"ChapterOne: The Crawl" is the first episode of the fifth season the American science fictionhorrordrama television series Stranger Things. The 35th episode overall, the episode was written and directed by series creators The Duffer Brothers, and was released on November 26, 2025 on Netflix alongside the subsequent three episodes as part of volume one of season five.
Set in 1987, 20 months after the events of the previous season, the team continue their search for Vecna, embarking on periodic "crawls" into the Upside Down from Hawkins, which has been quarantined by the US military, in order to find and destroy him.
"The Crawl" received a positive critical reception, with reviewers praising the episodes cohesion, and the performances of the cast, but with some criticism towards the large amount of exposition at the expense of a number deeper moments between the characters.
Plot
In a flashback to November 12, 1983,[a] a young Will Byers hides in the Upside Down and is pursued by a Demogorgon. After shooting it, he climbs a tree to escape its grasp, but falls and is knocked unconscious. The Demogorgon takes him to Vecna in the Hawkins Library, who tells Will that his plan can finally begin, and that they will do beautiful things together. He then infects him with a tentacle.
Four years later in 1987, the Byers family has moved in with the Wheelers, much to Ted's chagrin. Following the invasion of Hawkins by the Upside Down,[b] Hawkins has been placed under military quarantine, with the local populace led to believe that the town suffered a natural phenomenon. Dustin Henderson experiences bullying at school for continuing to wear his Hellfire Club shirt as a way to honor Eddie Munson, while his friends encourage him to keep a low profile. Hidden from the military, Eleven secretly trains her powers with Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers. Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington work at the local radio station, where Robin celebrates the 500th broadcast of her Morning Squawk show. Murray arrives, smuggling various supplies to the group, and reports that the military are planning a large operation in the Upside Down, to which Nancy Wheeler announces it is time for another "crawl." Robin plays the song "Upside Down" and speaks in code to alert the others that a crawl will happen that night.
During the crawls, Hopper explores the Upside Down one sector at a time searching for Vecna, while the others track his progress from the real world. Eleven insists on joining Hopper, reasoning that they have done over thirty crawls without issue and that she has grown stronger with her training. He refuses to unnecessarily risk her safety given the military's search for her. Because Eleven is unable to telepathically locate Vecna and Will has not sensed Vecna's presence, some of the group believe Vecna to be dead. Yet, Nancy and Mike Wheeler argue that they must keep searching until they have proof.
At school, a teacher spots Holly Wheeler speaking to an unseen man, whom she calls "Mr. Whatsit." As the teacher shares her concerns with Karen Wheeler, Holly tells Mike that Mr. Whatsit has warned her of monsters in Hawkins. At the military base within the Upside Down, Dr. Kay oversees experiments on a Demogorons and various other beings. She tells her operative that they must find Eleven. Meanwhile, Will and Lucas Sinclair visit Max Mayfield in the hospital, and Lucas plays her song in the hope she will wake up from her coma. Will accidentally sees Robin kissing her girlfriend Vickie and abruptly runs off. Before the evening's crawl, Dustin visits Eddie's vandalized grave; his bullies arrive and assault him.
With Dustin missing, the group needs another volunteer to accompany Steve in tracking Hopper from the Rightside Up — though Will volunteers, Joyce asks Jonathan Byers to go in his place, despite their friction over Jonathan's relationship with Nancy. Hopper travels through secret tunnels under Hawkins, sneaks into the military base and into one of the army trucks, just before it drives through a portal into the Upside Down. Yet, the operation goes south as a Demogorgon attacks the convoy and kills the soldiers; Hopper is wounded in the attack but manages to escape into the woods. Will witnesses the attack through the Demogorgon's point-of-view and, overwhelmed, collapses.
Hearing her parents argue about her well-being, an upset Holly retreats upstairs. Karen, drinking heavily, decides to run a bath, while Ted plays golf outside. Will wakes up and warns the group that something is heading for the Wheeler home. Nancy and Eleven race there, with Mike and Lucas rushing on bike. In her room, Holly sees a crack forming on her ceiling, and a Demogorgon bursts through from the Upside Down.
