This ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 Recap Will Keep Things Right Side Up for Season 4
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Stranger Things is back after almost three years. Can you believe it? Of course you can. Everything in the recent path feels like it was simultaneously yesterday and a decade ago. This is just how we experience time now. It’s like we’re in a throwback science fiction Netflix series ourselves. Let’s dust off some of those Stranger Things cobwebs, get back on our bikes, and recap season 3 before Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 drops on Netflix.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the new season’s episodes are all super long—more than an hour each! There’s no time to binge the whole series before you start season 4!
Here’s what you need to remember.
Season 3 took place over summer break 1985
That means that everyone has summer jobs. Nancy and Jonathan both work at the local paper. Max’s brother Billy worked as a lifeguard. Steve has a job scooping ice cream. Almost all the kids were coupled up too. At the beginning of the season, Max and Lucas and Eleven and Mike are dating. (The girls both dump their respective boyfriends in the middle of the season.) Dustin also has a long-distance relationship with a girl he met at camp named Suzie. This is a major bummer for Will, who was already left behind in the Upside Down in season 1 and now finds himself left behind in other ways.
Also, if you’re not keeping track of the timeline, the first season of Stranger Things took place in November of 1983. That means less than two years have passed since Will vanished and Barb died. Wild, right?
Robin is Steve Harrington’s new age-appropriate BFF
Steve’s coworker Robin became his new buddy and joined the proverbial Scooby Gang in their season 3 adventures. The whole gang has more girl power this time around. Lucas’s little sister Erica also tags along, and Suzie helps them out at the last second.
But if you were shipping Steve and Robin together romantically, you’re SOL. Robin is pretty exclusively attracted to women. She tells Steve this after he earns her trust. In fact, Robin had a crush on a girl named Tammy who was super into Steve…devastating! Oh, and if her face and voice look and sound familiar to you, Maya Hawke’s parents are Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. She’s an elite nepo baby.
Everyone’s obsessed with the Starcourt Mall, including some Russians
A new mall in town causes a few problems for Hawkins. For one thing, it’s eating up local business. Another issue, of course, is the Russian lab underground doing experiments with the Upside Down and trying to open the gate back up. Turns out that Mayor Larry Kline, played by Cary Elwes, has been secretly selling land in Hawkins to the Soviets.
Steve, Dustin, Erica, and Robin cracked the code and discover the Russian lab. Hopper, Murray, and Joyce also investigate the Russians with the help of a scientist named Alexei (who unfortunately dies at the local carnival after winning the most epic Woody the Woodpecker stuffed plushie).
The monster built an army of brainwashed Hawkins citizens
In season 3, the Big Bad was the Mind Flayer again. This time, the monster goes after people in town and possesses them—starting with local rats and Max’s brother Billy.
One character died and another disappeared
In the battle at the mall, Billy dies so that the Mind Flayer can be destroyed. Hopper appears to be dead, but a post-credits tease revealed that he’s being held in a Russian prison with ties to the Upside Down.
The other key thing you need to remember from season 3 is that Eleven lost her powers. At the end of the season, she moves away to California with Will, Joyce, and Jonathan Byers.
And that’s it! Now you’re all ready to start Stranger Things 4. See y’all on the other side!
You Might Also Like
