Speaker 1: Warning.
Speaker 2: Today's episode cand it's spoilers for Stranger Things episodes one
Speaker 2: and two of the final season season five. Hello, my
Speaker 2: name is Jason gets Ups and I'm Rosey Knight and
Speaker 2: welcome back to Xtra revision of the podcast where we
Speaker 2: dive de be to your favorite shows, movies, comics, and
Speaker 2: pop culture comedy Over my Heart podcast. We're bringing you
Speaker 2: three episodes a week plus days outsider.
Speaker 1: In today's episode, We're back, guys.
Speaker 3: There's egoes, there's blowouts, there's big hair, there's fights, there's
Speaker 3: demic organs, there's X Men references, it's Stranger Things.
Speaker 1: There's back, and we're in.
Speaker 3: There that's still in high school. And me and Jason
Speaker 3: are recapping episodes five oh one and five oh two
Speaker 3: for you and guys.
Speaker 1: Just remember production note.
Speaker 3: This holiday season, we'll be sharing a couple of short
Speaker 3: stocking stuff for episodes with you. With so many great shows, movies, comics, books, toys,
Speaker 3: all kinds of fun things we want to explore, these
Speaker 3: episodes will help us cover some extra content we wouldn't
Speaker 3: usually be able to cover on our normal episodes. We
Speaker 3: had our first few episodes last week, and keep an
Speaker 3: eye out for more throughout December.
Speaker 2: But first episode five oh one, the Crawl, we open
Speaker 2: in the Upside Down Z's back in back in the
Speaker 2: day nineteen eighty three when Will Byers was first trapped
Speaker 2: down there and he's being hunted by the demogorgan and
Speaker 2: who finds him but Veakna, And basically this reframes what
Speaker 2: we knew about Will's disappearance into the Upside Down, that
Speaker 2: it wasn't just like one of those early forays into
Speaker 2: the battle between good and evil and Hawkins and Vecna.
Speaker 2: It was actually some part of Vecna's long plan. Yes,
Speaker 2: whatever that plan is.
Speaker 1: He definitely chose well.
Speaker 3: And we get this really creepy moment, which is hilarious.
Speaker 3: I was watching this with Nick, who has never seen
Speaker 3: any strange thing.
Speaker 1: Because it was so funny.
Speaker 2: The post is so funny where he is just like like,
Speaker 2: she's gonna be.
Speaker 1: Like wait what.
Speaker 3: He doesn't understand what's going on, but it was really
Speaker 3: funny because the moment that we see them, we see
Speaker 3: Vecna put his kind of creepy mouth thing.
Speaker 1: Into your mouth. It's really bad.
Speaker 3: And Nick was like, you know what, here's an outsider perspective.
Speaker 1: I probably would have turned it off after that.
Speaker 3: Why is he putting that in an eleven year old's mouth,
Speaker 3: And I was like, thanks, granddad, but yes, now it's
Speaker 3: only four years later.
Speaker 1: Shockingly, Jason, where we caught.
Speaker 2: It's the present day later. And by the way, this
Speaker 2: is the opening featured a de aged Will Bias.
Speaker 3: They should have just shot that in the time when
Speaker 3: he says, if we're watching.
Speaker 2: The irishmid or something, yeah, like come on, we cut
Speaker 2: to the president's now nineteen eighty seven, but basically like
Speaker 2: four years nearly to the day later from the flashback,
Speaker 2: Hawkins is under a government occupation. Everybody in the town
Speaker 2: is taking this essentially in stride. Steve Harrington and Robin
Speaker 2: are now working at the local radio station, where you know,
Speaker 2: Robin is like the hot DJ in town giving updates
Speaker 2: about the military occupation, but in a subversive way where
Speaker 2: it's like she's kind of criticizing it, but also in
Speaker 2: a way that makes it somehow palatable to the military.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's doing a lot of like and next this
Speaker 3: great song Kids in America and kid Yeah, I hope
Speaker 3: you're doing okay in this version of America, which kind
Speaker 3: of sucks, but you know, lots of fun.
Speaker 1: I love I love Maya Huac in this role. They
Speaker 1: truly were blessed to get her.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, the military is there to do a couple of things,
Speaker 2: one of which we're gonna find out about, the other
Speaker 2: of which is obviously to find eleven, track her down
Speaker 2: and take her prisoner. She's doing her Jedi training out
Speaker 2: like in the woods, like jumping over cars and blowing
Speaker 2: up pumpkins and doing all that stuff. Hopper and Joyce
Speaker 2: are you know, checking in with her. Meanwhile, Dustin is
Speaker 2: still in school at twenty six years.
Speaker 1: Old and a school. It's my biggest question, send him
Speaker 1: to college.
