There are a lot of things on my Stranger Things 3 wishlist, but my undisputed number one is for Jopper to become canon.
One of the best things about Stranger Things 2 was all the ways in which it paired different characters together and just how well those new character pairings worked.
Related: Stranger Things season 3: 30 things we need answered
We got to see the deep bond of friendship between Will and Mike, were charmed by Steve being a big brother to Dustin, got choked up over all our Hopper and El father-daughter feels.
But the show also did a fantastic job building on established relationships from the last season, sending Jonathan and Nancy out together to both find #JusticeForBarb and to resolve their own unresolved sexual tension while also firmly establishing Joyce and Hopper as a stable and supportive team right from the start.
And while this season took the opportunity to fulfill the dreams of all those #TeamJancy fans, it kept Joyce and Hopper together as a team but apart as a romantic pairing due to the endearing but ultimately tragic character of Bob.
However, this season ended with the two romantically unattached to anyone else but with a bond that’s stronger than ever. My hope is that season 3 continues to build their relationship and allows these two lonely, loving souls to become canon.
What may have seemed unlikely at the beginning of Season 1 now seems to be just the right move in Season 3 — and here are four reasons why.
They have chemistry and history
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Yes, resident conspiracy theorist Murray was actually talking about Nancy and Jonathan when he said this, but this same quote also applies quite well to Joyce and Hopper.
More so, actually, given that both characters seem to be in their early 40s and have lived in the same small town for all or most of their lives.
It’s a chemistry and history that was hinted at in season 1, but was on full display in season 2 — especially during the second episode, when the two share a cigarette in Joyce’s kitchen.
It’s a small moment — no more than a line or two about sharing cigarettes between fifth and sixth period — but one that speaks to the long shared history between these characters.
It means these two have known each other for over half their lives, have known the ups and downs, the divorces and deaths and baggage that each of them carries. Knows it — but aren’t weighed down by it. It’s a history that strengthens the bond between them, and is a perfect foundation to build a future on.
(Also, I just have to add that if your heart didn’t seize at the very obvious heart eyes from Hopper as he stared at Joyce, then I’m not sure you have a heart.)
Plus the real stuff — shared trauma
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If shared trauma is — as Murray puts it — the real shit, then Joyce and Hopper have some of the realest shit around.
In addition to their own rather hefty amounts of individual trauma, the past two seasons have given these two more than enough realness.
Yet while these traumas are a heavy burden, Joyce and Hopper have shouldered them in the best way possible — by leaning on one another.
From the disappearance and cover-up and rescue of Will in the first season, to his possession in the second, to multiple trips and losses to the malicious upside-down, Joyce and Hopper have tackled each and every traumatic event at one another’s side. They’ve shared in the suffering, but in the recovery from it, too.
And it’s in the sharing of both — the pain and the healing — that we see just how vital they are to one another.
They are the co-parent of one another’s kids (and all the other kids, let’s be honest)
source:captainpoe //source: alexromero
Hopper is a steady presence at Joyce’s side from the very beginning as they handle Will’s doctor’s appointments and later on in the season when they’re forced to deal with his possession by the Mind Flayer.
In fact, one of my favorite dad!Hopper scenes (and this season blessed us with so many good ones) is him as they try to escape the demo-dogs in Hawkins lab with an unconscious Will wrapped in bedsheets in one of his arms, an AK-47 in the other.
While Eleven is unfortunately kept away from the rest of the group for the majority of the season, her tearful and emotional reunion with Joyce in the season finale highlights just how important Joyce is to Eleven and how much Joyce likewise cares for Eleven.
In fact, amidst a cast of adults who are either largely oblivious or absent in their child’s lives and seem to operate as distinct, separate units, both Hopper and Joyce stand apart by being a solid team who are very much aware and present in the lives of the kids — their own, one another’s, and all their friends as well.
They are basically already married
Source: purplelephantsarewrong
The first scene between Joyce and Hopper are the two of them going with Will to his doctor’s appointments. In the second episode, he’s the one she calls when she finds Will’s pictures.
Halfway through the season, Joyce goes tearing off to save Hopper — without a second thought to her own safety — when they realize he’s in danger. When Dr. Owens is talking about the virus in Will’s system, it is again to Joyce and Hopper, his arm around her, her leaning into his tall frame.
Time and again throughout the season you see these two together, side by side, offering support — both emotional and physical — and generally just caring tremendously for one another.
In fact, when you take in the whole breadth of both seasons, you see just how much they rely on one another, support one another, and are obviously a part of one another’s daily lives and routines.
Honestly, they’re the most married-without-even-being-officially-together couple on television, and I really need the Duffer brothers to go ahead and remedy that in the third season. Bring on canon Jopper in Stranger Things 3!
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