If you’re looking for a quick refresher ahead of “Stranger Things” Season 5 but don’t have time to rewatch all four earlier seasons,The Duffer Brothers are here to help.Speaking recently with The Hollywood Reporter, the series creators shared four episodes they think would serve fans aiming to brush up beforethe big finale, which drops in three parts on November 26, December 25, and December 31, respectively.
These four old episodes aren’t required viewing, but they contain pertinent details that casual fans may have forgotten in the near-decade it’s taken to produce the five-season show.
The Duffers point to “Stranger Things” Season 2 episodes “Will the Wise” (Episode 4) and “The Spy” (Episode 6), as well as a pair from Season 4 — “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” (Episode 7) and “The Piggyback” (Episode 9). The last of the four is the most obvious, as it’s the Season 4 finale — an action-packed, 139-minute saga that directly sets up what we’re about to see in the final season. “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” is similarly important, as it solidifies much of the Upside Down lore that was only hinted at in prior installments.
But what about the Season 2 episodes?
Stranger Things Season 2 could be especially important
The Season 2 episodes singled out by the Duffers could hold some secrets for what we get in “Stranger Things” Season 5.
Both “Will the Wise” and “The Spy” deal directly with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his connection to the Upside Down — specifically, his infection from the Mind Flayer. Netflix has released several trailers for “Stranger Things” Season 5, as well as the first five minutes of the season on YouTube, which establish Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) as the mastermind behind Will’s abduction in Season 1. All of this material suggests that Will has a unique tether to Vecna, who also happens to be the guy behind the Mind Flayer. Was Will chosen for a specific reason? Did Vecna do something to him that we haven’t seen?
These are questions fans will have to wait to answer, but it’s telling that the Duffers want people to go back to “Will the Wise” and “The Spy.” For many, it’s been more than eight years since they watched the show’s sophomore year. “Season 2 is when we really started to build out the mythology and started to dive into everything,” Matt Duffer told THR. “That’s where we started to really plant the seeds for the mythology.”
We’ll learn more when the first four episodes of Season 5 premiere Wednesday, November 26, at 8 p.m. ET.
