SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils the beginning of Episode 2 of Season 5 of Stranger Things, “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler.
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have finally brought a Demogorgon into Mike Wheeler’s (Finn Wolfhard) house, which Ross previously teased as “the craziest cold open we’ve ever done.”
The end of the first episode of Season 5 Volume 1 watches the agile and destructive creature rip a gash in Holly Wheeler’s (Nell Fisher) bedroom ceiling in an attempt to kidnap her just like Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) was kidnapped in Season 1.
“This was the cool thing about it being the final season because [we] could really let the cat out of the bag as far as the entire town is concerned,” Matt Duffer told Deadline. “We always explored what it would look like if Karen and Ted and the rest of town were to find out what was going on, but it just created all sorts of problems. They would not let their family stay there or whatever, so we kept them rather oblivious.”
Holly initially escapes the monster and runs to her mother Karen (Cara Buono), who is drawing a bubble bath to ABBA’s “Fernando,” to frantically try and tell her about the horrific encounter. Karen, who has had a bottle of wine, doesn’t believe her daughter until she finds blood on her hand after cradling the back of Holly’s head. Lights flicker, and mother and daughter hide in the bath tub until Ted (Joe Chrest) realizes something is happening in the house and distracts the creature for a bit.
“It was fun to unleash the horror in the Wheeler house. We had always wanted to do a Wheeler house attack. I think we talked about it all the way back in Season 1, so it’s something that we’ve been dying to do, and it was a blast to shoot,” Matt Duffer continued. “And we’ve always wanted to give Cara a real hero moment, because she has, even as a person, a real ferocity and strength. We wanted to show really, where Nancy’s courage and strength comes from.”
L-R: Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler and Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler in ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5
Netflix
As revealed in the opening moments of Episode 2, Karen breaks her now-empty wine bottle and gets in some good hits with the jagged glass before the monster slashes her chest and takes Holly into the alternate dimension known as The Upside Down.
“It’s not Ted,” Ross Duffer added to his brother’s point about Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) getting her determination and ferocity from her mother versus her father.
Ted was hitting golf balls into trees from the backyard until he saw the house’s flickering lights and ventured inside with his golf club to apprehend the intruder.
“He has a slight moment. I mean, he does swing the golf club. It doesn’t do a whole lot, but he gets one good swing in,” Matt added. “We said in the script that it’s the best swing of his life. I’m not sure that came across. He’s struggling outside, and he gets [the Demogorgon] right in the head. He does probably as much damage as one could possibly do with a golf club.”
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