House of R - ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 Revisited

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Mal and Jo are back in Hawkins to continue their rewatch of ‘Stranger Things’ in the run-up to the fifth and final season. Next up: revisiting Season 3! They talk about their original experience with this season and hand out some superlatives! (00:00)  Intro(03:57) Mailbag(08:36) Opening Snapshot(45:19) Best New Addition(51:00) Best Use of the Summer Setting(53:09) Most Important Relationship(01:00:23) Most Emotional Moment(01:13:49) Funniest Moment(01:23:11) Scariest Moment(01:31:01) Goopiest Moment(01:33:42) Best Coming-of-Age Moment(01:38:33) Award for Honoring the Nerds(01:43:51) Ship Wars(01:51:18) Best Quote(01:56:57) Most Memorable Visual(02:00:25) Favorite Pop Culture Influence(02:04:08) Most Potent Use of ‘80s Nostalgia(02:06:43) '80s Parenting: We Have Some Notes(02:10:47) Fit (or Hair) Lord(02:12:40) Shortest Shorts Lord(02:16:00) Best Needle Drop(02:18:43) Best Netflix Subtitles(02:21:28) Season 3 MVP(02:23:00) Season 5 Lookahead Hosts: Joanna Robinson and Mallory RubinProducers: Carlos Chiriboga and John RichterSocial: Jomi AdeniranAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiara.com. Greetings. And welcome to House of R. A Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin. Joining me today so that I can ask if she'd like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me. It's Joanna Robinson, my favorite member of this scoop. Troop. Molly Rubin, I was promised a Hawaiian shirt from you. I know. I wore my baseball tea in like my, my best attempt to be 80s appropriate. Scoops Ahoy, though. I went Scoops-A-Hoy.

Yeah, I went Scoops-S-A-Hoy. With apologies to both Hopper and Magnum PI, I, uh, I went Scoop's True at the end of the day. Without the facial hair, what's the, what's the point of trying to go Magnum? You know what I mean? Quite right. We have a lot to get to today. But before we tuck in to the USS Butterscotch in front of us, that is Stranger Things Season 3 revisited, some quick programming reminders, as always.

I'm going to be out next week. You're holding down the fort. You've got some fun stuff planned. And when we are back together, as we teased last pod on our fall height meter, if anybody hasn't checked that out, please do. We have a bunch of stuff coming ahead. We're going to be talking about a night of the Seven Kingdoms and whatever is really. revealed about that impending show at New York Comic-Con. Yes.

Best of the century so far. That series is resuming soon. We will be getting to our Buffy season two pod soon in person together. That's the plan. Crisp Nolan Fall is coming and more. So it is just a bounty of fall goodness here on the House of Our. A seasonal cornucopia. I agree.

Brimming with like decorative gourds and corn husks and all the other things you could possibly ever want. Exactly. the guys, pew, pew, the midnight boys. Yeah. They're going to be potting

on the peacemaker finale next week, so check that out over on the ringer verse. Joanna, how can everybody follow along? I'm so glad you asked. Why don't you subscribe

to this podcast on the podcast like catcher of your choice? Whatever that may be. You can watch us on YouTube. You can watch us on Spotify. It just sort of like defaults to video on Spotify. It's a very fun experience.

Or, and actually not or. and follow us on the social media platform of your choosing. And email us, Havasendragons at email.com. We've got some emails to get to today because we had folks after our season two look back for Stanger Things just anticipated that we would likely be doing season 3

and so sent us some emails. So we have some of those. So if you've got some season four, Stranger Things thoughts that you want to get off, you can do them right now and we will get to those episodes. You can send us Dunkin' Egg questions, any mailbag questions.

We've got a mailbag episode coming up. You know, all sorts of stuff. Buffy thoughts, et cetera, et cetera. The mailbags open. What Nolan, we haven't decided to officially wish Nolan movie we're doing next. Which Nolan movie should we do next? Hobbes and Dragons is Gmail.com. Back to you in the studio, Mallory Rubin.

