Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler and Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler in "Stranger Things."
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things."
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley in "Stranger Things."

Spoiler alert! The following contains details from Season 5, Episode 2 of "Stranger Things," "The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler."

Can you hear the demogorgan, Fernando?

"Stranger Things" is known for many things: Gross monsters, a cast of upstart Hollywood ragamuffins, nostalgia, and action sequences set to perfectly selected 80s pop music. Season 4 had Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" to score a triumphant moment of self-fulfillment and the defeat of evil, and now in Season 5, we have ABBA's "Fernando" over a bathroom-set monster fight scene.

Stay with us, it all makes sense. And if the first episode of Season 5 was all table-setting, Episode 2 (with its title mirroring that of the very first episode of the series) is a light appetizer.

Things are starting to come together that will bring us closer to a final confrontation between Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), and thus, good and evil. As Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) so presciently says to his comatose girlfriend Max (Sadie Sink), "The final battle, I feel like it started tonight."

It's about time. Although considering there are five regular-length episodes, plus a two-hour finale, left after this, it's still a long road to the end.

Karen and Ted Wheeler versus the 'Stranger Things' Demogorgon

Karen and Ted Wheeler (Cara Buono and Joe Chrest) have done a remarkable job over five seasons of ignoring all the really weird stuff that happens in their town and in the orbit of their children.

Still, even the two most clueless citizens of Hawkins had to face the music when meeting a Demogorgon for the first time (although both missed the first few minutes of the monster's attack due to ABBA, wine and golf, naturally).

As the Demo tries to take Holly (Nell Fisher), both Wheelers step up to defend their daughter, particularly Karen, who first hides with Holly in a bubble bath and then attacks the monster with a broken wine bottle. Whoever said she was just a lush and lusty housewife clearly underestimated her.

Despite the best efforts of the middle-aged suburbanites, the Demo absconds with Holly.

Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and El arrive just moments after the fight, and El quickly speeds after the Demo through the gate to the Upside Down that it left in the Wheeler's front door. The Wheelers are taken to the hospital, where Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas and Nancy spiral about what this means and why Vecna is after little Holly Wheeler, almost four years to the day after the big bad first had Will kidnapped.

The parents and progeny of Hawkins

In the Upside Down, El can't find Holly with her mind powers, but she does run into Hopper (David Harbour) immediately, and the pair go after the Demogorgon's trail, with Hopper doing his best annoying dad schtick the whole way, constantly yelling at El for not being safe enough. In the Rightside Up (aka the real world), Joyce (Winona Ryder) is doing her best annoying mom schtick to Will (Noah Schnapp), too. She's aggressively overprotective with her nearly-grown son, even though he's clearly got a psychic link to Vecna/the Upside Down that could help them all.

Both dynamics are pretty well-worn from the first four seasons of the series, and there isn't much value to turning both Hopper and Joyce into wet blankets at this moment of ultimate crisis.

Much more compelling is when our other, and rather eccentric, parent/child duo experiences a bit of conflict, when Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) strolls up to Steve (Joe Keery) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) with a bloody face.

Steve is livid with his little pal Henderson for putting himself in the position of being beaten up by the school jocks, and gives him a hard time for wallowing so much in his grief over Eddie (Joseph Quinn) that he missed the crawl that night, putting everyone in danger. Isn't it nice when boys can just talk about their feelings?

Hopper eventually also talks about his feelings to El, and the pair are finally able to keep searching for Holly without bickering (thank goodness).

Robin (Maya Hawke) makes up a reason to get Will away from his overprotective mother (with a "Back to the Future" reference, of course), and the two set out to see if they can trigger Will's visions and connection to the Upside Down in order to find Holly.

'Stranger Things' 101 − Listen when the children talk about monsters

Back in the hospital waiting room, Mike realizes that perhaps when his little sister was talking about monsters in a town literally infested with them, he should have listened. Wow! Who would have thought!

He and Nancy set out to discover what, exactly, was going on with Holly's imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit (a reference to Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's fantasy book, "A Wrinkle in Time"). Dressed as a candy striper and a patient, they sneak into Karen's hospital room and find out that the dapperly dressed man secretly talking to the little girl was Vecna all along, looking like he did when he was the human telekinetic and sociopath, Henry.

At the same time, Will realizes his vision from earlier in the day was through Holly's eyes outside her elementary school, meaning he saw Vecna choose her as his next victim.

In the Upside Down, El and Hopper's search for the youngest Wheeler comes to a screeching halt when they encounter an enormous, disgusting, fleshy wall, and it's clear both Holly and Vecna are on the other side.

In the final moments of the episode, we see Holly in some kind of fantasy world created by Vecna, walking into the Creel family house you might remember from Season 4. But it's not decrepit and haunted-looking this time, rather brand-new and filled with sunshine.

That means nothing bad can happen to poor little Holly, right? Right?

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Episode 2 recap − The final battle begins

Reporting by Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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