Welcome to Fandom Shmandom, the fandom podcast
that covers everything you love and more. I'm
Sam Williams. And I'm Sierra Obermark. Today's
episode, we will be tantalizingly tricking our
tongues into talking treatfully about Stranger
Things Season 2, Episodes 1 through 4. Without
further ado, we will, as Roger Smith says, dive
on in. Get up to 88, because it's time to travel
back to our story recap. Episode 1! It's exposition
and introduction time. We open in, you guessed
it, not Hawkins, Pittsburgh. Focusing on a crime
in progress. Intro, Callie. Did she just use
telekinesis? Oh, no. No, she didn't. She messed
with our mind. And what's that? An eight? Oh,
yes. But back in Hawkins. It's Halloween now
and the boys are somewhere back to normal. That's
not at all that song. Joyce is being understandably
overprotective, especially considering Will is
having upside down flashes. Meanwhile, Hoop is
being accousted by Murray, a conspiracy theorist
who is honestly so close and yet so far from
the truth. Nancy is realizing Steve is kind of
a dum -dum. But still cute, though. And who shows
up with an excellent intro? A mysterious combo
of California Yates. Max has arrived. Instantly
proving that gamer girls are, as we say, the
best. And who is this? But Sean Astin? Samwise
Gamgee himself? Who is dating Winona Ryder? Heathers?
Joyce, we mean? We are here for this. Joyce deserves
some happiness. Meanwhile, Hoop has been dragged
out to a pumpkin pooch to see a tune of flues
and roots. The evil in the Upside Down wants
to kill everyone else, and turns out you can't
even trust your psychiatrist. Who would have
guessed? He's helping to do controlled burns
on the weird organic gate. Lucas. and now toothful
Dustin, are crushing hard on Max. Nancy and Steve
have an uncomfortable dinner with Barb's parents,
who are giving everything they have to Murray,
who has promised to find their daughter. Day
352 of Elle missing, and Mike hasn't given up.
Jonathan shows he's an excellent brother, and
he and Will bond over Bob, aka Sean Astin, being
a little... An adorable, boring guy. Whoop! Gives
him to find. Who goes? El? El with hair? Episode
2. Now to find out what happened in the last
year. Turns out fighting the Demogorgon drew
El into the Upside Down. A perfectly placed pawprint
portal shows the way out, and she walks straight
into a manhunt for her, the dangerous Russian
spy. Back in the present, Elle wants to go trick
-or -treating, arguing that, dressed as a ghost,
the bad men won't see her. Ironic, as the boys
are all dressed as Ghostbusters. Nancy is having
a hard time dealing with Barb's death, and Steve
tries to get her to have fun for once. Lucas
and Dustin ask Max to trick -or -treat with them.
How presumptuous of them. Hop is back in the
pumpkin's conspiracy, but this time with all
the crops on many farms. Max is getting picked
up from school by apparently psychotic Billy,
and each blame the other for being stuck in Hawkins.
Billy attempts triple homicide, and Max narrowly
saves the biking trio on their way to meet Will.
Jonathan goes to the same party Nancy and Steve
are at, where Billy is reigning keg king, and
Nancy starts on the punch a little too aggressively.
Bobula is calming Joyce, who is once again paranoid
about Will being out of her sight. Hop, too busy
marking rot, is late again. The boys are trick
-or -treating with Max, Mike is mad she has joined
their party, and leaves Will to face another
vision alone, the giant shadow spider bearing
down on him. Mike takes Will home. Jonathan has
arrived at the party in time for drunk Nancy
to cuss out Steve and admit to not loving him.
Ouch. Jonathan then brings her home, tucking
her in. Mike and Will share about the visions
and seeing Elle around, promising to go crazy
together. Elle, feeling alone, goes into the
in -between to see Mike, which she can now do
with a blindfold and TV static. We end with Dustin
finding something in the trash can. Episode 3.
What did he find? Oh, just a cute little blob.
His name's D 'Artagnan. Please ignore the French
accent and the Demogorgon -like screech he emits.
You know what's worse than a moody teenager?
A moody, telekinetic, semi -communicative teenager,
Elle. Elle is having a hard time being cooped
up, and Hoop isn't sure how to keep her safe
and how to let her out. Bob tells Will a frankly
horrifying story about a clown named Mr. Baldo
who hunted his dreams. and how, by standing his
ground, he was able to make the dreams stop.
Dustin has been trying to learn about D 'Artagnan,
and asks the gang to meet up. Elle breaks all
three dopey stupid rules at once. Nancy can't
remember essentially breaking up with Steve,
but don't worry, he reminds her. Meanwhile, the
kids think Dustin has found a new species, but
Will thinks Dart is... A little too similar to
a tadpole he threw up back in season one. Bob
once again shows his adorable love of Joyce and
her boys and lets her know that Will is being
bullied. Joyce goes to look at the tape and sees,
somehow, the shadow monster Will has been seeing
and drawing. Meanwhile, the kids pose an interesting
theory. If something is from the upside down,
Does that automatically make it evil? Dart escapes
when Max opens the door. That's what they get
for keeping her out. During this, we also learn
that Billy and Max are not siblings. Who but
knows the souk is not up to snoof. And he's working
with them under an agreement that he keeps things
secret. And they keep everything upside down
-y out of Hawkins. However... Elle has now been
seen, and now Hoop needs to find her before the
psych guy catches on. But first, Elle catches
Mike with Max, incorrectly assuming he has moved
on and grown those romantic flowers for Max.
Nancy calls Barb's mom, trying to meet up, and
the call is overheard. While looking for Dart,
Will has another encounter with the shadow monster,
and tries to use Bob's advice. But unfortunately,
the shadow monster isn't a dream clown, and starts
to take him over. Episode 4. Here comes Frantic
Joyce careening into the school, and what do
we find but Will in the field absorbing the shadows?
He tells his mom everything, and she makes promises
reminiscent of Marlin and just as impossible
to keep. Telekinetic bratty teen strikes again.
Elle's situation sucks, but Hop just doesn't
want to see everything he's tried to do for her
go to waste. The word of the day really is brat.
Nancy and Jonathan are off to meet Barb's mom
secretly. Joyce is getting really concerned about
Will, who is running a low temperature and likes
his baths cold. Who likes it cold? Nancy and
Jonathan correctly figure out they are being
watched and attempt to leave, but are stopped
by them. Will and the shadow monster are one,
but the visions are too much to communicate.
Good thing he's a great artist. Hop and Joyce
realize all his scribbles connect together. Vines.
He's drawing vines. Nancy and Jonathan get the
lowdown on the gate from the psychiatrist and
learn why they need to shisheth. Those darn rooskies.
Max is tired of being excluded and Lucas doesn't
know how to explain without explaining. Billy
gives off mad racist and abusive vibes, scaring
Max and us. Elle is cleaning up her mess in the
cabin and finds a box of Hawkins lab information,
including a folder on Terry Ives. Cue another
round of friends don't lie because Hop said her
mother was gone, but she's still alive, so she's
not gone. We just know Elle is going to get stuck
in her craw about that one, even if Hop meant
her mind is gone. Elle knows she's Jane now.
