By now, a good portion of the U.S. has binged the entirety of Stranger Things Season 3. And by a good portion, I mean 40 million households (my own being one of them) within the first four days (so basically the whole July 4th holiday weekend), making it the most watched film or series within the first four days in the history of Netflix. 18 million of those households kept their eyeballs pried open for the whole season all in one shot. (Again, my household being among those. I have no shame and you can’t convince me to be ashamed).
If you are among the few people who have not watched season three of Stranger Things, I will make this probably obvious disclaimer—yes, there are spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.
I have some general overall thoughts on the series that I’ll just kind of emotion-vomit all in one shot before I get into my more refined list: I am *living* for the continuation of the Dustin/Steve friendship in season 3, which might just be the best thing that ever happened to this show. There were so many emotions–I was laughing all the time, I was anxious and tense, I was bawling into my Stranger Things throw blanket. The whole gamut of emotions. With all due respect to Bob the Superhero (RIP poor innocent Bob), I was delighted to see the reunion of Joyce and Hopper and will always root for them. I also loved some of the little “inside joke” type things that hearkened back to earlier seasons, like Murray yelling at his visitors to look at the camera and everyone always looks really closely at the buzzer instead, or Dustin joking about how Steve has never won a fight after being 0 for 2 in the first two seasons.
But even though I loved the entirety of the new season and almost everything about it, of course I had a few moments that there were my absolute favorites. Things I’ll be quoting probably for the next year or so until the new season comes out and provides me with more nuggets of gold. Things like my old standbys from previous seasons, such as “You look pretty…good. You look pretty good.” Or “She’s our friend and she’s crazy!” You know. Things that are very usable in real life.
And before we even get into the list, yes, a good percentage of these are Dustin or Dustin/Steve related. And I’m not even sorry not sorry—I’m just not sorry.
“If I had known Steve could knock out a Russian, that would have been the plan to begin with!”
If you had told me during season one that Dustin and Steve Harrington—of all people—would develop this camaraderie and that I would grow to love Steve Harrington—of all people—this much, I probably would not have believed you. But not only do I adore the moment in the GIF above when he asks the girls if they want to set sail with him and then unnecessarily tosses in “I’m Steve Harrington” at the end (yeah, Steve The Hair Harrington, we know), probably one of my favorite Dustin/Steve moments is one of the more subtle ones in the season.
After Steve wins his first fight by kicking the ass of the Russian soldier in charge of the comms room, Erica and Dustin are arguing in the background as the camera focuses on other things, and we hear Dustin’s retort to Erica’s criticism as he yells, “If I had known Steve could knock out a Russian, that would have been the plan to begin with!”
Words to live by.
Kinda.
El putting her friends behind her to protect them from Mindflayer-Possessed Billy
We’ve seen similar posture from Eleven before—such as in season one when she defends her new friends from the school bullies—but I just absolutely love this moment. As Billy becomes more terrifying and starts to break his way out of the sauna, El puts her arms in order to push her friends behind her so she can defend them with her psychic abilities and I just love it. It perfectly illustrates what a badass Eleven is and how loyal she is to this group. She will do anything for her friends even when Mike does piss her off with hormonal teenage nonsense. It’s so rare to find friends that good and that loyal, it’s just heartwarming to see it in this show. Plus, I feel like we often see this movement from men or boys in TV shows and movies, especially superhero/action type movies where a man pushes his girlfriend/wife/resident damsel in distress behind him to protect her—which is fine, but I love seeing a show depict how a young woman can have those super protective qualities as well.
El & Max’s Shopping Montage
I’m not gonna lie—and this will probably get me some hate—but I’m actually not a huge fan of Max. However, it was great to see Eleven finally getting to bond with another girl in season 3. Obviously we love the boys and there’s nothing wrong with being friends with a group of boys, but girl time/female friendships are something that Eleven definitely hasn’t gotten to experience yet, so it was really cute to see her do that with Max at the mall. I love the moment above where she looks around the mall totally in awe by everything there and Max just looks delighted that she gets to share this with someone. I liked seeing Max tell El to find something that feels like her and letting her lean into her identity a little bit. And something about the way the montage was filmed, with the bright colors, quick shots, and stellar usage of Material Girl by Madonna as the song, was just really uplifting and amusing. And I also loved seeing her make the catty girl’s soda explode all over. The whole thing was just adorable, and it probably makes the list for a lot of people’s favorite moments.
