Stranger Things 5

Credit: Netflix

Netflix has revealed new information about Stranger Things 5, the upcoming final season of the hit series. Perhaps the biggest tidbit is the release window: 2025, rather than 2026 as some predicted.

That’s good news, though it will almost certainly be tempered with a caveat—I would bet good money the season is released in at least two parts. After all, that’s been the trend with almost every popular Netflix show these days, from the last season of Stranger Things to Bridgerton and the massively drawn-out final season of Cobra Kai.

The other juicy information we’ve learned about Season 5 is the full list of episode titles. The show will include a total of 8 episodes—though we’ve learned from cast interviews that each one will be akin to a full-blown movie—and the titles have some very interesting clues and parallels. Here they are:

Episode 1: “The Crawl”
Episode 2: “The Vanishing of ____”
Episode 3: “The Turnbow Trap”
Episode 4: “Sorcerer”

Episode 5: “Shock Jock”
Episode 6: “Escape From Camazotz”
Episode 7: “The Bridge”
Episode 8: “The Rightside Up”

A few observations about these titles:

“The Crawl” is vague, but I have this gut feeling that it has to do with Max’s “running up that hill” moment. She can’t run anymore, but maybe she can crawl. It’s also most likely a D&D reference. In Dungeons & Dragons you “dungeon crawl” as you explore dungeons and caverns and find treasure and fight monsters.
“The Vanishing Of Will Byers” is the title of the show’s very first episode, so clearly we’re already drawing direct parallels with Season 1 in Season 5 with “The Vanishing Of ____”. Who vanishes is left a mystery, and how they vanish—and who does the vanishing—remain to be seen. This is one of two full circle episode titles.
“The Turnbow Trap” is a bit mysterious, but must tie in with this image of a billboard showing a real estate family business—I think it’s no accident that the dad’s mouth is ripped open:

Turnbow Trap

Credit: Netflix

“Holly, Jolly” is the fourth episode, and seems to be a pretty clear indicator that some of this season, at least, will take place around Christmas. Other seasons have taken place around holidays like Halloween. I wonder if this indicates a release date closer to the holidays rather than summer or fall.
“Shock Jock” makes it sound like we’ll get some WSQK 94.5 radio action, which is a good way to get some 80s’ jams in and involves radios, which might be required to help Eleven and co. access the Upside Down.
Episode 7 “The Bridge” is super vague, but I’m reminded of a YA book, The Bridge To Terabithia, which seems like a natural Duffer Brothers reference. This could be the episode where a main character dies.
“The Rightside Up” is the direct opposite of Season 1’s finale, “The Upside Down” and—in my humblest of opinions—suggests a happy ending for Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, Max and all the rest. Of course, we should probably expect some of the cast to be killed off, though if trends continue from past seasons it will only be relatively disposable characters, newly introduced, rather than the core cast. That being said, I suspect (hope? fear?) that we’ll get some surprises. Steve maybe? Hopper? Nancy or Jonathan? Robin, perhaps. Not Joyce, though. That would be too cruel.

On Second Thought, Let’s Not Go To Camazotz

Finally, I want to draw your attention to Episode 6, titled “Escape From Camazotz”. Episode 6 of Season 1 was titled “The Monster” and I think this is another parallel. But what exactly is a Camazotz?

Originally, it referred to a bat god from Mayan mythology—a bat spirit or “death bat” that serves the lords of the underworld. The name comes from the K’iche’ words kame (death) and sotz (bat). In the Mayan Popol Vuh, twin heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque encounter the Camazotz in the underworld when they stay in the House of Bats. When Hunahpu emerged to see if the sun had risen, the creature decapitated him and took his head to be used by the gods in their sports.

I suspect that we will get more bats in Season 5 of Stranger Things, and even a Death Bat perhaps, but there is almost certainly another meaning behind the word Camazotz. A clue from the show’s writers points us in another direction:

I had—and perhaps still have—this exact copy of A Wrinkle In Time, just as worn at the edges. It was one of my favorite book covers along with Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. In Madeleine L’Engle’s excellent science-fiction novel, Camazotz is the name of the planet where the children—Charles Wallace, Meg and Calvin—go to find Charles Wallace’s and Meg’s father. Camazotz is the location of the book’s antagonist, IT, the mind-controlling brain-entity that controls all the beings on the planet. IT uses The Man With Red Eyes as its human agent. I begin to wonder if Vecna isn’t the Big Bad, after all, but rather the agent of Stranger Things’ own version of IT, with the Upside Down and Camazotz effectively one and the same. But perhaps that goes too far, and Vecna is both IT and the Man With Red Eyes (and the Grinch!)

Max could very well be the version of the children’s father from A Wrinkle In Time, her soul/mind trapped in Camazotz, where our heroes will need to go to save her. Whether we’ll get any witchy analogues—Mrs. Wahtsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which—remains to be seen. We’ll find out next year!

P.S. I refuse to watch any film adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time. The book is perfect. It does not need to be adapted and I have no desire to corrupt my imagination vis-a-vis an inferior product. It’s also just the first book in the series. Three more books follow: A Wind In The Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters and An Acceptable Time.

It’s been an acceptable time since I read all of these, actually. I think it’s time to read them again! I imagine I can finish long before Stranger Things 5 comes to Netflix. You should read them also.

What are your thoughts on Stranger Things Season 5? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.