s room, her nightlight begins to flicker on and off, then her lamp, then her whole house. The Demogorgon falls through the ceiling, and the episode ends.

Does this episode live up to 3 years’ worth of hype? Short answer: unfortunately, no. While the story is enthralling and the concept is both unique and nostalgic—a quality Stranger Things often harnesses—the dialogue in this episode just does not work. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will still talk like they’re twelve years old, but since they’re no longer the cute kids they once were, the dialogue comes off as corny and kitschy. No amount of money or technology can recreate the magic and chemistry that the group of misfits in season 1 had.

This is not to say the action sequences didn’t work. Eleven is stronger than ever, able to use her powers with ease. The Demogorgon and the Upside-Down both had a lot of screentime in this episode alone, and seeing Linda Hamilton, 80s sci-fi royalty, star in this season was a treat and a wonderful homage to their inspirations. However, what made Stranger Things so special when it first premiered was not necessarily the intense action sequences. It was always the heart, which, unfortunately, gets lost as the actors age.

Rating: 7/10