diff --git a/tests/e2e/idempotency/test_idempotency_dynamodb.py b/tests/e2e/idempotency/test_idempotency_dynamodb.py
index 06147227549..31382ff9050 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/idempotency/test_idempotency_dynamodb.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/idempotency/test_idempotency_dynamodb.py
@@ -130,4 +130,5 @@ def test_idempotent_function_thread_safety(function_thread_safety_handler_fn_arn
         assert function_thread["exception"] is None
         assert function_thread["output"] is not None
 
-    assert first_execution_response == second_execution_response
+    # we use set() here because we want to compare the elements regardless of their order in the array
+    assert set(first_execution_response) == set(second_execution_response)
diff --git a/tests/e2e/streaming/handlers/s3_object_handler.py b/tests/e2e/streaming/handlers/s3_object_handler.py
index 98bda22c2bb..3c47f4ab3b7 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/streaming/handlers/s3_object_handler.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/streaming/handlers/s3_object_handler.py
@@ -66,13 +66,15 @@ def lambda_handler(event, context):
 
         if transform_zip or transform_zip_lzma:
             response["manifest"] = obj.namelist()
-            response["body"] = obj.read(obj.namelist()[1]).rstrip()  # extracts the second file on the zip
+            response["body"] = (
+                obj.read(obj.namelist()[1]).rstrip().decode("utf-8")
+            )  # extracts the second file on the zip
         elif transform_csv or csv:
             response["body"] = obj.__next__()
         elif transform_gzip or gunzip:
-            response["body"] = obj.readline().rstrip()
+            response["body"] = obj.readline().rstrip().decode("utf-8")
         else:
-            response["body"] = obj.readline().rstrip()
+            response["body"] = obj.readline().rstrip().decode("utf-8")
     except botocore.exceptions.ClientError as e:
         if e.response["Error"]["Code"] == "404":
             response["error"] = "Not found"