BYU COUGARS

BYU Makes Appearance In ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 Finale

Jul 10, 2019, 10:13 AM | Updated: 10:48 am

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**WARNING: Stranger Things spoilers ahead**

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – One of Netflix’s biggest hits returned this weekend with the season three debut of Stranger Things. In the premiere, BYU fans may have noticed a small nod to the Cougars.

The kids from Hawkins Indiana are back for another round against “The Mind Flayer” and creatures from the “Upside Down.”

The premiere wasn’t the only thing that had BYU fans buzzing over the weekend. It was a small easter egg that happened in episode eight.

First, here is some context.

In the season premiere, Dustin returned from a summer camp called ”Camp No-Where.” While he was at camp Dustin met a girl that caught his eye – “Suzie from Salt Lake City.”

He described her as brainy, and hotter than Phoebe Cates. Immediately, his friends had their suspicions that “Suzie from Salt Lake City” may not even exist.

Dustin didn’t notice.

In his excitement, he tried to introduce his friends to his new love interest on his homemade wireless HAM radio – Cerebro.

Now, why not just call her on the phone? It is 1985 after all. Dustin explains that she is Mormon and her parents would disapprove of the “forbidden love.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t pick up. Dustin’s friends’ doubts continued.

Fast-forward to the season finale. In the pinnacle moment of the series, “The Battle of Starcourt,” Dustin finally got a hold of Suzie on the HAM radio to get help cracking a secret code. The scene cuts to her bedroom in Salt Lake City and as the camera pans across her room, a BYU pennant is seen in the background.

Spot on.

The set designer deserves a pat on the back for this. Seriously.

Why? The episode is set on July 4, 1985. Just six months removed from BYU winning the 1984 National Championship.

Now from there, hilarity ensued in the form of a duet of the theme from “The Neverending Story” and Dustin surprisingly has chops (actor Gaten Matarazzo actually began his acting career on Broadway appearing in as Benjamin in ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, Gavroche in ‘Les Miserables,’ and Jean-Michael in ‘Cinderella’).

Anyway, they went on to save the day with the help of “Suzie from Salt Lake City.”

Fans will likely get a fourth season of the show (watch the mid-credit scene)!

But of course, the most important thing (at least to Cougar fans) is the small nod to the most important season in BYU Football history.

You can listen to the full episode of SportsBeat Afterhours 2.0 about the premiere of Stranger Things, NBA Free Agency and much more below. 

Subscribe to SportsBeat Afterhours 2.0 wherever you get podcasts.

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BYU Makes Appearance In ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 Finale