Should it be tenet? Let us know. You got a couple weeks to chime in. Maybe a week to chime in. That it's prepped on. Spoiler warning for today, all of Stranger Things. We are mostly going to be focusing on season three today because this is the season three revisited podcast, but, you know, this is less of a concern now in the season three pod than it was at the

beginning of the journey in seasons one and two. We might mention a thing or two here and there from season four. We're going to have a little brief, quick, season five anticipation check in at the very end of the podcast today, but some stuff from season four might be mentioned. We will, we will do so responsibly. But it might come up here and there. Joanna. All right. What else would you like to get to before we get to season three? Hit us with some mailback questions. We just have a couple mailbag questions. Well, one is we got an answer to this question, this mystery had in season two. Karen's on the phone talking to a friend out of context. And she said this thing. She was like, maybe if it was Margaret Thatcher, Mallory and I both were like,

help us. We were too young in the 1980s to understand what this is. A number of listeners wrote in, but Aram wrote in to say when Karen Wheeler said, quote, maybe if it was Margaret Thatcher, she was almost certainly referencing Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate. and the first female vice presidential candidate for a major political party in the USA. Something along the lines of, I'd vote for the woman candidate if it were Margaret Thatcher. So that's just some more information about Karen Wheeler. A Thatcher fan. Sounds right.

For the Wheeler's. Yeah. It tracks. For the Wheeler household. And then our listener, Steph, who owns a sleepy forest bake shop, sent us in an email. I gave you no prep for this. So I'm actually, this is actually a call I'm sending out to the bad baby. Okay.

More than us, unless you've prepped an answer. Steph has put together a number of sort of spooky season themed donuts for her donut shop. Once again, no free ads, but Sleepy Forest Bank Shop in Upstate New York. Yeah. And she's got a couple themed donuts. She sent us an incredible photo of these donuts. They look amazing. She's got a Wednesday themed donut, a Last of Us themed donut that has mushroom meringue and raspberry, a Buffy themed donut that's called Buffy the Pumpkin Slayer with pumpkin glaze.

stad with a cookie steak. She's got a Hannibal-themed one and a supernatural themed one, and she's looking for a stranger-thinged donut. Again, I gave neither of us any prep to come up with like a cute and pithy answer, but did you cook up something, Mallory? I'm seeing this in real time.

So I... Yeah, yeah. In 20 seconds. Let's see. So this is more season four specific. I don't know if it will be applicable. come season five, but the peanut butter bandit, you know, that was a very central aspect of season four. If anyone has not watched season four yet and is listening to this, we'll save the specifics.

What does that mean? What does that mean? Who is that? Listen, we'll talk about that in a couple weeks when we get to season four. All you need to know now, a few weeks when we get to season four. All you need to know now is that some peanut butter inspiration could be at play. What about something that builds off the Stranger Things subtitled tradition? Something distending wetly. You know, I'm thinking of like a stuffed donut where you tear it open or you bite in and something distends wetly and or squelches from the donut. Deeply. What if the donut chitters?

That's the worst thing that could possibly happen, a chittery donut. How about a demo donut? Demo donut. Some alliteration. Yeah. I don't know what the flavor would be. A triple decker egg o extravaganza donut. Yeah.

But, I mean, we're aligned on this. we, this is, you know, something we thought was important to talk through last pod. No racist pieces on that bullshit. Not here. Not for us. No. No. No.

And not at the, once again, no free ads, sleepy forest bake shop at Upstate New York. But the donuts look delicious. Steph, thanks for listening. She said at like 2 a.m. when she makes her down that she listens to House of R. So if I were, I actually will be in upstate New York in a couple weeks. So if the sleepy forest bake shop. is anywhere near where I will be in Upstate New York, Steph, maybe I'll swing by.

If not, the bad babies should send us their Stranger Things themed donut ideas to Hoppits and Dragons and Donuts at gmell.com. Thanks so much. That's it. I love it. I love it.

I feel like Argyle would have some recommendations here for sure. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. What does Argyle want when the lunch she's hit? Yeah. Pineapple on donuts, who says no, you know what I mean? Absolutely.

We will have a few more email serves like sprinkled into some of our categories because we had listeners writing with their like suggestions for categories. So I will surprise and delight you with those in real time. But once again, exciting. Hommets and Dragons and Demel.com. If you've got some season four ideas you want to share with us. Fantastic. All right, Joe. I know that you had a late night with Fagan. Just you and Jonathan. Yep. Receiving the Oliver Twist insults and readying the rejoinders. Oliver Twist routine. I do love what Jonathan. that takes us to Literary Corner.

