The 5 strangest and most marvelous things about ‘Stranger Things 5,’ so far

NETFLIX, HBO, CNN

By Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — Congratulations: You’ve taken time out of your Thanksgiving holiday and made it to the end of nearly 5 hours of Netflix viewing and are up to date (for now) on the final season of everyone’s favorite retro-’80s tween horror tale, “Stranger Things.”

If you’re not, run away back into the Upside Down, since you’re about to be spoiled.

While the story definitely ended with quite a flourish at the close of episode 4 (more on that below), there were a few other truly standout moments from this first of three volumes that will make up the final season.

From the extremely terrifying to the extremely satisfying, let’s talk about it:

The attack on the Wheelers

The end of episode 1 and start of episode 2 this season packs one of the most horrifying and violent sequences in the series yet, as little Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher, a stellar new addition to the cast after the character was aged up this season), sister to Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), is taken from her home by a Demogorgon after the Wheeler parents are brutally attacked and left for dead.

The slow motion sequences of mom Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) getting clawed by the demon while a horrorstruck and blood-spattered Holly watches are almost too much. They’re tempered only by the slightly delicious moment just before, when Karen – like so many unfortunate parents in supernatural ’80s titles that inspired “Stranger Things,” like “Poltergeist” and “E.T.” – finally learns that her assurances to her daughter that “there’s no such thing as monsters” are entirely, patently untrue.

While Karen and her famously taciturn husband Ted (Joe Chrest) survive, no one is by any means out of the woods yet. By the end of this batch of episodes, the pair is still in the hospital and Holly is still missing, lost in a decidedly foreboding dreamscape.

The identity of Mr. Whatsit

Sure, this one we could see coming, but it makes it no less satisfying to see “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer borrow from another brilliant throwback title when it comes to Holly’s not-so-imaginary friend Mr. Whatsit.

Upon Holly’s disappearance and with mom Karen’s help, Mike and Nancy make the connection that Mr. Whatsit – loosely connected to Madeleine L’Engle’s watershed science-fiction work, “A Wrinkle in Time,” which Holly is seen reading in the show – is, in fact, Henry Creel/the series’ archvillain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

If you’re keeping score, this is far from the last reference we will get to “A Wrinkle in Time,” since we now very much know what Camazotz refers to.

Season MVPs: Erica Sinclair (obviously!) and…Derek Turnbow?

This season might only be halfway through, but it is certainly not too soon to crown Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson) an all-time “Stranger Things” MVP. Lucas’s (Caleb McLaughlin) zero-nonsense little sister has been a thorough delight since the second she showed up in Season 2, but this go-round, she levels up to true young boss lady when she shows up at the Turnbows with a benzo-laced pie to knock them out in order to set the trap for the Demogorgon.

When her best frenemy Tina (Caroline Elle Abrams) declines to indulge in the pie, the shot of Erica whipping out a needle and saying, “And I told you to eat your damn pie!” is just too good and light-years away from the well-mannered young actress who talks about how she was afraid of hurting her costars’ feelings in Netflix’s Season 2 rewatch.

It is also worth mentioning a peculiar new addition, Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly), an at-first highly unlikeable bully who does a complete about-face in episode 4 and becomes a vital asset to our dogged team of Hawkins heroes. He goes from “dipshit Derek” to “delightful Derek” in an astonishing turn, even leading a highly effective guided meditation.

Holly’s Tiffany Sidestep montage

While (at least so far) nothing can come close to how Kate Bush’s timeless “Running Up that Hill” figured into Season 4, ’80s pop hit “I Think We’re Alone Now” is spectacularly showcased in episode 3 this season, with Holly being gifted a Tiffany cassette tape by her strange new friend along with a totally tubular Sidestep stereo.

The sequence showing her dance and twirl while baking chocolate cakes with sprinkles and trying on pretty dresses is enough to make anyone want to go back to being a kid. Of course, as is so often artfully done on the show, the nostalgic glee soon gives way to a menacing feeling just underneath the surface, when Holly is interrupted by an insistent knock at the door and instructions to go into the woods.

‘Sorcerer’ Will Byers

The Duffers said they designed each batch of episodes this season to lead to its own climax, and boy, were they right when it comes to volume 1. At the end of episode 4 – titled “Sorcerer” – Will (Noah Schnapp) finally takes the offense against the Demogorgons, becoming something of a Vecna himself in the process. Speechless doesn’t even cut it.

There are still massive, pressing questions: Does his nose bleeding mean that he’s now become like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)? Or do those eyes indicate he is becoming Vecna himself?

Regardless of those answers, watching this character go from being pretty much the perpetual victim for four seasons to this new iteration is thrilling and opens up so many new possibilities. The hardest part now is waiting until Christmas, when Volume 2 premieres, to see how it all plays out next.

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