This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.'Stranger Things' Season 5, Ep 5 recap − It all goes wrong

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAYFri, December 26, 2025 at 2:00 AM UTC

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Spoiler alert! The following contains details from "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 5, "Shock Jock."

Well, the Hawkins kids can't get it right every time.

"Stranger Things" has returned for the second of three parts of its fifth and final season, and after waiting for the entire month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, fans are left with some rather unsatisfying moves from Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarrazo) and the rest.

We're at the moment in the story where everything is going wrong, and our heroes encounter major setbacks. This works and it doesn't for "Stranger." On the one, hand, all stories need bumps in the road or we wouldn't be interested in watching. On the other hand, the way Season 5 of "Stranger" is structured, this can feel like a frustrated case of one step forward, two steps back.

Either way, we know that by the finale on New Year's Eve, we will have an ending.

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in "Stranger Things."Just another day in Vecna's mind palace paradise

So, after all that, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) got the kids anyway.

In his little 1950s Fantasyland, there's now a quorum of little tykes running around, being gaslit by "Mr. Whatsit" into cooperating with his evil plan to "draw the new world to ours," whatever that means. As Lucas predicted, everything is going to go down on Nov. 6, so the kids have time to goof off in the house. But Vecna isn't going anywhere. This proves difficult for Holly (Nell Fisher) and Max's (Sadie Sink) escape plans, but luckily Delightful Derek (Jake Conelly) is on their side now.

But Hopper (David Harbour), El and her long-lost sister Eight/Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) did manage a successful escape last episode, and have evaded Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) and her goons using Eight's powers of illusion. As happy as she is to see her supernatural sibling, El is livid with Hopper for his plan to kill Vecna with a suicide bomb, and doesn't believe that this wasn't his plan all along. Their fight is interrupted by the unfortunate news that Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin are not waiting at the church in the Upside Down like they were supposed to be.

No, that dysfunctional quartet is at the Upside Down version of Hawkins Lab, because Dustin thinks it hosts some type of "shield generator" that is putting up that flesh wall, and if they destroy it, they'll bring down the wall and get to Holly. It's a halfway decent "Star Wars"-inspired plan based on what they know at the moment (it has unfortunate consequences later), and everything would be fine if these four weren't so incredibly awkward and snippy. But who can put relationship drama (romantic or platonic) aside at the literal end of the world? Nobody, apparently.

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Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson in "Stranger Things."Plan 'Young Frankenstein'

Above ground, everyone is cooperating better, and pretty thrilled about Will's newfound superpowers. Except ... Will says they're not his powers, but rather he steals them from Vecna when he's connected to the hive mind. This plot development is deeply disappointing from a storytelling and character point of view. Will tapped into these powers in part one of the season by coming to a profound moment of self-actualization: He accepted to himself that he is gay, and that his crush on Mike (Finn Wolfhard) wasn't as important as coming out. The fact that the superpowers he gained are only borrowed undercuts the emotional arc, and renders Will back into the weak victim he's been the whole series. It is a huge narrative flaw, and it will likely only get worse from here.

But at least because of his borrowed superpowers, mom Joyce (Winona Ryder) is no longer treating him like he's made of glass, and even helps concoct a plan for Will to kill Vecna for good. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) comes up with the specifics: They light up a dead demogorgon with electricity from the radio station in order to connect Will to the hive mind so he can try to psychically kill Vecna (it makes sense, sorta, when the characters explain it). His little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) also suggests they enlist Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens) to build a new telemetry tracker to locate all the people lost in the Upside Down.

1 / 0Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate

"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

In the Upside Down Steve, Dustin, Jonathan and Nancy are searching Hawkins Lab while also bickering. Nancy and Jonathan fight over who is being honest or not in their relationship before they find a strange melted door they think is worth investigating. Steve and Dustin fight over Dustin's reaction to Eddie's (Joseph Quinn) death from Season 4, with Steve even going so far as to speak ill of the dead. The two bros actually come to physical blows, which breaks their handy radio and also leads Dustin to an office full of very interesting science stuff.

Elsewhere, El and Kali are getting along much better, but Kali tells a very sad tale about how she ended up in Dr. Kay's lab: The military found her, killed her friends, imprisoned her, mutilated and tortured her and repeatedly stole her blood. Kali almost escaped once, but instead found a room of dozens of pregnant women being injected with her blood. Dr. Kay's plan became clear: She's trying to create more supernatural kids. And it seems the source of El and Kali's powers was not drugs, but good old Henry/Vecna blood. And while Kali's blood isn't working on the pregnant women, Kay sure thinks El's blood will.

Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel/Vecna in "Stranger Things."The end of the world as we know it

As the episode draws to a climax, all the disparate groups implement their plans. Derek creates a distraction for Vecna while Max and Holly try to travel along Vecna's Holly-based memories to the exit. Unfortunately, Vecna catches Derek pretty quickly and threatens his family until he confesses what's going on. (Side note: Where is Derek's family? Last we saw them, they were drugged and tied up in that barn. Did Joyce and the rest just leave them there? Anybody going to bring them food or water?)

It's right around this time that the above ground team lights up the demo, and Will suddenly jumps into Derek's mind (sure), discovering Vecna is after Max and Holly. That duo finds the correct Holly memory for the exit, but Vecna finds them first and almost kills Max. But then Will takes him over, tells Max to run, and Vecna and Will have a creepy little mind fight. Since this isn't the finale episode yet, of course Vecna wins, and Will is trapped (his mind is, anyway) in Vecna's Fantasyland, but the gross part.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Nancy and Jonathan find what they think is the "shield generator" on the roof of the lab and decide to fire a shotgun shell at it (sure) — just as Dustin is running to them and screaming that if they destroy it, it could kill them all. Cut to black.

Everybody's going to be OK, right?

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Stranger Things' Season 5, Episode 5 recap, 'Shock Jock'

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