Stranger Things Season 3 Review: The Kids Are Growing Up (and Changing)

The wait is over! Stranger Things Season 3 is here, and it doesn’t disappoint.

The third season of Netflix supernatural drama takes its time unveiling the new mystery. It takes us around Hawkins, shows us how things have changed, and sets us up with small tantalizing morsels of information that draw us into the whole.

The fact that Season 3 lingers in the now during the first few episodes is one of its strengths. Throughout the first two seasons, there’s been a lot of strife, so it’s very satisfying to see most of the characters enjoying a moment or two of happiness and levity as they try to lead normal lives.

As much as Stranger Things is about action and monsters it’s also about the human connections and characters that make the spooky moments that much more terrifying. It also helps that the Duffer Brothers have made every moment a little more gruesome and terrifying.

Like previous seasons, Stranger Things Season 3 doesn’t shy away from telling multiple facets of the same story. The writers find ways to give each character a way in and drive them towards the same conclusion that feels natural to their interests and modes until they come together in the final battle.

Let’s take a look at some of the relationships and themes that came up on this season.

The Red Army Has Infiltrated Hawkins

After watching the final trailer for Stranger Things Season 3, I didn’t expect to see a lab trying to open a gate to another world in the scene. As they attempt to open the gate I find myself screaming, “Haven’t these people at Hawkins Lab learned anything?”

But, of course, it wasn’t the Hawkins Lab employees that were trying to open the gate this time, but the Russians.

While the show is set in the 1980s, it never felt like the historical politics played into the writing much. It isn’t entirely out of the blue to expect that the Russians might be looking at the same technology because historically, the United States was involved in the Cold War.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power and new bilateral trade agreements were made between the United States and the Soviet Union. While these events aren’t referenced specifically there’s definitely a tone running through some of the dialogue where we can sense that the characters are aware of the world beyond Hawkins.

Lucas’s sister, Erica, feels like a prime example of this. She’s growing up and able to have a discussion on capitalism and socialism as it relates to Robin and Steve needing her help.

ERICA: You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is? It means this is a free market system which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want me help, this U.S.S. Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I’m talking free ice cream for life.

The fact that the enemy this year isn’t just the mind flayer, but the Russians, makes the series both feel immersive and at the same time so present and applicable to our current political climate.

Add in some cellphones, drones, and maybe get rid of the Family Video at the end, and this season could have been set in the present day, without a doubt.

Everybody’s Gotta Grow Up Sometime

Inevitably, the Stranger Things kids were going to get older and so would the characters. The third season does a good job of propelling them into their teenage years.

Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all have girlfriends. Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy are out of high school and starting to strike out on their own. In contrast to this, there’s Will and Eleven who have been stunted in earlier seasons by different traumas.

Will wants to remain in the past, in the uncomplicated, and understood, world of basement Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. The world before The Upside Down. It makes sense that he would want to cling to this happier time, but while he was dealing with the mind flayer his friends grew up.

The scene where Will destroys Castle Beyers is heartbreaking, that place was so significant on Stranger Things Season 1. It was a refuge and a sanctuary, and the destruction of it feels significant and ties into the theme of home being a safe place and that illusion being shattered.

Eleven is also growing and changing this season in a different way. While Will is clinging to memories of his past, Eleven has to move on from it. She does so with the help of Max.

Eleven has made great strides since we first saw her in Season 1. At the start of Season 3, she definitely feels more comfortable with herself but also set in how she interacts with other people and the rules that are set for her.

Eleven’s been so conditioned to living by the defined set of rules that she doesn’t know how to break them and think for herself. In contrast, Max is very self-assured and confident, and able to push Eleven to try new things and get out of her comfort zone. 

The sequence where they go to the mall and Max encourages her to try on new clothes and find something that fits her, that she likes, is uplifting and freeing. 

Unlike some of the other presences in Eleven’s life, Max’s support is less directed at what Eleven should do and centered instead around how other people should treat her.

A prime example of this is when Eleven attempts to use her powers for an extended period of time. When Mike expresses concerns about how long Eleven has been using her powers, Max steps up and says that Eleven can take care of herself.

MAX: The fact is, she’s not yours. She’s her own person fully capable of making her own decisions.

Max has proven herself to be exactly the kind of person that Eleven needs in her corner. She’s boosting Eleven up and encouraging her to make her own decisions.

While it might look to Mike like she’s corrupting Eleven, what Max does is give Eleven permission to explore who she is as a person without telling her what to do.

The fact that Nancy agrees just strengthens the argument, but it has to come from Max to carry some weight. Even Hopper’s written speech that Eleven reads at the end of the season reinforces that this is something that she needs to explore about herself, and it’s heartbreaking that now that she has a friend they’re separated.

Joyce and Hopper at it Again

I have so much love for these two and their single parent, let’s help each other out, type of relationship. They have so much chemistry that it is actually starting to get ridiculous when people act surprised that they aren’t together.

