"ChapterTwo: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler" is the second episode of the fifth season the American science fictionhorrordrama television series Stranger Things. The 36th episode overall, the episode was written and directed by series creators The Duffer Brothers, and was released on November 26, 2025 on Netflix as part of volume one of season five.
Set on November 3, 1987, and focuses on the disappearance of Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) following an attack on her home by a demogorgon from the Upside Down. The rest of the episode features the fallout from this event and the remaining characters trying to find a way to rescue her and determine why she was targeted in the first place.
The episode received critical acclaim with praise for the opening scene depicting the demogorgon attack on the Wheeler home, the use of ABBA's "Fernando", and Buono and Fisher's performances.
Plot
As a Demogorgon crashes through Holly Wheeler's ceiling, she flees to the bathroom where Karen Wheeler is about to take a bath. Karen tries to reassure Holly, but then notices she is bleeding as the lights begin to flicker. Karen and Holly hide underneath the bathwater as the Demogorgon breaks through the bathroom door. Having noticed the lights as well, Ted enters the Wheeler home, shouting for Karen and Holly. The Demogorgon approaches Ted, who attempts hitting the creature with his golf club, and throws him through a wall. Karen and Holly try escaping the house but are cornered by the monster. Karen smashes a wine bottle and begins stabbing the Demogorgon. Having been warned by Will Byers, Nancy Wheeler and Eleven race to the house, where they find an injured and bloodied Karen. With Holly taken by the Demogorgon, Nancy urges Eleven to pursue them, and Eleven rushes through a nearby portal to the Upside Down.
In the Upside Down, Eleven runs into Jim Hopper while tracking the Demogorgon. He is frustrated at her for putting herself at risk when the military is hunting her, but she insists that she followed her instincts and believes that finding Holly will lead them to Vecna. She patches up his wound, and Hopper admits that he is afraid of losing her like he lost his daughter. They find a large, impenetrable wall, which Eleven realizes that the Demogorgon has taken Holly through. Neither is able to break through. In Hawkins, Dr. Kay and her soldiers review CCTV footage from the Wheeler house and see Eleven with Nancy, connecting her to the attack.
At Hawkins Memorial Hospital, Mike Wheeler and Nancy discuss their regrets about not telling their parents the truth sooner. Mike is confused about why Vecna has targeted Holly, but Nancy states that it matches a vision he once showed her of their parents and Holly dead. Lucas Sinclair points out that Holly's abduction is suspiciously close to the anniversary of Will's disappearance. Mike then theorizes that Mr. Whatsit, Holly's imaginary friend, might be real and may know where Holly is. Later, Lucas urges a comatose Max Mayfield to wake up as he believes the final battle for Hawkins has begun with Holly's abduction.
Elsewhere in Hawkins, Steve Harrington tells Jonathan Byers that they should go to the hospital to support Nancy. The two argue about one another's actions since Jonathan has returned from California, with Steve arguing that Nancy is unhappy in her relationship, and Jonathan arguing that Steve is continuously competing with him for Nancy's attention. Jonathan argues that they should prioritize helping Holly. The two cease arguing when an injured Dustin Henderson arrives and is berated by Steve for missing the crawl.
At the WSQK radio station, Will states that his previous vision felt as though he was in the Demogorgon's mind. He tells Joyce Byers that he believes he is still connected to the hive mind. Robin Buckley suggests using Will as a human receiver to locate Vecna and find Holly, but Joyce refuses to put Will at risk. They trick Joyce, so they can sneak out and return to the woods where Will had an earlier vision. Robin asks Will if he saw her with Vickie at the hospital, stating that they are good friends whose relationship may confuse some people. Will assures her that he didn't see anything. Will has a vision at the Hawkins Elementary School playground and realizes that his earlier visions were from Vecna's point of view as he stalked Holly. He believes that he can use the telepathic link to identify Vecna's future targets, the newest being Derek Turnbow. Mike and Nancy sneak into Karen's hospital room, where she reveals that Mr. Whatsit's real name is "Henry," the name of Vecna's human form. In the Mindscape, "Mr. Whatsit"/Henry welcomes Holly into his home, the Creel House.
