Taryn74

You know, when I said this I was kind of halfway kidding, as in it would be a storyline that would be a good explanation but I didn't really think it would fit everything we were shown. But it was bugging me so I went back and watched the parts of the episode where El sees all of Billy's childhood visions, and I actually think there could be something to it! We see Billy's father yelling at his mother and accusing her of cheating on him, which she denies, then Billy tries to stop his dad but since he's just a kid his dad pushes him aside and punches the mom. When he punches her there's a clap of thunder that sounds suspiciously like a gunshot. Then we see Billy on the phone with her, crying, asking why he can't come be with her. The next set of scenes with his father is when he meets Max for the first time, she looks to be about 9 or 10 yo (so it would be a couple of years before they moved to Hawkins). Billy is much more subdued in this scene, but obviously unhappy, and the way the father is talking to him has more of a sound of ominous calm than when he was flying off the handle all the time. So, what if - what if! - after Billy got a little bit older he tried to run away to go live with his mom, his father chased him down and in a fit of rage he killed her and had to move his new family away, threatening Billy in the process that if he ever told anyone what happened he would do the same to him and/or Max. I could see it.

Don't mind me, just over here sobbing my eyes out after finishing my rewatch. I'm still annoyed with having Hopper and Joyce be so OTT with their denied attraction to each other. That's an 80s trope I can do without reliving, tyvm. I continue to believe Hop managed to jump into the Gate as it was closing, crossed the Upside Down where distance doesn't really seem to matter, and ended up coming out (or getting pulled out by baddies) in Russia. I caught this time around Alexei telling Hopper and Joyce that they were able to successfully use the key to begin to open a Gate in Russia, but it ended up that location was just as important as the key, which is why they moved their operation to Hawkins (where a Gate had already been opened before). It wouldn't surprise me if the Russians kept tabs on Dr. Brenner's experiments and had Hawkins on their radar already. Maybe Murray's story breaking tipped them off, wouldn't that be an ironic twist. As for them being able to come and go without detection - I think it was implied they were buying up all the land that had previously been tunneled out by the mind flayer and turning it all into part of their lab, or at least remote access to the lab. I'm just going to go ahead and fanwank that Billy's dad killed his mom, and that's why Billy was such an OTT a-hole. His inexplicable rage toward Max and having to move to Hawkins would make sense if there was more to the story than just his parents were divorced and his dad was abusive. It would explain him not standing up to his dad even when he was being abusive toward him, because he knew how far his dad was capable of taking things. It could even explain his attitude toward Max dating Lucas and hanging out with the other kids - in his weird, messed up way he was trying to keep her from doing anything to put her in his dad's bad graces. What else? I never felt the Erica love last season, but once she had more of a role than taking advantage of free ice cream samples this season she got better. She cussed a lot for a 10 yo, though. Not sure of the need for that. Oh and Nancy's purple dress with the rectangle cutouts along the collar - my sister had that exact dress, only in red with navy blue trim. This show's ability to nail the culture of the day continues to impress. (Lose the bowl cut for Will, though, I beg you. Mike's hair doesn't actually bother me that much, I think because it's curly so it looks more messy. But Will's hair is a travesty.)

Even though I've seen S3 before and knew it wasn't going to end up there, the scene where Will is tearing up Castle Byers is still intense enough to make me think he might try to kill himself. Such a heartbreaking scene, And what makes it even worse is, Mike's right. It's not their fault that their interests are changing. Sure they're being a little jerky to him, but they're 13 yo boys. Not exactly known for the way they handle difficult issues with grace and maturity. Max was okay last season, but I really love her in S3. The way she is always looking at Lucas like, oh I can't wait to see what kind of BS are you going to try to pull now cracks me up. Possessed!Billy is HELLA creepy. He manages to look angelic in a way he never did when he was being his usual a-hole self, which makes it a thousand times worse. Gah.

