Season 3 introduces a new group of antagonists in addition to the monster(s) and the employees of the secret US government program. It turns out the Soviet Union also wants to weaponize the powers residing in the Upside Down. A battalion size detachment of the Red Army has been sent to Hawkins, that, with the help of the town's corrupt mayor, has built a sprawling underground facility under the Starcourt Mall.
Season 3, Episode 1
Character development. Supervising the Soviet attempt to reach the Upside Down is ruthless Colonel Ozerov (Misha Kuznetsov), a cardboard villain who is a chain smoker like Hopper, but his choice of unfiltered brand is not revealed to the audience.
Character reinforcement. Billy is still the tough Marlboro Man, working as a lifeguard at Hawking Community Pool in the summer vacation.
Character reinforcement. Hopper continues to self-destruct while battling his own daemons. Here, he falls asleep smoking.
Season 3, Episode 2
Character reinforcement and development. Hopper is ordered to see his boss, Mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes). Kline is another cardboard villain who likes cigars. His guillotine type cigar cutter will be used as an action prop two episodes later.
Acting aid. Hopper asks Joyce out for a date, but she never shows. While Hopper waits in the fancy restaurant, noticeably uncomfortable with the upscale surroundings, he goes through half a pack of Camel.
Season 3, Episode 3
Character reinforcement. A quick glimpse at an almost empty 85 mm Marlboro Pack on Billy's night desk. The design is so well-established worldwide that it is enough to see a sliver of the red roof to recognize it.
Verisimilitude. The journalists of the local paper smoke Winston, the second most popular brand of the era after Marlboro.
Season 3, Episode 4
Action prop. Hopper persuades the mayor to reveal his shady dealings with the Soviets using his cigar cutter.
Season 3, Episode 5
Verisimilitude. On their way to Murray in Illinois, Hopper, Joyce, and Dr. Alexei (Alec Utgoff), the Soviet scientist the couple has kidnapped, visit a 7/11 to get some provisions for the trip.
Season 3, Episode 6
Character development. At Murray's house in Illinois, Dr. Alexei switches sides, and plans are hatched--all under a cloud of cigarette smoke. The audience learns that Alexei’s preferred brand is Marlboro--we already know from the previous episode that he likes Coca-Cola. Marlboro, along a handful of other commodities from the collective West, came to represent "freedom and democracy" in Eastern Europe in the 1970s and beyond. The affinity of the likeable scientist for these "freedom brands" explains his ideological stance and strengthens the plausibility of his defection from the Soviets.
Acting aid. Finally, the simmering tension between Hopper and Joyce is addressed.
Character development and reinforcement. Joyce appears to have switched from Camel Lights to True Gold 100, a Lorillard product with very low tar and nicotine yield. With the benefit of hindsight from the fourth and fifth seasons, this could be seen as her first step toward giving up smoking. Low tar brands like True were often advertised as alternatives to quitting smoking. Hopper, naturally, sticks with smoking his unfiltered Camels.