Grab your Walkman and high-tops, folks, as we’re going back to the eighties. From the neon lights of the Starcourt Mall to the dusty new dimension, Stranger Things is more than just a sci-fi thriller, it’s a love letter to the eighties, with their love of Dungeons & Dragons and their iconic denim jackets. Grab an Eggo and let’s dive into each season, the characters, and the thrilling adventures of Stranger Things.

Season one begins in the very boring town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a normal D&D night somehow turns into a government-conspiracy–monster situation. Will Byers disappears after running into something that definitely wasn’t human, sending his mom, Joyce, into full panic mode (featuring Christmas lights as a communication device). While the adults argue with the police, Will’s friends find a mysterious bald girl with superpowers and immediately decide to hide her in Mike’s basement, because that seems logical. Monsters appear, the Upside Down is discovered, chaos ensues, and by the end, Will is back, Eleven is gone, and everything is “normal”… for about five minutes.

Season two picks up with Hawkins pretending everything is totally fine (spoiler: it’s not). Will is back, but now he’s having spooky visions and coughing up things no one should ever cough up. Meanwhile, the Upside Down is spreading under the town like mold, Dustin adopts a weird lizard thing that turns out to be a baby monster, and Eleven runs away to find herself, because every middle-schooler with superpowers does that. A giant shadow monster takes over Will, everyone panics, and the solution somehow involves burning tunnels and blasting ’80s music. The season ends with the Mind Flayer defeated (for now), the kids at a school dance, and Hawkins, once again, ignoring all warning signs.

Season three answers the question: what if a shopping mall caused international chaos? The Soviets build a secret base under Starcourt Mall (somehow unnoticed), Hopper has a full meltdown over Mike and Eleven dating, and Dustin casually cracks a Russian code with a ham radio. Billy gets possessed and turns the town into human Jell-O, while Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica accidentally discover communism underground. There are fireworks, explosions, flesh monsters, and enough yelling to power Hawkins for a decade. Billy sacrifices himself, Eleven loses her powers, the mall explodes, Hopper “dies” (allegedly), and Hawkins, once again, pretends none of this ever happened, except now there’s a Demogorgon chilling in Russia.

Season four says, “What if trauma, but louder?” Eleven moves to California, loses her powers, and immediately has the worst spring break imaginable. Back in Hawkins, teens start having nightmare visions before being brutally murdered by Vecna, a clock-obsessed monster who hates happiness. Joyce discovers Hopper is alive in a Russian prison (because death is optional now) and goes full action-movie mode with Murray. Eleven regains her powers and remembers that Vecna is actually Henry Creel, aka Test Subject One, whom she accidentally yeeted into the Upside Down years ago. The kids try to stop Vecna using Max as bait, Eddie shreds a guitar and dies a legend, Hopper escapes Russia, and Eleven fights Vecna inside Max’s mind. Vecna survives, Max ends up in a coma, a giant crack splits Hawkins in half, and the town finally has to admit something is very wrong.

Welcome to the end of the world, or at least the end of Indiana as we know it. As we head into season five, the “gas leak” excuses are officially retired. Hawkins is now a giant, glowing portal to hell, Vecna is nursing a major grudge, and the barrier between our world and the Upside Down has basically disintegrated. It’s no longer about surviving high school: it’s about surviving an interdimensional apocalypse. With the town split open and the stakes higher than a Kate Bush high note, The Party is reuniting for one last stand. Eleven is fueled by pure “done-with-this” energy, Hopper is back and ready to swing a sword at anything with tentacles, and the rest of the crew is gearing up for the ultimate showdown. Grab your spiked bats and your strongest walkie-talkies: it’s time to see if Hawkins can finally close the gate for good, or if we’re all moving to the Upside Down permanently.

Now that we’ve caught you up to date, from Demogorgons to Eggo waffles, Stranger Things has a little bit of everything—and so do its characters. Here’s a look at which Hawkins dweebs win the best, saddest, and funniest awards.

Best Hair­—there is no better choice than Steve-The-Hair-Harrington. His luscious locks take away the breaths of even the manliest of men. Nobody is safe when he walks into a room. Guys, be on the lookout for his hair tips if you want to keep that pretty girl of yours.

Most Improved Character—yet again, Mr. Steve Harrington. From starting out as Nancy’s douche-bag boyfriend who caused problems for the boys, he became the character everyone fell for. Beyond his looks, Steve became a wholesome member of the group as the devoted Babysitter, competing with Mike for the role of the ‘Heart.’

