Like it or not, Kali is back in a big way for Stranger Things Season 5. El's sister showed up in Volume 1, she's playing a much bigger role in Volume 2—and let's just say she's being kind of a downer. Which, understandable—Kali's been trapped in Hawkins Lab (Upside Down version) while the government harvests her blood and uses it to create a new generation of kids with powers. And she does not believe anyone—least of all El—is going to get a happy ending.
Volume 2 ended with Kali convincing El that the only way to truly stop the "cycle" of doctors using their blood to create an army of kids is for them to die. Specifically, for them to die when the group eliminates the Upside Down and Dimension X. And it looks like El has, unfortunately, bought into her plan.
It's definitely possible that Kali's being totally genuine, but fans are convinced she's secretly evil and we're getting a huge twist. Multiple fans on Reddit have posited this theory, and as one person put it "I’m concerned that Kali will cross EL last minute or Kill her and try to save herself." Another said, "I do not trust her at all. I’m halfway through [chapter] 7 and I don’t like her one bit."
There's also the fact that Hopper doesn't trust Kali either, just saying! Meanwhile, the Duffer brothers haven't said much about her intentions, though Matt did tell SFX magazine, "Kali shifts things a lot for Eleven, and I think it'll be surprising for people to see how she ultimately fits into the story. We're excited about that, because it immediately changes the tone. And obviously, the way things ended with Hopper leaves a lot of tension between them."
Guess we'll...see?
