{"id":372915,"date":"2025-12-26T11:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372915\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T11:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:48:13","slug":"the-upside-down-explained-kalis-deadly-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372915\/","title":{"rendered":"The Upside Down explained, Kali’s deadly plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t waste any time showing us what happens next. Episode 7, titled \u201cThe Bridge,\u201d wraps up Volume 2 with more information about the Upside Down and another grand plan to take down Vecna.<\/p>\n

We recapped and reviewed Stranger Things season 5 episode 7, \u201cThe Bridge,\u201d live here.<\/p>\n

\"Nell<\/p>\n

Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bridge\u201d 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\u2019s not all cheer, because they\u2019ve still got a lot of work to do. Max tells the group that Vecna will know she escaped and will be looking for her. <\/p>\n

Where Holly ends up<\/p>\n

Then Mike asks the big question: where\u2019s Holly?<\/p>\n

We cut to Holly captured in Vecna\u2019s lair with the other children, held up by the tentacles and having the mysterious liquid inserted into her mouth. She\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s notebook, which he reveals was from 1983. What he\u2019s read suggests Holly isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\"Nell<\/p>\n

Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

As Holly screams, falling from the sky, Nancy hears her and recognizes her voice.<\/p>\n

Mr. Clarke, Erica, and Murray are still trying with their telemetry project, conducting a balloon experiment near the school. Fortunately, they\u2019re able to pinpoint Dustin\u2019s location. Erica uses her walkie-talkie to inform Lucas at the hospital, and the group sneaks out without the military seeing. <\/p>\n

Karen wants to come to help save Holly, but she\u2019s in bad shape, and Mike convinces her to stay in the hospital for her health.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Noah<\/p>\n

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

A quick trip to the Upside Down<\/p>\n

The hospital crew meets up with Mr. Clarke, Erica, and Murray at the coordinates\u2014and, funny enough, no one told Mr. Clarke about the Upside Down, so he\u2019s incredibly confused\u2014and they successfully contact Dustin. Their walkie-talkie signal is poor, but they hear enough of what sounds like Dustin saying they\u2019ve found Holly.<\/p>\n

For some reason, the group doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t with them.<\/p>\n

We get a flashback now to Nancy hearing Holly\u2019s scream. Along with Dustin, Jonathan, and Steve, she follows Holly\u2019s voice and sees her in mid-air, but she\u2019s no longer falling down. She\u2019s being sucked back up into the sky by something that has a hold of her, but they don\u2019t see what\u2014or who\u2014it is.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie<\/p>\n

Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna and Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dr. Kay and the military navigate the aftermath of the Demodog attack at the hospital, and Akers is told there\u2019s a breach at the old lab.<\/p>\n

Finally, the whole group is back in the real world now\u2014minus Holly\u2014and Will and Joyce reunite with Max. Max feels regretful over leaving Holly, which\u2026 duh? Why did you do that, Max? How were you so certain that Holly couldn\u2019t have gone with you?<\/p>\n

What the Upside Down really is<\/p>\n

Now that the group has gathered, Dustin is ready to show everyone what he\u2019s learned from Dr. Brenner\u2019s notebook. He draws a map of the Upside Down to demonstrate, explaining that there\u2019s 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 \u201cthe Abyss,\u201d <\/a>speculating that Vecna must\u2019ve been there when they conducted their crawls.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s November 6 theory is right, Vecna is going to do this tonight. Now, they need a new plan.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The latest plan\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Keery as Steve Harrington and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

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 \u201cbeanstalk\u201d idea, and he cuts in, suggesting a plan in which Eleven and Kali kill Vecna and save the kids. Dustin adds that they\u2019ll drop a bomb on the exotic matter, so the bridge collapses, and the creatures are destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the perfect plan by any means\u2014it never is\u2014but it\u2019s all they\u2019ve got, so they get moving on their next crawl.<\/p>\n

\"Nell<\/p>\n

Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

Back at Creel House, as the kids try to convince Holly she\u2019s wrong about Henry, she confronts Derek for not helping like he said he would. But what she doesn\u2019t know is that Henry threatened\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the crawl, Joyce and Hopper speak alone, and Hopper shares his concerns about Eleven and Kali. He very clearly doesn\u2019t trust Kali, and he\u2019ll do anything to protect Eleven. Meanwhile, in a moment alone, Steve acknowledges how hard Eddie\u2019s death must have been on Dustin, and he admits that he\u2019s missed him. Dustin sheds a tear and they hug, making up for a second time.<\/p>\n

Kali proposes a fatal plan<\/p>\n

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\u2019ll just build a new lab with a new version of Dr. Kay. She believes it\u2019s a permanent cycle they\u2019ll never be able to stop for good\u2014that is, unless they sacrifice themselves. She suggests staying on the bridge when it\u2019s blown up.<\/p>\n

Before the group can head out, we get a super heartfelt scene that\u2019s a long time coming. Will talks to Joyce alone, explaining that Vecna can see all of his memories and secrets. But he doesn\u2019t want to have secrets anymore. <\/p>\n

Will\u2019s coming out scene<\/p>\n

He gathers the group and delivers an emotional speech, which culminates with him stating that he doesn\u2019t \u201clike girls.\u201d 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\u2019ll have to be there, too.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volume 2 concludes with a final scene at Creel House, seeing the kids gather at the dining room table\u2014Holly, too, with a gash on her head\u2014with Henry at the end. He lights candles and tells them it\u2019s time. They all hold hands, and he takes control over them.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie<\/p>\n

Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel in Stranger Things: Season 5. | Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nowhere near as intense as the final moments of Volume 1, but the ending of Volume 2 gets us ready for what\u2019s to come in the finale: one last showdown against Vecna. And while he might be more powerful than anyone else, he\u2019s also outnumbered\u2014especially once or if the children come to their senses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019re introducing it now makes me hopeful it won\u2019t happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 clich\u00e9. So don\u2019t do it, please and thank you, Stranger Things writers!<\/p>\n

Episode grade: B<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Stranger Things 5 recaps and reviews:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Episode 6 of Stranger Things 5 ends on a cliffhanger as Max and Holly run to their respective…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-372915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}