Production
Writing
The episode was written and directed by series creators The Duffer Brothers. It marked their seventeenth writing credits, and their sixteenth directing credits.[1][2] The episode's title is a reference to "The Vanishing of Will Byers", the first episode of the series.[3]Nell Fisher, who portrays Holly, expressed that she was "honored" when finding out during the table read that the episode was titled after her character, and noted that she met with Anniston and Tinsley Price, the twins who originally played Holly in previous seasons, in preparation for taking over the role.[4]
Discussing the opening scenes with the demogorgon attack on the Wheeler house, the Duffer Brothers explained that season five being the final season allowed them to "really let the cat out of the bag as far as the entire town is concerned", noting that they had spoken about Karen and Ted and the rest of Hawkins finding out about the Upside Down earlier, but that it "created all sorts of problems", meaning they had to be left oblivious. Matt Duffer stated that, "we had always wanted to do a Wheeler house attack. I think we talked about it all the way back in Season 1, so it's something that we’ve been dying to do, and it was a blast to shoot. And we’ve always wanted to give Cara a real hero moment, because she has, even as a person, a real ferocity and strength. We wanted to show really, where Nancy's courage and strength comes from".[5]
Filming
The episode opens with a battle between Karen Wheeler, portrayed by Cara Buono, and a demogorgon.
Cara Buono, who portrays Karen Wheeler, expressed that she was surprised and pleased to learn that she would get a "badass mom" moment in the season, after previously accepting that Karen would remain a "comedic, quintessential, slightly exaggeratedly clueless ’80s mom". Buono spoke "at length" with the stunt and costume teams prior to her action scenes, and studied the storyboards and previz of the fight to prepare, noting that the Duffers had "a very clear vision of the choreography of it all." She and Fisher spent a day timing how long they could hold their breaths and figuring out the logistics of the bathtub with the crew. The demogorgon fight was originally meant to be filmed in May, but was moved up to March 2024. Of filming the scenes, Buono explained, "Karen Wheeler doesn't evolve into a Navy SEAL — she's a mom attacking this thing. But I did want her to feel this transformation. She comes out of the shadows and becomes part of the lore of Hawkins in this moment. They had a lot of different camera angles to get for editing purposes. It was a lot of hitting, a lot of repetition. There were three ways of shooting for special effects. There was a stuntperson dressed like a tall Demogorgon so when I was being attacked, I could work with another actor versus just pretending. Then there's a ball for the special effects, and you aim at the ball. And then the third aspect was to really get the sensation of hitting the actual Demogorgon. There was a board with some give on it that I would attack. My wine bottle would get stuck in it, and I'd have to pull it out as if it was going into the flesh of the Demogorgon. It helps you more than just stabbing at the air."[6]
Music
The episode features "Fernando" by ABBA, "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush, and "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes. Music supervisor Nora Felder stated that "Fernando", which was used to soundtrack Karen Wheeler's fight with the demogorgon, was not the original song choice for the opening scenes, but that she felt it became the perfect option once it proved impossible to secure the rights to another song. Felder explained that the song "not only feels so perfectly Karen as she preps for her bath time, but it also builds in a unique way that heightens the accelerating terror that plays out through the horrific scenes that follow."[7]
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 "Fernando" more than doubled in streams, with an increasing of 206% to a total of 615,000, that "Mr. Sandman" increase by 173% (to a total of 564,000 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 Vanishing of Holly Wheeler" was released on November 26, 2025, on Netflix, alongside the three other episodes comprising Stranger Things season 5 volume 1. The episode's full title was initially listed as just "The Vanishing of..." so as not to spoil the reveal of which character was missing.[10][11]
Reception
In a positive review, Tara Bennett of IGN felt the episode was an improvement on the season premiere, stating that the Duffers "get their mojo back", and praised the show's return to its horror roots. Additionally, she wrote, "it opens with a terrifying Demogorgon attack that evokes one of the most memorable scenes in Poltergeist and immediately puts three long-time characters in mortal jeopardy. The episode also signifies a more natural return to the show's multiple plot structure where the Duffers are able to balance their large ensemble by clustering characters together on their own missions. One of the freshest pairings is having Will and Robin together. As he's exploring his reactivated connection to Vecna, Robin's independence and confidence gives him not only someone to look up to but also the only person he can talk to about his burgeoning same-sex feelings."[12]
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