Well, and also, turns out Nancy and Jonathan
had a completely different plan than we thought.
They got the Sykes' full confession on tape and
are headed out of town. Sorry, Dustin. But unfortunately,
Dart isn't so cute when he's munching on Muse.
Hop and the Rot back together again, and now,
oops, Hop dug right into the upside down. Excellent.
But before we get to the nitty gritty schmitty,
we welcome Oreo to provide us with vital information
that we need to know. Welcome, Oreo. Give us
that integral info. Sam and Sierra, do you copy?
Hello and welcome back, listeners. This is Oreo
again from the other side of the pond. I am here
today to talk to you about, you guessed it, another
book. This one today, in the spirit of Season
2 and the new character we've just been introduced,
is all about Max. This book is called Runaway
Max and is written by Brenna Jovanoff. It takes
place predominantly in the season two of Stranger
Things. So which is the canon year of like 1984,
but also tells a little bit more about Max's
background. So we sort of see season two throughout
Max's eye. So like it jumps back and forth in
the time. We see her impressions of meeting the
boys and especially like Lucas, but also how,
you know, She has to face having just moved to
a new town where she doesn't know anyone and
trying to make friends and adjusting to a new
home life with her stepfather and stepbrother
all the way away from California. So this focuses
a lot on Max's family. Family is definitely like
the predominant theme in this book. And we learn
that her mother and father split when she was
young. We don't know how old she was, but she
was definitely young. Her mother stays with Max
in San Diego. And her father moves to LA. In
the beginning, Max is allowed to visit her dad
every two weeks. But then, like, her mom is starting
to be less and less comfortable with Max spending
time with her dad. And is trying to limit these
visits as much as possible. Max is... Max's father
gets by as a bookie and making fake IDs. And
this is presumably why her mother doesn't want
Max to spend so much time with him. But also
Max is aware that he's probably dealing with
more shady things as well, which he just doesn't
talk to her about or shows or allows to her to
see basically. But he also teaches Max how to
pick a lock and like their passion, like they
share to like... hobby is to solve puzzles and
that sort of stuff. She really likes her dad.
She has a good relationship with her dad. And
if it were up to her, she would definitely choose
to live with her dad. And the book opens with
her to making a runaway attempt after she's just
been told by her new stepfather and her mom that
they're going to move to Hawkins in Yenna. she's
like nope i'm out and tries to run away from
san diego to la to stay with her dad but she's
caught at the bus stop in san diego so unfortunately
she didn't make it very far so after her parents
have split up max sort of talks about how her
mom kept dating different men who she was always
able to tell they're not the right people for
her. She sort of says her mom seems to be naive
because she could always tell this one was gambling,
this one was cheating. And her mom always seems
to be very downfallen when she finds out that
they're not the people who she thought and hoped
potentially who they were. Max is like commenting
constantly how her mom seems to be choosing Joanie
the best and look away for the worst parts of
people. And it definitely is like a point where
she almost like loses respect for her mom because
of that quality. And so it's no surprise that
when Max's new stepfather, Neil, who cares a
lot about optics, and we do meet him in the show,
He wows her mom with like, you know, bringing
flowers, is not staying over before they're married.
And it's all about he's like a proper upstanding
part of society. Everything is, you know, nothing
to see here. Everything's perfect. Nothing shady
ever going on here. But even so, the first time
that... Neil punishes his son in front of Max
in her mom's eye, which is still in San Diego,
and he takes the belt to Billy. Max is sure that
her mom knew about the type of discipline, because
she thinks her mother would have otherwise reacted
stronger, so she is certain that deep down her
mother knew that Neil was a violent person. Unsurprisingly,
Billy is chaotic and a little bit psychotic.
He was obviously raised in this household with
an unloving father. And while Max, when they
initially are introduced to each other, thinks,
oh my God, it's so cool. I'm going to have an
older, cooler brother who has a car. She very
quickly learns that he's unpredictable and willing
to cross boundaries just to make a point. While
they seem to go back and forth between moments
where they almost seem like bonding as siblings,
then there are very quickly moments again where
she has to accept that she cannot trust Billy,
that Billy is doing whatever Billy wants to do.
So why does the family think to move to Hawkins
of all places? It must be the famous I don't
know. Laboratory? Upside down? We don't know.
Now we do know the reason that they're moving.
So basically Max has three childhood friends
while she lives in San Diego. Three boys she
gets along with. They skate together and they
build ramps and have a fun time in California.
However, as As I've already mentioned, Billy,
to prove a point really, to Max, deliberately
breaks one of her friend's arms. He just does
it. There's no accident or anything. He just
goes and snaps one of her friend's arms. Unsurprisingly,
Max loses that friendship entirely, so she is
friendless. But also, because an ambulance has
to come, There's no denying Billy did this. This
wasn't an accident, even though Max is smart
enough not to outright say it. Her mom and her
stepfather work out that this is Billy's fault,
and this is why they decide, you know what, we
need a fresh start for, you know, in the hope
that Billy and Max will have a better time if
they're far away from this incident. However,
Billy blames Max. Billy's like, look. I have
the coolest car here in San Diego. I can have
all the girls and the parties and all of that
sort of stuff. And now you condemned me to a
life in Hawkins, Indiana, where nothing of this
is happening. So this sort of further estranges
the relationship between Max and Billy, but also
because Hawkins is Hawkins and their parents
are like... under the impression if they just
make billy chauffeur max everywhere they're just
gonna get along uh we see how that goes in the
show another thing that we learn about at neil
and billy which is something we can see in the
show as well um but it's maybe a point a little
bit more out in the book um is that uh they're
implied to be racists you know billy's like telling
max off for spending time with lucas so he uh
In the book, because we get Max's thoughts of
it, we definitely get sort of confirmation of,
yeah, it's because he's black. And this is not,
you know, in the world where Neil wants to be
seen as proper and upstanding and everything.
He doesn't want to mingle with those type of
people. We also see Max try to run away again
in this book. She recognizes that... this is
all not going in her favor, that Billy is going
to become even more of a problem. And she almost
runs away again from Hawkins to LA this time.
So destination, the same destination. However,
just as she's getting ready, she has her backpack
packed, she has a plan, she's got the parents
out of the way. Lucas comes by and says he has
proof. of all the things that he's been talking
to her about. And in the end, she chooses to
go with Lucas to learn about said truth. And
we then see, obviously, that whole scene where
she meets Steve and they're getting ready for
the demo dogs. And then I'll leave you with this
final tidbit here. We also learned that Max loves
horror movies. It's one of the things that...
why she's choosing to scare the boys when they're
going out trick -and -treating, and why she's
picking a Michael Myers mask as her costume.
So yes, a very, very cool little insight into
this new character that we're meeting for this
season. And I can definitely say Max has been
one of my favorite characters to add to the show.
I hope this little insight into her is useful
for you all. Over and out. Thank you so much,
Oreo. That was much needed prep for the rest
of this episode. Yes. Find your donut holes.
