Stranger Things returned with season three earlier this month, with more monsters, corrupt politicians, and teenage romance taking over Hawkins, Indiana. The summer of 1985 saw big changes for each and every character. The boys got girlfriends, the older kids graduated high school, and Hopper got fat. It happens.
This season felt more character driven than the first two, which was a bit of a refreshing change. The show has always been carried by its incredible cast, but the focus is usually on the visuals, the 80’s references, and the showdowns with the terrifying monsters and government conspiracies. This time, the show focused heavily on the relationships between characters and the backstories of those we don’t know all that well yet. Mike and Eleven, Joyce and Hopper, Max and Lucas, Steve and Robin, and the chasms between Will and the group and Dustin and the group are all the highlights of the season.
The kids are all noticeably more mature, but teenage angst and confusion rear their ugly heads. Max and Lucas are great together, but Lucas is a mess and Max is too pushy. Mike and El are way too into each other, which is maybe understandable since they kinda saved the world together, and it leads to a break in their relationship. Will missed the girlfriends boat and is stuck trying to get the boys back to the D&D table, which causes a rift among the party that ultimately destroys Castle Byers. Luckily, the return of the Mindflayer brings the boys back together and the mystery of Billy sends Max and El on a girl’s only adventure.
And this brings me to perhaps my biggest negative of the season: Dustin is way too separated from the other boys. It’s not a huge deal because his relationship with Steve is perfect and Robin absolutely steals the show, but it felt so strange to only see the core group together for portions of the first and last episodes. It was set up well, so it felt natural, but there was just a tiny bit of spark missing. Perhaps the separation was meant to prepare the audience for the departure of the Byers family and El at the end of the season. As much as I wish the boys spent more of the season together, Dustin’s storyline was still incredible and allowed for the season’s best scene: Steve and Robin’s heart to heart in the bathroom stall.
Let me just talk about Robin for a second while we are here. After introducing Billy as a dark, damaged character in season two, Robin came onto the scene as a sarcastically hilarious, linguistically talented potential love interest for Steve. She was the antithesis of Billy, yet both were instant hits in their respective introduction seasons. Maya Hawke plays the colder, drier Robin incredibly well at the beginning of the season, lets her comedic chops fly while her and Steve are drugged by the Russians, and does truly beautiful work delivering (somehow) the season’s biggest twist. After the reveal and thinking back through the previous episodes, it’s absolutely obvious and you feel like an idiot for realizing that ROBIN IS GAY! It seems to come out of nowhere, partially because Joe Keery does such a great job showing Steve falling for Robin as the viewers do, but it totally makes sense. The intimacy of the moment allows for Robin’s confession to breathe and give the viewers a chance to go through their minds and look for the signs, just as Steve does. Robin’s confidence in herself and her sexuality is refreshing. Even if Tammy Thompson is a total dud.
And now onto Billy. Ouch. After doing just enough to reveal how and why Billy is messed up in season two, throwing the flashbacks in as El’s discovers “the source” was a perfect way to get us to care about his death. There were times where it almost felt like Billy would survive and El would die, leading Billy to redemption, but its not really redemption that he needed. It was closure, for both his pain and his character. Saving El cleansed Billy as much of the mindflayer as it did of the pain that caused him to lose his way. Turning Billy into a supernatural villain was a great turn, but setting him up as a person capable of doing the things he did while possessed is what took it to the next level. If there’s one thing I disliked about the Billy storyline, its that he and Max never really spend enough time together to make her anguish over his death hit hard. Remembering back to season two helps a little, but Billy’s accident happens before they can really get any sibling time, so she’s kind of left to deal with it from afar. Binging all three seasons will probably make Max’s reaction hit harder, but season three alone leaves a little to be desired.
Meanwhile, the more adult characters are struggling through their own issues. Hopper is trying to navigate having a teenage relationship blossom in his cabin, Joyce is trying to figure out magnets, and Nancy and Jonathan are actually the first to take on the Mindflayer mystery against the wishes of their boss at the Hawkins Post. Hopper and Joyce also struggle to develop the relationship they both know they want, while Murray Bauman and Alexei the captured Russian help them along the way. Until they all become fully involved in the Mindflayer/Russian plot, the adults are kind of overshadowed the kids.
One of the other few negatives of the third season was the almost complete lack of motivation behind the Russians. It’s explained that they are trying to open the gate and found the location in Hawkins to be important, but their reasons are never revealed. The post-credits scene does provide a bit of explanation: they are probably trying to find a way to control the creatures from the Upside Down, since they clearly have some kind of grasp on the demogorgon they are feeding prisoners to. It ends up being a great tease for season four, especially with all the mystery surrounding “the American”, but saving some of that reveal until the literal end of the season takes away from the role the Russians play in the rest of the episodes. In a show like this, where the major antagonist is generally a monster hellbent on killing, it helps to have the secondary antagonist have clear motivations that drive the story forward. Hawkins Lab and Billy are both great examples of that, but the Russians kind of fall flat. On the flip side, perhaps the real secondary antagonist of the season is teenage angst and the Russians will take center stage with more explanation in season four.
The real big twist of season three is El losing her powers at a crucial moment. It’s a little unclear whether the loss of powers stems from overexertion (likely, considering the season takes place over only a couple of days and El is bleeding out both nostrils for even the most mundane task by the end) or from the removal of the Mindflayer fragment from her leg. Whatever the reason, it adds a very interesting dynamic to the newly formed Byers family. If the gate is truly closed, perhaps El’s powers have been removed and Will’s connection to the monsters has been severed. If Hopper is truly dead, he may have actually set El up for the normal life he had always wished for her.
Overall, season three of Stranger Things is an incredibly fun journey with plenty of twists and turns. The monster is terrifying, the characters are perfect, and the stakes are massive. Big questions still remain for season four, though. Is Hopper dead or stuck in the Upside Down? Is Hopper “the American” or could it be Dr. Brenner or even Billy? Will El reconnect with her “siblings” in Chicago? Did Steve get the job at the video store? And will the rest of the gang get to meet Suzie?! While the closing scene of this season could have been a beautiful ending to the series, there is still plenty for the fourth season to reveal to us.
A Storm of Sports 