This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 5.Why do people like Stranger Things? Even the biggest superfan may find themselves asking that question somewhere around the 140 minute mark of season 5 volume 2, when very little has happened on a plot level and another couple starts monologuing about their feelings. As the stakes get higher and the runtimes get longer, Stranger Things feels like its lost the magic of that first season, when three foul-mouthed kids in the Midwest went looking for their missing friend.That sense of bewilderment is even more frustrating because it didn’t need to happen. Yes, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin had to grow up, especially as their adolescent actors aged over the nine years of between seasons 1 and 5. But the series has done a great job of introducing a next generation of kids, especially in season 5. Well, it had been doing a great job of introducing them… until volume 2 decided to largely ignore them.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Let the Children Lead ThemIn season 5, Mike and Nancy’s younger sister Holly comes into focus, one of several kids targeted by Vecna. Holly has been around since season 1, but this is the first time that she’s established as full character, and it all works perfectly. She’s a normal Midwestern kid who becomes the target of Vecna and gets drawn into a supernatural/sci-fi plot, just like the original Stranger Things heroes. Also like them, she has her own nerdy obsession, which becomes a tool for understanding the oddities occurring around her. For Mike and his friends, it was Dungeons & Dragons. For Holly, it’s A Wrinkle in Time.Holly isn’t alone. She’s one of many kids targeted by Vecna, including the season 5 standout Derek. Derek has all of the smart-mouth attitude that made Mike in particular so popular, and he’s played with aplomb by Jake Connelly. He’s joined by his older sister Tina, who has a connection to Erica Sinclair, the original Stranger Things: The Next Generation star.All of the best parts of season 5 have been about these younger characters. Holly’s encounters with Mr. Whatsit have been weird and frightening, while the pie-eating sequence and the school escape sequence combined humor with scares. In short, Stranger Things season 5 actually found a way to recreate its prime appeal while continuing to move toward a final showdown with Vecna.Well, volume 2 of season 5 found a way to keep moving forward. The same can’t be said of the three episodes in volume 2. These episodes push the new kids to the back, forcing them to stand around while the series deals with dangling plot points involving older characters, most of which the audience stopped caring about long ago.Was there anyone really worried about the romance between Jonathan and Nancy, a relationship that stopped being interesting when they were reporters in season two? Dustin and Steve used to be one of the best parts of the show, and the two performers still have chemistry. But season 5 has turned Dustin into a sad kid who can’t stop mourning Eddie Munson, a character change that leads him to fight with Steve instead of buddying up with him. And why do we need Hopper, the best adult character of the show, to once again complain that Eleven has outgrown him, a complaint he’s been making since the end of season 1?These older characters have had their time and that time has passed. Now, it’s the kids’ turn.Trapped With the Big KidsNothing illustrates the problem more than the decision to pair Holly with Max in Camazotz. Volume 1 of season 5 established Holly as a great Stranger Things hero. She used her nerd knowledge ofA Wrinkle in Time to navigate the world with Mr. Whatsit, making her brave and compotent without sacrificing any of the series’ scares.But as soon as she found Max, Holly became a sidekick. Now, it was Max who understood the world of Henry’s memories, and it’s Max who knows what to do. Holly’s just along for the ride.Worst of all is the moment that Max abandons Holly to reenter the real world. Leaving aside the ridiculous moment in which Max, who heretofore had been telling Holly that they would escape Camazotz together, now tells Holly that she must go alone, the entire scene subordinates Holly to Max while acting like its the younger girl’s big moment. Max tells Holly that she cannot follow, that the escape signaled by “Running Up That Hill” is for Max alone. To encourage the younger child, Max explains that Holly has to find her own point of connection to the real world, and that she can do it no matter what anyone else says.Although Max’s words make it sound like the moment is all about Holly, the filmmaking is all about Max. She’s the one on the camera, her performer Sadie Sink gets all of the lines, and, ultimately, Max is the only one with agency. After Holly leaves, supposedly to find her own way as her own person, the show effectively ignores her focus entirely on Lucas protecting Max’s body, Max returning to her body, and then a tearful reunion between Max and whichever character she meets. Holly is just is a footnote.The Kids Aren’t AlrightIn the final moments of episode seven, the last part of volume 2, Holly and the other kidnapped children sit around a table and join hands. Despite her attempts to resist, Mr. Whatsit has overcome them and now, he allows a sinister smile as the children’s eyes go white and they throwback their heads.This scene will go directly into the Stranger Things finale, which is good news for fans of Holly and Derek. Even though Dustin talks a big game about blowing up the Upside Down, and even though Erica’s stuck with Mr. Clarke for some reason, at least some of the younger kids have something to do in the two-hour-plus last episode. If the finale has some good moments featuring the next generation, then Stranger Things might end on a high note, in the same way it began. But if it doesn’t and if the older characters get the spotlight again, then it will be just one more disappointment in a series that has lost its way.Stranger Things season 5 volumes one and two are now streaming on Netflix. The series finale premieres December 31 at 8 p.m. ETThe post Stranger Things Season 5 Is Failing Its Best Characters appeared first on Den of Geek.