Netflix's Stranger Things 3 finale recap: The Battle of Starcourt

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Stranger Things-Credit: Netflix

Spoiler Warning: Major Deaths Ahead

Billy tells El to not worry and be very still. We’ve heard that before. The Mind Flayer enters and prepares to eat El. At the last minute, fireworks start going off. The Party has re-re-rearrived on the scene and leads a full on assault of the Mind Flayer with colorful and harmful fireworks. Billy won’t let El get away. When the fireworks are all gone, El, powerless, remembers the memories she saw when she melded with Billy. She tries to remind him of his real identity. And, it works. The Mind Flayer sends a vicious arm at El and Billy blocks it.

The Mind Flayer seems genuinely saddened. They stick multiple arms in Billy to remove the infection and then impales him. It’s now or never. The Russian Gate must be closed. But Hopper and Grigori are still fighting. When Hopper looks defeated, he is able to get the upper hand and throws Grigori into the key. But, that causes some blocking force of blue energy. He’s trapped.

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Minutes earlier, Jopper had finally settled on a day and time for their date. It’s a Friday, but El likes to watch Miami Vice, so Hopper can’t stay out too late. But, Hopper can still pick up Joyce (hey, now) and they can hit Enzo’s. In the present, Hopper tearfully nods to Joyce to turn blow up the key. Everyone in the room is killed when the key blows up. Joyce is heartbroken.

The Mind Flayer remains corporeal, but with no access to its rat-king of a body, the mass simply collapses. Billy apologizes to Max before he dies. Dr. Owen (Paul Reiser) shows up with a squad of helicopters and asses the damage. The Russian Gate is closed, but still partially lit. There are now two Gates in Hawkins that are healing.

Epilogue

Three months later, the Byers have sold their house. It’s moving day. El still doesn’t have her powers. She worried, but takes a big risk anyway. El tells Mike that she knows how he feels. El tells Mike that she loves him, too. The two have Thanksgiving and Christmas plans. Mileven is in a good place.

Max and Lucas serenade Dustin with the NeverEnding Story song, which receives the bird. Will throws out his old D&D campaign notebooks and guides. Mike asks if he’ll ever play again. Will says that he can just use Mike’s when he comes back to visit. Will would never think of joining another Party. Dustin and Lucas present Erica with the D&D loot as a proper introduction into her nerd-nerd status.

Robin and Steve get jobs at the local video store, with a lot of help from Robin. Their boss will be Keith (Matty Cardarople). The arcade is in the same strip mall, so this totally tracks. Steve trips over a life size cutout of Phoebe Cates. At home, Mike, for seemingly the first time in the history of Stranger Things, seeks a hug from his mom Karen (Cara Buono).

As Joyce closes the door on their old home, the speech that Hopper wrote for El at the beginning of season is read via flashback by Hopper. It’s sad, touching, and something that the season three Hopper would be incapable of once they retconned his growth from season two. Still. It made me tear up. Peter Gabriel’s version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” plays. This is the song that played when the fake Will was found dead in season one. The Demogorgon Trilogy is over.

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Psych! There’s a during-credits scene where Russians are feeding people to the Xenomorph looking Demogorgons from season one. When the guards were looking for which unlucky inmate to feed the Demogorgon, they passed over “The American.” It appears that the blue forcefield created by Grigori’s body may have saved Hopper after all.

Did you enjoy Stranger Things 3? Did you like how all of the characters developed over the season? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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