Stranger Things 3: 11 Best Chief Hopper Moments Of The Season

In a moment that is both one of the season's most finely-tuned references and a comically endearing character beat, an agitated and fairly drunk Hopper storms out of Enzo's, a fancy restaurant, with a bottle in-hand. When his server attempts to stop him, telling him he isn't allowed to take it off the premises, Hopper responds; "I can do anything I want, I'm the chief of police".

On one level, this is a deep-cut reference to Jaws, in which Cheif Brody utters these exact same words when his authority is questioned at the dinner table. But on another level, this is also indicative of Hopper's entire character arc. Between being stood up by Joyce and feeling like he's losing Eleven, he feels isolated by everyone and is falling back on old (read: bad) habits like alcoholism to cope with it.

Harbour walks the tightrope of scenes like this with such precision that it's kind of remarkable to watch. He sells the beat both as a funny line, played for humorous effect, while also capturing this undercurrent of melancholy that is so much a part of the character's core.