Let's pod. Let's get to it. Let's get to the opening snapshot. All right. Let's set the stage, the Steve, always setting the Steve. Let's set the stage quickly for season three before we get to our superlatives. Similar structure today as in past episodes. We have a couple changes, but broadly we're going to do our opening snapshot and then we're going to get to our robust list of superlatives.

We'll be surprising each other with our picks. Joanna, this season of television was released July 4th. holiday weekend, 2019. That's a long time ago. I have... You know what's so funny? I was re-listing to our first season four, Stanger Things Pod this morning, and we were talking about, like, how long it had been between season three and four. What sweet summer children we were. Little do we know, but we were, I was like, that was pre-pandemic, a different world entirely. And now I'm like, that was just, I don't know, a different century, 2019. Yeah. It's wild. I have like a very vivid memory of watching this over the holiday weekend and then podcasting about it with Chris Ryan at the Sunset Gower Chapel Stage Studio, different office,

different part of town, like you said, pre-pandemic, just a different life. And yet, talking about the mall is eternal. And so really what has changed when it comes to covering the season of TV. This is set, the opening scene is set at 84, but then the bulk of the season, almost the entire season, is set in July of 1985, something that I will always remember every now and then I'm like, well, okay, we know broadly when each season is set. Well, I got to remember. I always remember season three is 85 because they released a bunch of custom stranger things. Nike collapse around the season. And I got the Independence Day Tailwinds cream with the red and blue. It's a great sneaker that I love, but I like have kind of started wearing very judicious.

because I don't want them to get too distraught. They're pretty beat up already. And it's just they say 85 on the back. So it's a very helpful reminder for me always. A summer setting job. I don't have, yeah, I don't have a shoe-based reason to know it. But it is the back-to-the-future sort of season, right? They're watching Back to the Future in the cinema. Cinema classic, 85 moment. So, yeah. Great stuff. I do always, long before our beloved Stephen Robin are crawling on the bathroom floor. And my hygiene notes emerge, I always have. have some don't pull the popcorn out of the trash the trash can and eat it. Steve notes. But, you know. That was like number five on my list of funny things that Steve does this season. And it's Steve just like hooking a finger into a bag of trash popcorn and then just like throwing it back for the few minutes there inside the movie theater. They did tell Dustin they needed some food that they needed a snack, you know, when you've been drugged by Russians in a secret layer. You need a snack apparently. Joanna, this is different. The fact that this is set in the summer, that it is not set around. to Halloween set in the fall. And the kids are not at school.

They're in short shorts. Everyone's at the pool. There's all sorts of summer goodness happening. Fireworks. Mayor Larry Klein's unfair. Independence Day everywhere. How does the summer setting feel to you compared to the autumnal Stranger Things vibe of of seasons one and two?

I love it. We're so far away from the anniversary. So we, you know, like, well, the sad thing is Will has even less to do this season than he will in some other seasons. This is like a lot of neck tingles. Grab in the back of his neck. And then we've got some potent Will moments that we will talk about. But overall, just like a light use of Will, I would say this season. So there's that.

I think, you know, the anniversary effect is something that we will talk about as we go on. And then I'll save some of my other stuff for, because we've got a summer-based category coming. So I'll say some of my other thoughts for that. The Holly trauma tracker, it's something we wanted to hit right at the top today. It's something that we've promised. We will be incorporating to all discussions. We feel emboldened based on initial glimpses of season five in the trailer to support our inclination to track Holly's trauma based on what we've found out.

We've recast the actress, you know, it was twins who played Holly in the first few seasons. And whether it's sort of age dependent or in a sort of like Marceli's. and Tom in Game of Thrones way, we're going to need more from these actors. So we've picked someone else. They've cast a new actress. Nell Fisher is taking over the role of Holly in the final season. I have some more thoughts about that. But let's talk about the trauma tracker.