It is time for our Knives Out category, where
we sooth out which three storylines are the most
vital to pay attention to. Number one, Hop and
the Rot. It's a good band name, gotta say. Number
two, Dustin and D 'Artagnan. Also another good
band name. Potentially also a buddy cop movie.
And number three, Will and the Shadow Monster.
This sounds like a kid's book about helping kids
with nightmares. It really does. Okay, first
storyline, Hop and the Rot. First of all, good
names had by all. Hop and the Rot is my favorite.
It's excellent. Now, there is Rot in the pumpkin
patch that brings Hopper out. And he's sort of
immediately suspicious. Uh, he gets really spooked
in the field with movement. There's this sort
of feeling he gets, but he doesn't, like, kind
of go immediately into investigating it, but
you can kind of see it's raised his hackles.
Um, then later, we've got rotting pumpkins delivered
to the police station, and rival farmers blaming
each other for the rot. This time... Hop goes
to the other farm. He investigates. He finds
the sticky substance on the tree. He sees all
these little bugs on everything, and he's kind
of like, okay. Alright, so then they mark how
deep the rot goes, and that takes a very long
time, but it's okay, because Hop can pay a random
kid five bucks for farmer's candy, which is just
wild. It's just... Wild. Okay, so, Hop realizes
the gook, because he does, like, the Charlie
Day thing, except with a sharpie, where he's
like, wait, look, the outside ring, and then
the middle ring, and the inside ring, and they
all center in on, you guessed it, Hawkins Lab.
And, uh, Dr. Sam Owens does exactly what you
think he'd do. Deny, deny, deny, deny, but, with
a little help from Will, who's now channeling
an even shadow beast inside of him, he and Joyce
figure out that those vines are actually, and
the rot, are coming from these vines, which is
from the Upside Down, which then Hop is like,
dig, dig, dig, I'm now in the Upside Down again.
Oops. Oops. We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig.
No. So, our second storyline - Was that a Lion
King one and a half reference? It was not. Okay,
good. It was a Snow White reference. Okay, so
same flavor. So in the first two episodes, it's
more of a, the second storyline is more Mike
versus Max. But then when you get into episode
three and four, they really get overshadowed
by Dustin trapping Dart, bringing him to the
school, having everybody figure out. What's going
on with him? What is Dart? All of those details.
Dustin, unfortunately, lies to his mother, signs
his cat's death warrant, and feeds Dart three
Musketeers bars, and realizes that Dart hates
light. Always a good sign. Yes, always a great
sign when something that is supposed to be cold
-blooded and like light doesn't like light. Going
against biology is always an excellent sign when
you find a mysterious creature. So Dustin eats
candy, reads about reptiles, falls asleep in
his stume, and misses Dart crying out like a
very clear Demogorgon. Dustin steals books from
the library. Not a great look, but he thinks
he's found a new species, so we're going to kind
of excuse his devious behavior. automatically
suspicious and mike is very willing to be on
will's side since lucas and dustin have kind
of ditched them because they love max so much
and will is convinced that dart is an upside
down creature uh go will way to be right on the
money on that one in all honesty Yes, and their
exclusion of Max has some pretty terrible consequences
because she just really wants to know what's
going on and wants to get into that room. And
unfortunately, Dart knows when to dart. And so
she opens the door and out he goes. The good
thing is that they do find Dart. They put him
back into Dustin's house, clearly the best place
to keep an unknown creature. He grows really
big. And then he eats Muse. Cue the overmark.
Dun, dun, dun. Sorry, R .I .P. Muse. R .I .P.
Muse. And then, unfortunately, that also R .I
.P.'s our love for Dart, the adorable booger
monster. Dart, the adorable booger monster. It's
so funny. Oh, yeah, it does end our love for
Dart. And unfortunately, and Dustin's love for
Dart. And also, poor Muse. I'm so sad. Every
time I see it, I'm like, ugh, I hate this. Horrible.
Okay, so our third storyline is Will and the
Shadow Monster. So Will keeps flashing back to
the Upside Down, something that we saw in Season
1. He's seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Owens,
who's in the exact same position as Dr. Brenner,
and clearly is a good guy. with good intentions,
and is constant gesturing during, and pointing,
and being like, what's your favorite candy, and
all that sort of stuff, is not at all just small
talk, and is the evil sinister mindset of a villain.
So, he goes to the arcade, flashes, we see the
little shadow monster vibes in the background.
Now, this new Brenner psychiatrist, Dr. Sam person,
believes that Will will only get worse because
of something called the anniversary effect. Now,
during this time, it's Halloween, which means
that everybody's dressed up in very cute Ghostbusters
costumes. Will looks adorable because he's still
the smallest of everybody as well. And then Jonathan,
due to his own moral failings, goes to a high
school party, abandoning his brother to the behests
of, well, he doesn't know the spider monster.
But we all know the spider shadow monster. So,
interestingly enough, real quick here. We talked
last season, Sierra, about, like, what happened
to Steve's best friends. Yes. Billy's biggest
hype man at this party is that awful dude. I
know. And I hate it. And also, there's a trio
of women that, like, ogle Billy when he first
comes in. The one on the very right, stage left
or right, is... His girlfriend. Is the girl.
Yeah. So they're there. I thought they'd completely
been scrapped, but they're there. No, they're
there, and I'm very upset about it. Yeah, me
too. They stink. I wish whatever his name was.
Was it Hobbs? Calvin? No. Troy! I wish Troy was
doing the secret serial killer thing. Like we
said for our headcanon. Now he disappeared. Yeah,
he does. Now, okay, so Jonathan goes to this
high school party, everybody. Will gets bullied.
The sort of group of Ghostbusters isn't really
paying attention to him, because Mike's so hurt
about Max being there, and Lucas and Dustin are
like, ooh, Max is here! And so Will falls over
and has a flash, where the Mind Flayer emerges
and searches for him, and he goes and hides.
Now, Bob, Bobula, Bobletonian, Bobbleboo, he
gives Willibub a nice little pep talk, as we
described in our recap. But his advice goes super
poorly. Like, as poorly as it can go. So, essentially,
he says, go out and tell him to go away. Go tell
your monster figure in your nightmares to go
away. Which is great advice, if the monster is.
If it's not a real thing. Not real. But it is
real. And it takes over Will, and then suddenly
we've got creepy Will, who, like, does have some
ability to, like. Alright, so I'm connected to
this monster. I can spy inside this monster.
I can tell you all about the vines. But then
he's also, like, looking at his mother and being
like, lower the temperature of the bath. What?
Lower the temperature of the bath? He likes it
cold. So there's a little bit of, um, not so
good, not so great. Little column A, little column
B going on with William at the moment. And those
are our three storylines. So, Sierra, keep your
finger on the pause button. And rewind that tape.
It's time for us to go through the prestige category
for what do we notice on this watch through?
I don't know why I wrote down Keith in all caps.
He's the arcade manager. I feel like he's in
every little fandom thing during this era. Yes,
I was. I did. Well, I did notice that he is always
like. The guy at the counter or behind, I'm pretty
sure there, there's a supernatural episode where
they go to like a, I think it's the clown, like
a clown episode where they go just like some
kids, basically a Chuck E. Cheese. And I'm pretty
sure he's like behind the counter. Yeah, of course.
