STRANGER THINGS 3 | CONTAINS SPOILERS

Oh. My. Eggos. That was intense! Was it the best series yet? I am edging towards yes. I finished the series late on Monday night and just needed to type my thoughts out! I just absolutely can’t even cope with it all.

I’ll do this by episode and then leave a few thoughts at the end too!

C H A P T E R  O N E: SUZIE, DO YOU COPY?

Dustin returns from Summer camp and is desperate to see his friends but finds Lucas and Max are in love, El and Mike are also spending all their time together and Will? He just wants to play dungeons and dragons and probably forget everything that happened in the past two seasons. Dustin comes back with the news he has a girlfriend called Suzie and makes all his friends travel all the way up a huge hill to try to get a good enough signal to contact her via radio... 

After everyone ditches him when he can’t get through, sparking suspicion that Suzie doesn’t really exist, he accidentally picks up a transmit from Russians! 

Dustin also visits Steve at “Scoops, Ahoy” where he’s got a job scooping ice cream with the new character “Robin”. He’s lost his charm (not to me, though) with the ladies and it’s funny to watch.

In this episode during a cinema trip with the Hawkins kids, Will starts sensing something and he starts getting chills, this then leads to huge powercut throughout Hawkins and you know everything is about to get spooky. 

T H O U G H T S

I was confused, is Suzie real? Is Dustin okay? I loved seeing the gang trick him with the moving toys and him spraying Lucas in the face. I think El and Mike are quite cute and as a Mum, I support that 3-inch door rule! 

Why does everyone find Billy so fit? He's gross! 

Also, I feel Karen Wheeler would LOVE Lauren Gordon (dilan_andme) thirsty mums club on Instagram. 

C H A P T E R  T W O: THE MALL RATS

Nancy and Jonathan are both working at the Hawkins post, although Nancy’s character is showing us the lack of respect that men had for the woman in the 80’s. She’s a PA and is treated terribly by the men and ridiculed by a Trump lookalike. Nancy is dreaming of being a reporter so follows the lead to Mrs Driscoll who has a huge rat problem!

Billy is working as a lifeguard at the local pool! He’s definitely bringing in the ladies and even has Mrs Wheeler thinking about straying from her life as a Mother and housewife! 

Billy then starts having some worrying visions and it starts becoming apparent that he’s going to become the next host! 

In this episode you also see Eleven and Max go shopping and see Eleven’s style and colourful personality shine through after Hopper has threatened Mike to stop spending so much time with Eleven. 

T H O U G H T S 

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing El's new style come to life, she's come a long way since the pink dress, striped socks and blue coat combo! 

Also loving her and Max finally becoming a team but not liking Max making out that Mike is awful.

Hopper is starting to annoy me. Making Mike lie to El is NOT okay. Meany

C H A P T E R  T H R E E: THE CASE OF THE MISSING LIFEGUARD

El and Max start realising somethings not quite right with Billy so start to try to find him using Eleven’s powers and what El discovers is obviously quite concerning when they find that Billy’s Co-worker Heather goes missing and he’s definitely behind it.

Steve and Dustin have been working on cracking the Russian code and have now got Robin on board too! Steve and Dustin’s bromance shines through again in this episode and it’s just so lovely to watch. The bromance decide to have a stakeout to try to find out what the Russians are up to after Robin de-codes and cracks it!

We also see Hopper and Joyce return to Hawkins lab after Joyce becomes obsessed with the fact her magnets have dropped off the fridge!

T H O U G H T S

WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE RUSSIANS? I AM SO CONFUSED! Not entirely sure I'm getting into this series. It's weird. I like it but I'm confused.

Also, Robin is cute, a new love interest of Steve? Seems pretty predictable. 
I am very happy the bromance is back too.

C H A P T E R  F O U R: THE SAUNA TEST

We have a code red! Everything becomes a lot more worrying in this episode and it becomes apparent the safety of the residents of Hawkins is going to shit! I felt for Max in this episode, she’s not had a lot of luck with her life and with Billy and with Billy and Heather sacrificing Heather’s parents to the mind-flayer the Hawkins kids are off to find concrete evidence that Billy is the new host. 