Here's what I've got to throw your way. Let me know if you have anything you'd like to add from what we saw in season three. I'm going to throw out this is like the deep trauma. It's the less obvious trauma, but it's something that I suspect that Holly, if she makes it through season five, we'll be working through in therapy for years to come. my mom glimpsed me napping on my dad's lap in the recliner and it's the only thing that stopped her from fucking a teen It was like guarding at the local pool. Disqualified because Holly's asleep.

She has no idea this is going on. I feel like it's going to come up later. This is a lovely Ted Wheeler moment. Like very few. Great that moment. I know. She's like Ted sucks, but at least he cuddles with our daughter at a very sweet. He doesn't give a shit about his other two kids.

kids, nor do I really care. Never knows where they are. But he is still trying to parent our last remaining a small child. He is. I really wonder if Karen will share this with Holly one day and it'll be a thing. The obvious entry here, though, today is that, you know, Karen slipped a fiber so that they would get prime seats, the top of the Ferris wheel, pause, wait until you see this fireworks display.

Guess what? Holly sees something else, and it's Vagar moving through the train jobs. are basically in House of the Dragon here. Holly's like, guys, something is moving through the woods. Yeah. Hand-waved. Nobody takes Holly seriously. Look at the pretty lights in the sky. This is going to leave a mark.

What hasn't this child seen? This based on like, you know, we talked about Holly in the lights, Holly in the wall in season one. Yeah, Holly noticing the massive mind flare moving through the foliage is very interesting. I do want to say, shout out Karen Wheeler for the primo position for fireworks. One year at the Marin County Fair, this will come back up in my summer category, but one year at the Marin County Fair, we were determined to be at the top of the Ferris wheel for the fireworks display.

Did you succeed? I want to say, I want to say we were like in high school. Here's what I will say. We were gaming it out. It was a really long line. We were gaming it out. we were trying to figure out. At one point, we were, like, telling people to go in front of us because we were getting

too close, blah, blah. And then people started to try to cut in front of us. And talk about Karen Miller. I turned into the biggest Karen I've ever been in my entire life. Was teenage women I'm being like, no, no, no, no. I know. We have mapped this out, and you are not allowed to get in front of us in line right now to destroy our chances of being on.

And we did. We weren't like top, but we were like, I would say three quarters the way up to see the fireworks display on the Ferris wheel. But it took a lot of. I mean, had I but known, all it would take is, well, given inflation, $5 in the 1980s, I don't know, but like a few bucks to a Carney to just skip the line and get right to the top, I would have taken the Karen Wheeler approach. Oh, man. I enjoy Ferrisville. I haven't been on one in quite a while.

We did have the, I was going to say, pleasure, though it was actually kind of alarming recently when we were at Comic-Con and had a nice team dinner of seeing how quickly a Ferris wheel could be disassembled. That was mere feet away from us, remember? That came down in like 12 minutes. I would say never again after what we saw, the horrors we saw of those. Once again, I respect to Carney, but the Carney is just like slinging bolts and like they were nothing. It was upsetting. Joanna. Oh, wait.

Can I say a couple more things on the Holly Trauma Tracker? Please. So a couple things about, again, we're not going to talk a ton about season five, but a couple things I want to flag. And we'll come back to season 5 at the very end of the pod. But when I was re-listening to our season four pod, I was reminded of this Duffer Brothers quote about the three levels of nostalgia that they like to play in inside of a Stranger Things season in early season. So like that the kids are in this Amlin, kids on Bikes Goody's world, that the teens are in this nightmare on Elm Street, sort of Halloween teen horror world. And the parents are in this like close encounters of the third kind slash like government conspiracy worlds that these are the levels they're playing in. As the children get increasingly tall

And the hemlines on their shorts get increasingly short We are just moving further and further away from, you know, this season ends with, you know, some of the kids on the bikes. Like, they're still getting on those bikes. But it beggars credulity when they're going to be about 16 in the youngest kids are going to be about 16 in the final season. So enter Holly Wheeler. And like, can she?

represent the younger kid faction that we sort of started, that sentimentality that we started, stranger things with. There's a bunch of Holly Wheeler theories going around, but, you know, we've, no need to get into theory corner, but we've glimpsed her in the trailer seemingly in peril with Karen. Yeah. There is a shot of her in a teaser in like a blue sort of Alice in Wonderland dress. Like there's just like a lot of questions about what's going on with Holly. So I think it will be good to keep in mind.

all the things that Holly, the way in which Holly has seemingly been like a bit marked from the beginning. Yes. And so a way in which this probably was not their plan because they didn't plan to take as many years to get to their final season, but a way in which they could take advantage of a character like Holly Wheeler who has been in the margins for so many seasons. So I'm excited. Me too. I wonder if the fact that Holly suddenly needs to become a primary figure explains why every episode is three hours. We'll find out.

