Stranger Things Season 3 Recap: Starcourt Mall, Russians, and the Battle of July 4th

 Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?

• The Rundown: It’s 1985 and Starcourt Mall is the new hangout. Dustin returns from camp with a radio; Billy is crashed into by an unseen force while driving to the steel mill.

• Highlight: The "Magnets" mystery begins as Joyce notices her fridge is losing its stick, leading her back to the Lab conspiracy.

• Cliffhanger: Billy is dragged into the basement of a dark steel mill by a massive, tentacled creature.

Chapter Two: The Mall Rats

• The Rundown: Eleven and Max become BFFs; Dustin and Steve (with help from Robin) intercept a secret Russian transmission coming from within the mall.

• Highlight: The "Material Girl" shopping montage at Starcourt that perfectly captures the 80s mall culture.

• Cliffhanger: Billy kidnaps his co-worker Heather to "feed" her to the growing Mind Flayer.

Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

• The Rundown: Nancy and Jonathan investigate "rabid rats" eating fertilizer. El and Max spy on Billy and realize he’s acting dangerous and "cold."

• Highlight: El’s psychic "void" walk where she finds Billy sitting in a dark room, staring directly at her.

• Cliffhanger: Will feels the "tingle" on his neck—he realizes the Mind Flayer is back in the real world.

Chapter Four: The Code Red

• The Rundown: The "Scoop Troop" explores the secret elevator under the mall. Nancy and Jonathan face a literal monster made of melted flesh at the hospital.

• Highlight: The hospital fight where two Flayed humans melt and merge into a single, fleshy, multi-limbed beast.

• Cliffhanger: The Scoop Troop finds a massive, high-tech underground Russian base beneath the mall.

Chapter Five: The Flayed

• The Rundown: The group realizes Billy is building an army of humans. Hopper and Joyce kidnap a Russian scientist named Alexei to find out what the Russians are building.

• Highlight: The discovery that the "Flayed" citizens are drinking chemicals to prepare their bodies to melt into the monster.

• Cliffhanger: The Mind Flayer sends its fleshy avatar to attack the kids at the cabin in a brutal siege.

Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum

• The Rundown: Eleven enters Billy's mind to find the source of the monster. The Russians realize they have intruders (Steve and Robin) in the base.

• Highlight: El seeing Billy’s tragic childhood memories at the beach, explaining how he became the man he is.

• Cliffhanger: The Mind Flayer tells Eleven (through Billy) that they are coming for her and her friends.

Chapter Seven: The Bite

• The Rundown: It’s the 4th of July. The monster attacks the kids at the mall. Alexei is tragically killed by a Russian assassin at the local fair.

• Highlight: Eleven pulling a literal, living piece of the Mind Flayer out of a wound in her own leg.

• Cliffhanger: Eleven loses her powers completely just as the final battle is about to begin.

Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt

• The Rundown: The group splits to shut down the Russian machine. Billy sacrifices himself to save El. Hopper "dies" in the machine's explosion.

• Highlight: Dustin and Suzie’s "Neverending Story" duet over the radio while the world is literally ending.

• Cliffhanger: Three months later, the Byers move out of Hawkins. In Russia, guards mention "The American" in a cell.