You get the sense in the initial episodes that the Duffer Brothers, the creators of the series, are making the characters, especially Hopper, do things in order to service plot, not because their actions are motivated by anything deeply personal and psychological. But as Stranger Things 3 gets underway, it’s harder to do that. Even when I didn’t fully understand exactly how the Mind Flayer worked, I usually understood why the people concerned about the Mind Flayer behaved the way they did. Even though it’s a show about weird creatures from a sci-fi parallel universe, it has usually kept its non–Upside Down elements reasonably grounded in reality. This is one of the issues that takes Stranger Things 3 down a couple of notches. I realize teenagers can be teenagers, but in this scene and others, Mike goes from decent kid to back-talking jerk, which isn’t necessarily what we expect of him. For that matter, Mike’s extremely disrespectful response toward Hopper seems pretty out of character, too. On first viewing, he seems particularly out of bounds and out of character during that intense conversation with Mike, when he tells him to stop seeing El. But as Stranger Things 3 begins, he comes across as a prototypical angry white man, irked beyond reason when circumstances don’t go the way he wants them to go. Not many people would leave Eggo waffles in the woods for a random kid, or supportively listen to a woman who insists her missing son is talking to her through Christmas lights.Īll of this is what makes Hopper’s explosive behavior in season three so jarring. We also have seen him show patience and generosity, particularly with Joyce and El. We know that he can be a lazy chief of police - “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation,” he is famous for saying when faced with more pressing matters - but that he also can be a dogged, committed leader and protector. What do we know about Jim Hopper, prior to season three? We know he lost a daughter to cancer and that his marriage ended as a result of the pain of that loss. In a way, Hopper is the perfect personification of Stranger Things 3: What works and doesn’t work about the show in its third incarnation is reflected in what works and doesn’t work about his character’s arc. But it begins to make more sense after watching Stranger Things 3 in its entirety, especially in the final moments of the season, during his voice-over reading of a letter for El. The extreme, rage-filled nature of Hopper’s behavior in much of the new season seems a bit out of nowhere.
Yes, he was often in a bad mood, but that tended to manifest itself in the form of grumpiness, frustration, or a deep sense of malaise. Hopper wasn’t this angry when last we saw him in season two or, for that matter, season one. In addition to his overblown objection to what is, ultimately, very chaste physical contact between Mike and El, he also gets disproportionately annoyed with Joyce when she stands him up for dinner (in his defense, “I couldn’t make it because … magnets” is a pretty bad excuse) bickers constantly with Joyce about minor problems physically assaults the mayor of Hawkins to extract information from him and shows little mercy toward Alexei, the Russian scientist he and Joyce kidnap so they can figure out what the Commies are really doing in town. Normal Jim Hopper has transformed into Jerk-Ass Hopper, particularly in the early episodes of Stranger Things 3, which makes for a jarring reintroduction to his character. Instead he is jubilant, and sings a rousing version of “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” to celebrate. When Hopper realizes that his plan worked, he doesn’t feel guilty for terrorizing a young boy who has already been terrorized enough by Demogorgons in his young life, nor does he feel sorry for his daughter. Hopper becomes obsessed with driving a wedge between these two kids, to the point where, before the first episode is over, he threatens Mike until he agrees to take a break from El. This bothers Hopper, and not in the normal way that a parent might be bothered by a stubborn teenager flouting the rules so she can make out with a boy. She’s supposed to keep the door open at least three inches when the two of them are in there alone, but as soon as she realizes that Hopper has spotted them kissing, she slams it shut. He’s sitting in front of the television, eating Tostitos that he’s dipped into a salsa jar parked right next to his crotch, and he is fuming because El, now officially his daughter, is in her room with her boyfriend, Mike. The first time we see Jim Hopper in Stranger Things 3, he is pissed. Major spoilers ahead about Stranger Things 3. Jim Hopper, don’t you think you should shine that light into your own soul?