Bec

I would have liked to see Claudia brick Cristal. I can't stand Cristal. I guess we're supposed to see Fallon as the most terrible person ever, but somehow Cristal bugs me more. Her whole "I try to be a down-to-earth, good person" thing ironically comes off as the most pretentious thing on the show. You're throwing clothes around first thing in the morning and the household staff is going to have to clean up after you. You're not really any better than Fallon, get over yourself.

Debbie doesn't seem like she would usually wear stiletto heels. (Platforms, wedges, and chunky heels, sure! But stilettos are not very "hippie chic".) But really, Holden didn't want to admit the problem is with him, so he's telling her a load of bullshit in that moment anyway.

Oh man, the gun in the toilet tank. Did Archie learn that from The Godfather? Though maybe that trick has been used again in newer TV shows and movies. It doesn't help that I binge-watched Mindhunter before watching this episode. Now all the serial killer stuff on this show just makes me wish I can be watching more episodes of that show right now. If the FBI even shows up in Riverdale, I bet they'll be totally incompetent just so the plot can end up with the teens solving this thing, and when the guy is caught he'll be all "I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

I did think they were wearing Target logos, and it made me laugh and laugh. But I guess they can't really be Target logos because Target wouldn't want their brand associated with a crazy-ass teen gang, as well intentioned as that teen gang might be. It did make me think "you are basically taunting the gun-toting maniac to come shoot you in the chest when you're all wearing big red targets" These people don't have much in the way of self-preservation instinct, do they? And it's just hilarious that Archie thinks spray-painting crummy red circles on random people's houses will scare the serial killer or something. Like this is the most "badass" thing Archie can think of to do. If I caught him spray-painting my house, I think I'd be like "aw, kid, it's almost adorable how much of a dumbass you are" instead of getting seriously pissed off. Kind of like how you can't get too mad at a toddler for making a mess.

That moment when one of Holden's students decided to pretend he's "negro" and Holden was like *shrug* "Oh, okay, that's fine" (and only getting annoyed at the students completely missing the point of the role-playing exercise) reminds me of what Mad Men used to do with things like one of the kids playing with a big plastic bag over her head, then the mom stops her and the show tricks you into thinking maybe she's going to yell at the kid about the suffocation danger of putting a bag over your head, but instead she yells at the kid about messing up her clothes. There was a similar kind of pause in the scene on this show that made me think maybe Holden was going to tell that guy he's being inappropriate. And then he doesn't and the show hits you with the realization that in this particular time and place, even someone who tried to be good and more forward thinking than most of his peers wouldn't notice anything wrong here. It's important we as a society don't forget the ugly parts of the past, so I appreciate that shows like this refresh our collective memory. The people who are happy with the idea of going back to some "golden age" are those who only have some happy shiny impression of the past. I totally understand that feeling when you just want to get away from these issues, though. Societal issues and how that relates to individuals becoming twisted is being set up as some kind of theme in this episode already, so this is definitely not the thing to watch when you're not in the mood for too much depressing realness. Normally I don't like to watch anything depressing either, but I feel like this show gives us enough levity to balance it out.

Apparently there are still people who think Wayne Williams didn't do it. John Douglas butted heads with local law enforcement because they thought it had to be the KKK that did it, and his profile pointed in a different direction. Then Douglas got in trouble with OPR for saying to a reporter Wayne Williams "looks good" (as in he thinks Williams is the killer). Since he was part of the investigation, he wasn't supposed to publicly talk about that before the trial. But the show already did the "uh oh, Holden's in trouble with the OPR" story, they're not going to do it again next season, are they? Or maybe this season the trouble with OPR is only beginning, next season the shit will really hit the fan.

Something happened before they're back together at his place. He randomly happened to see her on the street (she was inside a laundromat). She had this apologetic look on her face when she looked back at him. He could have ignored her and kept walking, but he turned and went into the laundromat. So I'm assuming they talked and made up. Screen time on their relationship was used very sparingly in this episode, and that's fine by me. I wouldn't expect the two of them to talk about exactly how far the cheating went, anyway. He wouldn't want to hear about it and she wouldn't want to talk about it. What was interesting about their reconciliation was that before they reconciled, Holden was all "I don't give a shit if everyone knew I called Speck's murder victims 'eight ripe c****'", then right after they got back together, Holden asks Greg to redact that shit out of the transcript.

Yep, there's a lot to be said for a man who's eager to please and takes directions well in the bedroom. Plus she did say he's smart and nice (and devastating, heh) when he straight-up asked her why she's with him. I think she meant it, even if he wasn't thrilled by that answer. Also... look at him. If somebody had to get naked on the show, I'm sure glad one of them is him, and it's not only the women getting naked like on some other shows. Hee!

We see them making out to "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad", then Debbie goes off to change into sexy lingerie and put a new record on the player, so "Kiss You All Over" is playing when she comes back into the room.

Speaking of Adventures in Babysitting, the abandoned warehouse that Kali and her gang were staying in reminded me of the warehouse full of bad guys in Adventures in Babysitting where Chris and the kids were held prisoner and had to sneak out a window by walking across a scary high beam.

I sure would like to see Steve babysit Eleven. Hilarity is bound to ensue! I don't know how that would possibly happen, but make it happen, show!

