All the parents in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 2 “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” were annoying me. Mrs. Wheeler gets a pass because she’s a BAMF. But it’s never been as clear that the party are adults than in this episode. Because the parents? They don’t want to let their kids face this alone like they’ve previously done. And because of that, they are making things infinitely more complicated. And yes, I’m including Steve in this.
The mystery of “What is Vecna up to?” also unfolds in surprising but also expected ways. Because I knew as soon as there was some mysterious figure not seen by anyone that it was going to be Jamie Campbell Bower in his Henry form instead of Vecna. And personally, I didn’t remember him being able to do this, use a human form. But what if he’s been able to do this all along? Also, he followed after his Papa and saw how children were the way to access something infinitely powerful. That’s why they haven’t been able to find him after 37 crawls.
Vecna has been preparing to take all the children. But what he hasn’t accounted for, or even truly understood, is that our heroes aren’t doing it alone. They’ve got a party.
MORE: Need a reminder of the previous episode? Read our review for Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1!
We Need to Talk About Karen Wheeler
Before I dive into how annoying a lot of the parents were in “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,” I want to talk about Karen. Because like Holly, she has been kind of in the background of everything that was happening to her children. That’s what happens in shows when children are the ones who save the day. But now the children are adults and that changes the dynamics with the adults. Stranger Things has taken that change and made it so the parents are more involved, especially Karen in this episode.
And I’m not going to lie, she did annoy me in the beginning when she wasn’t really believing Holly that there was a monster in the house. But as soon as she saw that blood, she locked in. She thought quickly about what needed to be done and she hid with her baby. And then when it really came down to it, when she was face-to-face with the demogorgon, she did not flitch for 1 second. And it’s giving Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley in Aliens when the queen was going after Newt. The Queen wasn’t going to kill Newt because Ellen was there. And the demogorgon wasn’t going to kill Holly because Karen was there.
Out of all the scenes that I’ve seen so far in Stranger Things Season 5, this one with Karen absolutely broke me. She was faced with this hideous monster made from nightmares. And she didn’t hesitate. She fought for her daughter with everything that she had in her. And now I understand where Nancy gets it from. Because I clocked her as a force to be reckoned with since the first time that girl held a gun. But that boldness, that bravery, that didn’t come out of nowhere. That came from Karen. And I really hope that Karen pulls through because I can’t have a parent die so early in Stranger Things Season 5. Or any of them really.
MORE: Have your watched Stranger Things on Broadway? Because it’s soooo worth it! Read our review.
Then There’s the Rest of the Parents
As much as I love Hopper, the way he talks to El really bothered me in Season 5 Episode 2. He calls her names and it’s supposed to be excused because he holds affection for her and worries for her. But why would you treat someone you love and care about in this way? Maybe Hopper was treated like this by his own father and that’s the only thing he knows how to do. But I got really annoyed at how he was treating her because she’s not a stupid kid. She’s a young adult facing insurmountable odds. And she needs support and trust first, despite the fears Hopper might have of losing her.
Trust is what it comes down to in Season 5 of Stranger Things. Trust in the fact that the dynamics are changing between the children and the parents. Like I mentioned in my Episode 1 review for Season 5, the outside is finally matching the inside for the party. And that has shaken all the parents. They want to protect their kids in the same way that Joyce wants to protect Will. But I need them to get quicker to the realization that their brave children are the way that they are because of how these parents raised them.
While we’re talking about parents, I did want to take a moment to talk about Steve and Dustin.
I know that the internet jokes a lot about Steve Harrington being a mother of six. There’s also the babysitter jokes. But we can’t deny that Steve cares for Dustin like if he was his own instead of just like a little brother. Nevertheless, I was really annoyed by the way that he was berating Dustin. Dustin isn’t his child. That’s a fact. But you care for him, right? So I don’t understand why Stranger Things is going down this route that making Steve kind of mean to the point where I’m like, “Season 1 Steve, is that you?” Because I don’t recognize this Steve. This isn’t our babysitter.
But I guess if I’m giving the rest of the parents the benefit of the doubt as dynamics change with their children, I have to give Steve the benefit of the doubt as his dynamics change with one of the most important people in his life. Dustin.