Steve, Dustin and Robin are still trying to find out what the Russian with the big gun is hiding in that mysterious room.

This then leads to the introduction of a new recruit for their mission, Erica, you can’t spell America without Erica! Lucas’ little Sister is recruited to climb through a small vent to get in and open the door. She does it but this does lead to a whole heap of trouble.

Nancy and Jonathan get fired from Hawkins post by a newly possessed Tom, after calling an Ambulance for a crazed Mrs Driscoll, who left screaming “I have to go back”.

This leads to an argument between Nancy and Jonathan and leaves tension between the two, Nancy goes home emotional and this sparks Karen to support Nancy and tell her to keep digging after expressing she sympathises about how hard it is for a woman. 

Hopper wakes up naked after being beaten up by a mysterious Russian biker and puts two and two together and heads to Mayor Kline’s office to find out what this American is doing in regards to dodgy deals with Russians. Kline plays it cool and tries very hard to smugly through Hopper off the scent but Hopper loses it after he references his dead Daughter and Kline finally spills that he doesn’t know who the guy is but it’s something to do with the starcourt mall which is trying to buy more property. 

Hopper and Joyce then follow Kline home and find out what Starcourt land means in regards to the recent power surges.

The Hawkins kids then lock Billy in a sauna to piss off the Mind Flayer and get him out of Billy. 

During this time the real Billy confesses and breaks down that he’s not wanting to do these things and he’s being made too and begs for them to let him out. Max starts to empathise and try’s to talk to Billy at the glass before Will’s “Spidey senses” started tingling again and he screams for her to get away from the glass when he can feel that the Mind Flayer has in fact taken over and has found a broken shard of tile and it’s like a “here’s Johnny” moment as Billy smashes through the glass. Once he’s freed he attacks Eleven and nearly kills her before being knocked out by Mike. He also gets hit by a slingshot! 

We then discover as Billy with a new weird skin condition screams, so does Mrs Driscoll, with the same new skin condition! We then see Heather and a whole army of undead, mind-flayer controlled people ready to be unleashed. 

Steve, Dustin, Erica and Robin also find themselves in a whole load of deep shit when their “room” is an elevator! 

Holy moly Stranger Things, you just took things up a gear.

T H O U G H T S

Billy is creepy and I find his character really annoying. Mrs Driscoll is clearly possessed.

The Scoops Troop finding an elevator, come on guys, you've got this. 

I am now getting into this series! It's fast becoming amazing, even if I am finding the three different aspects to the storyline a little hard to keep up with.

C H A P T E R  F I V E: THE FLAYED

At 6am Jonathan receives a phone call from a panicked Nancy who has been at the hospital all night with Mrs Driscoll and explains that Will might be in danger and about how Doris went a bit cuckoo last night and a bit demonic. 

Nancy and Jonathan get the Hawkins gang together to discuss their findings and they all discover the mind-Flayer is building an army and to discover where this is happening, Will suggests letting Doris free to see where she goes. 

They all arrive at the hospital where the nurse states two at a time. Nancy and Jonathan head up together and the Hawkins kids stay downstairs! 

Recently dumped Mike tries to get some candy from the vending machine and the packet gets stuck, they try to get it out before the machine drops practically all the candy! Mike looks in El’s direction before noticing she wipes the blood from her nose. 

He then offers her some M&M’s asking if her “species” like M&M’s and this olive branch definitely works. 

Nancy and Jonathan arrive at Doris’ room to find she is gone but they are confronted by Tom and Bruce as the lights flicker and it all gets a little creepy. 

A huge fight breaks out and for a moment you really think that one of them is a goner. This is when once again you notice that the mind-flayers army are connected when you see Jonathan about to be ended and Nancy smashes a fire extinguisher around Bruce’s head and it affects Tom too! 

Jonathan then stabs Tom through the throat and both Bruce and Tom die.