I was just thinking "that guy on the cover of Mrs. Wheeler's romance novel looks a lot like Billy" right before Billy shows up at the door and flirts with her. Billy does also serve the purpose of taking the "biggest deal at the high school" role from Steve (which makes Steve more sympathetic). It surprised me how much I liked Steve this season. I didn't care for him last season, but this season he gets some of the most hilarious lines and it is cool that he helps out the kids and protects them. It was already pretty clear from earlier scenes that Billy can kick Steve's ass, but Steve still got between Billy and the kids when Billy was threatening them. Steve's pretty damn brave, or maybe pretty damn stupid, but either way it's adorable. The running gag with everyone going "Steve?" (as if to say how did you randomly get involved in this part of the plot?) when they see him amuses me. And I liked how instead of keeping on being upset about it, Steve just accepts Nancy doesn't love him by this episode. I mean there's still a lingering wistful look, but that was it. You're better off not stuck in a boring romance plot-line, Steve! I laughed and laughed when Dustin did his hair the same way as Steve.

That doctor always jinxes everything. "Don't worry, they can't get through the glass!" Monsters promptly gets through the glass. "You can make it, Bob, you're almost home free." Bob dies.

I fell asleep several times during this episode so this might not be a completely fair assessment, but Kali's super-edgy friends were soooo tiresome. I'm just more into nerdy outcasts and not so much the "we're too cool for society" variety. I hope we never see them again.

Steve gives terrible relationship advice. Those "how to get great hair" tips, though. Those were hilarious! Using himself as bait was a bad idea. I thought he was going to get chomped, and at this point I would actually miss him if that happened. Gotta give him points for protecting the kids when the demogorgons attacked.

For the record, I never thought yelling at that creature to go away was going to end well. My speculation so far? The upside-down creatures lost one of their kids (Dart), so they're frantically looking all over for him (inadvertently destroying the pumpkin crop). Just like the humans looked everywhere for Will when he went missing (no doubt inadvertently making a mess in the upside-down world without even realizing it). This is going to end up being a heart-warming tale of "don't judge a creature by how friggin' terrifying it looks and sounds." Or maybe it's just my sleep deprivation talking.

"I hope eet doesn't suck!" was such a dad joke, but I laughed anyway. Last episode I was kind of like "Really Joyce? This guy? I thought you would end up with Hop." But now I can see why Joyce likes him. What a turnaround its been. I actually felt sorry for Steve. He was just trying to keep Nancy from getting alcohol poisoning! I still don't understand how Hop knew to leave some food out in the middle of the woods for Eleven. And then she just happened to stumble across it? Did I miss something? (I'm guessing it'll be explained later?)

There's just something so hilariously wrong about a mom calling her daughter "thirsty". At first I thought Jughead was just calling that guy Sweet Pea sarcastically. My thoughts when Archie pulled out the comic book: is Archie going to turn into redheaded Batman now? Wait, that would make him Daredevil. Except Daredevil doesn’t do guns, so that doesn’t fit. Yes, I am a nerd. I feel like someone should drive Polly to wherever she's going. The serial killer could have disguised himself as a cabbie and murdered her by now.

I keep expecting it to be some creeper meowing like a cat and who's planning to grab whoever gets too close to that open window. Something else I realized about the VW beetle - Debbie drives a beetle, that's probably the only reason it was at all significant that a beetle drove by in that scene.

I'm sure Holden will always have the mental image of Brudos masturbating to a shoe seared into his brain whenever he sees a strappy black stiletto heel now. That's pretty much the epitome of "think unsexy thoughts". And why were they making out to "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad"? Is this Debbie's way of telling Holden she doesn't love him? But she went to so much trouble to make the evening special... I'm getting mixed messages here!

More on the real story of BTK: Apparently in the real story, Kemper threatened Robert Ressler, the guy Bill Tench is based off of, and he kept debating with Kemper about the pros and cons of killing him to buy himself some time for the guard to come back. That was pretty damn calm under pressure and clever of him to remember Kemper likes to talk a lot, even while he was within grabbing range of this friggin' giant musing about murdering him. If that was the plot of a TV show, I'd be like "no way a real person would stay that cool in that situation". Funny how the fake story in the show seems much more realistic. No impressively stoic debate, just a lot of shuddering uncontrollably. Barely able to say "I don't know." It's not what really happened, but I love what they did with it.

The kid sure looked like he wanted to kill Holden when Holden knocked over the little tower he was building out of Lincoln Logs.

I didn't even think of the article as the reason that guy is burning his drawings! I don't think the show made that clear? But it's possible.

Shelley DuVall from The Shining? OMG yes! She was one of the scariest things in that movie, and Rose totally gives off the same vibes. Funny how after all the crap Bill and Holden gave that local cop for handling things wrong, it was that local cop that ended up getting them this big break in the case by deciding they needed to talk to Rose.

Oh, I know! I also want to know why these killers are the way they are. Thanks to the kind of work depicted on this show, there's more info now, but I think even to this day we only have the tip of the iceberg. And that "they're just monsters, there's nothing more to know. Only sickos would want to hear what they have to say." attitude is still around. As if wanting to learn more about what makes them tick is the same as being in love with them and treating them like rock stars. Maybe one day we can prevent this level of deviance, instead of playing catch-up and having law-enforcement chase after these guys after they've already harmed people. But that would require us to know a lot more about how they are formed. It would require changes on a societal level, not just changes in law-enforcement. We are not even close to having all the answers. How are we ever going to know more if we don't study them? Holden already applying what they've learned so far to solve cases is jumping the gun a bit, I agree with Dr. Carr on that one. It's like trying to make medicine with only part of the formula and just filling in the rest by guessing. It's liable to go terribly wrong. I can understand the way he can't just stand idly by when he feels like he can prevent bad things from happening, though. That was part of the point with the story of the tickling principal. And then it looks like he feels bad and is unsure whether he did the right thing, that's why he let the principal's wife unload on him and why he had kind of a guilty look on his face when he saw the principal all disheveled in the supermarket parking lot.