If the previous episode let you down, “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” is a tribute to everything that Stranger Things has done right over the past 10 years. 

Be warned: spoilers ahead.

We open right back in the Wheelers’ house as a Demogorgon crawls through the roof into Holly Wheeler’s bedroom, attempting to kidnap her just as it did to Will four years prior. Karen Wheeler is listening to music after her fight with Ted, unable to hear Holly’s screams, and Ted Wheeler is defusing by hitting golf balls in the backyard. Holly finds her mother and warns her of the incoming Demogorgon. Just then, the lights start to flicker, and the Demogorgon bursts into her mother’s room.

Nancy and Eleven race over to the house in an attempt to stop the Demogorgon before things get too messed up. Ted notices the flickering lights and comes back inside to protect his family. The Demogorgon cuts him in the chest, knocking him unconscious. The monster then cuts up Karen and takes Holly to the upside down. Only then do Nancy and Eleven arrive. Nancy sends Eleven into the Upside-down to find Holly, while the rest of the group follows Karen and Ted to the hospital in ambulances. In the hospital, the kids argue over what to do next. Lucas theorizes that Holly might be the new Will, seeing as it’s exactly four years since Will first went missing.

Back at the Wheelers’ house, military officers and lab scientists analyze the crime scene, deducing that Eleven could have been there at the time of the crime. In the Upside-down, Eleven runs into Hopper while looking for Holly. At the Squawk, Will, Joyce, and Robin figure out how to reconnect with Hopper in the Upside-down. Robin comes up with a plan to use Will as an antenna to find Vecna; the closer he is, the more intense his visions become. Joyce stops this plan because it puts Will into too much danger.

Steve and Jonathan continue to drive around in the Squawk car trying to get a signal. They fight over Nancy while waiting for the car to be jump-started. As they’re fighting, a battered and dejected Dustin Henderson appears out of the night, claiming that he fell off his bike. Mike theorizes that Holly’s imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit, isn’t imaginary at all and that they need to talk to their mother to learn more.

While Dustin, Steve, and Jonathan fight over how to get the radio van’s signal back, Robin and Will create an excuse to leave the radio tower. Once out of Joyce’s earshot, the duo devises a plan to use Will to track Vecna. 

Eleven and Hopper find a massive wall at the edge of Hawkins in the Upside-Down. Eleven’s powers don’t work past that wall. They suspect that Holly has been transported to the other side after finding her boot. Will realizes that, in his vision, he was seeing through Vecna’s eyes and talking to Holly. Mike and Nancy sneak into their mother’s room and ask her questions about Mr. Whatsit. Karen reveals that Mr. Whatsit’s real name is Henry —Henry Creel, as in Vecna. Henry Creel transports Holly to the Creel House and assures her that he’ll bring her friends and family to the Upside-down. Then, the episode ends.

This episode course-corrected a few issues from the last episode. First of all, the focus on Holly and Derek in these episodes injected some much-needed youth into the now-aged cast. Holly serves as the new young faction of the show’s ensemble cast, a piece they’ve been missing since Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin are played by actors in their 20s.

The episode also returns to the horror side of Stranger Things. Homages to Poltergeist, The Terminator, and Halloween riddle this episode, bringing back the show’s unique, yet nostalgic aesthetic. The Duffers promised this season to be gory and dark, which is precisely what we got in the first 10 minutes of this episode. Nancy and Mike have lost their entire family, with their mother and father in critical condition, and Holly being kidnapped to the Upside-down.

The emotional beats were also respected in this episode. Pairing Robin and Will together allows them to explore their same-sex curiosity through conversation, developing a much-anticipated side of the show that has been building to this point.

Rating: 9/10