Stranger Things season 5 returns with a bang! “Shock Jock” is an action-packed sci-fi episode that made the first four seasons so iconic.
Be warned: spoilers ahead.
This episode picks up right where the first volume left off. The gang is split between Hawkins and the Upside Down, and Will is recovering from his recent display of intense telekinetic power. Despite this show of heroism, the gang failed at their attempt to stop Vecna from kidnapping the kids. Now in Vecna’s mind prison, the kids reunite with Holly, unaware that their kidnapper is a monstrous villain. Holly must figure out how to get away from Henry and back to Max. Then, the credits roll.
In the Upside Down, Dr. Kay and her foot soldiers realize that 008, El, and Hopper have escaped the lab and are on the run. Hopper and the two girls rendezvous at Steve’s beamer, stuck in the wall of flesh. Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, and Dustin are nowhere to be found. Assuming that the military has captured them, El and Hopper are forced to come up with another plan. 008 and El bond over their shared trauma. 008 reveals that the military killed her friends and kidnapped her to the Upside Down where they drain her blood around the clock. When she tried to escape, she found rows of pregnant women being infused with her own blood, meaning Dr. Kay is trying to restart Dr. Brenner’s program. El tries to convince 008 that they can run away after they defeat Vecna, but 008 believes that all hope is lost, showing El a future in which Dr. Kay continuously drains her to create new, powerful children.
Lucas is found, brutalized by a demogorgon in a tunnel. Will, Mike, and Joyce are able to stop his bleeding and bring him back to The Squawk to recover. Now with a sizeable team at the radio station, Joyce tries to rally the defeated team members. While thinking of a way to get the kids back and get in touch with the team in the Upside Down, Erica and Lucas come up with two separate plans. Lucas thinks that Will could tap back into the hive mind if they resuscitate a dead demogorgon and activate the Upside Down particles in its blood, similar to how Billy was controlled by the mind flayer even after the gate was closed. With Will being able to see through Vecna’s eyes, he could find out where Henry is keeping the 12 abducted children. Erica figures that the only other person in Hawkins smart enough to build a radio capable of reaching Dustin’s team in the Upside Down is Dustin’s mentor, science teacher Scott Clarke. With Mr. Clarke’s help, they could triangulate Dustin’s position and get back in touch with the team in the Upside Down. They decide to try both plans.
In Vecna’s mind trap, Holly is shaken because none of her classmates seem to realize how evil Henry really is. She sneaks to the cave to find Max and discuss their next steps now that Henry has revealed he won’t be leaving the house anymore. Unbeknownst to them, Derek follows Holly to the woods. Derek tells Max and Holly that he’s been working with Mike, Will and Joyce to stop Vecna. Together, they come up with a plan where Derek distracts the other kids by walking into the woods, giving Holly and Max enough time to escape to a different memory. Before Derek can make it to the cave where he’d be safe from Vecna’s wrath, he’s caught. Vecna shows him a terrifying future where his entire family is brutally murdered, and forces him to return to the mind trap. Still, Holly and Max are well on their way to a different memory. Finally, Holly and Max find a way out, but before they can get to it, Vecna stops them. He grabs Max by the neck and shoves Holly to the side. Just before he kills Max, Will can tap into the hive mind, releasing his grip on Max’s neck and breaking Vecna’s leg. He tells Max and Holly to run away. Just then, Vecna kicks Will out of his mind, sending Will deep into a coma.
Dustin, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy are on a mission of their own in the Upside Down, straying from the original plan. With the help of Dustin’s map, they deduce that the wall of flesh around Hawkins is originating from the Hawkins Lab. Dustin assumes that there’s some “shield generator” inside the lab that they could destroy to tear down the wall and find Holly. The team splits up to explore the lab, with Dustin and Steve as one pair and Jonathan and Nancy as the other. Steve and Dustin find the lab’s daycare, where El and 008 were once imprisoned. Unable to find any clues, Steve and Dustin begin to fight over the fact that Dustin is wrong about the shield generator theory. This escalates when Steve insults Eddie. Dustin punches Steve and Steve leaves Dustin to figure out where the shield generator is on his own. This is when Dustin finds a secret room in the back of the lab. At the same time, Jonathan and Nancy find that as they climb higher into the lab, the walls begin to melt. On the roof, they find an energy field that they assume is the shield generator. When they attempt to destroy it, Dustin realizes that his theory was completely wrong. In a desperate attempt to stop them, Dustin races up the stairs, but it’s no use. Nancy shoots the energy field. Then, the episode ends.
This episode was a thrilling start to volume 2. Each group of characters are exploring different parts of the mysteries of the Upside Down, making the episode feel a little all over the place but ultimately fascinating for fans who are dying to know everything about this strange world. It seems a lot of questions will be answered in this volume, at least in terms of the origin of the Upside Down, seeing as Dustin’s group is at its epicenter. While the dialogue is corny, and repetitive, (i.e. Mike must repeat that Will is a sorcerer at least 5 times this episode), the intense action and epic sci-fi sequences make up for any of the cringiness one might experience in the emotional beats.
Rating: 9/10