Stranger Things never shows its hand before its time. For the first three seasons of the show, it seems like the Big Bad of the Upside Down is the Mind Flayer, a smoke monster who can come to the real world and take control of people’s minds. It isn’t until Season 4 that Vecna makes his official debut and reveals his connection to Hawkins and Eleven. And even with the Vecna cat out of the bag, there’s still some level of intrigue around who’s really pulling the strings. But not every mystery in Stranger Things has to do with the Upside Down and its residents
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Season 5, Part I sees Hawkins living under the thumb of a new military force, one that’s hellbent on learning all it can about the Upside Down and capturing Eleven. At the helm of the operation is Major General Dr. Kay, played by sci-fi icon Linda Hamilton, who sets up a base in the terrifying alternate dimension and doesn’t pull any punches. Her ultimate goal is a mystery through the first four episodes of Stranger Things‘ final season, but it seems as if she’s more interested in Eleven than anything else, going to great lengths to prepare for the young girl and her tricks.
Kay’s obsession with Eleven has led the fanbase down a rabbit hole, one that seemingly reveals her true identity and the reason she took on the mission in the Upside Down. The prevailing theory at the moment is that Kay is somehow related to Dr. Martin Brenner, the scientist who conducted experiments not only on Eleven but also on Henry Creel, aka Vecna. Whether she was his wife or sister, she would’ve had access to all his research and could have drawn her own conclusions about its contents. The idea is as good as any, but the show could also take other avenues.
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Kay certainly doesn’t act like a generic grunt when she’s on screen, so it’s fair to assume that the show is going to peel back her layers before the credits roll on the final episode. But her having a connection to Brenner isn’t the only way to make the puzzle piece fit. It’s also possible that she is somehow related to Eleven’s family and is secretly working to free the girl without alerting the governments to her real plan. Of course, pulling that off would take a lot of time and effort, but it just so happens that Stranger Things‘ remaining episodes have sizeable runtimes.
Whether Kay has a larger role to play or not, the discussion around her character is a testament to the work the Duffer brothers and their crew put into the show. Not just any series can send people flocking to the Internet to discuss their wild theories about a villain without any superpowers.
Stranger Things Season 5, Part I is streaming on Netflix.
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