Started S3 in my rewatch tonight. Doing a binge rewatch made me realize - what the heck happened to Dustin's teeth? He was so proud in S2 that he had finally gotten his front teeth in ("rrrrrrrrrr!"), now they're gone again. I swear either I had that gosh-awful hot pink and turquoise swimsuit, or one of my friends did. It's so familiar it takes me out of the show. Really wish they hadn't amped up Mike acting like a royal jerk to Hopper up so high. You can talk to your friends like that, bucko, but not your girlfriend's dad. You're lucky he didn't clock you one. Joyce being the cool mom is totally in character, but maybe not be so thrilled that your 18 yo son's 17 yo girlfriend is spending the night and sneaking out of his bedroom window the next morning? Maybe? Maybe? Bueller? The newspaper guys were disgustingly OTT. I wasn't old enough in the 80s to be working anywhere, but I hope that was an exaggeration. I could handle them brushing off her story idea, but to turn it into a slapping-the-table 'can you believe this dumb broad?' laugh fest was too much. ETA - Forgot to mention, $1.25 for a (small) single scoop of ice cream seems outrageous for the mid-80s. I worked at a diner in the early-90s and a much larger scoop of ice cream was less than $1. Really stood out to me.

I'm pretty sure he got a regular gig elsewhere so she had to drop him. It's a bummer, I kind of liked him. On second thought, it's probably for the better. She didn't have a chance to turn him into an irredeemable jerkoff, LOL.

Finished up S2 in my rewatch last night. Some random thoughts - How did Becky have money to live? Unless she left her catatonic sister in a chair by herself all day while she went to work (without a way to feed herself, go to the bathroom, etc) she would have to be at home 24/7. Did any of the newspaper clippings indicate that Terry had been given a large settlement for her part in the "failed" LSD experiments? I doubt they came from a family with a lot of money if Terry was participating in these experiments for cash in the first place. I get that Nancy was doing her part to force the mind flayer out of Will with the hot poker, but Jeebus. Giving him third degree burns seems a bit extreme. And on a practical note, what kind of mess would Joyce have been in if the burns had gotten infected and she had to find a way to explain to an ER doc how he got burned without it looking like she was an abusive parent? These are the questions that keep me up at night. I bought my now-16 yo one of those "Babysitter's Club - Steve's Scary Situation" (I think that was the wording) t-shirts at the time. I wish he would still wear it. Cracks me up. I wish Paul Reiser had put El's name as Eleanor Jane (Mike used Eleanor as a fake name in S1) on her "birth certificate" so they would have a legal reason to still call her El. The name Jane does not fit her AT ALL. (Even though I've seen S3, I don't remember at this point if they started calling her Jane or not. I hope not, LOL.) I know fans mostly considered the Lost Sister ep to be a waste of time, but I think it was important for El to learn how to focus her emotions to control her power. Until then, she was only able to really use her telekinetic powers when she was extremely frightened or angry. That wouldn't have been sustainable enough to be able to close the gate. Also, I didn't hate Kali. I think she could have taken some lessons from El in finding a more appropriate way of dealing with her emotions, and her "family" got on my last nerve, but I believed that she felt a real connection with El and had the potential of becoming a better person. They should have done something to make Billy at least a little bit sympathetic. One scene of his abusive father yelling at him wasn't nearly enough to make me feel sorry for him. I still can't see any real chemistry between Nancy and Jonathon. I've tried, LOL. And it was incredibly gross of Murray to practically throw them in bed together after getting them nice and tipsy. I wouldn't have been surprised to see that he had a video camera set up in that bedroom and was hoping to get a peep show. Gag. I didn't go back to check, but after thinking about it I wonder if Nancy told Barb's mom a different day to meet her than when she and Jonathon actually sat in the park waiting for the baddies to chase them and just used the phone call as a means of calling their attention to Nancy. Because it is simply cruel to leave the poor woman hanging like that if she actually stood her up. At least they were able to concoct a story to give the parents some closure. It was smart of Murray to come up with something that would satisfy the parents without giving them the whole story. Feral!El (before Hopper moved her into the cabin) was terrifying. Thank God Hopper was able to find her. I can't imagine that being the rest of her life. Is Dustin really so terrible that no girls would even dance with him? I know it's middle school, but geez. He was cute, he was funny, he was smart even if nerdy. No reason the girls would have been that snotty toward him, IMO. Especially since he was buddy-buddy with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. Steve was the most popular boy in high school until Billy showed up. That should have given Dustin some street cred right there. This is really random, but why did Joyce cough/gag every time she smoked one of Hop's cigarettes? Was it a joke about the brand or something that went over my head? (My only experience with smoking is the few times I smoked in high school, and I was too much of a dork to even know I was supposed to inhale. Me and Bill Clinton, ha.) Because they showed Joyce smoking several times during both seasons, so it's not like she wasn't used to cigarettes anymore.