There’s Another Thing That Annoyed Me About Steve
When it comes to Stranger Things, Steve Harrington is my favorite character. So much so that I have a tattoo of a bat with nails on my arm. So please understand when I say that Steve annoyed me in Episode 2, it’s coming from a place of love. Yes, the whole parenting thing with Dustin annoyed me. But it’s the conversation with Jonathan in the van that really grated on me and reminded me of Steve in Season 1. And it feels to me like Stranger Things is kind of regressing him a little bit to the point where it doesn’t make sense to me as a viewer.
Steve is not innocent in trying to catch Nancy’s attention.
That’s why I’m glad that Jonathan called Steve out. Because whatever problems are happening between Nancy and Jonathan, that’s their problem. Steve is adding to the problems by being competitive for Nancy’s attention. If you’re really her friend, you wouldn’t have to compete with her boyfriend for her attention. And I know in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1 I mentioned that I liked those moments of levity in between all the Vecna drama. (I’m talking about the one scene where they raced up that tower cuz reasons.) But that levity did have some bigger conversations bubbling right underneath the surface.
All of this doesn’t mean I’m going to jump ship and just write Steve off. Stranger Things has done a good enough job to give me prime examples of how stressed all of them are. They’re trying to stop Vecna and save the world after all. But I need the show to steer this ship back around, give us the Steve we know and love, and please end this useless love triangle. Because Nancy’s not into it. And I honestly don’t think that Steve and Nancy made a good couple in Season 1 and they wouldn’t make a good couple now. I said, what I said.
Lucas Really Proving Why He’s the Best
I love that Lucas immediately understood that the disappearance of Holly was weird. That gives me a little bit more faith in Stranger Things that they’re not just going to make their characters willfully ignorant of what’s happening around them because of “the plot.” I always hate that, especially in high stress situations like they’re all in. But luckily we have Lucas talking sense into Mike and Nancy when they needed it the most.
Also, just because Lucas is providing council or clarity to Mike and Nancy, doesn’t mean that he’s just that. Too often characters of color are used to progress the storylines of other people and then they just disappear into the back. That doesn’t happen with Lucas. He’s part of their team. Lucas is up in the towers helping the party during operations, backing up his friends in the face of bullies, and trying to get Max back home. He’s a young man of incredible character and the fact that I’m loving him so much scares me because TV rules dictate that puts him closer to death. That’s what happens when you love a character.
Lucas was also the one that really made me cry this episode. I cried for Mrs. Wheeler, especially that scene of Nancy washing her hands of her mother’s blood. I also cried when Hopper was recounting the bravery of his daughter. But there is something about Lucas talking to Max that just broke me. I really wholeheartedly think it’s Caleb McLaughlin. He’s a phenomenal actor and I will stand 10 toes down that the best scene of Stranger Things as a whole was Season 4 Episode 9 when he was holding Max and calling for Erica. That broke me then and this scene broke me now.
MORE: Already watched the next episode? Read our review for Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 3!
Additional thoughts about Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 2:
- The more flashbacks we get of Will dealing with Vecna the more I’m like, “Wow, this kind, out of all of them, he needs therapy. Because he went through a lot.”
- No doubt about it that the next episode in Season 5 is going to dip back into Henry’s past. Or at least we think so.
- Because he has found a way to breach our world and overwhelm his enemy aka the party. And he’s doing that by taking the children.
- But you can’t do a story about the children without giving us more backstory about the child that started this aka Henry Creel.
- So hopefully casual Stranger Things viewers will get to know more about what people who watch Stranger Things on Broadway already know.
- Ted is kind of useless but he did hit the demogorgon and he did enter the house with his club ready when he noticed something was wrong.
- For a second there I was really concerned about Robin taking Will out of the station. It was kind of stupid. But I also feared that maybe she was trying to separate him off because she was taken over by Vecna or something.
- But like the rest of the gang, she’s trying to save the world while also thinking about her daily life. And she knows that Will saw her and Vickie. She’s terrified.
- Shout out to Nancy Wheeler who had a nasty man call her “sweetheart” and she found a way to get things done.
- Also 10 out of 10 for Mike’s limp.
- He too has a lot going on and I really like that he listened to Lucas and then teamed up with his sister to get some answers.
- I still think he’s going to die though.
- Sorry?
Stranger Things Season 5 Episodes 1 through 4 are now available on Netflix.
What did you think about Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 2 “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler”? Let us know in the comments below!
Read all our reviews for Stranger Things Season 5 below:
