EarlGreyTea

Publicist! If they have one, they need to fire him or her, STAT (Not ragging on you OP, for suggesting it. A publicist would be a good idea for them). Any publicist worth their salt would have taken Twitter away from Derick during Jazzgate round one, and had him issue a sincere-sounding apology. And, if they could engineer it, a face-to-face with Jazz or at least a handwritten apology letter. Followed by some legit charity work and then a new job. THEN a pants pic. There are so many Duggar babies that posting a picture of Sam doesn't cut it anymore. You've seen one Duggar kid, you've seen them all. I know they don't have a publicist or any real friends because their Instagram photos are so damn ugly. A real publicist and a real friend would have sat them down and taught them basics of a good Instagram photo. Anyone between the ages of 15-30 could have advised them better.

$2,714.00 as of 2:30pm CT. Definitely a bit more than yesterday. He may get a lot of sympathetic fundies donating. All publicity is good publicity, I guess. I think I'll increase my monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU in honor of Derick. Someone named "Yuza Grifter" donated. LOL! But Derick gets the money no matter what, so he wins in the end.

Daily Mail has always been utterly savage. I enjoy their epic smack downs when it’s someone I don’t like. And in order to make articles longer they usually add the subject’s various misdeeds and helpfully add lots of photos. They were also all over Tabby’s rapist husband when that came out. And yes, this explains a whole lot.

For TLC's tweet? Embedded so you can see it in all its glory. It's about time TLC did the right thing, particularly since I'm betting Counting On beats Jazz's show in ratings.

Agreed. I have no doubt she is as close-minded as he is. Probably more than he is, since he's actually been out in the world, for all the good it's done him. If these people REALLY cared about their ministry, they'd all quit en masse, because they're sharing a network with a girl they believe is - whatever they believe she is. They should really open up that book they all bleat about and read what Jesus had to say about rich people and heaven.

Makes sense, although I wonder why it took so long to issue this statement. Probably because it had all blown over before Derick opened his trap once again? I sure as hell hope no one harasses Jazz for this. I briefly scrolled though the replies to TLC's tweet and most are positive, but some continue to refuse to understand that speech is free here, but not free from consequences. This explains a LOT.

Speaking of Benny, he was one of the best one and done characters I've ever seen on a show. The actor was so intensely likeable. And he was the first person to ever do right by Eleven. It was sweet how he fed her, asked questions but didn't pry too much, and went by the book in calling social services. He had real potential. I'll go one further and say that if she had to be adopted by anyone, I wouldn't have minded it being him. His death gave some real shock value and really conveyed well how high the stakes were. Who else thought he was a main cast member when they first watched the episode? I did. Legit gasped when he was shot.

WHAT? Holy hell! Does this mean the angry email I sent TLC a few months ago when he first insulted Jazz was the tipping point? Heh. This will inspire Derick to climb up on his cross and surely gain him sympathy from some fundies, but bottom line is that these people really worship money, so it's finally hitting them where it hurts. He's such a misogynistic dickwad that I bet it wounds his pride that his wife will now be the main breadwinner.

Precisely what I thought. The moment the doctor said that, I said out loud: I see what you did there, Duffers. Like the time jump for this season, it's an excuse to delay the storyline until we the audience can tune in. It's not a bad idea. I sure don't want to miss any of that hilarity. I was pretty peeved we only got a measly episode and a half with all the kids together this season. This reminds me of a hilarious thing Caleb said about Eleven during their Sirius XM interview: Caleb: I feel like Eleven would be, like, in the third grade. Millie: I'm sorry, she's SMART! She may not know what the word compromise means, but she definitely knows what love is! Typing it doesn't do it justice. It's in this video. Skip to 45:36. The entire thing is worth a listen. Those kids have charisma and humor to burn.

I stand corrected. I only sat through this episode once and refused to ever watch it again. Yeah, there looks to be an age gap, just not as obvious as I'd have thought. It may just be me, I never have any idea how old kids are.

I feel like the hair, accent, and age gap were clues. Sure, kids' hair darkens, but it wouldn't have been hard to find a brunette kid. That, and the fact that the two girls in the rainbow room looked to be the same age, when there is clearly at least 5 years between Kali and Eleven. I felt like I was taking crazy pills. Are these clues there's more there, or am I overthinking?