Son of a bitch!

Doing a rewatch and I just had to pop in and say I think El's resigned "Halfway happy" is just about the saddest thing I have ever heard. 😞

Anyone else just go in and revisit this show from time to time? I decided yesterday afternoon to give it a rewatch and finished S1 tonight. Dang but I had forgotten just how GOOD this show is! Several scenes made me cry and/or gave me chills for real. So incredibly well acted. I especially enjoyed Jonathon and Hopper each in their own way trying to get Joyce to see reality without being too harsh on her (before they realized she wasn't imagining things) and Jonathon after a certain point just not being able to handle it anymore. I don't remember if I've shared this later on during the series or not, but the kid who was Mike's double for the first two seasons, is the son of a friend of mine. She shared the van-flipping scene with us (privately, of course) long before the show ever came out and I had actually forgotten about it until that scene aired, and then I was almost fan-girling because I knew one of the kids in the scene. Heh. I know it gets discussed later on, but I really love the way the other kids are obviously from more well-off families than Will, but they never once make it an issue. The parents may be a little standoffish, but the kids never are. I love that.

Same.

"Lexa" told Clarke that Madi knew Clarke wouldn't want her to have to live out her days with no one her own age around. That's why she chose to stay transcended. Kudos to Madi for her strength in that choice. Gotta admit Clarke's yeah, well, what's your point? shrug when "Lexa" chastised her for killing Cadogan during his test made me laugh. Clarke often annoys me a great deal, but she is who she is. Okay, I didn't hate the last scene even though it had shades of the LOST ending (which I did hate with a fiery passion). It was nice and touching that our favorite regulars would choose to continue to live - sort of - so that Clarke wouldn't be doomed to years on earth alone. But for the love of all that is holy and good, Jason, you couldn't write in that those who came back could choose to have one person who had previously died (and thus didn't even have the option of transcendence) come back to this quasi life, and bring Bellamy back for one final scene? He could have been there for Echo or Octavia, been friendly and at peace toward Clarke without being overly emotionally attached to her (because she lost that right) and gave us some sort of comfort and final wrap up for Bellamy's character. But no. You couldn't even give us that. Eff you. You just cemented my decision to NOT watch the prequel if it gets greenlighted. Fool me once!

Exactly. That whole situation makes zero sense. ZERO. SENSE. And I can attest from personal experience, even when you "come into" $75,000 (hubby sold a piece of inherited land for that amount a couple of years ago that was in his name - even though he split the money with his siblings - so we had to claim it on our taxes) even in a comparable tax bracket to Lorelai's, it really doesn't make that much difference in your tax returns or qualifications for financial aid. So the whole situation really was ridiculous on every level.

Couldn't agree more. I never disliked Madi, I thought she made a fine addition to the show, but I liked her the most when she was in Commander mode and would basically tell Clarke to step aside because she had a job to do and Clarke's whiny ass was getting in her way.

LOL. The first time I read The Stand was during allergy season, so my brain automatically decided this was it and I was dying. I can't imagine reading it in 2020!

Just finished Blackout by Candace Owens. Highly recommend.