No. I do like the idea that this poor child who is kind of quietly born witness to so many strange happenings would, you know, have an odd turn of her own. Joanna? Yes, Mallory. Set the mood for us. What is your overall relationship to season three inside of your overall Stranger Things journey? How do you feel about season three?

I really like it. I like it more than more. I watch it. This is an oft, I think season two, in terms of like the larger fandom, I think season two, people don't really like love and there's a lot of chatter around season three, people not loving and then people coming back in droves for season four. You and I have always, I think, thought higher of seasons two and three, but season three, I think especially than other people. I love the mall setting. I think it's so brilliant to have the mall setting in an 80s, you know, let's explore all the corners of 80s culture, kind of. of show. There are a few things that don't work for me. I would say the Schwarzenegger Goon stuff, like, never once works for me in the entire season. I would say that Carrie Elis casting doesn't hit the way that Sean Aston did or Paul Riser did or Matthew Modin.

Like, it's just not, I love Carrie Alas, but this is just, like, not executed as well. And the other thing I will say that, that like pings for me every time I watch it back through is at this point in their shared adventures, it is frustrating to me the way that, like, Hopper doesn't believe Joyce at the beginning when things are going wrong and Jonathan doesn't believe Nancy. Like, Jonathan doesn't believe Nancy and Hopper doesn't believe Joyce. I was like, guys, we're three seasons in.

If the magnets aren't magneting, something is going wrong. So those are my, like, because this is largely going to be a celebration of the season, I would say those are the things that don't work for me. But the additions to the cast, be they big or small, other than the ones I just mentioned, like, are great. We're going to talk about some of these evolving friendship or identity dynamics as the kids, like, are, you know, bumping up closer and closer to full-blown adulthood, which is where we find them now in season five, I would say. And, yeah.

So I just, there's just like a lot to love about this season, even though, like, basically every time Hop and the Schwarzenegger guy, fight, I, like, go do the dishes or something like that. It's not interesting to me. Yeah. But everything else, I'm like, you know. You're like, I've seen a fun house hall of mirrors and John Wick too. I'm good. I'm good. We've done it. So, um, but you know, like Nancy in the workplace or like Steve Post High School or all these other things are like really interesting to me. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I would never say that this is the best season. And I definitely like you have notes on it and think that there are things inside of it that don't work. And I think in the, you know, we'll see how this feels once the series is complete. We go back and reconsider every

installment in the full context of how the story concludes. But I think to this point, at least it certainly feels like it's also like the least consequential in terms of how it evolves and advances the mythology, like in terms of what we learn about the upside down, the mind flare. Yeah, like it's the, it moves the story forward in that respect, the least. However, while I will not say it is, I will never make the case that it is the best season because I don't actually think it is the best season. But it is like sneakily, I think, my favorite season. It's the one I consistently have the most fun revisiting because it's the one that has my, like, a lot of my, you know this. We've talked about a lot of these already and we'll revisit them today.

But like a lot of my favorite moments from the show are in this season. And I think it has just some of the character dynamics that I love the most. Like, we won't step on all the categories here, but Scoop Troop is all-time God tier. There's just nothing like it. It's like the best. Hopper and Joyce, Hopper and L, in terms of complicated, like, I like watching characters who I root for be deeply flawed and backslide and make mistakes very emotionally. Very rich texts this season.

The mall, as you said, is to me, like, this is one of my favorite settings for a coming-of-age story, period. and I think the way they use it inside of this show is so great. And it is so nostalgic for people of our age, I think. Like, I just have such potent memories of growing up. And, like, what the mall represented, I remember the evolution from I would go with my mom. My mom would take, like, my sister, we would go on Friday night. And I would just, like, hope none of my – I love my mom.

