‘Stranger Things’ recap ahead of season 5
Catch up on “Stranger Things” before season 5 with key plot twists and epic showdown details
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from Season 5, Episode 3 of “Stranger Things,” “The Turnbow Trap.”
These kids are up to their old tricks.
We’re talking barbed wire, demogorgons on fire, novelty weapons, telepathic interrogations, fleeting references to classic 1980s films and elaborate schemes that go wrong in the clutch moments. Yes, “Stranger Things” has finally gotten in gear for its final season, and it only took three episodes.
Three long years have passed since “Stranger” Season 4, so it’s understandable that Season 5 began with so much set-up and exposition. But it’s a big relief when, in the third episode, our heroes finally start doing more and sitting around less — even if some of it is narratively foggy, if not silly. And with the big reveal at episode’s end, that a certain comatose redhead is actually alive and well (at least in some kind of parallel dimension), things are getting downright exciting.
There’s just one episode left after “The Turnbow Trap,” and we won’t see fresh “Stranger” content until Christmas Day. But we’re palpably closer to a climax and an ending.
The two sides of the Upside Down
While tracking the demogorgon that took little Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour) have hit a literal wall. And it’s a wall that’s utterly disgusting and made of self-healing flesh, and no amount of effort from either of them can break through. While trying to regroup, they suddenly have bigger problems, when the soldiers hunting El show up with a kind of satellite (a “hedgehog”) that acts like her kryptonite, paralyzing her instantly.
As she writhes in pain, the soldiers notice where she and Hopper are hiding and attack; after her surrogate dad takes out the satellite dish, El is able to quickly dispense with the grunts. The pair capture an operative with a particularly punchable face and interrogate him using El’s telepathic powers, and discover that Dr. Kay’s (Linda Hamilton) military base in the Upside Down is hiding something in a heavily guarded vault. Eleven is convinced that it’s someone with powers like her — someone like our big baddie Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
Whether or not his physical body is trapped by the military, Vecna’s mental projection has Holly trapped in a “Leave it to Beaver” fantasy of his childhood home, back when he was known as Henry Creel. He showers vulnerable and impressionable Holly with gifts and leaves her on her own, but with strict instructions not to leave the house and venture into the woods. This all seems fine and normal and not at all creepy.
‘We’re saving a child via kidnapping’
Vecna leaves Holly because he’s off in pursuit of his next victim, Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly), the bully of her elementary school class. Will (Noah Schnapp) has used his psychic connection to figure out that Derek is next on Vecna’s list, and after telling off his mother for treating him like a little kid, he comes up with a plan to keep the annoying kid safe: They kidnap him away.
Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) points out all that will do is buy Derek time without helping them find Holly. Mike (Finn Wolfhard) makes the plan wackier and more effective: They drug and kidnap Derek’s entire family, set a trap for the demogorgon at the Turnbow house, tag it with a tracker, and follow it to where Holly is being kept.
This plan requires the gang to recruit Lucas’s little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) to get into the Turnbow house (her bestie/frenemy Tina is Derek’s older sister) and drug the family. Erica’s appearance, matched with a cameo from teacher Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens), marks the final tick on a list of fan-favorite characters who need to appear in the final season, so good job, Netflix.
The gang prepares for their big assault: Nancy (Natalia Dyer) does some target practice, Dustin ruins Steve’s (Joe Keery) prized BMW and Robin (Maya Hawke) and Will go steal tranquilizers from the hospital. There are some heart-to-hearts in the run-up to the big night, and we learn Nancy’s sometimes flaky boyfriend Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) is planning to propose. Will asks Robin some pointed questions about how Robin and her girlfriend Vickie (Amybeth McNulty) got together . Is he thinking about Mike? The series heavily implies so.
Operation Turnbow freedom
At dinnertime, Erica shows up at the Turnbow house with crocodile tears and a drug-laced pie, and most of the family eats it and passes out. (Watching Erica violently inject her friend Tina, you might wonder if she is the real villain of the show). The gang enters, and after blindfolding and tying up the Turnbows and whisking them away to an abandoned barn, they make over the house for demo-destruction. It’s the kind of trademark, kicky montage that fans love. Steve even gets a new signature weapon, a chainsaw. It’s a good thing the demogorgon didn’t show up before they were finished. Also, I hope the Turnbows have good homeowners insurance.
Conveniently timed for when everyone is ready, the demogorgon shows up at the Turnbow house, and the “Home Alone”-style trap starts to trip. Nancy shoots the monster with the tracker and he heads back to the Upside Down. Using their tracking system, Steve, Dustin, Jonathan and Nancy head after him in the car, crashing through fences and yards with abandon. I thought this town was under military control, but I guess nobody cares about disturbing the peace or felony destruction of property.
Amid their pursuit, the monster makes a full U-turn, and the gang can’t figure out why until they hear the dulcet sounds of a righteously disturbed Derek, awake and aware he’s no longer at his house. Will figures it out − the demogorgon is heading straight for them. And it’s not exactly the A-team of combatants waiting to meet it in the barn.
Into the woods to find Max Mayfield
Meanwhile, left alone in Henry’s big mansion, Holly parties like a 10 year old (or however hold she is supposed to be) and dresses up in a 1950s dress and cape that make her look just like Little Red Riding Hood (a little too on the nose). It’s all fun and chocolate cake until someone rings the doorbell. There’s mail in the mailbox, a map plus a note seemingly from Henry, saying he needs her help and she should meet him at the “X” through the woods.
Holly decides to venture out, and the map leads her not to walking red flag Henry but to everybody’s favorite skateboard queen, Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), somehow trapped in the same sunny dimension as Holly.
Mad Max is back. Let’s do this.
