Stranger Things 5 pits the Hawkins gang against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and his Demogorgons once more, and it makes things personal with the disappearance of Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher). Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Nancy's (Natalia Dyer) little sister is relegated to the background for much of the Netflix show's run, but she's one of 12 children Vecna sets his sights on in the new episodes. This leads to a showdown at the Wheeler household that will go down in history as one of Stranger Things' best — and it's mostly thanks to the fight Karen (Cara Buono) puts up to save her daughter, even as she's drunk and unarmed.
In perhaps the boldest move since Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) picked up his iconic baseball bat in season 1, Karen puts herself between Holly and the Demogorgon, using nothing but a wine bottle to fend it off. She's drunk and wearing a nightgown, but that doesn't prevent her from landing a few impressive hits with the newly broken bottle. It's more than Ted (Joe Chrest) manages, anyway.
Matt and Ross Duffer broke down Karen's big moment for Vanity Fair, explaining how it came together. A lot of thought went into her stand against the Demogorgon, with everything from the music to her weapon of choice setting the scene in a believable way. Certain details — like the geography of the space and the perspective shift — also factored into the sequence's impact,
How Karen Wheeler's big stand came together in Stranger Things 5
Discussing the details of the Wheeler attack, the Duffers emphasized the importance of establishing the geography of the family's home. Ross referenced classics like Jurassic Park, Home Alone, and Panic Room, all of which get this element right — and inspired them to as well.
"You have to really establish, even before the home invasion comes, you want to establish the space and geography," Ross explained. "You want the characters and audience to both understand that."
Holly running from her bedroom to the bathroom offers some idea of the setup, but it helps that the Wheelers and Byers are shown in the house before this pivotal sequence. Fans get the lay of the land before the Demogorgon arrives, and so, we're better able to focus on the action.
"Fernando" by ABBA plays in the background as the Demogorgon attempts to abduct Holly, but the song wasn't always in the script. The Duffers recalled that they considered "a bunch of different songs," with this one eventually being recommended by the show's music supervisor, Nora Felder.
"What we really liked about this was just the juxtaposition," Ross remembered. "It's just the last song you'd be expecting to play when a monster's attacking, but it's definitely a song that you believe a drunk Karen would be listening to as she got into the bathtub."
"Fernando" ends up fitting the moment for that reason, and as Matt pointed out, it's "not overused." It's also in line with Stranger Things' unique tone, which often blends darker themes with more lighthearted dialogue and details, such as Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Suzie's (Gabriella Pizzolo) musical moment during season 3's climax.
Of course, Karen has no idea that monsters exist until this moment of the show, despite her children fighting them for the last four outings. Her first clue that something is off is the blood on the back of Holly's head when she runs into the bathroom, though the Demogorgon's approach makes it clear there's a threat outside the door. According to Matt, Signs was another big influence here.
Karen's obliviousness for the first four seasons of Stranger Things is what led the Duffers to choose her weapon, too: a wine bottle, which she breaks and lunges at the monster with.
"One way that she convinced herself that Karen would be unaware of this is that Karen is always, in almost every scene, at least a little bit drunk," Ross said. "And so, as we were divising this Wheeler house attack, we thought it would be really fun — and Cara agreed — that she's not sober in the moment. And what then made it more fun is like, 'What would her weapon of choice be?' And then we realized, but there's also this wine bottle. Which may be less realistic in terms of how deadly it would be, but it felt appropriate that Karen would weaponize her alcoholism against this beast."
The Wheeler kids drive home the emotional stakes of Episode 2's attack
Stranger Things spends a decent amount of time focused on Karen in its earlier seasons, at least for a character who isn't normally involved in the show's supernatural storylines. However, the Duffers ramped up the emotional stakes of her big moment by focusing on her kids during and after it.
Although the original plan was for the attack and the aftermath to play out in a linear fashion, the pair admitted that shifting perspectives at the end was a deliberate decision to make it more powerful. Netflix wasn't initially sure about this choice, but revealing Karen's fate through Nancy paid off.
"It just seemed much more interesting to do it in a non-linear fashion, to switch from her point of view to Nancy's point of view," Matt explained.
"You wanted to feel what Nancy felt like in that moment," Ross added. "You wanted the audience to be with Nancy in the horror when she sees Karen like this."
Making us care for Holly also factored into this, giving viewers yet another person to worry about. We want Karen to succeed, not just because her life depends on it, but because Holly's does too.
“Before this, Holly has been in the show, but really, in a small role," Matt explained. "So really, this is the first time she’s taking center stage. And so, we tried to spend a lot of the first episode allowing the audience to really get to know her and care for her. So, once you put her in a scary, dangerous situation, you’re really worried about what’s going to happen to her."
Unfortunately, Vecna gets what he wants in the end, but the Wheelers might have a comeback if Holly can escape from Camazotz. In fact, Holly could be the key to saving everyone in Stranger Things 5. We'll have to wait until Volume 2 to see how her story pans out.
Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2 debuts on December 25.