And so he's, he's like the arcade kids, uh, location.
um he works roller coasters in something like
he's always like that guy he's an excellent weird
little addition to and i don't mean that he's
his addition is weird i just mean his character
is like this awesome weird little addition to
the neil patrick harris very famous lemony snicket
books which their names are escaping me series
of unfortunate yes he's in a series of unfortunate
events is one of the villains and i really love
him in that but anyways he's keith in this uh
which is fun I also think that this is a super
fun way to introduce how cool Max is going to
be and how well Max is going to fit in with this
party. Because we don't see her. We find her
reputation through her gamer tag, Mad Max, on
the arcade where she's busted something that
Dustin, I believe Dustin, is like king of. So
that's really cool. I really, really like that.
Dig dug. Dig Dug, yes. And also the intro, my
favorite character of the series. Like, Max is
by far my favorite character. She's pretty great.
Do you have a fave? Yeah. You know, it kind of
bounces around. Is it Hoop? I do really enjoy
Hopper. I think probably Hopper and honestly
Steve once we start getting more into season
three and beyond. At season two stage, I don't,
I think it's still firmly in the Hopper category.
But yeah, TBD, I guess I'll have to revisit after
the whole thing is over and evaluate. Yeah, certainly.
Also, little shout out to Eddie, because I also
love him. I'm excited to get to Eddie. This is
true. Yes. I also very much enjoy. A lot of the
characters starting in season three. Yeah. So
we'll get there. I mean, Erica season three is
great. But Murray is also fantastic. Yes. That's
so true. It cracks me up. But we're in season
two. So we're going to keep going through this.
We're in episode one of season two. Okay. I don't
really understand Will's ability to flash and
live in the physical upside down. Like, it's
as if he's really there sometimes. Right. And
I like... Is he just, like, sort of doing the
thing where he's standing and everything's just
still and no one can talk to him while that's
happening? Like, is he, like, projecting himself
there and can manipulate things that way? Is
that a power of his? Or is he actually physically
moving there and then his body disappears? But
then, no, that can't be the case because when
he gets, you know, messed up by the shadow monster,
he's physically there. So I don't... Is this,
like, a cool superpower of his? Mm -hmm. And
also on Halloween, when Mike comes to, although
when Mike comes to find him on Halloween, he
says you were gone. Yeah. And so there is kind
of an inconsistency because in the Halloween
moment, it seems like Will actually disappears
and then reappears. Yeah. Whereas when they're
looking for Dart and the shadow monster actually
approaches Will, then he's. still physically
in hawkins not in the upside down even though
he's mentally in the upside down so not sure
if maybe it's just because will in the um because
also in the when he sees the flash in the arcade
he goes outside and they just find him standing
outside so i don't think he's actually leaving
yeah i think it's it's definitely more of a mental
thing um paralleling what L can do, but. But
more directly. It definitely seems. Yeah, exactly.
But it's very odd. It is interesting in terms
of a season five prep to think about like, all
right, so is, can Will project himself, go and
see what's happening in the upside down with
some semblance of control versus like. what's
happening here is that just because the gates
open and he's been in the upside down etc etc
so interesting all interesting things to think
about it also might be that during halloween
when mike says you were gone it meant like oh
you left us not yeah you were physically disappeared
so missing yeah all right yeah and then uh we
also start getting more of a focus on dustin
and lucas rather than mike good which i'm fine
with so fine um So good with it. Totally fine
with that. I would love to explore more about
Dustin and Lucas's characters, and we're going
to. So. Yes. Fan. Good. Yes. Fan of that situation.
Speaking of characters. Another thing that I'm
a fan of. Murray. Murray's in here for two seconds.
He's such a fabulous. So I. His character, I
feel like, really changes in season three and
season four. Because this sort of more three
-dimensional character that comes out in, like,
I'm this hardened ex -journalist who's going
to be investigating and doing all this stuff.
I find, like... really fascinating and he he
morphs into more of a comic relief character
which he's so good at doing the actor's just
fabulous uh but it is interesting to see him
be so serious and not at all comedic yet versus
what we get when we actually get up to chicago
so yeah in in like two episodes in one episode
after we're done with all this yeah yeah he he
ends up being very fun also he's super close
like you were saying in the in the Mm -hmm. Recap.
He's like, not that far off. So close. Y 'all
should go back and listen to what he's saying.
And you're just like, oh, hey man, you're like,
you just need to be a little crazier, actually.
Mm -hmm. Yeah, you're like, you're crazy and
a conspiracy theorist, but you're just not quite
at the level of reality. Yeah, yeah, totally.
Which is wild. Okay, I've got a question for
you. Mm. I belabored this in the finale. I belabored
this in two episodes ago. Mm -hmm. Why is Nancy,
still with steve the same reasons that i gave
in the last one but now she knows she doesn't
love him drunk nancy knows she doesn't love him
sober nancy is still denying it all right all
right fine fine yeah sorry um but i do uh have
a gripe which is that billy's hair is horrible
And I'm convinced that they consistently make
him shirtless just so that we aren't so distracted
by the terrible hair. Okay, I'm going to say
this with all the caveats possible. That hairstyle,
I would not wear. That hairstyle, I would not
recommend for anybody. And yet, it's iconic for
the era, as is his little stupid mustache. He's
17, 18, somewhere around there. And that hair
is... amazing absolutely amazing for the show
it's so good also what a car yes he drives the
car is great a 1978 chevy camaro and this is
like it's a z28 for anybody who's an actual car
fan but this is right when uh the american like
fuel regulations have been in for a while since
the 70s so we had like you had all these huge
way too fuel consumption mega v8s and like the
mustangs and the camaros and the challenger for
a second those like very american sports cars
and then uh the regulations come in 1970 and
they get very not powerful and then but finally
because we have regulation They have to be fuel
efficient, but they also want tons of power for
the consumer. So they hit this sweet spot where
the Chevy Camaro is starting, is in an era where
they're starting to get real powerful. And that's
why the engine sounds so glorious. Although I'm
not sure it's the right sound for that car. But
that would take a lot more research than I'm
willing to do. It's pretty great, though. And
what else is great is Bob and Joyce's relationship.
It's just so cute. It's really adorable. They're
just... It's so adorable. Joyce deserves a guy
just like a nice guy who's just there for her
and sweet and isn't awful like her ex -husband
and isn't flighty and is going to stick around
and cares about her and her sons and is willing
to take on the potential craziness of whatever's
going on with Will. It's just so cute. His woe
Nellie speech, which is not this episode, is
a little bit later, about like, what if we just
move to Maine? I know, woe Nellie, like, this
is too much, too fast, too quick. We've only
been dating for two months. But I'm like, man,
this man really just wants to take care of her
and can see how harmed she is. He sees her in
a way that even at this point, Hop does not.
Yeah, exactly. That's why I love him. Speaking
of relationships. Not to belabor the point again,
but I asked you this question earlier this episode.