Speaker 2: He's he's devastated over the death of Eddie at the
Speaker 2: end of season four and the sacrifice Eddie made, and
Speaker 2: the fact that the kind of the jocks in school
Speaker 2: certainly still still view Eddie as like a piece of
Speaker 2: shit hell fire club murderer and don't celebrate him in
Speaker 2: the way he deserves to be celebrated as someone who
Speaker 2: literally kind of soft saved the world, you know, a
Speaker 2: little bit kind of saved it. Meanwhile, the mission, part
Speaker 2: of the military's mission is to they're going into the
Speaker 2: upside down for something. They do a controlled burn, which
Speaker 2: is like a flame throwing open this very vaginal birth
Speaker 2: canal gate into the upside down. Hopper is going to
Speaker 2: go in there, and you know, uh.
Speaker 1: I guess like look for Vecna. It's kind of look
Speaker 1: for to hunt him down and care.
Speaker 3: It's kind of how in Godzilla, the American legendary monster
Speaker 3: us stuff. To get into the hollow Earth, you have
Speaker 3: to follow a titan.
Speaker 1: This is kind of their version.
Speaker 3: They sort of sneak in after the government, right like,
Speaker 3: I don't notice.
Speaker 2: That's the plan, and then the kids are going to
Speaker 2: be outside basically tracking him in parallel in the right
Speaker 2: side up, keeping within radio range so they can always
Speaker 2: like know where he is. Meanwhile, Holly Wheeler, Mike and
Speaker 2: Nancy's once very minor character sister is now taking her
Speaker 2: steps into the foreground of our story. She's in middle
Speaker 2: school now and she's got an imaginary friend. Uh not
Speaker 2: even I don't know, like imaginary adult friend.
Speaker 1: I know it's it's very imaginary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, named mister what's it? Who? Is a character
Speaker 2: from Madeline Lengles A Wrinkle in Time, which she's also
Speaker 2: reading and which is kind of the big eighties pop
Speaker 2: culture drop of this season thus far. A teacher sees
Speaker 2: her talking to this imaginary mister. Imaginary Air quotes mister
Speaker 2: what's it? And doesn't see anything, just sees her talking
Speaker 2: to to air. And obviously people are concerned that night
Speaker 2: our heroes do the crow all and Will's the back
Speaker 2: of Will's neck goes fucking crazy. God, it's going. It's
Speaker 2: going nuts now. And Will's connection with the upside Down
Speaker 2: and specifically with a Dema Gorgon and the upside Down
Speaker 2: is like stronger and more amplified than ever. He basically
Speaker 2: sees through its eyes, thinks its thoughts, sees everything it sees,
Speaker 2: and does he hunt against soldiers and stuff?
Speaker 1: Does he control it?
Speaker 3: It's hunts down the soldiers to stop them from getting
Speaker 3: to hop By.
Speaker 1: I think they want us to feel like.
Speaker 3: The connection might be that big because it kills all
Speaker 3: the soldiers but leaves Hoppa.
Speaker 1: But we don't know.
Speaker 2: It's a good question, right whether it goes both ways,
Speaker 2: And I think you're right that it's certainly open for debate.
Speaker 2: The Dema Gorgon then makes a beeline towards the Wheeler
Speaker 2: House in the Upside Down, creating a portal to like,
Speaker 2: you know, drill through the interdimensional barriers. And who should
Speaker 2: be in the house at the moment, but one Holly
Speaker 2: Wheeler who's like you know, in her bedroom being being weird.
Speaker 2: As the lights start flickering and the portal to the
Speaker 2: upside Down opens in the corner of the bedroom and
Speaker 2: the demo Gorgan peaks its disgusting head through and roars
Speaker 2: at her. Okay, let's take a quick break and we'll
Speaker 2: be right back with episode two. Episode two, the Vanishing
Speaker 2: of Holly Wheeler. We pick up right where we left off.
Speaker 2: It's chaos at the Wheeler households. Holly is fucking screaming.
Speaker 2: H Karen is in the bathroom getting ready to like.
Speaker 3: Zone out and bad mumming it up as always.
Speaker 2: Somehow does not hear the screaming and crashing and banging
Speaker 2: and Dema Gorgons slamming that's going on just down the hall.
Speaker 2: Ted Wheeler is outside shanking golf balls into the tree.
Speaker 3: Both these parents need to stew out. Also, we didn't
Speaker 3: even mention the fact that in the first opening of
Speaker 3: the show, after we see DHD well you also like
Speaker 3: lun I just everyone's living in the Wheeler House like
Speaker 3: it's like a blended family sitcom and.
Speaker 2: Over it is over it, Holly runs to go you know,
Speaker 2: find mom in the bathroom and Mom's like, what are
Speaker 2: you talking about? Like, okay, this is a dream. But
Speaker 2: then it turns out, guess what, the demo Gorgan's there.
Speaker 2: Karen steps up, attacks a demogorn with wine bottle, gets
Speaker 2: in some good hits.
Speaker 3: I gotta say, impressive amount of hits from Karen. That's
Speaker 3: the desperation of an agrie mom. I love to sit
Speaker 3: and the mcrogan actually also, I was pretty shocked in
Speaker 3: the moment where the demo Gorgan sort of like the
Speaker 3: way it uses its hands, It almost like just claws
Speaker 3: through Karen's stomach, no issue, and it demolishes the dad
Speaker 3: when he should mention him.
Speaker 2: Ted comes in. Ted comes in with the golf club,
Speaker 2: gets absolutely fucking wrecked.
Speaker 1: Might be dead, it looks like.
Speaker 2: And then and then the Demigorgon, after getting stabbed a
Speaker 2: couple times with this broken wine bottle, just slashes Karen
Speaker 2: about the neck and she's really really fucked up, and
Speaker 2: Holly has been dragged into the upside down. But before
Speaker 2: the portal seals eleven, going against the set crawl plan
Speaker 2: and the demands of fucking sex addict David Harper.
Speaker 1: Harper tells a terrible dad.
Speaker 3: Guys, just like awful dad, always been an awful dad.
Speaker 3: And I wrote an article about him fucking twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: about season three, and I stand by it because this man,
Speaker 3: he's talking time about you're going to do it quick on.
Speaker 3: You got to that's not even your.
Speaker 2: Child, who listen? He is that they had a deal
Speaker 2: that unless she hit a certain number, she could not
Speaker 2: come on the mission to the Upside Down. But now
Speaker 2: she's got to go because she's got to save Holly Wheeler,
Speaker 2: so she goes, yeah.
Speaker 1: Fuck.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, the military eventually shows up locks down the Wheeler house,
Speaker 2: and they're convinced like, oh now we're on the path
Speaker 2: to eleven. We're gonna find her now. And they're you know,
Speaker 2: studying photos and surveillance and trying to figure out like, okay,
Speaker 2: who do we how do we really like find her? Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: and they figure out like, oh, if we if we
Speaker 2: zero in on Jane, that's maybe the way to do it. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: on the Upside Down, Ellen Hopper reunite when Elle throws
Speaker 2: him into a tree and they have an argument. They
Speaker 2: have an argument about like what are you doing here?
Speaker 2: But there's really no time to talk because you know, uh,
Speaker 2: the Demi Gorgan is down there, and you know, Ella's like, listen,
Speaker 2: we need to find Holly Wheeler. And Hopper's like, what
Speaker 2: the sister. He's like, yes, Lucas, she's a minor character.
Speaker 2: That's what was like, that's what we're doing now, okay,
Speaker 2: and he's like very Burgrudgering is like fine. Back in Hawkins,
Speaker 2: Nancy and Might go to the hospital, and Nancy is
Speaker 2: just very, very very upset because like she has seen
Speaker 2: versions of something like this happening, and she blames herself,
Speaker 2: and Lucas meanwhile reminds them that, hey, think about the
Speaker 2: timing here.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, finally somebody clever.
Speaker 3: This is like, let Lucas be the w yes and
Speaker 3: be the will of this show. We know that this
Speaker 3: is gonna he should be the style historian.
Speaker 1: Like yes, he's so glad he said.
Speaker 3: When he said this, I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: finally someone who's like keeping a calendar or a journal,
Speaker 3: like you guys are just acting like this is knew,
Speaker 3: but it's been happening for four years.
Speaker 1: Like Lucas is making a planet. I can't wait to.
Speaker 2: Talk about that. Okay, So Lucas, Yes, Lucas is the
Speaker 2: only one who's like, oh my god, this is like
Speaker 2: like four years to the day of when Will vanished,
Speaker 2: Like in three days, it's gonna be exactly four years.
Speaker 2: And why didn't Vecna if he really wanted to hurt us?
Speaker 2: Why didn't he like kill Karen, like he could have
Speaker 2: killed everybody in the else he didn't. What's he like?
Speaker 2: There's something else going on? But what is it? Will
Speaker 2: then says, oh, yeah, by the way, I'm seeing through
Speaker 2: the demo organized, so like my connections to the upside
Speaker 2: down is like changed and it's more amplified. And I'm
Speaker 2: not just sensing Vecna, I'm sensing other stuff. It's like
Speaker 2: a hive, like a hive mind.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jason, how how wide on a scale of one
Speaker 3: to ten, did when going to ride his eyes go
Speaker 3: when Will said that he had this new power?
Speaker 2: It went very wide. It's crazy by this time that
Speaker 2: four years you're still acting like this is new and
Speaker 2: she can't believe what's happening, and it's like, Joyce, babe,
Speaker 2: this has been going on.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I can't been good like and everyone knows
Speaker 3: now too, Like your city is under quarantine. You are
Speaker 3: no longer like a mom having to hide the fact
Speaker 3: that you believe your kid is still alive, like there
Speaker 3: is a military occupation of porkins, which also Jay said
Speaker 3: something else I want to ask you about because I
Speaker 3: feel like American culture is obsessed with putting fictional American
Speaker 3: towns into quarantine zones, and I want to talk about it.
Speaker 1: But anyway, back to the recap.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's we'll talk about that after the next ereak.
Speaker 2: So then Robin is we learn is has a girlfriend
Speaker 2: named Vicki. She's a nurse and also nurse slash candy
Speaker 2: striper outfits of the eighties.
Speaker 1: Insane, Insane that they would make people with that.
Speaker 2: They look like they should be legitimately hawking like candies
Speaker 2: and in a cinema coffee in a cigarettes.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Completely.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Robin has a girlfriendamed Vicky, and they're treating Will's
Speaker 2: goosebumps and his seizures, and they're figuring out like, Okay,
Speaker 2: maybe we can use Will to like track back. Now,
Speaker 2: Joyce does not love that idea because so you're my
Speaker 2: son and we're not doing that, blah blah blah, and
Speaker 2: Will's like, yes, I am because like, you gotta let
Speaker 2: me do what I'm gonna do, because again this has
Speaker 2: been gone for four years mom, and like let me
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Jonathan and Steve are arguing about really Steve's pred election
Speaker 2: to like do stuff to impress Nancy. Like they had
Speaker 2: this pissing contest at the radio station about like who's
Speaker 2: gonna climb up the ladders to the top of the
Speaker 2: fucking radio tires, Like, guys, calm down. Let me Also,
Speaker 2: I just want to say, like Jonathan ran out first.
Speaker 2: He kind of started it and then acted like a victim,
Speaker 2: like Steve, why are you why are you doing this?
Speaker 3: No, I'm a Jonathan. Hey, he can go in the
Speaker 3: trash with Dustin, I mean with no notice.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Dustin, I meant help.
Speaker 2: Oh god, he was like Jonathan was like one wrung
Speaker 2: up the ladder and out of breath. So maybe don't
Speaker 2: talk about your fitness Jonathan. Anyway, So they're talking about
Speaker 2: this like stop, you know. Jonathan's like, hey, stop doing this,
Speaker 2: like it's really annoying Steve. Meanwhile, Steve is like, Dustin,
Speaker 2: I know you're lying about the fact that like you're
Speaker 2: beat up clearly and that your bullies did this, but
Speaker 2: you're trying to say, like, oh, I fell off a
Speaker 2: ladder or some bullshit like I and.
Speaker 3: Dustin and Steve obviously in some kind of argument off
Speaker 3: the Eddie's death, like Dustin feels like he didn't do
Speaker 3: enough or something, which again taking away one of the
Speaker 3: loveliest elements of the show, which is their friendship.
Speaker 1: But yes, Dustin did get beating up. He did make it.
Speaker 3: And now with this tiny little John Watter's mustache and
Speaker 3: his mullet, he is embroiled.
Speaker 1: In the Holly Wheelerss situation.
Speaker 2: Mike and Nancy disguised themselves as hospital staff to get
Speaker 2: in to talk to Karen. Karen, you know, her throat's
Speaker 2: been torn out, so she has to write stuff, but
Speaker 2: she writes what she remembers. And Will and Robin realized
Speaker 2: that Will's latest collapse was him seeing from Holly's point
Speaker 2: of view. And now between Karen's notes and Will's visions,
Speaker 2: they kind of figure out, like, what's going on, mister,
Speaker 2: what's it? Holly's imaginary friend is Vetna Henry Creole and
Speaker 2: he's luring her to the upside down for something, Yes, Bob.
Speaker 3: And he's gonna keep her family safe and yeah. I mean,
Speaker 3: Karen's really going through it. Literally, all she could write
Speaker 3: was just the word Henry. So well, it was going
Speaker 3: badly for her, and he's going badly for Holly because
Speaker 3: now she's in the creole the creepy creole house and
Speaker 3: h Yeah.
Speaker 2: Let's take a quick let's take a quick break, come back,
Speaker 2: and let's discuss straight the first two episodes of Stranger
Speaker 2: Thinks the final game, and we're back. Okay, I have
Speaker 2: a Before we get into our general thoughts, I have
Speaker 2: a I have an overall opinion that I'd like to share.
Speaker 1: Please.
Speaker 2: I think that in the future, for shows such as
Speaker 2: this that cast younger actors and have a story that
Speaker 2: unfolds over multiple seasons. I think Game of Thrones is
Speaker 2: another example of this. Lost is another example of this,
Speaker 2: although less centered on young there's only one young character.
Speaker 2: I would I would suggest to the showrunners to think
Speaker 2: about shifting the show so that it more closely tracks
Speaker 2: real life time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like, there's nothing in this season of Stranger Things, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, that says Dustin still has to be in
Speaker 2: high school. No, like these kids still have to be
Speaker 2: They don't have to They could be in college.
Speaker 1: They could be junior college.
Speaker 3: They let Steve leave high school and get a summer job,
Speaker 3: you know, like, at least let these kids do that.
Speaker 3: Like Dustin literally looks like he's twenty five and owns
Speaker 3: a mechanics office.
Speaker 1: Like I Also, I.
Speaker 3: Don't personally think that the trapping of the eighties at
Speaker 3: this point is so important that they needed to keep
Speaker 3: it there. I think they could have fully gone to
Speaker 3: the nineties at this season. Also, like every has done
Speaker 3: time jumps, there's no harm in a time jump. I
Speaker 3: was assuming there would be a time jump. I did
Speaker 3: not think it would just go straight in. So I
Speaker 3: will say, you know, it's not exactly like the world's
Speaker 3: most fresh take, but I do think that it takes
Speaker 3: you out of the show, like for me personally as
Speaker 3: somebody who's followed the show the whole way through the season,
Speaker 3: but also as people watching with someone who had never
Speaker 3: seen the show, Like it is Riverdale levels of distracting
Speaker 3: this season, how old the kids are and why there's
Speaker 3: no narrative reason because like the basketball bullying stuff for
Speaker 3: Dustin not one of the strongest subplots. Like, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of subplots here, and I feel like you probably
Speaker 3: could have xd out a few by allowing it to
Speaker 3: age a little more naturally.
Speaker 2: I agree, And I think that I'm always a sucker
Speaker 2: for the end of a show montage that's like, oh,
Speaker 2: look how young everybody was and look what they look like. Now,
Speaker 2: that's always like an emotional drunk that you can bang.
Speaker 2: And you can do that if you let the characters age. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just find it. I just think to your point,
Speaker 2: it is mega distracting at this point, and and why
Speaker 2: not just do that because you could also age up
Speaker 2: the themes, like you could have more or just like
Speaker 2: more adult I think, happy, what am I gonna do
Speaker 2: with my life? Am I ever gonna find like a
Speaker 2: person to be in a long term relationship with?
Speaker 1: These are all.
Speaker 3: Things that like you can do that in this space
Speaker 3: of Hawkins is so interesting. And I will also say
Speaker 3: I totally agree with you because I think that, for example,
Speaker 3: I do want to see and we're never gonna get this.
Speaker 1: I get it maybe in.
Speaker 3: A cool book twenty years down the line that's sorted
Speaker 3: by an incredible genre, right and we don't even know
Speaker 3: yet who's probably writing, you know, has been hotel foun
Speaker 3: fiction right now, maybe there'll be an eleven book that
Speaker 3: deals with this, but the maturing of the themes would
Speaker 3: have allowed us to deal with the fact that Hoppit
Speaker 3: essentially kidnapped a child, kept her in prison by the way,
Speaker 3: kept her imprisoned in a wooden.
Speaker 1: Shack for a year, and is now still a bad dad.
Speaker 3: Like I would have just like a tiny bit of
Speaker 3: eleven being like, I'm twenty one, now, what does that
Speaker 3: look like?
Speaker 1: What am I real? You know, there's something I think
Speaker 1: that is missing in that.
Speaker 3: But also I would say that, yeah, Ian Will being
Speaker 3: addicted to drugs to like try and deal with the
Speaker 3: abduction or something, so many interesting analogus I feel like
Speaker 3: they could have done, as these kids are all now
Speaker 3: in their twenties. But saying that, I also understand that
Speaker 3: this show has a lot to wrap up if you
Speaker 3: have been following it, So I will say that I
Speaker 3: do think, you know, one of the big critiques in
Speaker 3: my living room and also in the internet, is like
Speaker 3: this is just to show. These first episodes especially, are
Speaker 3: lots of people just having conversations. But if you are
Speaker 3: invested in those characters and care about where they're going,
Speaker 3: then you care about the conversations. But it's not necessarily
Speaker 3: as a texted Jason last night. Not a great jumping
Speaker 3: on point.
Speaker 4: No, No, you have to have watched every at least
Speaker 4: a very good YouTube explainer, or if you're watching with
Speaker 4: someone who doesn't know, get ready to be the explainer,
Speaker 4: which is also fun.
Speaker 2: Yes, so that's really my take. Let people let the
Speaker 2: kids age?
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 2: Why not let them age?
Speaker 3: What do you think Beckner's big plan is going to
Speaker 3: have been all along? Because that's what I feel like
Speaker 3: we're leading to. Why taking the kids? Why the telekinesis?
Speaker 3: What does he want? He's promising this safe space?
Speaker 1: Like who?
Speaker 3: What is really going on here? Because for a long
Speaker 3: time the baddies were really just the American government and
Speaker 3: Eleven's dad, but they're kind of shifting that. Have any
Speaker 3: Henry Creole theories?
Speaker 2: I don't. I think maybe he wants to create like
Speaker 2: a nuclear family down there, oh with like how it
Speaker 2: maybe like a and like a have like a normal
Speaker 2: quote unquote normal ish kind of life downer. But honestly,
Speaker 2: I have no idea. I don't see where it's going.
Speaker 2: I don't, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Do you have any thoughts about it?
Speaker 3: I think that they're the fact that they had him
Speaker 3: as mister Watson and they're playing into these kind of
Speaker 3: like ideas of why isn't he killing them and what
Speaker 3: does he really want?
Speaker 1: I think there is going to be more depth to it.
Speaker 1: We know he's another.
Speaker 3: Exploited child like Eleven. It's very X Men coded. Maybe
Speaker 3: they're going to try and make him their magneto this
Speaker 3: season and he's not as evil as they think. But
Speaker 3: it's going to be interesting to see, especially because I
Speaker 3: think what we're really leading to here from the opening
Speaker 3: and where we leave this episode is some kind of
Speaker 3: will Vecna showdown, and that does lead me. I will
Speaker 3: say to one of my other issues with this couple
Speaker 3: of episodes so far, I do not think that Noah
Speaker 3: shap and Will as a character and the way they
Speaker 3: write Am necessarily has.
Speaker 1: The juice to be the lead.
Speaker 3: Mebby Brown in the first season as Eleven was like
Speaker 3: this exciting, enticing Jean Gray esque like Superhero Force.
Speaker 1: I don't know who that is right now.
Speaker 3: I think now everyone just has to be following their favorites.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a clear lead.
Speaker 2: To your point. I think one of the things the
Speaker 2: show is maybe not done great is kind of reorient
Speaker 2: itself around who its best performers are. Like, I don't
Speaker 2: know that having Sadie Sink, who's awesome, unbelievable, be comatose
Speaker 2: for this open, crazy portion of the last season and
Speaker 2: like not involved at all is necessarily the best idea.
Speaker 2: Like Lucas to your point, as the only one with
Speaker 2: a brain, definitely should be in a lot more scenes
Speaker 2: and more central than he is. I don't care about
Speaker 2: I don't care about Dustin's bullies. These are the high
Speaker 2: school hijinks are like things like I don't care about now.
Speaker 2: To me, it's like the VECNA showdown.
Speaker 3: Is That's what we're leading to, right? And the thing
Speaker 3: is I love everybody knows this, no surprise. I love
Speaker 3: shows about young people and their day to day lives
Speaker 3: and having a young group of people I can root for.
Speaker 3: But it is not believable that Dustin is being beaten
Speaker 3: up by a bunch of teenagers. It's not an important
Speaker 3: story point. We've done it. That was the plot line
Speaker 3: of last season. School does Suck.
Speaker 1: I was bullied. Bullies are bullies. People bully each other.
Speaker 1: We all stuck where ad my kids?
Speaker 3: But like, you don't need that this is not a
Speaker 3: new fresh take that is adding anything to the stranger.
Speaker 2: I will add bullies don't stop after school like they
Speaker 2: can if you This is so back to my original
Speaker 2: kind of why why not let them age? I can
Speaker 2: see where if you're the Duffers or Netflix, you're thinking, well,
Speaker 2: we bought a show about kids in high school, and
Speaker 2: you know, it's like you didn't all of a sudden
Speaker 2: graduate the characters and cheers to what do they do
Speaker 2: outside of the park? Right, you don't do that, like
Speaker 2: let's keep a foremat and let's keep a setting that is,
Speaker 2: you know, we're in Hawkins and the kids are in school. Okay,
Speaker 2: I sort of understand that, But all of these things,
Speaker 2: if you really wanted to do it, like Dustin's Bullies,
Speaker 2: nobody's leaving Hawkins, no wite the fact that there's interdmensional portals,
Speaker 2: constant demagorgon attacks, margar disappearances and murders and like weird
Speaker 2: things happening all the time. Everybody's sticking around. So like
Speaker 2: Dustin's Bullies, they don't Yeah, they don't have to leave
Speaker 2: town because they're not in high school anymore.
Speaker 1: Exactly could have all that.
Speaker 3: Also, I would say a funny narrative pitch I would
Speaker 3: have thrown into this is like I would have just
Speaker 3: been like, yeah, that all in that twenty but actually
Speaker 3: they still have to just essentially stay in high school
Speaker 3: in this like because this is because.
Speaker 1: We're in the quarantine.
Speaker 3: Like that would have been an interesting matter, like Stacys,
Speaker 3: like you're not really in high school, but you've got
Speaker 3: to stay in the high school building doing college or
Speaker 3: whatever because it's quarantine. I feel like there are ways
Speaker 3: they could have explained it, but instead it feels like
Speaker 3: it's relatively tired.
Speaker 1: I'm also like, I don't like the way that now it's.
Speaker 3: Like Lucas is a traitor and he'll never be able
Speaker 3: to play basketball again, and it's like he's like the
Speaker 3: only black kid on the basketball team. That was an
Speaker 3: interesting plot line last year, Like let's continue that and
Speaker 3: get him a batter haircut. We know it's already been said,
Speaker 3: but it's true. Things that I most want from this
Speaker 3: season I want Eleven. I loved I got that moment.
Speaker 3: I mean I texted the group chat the moment when Eleven.
Speaker 1: Jumps over that bus. I got that feeling.
Speaker 3: I got that little bit of ambling magic that Jean
Speaker 3: Gray learning how to use her powers.
Speaker 1: That exactly what you want.
Speaker 3: The oh wow, that looks like something that couldn't happen.
Speaker 3: It feels real. I want to see Eleven in her powers.
Speaker 3: I can leave Joyce and Hopper behind, which is funny
Speaker 3: because I do think that Joyce, for the first three
Speaker 3: seasons especially, was probably like one of my favorite characters.
Speaker 3: But now, like, let these kids go. These are adults
Speaker 3: like Hopper teachers. You know, Ian mentioned like Hopper treats
Speaker 3: Eleven like she's six, like she's It's even more perturbing
Speaker 3: when you see the way she looks.
Speaker 1: Also, get her a better outfit. What was that training outfit?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that her outfits have been always terrible.
Speaker 2: Let's just be honest.
Speaker 3: True, it's true. They've never she's never had the good looks.
Speaker 2: She's always looked a mess. I will say that. I
Speaker 2: I here's the things that I think are working, the
Speaker 2: upside down stuff, like the set pieces. I think the
Speaker 2: piece is a great I think the action is actually
Speaker 2: really amazing, like great amazing.
Speaker 1: On the radio, I'm wonderful, Robin.
Speaker 2: On the radio is wonderful. I'm loving all the upside
Speaker 2: down stuff. I would like to say, eleven cut loose
Speaker 2: more like it's cool the training. I agree with you,
Speaker 2: Like when she makes the big jump, I got that.
Speaker 2: Like to me, it was like when Luke uh strangles
Speaker 2: Java's gone right, like oh oh no, like, oh god,
Speaker 2: he's he's figured it out. He's powerful now. But I
Speaker 2: would like to see her use it more.
Speaker 3: I would like to see her David Harper's head with
Speaker 3: that pumpkin power and then no one's gonna be telling
Speaker 3: you what to do. You are literally like a god
Speaker 3: in this world. Just fucking destroy the military, kill the
Speaker 3: demo Gorgan like reimagine what's hawkings in your favor.
Speaker 2: What's working for you?
Speaker 3: I love I love Robyn. I love the radio stuff.
Speaker 3: It's very fun. It's very like pump up the jam.
Speaker 3: It's very Christian, A is very it's so much fun.
Speaker 3: I want I want, let's let Steve be having fun again.
Speaker 3: He's having a bad time this year, but you know what,
Speaker 3: he's always great when he's having fun, when he's protecting
Speaker 3: his crew.
Speaker 1: So I want to see him and Dustin reunite.
Speaker 3: I want to see him and Robin kind of get
Speaker 3: that real banty friendship back.
Speaker 1: I love that Robin and Jackie are together.
Speaker 3: I think something that I did think was really cool
Speaker 3: this episode and felt very like normal and well done
Speaker 3: and real, was the fact that, as has long been speculated,
Speaker 3: that Will is gay, and there's kind of been a
Speaker 3: little bit of talk about it in the last season.
Speaker 3: Will gets Will goes to follow Robin to see if
Speaker 3: she can help him, and he sees her and Jackie kissing,
Speaker 3: and he's so shocked, and they have this great conversation
Speaker 3: about it, where Robin's basically trying to protect herself. But
Speaker 3: I think that we will get to see Will deal
Speaker 3: with these feelings that he has for Mike, and I
Speaker 3: think we might actually get a bit more of a nuanced,
Speaker 3: interesting version of it than I feared we would get.
Speaker 3: I like the idea that there's some kind of older,
Speaker 3: queer person in his life.
Speaker 1: So I think if.
Speaker 3: They can make those character moments hit and sing the
Speaker 3: same way that the set pieces do, because the action
Speaker 3: is good. And I have to say, this is the
Speaker 3: first season where I've thought the Demogrgan looked scary. Other
Speaker 3: times I've been like, yeah, it's a demagogan. He's a
Speaker 3: crazy fantasy creature. But that kind of like really ridged,
Speaker 3: kind of scarred version that could just sort of scoop
Speaker 3: out Karen's guts with its hat. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: this thing's actually pretty gnarly, Like, yeah, let the kids
Speaker 3: let loose.
Speaker 1: I would love I love them.
Speaker 3: I love a show where or a TV show or
Speaker 3: a movie where the kids get like shared powers.
Speaker 1: Obviously, we love the X Men.
Speaker 3: Shazam did that really well in the comics and the movies,
Speaker 3: So I definitely feel like I would like to see
Speaker 3: obviously Will highest likelihood of getting a power because he's
Speaker 3: already connected to the upside down. But I feel like
Speaker 3: Holly Wheeler, they're trying to show, Okay, she is connected
Speaker 3: to the upside down. She could end up also being
Speaker 3: a kid who has powers. And I think that ultimately
Speaker 3: we're gonna be in a good situation where the end
Speaker 3: of Stranger Things set up a new generation of kids,
Speaker 3: maybe with powers. Maybe Veckner's family becomes this kind of
Speaker 3: powerful kid. I'm gonna tell you guys, and you know what,
Speaker 3: I know, you guys are gonna be dragging me in
Speaker 3: the discord a dragonbildline.
Speaker 1: But you know what, It's okay, I accept it.
Speaker 3: I like the Lost Daughter episode of Stranger Things season three.
Speaker 3: I've already talked about it, I've written about it. I
Speaker 3: would love to see a little throwback to Eleven's true family,
Speaker 3: to the other kids like her, to a potential some
Speaker 3: kind of power showdown where you get multiple kids and stuff.
Speaker 3: That's just what I like, just what gets me through
Speaker 3: the day. So I would like to see something like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, I have to say, I'll give
Speaker 3: them one thing. I don't know where it's going, and
Speaker 3: that's kind of for a show like Stranger Things, so
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give.
Speaker 2: Them no idea where it's going. I am completely confused
Speaker 2: as to what Henry's motivations are. Maybe some sort of
Speaker 2: like like old school like bullying beef.
Speaker 3: I will always say it's really funny because I also
Speaker 3: last night before watch Before you Know, after watching Stranger
Speaker 3: Things again and before recording this, I watched The Chair Company,
Speaker 3: and that finale is just like so insane.
Speaker 5: It's that I can't that I can't kind of like,
Speaker 5: I'm basically just in a situation where I can't stop
Speaker 5: connecting the two things because The Chair Company ends in
Speaker 5: a way that would see Mork into a Stranger Things.
Speaker 3: So I just hope that Stranger Things goes as weird
Speaker 3: and wacky as the chair company is. Let them run loose,
Speaker 3: go crazy, be weird, and hopefully.
Speaker 1: Do some interesting stuff.
Speaker 3: And I'm really excited when we talk about the next
Speaker 3: couple of episodes because we're we're going to be able
Speaker 3: to dig into a bit more of the extraneous law
Speaker 3: that they've built into Stranger Things, is my understanding, and
Speaker 3: I love extra books plays, all that kind of weird
Speaker 3: stuff that adds to it. So I think it's going
Speaker 3: to be a fun, fun conversation. The next episode of
Speaker 3: X ray Vision, we will be diving into episodes three
Speaker 3: and four of Stranger Things season five, and of course news.
Speaker 2: That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening, Bye bye.
Speaker 2: X ray Vision is hosted by Jason Concepcion and Rosie
Speaker 2: Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcast.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Korfman.
Speaker 2: Our supervising producer is Abu Zafar.
Speaker 3: Our producers are Common Laurent, Dian Jonathan and Bai Wag.
Speaker 2: A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
Speaker 2: songs by Aaron Kauffman.
Speaker 3: Special thanks to soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman, and
Speaker 3: Heidi our Discord moderator,