What Really Went Down at the Wheelers’ House in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 2
The danger finally hits home in Season 5, Episode 2, as a Demogorgon crashes through a new gate into the Wheelers’ house to snatch Holly. She slips its grasp and bolts to a rattled Karen, turning suburbia into a battleground.
Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 5. Episode 2 yanks the horror right into the Wheelers' living room, and yes, it gets ugly fast.
The Demogorgon pays the Wheelers a home visit
Holly is in her room when a gate rips open and a Demogorgon comes through. She bolts to her mom, Karen, who is already on edge after a tense visit to Holly's school and fed up with both the "imaginary friend" drama and Ted's total checked-out dad energy. Karen is drawing a bath when Holly races in, shaking, swearing there's a monster in her room. Karen starts with the usual reassurance... until she spots blood on Holly's head. That shuts down the pep talk real quick.
She pulls Holly into the tub, hides them both under the bubbles, and they hold their breath while the thing sniffs around the bathroom. It almost finds them. Almost.
Outside, Ted is literally playing golf on the lawn. He hears the chaos and heads inside. He takes a swing at the Demogorgon with his club, and it goes about how you think: the creature swats him down and leaves him in bad shape.
Seeing a window to run, Karen grabs Holly and makes for the stairs. The Demogorgon cuts them off in the kitchen. Karen smashes a wine bottle on the counter and goes right at it. For a second, you think maybe she pulls it off. Then Nancy and Eleven arrive to a nightmare: Karen crumpled and bleeding, Holly gone, and a fresh tear to the Upside Down yawning open. Karen can barely move, but she points right at the new gate.
Do Karen and Ted make it?
After the attack, it's confirmed the Demogorgon dragged Holly into the Upside Down. Karen and Ted are alive, but barely. Mike and Nancy trail their parents to the hospital, where doctors say Ted is being kept in an induced coma. Karen comes out of surgery, but her larynx is damaged, so she can't talk. The staff tells the kids to let her rest.
Nancy spirals into guilt, convinced she should have done more after the vision Vecna showed her back in Season 4. Later, she and Mike sneak into Karen's hospital room anyway. Karen can't speak, so she writes: Holly's so-called imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit, was actually Henry. Translation: Henry/Vecna is the one who took her.
Where the Wheelers stand right now
- Holly: abducted into the Upside Down
- Karen: survived surgery, injured larynx, communicating by writing
- Ted: alive, in an induced coma
- Nancy: wrecked with guilt over not acting sooner after Vecna's Season 4 vision
Cara Buono on finally letting Karen fight back
Cara Buono told Netflix that this was the comeback she'd been waiting for, calling Karen's Demogorgon showdown a long time coming. She said reading the episode made her laugh and choke up because it felt like everything had been building to this moment.
"It was so satisfying to finally see Karen get her big hero moment."
Buono also laughed about the reaction from Millie Bobby Brown, who apparently kept asking how in the world Karen survives that attack. Buono's response: she is absolutely not ready to be killed off.
Volume 1 leaves Hawkins rattled, Vecna stronger, and the Wheelers hanging by a thread. Volume 2 has a lot to answer for.
Stranger Things Season 5 is streaming on Netflix.