I asked you this question last episode and the
episode before. I'll phrase it in a different
way. Nancy Sierra is clearly more interested
in Jonathan than Steve. This is, if you remember
back to the very famous Amy Sherman Palladino
show, Gilmore Girls. This is a classic Dean versus
Jess sitch. I know she's with beautiful Steve,
but Jonathan is just so much more her intellectual
equivalent. Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely true.
Another question, though. How is KFC not just
taking Steve saying it's finger licking good
at Barb's parents and just made that their commercial
every Halloween? I don't, I don't get it. It's
perfect. It's perfect. KFC, come on. It really
is. Okay, more questions for you, Sierra. We're
now on episode two, season two. Season two, episode
two, whatever you want to call it. There's a
flashback with Elle. I don't understand how the
portals keep forming. I don't understand why
they're organic. And I don't understand how she's
able to use her powers so easily after wasting
the Demogorgon. Yeah, I don't understand any
of that either. I was thinking the exact same
thing, especially about her powers, because she's
so depleted at the end of the last season. And
then all of a sudden she's just using her powers
again. And it's been five minutes. Five minutes.
Yeah, so I don't quite understand. Also, you
know, I mentioned in the description, like, a
perfectly placed portal in the paw print. Right,
yeah, for real. It's like, I get it from a visual,
you know, like, from a visual standpoint. Doylist,
I guess. I get it. But, like, in the actual show,
like, is the... portal like this is a great place
to pop her out of here well so right she uses
the she uses the portal that the demogorgon initially
uses to come out when it kills brenner it's that
portal but the fact that it's pause i just like
it's some of this like visual representation
kind of messing with the actual world building
and logic of the world just like it really gets
under my fandom shmandumness uh okay I also have
a couple of different, like, I'm interested in
the fact that, like, I really like Hopper and
Elle's storyline, but I'm uninterested in Elle's
storyline in these first four episodes. Yes.
Like, Hopper dealing with the daughter, interesting.
Elle wandering after Mike, uninteresting. Exactly.
Yeah, I agree. Her being, like, I mean, I think
it's very perfectly encapsulated in today's word
of the day is brat. Yeah. We know it's a really
terrible situation, Elle, but, like, come on.
Yeah, for real. Like, work with the man here.
He's doing his best. And she's just such a stickler.
For how much people have, like, not followed
through in her life and have lied or have used
her or whatever, she certainly seems to think
that every single person is going to be taken
exactly at their word. And if he's even, like,
a second late, she gets so annoyed. I'm like,
can you? Like, take a breath. Yeah. If you're
bored, maybe ask him to bring other things for
you to do. Yeah. Instead of sit there and watch
TV. Or start to ask for some nighttime excursions.
Right? Because he says never leave by yourself,
especially at day. That's one of the stupid...
He says it, especially at day, which means that
there is some room for night. I know she's a
kid, and she's supposed to be younger than she
actually looks. In this whole series. But her
lack of ability to reason is really frustrating.
To the point where I understand character -wise
why it's going on, but that doesn't mean I can't
still be annoyed. Yes. The Halloween vibes are
so good. And it was really interesting because
I was like, when they announced season two and
they were like, it's going to be just that during
Halloween, I was like, brilliant, perfect. It
should be every October. And then they were like,
actually, we're doing July for season three.
And I was like, what? And then they did the great
1980s July 4th, like, set up. And I was like,
okay, fine. And then you brought in Kevin Bacon
as mayor and it all feels good and we're all
good. Kevin Bacon? No, no, no. Cary Elwes. You
are so correct. It is definitely not Kevin Bacon.
It's Cary Elwes. Anyways. Although Kevin Bacon
as the mayor, that's another, that would be,
I could get behind that casting as well. Yeah,
absolutely. I clearly could. But pushing past
the Bacon problem. So I, when they did, this
is a slight tangent, when they announced Wednesday
coming out, the show, and then they put it in
November, I was like, who's getting fired at
Netflix? How are you? How is this not a September,
October show? Yeah. And then what do they do
for season two? It's out now in August. And I
was like, why? Why is it in August? Put it in
late September and October. Unless the finale
is set up for October. And I think it is. So
that's fine. But I'm like, why are we? This is
the most. Anyways, it's fine. It's all good.
Netflix, hire me. Okay, Halloween vibes are super
on point, though, for this show, and I absolutely
love it. And I love the transition from childhood
to teens in the costume wearing, how they show
up at school, and they're the only ones in costume.
That was, okay, that's just crazy to me. Yeah.
But they're the only people. it's dramatic it's
there's gonna be at least someone else it's very
dramatic but i i do i feel really bad it does
seem very much like there was a memo of like
we are not doing costumes at school and somehow
these four these four goobers totally miss bringing
that one home goobers goobers indeed uh okay
so That episode, the Halloween episode, this
episode is probably one of my favorite from a
comfort standpoint. Because there's just this
nice little lull of real life while stuff is
ramping up. And you get to see things in Hawkins
not just be cursed. And I just, I love it. Yeah,
it's very, very nice. Also, we get Erica. I know!
She shows up with Lucas! Which is, she's so obnoxious.
I, like, I forget. It's kind of like another
Steve situation where, like, we hate Steve at
the very, very beginning and then we like him
so quickly. Yeah. And with Erica, she is so annoying.
I know, she really is. She really is. Even the
beginning of season three, she's so annoying.
I know, I know, I know. I'm like, can we just
kick you out of this ice cream shop? My goodness.
Nope. Like, stop serving her. No. But no, we're
going to need her because you can't spell America
without Erica. Totally. Oh my gosh. Okay. So
speaking of people who are over the top, is Billy's
chicken run with the Ghostbusters a little too
over the top? I feel like. I mean, in a show
where they had a middle schooler attempt murder.
That's so true. Oh, you're so wrong. This just
tracks. Okay. But I know. Tripping up from one
to three. I just, I hate it. I hate it so much.
I don't hate this as much. It's really terrible.
I don't hate this as much as the Troy thing.
But it is a moment in the show every time I watch
it where I'm like, this takes me out of the show.
I'm now thinking about the writing. And I just
am like, and I think they do a great job, all
the actors in the scene with, you know, Billy
staring and then the way that he looks over and
almost is like Heath Ledger's Joker when he's
like, that was close. But, I'm... I don't know.
It's, ugh. Mm -hmm. It's not a good look. Yeah.
It's also always a good sign when someone, and
Nance in this case, wants to drink her feelings
away, Steve. I feel like you could have known
that she was unhappy before she started drinking
if she was just like, glug, glug, glug, glug,
glug, glug, barb, barb, barb, barb, barb, barb.
Yeah. You just have to have some fun. I'm like,
yes, this is a... Excellent way to cheer her
up. Definitely. Taking her out of her element
into a sticky situation with alcohol. Nailing
it. His whole thing is like, let's just normalize
everything. Let's just step away from it. Let's
not actually deal with it. Versus Jonathan's
so good for her because he's like, I want to
deal with this. I want to do something. Yeah.
I do get a little bit on Steve's side of, like,
just for a night, let's just, like, have a good
time. Certainly. But that's, like, his only vibe.
That's, like, the only thing that we've seen
him do. Yes. So, unfortunately. Sorry, Steve.