I'm a terrible person. I don't care much for Hopper, so when he jumped into that damn tunnel with no knowing where he was, I was kind of hoping he would get eaten, just for being so goddamn stupid. Having said that, it seemed a clear case of him holding the Idiot Ball just to advance the storyline, not because the actual character is that stupid. Dustin and his mom seem to be the only people in that family, single mom and her only child. Coming from a similar dynamic, I thought they got the relationship exactly right - very close and affectionate.

Good points. I actually think they hit the nail on the head in the trailer when they said something about using this show to escape the real world. With the state of world affairs, and the general suckiness of being a millennial in particular (for me), it's pure escapism to watch a show where the good guys win, evil is defeated, and you can count on your fellow man. With a touch of the freedom that the 1980s brought for kids that no longer exists. And toss in universal adolescent issues that belong to every era. When you think about how Shirley Temple movies were popular during the Depression because of the escapism, it's really no different from that. People have always clung to escapism during hard times.

Millie often describes herself as being Eleven completely, so I get where she's coming from. I recently rewatched season 1 and Brenner is a master at giving affection and withdrawing it at exactly the right moments. Having absolutely nothing else to compare it to, it's easy to see how Eleven mistook it for sincere affection. Hell, I was almost fooled by Brenner until the season 1 finale. It was a classic case of wanting desperately to please the only person who pays attention to you. The scene Millie refers to, where he carries her after she bumps off those two guys - it was excellent. We know logically that she is just a test subject to him, but an isolated child is going to think he cares for her. I can see also where she's coming from with the parallel scenes of Brenner carrying her/Hopper embracing her. They were clearly trying to draw comparisons between Brenner and Hopper for the entirety of season 2, the most obvious example being when Eleven outright called out Hopper as acting like Papa. I didn't think of those two scenes as being bookends, but now that I think about it, they're totally meant to be. A good reminder of how far Eleven has come.

I'm not even sure why Eleven even needs to be protected or hidden. We saw her take out all those agents in last year's finale and we saw her take out the Demogorgon. And she's supposed to need protection? She could easily zap anyone who attempts to capture her and take her back to the lab. I supposed you could make the argument that she needs to be hidden to protect her from a media frenzy, but in that case, just keep her quiet, but let her see her loved ones. I guess you could also make the argument - and it's a compelling one - that the lab agents would simply bump off those closest to her to get her to comply. That's probably the biggest reason.

Apparently the Mike/Eleven kiss wasn't in the script either. I watched an interview with Millie and she said it was her idea. She went straight to the Duffers during the filming of the dance scene to ask them to put it in. She said the fans would be mad if they didn't kiss again. After seeing the two separated for so long, I get that she felt there needed to be a good payoff. She has good instincts already.

Millie Bobby Brown's biggest pre-ST role was on a BBC series called Intruders. She was about 10 here or so - pretty close to landing ST. Anyway, this is more of a behind the scenes vid, but it's really cute. The director and crew rave about her even then. Knowing what we know now about how crazy good she is, this video is a nice little precursor to bigger things for her. I saw a tiny bit of her performance in this, but I'm kind of meh on it actually. I think she's much better in ST. Probably a combination of aging and honing her skills, plus director and writing. Also, she developed a great American accent even back then. Can't for the life of me figure out how to embed.

What excellent points. Among the kids, I think Will/Mike and Mike/Eleven are the closest. I think there is bound to be a bond developed between Will and Eleven - there’s too much common history not to be, and Millie and Noah have apparently asked for scenes together. I’m actually interested to see if their offscreen friendship generates as much onscreen friend chemistry as Millie and Finn have. Then you’ll have an interesting story. I think there’s a real chance for jealousy on Mike’s part, and on a different show, with adult actors, I bet it would be a full on love triangle. I don’t want to see that here, and highly doubt they’ll go there, but there’s a basis for it in fictional tropes. Will as a person and not a plot device is going to be interesting. When he’s not in crisis, who is he even as a person? Max and Lucas are grounded in reality in a way that Mike and Eleven are not. Without a looming crisis, how do they live day to day? This show pushes that Eleven/Mike pairing so hard that I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up marrying the two off.

