Episode 6 of Stranger Things 5 ends on a cliffhanger as Max and Holly run to their respective portals back to the real world, and the show doesn’t waste any time showing us what happens next. Episode 7, titled “The Bridge,” wraps up Volume 2 with more information about the Upside Down and another grand plan to take down Vecna.
We recapped and reviewed Stranger Things season 5 episode 7, “The Bridge,” live here.
“The Bridge” kicks off with Max waking up in the hospital, which is, as expected, a very emotional scene. The ending of episode 7 annoyed me, but this brought me back a bit. Eleven, Hopper, and Kali arrive at the hospital and get to join in on the reunion, too. But it’s not all cheer, because they’ve still got a lot of work to do. Max tells the group that Vecna will know she escaped and will be looking for her.
Where Holly ends up
Then Mike asks the big question: where’s Holly?
We cut to Holly captured in Vecna’s lair with the other children, held up by the tentacles and having the mysterious liquid inserted into her mouth. She’s able to break out and coughs out an ominous black shadow before running away and finding a frightening, ruined desert. Vecna, who hangs above in his resting state, awakens.
At long last, Steve and Dustin reach Jonathan and Nancy and break them out of the goo-filled room. Dustin shows the group Dr. Brenner’s notebook, which he reveals was from 1983. What he’s read suggests Holly isn’t in the Upside Down after all. We then follow Holly running away from Vecna in the desert when she sees a red, glowing light coming from a break in the ground. Scared, she jumps through the crack and ends up falling down to the Upside Down.
As Holly screams, falling from the sky, Nancy hears her and recognizes her voice.
Mr. Clarke, Erica, and Murray are still trying with their telemetry project, conducting a balloon experiment near the school. Fortunately, they’re able to pinpoint Dustin’s location. Erica uses her walkie-talkie to inform Lucas at the hospital, and the group sneaks out without the military seeing.
Karen wants to come to help save Holly, but she’s in bad shape, and Mike convinces her to stay in the hospital for her health.
Will and Joyce learn that Max is back, but Will is still more scared than relieved. He thinks back to what Vecna told him, that he plans for him to help him once more, and he feels helpless. He tells Joyce about building the tunnels and expresses guilt that so many people died because of it.
A quick trip to the Upside Down
The hospital crew meets up with Mr. Clarke, Erica, and Murray at the coordinates—and, funny enough, no one told Mr. Clarke about the Upside Down, so he’s incredibly confused—and they successfully contact Dustin. Their walkie-talkie signal is poor, but they hear enough of what sounds like Dustin saying they’ve found Holly.
For some reason, the group doesn’t wait for Dustin and co. to come back to the real world, deciding, instead, to go to the Upside Down. Is it just me, or does that not make sense at all? Anyway, Eleven, Hopper, Kali, Mike, Robin, Murray, Erica, and Mr. Clarke all journey into the Upside Down and find Dustin, Jonathan, Steve, and Nancy. But, to their surprise, Holly isn’t with them.
We get a flashback now to Nancy hearing Holly’s scream. Along with Dustin, Jonathan, and Steve, she follows Holly’s voice and sees her in mid-air, but she’s no longer falling down. She’s being sucked back up into the sky by something that has a hold of her, but they don’t see what—or who—it is.
Of course, Vecna is to blame, who we then see walking with Holly trailing behind, unconscious and floating in the air. He hooks her back up to the tentacles in his lair.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kay and the military navigate the aftermath of the Demodog attack at the hospital, and Akers is told there’s a breach at the old lab.
Finally, the whole group is back in the real world now—minus Holly—and Will and Joyce reunite with Max. Max feels regretful over leaving Holly, which… duh? Why did you do that, Max? How were you so certain that Holly couldn’t have gone with you?
What the Upside Down really is
Now that the group has gathered, Dustin is ready to show everyone what he’s learned from Dr. Brenner’s notebook. He draws a map of the Upside Down to demonstrate, explaining that there’s an inter-dimensional bridge held by exotic matter, connecting a wormhole to Hawkins. He dubs the place where the Mind Flayer, the Demogorgons, and all the Upside Down monsters live “the Abyss,” speculating that Vecna must’ve been there when they conducted their crawls.