But, on the other side, how great is Bob? So
good. He's so good. He's just dancing with Joyce.
He's reassuring her she's not losing her mind.
And then... yeah and then the whole you know
whoa nelly speech also like yeah man actually
whoa nelly calm down but he's just so uh he's
just such a good person and i just love him so
much i love him so much so adorable i do not
like mike as i've stated before and he's such
a little grubbin the fact that he goes up to
will grubbin when The fact that he goes up to
Will and he's like, you should have checked with
me about Max joining the party for the evening.
What? No, Will doesn't owe you anything, man.
Who made you leader? And also, yeah, for real.
And it's supposed to be a democracy. And also
he uses Will's vision and Will's fear as a way
to get a dig in at Lucas and Dustin. He's like,
you guys keep going. I'm bored anyways. It's
like, dude, this is about Will. This isn't about
you. What the? He's such a little grubbin. Yeah.
Little grubbin. Speaking of little grubbins,
I understand, Steve, that Nancy is drunk and
that she kind of just broke up with you. You
absolutely have a responsibility to take her
home. Yeah. I don't care. She's plastered out
of her mind. You have to bring her home. Also,
wait, wait, wait. Are Nancy's parents just, like,
blacked out that night? Because Jonathan carries
her inside and lays her down on the bed. Well...
We know that Mr. Wheeler is not attentive in
the slightest and probably wouldn't notice if
the house came down around him as long as his
chair and his TV were in place. Yeah, totally.
Mrs. Wheeler, I feel like she has to have some
sort of semblance of knowing that something's
going on. But potentially just thinks it's Steve
bringing her home and so doesn't think to check.
But why is she allowed? It's fine. It's cool.
Everything's good. Not everybody was raised in
a household like I was. Okay, good. That's fine.
But I will say, the picture of her and Steve
on the mantle when Jonathan lays her down in
bed is a brutal. Yeah, that's rough. That's rough.
But then we get some more L situations, and she's...
She's using white noise for sensory deprivation.
Instead of using the whole tank and the salt
water and everything, she's figured out kind
of a cheat code to be able to find people, in
this case, to find Mike. And so I think it's
interesting to see her already developing her
powers and her skills. Yeah, to level up. That
was neat. That was really neat. I think that's
a cool part of this episode, for sure. Last thing
before we move on to episode three, though. I
do need to defend Three Musketeers. Same. That's
a top ten candy in Halloween time, for sure.
So, in ascending order, okay, we've got M &M's,
the dark chocolate version, at number ten. At
number nine, this is my list, y 'all, not Sierra's
list. This is not representing the pod. It's
just representing me. At number nine, we have
Almond Joy, which like a lot of people have not
have. And it's chocolate and peanut butter. Not
peanut butter. It's chocolate and coconut and
an almond. And it's incredible. And I throw away
the almond every time because I hate almonds.
But I love the rest of it. That's... At number
eight... I used to do that. We've got Snickers,
which is a great candy. At... Number seven, we've
got Reese's Sticks, which I will not hear anything
about, or else I will start singing a parody
song by Sticks about the renegade who had it
made, released for a bounty, which is a reference
that like six people will get, but it's a wonderful
reference. And number six, we have Milky Way,
people. It's a great milk chocolate fusion with
caramel and nougat, but you know what I like
better? Just chocolate and nougat. At number
five, we've got the Three Musketeers. It's a
top five candy for sure. Beating it, at number
four, we've got Twix. No explanation needed there.
It's fabulous candy. At number three, we've got
the classic give me a break, give me a break,
break me off of a piece of that fudge nothing.
No, of course, it's Kit Kat. Fancy piece. Fancy
piece. Number two, we have Reese's. Which is
an amazing, amazing, amazing candy. And at number
one, you've got Midnight Milky Way, which I will
not hear any slander on. That's a dark chocolate
version of a Milky Way, and it's way better than
anything you've ever had in your mind. Three
Musketeers, top five. That's the official list
of our podcast. Sierra now has to abide by it,
too. I will tell you, you're going to be very
excited because they did announce new Halloween
candy for this year. And included in that are
Reese's mini unwrapped pumpkins. Amazing. And
also Kit Kat counts. I love this. They're little
vampires. I love this so much. Okay, good. I'm
looking forward to Halloween. Happy Halloween,
everyone. Oh, and also they did drop Reese's
Oreos and Oreo Reese's. This is a problem. This
is a problem. That's all I'm going to say about
that. That's a problem. Yeah. R .I .P. Diets
everywhere. And R .I .P. Episode 2, Episode 3.
Okay, so this is where Dustin and Dart begins.
How long did it take you, Sierra, on the first
watch to realize that this was a demi -baby blep?
I mean, it's very obvious by the first screech.
Yes. Okay. But it took you to the first screech.
No, I think I figured it out before then. It
was sometime when he's in the tank and he doesn't
like light and things like that. And I was like,
what's going on? See, I didn't realize that it
was going to be a Demogorgon or a Demodog at
all until the screech. My wife called it out
instantly. He popped out and she was like, that's
a Demogorgon. And I was like, what? And then
later was like, you're right, I'm sorry. Also,
I got nothing from you from Demobabyblep. I liked
it. Okay, thank you. The booger blep. You're
right. You have a better name for it already.
Yeah, sorry. It's fine. Baby blep. Demi booger
baby blep. Oh, man. In episode three, because
there's the basketball and the shower scenes
and everything with Billy, I just think Billy's
actor should turn in an HR complaint for just
constantly being shirtless. It's because of the
hair. Constantly. Okay, fine. It's because of
the hair. You think HR would win that? They have
to distract. Look at his hair. You're right.
Gavel. Case closed. Okay. No, unfortunately,
it's just because they got to set up the season
three. Yeah. Everybody loves Billy. Everyone
does love Billy. I think it's a really good way
of characterizing Billy by making him king of
school over Steve. So all the obnoxious bully
stuff that Steve is doing, he's being dethroned.
And so we can see Steve's transition into babysitterhood,
and I just love it. I do really like it. Yes.
Yeah. Um, so then with Joyce, um, there's, there's
just, there's no way she's drawing the, the shadow
creature. Yeah. Um, and, and she's drawing over
the T I just am like, what does this care? The
TV? Like, why are you, you're drawing? Like,
I know you're tracing somehow a shadow under
static. From a VCR onto a staticky TV onto a
regular piece of paper that definitely has enough
light coming through to be able to see, to trace
a hundred percent. But also like she is really,
really carving away with, with that on the TV.
And I just know, Oh, I know that TVs were sturdier
and you could do things of that nature, but also
like she would get so staticky because. If you
remember those TVs, you put your hand near it
and you could feel the sizzles. Yeah. Yeah, your
hair would stand on end. Oh, my gosh. Just because
someone's from the Death Star, does that automatically
make them bad? Okay. I would like to also keep
in mind, these kids have only seen the... There's
no prequels. There's no sequels. There's no any
of this by this point. It is just the original
trilogy. And a Christmas special. And I think,
yeah, I think Mike's viewpoint here is valid.
