Stranger Things: Joyce and Hopper’s Best Moments

Forget the Upside Down — the greatest mystery of the Stranger Things universe is why Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) won’t just hook up already. Hawkins’ gruff chief of police and the town’s most dedicated mother have known each other since they were just a couple of rule-breaking teens, and they’ve bonded in adulthood through the most universal parenting experience of all: unraveling a small town’s tangled web of government conspiracies.

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In the fight to expose Hawkins’ monsters, Joyce and Hopper have become de facto mom and dad not just to Joyce’s younger son, Will (Noah Schnapp), and Hopper’s adopted daughter, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but to the rest of their friends: Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Max (Sadie Sink). Raising teens in a town that sits on a portal to another realm is a full-time job — just ask Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Babysitter of the Year 1984 — and as Stranger Things 3 heads into summer break, Joyce and Hop deserve a break as much as anyone. We’re ready to go full-on Parent Trap on these crazy kids if that’s what it takes to get them to admit they’re already a solid team.

In anticipation of the new season, we’re looking back on Joyce and Hopper’s best moments so far. Check out the gallery below to see if your favorite scenes made the cut.

Stranger Things 3 premieres on Netflix on July 4.

PHOTOS: Joyce and Hopper’s Best Moments

David Harbour and Winona Ryder, Stranger ThingsPhoto: Netflix