Murray in the back seat of the car on with Alexei summarizes their entire dynamic really well. And that really should have been a red flag for what was coming.

MURRAY: [To Joyce] Yes, yes, he’s a brute. I know. Probably reminds you of a bad relationship, and gosh, you’d really like a nice man to settle down with, but admit it, you’re real curious to know what he’s like in the sake. [To Hopper] And you, ha. Well, you’re just a big manbaby who’d rather act tough than show his true feelings because the last time you opened your heart you got hurt. Owie. [To Both] And now rather than admit these feelings, you are dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual. So, please, for my sake, either quit your bickering, or pull over, tear off those clothes, and get it over with already.

This feels like the perfect time to talk about how Joyce needs to catch a break, and I really think that Hopper is, could be, or was that break. The way that Hopper always tries to put Joyce first, and caters to her concerns felt genuine and supportive on his part.

I keep thinking back over the first few seasons and how Joyce would call him with any concern and he never seemed bothered or put off by it. He always answered her call when she needed him, and that’s the kind of thing that makes a great partner. 

The decision she makes to move at the end of the season is understandable given how everything turns out. There’s a lot of bad memories tied to Hawkins for the Beyers family, and Hopper was the person who looked out for her the most and tried to keep her safe.

There’s no guarantee that weird stuff isn’t going to keep happening in Hawkins, and with her safety net gone, it’s clear that Joyce would want to get out of dodge.

After all, who else is going to believe her about the magnets falling off of her fridge? 

Nancy as Mirror of Joyce

I want to talk about Nancy and Jonathan, but honestly, the best way to do that is to bring up Joyce as well. In many ways Nancy and Joyce’s journeys are similar, and Jonathan’s treatment of them is also similar, and frankly kind of disheartening.

Nancy and Joyce are two characters who pursue the truth despite what people believe: Joyce’s curiosity is piqued when magnets fall off fridges in two different locations, Nancy’s by a call about diseased rats.

These two women have something in common, no one believes them. They’re Cassandra-like figures within the Stranger Things universe.

Both Nancy’s determination to be respected in the newsroom is met with nothing but laughter and Joyce’s attempt to explain her concern over the demagnetized magnets is met with nothing but skepticism.

While it feels like the same story, different year, with Joyce, it’s different for Nancy. In many ways, it feels like Stranger Things Season 3 sets up Nancy to mirror Joyce’s arc from Season 1.

Granted, Nancy’s circumstances are different. She’s working at a newspaper surrounded by staff that belittles. It’s easy to read this as sexism and leave it there, but I think that given how much weird stuff has happened in Hawkins you have to consider that this one person whose gut you probably trust. 

This all feels similar to Joyce’s reactions when Will was missing on Stranger Things Season 1. Even after they found Will’s “body” Joyce was convinced he was alive, and Jonathan had to talk her down and plan his funeral.

The scene between Jonathan and Nancy in the car when he calls her on being entitled and having things handed to her feels very similar.

This is the end of the conversation that Jonathan had with his mother after they saw Will’s body in Season 1:

JONATHAN: Let me get this straight. Will, that’s not his body because he’s in the lights, right? And there’s a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?
JOYCE: I know it sounds crazy. I sound crazy. You think I don’t know that. It is crazy. But I heard him Jonathan, he talked to me. Will is calling to me. And he’s out there and he’s alone and he’s scared. And I don’t care if anyone believes me. I am not going to stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home. I am going to bring him home.
JONATHAN: Yea while you’re talking to the lights, the rest of us are having a funeral for will. I am not letting him stay in that freezer another day.

He’s exasperated trying to make sense of some of the things that his mother is telling him, but even after knowing about all the weird stuff that’s happened here’s the end of the conversation between him and Nancy in the car.

JONATHAN: Yea the real world sucks. Deal with it like the rest of us.
NANCY: You don’t know what it’s like.
JONATHAN: Neither do you.

Jonathan’s concerns in both instances are real, but at the same time, we know that both Joyce and Nancy were in pursuit of something very valid. Hearing how Jonathan belittles Nancy like that feels terrible and really causes me to question if they’re a good match.

The more I think about how Jonathan has reacted in these two scenarios, the more I imagine him one day throwing out the phrase “hysterical woman.” It would honestly, be the epitome of irony for this series.

While shared trauma may be what bonds Nancy and Jonathan, it’s definitely not enough for them to sustain a relationship, and I am not sure if they can really be an endgame. 

There’s More to Life Than Popularity

Steve Harrington’s future didn’t look too bright when we first saw him in Season 3. Working at the mall at Scoops Ahoy was a very comedic job, and seeing him help the kids sneak into the movies gave us a clue that he is still the babysitter that we know and love.

Yet, Steve still had some growing up to do.