Joyce yanking out the phone cord in the mayor’s office and asking the secretary, “What are you going to do? Call the cops?”
Whenever I rewatch any season of Stranger Things I find myself thinking, “Can someone get Joyce Byers a Mother of the Year Award already?” I mean in season one she’s bound and determined that the “thing” they pull out of the water is not her son, and despite the fact that everyone initially thinks she is crazy, she knows for sure he is still alive and stops at nothing to find him. In season two, she stops at nothing to save him from the remainders of The Upside Down that are still dangerously possessing him. And in season three, she’s…remarkably concerned with magnets, but still a badass. I don’t know if she really gets enough credit overall, but by far one of my favorite moments is when she and Hopper make a visit to the mayor’s office to beat some sense into him wait no I mean extort some information out of him hang on I’ll get it here—to gather some intel. There we go. And when things get dicey with Hopper and the mayor, the secretary goes for the phone. In a quick thinking moment, Joyce yanks the phone cord right out and the LOOK she gives the secretary is absolutely PRICELESS as she quips, “What are you gonna do, call the cops?”
I could watch that moment on repeat all day. Winona Forever.
“Lookin’ at you, Roast Beef.”
Another priceless moment that literally made me laugh out loud, not just in the let me use this overused text expression kind of way. When The Scoop Troop take a look down the seemingly endless corridor in the underground Russian bunker, and smartass Steve says, “I hope you guys are in shape,” and then, after looking over his small fry bestie Dustin and his clever graphic tee, adds, “Lookin’ at you, Roast Beef.” The only thing that makes the whole moment better is Dustin’s total overreaction to it as he repeatedly asks, “Why me?!” in one of his trademark bewildered tones.
I’m telling you guys I am living for this oddball friendship. The popular high school guy and the impossibly nerdy, science camp loving kid that I can’t get enough of.
“You can’t spell America without Erica.”
I know everyone thought Erica stole the show in season two, but at the time, she kind of just seemed like a big brat. As she grows older in season three, though, her attitude comes to the forefront big time. After how much people loved her in season two, I’m not surprised at all by how much screen time she got in the new episodes. I am a little surprised, however, by how funny and actually likable I found her at moments. But by far my favorite—and probably a lot of people’s favorite—was at the beginning of the formation of The Scoop Troop when Dustin tries to convince her to join the cause with the selling point of patriotism, and she aptly retorts with, “You can’t spell America without Erica!”
It was another moment where I actually laughed out loud—pretty loudly—and I had the exact reaction that Dustin did: “That’s…oddly true.”
I mean…she’s not wrong. To quote The Fairly Oddparents, that’s an oddly specific action phrase.
Dustin’s “conspiracy theorist” moment when he tells Erica they’re “laying low like Oswald”.
I’ll just roll one Dustin/Erica moment right into the next here. (These two have come a long way from her yelling at him to shut up via walkie talkie in season two when he was having a legitimate code red.) Now that they’re kind of begrudgingly working together, they still butt heads a lot, including the moment when they slip into the movie theater after escaping the Russian bunker under the local mall (which is a totally normal thing to say in Hawkins, Indiana) and Dustin tells Erica they have to “lay low like Oswald”. Erica—who is remarkably up on her JFK assassination history for a ten-year-old, which I thought was kind of weird—replies that Oswald was, in fact, caught in a movie theater. Dustin whisper yells that Oswald was just a patsy and Erica nearly shouts back “Are you kidding me?!”
