I Cheered Karen’s Big Moment In Stranger Things’ Volume 2, But One Wheeler Family Mystery Is Bugging Me Ahead Of The Finale

Warning: spoilers are ahead for Stranger Things Season 5 through Volume 2, available streaming now in the 2025 TV schedule with a Netflix subscription.

The wait is nearly over for the very last episode of Stranger Things, after Volume 2 game-changers like Jonathan and Nancy’s “un-proposal” as well as Max waking up from her trance and the setup of handful of possible deaths. There was also room for another heroic moment from a member of the Wheeler family, and I don’t just mean Nancy, Mike, and/or Holly. Karen of all people came in with a big save at a clutch moment, and I cheered her choice while also wondering: why doesn’t anybody care about Ted?

Karen’s Big Moment In Volume 2

Karen Wheeler has of course been hospitalized since early Season 5, when a Demogorgon slashed her throat and nearly killed her alongside her husband, with Ted left in a coma. Although she was able to help Nancy and Mike despite her injuries when they needed answers about Holly’s imaginary friend, she didn’t look like she’d be up and about before the final credits rolled on the season.

So, cue my surprise when Karen perked up in the hospital when she heard Robin’s voice over the speaker system, frantically telling Lucas that he needed to get Max and go before the demodogs could get to them. The focus shifted to Lucas, unconscious Max, Robin, and Vickie as they hid behind a counter in the laundry room in a Jurassic Park-esque sequence that I’ve been waiting for since it was teased in Stranger Things Season 5’s first trailer.

Lucas continuing to play Kate Bush despite the prowling demodogs in the hopes of Max waking up wasn’t doing much for his chances of staying alive alongside Robin and Vickie, but luckily, Karen came to the rescue by putting an oxygen tank inside of a working dryer. In the nick of time, the tank exploded, blasting the demodogs to smithereens and saving the day.

She was on her feet throughout the rest of the scene in the basement, and even tried to join Mike in the mission to save Holly. Her son talked her down by telling her that the most qualified crew in Hawkins is on the case, and Karen reluctantly agreed to stay in the hospital to heal while her son set off again.

It was obviously a big hero moment for Karen that ended much better than when she faced off against a Demogorgon early in Season 5. Does it in any way logically make sense that she was able to pull it off? It does not, but if I'm overlooking Lucas' magical repeating cassette tape of "Running Up That Hill" that manages to skip the verses here and there, then I can apply the Rule of Cool in this case and cheer Karen on.

Still, Karen's reunion with her son also set up something that I was sure was going to happen, only to be left disappointed.

Why Doesn’t Anybody Care About Ted?

Look, I know that Ted Wheeler probably isn’t at the top of many fans’ lists of favorite characters, and probably in the #5 spot in any ranking of the Wheelers. But he’s had some great one-liners over the years, and actor Joe Chrest put up a pretty solid defense of his character as a dad. And just because Karen was more effective against the Demogorgon with her wine bottle than Ted was with his golf club shouldn’t overshadow the fact that he tried to help his wife and daughter!

Sure, Season 5 is so packed that some of the pacing choices in Volume 1 and especially Volume 2 were somewhat jarring, but there have been no updates on the Wheeler patriarch since Nancy and Mike learned that he’d been put in an induced coma in Episode 2. It made sense that the two older Wheeler kids didn’t bother trying to consult their dad in getting answers about Mr. Whatsit due to that coma, but shouldn’t they at least wonder what’s up with their dad’s health?

Mike’s reunion with Karen in Volume 2 was even the perfect opening for either Karen to ask her son about the status of her husband or for Mike to check in if his mom knew anything about Ted since she was up and about. Even if nobody had any answers, I fully expected somebody to at least ask. Ted and Karen’s marriage may not be the most idyllic in Indiana and Ted isn’t the most involved dad in the Rightside Up, but surely there would have been time for somebody to mention the man.

As somebody who got tired of all the “Justice for Barb!” campaigns after Season 1 (especially when Benny was the guy who really never got justice), I’m still just about ready to call for justice for Ted after Volume 2 ended with nobody in his family seeming to care about his comatose status. Besides, as much as I’m a Mike fan, I still remember when his weapon of choice in Season 2 was a candlestick. Nobody gets to judge Ted for using his golf club as the closest he had to a blunt object!

Is The Apathy About Ted A Clue?

I know that time is running out with just the two-hour series finale left in the Stranger Things saga, and I’ve mostly resigned myself to the show not delivering any deeper meaning to the continuity errors or the heroes leaving the Turnbows tied up in the barn. Still, there may be time for the finale to establish that Vecna has somehow been messing with the characters’ minds in Hawkins without anybody knowing, and that’s why nobody seems to care about Ted.

Do I think that’s particularly likely? Maybe not, but nobody mentioning their comatose dad does make me think that Ted is probably safe from Hawkins’ Grim Reaper. If Stranger Things was going to kill the Wheeler patriarch to raise the stakes, I think the first two volumes would have made everybody worry about him a lot more with more focus. At this point, nobody in the show seems to care about him alive, so I don’t think the show has done a great job of making audiences nervous about his death. I'd put Ted's odds of survival quite high.

The good news is that answers are coming soon, for better or worse. The last of Netflix’s three holiday releases means that the series finale of Stranger Things will debut on New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m. ET. I’m hoping that Joe Chrest at least appears in the finale, even if we don’t suddenly get Ted's wife and/or kids weeping over his comatose body in worry. Who knows? Maybe once the kids (presumably) get Holly back, they’ll be ready to remember that they have a dad in the hospital.

You’ll also have the option of checking out the series finale on the big screen, with the two-hour event releasing in select theaters on December 31 and January 1.