What To Know
- Stranger Things Season 5 has revealed Max’s fate in Volume 1.
- Learn more about the place referred to as Camazotz.
- Find out how Max’s fate could also determine Holly Wheeler’s.
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Stranger Things, Season 5, Volume 1.]
Stranger Things finally revealed Max’s (Sadie Sink) fate… sort of. In Volume 1 of the show’s final season, fans finally uncovered Max’s status after Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) attacked her in Season 4’s finale, leaving her blinded and broken.
It turns out that she’s still in a coma, but her consciousness is inhabiting a dreamscape, referred to as Camazotz, that was crafted by Vecna, where she’s been hiding in a cave of sorts. The seemingly safe zone turns out to be a haven for not just Max, but the youngest Wheeler sibling, Holly (Nell Fisher), after she’s kidnapped by “Mr. Whatsit.”
The alter-ego of Henry Creel, a.k.a. Vecna, has been telling kids around Hawkins that he’ll protect them from monsters, appearing to only them and not the adults surrounding them. After gaining the kids’ trust, Vecna sent Demogorgon after them, capturing Holly first, and bringing her to “Camazotz.”
Netflix
While Holly is housed in a replica of the Creel House in its heyday, she’s lured out into the woods with a letter seemingly written by Henry. When she finally arrives in the spot that a drawn map directs her to, Holly comes face to face with Max, who explains that Henry cannot be trusted.
As Max explains it, her body remains in a coma at the Hawkins’ hospital, but her consciousness woke up in this place, starting where Eleven defeated Henry at the Hawkins’ lab. Realising she was inhabiting his memories, Max went through a maze of them, including a flashback to Henry’s high school years, where he attended with Joyce and other familiar characters, if the voices featured in the scene are any indication.
Netflix
Ultimately, Max says she ended up where she started, back at the lab, but when she heard Kate Bush playing, she was drawn to the music, finding herself back in her own dark memories, beginning with the time Vecna first targeted her mind. When she found herself in Vecna’s lair, she found an opening where she might escape, as she revealed to Holly that she could feel Lucas’s (Caleb McLaughlin) hand holding hers at the hospital.
When the music ended, though, the door closed, and she found herself trapped and running from Henry. In the end, she was forced into a corner, finding refuge in this cave that Henry is too fearful to enter, allowing her solace, but also forcing Max to accept her new reality. Max tells Holly that her arrival at Camazotz is their only chance at escaping, and she instructs the girl to return to the Creel House, so as not to raise suspicions.
Can the pair team up long enough for Max to finally escape and for Holly to reunite with her family? We’re keeping hope alive as we look ahead to Volume 2. In the meantime, let us know your theories in the comments section below and stay tuned for updates in the weeks ahead.
Stranger Things, Season 5 Volume 1, Streaming now, Netflix
Stranger Things, Season 5 Volume 2, Premiere, December 25, 8/7c, Netflix
Stranger Things, Season 5 Finale, Premiere, December 31, 8/7c, Netflix