Stranger Things Midseason-Finale Recap: The Kid With the Powers

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As you watch and talk about “Sorcerer,” remember that it’s just the halfway point of the season. There have already been huge reveals, and we still have the rest of the final season of Stranger Things to go! The action sequence in the MAC-Z felt like something you’d expect in a finale, so if this is the level of intensity now, I can’t imagine what’s coming next. Honestly, I’m completely drained—but in a good way!

Normally, finding out what Max has been experiencing in Henry’s mental prison would be a highlight, but this episode has so much going on that it feels less important. Sadie Sink does a great job delivering a lot of necessary information, but this storyline mainly serves as a pause in the action. Max explains everything that happened in season four to Holly, then fills her in on what occurred after Max died and was brought back to life, leading to her current comatose state. Essentially, Max figures out she’s stuck in a labyrinth of Henry’s memories. We revisit the traumatic Hawkins Lab massacre (again), she wanders through a 1959 version of Hawkins High, and ultimately ends up facing Henry’s memories of her.

Max nearly breaks free thanks to Lucas. Surprisingly, playing Kate Bush repeatedly at the hospital actually helps. When Max revisits the memory of the night Henry killed her and hears the music, she finds a way to escape. She starts running, but the tape ends, leaving her trapped again. Lucas tries to rewind it, but it’s too slow – remembering a time before digital music is tough! – and Henry finds her. Since then, she’s been hiding in a cave, a place Henry seems afraid to enter. She’s given up on escaping the mental prison until Holly arrives with a plan. Holly needs more time, so she’s sent back to the Creel house to act like everything is normal.

While Max’s journey and eventual reunion with Lucas are significant, there are currently more urgent problems happening throughout the rest of the story.

The Demogorgon finds its way to the farm where Joyce, Will, Robin, and Erica are keeping the Turnbow family hostage and immediately runs into Joyce, who is armed with a shovel. It’s clear the Demogorgon underestimated the mothers of Hawkins! Luckily, Joyce doesn’t have to fight it alone for long—the team tracking the monster (Steve, Dustin, Nancy, and Jonathan) drives right into it with the Beamer, knocking it down and forcing it to retreat through a gate that opens in a nearby silo. Steve continues to prove he’s a lifesaver with his vehicle-based rescues. However, their victory is short-lived: because the Demogorgon was so close to Will, Will experiences the impact of the car hitting it as if it happened to him.

The team searching for the creature doesn’t realize their friend Will is suffering on the barn floor – they’re too focused on following the signal from the tracking device. Then, Steve impulsively decides to drive through the silo gate as it’s closing, and Nancy surprisingly encourages him, telling him to go for it from the backseat. Honestly, a kiss between these two would be nice, but the situation is too messy for romance right now.

Okay, so Steve’s wild idea actually worked – we somehow made it into the Upside Down! But things immediately went south when we slammed right into this huge wall. Honestly, the crash just made everyone even more on edge. We were all already snapping at each other, and now it was even worse. We managed to get through to Hopper and Eleven, hoping El could help us get the car unstuck. They were dealing with their own stuff, but Hopper did give us a clue: they’d hit the same wall, but in different places. Dustin, being the genius he is, did some crazy calculations way over my head, and figured out the wall is actually a giant circle… with Hawkins Lab right in the middle! It wasn’t a huge shock, honestly, we knew we’d end up back where everything began, but it’s still a little scary. We have no idea how to get through this wall yet, but I guess that’s a problem for next time.

Why are Hopper and Eleven focusing on a dangerous mission instead of helping their friends with a simple car problem? They’re determined to investigate a military base in the Upside Down, believing it’s connected to Vecna. Even Hopper thinks this plan doesn’t make much sense considering what they know about Vecna’s goals, but he supports Eleven anyway. He phrases it as wanting to test their skills, but it’s essentially the same idea.

Getting into the base proves difficult, starting with the perimeter guards. Eleven manages a daring jump over the fence and onto the roof, taking out a guard in the process. However, that single act sets off a chain reaction: the injured guard wakes up, alerts reinforcements, and warns Dr. Kay that Eleven is inside. Once inside, Eleven is weakened by a powerful, amplified noise that disrupts her powers. Fortunately, Hopper fights off the incoming guards with ease, but he’s suddenly captured by a vine – the same one seen in the lab’s container. Kay uses this opportunity to interrogate Hopper while he’s being choked, and she cruelly manipulates the room’s temperature – knowing heat weakens creatures from the Upside Down – to torment him. While Kay appears completely villainous when dealing with Hopper, her initial reaction to Eleven is surprisingly curious, suggesting a potential twist in her character.

