‘Stranger Things’ season 3 recap: One summer can change everything

Stranger Things aired its latest season over two years ago and the Strangers (the collective Stranger Things fanbase, for those who aren’t familiar with the term) are hungry for more. “Chapter Eight — The Battle of Starcourt,” the finale episode for season three and the twenty-fifth episode overall, stayed true to its title with a monumental showdown between the monster-hunting residents of Hawkins and the Upside-Down’s overlord, the Mind Flayer.

Netflix’s subsidiary social platform Netflix Geeked recently uploaded an all-encompassing recap of Stranger Thing‘s third season. They captioned the tweet, “one more season recap, gang. let’s go back to st3.”

Just under a month before the fourth season premieres on Netflix, the video—which clocks in at just over five and a half minutes—thoroughly recaps all the best, most important bits from the previous season. We see Dustin returning from Camp Know Where and setting up a homemade satellite dish to contact Suzie, his camp-mate-turned-girlfriend, then Mike and Eleven making out—much to Hopper’s disapproval—and Dustin befriending Robin, who now works at Starcourt Mall’s very own ice-cream parlor, Scoops Ahoy, with Steve Harrington. Will insists that he, Mike, and Lucas play Dungeons & Dragons, but Mike is hellbent on winning Eleven back after an impromptu break-up. Meanwhile, Alexei (May he rest in peace) works tirelessly for a secret Russian research lab beneath Starcourt Mall in an attempt to open the gate to the Upside Down.

We all remember what happens from there; Steve, Robin, Dustin, and newcomer Erica attempt to infiltrate the Russian lab (aided by Hopper, Joyce, and Murray) and jeopardize the experiment, the Mind Flayer assembles an army via Billy, Max’s step-brother, and hunts Eleven. Eventually, all storylines meet at Starcourt Mall, where an epic battle ensues. From there, Billy dies, Hopper presumably dies, and Joyce, Jonathan, Will, and Eleven move to California—away from Hawkins—and leave everyone else behind.

Now that you’re all caught up, you should rewatch all of Stranger Things on Netflix (if you haven’t already) to prepare for the fourth chapter, which drops on May 27, 2022.