Biggest Crashout Award­—non-other than Dustin Henderson! Although being rightfully angered with his crashouts, his dramatic nature caused them to exceed the limits that they should have been restrained to. This made him lose respect within the group and cause more issues to surface as a result.

Best-One-Liners Award—would have been an easy pick before season five took its debut. However, it’s a tie between our beloved Robin and newcomer, Delightful Derek. Between Robin’s “Don’t ya Steve?” and Derek’s “Suck my fat one,” they have become the go-to comedic members of the group for when a laugh is necessary in the dreadful moments the show is filled with.

Best Duo­—the pairing of Steve and Robin. Their comedic friendship always lightens the mood when it’s most needed.

Best Couple Award—naturally, Lucas and Max. Guys, if you wanna keep a girl, take notes on Lucas Sinclair. He knows what it means to be committed: staying by Max’s side for over a year while she was in a coma is a form of loyalty a lot of you need to take notice of.

Saddest Death­— the one and only, Eddie Munson. He not only broke the hearts of many with his heroic sacrifice, but he influenced many characters’ lines and actions throughout the fifth season which shattered the hearts of many. An Honorable Mention for this Award goes to the lovable Mews: he will forever be the star of the show in our hearts.

Lets venture into some Scenic Superlatives…

Funniest Scene­—the hilarious timing of the “NeverEnding Story” duet by our beloved Dusty Bun and Suzy-Poo. The couple makes a hilarious duet in the worst, time-sensitive moments of the show.

Saddest Scene—when Joyce Byers was cutting off Vecna’s head, the story flashed back to each characters’ moment of when Vecna hurt them from the past, adding to the dramatic flare, causing tears to enter the eyes of everyone in the audience.

Best Fight Scene—Steve and Dustin fighting over Eddie. While Dustin was justified in his argument and Steve may have been a bit too harsh, this was a much needed fight in order for them to both realize their wrongs and realize that their friendship is too valuable to end over hurt feelings.

Best Season—hands down, season three. Filled with drama, suspense, and emotion, it captured the hearts of many and will forever be a fan-favorite, at least to us.

Onto our final superlative…

Best Meme Award—Jonathan Byers’s unique and freaky running style that has never been seen before in the history of mankind. Despite always trying to find a way to one up Steve, this definitely wasn’t the move to keep Nancy.

Now that you’re totally depressed because Stranger Things is over, here are some watch recommendation. We recommend Umbrella Academy­—both shows are about a group of kids with weird powers who can’t stop the world from almost ending, while the adults either panic or do literally nothing useful. Also, both shows prove that the real monster is a family drama, because apparently saving humanity isn’t stressful enough on its own. Another choice is Locke & Key, a show where a family moves into a house full of magical keys that can do literally anything, except solve problems in a normal, sensible way. Toss in a creepy demon, endless bad decisions, and you’ve got chaos with a fantasy budget. School Spirits is basically Stranger Things, but replaces Demogorgons with ghosts and the ’80s with high school hallways. The kids still solve mysteries, adults still mostly fail, and apparently, haunting your friends is just part of growing up. And finally, Shadow and Bone is about a girl who can literally split the darkness in half and suddenly everyone wants to either crown her or kill her. Meanwhile, a bunch of very attractive criminals are fighting, flirting, and backstabbing their way through a war that somehow never ruins their hair.

Throughout the show, there have been a handful of awesome quotes. Two of our favorite, memorable quotes from the shows have been the following; “You can’t spell America without Erica” from the iconic Erica Sinclair. Another great quote was from our lovable man Steve Harrington, “I may be a pretty sh**ty boyfriend, but turns out I’m actually a pretty damn good babysitter.” Despite these only being two quotes from a 10 year long show, they really embody what it means to find humor in the dark, twisted world of Hawkins.

Finally we’re wrapping this up with questions we still have. Where did Argyle go? Where did Suzie go? Is Derek’s family still in that barn? What happened to Dr. Kay and her military? Is Eleven dead or not? Why is Steve coaching baseball? How did Max, after being in a coma for over a year, manage to graduate on time? If Will and Vecna were connected, why was he unaffected when Vecna died?

All in all, even with all the plot holes and unanswered questions, Stranger Things will remain one of the most iconic shows of the century, impacting the lives of many through its themes of friendship, devotion, and humor.