A thrilling conclusion to volume 1 of Stranger Things season 5 lies ahead.

Be warned: spoiler ahead

We open this episode with Derek waking up from his drugging. Joyce tries to calm him down, but it’s to no avail. Derek runs to the back of the barn, where he’s being held up, escaping the rest of the gang’s capture. While the crew tries to convince Derek to rejoin them, and that Mr. Whatsit is dangerous, Will gets a chill on his neck. The Demogorgon charges at the barn. Joyce steps forward to defend the kids but Steve and Dustin ram the monster with their car just in the nick of time. When the demogorgon runs away to the Upside-down, Steve drives his car after it, bringing Dustin, Jonathan, Nancy, and himself into the other dimension to track the monster.

After the credits roll, we see the military rounding up children around town to keep them safe under the army base’s watchful, malevolent eye. Steve and the gang in the Upside-down crash into the wall of flesh, and Joyce cannot contact them using the radio, no matter how much she tries. Will paints an image of where he believes Holly and three other kids are being held. It’s a memory of Vecna’s that he could tell he wasn’t supposed to see. He sees Holly hooked up to a red spire with the same tube coming out of her mouth that Will had in season 1.

Max and Holly convene after their meeting last episode. Max explains that she left Holly the note, and that they’re actually in Henry’s mind prison. Max tells Holly that she saw a way out of Vecna’s prison when Lucas was playing Kate Bush at her bedside, but couldn’t escape because the track reset and Henry caught her. Max ran as far as she could to the cave where she currently resides, a cave that Vecna is afraid to enter for some unknown reason. Max has a plan to escape, but it can only work if Holly returns to the Creel home.

At the Squawk, the gang schemes to break into the army base using the old tunnel system left from Demodogs. They recruit Derek to get into the barracks, warn his classmates about the threat of Vecna, and bring them to the tunnel system to meet the rest of the crew.

El and Hopper discuss the logistics of getting to the door that El found when Dustin makes contact with them via radio. Hopper tells them that there’s no way to get Steve’s car out of the wall they crashed into, and that they crashed into the same one on the opposite side of the town. Hopper gives El the go-ahead to sneak onto the military base in the Upside-down to find the door. El successfully jumps to the base using her abilities, with minimal casualties.

Derek enters the military barracks and begins recruiting kids who have also seen Henry Creel to be saved by Joyce and the kids. Mike convinces Will that he might be able to tap into Vecna’s powers.

In the Upside-down, Dustin deduces that the fleshy wall surrounds all of Hawkins, with the center of the circle being at the Hawkins Lab.  Hopper and El make their way through the lab in the Upside-down and find the door that El’s been visualizing. before she can get it open, Dr. Kay paralyzes her abilities and and traps Hopper. Hopper breaks free from his trap, disarms Dr. Kay, and turns off the paralyzer. They break behind the door and find El’s sister, 008, hooked up to a machine.

In the tunnels, Lucas and Mike break ground behind the barracks, beginning to free some of the children in danger from Vecna and the Demogorgons. Before all the kids can get free, the military men find out about this operation and try to charge into the back of the Barracks. Will and Mike are able to hold them off. Murray waits for some of the children to emerge from the tunnels so that he can transport them to safety, but only two kids and Robin arrive before all hell breaks loose and the military men break into the tunnels.

Caught, Mike, Will, Joyce, and Derek are escorted through the military base by soldiers when a Demogorgon emerges from the ground. Will falls to the ground, unable to move as he watches the Demogorgon attack. At the same time, a gate opens up next to Murray and Robin, forcing them to begin their drive with the kids in the back of Murray’s semi, and Lucas gets caught between two Demogorgons in the tunnels while leading a few kids to safety.

The military seems to have the upper hand when Vecna suddenly appears at the base. Regaining control, the demogorgons attack the soldiers, catch Murray’s van, and trap Lucas, stealing all the kids away into the Upside-down. Vecna admonishes Will for being weak before leaving with his captives. Just before any of Will’s friends succumb to the Demogorgon’s attacks, Will uses telekinetic abilities to stop the Demogorgons in their tracks and break them in the same way Vecna broke his victims in season 4. After this epic showing of power, Will wipes his bloody nose, and the episode ends.

This episode was an epic conclusion to the first volume, especially the final 20 minutes. The Duffers pulled off an ambitious tracking shot through the military base as the Demogorgon ravages soldiers, which was far and away the most impressive of the entire series thus far.

While we’re excited to see Max Mayfield back on screen, her expository monologuing throughout most of her screentime this episode was a  a drag, and detracted from the overall flow of the episode. That said, the backstory was necessary and hopefully set up an exciting and emotional series finale.

Rating: 9/10