Well, I finished Stranger Things season 3 last night. Stranger Things has been one of my favorite Netflix Originals and I look forward to every season. This year, since it launch
Once I finished it though, I’d have to say that Season 3 was pretty great. If you like Stranger Things, you’ll love this 3rd season of the show and be ready for more Stranger Things.
Stranger Things Season 3 – a summary
So I spent a day writing a 2,000 word summary of this season and I wasn’t even close to finished. So I’m going to try and go basic here.
Russian scientist have found out about another reality (the Upside Down) and try to get into it. They don’t have luck in Russia, so they build land and make a mall in Hawkins, Indiana. Here they attempt to open the doorway that Eleven had sealed back in Stranger Things Season 2.
While the Russians are trying to open the doorway, they awaken a part of the Mind Flayer that had been left behind. The Mind Flayer starts taking over the rats of Hawkins and making them explode. It then uses the
Meanwhile, our core gang of kids has started to grow up. Lucas and Max are an item, as well as Eleven and Mike. Dustin even returns from summer nerd camp and has a new girlfriend – Suzie. This leaves Will out in the cold.
Nancy and Jonathon are working for some terrible men at the newspaper. This men that they work for won’t let Nancy really become a reporter and just degrade her the entire time. Steve’s father makes him take a job at the mall scooping ice cream. He seems to have fallen so far from the Steve of season 1, but he still is one of my favorite characters.
Hopper tries to get Joyce to go out on a date with him, but she is still hung up on Bob, who died last season, and figuring out why her magnets keep falling off the fridge. This leads both Hopper and Joyce down the Russian rabbit hole per se.
Our cast of characters then splinter out into three groups for the majority of the season.
Starcourt Mall
Steve, Dustin, Erica (Lucas’s little sister), and newcomer Robin (who works at the ice cream shop with Steve) intercept a Russian communication at the mall and begin working on translating it. They splinter off from the main group, but they have their own fish to fry.
The crew eventually discover and explore the Russian base which will help out later.
Steve and Dustin still work great as a pair on screen. They have a very brotherly relationship and it still shines through. While Steve might have helped Dustin with relationships in the past season, this time it is Dustin who has the best advice.
Robin quickly became one of my favorite characters, but I think that mostly came from Maya Hawke’s performance. For a show about nerd teenagers, Robin seemed to outshine them all for much of the early season. She learned Russian and cracked codes just a little too easy for me from a writing standpoint. However, her interactions with the rest of the crew more than made up for it. I was all ready for the turn at the end with Steve, but was pleasantly surprised with her story. I hope that she comes back for the next season.
And then there was Erica. Man, I hated Erica. Her personality really grated on me. By episode three, I even pledged that I hoped that she got eaten by a monster quick. By the end of the season though, I had cooled on her. She is a good foil for many of the characters on the show and she did come through in a clutch a few times. I’m sure that we will see more of her.
The Griswolds
The rest of the party looked for Billy and the Mind Flayer. While they are doing that though, life is still happening. Mike and Eleven run into some relationship problems (because of Hopper). Lucas and Max bicker and fight almost as much as Hopper and Joyce and I just don’t get it.
At one point, the Party manages to trap Billy in the Sauna. They remember that heat is the way that they got the Mind Flayer out of Will, so they figure that it will work this time on Billy. Darce Montgomery turns in a hell of a performance as Billy flip flops between Billy and Mind Controlled Billy. At points, Billy cries saying that he didn’t want to do what he did.
Mind controlled Billy escapes the sauna and a brutal battle between Eleven and Billy breaks out. Up until season three, there really hadn’t been too many fights breaking out between people, so this super powered fight is pretty awesome. With many twists and turns.
After they lose Billy though, things turn towards the Mind Flayer, which has been absorbing body parts from rats and humans that it has controlled and popped. It’s disgusting and radical at the same time.
Eleven isn’t going to be able to hold her own alone here.
Bald Eagle
Joyce and Hopper have discovered what’s going on in town and have kidnap/rescued one of the scientist but have also become outlaws. They turn to the only person that Hopper knows that speaks Russian – Murray Bauman.
