In the first scene of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, Hopper comes home to find the whole group already inside his cabin. Nikki is also there, which makes things tense right away. The group rushes to quietly get her out before Hopper sees that someone he didn’t expect is at his house.
The team says that the situation was too dangerous and wants to make sure that Nikki knows she is still new to their group. Mike, angry, lashes out and says she always messes things up. Nikki hears the comment and leaves quietly before anyone else knows what happened. The moment makes things more tense between the people in the group.
The Picture and The Weekly Watch
Keith sells Lucas’ picture to a man in a car who seems suspicious. Later, it turns out that the man is the editor of the town’s shady newspaper, The Weekly Watch. When the group finds out they’ve lost it, they confront Keith, but he’s already given it away.
This makes the group turn their attention to the newspaper office itself. Dustin is in charge of getting information about the building and coming up with a way to get in.
Mike figures out where the picture is likely kept, in a desk folder, and Lucas finds a keycard hidden in a trash can, which could be a way in.
Getting into the office
Nancy joins the plan after hearing them talk about it. She agrees to keep the security guard busy while the others sneak in. The keycard works, and they get into the building without waking up the staff who are working late.
Max and Lucas are able to find the folder with the photo inside. But things go wrong during the retrieval, and the mission quickly becomes dangerous. El has to use her powers to save Lucas and get him out of a situation that could have killed him.
A Darker Threat Appears
The group barely makes it out alive and then goes home. But the end of the episode is sadder. The bigger threat keeps getting bigger in the sewers under Hawkins. Another creature is shown using Jeff as a source of life, which suggests that the danger is far from over and may even be getting worse.
Review of the Episode
The main plot of Episode 5 moves along better, but the world-building is still inconsistent. It seems like the rest of the town and the authorities are ignoring what happened after the Weekly Watcher incident, which makes the stakes feel less real than they should be.
Nikki’s absence actually makes the episode flow better because it lets the main group dynamics breathe more freely. But Nancy’s part seems underused and a little out of character, especially since she used to be a journalist. The infiltration plan could have made better use of her skills.
Even with these problems, the episode keeps going as it gets closer to the middle of the season. The last sewer reveal makes sure that the main threat is still changing, which will lead to bigger problems in the next episodes.