Sadie Sink Reacts To Max’s Frustrating Stranger Things Season 5 Scene: “Why Are We Doing A Podcast Episode Right Now?”

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 5.Sadie Sink responds to a scene with her character, Max Mayfield, that has frustrated many Stranger Things fans. The scene, which has been widely parodied and criticized on social media, occurs in episode 6 of Stranger Things season 5, volume 2. When Max finally has a chance to escape the mind prison of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), she takes time to have a heartfelt conversation with Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher).

While on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sink was asked whether she felt a sense of urgency while filming this scene. She reveals that she did not, but when watching it, the lack of urgency became more apparent, and she wanted Max to run instead of "doing a podcast episode." Check out Sink's response below:

When I was shooting it, I don’t know if the sense of urgency crossed my mind. But then, watching it, clearly I’m taking my sweet time with it. Like, why are we doing a podcast episode right now? Run!

As a viewer, Sink shares the same sentiment that many fans had and is unafraid to poke fun at her character's actions during the scene. The time that Max takes is particularly noticeable given how long she has been trapped in the mind prison and after previous failed attempts to escape it.

That being said, her extended goodbye with Holly does serve an important purpose. While Max is finally able to escape, Holly is unable to do so. It would have been cold and uncharacteristic of Max to abandon Holly, especially after everything that had endured together in Vecna's mind prison.

Image via Netflix

Max helps Holly understand that she doesn't need music or a boyfriend to escape, but that she needs to find something powerful and special that connects her to the real world and to home. It is also in this scene that Holly confesses how she is ashamed of standing idly and doing nothing when her loved ones were attacked earlier in Stranger Things season 5.

Through Max helping Holly believe in herself, the youngest Wheeler child is able to take charge and help lead her peers safely away from Vecna in the Stranger Things series finale. This delivers payoff for the time that Max takes to talk with Holly in episode 6, even though the delayed escape is distracting.

While Stranger Things' final season has proven to be divisive, especially when it comes to the fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), the reception to how Max's story concludes has been mostly positive. Even though she was not introduced until season 2, she became an integral part of the show, with her ending being just as important as the characters that audiences have followed since the first episode.

Release Date 2016 - 2025-00-00

Network Netflix

Showrunner Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

Directors Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz

Writers Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock