With multiple releases for one season, especially as spaced out as Stranger Things, it is easy to forget some of the events that happen. Going into Stranger Things volume two, releasing on Christmas Day, and volume three, releasing on New Year’s Eve, it is important to recall some crucial plot points made in the first volume.
Leading right into the season, Hawkins is a quarantined war zone. Troops line all borders, with military bases implanted, completely isolating the city. All transit, like shipments, is done by authorized personnel and is stopped and checked by the Hawkins border police. With this, the kids have to get creative in order to be able to receive the necessities for defeating Vecna, played by Jamie Campbell Bower. Thus, they elicit help from Murray Bauman, played by Brett Gelman, a returning character first introduced in season 2. Through him, they smuggle all kinds of paraphernalia, disguised as shipments of groceries. Through this lockdown, citizens believe it is to protect Hawkins, while in reality, the military is working to investigate the Upside-Down, even having a portal in one of the bases, and having a base in the Upside-Down itself.
Along with this, Vecna makes his return with a new alias–Mr. Whatsit. With his new identity, disguised as his human self, he invades kids’ minds and convinces them he is there to save them from monsters in Hawkins. Eventually, when the kids feel safe with him, he kidnaps them and moves on to his next target. As of the volume 1 release, it is not certain why he needs kids, and why he picks the kids he does, but it is revealed that he needs a total of twelve. One of Vecna’s victims is Holly Wheeler, played by Nell Fisher, Mike and Nancy’s little sister.
After Holly is captured, we catch up to her current state a little bit later. She is in the Creel house, before the demolition, almost looking right out of the 1950s, when Vecna–or Henry Creel–was still a kid. There, she dances to music, plays dress up, bakes, and ultimately finds ways to enjoy her time alone, while also sharing the house with Henry. After a mysterious note turns up in the mailbox outside the house, Holly goes to open it. It says to come save Henry out past the forest, despite Henry’s having told her previously to never go over there. When Holly arrives, she finds Max, who was previously in a catatonic state, as shown earlier in the season. Here, we learn that the world Holly has been living in since Vecna sent a demogorgon to get her was not real at all. She and Max have been living in Henry’s memories, and there is no known way out yet. They are trapped in Vecna’s mind.
After El–Eleven–and Hopper travel to the Upside-Down to search for Vecna–labeled as “The crawl”–they come across a heavily guarded military research base. There, El suspects they have Vecna trapped. She and Hopper devise a plan to get both of them into the base so they can find and defeat Vecna. Whilst breaking in, Hopper gets into a fight with the Major General of the plant, Dr. Kay. During the fight, alarms are sounded, and sounds/waves begin to be released through speakers, limiting El’s powers, serving as her own Kryptonite. Hopper ultimately comes out on top, and he and El make their way to the room Vecna is in. However, once El opens the door, they come to find out it is actually a returning ally–Kali, or number 008, only shown in season two, and also known as El’s sister.
In the last episode of volume 1, while Hopper and El are in the Upside-Down, Mike, Joyce, Will, and Derek–a character introduced this season, and Vecna’s next victim–have infiltrated the military base in the rightside-up, but got caught. During this, Vecna emerges from the portal and releases demogorgons, killing almost every soldier there. After giving words to Will Byers, he returns back to the Upside-Down and releases more demogorgons to kill his friends and family, all at different locations. With the fear of losing his loved ones, he taps into Vecna’s mind and channels his telekinesis, stopping all demogorgons and killing them to save his friends. After this revelation of Will being able to use Vecna’s powers, the episode ends with Will wiping the blood from his nose, reminiscent of El.
With four episodes, all having a runtime of over an hour, it might be easy to forget some of the things that occur within the early season. Stranger Things season five–renowned for it being the last season of the very successful and beloved show–has quite the following, with everyone just waiting for the next volumes to release.