Max then cuts in, explaining that Vecna wants to move worlds, and Will elaborates, saying that Vecna intends to merge Hawkins with the Abyss, remaking the world. And, if Lucas’s November 6 theory is right, Vecna is going to do this tonight. Now, they need a new plan.
But first, back to Holly. Henry brings her back to Creel House, and the other kids are concerned for her. Henry informs them that they need Holly on their side if they want to save the world tonight, prompting them to try and convince her to trust him.
The latest plan
Hopper comes up with an initial plan for the group, which entails flying a helicopter into the Abyss. No one agrees, though, and they begin arguing. Steve hears something that sparks a “beanstalk” idea, and he cuts in, suggesting a plan in which Eleven and Kali kill Vecna and save the kids. Dustin adds that they’ll drop a bomb on the exotic matter, so the bridge collapses, and the creatures are destroyed.
It’s not the perfect plan by any means—it never is—but it’s all they’ve got, so they get moving on their next crawl.
Back at Creel House, as the kids try to convince Holly she’s wrong about Henry, she confronts Derek for not helping like he said he would. But what she doesn’t know is that Henry threatened Derek, so he lies to the other kids to save himself. Holly runs away, but the kids chase her, breaking off the necklace on which she carried her Holly the Heroic figure as she falls down the stairs.
Ahead of the crawl, Joyce and Hopper speak alone, and Hopper shares his concerns about Eleven and Kali. He very clearly doesn’t trust Kali, and he’ll do anything to protect Eleven. Meanwhile, in a moment alone, Steve acknowledges how hard Eddie’s death must have been on Dustin, and he admits that he’s missed him. Dustin sheds a tear and they hug, making up for a second time.
Kali proposes a fatal plan
Eleven and Kali have a moment alone, too, while sharing their minds. Eleven says that when they blow up the Abyss, they can blow up the lab, too, but Kali claims they’ll just build a new lab with a new version of Dr. Kay. She believes it’s a permanent cycle they’ll never be able to stop for good—that is, unless they sacrifice themselves. She suggests staying on the bridge when it’s blown up.
Before the group can head out, we get a super heartfelt scene that’s a long time coming. Will talks to Joyce alone, explaining that Vecna can see all of his memories and secrets. But he doesn’t want to have secrets anymore.
Will’s coming out scene
He gathers the group and delivers an emotional speech, which culminates with him stating that he doesn’t “like girls.” Of course, this is met with hugs and support from the group, which only empowers him. He turns to Eleven and tells her that she can defeat Vecna, but he’ll have to be there, too.
As determined as ever, Murray drives a group to the Mac-Z, Hopper and Nancy shooting soldiers who challenge them as they enter the Upside Down, Dr. Kay watching as it happens.
Volume 2 concludes with a final scene at Creel House, seeing the kids gather at the dining room table—Holly, too, with a gash on her head—with Henry at the end. He lights candles and tells them it’s time. They all hold hands, and he takes control over them.
It’s nowhere near as intense as the final moments of Volume 1, but the ending of Volume 2 gets us ready for what’s to come in the finale: one last showdown against Vecna. And while he might be more powerful than anyone else, he’s also outnumbered—especially once or if the children come to their senses.
It’s worth noting that the season is already introducing the possibility of Eleven sacrificing herself to save the world. Of course, this is a very painfully obvious way the show could end, and the fact that they’re introducing it now makes me hopeful it won’t happen.
Stranger Things loves to subvert expectations, and it also has an aversion to killing off main characters. The stakes are too low in this season, yes, but killing off Eleven would be terribly cliché. So don’t do it, please and thank you, Stranger Things writers!
Episode grade: B
The Stranger Things series finale premieres on Dec. 31 on Netflix and in select theaters. Keep reading Winter is Coming for more coverage of the final season!