Gone but not forgotten, Stranger Things‘ fan favorite Dr. Alexei has been memorialized in a bizarre video released last week by Netflix.
In the show’s third season, the Soviet scientist with a sweet face and cunning nature is tasked with opening the gate between the Upside Down and Hawkins, Ind., allowing his comrades to study monsters-as-weapons.
But Alexei’s work is interrupted when he’s kidnapped by Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), who hopes the analyst can explain what the Russians want with access to an alternate dimension.
Before Alexei (Alec Utgoff) can divulge state secrets, though, he wants a cherry Slurpee.
Tensions rise after Hopper brings Alexei the wrong flavour of frozen carbonated drink. (Really, Hop? Strawberry?) The pair eventually loosen up once Alexei gets his cherry brain freeze (and Hopper gets in a few punches).
So enamored was Alexei with the American way of life—7-Eleven! Fun Fairs! Woody the Woodpecker!—that he was willing to defect from the USSR to become a U.S. citizen after helping defeat the Soviets.
Audiences take a wild ride with Alexei, Hopper, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), and Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman). And by the end of season three, it is with a heavy heart (and some level of anticipation) that we mourn the death of Smirnoff—murdered in cold blood by Russian hitman Grigori.
“To honor our Slurpee-sipping hero, we are pouring one out for our pal,” Netflix wrote in a video description on YouTube, below an 11-hour-and-55-minute video of Alexei guzzling the nostalgic beverage.
The broadcast is simply a looping GIF, peppered with that clip of Hopper telling “TODFTHR” that Alexei is “one of the most dangerous men in the world.”
Frankly, I’ve been listening to Alexi slurp to the sound of “Cold Comfort” by Orchestra Heinz Kiessling for more than an hour. And I have to admit, it’s oddly soothing.
Stranger Things season three is now streaming on Netflix.
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- Millie Bobby Brown Says This One ‘Stranger Things’ Scene Made Her Vomit
- Photos: Behind the Scenes of ‘Stranger Things 3’
