Warning: major spoilers are ahead for Volume 2 of Stranger Things Season 5, available streaming now with a Netflix subscription.
Netflix has officially released the second volume of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season, leaving just the two-hour series finale at the very end of the 2025 TV schedule to tie off a lot of loose ends. An epic final battle was set up in the final minutes of Episode 7, with the majority of the characters heading into the Upside Down with a desperate mission to stop Vecna for good before he can merge two worlds.
Now, with just days to go before the New Year’s Eve end of Stranger Things, it’s time to look at Kali’s return, her deal with Eleven, and why I’m with Hopper on not trusting her despite what could be the best emotional arc of the series finale.
Why I Think Kali Is The Most Untrustworthy Of The Heroes
Kali’s return wasn’t just back for a triumphant reunion with her sister, and Stranger Things wasn’t done with her after Hopper and El rescued her from the Upside Down, which we know now is a wormhole rather than a separate dimension of its own. She’s with the party now, but she also has secret motives that she’s hiding from almost every other character.
After learning that Dr. Kay picked up where Dr. Brenner left off with using the blood of children with powers to try and create more “numbers,” Kali is ready to die and take herself out of the equation. And since El has the most valuable blood of all, Kali wants to take her sister down with her.
To her credit, Kali was open with El about this plan, even if she did have to play on El’s love for Mike to guilt her into agreeing. But I’m intrigued by this twist for the pair, because Kali wanting to end it all to prevent future incarnations of Dr. Brenner and Dr. Kay tracks with her trauma, and El being convinced makes sense with her drive to protect her loved ones at all cost.
Suffice it to say that I can 100% see why Hopper is on edge, and I think it’s fair to say that Kali is the most untrustworthy character among the protagonists. Only one person knows her true motives, and that’s assuming that she told Eleven the full truth. I think there are two possible betrayals that we could see from her.
Possible Betrayal #1: Kali Turns On Eleven
Let’s start with the most depressing of the two possible betrayals: Kali isn’t letting anything stop her from her plan of ending the program by removing herself and her sister as sources of superpowered blood. Her understandable perspective of doom and gloom about their futures swayed El, who has seen for herself that the odds of a happy ending aren’t in her favor.
As of the end of the penultimate episode, called “The Bridge,” El seemed convinced that she and Kali should both allow themselves to die in the Upside Down after Mike’s bomb goes off. No betrayal needed for the sisters to die together.
But El and Kali aren’t alone in their journey to try and stop Henry; Hopper and Mike are both present as well. Hopper is keeping a close eye on Kali, while Mike’s optimistic talk about waterfalls and a happy ending beyond Hawkins has been one of the only topics to make El smile all season. If they help El realize that she wants to at least try and live, could Kali take matters into her own hands and make sure that El stays behind with her when the bomb goes off?
It wouldn’t necessarily be an act of Kali striking a killing blow or attacking El, but just doing something to prevent her from making it out in time. Kali seems pretty set on her own death to me; it’s just a matter of how determined she is that both of them need to die at all costs to end the program for good. This could also involve Kali doing something to Hopper, who might go too far to try and stop her.
Possible Betrayal #2: Kali Goes Rogue With Her Powers
A possible betrayal from Kali to El doesn’t have to involve forcing El to accept the deal to stay behind. Kali does still seem to love her sister; if El is won over by her love for Mike or Hopper or any of her friends from Hawkins and decides that she wants to live, maybe Kali could make a different kind of fateful decision and use her powers for good one last time before her own demise.
Could Kali use her powers of illusion to make it look like Eleven died when the bomb went off, allowing her sister to live as normal and free a life as possible? She seems convinced she has no future herself, but perhaps she’ll be willing to give Jane the best chance possible at a clean slate if she changes her mind about their agreement.
Admittedly, somebody from the government or military would presumably have to witness Eleven’s “death” for an illusion to make any difference, because convincing her friends of her death wouldn’t really accomplish much other than a depression arc for Hopper and Mike to end the series.
The people who need convincing are the people in power, and Kali would need at least one of them alive to watch her sister’s apparent demise for the gesture to be worth anything. But hey, would Stranger Things really cast Linda Hamilton if she doesn’t get one last big moment before the end? Maybe she’ll live long enough to “see” Eleven die, thanks to Kali betraying the plan to die together and instead giving her a new life.
Why Kali’s Choice Could Lead To The Best Emotional Arc Of the Finale
Whether Eleven and Kali’s arrangement ends in both of their deaths, one of them dying, or a scenario that I haven’t fully considered yet, I think that the culmination could make for the best emotional arc of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season. So many others were already resolved by the end of Volume 2, while this thread is still dangling.
Max waking up from her coma and having beautiful reunion with Lucas, who never gave up? Done. Will coming out to his family and friends, complete with realizing that Mike was his Tammy? Already happened. Jonathan and Nancy’s future as a couple? Resolved (for now). The Stancy side of the love triangle? Not happening, based on Nancy’s description to Jonathan about Steve wanting six kids.
And there’s more! Dustin and Steve feuding after Eddie’s death? Air is cleared. Joyce realizing that she needs to treat Will like an adult rather than the 12-year-old (or 11-year-old, depending on whether we’re going with the continuity problem) he was back in 1983? Done.
Robin has been more part of Will’s storyline than developing her own that desperately needs a climactic resolution in Season 5 (unless that date with Vickie at Enzo’s counts). Murray and Erica arguably don’t really have major stories. The status of Ted Wheeler is still unknown, but he’s not quite an A-lister among the characters.
All of this is to say that at this point, the main characters whose stories haven’t reached some kind of culmination are Eleven, Mike, and Hopper, and Kali’s decisions in the series finale could guide what happens for all three of them by the time the closing credits roll. As somebody who was once upon a time okay with the idea of Eleven dying, I’m back on board with her getting a happy ending, so I’m hoping that whatever Kali does, it won’t prevent her sister from getting a good conclusion.
We can all find out with the series finale of Stranger Things, releasing on New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix. The episode will also screen in select theaters on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, if you want a big screen experience to close out the Stranger Things saga. (Ahead of the animated spinoff, anyway!)