Okay, so it's a fascinating question. And so
I put a little bit more thought into it than
normal to my standards. So by World War II standards,
people who were part of the Nazi military operation
all were held accountable, regardless of if they
were following orders or not. Of course, that
kind of stopped once we needed scientists to
help beat the Russians. But for the most part,
they were. So I'll say yes, because if they're
on the Death Star, they are automatically a part
of the Empire's military operation. And it's
a military operation that is for destroying planets.
Now, I will give the caveat that if you are a
brainwashed from being a baby on, like a lot
of stormtroopers are, you're not necessarily
bad. But I don't know enough psychology to really
comment on that. Yeah, that's fair. I think the
main thing is like, are they automatically evil?
It's like, well. No, but they're bad for sure.
Yeah. Bad. Bad versus evil. The nuance there.
Yeah. What's also bad is Mike's reaction to basically
everything, but specifically Max. Yeah, for real.
Like, obviously he misses Elle, but like if Max
was a guy instead of a girl, would he have this
much of an issue with someone joining their party?
No. Would he really? I think he just like misses.
He just misses Elle and doesn't want a replacement
girl. I will say, if a boy came in and took as
much of attention from Lucas and Dustin as Max
did, he might just be as jealous. But I think
we're specifically seeing the jealousy aspect
that is like, another girl and she's not Elle.
Yeah, that's fair. Why do they immediately pit
the two girls against each other? Have you met
teenage girls? All right, fair. You might not
like it. But man, is it real life. Okay, so major
prep question for season five. Why is the Mind
Flayer targeting Will? Why is it looking for
Will? Why Will? I feel like that's just the theme.
That's the name of every episode. Prepping for
season five is just Why Will. Amazing. Okay,
so. Yes. Episode four. Here we are. Last one.
A couple of notes from us before we move on with
the rest of our pod. Um, a hopper needs some
parenting lessons. He, um, you know, he, he,
he starts to get some in season three one or
yeah. Once, once Joyce like knows that he's parenting.
Um, but he, he really needs some help with the
parenting situation. Uh, no TV ever is a stupid
consequence. Talk about like, sorry, what's enforceable.
Like you at some point are going to be like,
I want to be back pop. Like what the heck? Yeah.
It's going to happen. So, like, overly dramatic.
However, as a parent, there are some times when
you're just so fed up that you're just like,
that's it. You're done. No toys for the rest
of your life. And as unrealistic as that is,
sometimes in that moment, that's the only rational
thought that you have in your brain. That's the
only, I would say, probably the only thought.
I would say rational probably gets thrown out
the window. Okay, you think it's rational at
the time that you're saying it. Masquerading
is rational. And five seconds later, you go,
wait, hold on. What did I just say? There's this
awesome sequence of events in episode four where
we have Dr. Owens talking to Jonathan and Nancy.
And during that whole scene, I'm like, this actor's
incredible. He's nailing, like, hey, I'm putting
on the good face of being a good guy with no
worries. Perfectly calm explanation. And his
bedside manner is just incredible. But he's an
actor doing this. He's not a real person. And
I'm really impressed by his acting skill in that
scene. Yeah, it's very good. In addition to that,
creepy Will, I love. And I'm so glad that he
doesn't just, Will just doesn't disappear off
the face of the planet. That we get to see a
lot of him. And that he's such a main part of
this story. Because I just, he's just so cool
when he's like, he likes it cold. A chilling
line. Yes. So good. So good. And then in classic
Stranger Things fashion, we have this mid -season
end with the Roots realization and Hop going
down. And that's just such a great part. It's
so good. Yeah. The other side of this is we've
only seen Billy all of six times. He sucks every
time. You know, we mentioned this already, but
I guess it's really like the only way to fully
redeem Steve is to give us another jerk to focus
on. But like, I just. And also the guy that I
wish died is still alive and still annoying.
Terrible, terrible. Oh, man. But then we get
the first rainbow. Three to the three to the
right. Four to the left. 450. just the hints
get going into terry ives uh story which is just
oh yeah oh yeah oh we'll get there folks we'll
get there uh big noticing right at the end here
hopper can dig to the upside down what is wild
what is this world how does it have it happen
to go mingle and why is it mixing in such a weird
way all right so the portals are created to get
to the upside down great And it takes a huge
amount of energy to do it. Okay. But also vines
are the harbingers of the upside down. Okay.
But also you can just dig into it. Okay. Cool.
All right. Question, question, question, question,
question. But on the other side, Nancy's pretty
dang smart. Her whole plot to record and get
all that information. I honestly, I legitimately
like forgot. Every time. Every time I forget
that she has this ulterior motive and this separate
plan. And I'm like, dang, Nancy, way to go. Well,
every time I'm like, oh, yeah, what does happen
with Barb's parents? I forget what they're doing
here. And then this happens and I'm like, oh,
wow, she's so cool. Mm -hmm. Oh, yeah, for sure.
Moving on. You know, Sam, you don't always have
to face down a horde of angry soldiers by yourself.
Buckle up, Schmisseners, because it is time for
our Sansa is Smarter Than John category for most
important character moment of this set of episodes.
My pick is if we're both going crazy, then we'll
go crazy together. Mike and Will making a pact
to stick together through whatever comes. It's
a really - Really sweet moment. And it's one
of Mike's better moments, too, for sure. Yeah.
I have an honorable mention. I have Max saying
that she could be their Zoomer. Because this
is Max sort of like, hey, I actually really want
to be a part of this moment. That she's willing
to say in front of Mike. And I think that establishes
a character a ton. Yeah, definitely. I think
the real one for this whole thing is Nancy revealing
that they recorded Owens during that chat. Yes.
I think that's the most important character moment.
Because Nancy, again, is leveling up in a way
that she's, like, I, you know, when I think about
MVPs of the whole series thus far, I wasn't really,
like, Nancy hadn't crossed my mind. I'm like,
man, Hopper, Elle. And then I'm like, wait, wait,
is it Nancy? Because she's just, it's so good.
So, I don't know. She's great. Do you want to,
do you want to, which one do you think? Are you
going with yours or are you going with mine?
Nancy or Mike? I still think Mike and Will in
this moment. Because I think that this specific
line carries through a little bit more and falls
apart and comes back together over the course
of the next few seasons. I'll defer to you in
this case. Okay. I know. Well, in this case,
I just lost a hand. But listen up. It's the I
am your father category for most iconic character
moment. You've got what, Sierra? Okay, I'm counting
the camera as a character here because I think
the most iconic thing is hop drops down into
the upside down. The camera slowly swings around
until he is standing upside down, like off the
ceiling, basically. I think it's classic. It's
excellent cinematography, direction. Just spot
on. And it also is a really great precursor to
how we start to interact with the Upside Down
from now on. But we have a category for it. The
category is scene. Because the camera's not a
character. It literally is a scene that you could
pick for iconic. No, the moment is 100%. He likes
it cold. I accept. Okay, thank you. He likes
it cold. Will. It's so good. Talking to Joyce
about the bath temperature. It's incredible.