Regardless, El drags herself out into the room and distracts Kay long enough for Very Tall Hopper to kick the temperature controls to high heat and get out of the vines (was he having flashbacks to season two?). He ties Kay up and grabs her access card — the one that will open the hallway to the vault where Eleven believes they are leeching all of Vecna’s power out of the guy to use for this kryptonite. But Hopper isn’t letting El anywhere near Vecna. He breaks open a window and tells her to go and connect with Nancy — he is going into the vault to face Vecna or whatever is in there alone. And finally we get to see what Hop has been hiding from everyone — in that bag hidden in his room, in his jacket that he’s been fiddling with, he’s strapped a bunch of dynamite to his chest as a fail-safe. “I will not risk losing you,” he tells her. Once again, Hopper gets this big, emotional moment in which he tells Eleven how proud he is of her. How he loves her. He calls her Jane. This is a man prepared to die!

Eleven calls out to Hopper as he heads down the hall, but she can’t stop him with kryptonite radiating throughout the room. He clutches the detonator, walking towards the vault, and keeps seeing Sarah in his mind. Is he really going to give his life?

Oh no, they tricked us again! Seriously, Stranger Things, how many times? It’s hard to even be mad, though, because there’s a good reason Hopper didn’t make that huge sacrifice. It wasn’t Vecna hooked up to the machine to create the kryptonite. The sound cuts out, and we realize Eleven never actually left the lab – she refused to leave Hopper, which honestly made me a little emotional. She follows him down the hall and into the vault, and that’s when we see who’s really strapped to the machine: Eight, his sister.

That episode in season two where Eleven goes to find Eight wasn’t very good, but it does lead to something positive. After a long wait, you might think, “It’s great we finally have two people with superpowers to fight Vecna!” However, that turns out to be an overestimation – there’s actually only one.

We still have to talk about Will the Wise.

When Will emerges from the hive mind back in the barn, he’s deeply shaken. He’s witnessed disturbing visions before, but this experience is particularly awful. Echoing the strange drawings from season two, Will frantically paints what he saw on the barn door: twelve massive red towers. He depicts Holly connected to one of these towers, mirroring his own experience in the library, and shows three other children Vecna has abducted while everyone was preoccupied with Derek. If Will’s vision is accurate, Vecna intends to capture eight more children. The reasons behind targeting children and the significance of the number twelve remain unclear, though Vecna’s obsession with clocks might offer a clue. For now, the explanation will have to wait.

You won’t believe what Mike and Lucas just told us! It turns out there’s more than one group after the kids of Hawkins. Dr. Kay and the military have actually gathered up all 73 of the nine and ten-year-olds, bringing them to the MAC-Z barracks, supposedly to keep them safe. They think Eleven is behind it, which is weird because Dr. Kay admitted she doesn’t even care why Eleven might be moving the kids – whether it’s to hurt them or help them. But the point is, they’ve rounded up all the potential targets for Vecna in one place, and honestly, everyone knows the military isn’t going to be able to protect them from what’s coming.

If you were already shocked by the Turnbow Trap, you might want to brace yourself. The team has a new, and frankly terrifying, plan. It still involves kidnapping children, but this time they’re taking inspiration from the movie The Great Escape. They’re sending Derek undercover at the MAC-Z facility, posing as a student. His mission is to identify which of the children have been spotted by Mr. Whatsit – those are the kids Vecna is after. Lucas perfectly sums up how we’re all feeling when he says he can’t believe the world’s fate rests on Derek Turnbow. But Joyce has faith in him, reminding him that he’s capable of being more than just someone people dismiss.

While Derek keeps the children safe in the barracks, the rest of the team will use the tunnels running underneath it. They plan to break into a bathroom from below, signal Derek to begin bringing the kids down, and then guide them through the tunnels to Murray’s truck for a quick escape from Hawkins.

Things are going smoothly for a while, and even Derek steps up when needed – everyone could use a friend like Joyce Byers! Surprisingly, there’s even time for some important emotional growth. Robin observes a conversation between Will and Mike where Mike starts to think Will might be able to connect with the hive mind, similar to Vecna. He suggests Will has natural abilities that could be helpful. Robin also clearly sees how much Will still loves Mike, which explains why he’s been so curious about her relationship with Vickie.

