S3E8: Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt

Alright, let's wrap up the season finale of "Stranger Things" Season 3, Episode 8. The episode kicks off with the gang executing their plan to destroy the Mind Flayer. While Joyce and Hopper head down to the secret Russian lab under Starcourt Mall to close the Gate, Eleven and her friends face off against the monster above. In a classic Hawkins showdown, Joyce and Hopper reach the control room but face a snag: they need Planck's constant to unlock the machine. Thanks to some last-minute brainpower from Suzie, Dustin's long-distance girlfriend, they get the code. Meanwhile, Billy, under the Mind Flayer's control, captures Eleven. She manages to reach his humanity by reminding him of his past. Billy sacrifices himself to save her, getting killed by the Mind Flayer in the process. As Joyce turns the keys to shut down the machine, Hopper finds himself caught in an explosion with seemingly no way out. The Gate closes, cutting off the Mind Flayer's connection to our world and causing it to collapse. With that, Starcourt Mall is left in ruins and Hawkins mourns its losses. Flash forward three months: Joyce is moving her family out of Hawkins, taking Eleven with them. The Byers' home is packed up, and everyone says their emotional goodbyes. In a mid-credits scene, we're whisked away to a Russian facility where guards feed prisoners to a Demogorgon. But they skip over one prisoner they ominously refer to as "the American." And that's how Season 3 leaves us hanging — just another day in Hawkins, really.