Yeah. Chills. Yeah. Legitimate chills. Yeah,
absolutely. Everybody sit down. It is time for
our I am Iron Man. Most iconic and most important
scene category. I repeat. Because this is where
it belongs. The final moments. This is where
it belongs, but I really wanted the visual aspect
of just the rotating upside down. Because this
is slightly different. Because it's the final
moments. Hop digs into the ground in a field,
drops into a hole, and he's in the upside down.
So we don't have to use the one gate or the one
hole in the woods or the one hole in the wall
of the gym or any of those anymore. We can just
dig, apparently. Apparently. I will give an honorable
mention to Will being taken out by the Mind Flayer
with all the shadows going in. That's such an
iconic moment of like, go away! Go away! Go away!
And then he just goes through every opening in
his body in order to plant something in him.
It's so good and it's so iconic, but I think
you're right. That spinning camera is just amazing.
Crack open an encyclopedia. It's time for, as
Elijah Wood once said, no, how could we have
known category, where we discuss the most important
information disseminated to the fandom over these
first four episodes. Tell us about it, Sierra.
Okay. Hop knows what is up with the lab this
time. He is in the know for the most part, and
the lab is promising to burn back the upside
down and keep it out of Hawkins. Yeah. However.
They can't predict that there are now many ways
into the upside down and it is only growing.
So I think all that is just vitally important.
Yeah. Information that we are given that hop
is hop, hop knows what's going on. and is like
in league essentially with the lab they're still
keeping secrets it's what they do you think about
you think about the prep for season five because
the way that the season ends is with l closing
the gate right with her mind powers and then
a little bit of the shadow monster stays behind
and that creates the problem for season three
but at the end of season four a gate opens again
but remember how giant the gate is yep so like
y 'all think about that How on earth are they
going to close that giant of a gate? Seems like
it's going to have to do with some sort of sacrifice
from one or more of the characters. Maybe Will.
Probably. Maybe Elle. Maybe Hopper again. We'll
see. Yeah, the one other piece of information
I will continue to harp on this storyline. Will
can feel the presence of something in the Upside
Down. Is that the mind flayer? Is it Vecna? Is
it something else? We don't know. But that's
a huge piece of information that we learn in
these four episodes. Time to keep your horses
safe. It's the I'm gonna make him an offer he
can't refuse category of best lines. All right.
I've got three. Okay. I'll work my way up. Okay.
Finally, victims. Bobula. Yeah. So good. The
next one that I have is Hopper's convince me,
which is just so good. Like threatening Owens,
like convince me that this is okay. Like prove
it to me. Don't just tell me. Convince me. And
then number one, no one can resist these bad
boys. Yeah, that's, that's it for sure. I have
an honorable mention to put into here. When Dustin's
like, Presumptuous. That's a good thing, right?
Again. But it's absolutely. No one can resist
these bad boys. Dust off that cart deck and get
ready to shuffle. It's our Joker category for
who is the MVP of this episode. Sierra? It's
Nancy. Really? Pulling out the win in the last
moments. I thought we had other contenders, but.
Yeah, again, like I said, her big plan had me
fooled and I've watched this before. She just
snatches it at the very end. Because I think
that there's a real wrestle between Hop and Joyce
for the Roots storyline and Max and Billy for
having an incredible introduction where we're
hooked and believe and trust in these characters.
And, you know, those actors are so fabulous that
I was like, man, pound for pound, Max and Billy
do a ton of work in these first four episodes.
But also Hop and Joyce get the whole roots line.
And then Nancy, like, scores like 100 points
in the last game of the season. And everyone's
just like, oh, wait, it was Nancy. She catches
the golden snitch. Yeah, absolutely. That's a
much better metaphor. She catches the snitch
at the end and everyone goes, oh, yeah, that's
right. She's a seeker. Yeah. We've just been
looking at the beaters and keepers and we forgot
that, like, the people that end the game and
get all the points are the people that you should
go for. It's amazing. It's amazing. Well. It's
time to clean up your evil lair and get ready
for our I was the turkey all along category for
what is the biggest takeaway viewers should leave
with in preparation for season five. Yeah, we
talked about it already. The upside down can
infect the real world, the size of the gate,
all of that sort of stuff. Like what Vectin does
at the end of season four is another gate. So
what's happening to Hawkins there? Also. Elle
transported herself into the Upside Down with
her powers at the end of Season 1. We learn this
at the beginning of Season 2. I feel like that's
some pretty big information. And with Wills flashing
in and out. Okay, so maybe we've got two people
who can kind of ride both realms. But today,
we have a very solemn public service announcement.
All candy is evil. If it's not destroying your
teeth, it's rotting your gums, your mums, and
your bums. Please remember that all candy leads
straight to the upside down where Vecna, who
was covered in the discarded wrappers of unsanctioned
teenage wonderment, is waiting to steal your
candy and your soul. Cue the overmark. Dun dun
dun. Thank you, listener schmissners, for listening
to this episode of Fandom Schmandom. If you'd
like to discuss this episode or any other episode
we've done, please hit us up on our social media
channels. You can find us on TikTok and Instagram
at fandomshmandumpod and on X at fandom underscore
shmandum. Please don't forget to rate and review
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schmissioners algorithms out there. And with
that, we are out, y 'all. Don't forget to tip
your demi -baby -booger -blub -dog. Fairly well.
That's the end of the show. Fandom Schmandum
was created by Sam Williams and Sierra Obermark.
The show is produced by Aurelia Lieb. The editor
is Brittany Fisher. The music is by Jeremiah
Alves. Welcome to Fandom Shmandam. The fancast.
The fancast. I had such good intentions with
that energy. Let me drink some water. Yes, that'll
help. All right, you. And now I'm going to...
Welcome to Fandom Shmandam, where the fandom
podcast that covers everything you know. I'm
Sam Williams. Come on, Sierra, say it! Dang it!
I respect you! Welcome to Fandom Shmandam, the
Fandom God. I almost said Fancast again, here
we go. Welcome to Fandom Shmandam, the Fandom
God - You. You. Sorry. And who shows up with
an excellent intro? But I'm in a - Just a complete
flat tire in the middle of that sentence. Just
suddenly needed to gargle. I don't know that
I've ever in the middle of a sentence. Let me
whip out my Listerine here. Just like halfway
through my sentence. And she walks out straight
into a man hunt. Oh, gosh. A man hunt. Yeah,
I was like, wait, hold on. Max is getting picked
up from school by psychotic, apparently, Billy,
who each - What the hell? Who each blame each
other for being each stuck in each Hawkins. You'd
think that I would know grammar at some point.
I'm the English teacher. What did I write yesterday?
Wobble flobble cobbles? Son of wonderful. Billy
attempts triple homicide and Mer - Oh my god!
Wow! Okay. And Mer - Billy - Jesus. I tried to
say Max and Merrily at the same time, so it turned
into Merrily. Alright. Ella! Ella's having a
hard time being cooped up with Hoop, and Hoop
isn't sure how to coop a souf and leet -a -oot.
what that sentence says that one that one turns
into just straight up garbage at the end so i'm
gonna reread that one i'm so sorry britney we're
having too much fun darkest dark darkwing dart
dart escapes and what do we find but will in
the field of absorbing absorbing the shadow absorbing
the shadows