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This article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things” season 5, episode 8 – “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”.
From the moment Season 1’s Demogorgon first revealed his flesh-petal face, it was obvious that “Stranger Things” is a series whose creature game is settled. All the monsters from “Stranger Things” is a sight to behold, and each season’s big bad has been just different enough from the last to warrant their inclusion in the proceedings. However, all this seemed to stop with season 4. There, the series confirmed that Henry “Vecna” Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) is the villain who has been responsible for every Upside Down attack thus far, thus relegating all monsters that came before him to mere servant status. It was a particularly difficult affair for the Mind Flayer, the gigantic, visually impressive spider-like entity that served as the series’ main antagonist in seasons 2 and 3.
Fortunately, “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up” reveals that the rumors about the supposedly powerful Mind Flayer’s unfortunate submission have been greatly exaggerated. As a reward for the briefcase scenario for season 5 of “Stranger Things”Vecna delivers one of the biggest twists of the series finale by revealing that the Mind Flayer called to him when he was a child and that he willingly gave himself to the monster to become one with it. This means that while Vecna is still the human component of this alliance, the Mind Flayer is indeed an active entity instead of an enslaved monstrosity, and that the two effectively share the series’ big bad status. Just like that, the “Stranger Things” finale pulls the Mind Flayer out of the muck that Season 4’s Vecna reveal landed him in, giving the show’s coolest monster his just desserts as a force to be reckoned with.
The Mind Flayer returns in his most terrifying form yet
In addition to providing the Mind Flayer with a much-needed late-game boost, “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up” allows “Stranger Things” Season 5 to continue the series’ trend of introducing radically different monsters each time. Season 1 introduces the iconic Demogorgon, while Season 2 introduces the Demodogs and the ghost monster incarnation of the Mind Flayer. Season 3 got creative with the Mind Flayer’s Flayed aspect and evil spider monster, while Season 4 introduced Vecna.
Now, season 5 reveals that the series had another trick up its sleeve all along, giving us an imposing physical incarnation of the Mind Flayer that also serves as the basis for Vecna. Both characters are more gruesome than ever, and their team-up is a fitting final opponent for the heroes. Plus, the fact that they operate as a common entity allows for a cool fight sequence where Eleven takes on Vecna in the bowels of the Mind Flayer while the rest of the gang takes on the gigantic Flayer itself.
Season 5 of “Stranger Things” is streaming on Netflix.