Now, I knew Dustin was my spirit animal the moment in season one when he showed that he had prepared for the gang’s epic journey by upending his backpack to reveal he’d packed nothing but snacks. But he only cemented that theory when he showed his conspiracy theory loving side. (Made even more awesome by the fact that this theory was probably a lot less widely accepted in the 80s, at which point JFK’s assassination was still a lot more fresh in the minds of Americans, considering it had only happened about two decades prior. Props to Dustin for being ahead of the curve on this one.)
Murray yelling at Hopper & Joyce to admit their (decidedly sexual) feelings for each other
In an “I know you better than you know yourselves” moment that echoes season two when Murray forces Nancy & Jonathan to confront their feelings for each other, he pulls out the same cards on Hopper & Joyce in season three, and honestly—he’s really just saying what ALL OF US ARE THINKING.
I’ve been yelling at Joyce and Hopper to drop the act and make out already for two seasons now (I really thought they were going to when they were in the parking lot outside of the school dance at the end of season two), so seeing Murray express what we’ve all been thinking is cathartic. The moment was only made that much better when totally out of the loop, innocent Alexei asks Murray what he was just yelling at Joyce and Hopper about and Murray says, simply, “I told them to have sex,” and Alexei responds in complete shock by asking “They haven’t had sex?!”
Sums it up for all of us, Smirnoff.
“Why are you hesitating, Steve?”
As The Scoop Troop make their merry way to Dustin’s science camp radio tower, he talks about Suzie (with a Z) and Erica, in true Erica fashion, tells him she sounds made up, turning to ask Steve, “Does she sound made up to you?” When Steve, awkwardly caught in the middle and still likely under the influence of the drugs the Russians injected into him and Robin, doesn’t immediately respond, Dustin gets really worked up about this new betrayal from his older BFF, shouting, “Why are you hesitating, Steve?!”
Finally seeing Suzie with a Z appear onscreen
I wanted Suzie to be real so badly, and for a little while, I had a bit of a Steve moment myself where I wasn’t sure if she was. I hoped she was, but as the episodes went on with no sign of the girl, I got a bit worried. Finally seeing her appear onscreen was one of my favorite moments, because I really wanted Dustin to finally have a win. The poor kid had his best friend steal his crush in, lost his pet lizard and pet cat in one fell swoop when, and I quote, “its face opened up and it ate my cat!” (poor Mews. #JusticeforMews.), gets bullied all the time, had to be away from his friends and felt totally forgotten and abandoned, and generally just does not get enough credit for how awesome he is. So to see him finally catch a break and have his Utah science camp girl of his dreams be real was amazing. Admittedly, I did not expect them to burst into song, but if you’re going to inject a musical moment into a show, I guess that’s the way to do it. And let’s face it–these two nerds are meant for each other.
Honorable Mentions:
- Dustin telling Mike “Maybe I will allow you to continue to date my daughter.” Just the use of the word “daughter” – GAH. My HEART. Cue in unison “aww” from the audience, y’all.
- Robin announcing, “Dingus, your children are here,” in the opening sequence. Robin was a gem for the whole show (did you know she’s the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman?), but this was one of her funniest moments and really laid out the new dynamics between The Hair Harrington and the kids.
- Dustin giving Steve a speech about ignoring social constructs and just being with someone he likes. It may seem obvious to a lot of us, but clearly Steve needed to hear it, and Dustin was just the person to tell him.
- Dustin picking up the pay phone when they’re following the suspected Russian through the mall and struggling to act natural with his monotone “Hello? I am good, how are you?”
- Seeing that blond jerkwad from the newspaper who was always being a misogynist asshole to Nancy finally get what was coming to him. I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to see a character get eaten by demodog so badly.
Obviously it’s ridiculous to pick just ten favorite moments from a show as amazing as this, and by no means are these my only favorite moments. But they are ten that I absolutely loved.
What about everyone else? What was your favorite moment from the new season of Stranger Things? Are you living for the Dustin/Steve friendship? Did you like Dusty-Bun’s song? Let me know in the comments! As always, I’d love to hear from you. <3