Remember the basement has its own door (Mike, Eleven, and Dustin used it last season right before Brenner and co. came for them). I can fanwank that Jonathan snuck Nancy in through that. That door seems to be remembered only when it's convenient. I love that Will is the only one who seems to notice or at least acknowledge that Mike is having an emotional meltdown, because he himself is having one too. Everyone else has gone on with their lives to some degree, with the exception of those two (and Nancy). I love that we finally saw Will's friendship with the other kids. You can see how he plays peacemaker and how easygoing he is (being okay with Max coming along, trying to smooth over the Ghostbusters costume argument). You'd think Mike's parents would catch a clue that their son is acting out majorly, but I guess since they don't know how attached Mike was to Eleven, they don't realize how lost the poor kid is. His hissy fit at Max coming along was hilarious to me. Kid has a heart the size of Texas, but he sure can be a jerk in the way only tweens can be. I liked the parallel in this episode to last season's Holly, Jolly episode. In that episode, Dustin and Lucas are walking behind Mike and Eleven. Lucas is seething that Eleven is getting all of Mike's attention, while Mike is too enthralled by Eleven to notice. You literally have the same setup in this episode, except it's reversed. Lucas and Dustin are fascinated by Max, while Will and Mike trail behind, the latter pissy that she's there. It was a brilliant callback.

Sadie has such great hair. There's something immensely likeable about both actress and character. It couldn't have been easy coming into such an established group, but I thought she was introduced pretty gracefully. Some actors can't pull off tough vulnerability, but she can. It's interesting because both she and Eleven are tough yet vulnerable in completely different ways. It's a study in contrasts. I swear, they have not missed a single beat with casting.

I wish they had smaller groups. As much as I thought The Lost Sister was a waste of time for this season, I really wanted to hear what Linnea Berthelsen (Kali) had to say about her character. Unfortunately, she got only about one sentence in! I do like what she did say, though - or maybe I'm confusing with another interview or something someone else said about Kali, but here's what I remember: That when Eleven decides to leave Kali, Kali has a moment where she realizes how she could have chosen differently, as Eleven has, and it's a moment of deep regret for her. We're meant to see that Hopper, Mike, and the kids saved Eleven from that kind of life. For that alone, I thought the episode was worth it - almost. I'd love to hear from both her and Millie at the same time about the making of that episode.

Oh, I agree. He was really obnoxious in some part of the aftershow. That said, I know exactly why he was hired for this gig: he's great with kid actors. If you look at his filmography, much of it is kid-centered movies, like Cheaper By The Dozen. I distinctly remember listening to the cast commentary for that movie and when his name appeared in the opening credits, every single kid actor cheered for him. He's probably great at coaxing great performances out of them, and I guess you can't argue with the results. Every single kid actor on this show is excellent. His over the top personality probably goes over better with kids than it does to some of us.

Legit can't tell if that's a skirt under a shorter dress, or a whole dress, or perhaps a modesty panel added to the bottom of a minidress. Jill would look nice with bangs. I'm probably the only one who liked her original mustard cardigan, but not this one.

Eleven and Max becoming friends! While I found Eleven's brushing past her disdainfully hilarious, they can end that rivalry right now. There's no need for it anymore. Although Eleven using it as her trigger to get angry was funny. Max and Lucas. I'm so glad Lucas finally got a legit storyline. This pairing is more grounded in reality, while Mike/Eleven is much more intense. Whatever they do in S3, I hope the rest of Hawkins isn't let in on the secret. I like when it's isolated to this group, and if people find out about it, the whole show loses its appeal. Nancy and Mike were largely ignored this season. I really liked the development of that relationship. They pretty much forgot those two were related until the last episode. And finally, the development of the kids' friendship, with ALL of them together. S1, Will was missing, and I was interested to see how the group functioned with him in it. I realized he is largely the peacemaker of the group, the one everyone looks out for. Without him as buffer, the other three bickered constantly. Now that Eleven is back too, and they're not distrustful of her, how do they go forward? Is she mostly Mike's friend, or will the writers allow her to form bonds with the others? Will she and Will bond, and if so, how Mike take it? Now that Max is a part of the group, what is her role? How does she fit in and who will she connect with besides Lucas? Will Mr. Clarke remember that Mike's new girlfriend was introduced last season as his Swedish cousin? Will the Wheelers remember the kid with the shaved head and think this new girl looks awfully familiar?

You mean Mike? Yeah, it was hilariously hypocritical, and it kind of ripped the halo off his head a bit. Kid has a huge heart, but some jerky tendencies. The Duffers sure understand how prepubescents work. It's funny because in any other circumstances he probably would have accepted Max and maybe even had a crush on her too. But he dislikes her for the simple fact that she isn't Eleven and he didn't discover her like he did Eleven. I thought his dislike of her really illustrated how lost he is this season. Will is back, Eleven is gone, and Mike has no idea what to do when he's not trying to pull a Harry Potter and save the day. I absolutely love Mike out of all the characters on the show, and his slow, quiet descent into a kind of depression is really compelling to me.