We meet Murray in Stranger Things Season Two as he helped Nancy. This season though, we get much more of him. I loved Murray.
He helps translate and get the details of what the Russians are doing and puts Hopper and Joyce on blast as he tells them to just couple up since they bicker like an old married couple so much.
The entire season, Hopper has a nemesis in the Russian Terminator. This enforcer for the Russian looks like he could have come straight out of the Terminator franchise. He goes toe-to-toe with Hopper and few times and kicks his butt.
The Battle for Starcourt Mall
Everything and everyone come together in the final two episodes at the mall. The Mind Flayer is nearing to attack while the Russian base is the cause of it all.
The worst party, Eleven’s battery has run dry. She doesn’t have her powers anymore and the Mind Flayer is after her in particular (although it does want to kill everyone).
There are some great moments here, so I’m not going to spoil them. Go watch it for yourself.
I will say that some major characters appear to die in the finally. I say appear because we only really see one body, plus there’s a mid-credit scene that hints at one of them being alive.
The Good
As I said earlier, I loved the season. I thought the narrative was great, but there are some parts that I’d like to highlight that I thought were particularly good in Stranger Things season 3
Nancy Drew Files
Most of the season, Nancy was really put upon by the men in her life. Well, maybe not all the men, but the ones that she worked for. I’d hate to say that the gender antagonism in the show was overdone, but really, I doubt it was. I can’t imagine what it has been like for women throughout the decades/centuries/all time.
Still, Nancy fought and I thought that was awesome.
She continued to work this story that she knew had some substance, while everyone else was telling her to stop and mocking her. Nancy and her mother had a great moment, where
She never had the most screen time and it seemed like her storyline didn’t contribute as much as others, but I really thought they handled this part of life really well.
Real Life
Growing up is hard. It appears to be even harder if you don’t want things to change. You grow up and your friends start getting into relationships and all you want to do is play games.
I really liked how the writers showed this aspect of growing up this year. I just wish they hadn’t picked Will to do it. He was feeling all alone until he felt the Mind Flayer again and then his friends dropped everything to help him.
They did a great job this year showing real life in a not real setting and I thought it was great.
The Newbies
Most of the new characters are great well rounded characters. Of course, Erica grated on me, but I eventually came around to like her. Robin was a lot of fun as well as Murray. Alexi for the short time he was there and was able to communicate brought a great likability to the Russian side of things as well.
The Russian enforcer was a foe to deal with as well as the gross Mind Flayer.
Billy
I hated Billy in Stranger Things Season 2. I hated Billy in Stranger Things Season 3 too. But for the first time, I felt sympathy for him.
I didn’t want him to die, and I wondered the entire time how the kids were going to bring him back.
Darce portrayed all the little twists and turns in him this year with such grace. It was awesome that Billy could go from crazy and mind controlled to weeping and gaining sympathy.
What I could have done without
Bickering
There was so much bickering this year. Joyce and Hopper never had a normal conversation without it turning into a yelling match. I don’t see why either one of them liked the other if that’s all they did.
But that also extended to Lucas and Max as well. Sometimes that fell on Mike and Eleven as well, although with less words and more pressure put on them to fight.
It was a lot.
Singing
So there is one point in the last episode that really pissed me off. In the grand scheme of things, that was the point and it was cute to show off some of the actors other interest, but if this scene had happened just like five minutes before it would have been better. If you’ve seen this season, you know what I’m talking about.
It completely broke the tension I had been feeling and I was annoyed. It wasn’t that the scene was bad, but the placement really frustrated me.
Stranger Things Season 4
By the end of Stranger Things Season 3, most of the story is wrapped up and I was worried that this was it. Luckily, there’s a mid-credit scene (which I mentioned earlier) which leaves us with plenty of questions. I can’t wait to see who is behind the door and how the Russian got that from the Upside Down. Alas, we’ll have to wait until Season 4 comes.
Stranger Things Season 3 Wrap Up
If you’ve seen and liked any of the Stranger Things seasons, you’ll like season 3. I thought it was the best one so far, but it has been so long since I saw season 1 and 2 that I need to rewatch them.
The acting and the
There are powerful character payoffs throughout the season, and I highly recommend that you watch it.
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