Barring a complete collapse across the final weeks of December, Stranger Things‘ Vecna will surely go down as one of the greatest TV villains of all time. Revealed as the show’s big bad in season 4, Stranger Things spent a great deal of time fleshing out Vecna’s troubled past, both at home and as a test subject, as well as unveiling his secretive influence upon the town of Hawkins ever since Will Byers’ disappearance.
After Stranger Things season 4 ended with Vecna’s temporary defeat, it appeared that a key part of the villain’s appeal had been lost forever. Quite unexpectedly, Stranger Things season 5 has succeeded in restoring this all-important quality, allowing Vecna to continue his push toward “iconic TV villain” status.
Stranger Things Season 5 Turned Vecna Back Into The Boogeyman
Vecna was first introduced to Stranger Things as the show’s boogeyman. His name was a whisper, his identity and face obscured, his intentions murky. For most of season 4, it felt like the Party was chasing a ghost, and that made for an extremely effective and creepy presence, less immediate than the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, but even more menacing.
Inevitably, however, Stranger Things had to dispel that illusion at some point, and as the final episodes of season 4 played out, Vecna became less of a mysterious phantom in the background and more of a snarling monster getting right in the audience’s face. After Nancy, Robin, and Eleven gave him a beating, it looked like Vecna’s aura of being an untouchable, omnipotent, myth-like ghoul had been permanently removed.
Against all odds, Stranger Things season 5 manages to reclaim that original creep factor of Vecna being an unseen shadow. The really ingenious trick here is Vecna pretending to be “Mr. Whatsit,” because while the “Whatsit is Vecna” reveal doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, the pseudonym allows Vecna to skulk around pretending to be a friendly face, giving children imaginary friends and going completely unnoticed.
Combine that with the fact that Vecna’s whereabouts are unknown when Stranger Things season 5 begins, the Party doesn’t know if he’s alive or dead, and the audience doesn’t get to see Vecna’s true form until deep into episode 4, and the original magic that made Vecna such a special and enigmatic character is fully restored.
It would have been very easy for Stranger Things to make Vecna the face of season 5 – an ever-present monster scheming against the good guys, like a comic book supervillain. Indeed, after Stranger Things season 4 concluded with the Hawkins gates opening, viewers probably expected Vecna to be popping up everywhere, with all of Hawkins knowing his name. Instead, Jamie Campbell Bower gets to once again do what he does best, which is apparently sending shivers down spines by pretending to be nice.
Creepy Vecna Is Great, But It’s Time To Shift Gears In Stranger Things Season 5, Vol. 2
Of course, Vecna does fully emerge and dive into the action toward the end of Stranger Things season 5’s first volume, and as great as his Mr. Whatsit persona has been, it is time for volume 2 to step up the intensity behind Jamie Campbell Bower’s character.
Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes largely serve as setup for a bigger battle to come. The Party knows Vecna’s plan now, they know he’s out there, and the military looks unlikely to stand in their way from here on out. Stranger Things‘ final episodes are primed for all-out war between the Party and Vecna. For that to happen, it’s time for Vecna to do what it looked like he did in season 4’s finale and declare himself openly. Vecna must stop being the puppeteer in the shadows and start being the emperor he clearly aspires to be.
Holding off on showing full-force Vecna in Stranger Things season 5, vol. 1 was the right call, and it’ll make his reemergence more meaningful in vol. 2. At the same time, the Party can’t fight against a ghost forever.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
