Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1: Where are Max and Holly? Details about Vecna's psychic prison, explored

Aashna
Stranger Things Season 5  (Image via Instagram/@strangerthingstv)
Stranger Things Season 5 (Image via Instagram/@strangerthingstv)

The recently released Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 revealed that Vecna inhabits another world than the Upside Down, which is beautiful and far more idyllic than the creepy alternate Hawkins. This alternate world is entirely shaped by Vecna's memories when he was a kid, ie, Henry Creel and he uses it to imprison Max and Holly.

Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 revealed that Vecna adopted his human form of Henry Creel aka Mr. Whatsit, to befriend Holly Wheeler and earn her trust.

It is only after Holly meets Max in Vecna's psychic prison that she learns that Mr. Whatsit is the true monster, who has trapped both Max and Holly in his memories, a world she later dubs 'Camazotz'. Since Vecna's dreamscape is a product of his childhood and teenage memories, it looks beautiful and unlike the evil world of the Upside Down. However, it is still a psychic prison, meant to control Max and Holly's minds.

More on this in our story.


Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1: Max and Holly are trapped inside Vecna's psychic prison

As teased before by the cast and the creators, Holly Wheeler was at the centre of the narrative in Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1. After the Demogorgon attack at the Wheeler house, Holly was taken to the Upside Down, but it was unlike anything seen in the show before. It was later revealed that Vecna kept Holly imprisoned in a dreamscape alternate world. He brought her to his Creel House, which looked idyllic and in its prime. Vecna adopted this Mr. Whatsit persona to lure Holly into this psychic prison and she was unaware that she was actually living with the monster.

While Vecna hunted for more children in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 3, Holly explored her new world and met Max. The show featured a chilling sequence with Max and revealed that while she is in a coma in the real world, she is stuck inside Vecna's memories in this psychic prison. She explains to Holly how she hopped from Vecna's one memory to another until she finally found a door to escape to the real world, thanks to a Kate Bush song played by Lucas. However, just as she was about to escape from the Upside Down, the song ended and she was confined once again.

However, Max reached an alternate dreamscape in Vecna's world in Stranger Things Season 5, a secluded cave structure. After Max realized that Vecna is scared of caves and would not enter them, she transformed it into a sanctuary, a safe space untouched by Vecna.


Holly named their prison 'Camazotz' in Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1

While Holly believed that Mr. Whatsit was his true saviour in Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1, Max reveals that he is the real monster. He ordered Holly not to go into the woods because he is scared of the caves and would not enter them. After understanding the reality of her situation, Holly named their prison as Camazotz, the dark and evil planet from Madeleine L’Engle’s Award-winning novel A Wrinkle in Time. The book also serves as the inspiration behind Mr. Whatsit, the persona adopted by Vecna to lure Holly and the other children into his mindscape.

While the Upside Down is all dark, messy and full of creepy vines, this alternate world (Camazotz) is beautiful and idyllic. The dreamscape even feels too good to be true because it is shaped by Vecna's memories. In Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 3, Max explains how she traveled from one memory to another to finally reach these caves, which are off-limits for Vecna. While the series is yet to reveal a way out for Max and Holly from Vecna's Camazotz, the caves could likely play a big role in their escape.

Stranger Things Season 5 Part 2 will arrive on Netflix on December 25.


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Edited by Aashna