This is when it gets super gross, their bodies then melt and become that familiar goo and it starts heading down the corridor after Nancy. 

Thankfully, FINALLY Will’s senses start up again and they head up there and El saves Nancy, throwing the goo out of the building via a brick wall. They all run downstairs of the hospital to find it heading down into the drain. 

On the other side, Joyce and Hopper have discovered a hidden lab and are confronted by none other than ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER! Joking, it is a terminator character who you do expect to say “I’ll be back” but it isn’t, it’s s Russian with a machine gun! Hopper and Joyce manage to escape and kidnap Alexei, a Russian scientist in the process. 

Hopper then demands a mans yellow convertible with the licence plate “todfather” outside 7/11 by pretending Alexei is a child murderer while he sips his new favourite drink a cherry Slurpee.

This then sees the return of Murray Bauman! Who low and behold can translate Russian! YAY! 

Murray instantly gets sick of Hopper and Joyce’s bickering and declares their sexual tension! 

Meanwhile, the scoops troop have been locked in this elevator overnight and have started to try and find their escape... which was never going to be easy! They end up at the end of a corridor which ends up being an underground lab, of course. This is when we see a scene where Steve knocks out a Russian armed guard! Dustin shows his support by exclaiming he did it, he finally won a fight!

Then, of course, they discover the nuclear weapon-sized Lazor that opens the upside down!

T H O U G H T S

Why did no one else at the hospital find the weird banging and stuff weird? Why is no one else seeing flickering lights or wanting and explanation for the huge chunk that's been taken out of the wall? 

I am furious by the treatment of Nancy, I forget that although things could be better, we as Woman have a lot better treatment nowadays and we're respected more than we were. Nancy for the editor! GIRL POWER.

Alexei is really cute! I like Alexei.

C H A P T E R  S I X: E PLURIBUS UNUM

After the interrogation of Alexei and a bust-up over a Strawberry Slurpee over a Cherry Slurpee, Hopper chucks him out and tells him to get his own. For a moment you think he’s going to go, although Hopper is convinced he won’t... Hopper was right, Alexei finally tells us what the Russians have been up to a building! FINALLY. 

Robin and Steve are caught and held hostage by the Russians at this point! They let Dustin and Erica go so they could go and get help and poor Steve’s face is taking a battering! Our poor Steve. They’re also drugged while they’re being interrogated to where they work and the Russians not believing that they only work for Scoops Ahoy! 

This episode ends with a look into Billy’s mind! El communes with Billy and ends up on a California beach, with Billy and his Mum and then gets a glance into his troubled past and childhood and it is a little emotional. This leads to her giving away her position and putting herself and everyone in danger. 

T H O U G H T S

If that fat Russian hits Steve in the face again and ruins it, I'm coming for him. 

I should be feeling sorry for Billy but I'm just not. His childhood was really sad but it's how you come back from it. He's a prick. 

Also, Cherry and Strawberry taste very, very different, behave Hopper.

C H A P T E R  S E V E N: THE BITE

Robin and Steve have now escaped thanks to Dustin and Erica! Robin and Steve have been drugged and are very humorous in this episode! 

Dustin sneaks them through to the cinema where they’re watching Back to the future! 

Under Erica’s watch, while Dustin goes to try to contact Mike, they escape and end up in a bathroom where the effects of the drugs lead to a LOT of vomiting. 

While in the bathroom, Robin and Steve end up having a heart to heart and Steve declares he has feelings for Robin. This leads to Robin expressing she wasn’t fixated on Steve in school, which was previously discussed in a previous episode but actually she was jealous that a girl named Tammy fancied Steve and not her and that she actually likes girls! 

Steve takes this well and they leave the bathroom as friends and it’s a really nice storyline. 

The gang try their best to board up Hoppers cabin to protect themselves but they’re outta luck and the mind-Flayer knows exactly where they are! It ends up in a bit of a Mind-Flayer VS Kids scenario and even though it looked like El’s time had run out, the kids thankfully beat the mind-Flayer, temporarily, and they have to run for safety. Eleven has been bitten by this point and they head towards a supermarket.