Walking through the tunnels, she slowed down to share her story with him, explaining how she came to terms with her identity. She spoke about a past relationship with someone she called Tone-Deaf Tammy, and how losing Tammy felt like losing everything. But then, she rediscovered an old video of herself as a happy, confident child – someone she barely recognized. This made her realize she was searching for a deeper understanding of herself, trying to figure out why she felt incomplete and why she was afraid of the truth. With tears in her eyes, she told Will, “I already knew all the answers, I just needed to overcome my fear.” Once she did, she felt a sense of liberation and possibility. Will understood exactly why she was sharing this with him, and despite the critical situation they were in, her words resonated deeply and gave him exactly what he needed to hear.

The plan to rescue the eight children from the barracks was going smoothly, despite some awkward and inappropriate jokes (it’s worrying why Lucas thinks it’s okay to talk about such things), until they accidentally broke a water pipe, flooding the bathroom. Even though Will, Mike, and Derek tried their best, they were discovered mid-rescue by a snitching kid, and the flooding room compromised their efforts. Robin managed to get the first three kids to Murray, and Lucas followed close behind with two more through the tunnels. Unfortunately, Mike, Will, Joyce, and the remaining children were caught inside the MAC-Z.

That’s the cue for the Demogorgons to appear. Whoever decided flickering lights should signal their approach deserves an award – it instantly builds suspense and creates an atmosphere of dread. The lights in the MAC-Z start going wild, and Will can feel the hive mind pressing on him. The metal barrier they erected over the gate to the Upside Down – which always seemed like a flimsy solution – proves useless. Demogorgons begin breaking through, one after another. It was never strong enough to contain them. While dozens of soldiers try to fight them off, Derek was right: they’re no match for these creatures.

The barrier between the real world and the Upside Down is weakening, and Demos are creating openings everywhere. Three emerge and pursue Murray, Robin, and three of Vecna’s victims in a truck. Two more appear in the tunnels, trapping Lucas and the two kids he’s with. Meanwhile, at the MAC-Z facility, Mike tries to guide Joyce, Will (who is intensely feeling the attacks on the Demos), and the remaining children to safety. The entire scene is filmed with shaky handheld cameras, making it chaotic and intense.

For a brief time, it looks like the heroes might actually succeed. A soldier uses a flamethrower, knocking out the Demos – and unfortunately, Will as well. It seems like they have a real chance of winning.

Vecna arrives through the gate, and it’s clear he’s become much more powerful since we last saw him. He effortlessly throws people around and uses his mind to summon explosive devices, even completely incinerating Sullivan. He’s incredibly brutal, demonstrated by moments like shoving his claw-like fingers through someone’s head and gouging out their eyes – a tactic he clearly favors.

Vecna summons his creatures and starts pulling the children he’s been watching into the Upside Down. He then focuses on Will, the person he truly wanted to confront. Joyce tries to intervene, but Vecna easily brushes her aside. He raises Will into the air and explains his motives: children are vulnerable, easily broken, and susceptible to his control. He reveals he knows this because he already manipulated Will, stating, “You were the first, and you broke so easily.” Will, terrified and paralyzed with fear, demonstrated to Vecna the extent of his power.

The notion that children are helpless is actually the opposite of what Stranger Things truly explores. Throughout the series, it’s been a story about courageous kids—the ones who stand up for what’s right and don’t give up, even when facing danger. It’s fitting that the villain misjudges this, underestimating the very people who hold the most power—like Will Byers.

Vecna throws Will to the ground and retreats back to the Upside Down. He’s collected enough children to move forward with his plan, sending them after Will’s friends to attack. Lying hurt and feeling lost, Will remembers Robin’s advice: the answers he needs are within himself. Once he stops being afraid and understands that, he can break free.

The scene shifts to a home video showing young Will meeting Mike for the first time. We see him discovering his passion for drawing and building the iconic Castle Byers with Jonathan. He appears genuinely happy and carefree.

The three Demogorgons were about to attack Will’s friends, but when Mike braced himself for the attack, he saw one of the creatures frozen in mid-air. He realized something – or someone – was holding it back. He looked at Will, who was standing and staring with a distant, almost trance-like expression, his arm outstretched like Eleven’s. Will was using his newfound powers to restrain all three Demogorgons. Then, just like Vecna, he broke their bones, causing them to fall. Will collapsed to his knees, a small amount of blood running from his nose. It was clear Will Byers has powers, and he’s no longer afraid to use them.

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2025-11-27 21:02