His former classmate and current coworker Robin is a great counterpoint to him and they play off each other nicely. Her snarky attitude is hands-down the best addition to the series in Season 3. Watching Robin, Steve, Dustin, and Erica all become a spy team was gratifying, and a little funny. A good balance to the scenes with the mind flayer. 

Watching them learn to work together and figure out that maybe they’re more compatible than Steve originally thought was a mature move on the part of the writers. It once again plays into the theme of growing up, changing, and moving on. 

The Last 25 Minutes

While the battle at the Starcourt mall was an epic sequence, the last 25 minutes definitely have us shook.

First, Max’s brother, Billy, was not a character that I thought I would ever be sad to see go. He appeared in Stranger Things Season 2 and was quite a jerk. While there seemed to be a shift in him by the end of the season, he still seemed back to his old ways.

Seeing Billy scared towards the beginning of Season 3 was a shift, but as the story digs deeper into his past and peels back the layers of who Billy is, it makes us sympathize with him a little bit more and makes his death sting that much more.

In part, I think his death hurts because he threw himself in front of the mind flayer to save Eleven. That action feels unexpected and makes his death sting a little more. 

The moment that Joyce turned the keys to close the gate was truly gut-wrenching, and not an outcome we expected. Joyce and Hopper have always been a good team and now that Hopper is dead it definitely feels like an opportunity was missed.

With Hopper gone, the Beyers are moving out of Hawkins. All said and done, it’s a pretty bleak way to end the season. An entire section fo the cast is being uprooted and transplanted somewhere else. Eleven is leaving Mike and Max, and Will is truly having to let go of everything he is trying to hold onto. 

Add onto that, Hopper’s speech, and you have the makings of a truly sad final act.

As much as the speech might have been about Mike and Eleven’s relationship, it turned out to be about much more about him and Eleven and how she helped him and contains more themes of growing up and letting go. 

HOPPER: Lately, I guess I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off.

But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change. So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try to maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock, to make things go back to how they were.

But I know that’s naive. It’s just not how life works. It’s moving. Always moving whether you like it or not. And yes, sometimes that’s painful. Sometimes that sad. And sometimes, it’s surprising, happy. So you know what, keep on growing up, kid. Don’t let me stop you.

Make mistakes, learn from them, and when life hurts you–becuase it will–remember the hurt. The hurt, is good. It means you’re out of that cave. But please, if you don’t mind, for the sake of your poor, old, dad. Keep the door open three inches. 

Hopper doesn’t show his squishy side very often, but it comes through in his speech and seeing how he and Eleven seemed to have healed each other is a very gratifying moment.

The joke about leaving the door open doesn’t just mean the physical door either, but I think an emotional door to make sure that they continue to have their connection. 

At to core of the last act though, is the loss of Eleven’s powers. While Mike seems sure that they’ll come back, it’s been three months and Eleven still hasn’t been able to do anything.

Eleven is the one character who fought the mind flayer the hardest, and she was really the only one that could until the final battle at Starcourt. Having her lose her powers just before that, really gives the rest of the characters a chance to shine in the battle sequence, but it also might have given Eleven a chance at a life that feels almost normal.

The loss of Eleven’s powers could be a blessing for her in the long run, but of course, I am sure she’d be more comforted if she could look in on her friends every now and again now that she’s moving away.

As much as Eleven deserves a break though, she needs her powers back for Season 4. If the creatures from The Upside Down continue to attack, they won’t stand a chance without Eleven’s abilities.

Of course, as established in Season 2 there are others out there like Eleven so hope might not be entirely lost.

A Final Note from Russia

If you watched beyond the very start of the end credits, there’s a short clip of Russia where some soldiers feed a prisoner to a Demogorgon. This little teaser does leave the door open for Season 4, and if that’s the case then I think we can very likely expect that the Russians will be back.

Going back to what I said earlier, that evolution would make sense as the kids grow older and start to become more aware of the world around them.

It’s also frightening because clearly the Russians are further along in their research than it appeared. What exactly that means and what the endgame is a question for Season 4.

Stray Thoughts

• There was not a single Eggo waffle in sight this season. I am guessing Eleven grew out of her obsession with them.
• I did enjoy Mr. Clark’s brief cameo with Joyce. The season wouldn’t have been the same with a Mr. Clark science lesson.
• Any else glad that Suzie turned out to be real? If only for Dustin’s sake. Their little song was adorable. (Not necessary, but definitely a cute moment to give this couple their due.)
• I realize that he was technically playing on Team Russia, but Alexei was just too damn precious not to bite it this season. Sure, he was annoying, but that end when he just wanted to go to the carnival and play the games felt like pure joy.
• Right before Billy and Heather abduct her parents I got some serious Stepford Wife vibes.
• Who else is going to spend the next year wondering exactly who “The American” in the Russian jail is? 
• Just putting this here:  When we said, let Joyce be Eleven’s mom, that’s not what we meant! 

What did you think of this season of Stranger Things? Let us know in the comments below.

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Stranger Things Season 3 is now available on Netflix

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