In the supermarket, Max helps patch up the leg with alcohol and Lucas stocks up on firecrackers in hope of beating the mind-flayer! 

At the funfair, not everyone is having the best time but while on a watching the fireworks from up the top of the Ferris wheel, Mike and Nancy’s little sister notices the trees moving and doing something a little odd but fear not this is not the mind-flayer, this is the Russians!

On the ground, Alexei has been found by terminator man and shot while being called a traitor and sadly dies before being able to help save the “Americans” and terminators next target is Hopper. 

While running through the funhouse and having a hall of mirrors showdown hopper thinks he’s killed terminator after shooting him BUT those Russians are clever and he is wearing a bulletproof vest OBVIOUSLY.

Joyce bumps into Kline who takes yet another punch to his smug face before she gets the getaway car ready! Thankfully Hopper gets away with Joyce and Murray. 

The Hawkins kids head to the mall to save Dustin and the gang and just as they’re about to be found by the Russians with big guns, they’re taking out by El and her powers as she throws a car across and kills them all! Saving the four of them! 

Reunited and with very brief catchup, they realise El’s leg has been infected by the mind-Flayer 

And she now needs to fix this and ASAP or otherwise this could be the end.

T H O U G H T S 

Holy crap, is El about to be taken over by the Mind-Flayer? 

Can Kline be eaten? He's annoying! 

Alexei is dead and my heart feels sad. He just wanted to watch cartoons and drink Slurpees, he was a kid at heart! I wanted to know more about his story. 

Oh, I love Robin's storyline. She's won my heart... do I fancy her now more than Steve?

C H A P T E R  E I G H T: THE BATTLE OF STARCOURT

THE FINALE! THE ENDING! THE END?

We start the episode with a brutal moment with El’s leg! They have to get rid of the mind-Flayer parasite in her leg but how? 

We start off with the gang trying to cut it out but we end with El using her mind powers to get rid of it! This works but also does more than just remove the parasite...

The parasite heads off and means it’s doom when Hopper stamps on it killing it. Boot 1: Parasite 0.

Finally, the whole team is back together with a few added extras! They make a battle plan and go into action in 3 separate groups! Bald Eagle, The Griswold Family and the Scoops Troop. They head their separate ways with the plan in action. 

Dustin and Erica head up to the hill that overlooks Hawkins as they are about to attempt to guide Hopper, Murray and Joyce through the bunker!

The rest of the gang get ready to head to Murray’s hideout but are met by one, teeny, tiny problem... Billy!

Billy has disabled the car meaning it won’t drive and he’s sitting there with headlights on in direct line with the car full of Nancy, Jonathan, Will, El, Mike and Max, revving his engine over and over again.

They rush back into starcourt for safety and to get the part they need for the car from the car that El threw earlier. This is the first encounter we have where we realise El’s powers aren’t working. She tries a coke can and nope, nothing. 

The mind-Flayer now absolutely, positively, humongous and terrifying is en route to end them all. 

While this is going on Hopper, Joyce and Murray, now in the bunker, dressed as Russians are trying to end this all by closing the gate, they just have to get there.

They are faced with a problem when they can’t remember the code for the safe! It’s Planck’s constant, yet no one knows it but Dustin knows someone who will!

SUZIE, do you copy? Yes, she does! She finally does! Holy crap she is real! Suzie knows Planck’s constant BUT will only give it on one condition! He has to sing the theme from Neverending Story! Much to his embarrassment, he does it and it is a super-duper cute scene! Once the song is over and EVERYONE on the radios has heard their duet; she gives the code. 

Back to the mall! Robin and Steve, think they’ve saved the day as they ram into Billy’s car BUT in true Stranger things style he makes his way into the mall and he attempts to take down El to feed her to the mind-Flayer!

