TV

Here’s Everything You Need To Remember Before ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3

A LOT has happened to those plucky kids.

by Jenna Guillaume  3 July 2019
Stranger Things

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Stranger Things season 3 is (finally!) nearly here.

We’re about to launch into the summer of 1985 and find out what the Upside Down has been brewing for the residents of Hawkins and their shiny new mall. 

But before we do that, let’s take a look back at where we left our faves (that is, Steve Harrington’s hair, Steve Harrington, and the rest of the gang, in that order).

Because despite Season 3 only being set eight months after the end of Season 2, for viewers it’s been nearly two years since we got new Stranger Things. If you haven’t had time/can’t be bothered to go back and rewatch the first two seasons before Season 3 drops, here’s what you might have forgotten…

The Big Bad Mind Flayer

Season 1 scared us with the Demogorgon, but Season 2 made that creature seem like a puppy (literally — hello, demodogs).

That was mostly thanks to the Mind Flayer, the creature seemingly controlling the Upside Down and everything in it. We learned that everything was connected through a hive mind that spread through Hawkins like a virus at the behest of the Mind Flayer “brain”.

The Mind Flayer even got inside Will, possessing him and using him as a spy. 

Joyce figured out that the Mind Flayer-possessed Will couldn’t handle heat, so she, Jonathan and Nancy worked together to basically cook the beast out of him. The final push seemed to be when Nancy shoved a hot poker in Will’s side, and he at last appeared free of the Mind Flayer’s control. 

Meanwhile, Eleven, with Hopper at her side, returned to the gate between worlds at Hawkins lab and managed to close it, thanks to her lesson from her newly-discovered “sister”, Kali/Eight about channeling her anger into her powers.

We saw the Mind Flayer trapped on the other side when Eleven was closing the gate, and all the creatures left on the Hawkins side of the gate dropped dead. However, the season ended with an ominous shot of the Mind Flayer looming over the Upside Down version of the kids’ school, suggesting he wasn’t done with them yet. 

The trailer for Stranger Things Season 3 has hinted that the Mind Flayer wasn’t successfully trapped behind the gate, after all. It looks like he’ll be possessing someone/something else — and potentially also coming back for Will.

The Kids Aren’t Alright…

While on the surface Stranger Things is about monsters and mayhem, at its core it’s about friendship and growing up and the way those two things intersect.

The cracks started to form in the core gang in Season 1 and they split even further in Season 2. While they still very much love each other, they’ve had to grapple with change and diverging life stages (on top of aforementioned monsters and mayhem).

We entered the kids’ lives at the magical Stephen King-sian time of “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12” — and everything then has seen them moving away from this as they grow up.

One of the biggest factors driving change has, of course, been the appearance of girls on the scene — first with Eleven, who grew close to Mike, and then with Max and the attraction both Lucas and Dustin felt for her — which she ultimately reciprocated with Lucas alone. 

Indeed, Dustin felt isolated throughout Season 2, which is partly why he “adopted” D’art (you know, the little lizard that ended up being a Demo-dog).

The Season 3 trailer hints at Dustin’s further isolation, and with Mike and Eleven and Lucas and Max pairing off, and Will still dealing with the aftermath of his time in the Upside Down, it looks like the groups’ friendship could really be on shaky ground.

And we all know the only way they can ~defeat the evil~ is by coming together.

The Older Kids Seem Fine

As for the older kids, Steve and Nancy seem to be done for good, with Steve consoling himself by leaning into his role of adoptive mother to a bunch of misfit kids — and Dustin in particular.

Nancy and Jonathan got together in Season 2, and from the looks of Season 3 are still very much a team. Season 2 saw them handing over everything they knew about the Upside Down and the Department of Energy to conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman, who leaked just enough information to the public to get Hawkins lab shut down for good (or SO IT SEEMS), giving Barb’s parents a sense of closure over her death.

Billy Hargrove, Max’s unhinged older stepbrother, was last seen knocked out by Max after beating Steve to a pulp at the Byers house. He had a twisted obsession with Steve throughout the season, and was also incredibly menacing to Max — especially where her relationship with Lucas was concerned — so it’ll be interesting to see if these themes play out again in Season 3. 

…And The Adults Are Okay-ish

One of the biggest things to happen in Season 2 when it came to the adults, was the death of Bob (gone WAY TOO SOON).

The end of the season saw Joyce grieving Bob and experiencing guilt over his death, while Hopper tried to comfort her as best he could. He seemed to be (re?)developing feelings for her, but put them aside to support her as a friend.

Hopper actually made some headway in healing during Season 2, and he even officially adopted Eleven as his daughter. After a rocky ride in the pair’s relationship over the course of the season, they seemed to have reached a compromise about freedom vs safety by the end of it, and their bond is stronger than ever.

At least, until the inevitable chaos breaks loose in Season 3…

Stranger Things season 3 drops on Netflix on Thursday July 4th.

Jenna Guillaume is a Sydney-based writer who loves all things TV and pop culture. She tweets @JennaGuillaume, and her new book, ‘What I Like About Me’ is available now.