Production
On August 3, 2025, Ross Duffer posted to Instagram, confirming that "The Crawl", along with episode two, "The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler", were complete. Regarding the episode, he teased, ""The Crawl" is our favorite, most eventful first episode since Season 1".[1]
Writing
The episode was written and directed by series creators The Duffer Brothers. It marked their seventeenth writing credits, and their sixteenth directing credits.[2][3] Speaking of the season premiere, Ross Duffer stated, "we usually set up their normal life and how they’re going about school, and then we introduce the supernatural element, but in this case, this season is sprinting from the start".[4] Matt Duffer echoed this, explaining that "Season 5 is going to start pedal to the metal. We're not going to do the ramp-up. There's no time. There's no normalcy, obviously, once you've reached the end of four. It's not like there's going to be time to explore our characters' love life, and how is Steve’s dating going? There's going to be none of that, it's just going to be going 100 miles an hour from the beginning. We have the opening scene for five mapped out. I don't know if it'll stay like that, but it's pretty wild. It's going to be intense from beginning to end with not so much ramp-up."[5]
Filming
For the opening scenes, the flashback to a young Will trapped in the Upside Down, eleven year-old actor Luke Kokotek was cast to play the character, with Noah Schnapp's face applied onto Kokotek's by Wētā FX. This combination of a younger body double and vfx was previously used by Stranger Things in season four with Millie Bobby Brown and her character Eleven. Schnapp stated that he approached Brown for advice around how to work with the younger actor, expressing that he enjoyed the chance to "step into those director shoes". Of this process, he explained that it forced him to "think introspectively and reflectively of how I act and how I did act and move and breathe and turn and look and kind of relay that onto this little kid, who was so cute. It was a fun experience. It’s a little digital-looking. It’s hard to make it look perfect, but it turned out pretty well."[6]
In the week following the debut of volume one, almost every song featured on the soundtrack experienced a massive surge in popularity. Billboard reported that "Upside Down" experienced the biggest gain, more than tripling it's streams and exhibiting an increase of 373% to a total of 953,000 streams. Similarly, "Rockin' Robin" more than doubled in streams, with an increase of 218% to a total of 187,000 streams, and "Running Up That Hill" saw an increase of 110%, to a total of 2.7 million streams, and re-entered the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at number 15.[8] "Running Up That Hill" also returned to the top 40 in Bush's native UK, re-entering the singles chart at number 37.[9]
Release
The first five minutes of the episode, featuring young Will in the Upside Down, were shown as a "sneak peak" of season five on November 7, 2025 during a virtual Tudum fan event.[10][11] The episode was exclusively for fans on November 13 at Leicester Square, two weeks prior to the official release.[12] "The Crawl" was released on November 26, 2025, on Netflix, alongside the three subsequent episodes comprising Stranger Things season 5 volume 1.[13][14]
Reception
The episode received a positive reception from critics. It also has a score of 8.2 on Metacritic based on 13 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[15]
Writing for Winter Is Coming, Natalie Zamora gave the episode an "A" grade. She praised the continued impact of Eddie's death through Dustin's character, and spoke positively of Linda Hamilton's performance as new villain Dr. Kay, and the debut of Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler. As a self-described fan of their relationship, Zamora enjoyed the scene between Mike and Eleven discussing their future, referring to it as a "sweet moment" and declaring that she was "so glad" to see the two connect in a "calm before the storm" moment. She praised the music used in the episode, stating, "Stranger Things is known to have an awesome soundtrack each season, and this one is no different." Discussing the episode's ending, Zamora described the cliff-hanger as "thrilling" and concluded that, "yes, it’s been over three years, but Stranger Things has still got it. I loved the season 5 premiere—from its heartfelt moments and action-packed scenes—and am officially more excited than ever to see how this thing is going to conclude."[16] In a more mixed review of, Tara Bennett of IGN stated, "Chapter One: The Crawl" is the least graceful of the [volume] as it stuffs its 71-minute runtime with an overwhelming amount of information. There’s a lot of servicing the plot first at the expense of smaller character moments. For example, the new radio station initially functions as a way for Robin to give the audience an exposition dump, which leaves it feeling like the least organic set piece of the whole series. Let’s just say, it’s no Hawkins Lab or Starcourt Mall. Another sin of the episode is several one-note character scenarios that feel below the caliber of the cast. Steve and Jonathan’s basic bitch rivalry over Nancy’s attentions is kind of dumb, and reducing El to just an obsessed training machine, which again triggers Hopper’s worst protectionist instincts, feels like a regression of their dynamic."[17]
Writing for Polygon, Samantha Nelson appreciated the cohesion of the storylines in the episode, noting "after season 4 divided the characters across states and even countries, having almost everyone back together doing things with real impact on the plot is refreshing", and referred to the banter between Steve, Dustin, and Robin as a "highlight", praising Joe Keery and Gaten Matarazzo's bickering and writing of Maya Hawke, "Hawke’s brand of awkward, anxious humor is particularly useful for bringing levity to serious situations. Pairing Robin with Will makes him feel like a fully realized character for the first time as Robin becomes his queer mentor, helping a kid who’s been through so much accept himself and find the strength he needs to get through the trials to come."[18] In a five star review of the first volume, Sabrina Burr of Metro also praised Matarazzo's performance, stating, "Gaten has always been one of the standout stars of Stranger Things, but now he gets to flex his phenomenal acting chops like never before."[19]
Reception to the visual effects used in the episode's opening scene received a mix response from fans.[20]
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