Lucas’ not so stupid plan starts and they’re launching the many fireworks at the mind-Flayer and in this time El manages to get Billy to think about everything and surprisingly he sacrifices himself instead. This keeps the mind-Flayer busy while Dustin screams down the radio, SHUT THE GATE! 

Hopper is currently fighting with terminator and finally ends him but the end of Hopper is a heart wrenching one! He nods at Joyce to close the gate knowing full well he’s going to die. 

The sadness as it’s all ended and they’ve saved Hawkins yet again but once again a few of them have died! You have Joyce and El grieving for Hopper and Max for Billy! It’s hard to take it all in.

We then jump to “three months later”

We see the Byers packing up to move, including El! We see Will and El planning Christmas and everyone’s mourning still. 

We see Robin and Steve getting new jobs in a video store run by a Keith.

Will puts his dungeons and dragons books in a donate box with is given to Erica!

AND, most of all, El is still without her powers! 

Then! Just when you think it’s over! 

We head to Russia! And to a prison and one of the guards says “not the American” he then takes a Russian who’s begging to be saved and he is put in a cell. A door is opened once he is securely in and low and beholds, DART! Dart comes out and eats him! 

Leaving you ready for Season 4!

T H O U G H T S 

Initially, I was like what? How? whats going to happen! I thought it was going to end when they came out of starcourt and then we headed to three months later. 
I was then confused as we seemed to have no lead for next time! At the end of season two, we had Dart and I was convinced Dart was going to be the main "monster" this time but he wasn't and then... just when I thought it had ended, DART IS BACK!

M Y  O T H E R  T H O U G H T S

I loved this series! It really was the best one. I have so many questions and so many feelings! I feel like I missed things or didn’t take everything in, I was confused by parts of it but overall I really enjoyed it. 

My thoughts and questions on everything are

1. Who is Max living with now? I’m so confused, did I miss where she was living? Is she with the Byers? Is she with Lucas? Mike? I am confused! 

2. Will Steve ever find love? I mean, I will happily love him but I would like him to find a nice girl.

3. I am so glad Dart was mentioned because I thought they’d forgotten about him!

4. Is Hopper the American? Is it Murray? Kline? Billy? Who is the American?

5. Will El ever get happiness? Screw her getting her powers back, will she ever be happy? I mean gosh, Papa, her Mum, Hopper, Will! She’s not having much luck! 

6. El’s wardrobe this season was amazing! So colourful and cute! You sort of forget she was this Eggo eating, the shaved head girl who never spoke from the first series. 

7. Will Suzie become a more prominent character in the next series? I think it would be cute, although I think Will needs a girlfriend (or a boyfriend). 

8. Will Keith be eaten in the next season?

9. Will Dustin be the next host? He raised Dart, the stupid idiot, will Dart protect him or take over his body? 

10. Will Joyce ever catch a break? That poor bloody woman too! First her son has been a host to a Demogorgon, secondly, her boyfriend died by the Demogorgon and now Hopper! Like, come on give the woman some happiness too! 

11. I’m excited about the next soundtrack! I just love the soundtracks to the stranger things seasons.

12. I may be the minority here but I wasn’t sad Billy died, I hated his character, I just couldn’t feel sorry for him, no matter how hard I tried and I just found him a prick! His story is sad and if he wasn’t such a horrible, pain in the ass then I would have had more compassion

13. Hopper annoyed me in this series! I totally found his letter heartbreaking to hear but he became such an annoying character, I’d like for him to be alive for the sake of El but at the same time, he’s not a great loss.

14. If the Byers and El have moved out of Hawkins and Dart is in Russia, how are they going to do the next series? What route are they going to go down? I’m really interested! 

15. HOW DO THE RUSSIANS KNOW ABOUT THE UPSIDE DOWN? WHY THE RUSSIANS.

When is it coming back? I’m ready for it now! Thanks! 

I just blooming love this programme, it’s up there as one of my all-time favourites and I can’t wait for the next series! 

I also enjoyed reading Nyomi’s eleven thoughts on stranger things post which I’ve linked HERE for you to have a read! See what she thought!