SeanC

I was astounded that none of them got Trafalgar, which is the most famous naval battle pre-20th century. Especially the British woman. Lord Nelson is looking askance from atop his column.

It seems like there was originally more stuff with the pilots who didn't end up getting chosen for the mission (e.g., Jacinto's character), and all things considered I think that's an easy place to make cuts since they aren't actually involved in the climax.

https://www.vulture.com/2022/05/stranger-things-kate-bush-tops-itunes-running-up-that-hill.html

He was a preteen in 1959, so he'd be early 30s, definitely not near his 40s. He gave up the location of the facility. That's presumably the next big plot point to come to a head, as both Mike/Will/Jonathan and the bad government guys are headed there.

When the backstory of the Creel family was given earlier in the season I thought in passing that it was weird that the son only went into a coma and then died, which was completely unlike every other victim, but I didn't follow that train of thought any further, so I was completely surprised at the reveal here. I was trying to figure out over the course of this episode whether the whole Volume 1/Volume 2 spit had been conceived at the time the show as written or if that just came later as Netflix decided to pivot its release strategy a bit. Three of the four storylines in this season do arrive at a suitable midseason finale-type moment, but the fourth is absent entirely, presumably since Mike and the guys don't have anything more to do until Eleven has to leave the facility.

This was the era of the Satanic panic, which included a substantial focus on D&D, so that's actually not implausible at all (stupid as it is). Lucas' statement to Max was sweet, but also a bit weird because he very clearly did recognize that she wasn't doing well and tried to reach out back in the premiere.

You know, Eddie would have been better off going to the police after the first death, since that would have made clear he wasn't the one doing it when people kept dying.

Brenner makes his long-anticipated return, though I'm disappointed that my longstanding speculation that he'd be gruesomely maimed by the Demogorgon turns out not to have been true.

In general I think the writers of this show have done an amazing job of juggling the original cast and keeping everybody relevant year-to-year, in addition to integrating new people each season. But Jonathan is maybe the only one of the original core cast whose overall relevance feels like it has been consistently waning -- originally in direct correlation to the ascent of Steve, but now that Robin has been added to the "teen" cast as well (the original kid characters are teens as well now, of course, blurring the distinction between those groups), it's hard not to see that all of the other teen characters seem to inspire the writers more than Jonathan does.

Not a creep, he just likes recreational narcotics.

I like the detail that since only Steve knows that Robin is gay, everybody else seems to assume they're dating and/or should date.

27 now, obviously a bit younger when filming. He was in the supporting cast of Booksmart, so I enjoyed seeing him in the show.

So nice to see everyone again. COVID certainly threw a wrench in things for a while there. This is the first of our supersized episodes — which they seem to be using to explore as much of the characters’ lives as possible (in an older era of TV this is something you’d do over a range of standalone episodes week-to-week). Some very period-specific hairstyles introduced this season (Lucas and Nancy, especially, among the leads).

This is mixing two of the best ever Thor stories, both from the Jason Aaron run, but Waititi's tonal approach to Thor is way different from Aaron's, so I'm rather ambivalent about this.

Because they do, actually. MacQuarrie has said in the past that they design the setpieces first because Cruise needs a lot more time to prepare for them than normal pre-production would allow for.

With the first two Christopher MacQuarrie-directed installments being two of the best action films of the 2010s, here's two more for you, as we maybe possibly look to wind down the Tom Cruise stunt show because even he can't keep this going indefinitely (but he can still ride a motorcycle off a cliff). In a classic sign of potential franchise wrap-up, they brought back the bureaucrat antagonist from the first movie.

I mean, the reason Lily James isn't here is because her career is so big that she doesn't have time and/or the desire for it.

Rapturous reviews so far: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/top-gun-maverick-first-reviews-the-most-thrilling-blockbuster-weve-gotten-in-years/

I object to the wording of Final Jeopardy. Woodstock was not an ongoing music festival like Coachella or Glastonbury, it was a one-off that got an anniversary celebration thirty years later.

How did Margaret and Martha end up in care of Peterson if they have an aunt?

I had to think a bit on Final Jeopardy, but guessed correctly. They missed a whole lot of what I thought were pretty obvious answers. The autobiographical movie category was particularly infuriating.

The process is complicated since I believe technically RUSADA can investigate it first and then WADA, the IOC and the ISU can appeal if they disagree with RUSADA's conclusions.

On Ice Perspectives recently released a video of one of my favourite ice dance programs of this past season.

Since she’s competed internationally for Canada she would have to miss a season if she switched back.

When Strange was killed by Thanos in the Blip, Wong took over, and remained in charge after Strange came back to life.