Derek Is My Favorite New Stranger Things Character, But I'm Worried About One 'Turnbow Trap' Loose End

Spoilers are ahead for Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5, available streaming now with a Netflix subscription.

The very long-awaited fifth season of Stranger Things has finally premiered, with an already pretty vast cast of returning characters still standing for the final fight against Vecna. I had my doubts that the show really needed to add any new characters, and Derek Turnbow didn’t do much to change my mind when it seemed like he’d just be an elementary school bully. To my surprise, his transformation from Dipshit Derek to Delightful Derek completely won me over, and he's officially my favorite newcomer. Still, there’s one not-so-delightful moment from “The Turnbow Trap” that has me worried for Volume 2.

What Happened In “The Turnbow Trap”

The main characters plotted a very illegal scheme in Episode 3, called "The Turnbow Trap," that involved a drugged pie, breaking and entering, booby-trapping a house Home Alone-style, and kidnapping the Turnbow family to hold captive. Their plan to tag a Demogorgon while also saving the Turnbows actually worked well… until it turned out that Derek didn’t get enough servings of the pie to knock him out for long.

The episode ended with Derek awake, while his mom, dad, and older sister were still tied up and unconscious in a barn that was about to be attacked. Fortunately, the Demogorgon didn’t manage to drag Derek to the Upside Down for Vecna or kill anybody else in the barn, but I’m still stuck on one loose end that even Will’s massive Vecna twist and the show's most violent death weren't enough to make me forget. What about the rest of the Turnbows?

When Derek's parents and sister were last seen, they were tied up with pillowcases around their heads in the barn. Joyce and Co. didn’t bring the rest of them along when they fled with Derek in the wake of the Demogorgon’s attack, so what’s up with the Turnbows who were left behind? I think there could be much larger consequences than just Erica ending her friendship with Tina.

How Will Stranger Things Tie Off This Loose End?

Are the Turnbows, sans Derek, the most important characters of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season? Of course not, but they could still create a fair amount of trouble for the heroes. After all, even if Mr. and Mrs. Turnbow couldn’t connect the dots about the drugged pie that knocked them out, Tina might recall Erica and her syringe.

The best case scenario for Volume 2, which releases on Christmas Day to continue Stranger Things' string of holiday premieres, is probably just that the Turnbows manage to slip their restraints and either don’t remember enough to hold Erica and Co. accountable or can be persuaded that their abductors really did have their best interests at heart. They're a complication that the heroes don't really have time for.

Some worse scenarios seem more likely at the halfway point of Season 5, though. Derek’s kidnapping likely won’t go unnoticed by any members of the army who survived Vecna and the Demogorgons’ attack on the MAC-Z. If they're able to track down the rest of the Turnbows in response to Derek’s kidnapping, the authorities could connect some dots and turn the heroes into fugitives. After Eleven was caught on camera, it's clear that the army has surveillance across Hawkins.

There’s also the possibility that all hell really is about to break loose in Hawkins and people are going to start dying en masse. The Turnbows are blinded and bound in a barn; they wouldn’t stand a chance if attacked by a monster out of the Upside Down. Admittedly, the Turnbows' dying might solve some practical problems for the heroes, but the guilt would surely affect them.

So, what’s going to happen? Will the Turnbows be just fine and dandy if/when they’re rediscovered in Volume 2? Will Derek’s kidnapping lead them to be “rescued” by the army? Will they be victims of Vecna’s? Or should I add them to my list of possible continuity errors/clues from Volume 1?

We’ll all have to tune in to Netflix on Christmas Day to find out. Volume 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 will release on December 25 at 8 p.m. ET. The finale, which clocks in at just over two hours, will debut at 8 p.m. ET on New Year’s Eve. Plenty of scares are sure to happen by the end; it just remains to be seen if any of those are tied to the Turnbow family.