It was great to be there. But, like, you know, that kind of, like, I hope none of my friends, like, see that I'm here with my mom. Hanging out with your mom. Yeah. The next phase of my – of I would be like sent off to go spend time with my friends, but my mom was still there, just in a different part of the mall, into the like dawning of what felt at the time, like adulthood and true independence, you can go to the mall with your friends.

And like, just like Elle and Max talk about, like, what do I like? Figure out what you're interested in. Look at the things that are fun for you. Figure out who you are. Just that first, like, taste of independence when you're young and how. how the mall kind of feels like this next step after the I got to ride my bike through the neighborhood with my friend. It's just like very emblematic of that time of life to me and really nostalgically rich. So I love it. It's such a specific era in American culture too, because we didn't

know this at the time that mall culture would be so temporary. Like that, you know, mall culture new and high in its heights in the in the 80s, late 70s into the 80s, you know, enduring into the 90s. But then, like, you know, the waning of mall culture as, you know, as commerce moves online. And that if you go to a mall now, it's like often a ghost town. And there's just, like, derelict malls around and stuff like that. And so it's such a specific time period, such a specific change. Like, this is like becomes the town square to a certain degree. I used to go, where I grew up, there weren't, there were, like, two kind of open-air malls that were, like, very bougie and not very, like, mall-like.

But then there was the Northgate Mall, which was like a mall mall. And that was the movie theater that had the most screens in like where we grew up. So like the most option, like if I was at the mall, I was probably going into the movies with my friends. And then I reached because I like grew up in the same place and then was an adult in the same place, which is not always the case for people. I got to like an insufferable era of film snobbery where I was like, I refused to see it at the mall. I was like, I don't care. Those screens are tiny. I don't want to go to the mall,

Northgate Mall, and see it with the youths or whatever. And so I became like very anti-Mall later. But like it's just, yeah, the mall reflecting your eras of your life, whether it's your more pure, like my independence of my parents and my less pure,

this is where you can mark my film snobbery emerging is, it's a very clever setting. And one of our listeners, I'll get to the, to the full email a bit more later, but one of our listeners pointed out how, like, delicious it is that this ode to American capitalism,

that is the mall, is built by these communists who are literally undermining it, literally undermining it, in order to further their communist agenda. Great touch. Very funny. It's a great touch. I also worked at an ice cream shop at the mall.

Did you? Never got to. I did, yeah. Never got to, never got to wear a uniform quite like the scoop flip? No, that's, that's something that I think only Steve Harrington can execute in that way. Wow. Like just true gunslinger stuff from Steve, that was really remarkable. You had a wonderful idea, which was that before we got to our categories, we should set the table in one other way, which is to talk about which scene from this season of Stranger Things feels to each of us, most representative of the spirit of the show. most emblematic of something that feels elemental to you, to us, to the fandom, about what Stranger Things is.

So what is your pick for season three? I really like the way our picks go together. And I was pretty sure I knew what you were going to pick. But this is my favorite scene of Stranger Things. And my pick is Steve the Hare Harrington and Queen of My Life, Robin Buckley, in the bathroom, having just vomited up. but still feeling the after effects of being drugged with like truth serum by the Russians. And so there is this like as I think could or should be the case in some of these picks,

like there is a heightened element to this, right? We're on a, we're on the vapor end of truth serum. So that's like a supernatural extra special element of the growing up experience. But this Robin scene moment where Robin comes out. to Steve, and their friendship just deepens from there. Because, like, watching it, so all season, Dustin has sort of been, like, teasing Steve, and he's like, you know, you should be looking at Robin, you know, and Maya Hawke is here, and she's great.

And, you know, like, Robin is so cute and all this sort of stuff like that. And so it's like, so the first time I watched it, I was like, yeah, kiss, kiss. And then you get this reveal, and I was like, oh, oh, no, they're not going to kiss. And then I realized I liked it better. And then every time I'm just like so grateful that that's not where it goes or it goes in this very different direction, which is like a different test for Steve's character. And so all of that is really interesting to me. We talk about how potent and important these deeply rooted friendships are, especially like our core for the party who have known each other since they were teeny tiny. And again, we'll talk about that a little bit more in your sense.

scene, but like those deep-rooted friendships are so important. But so are the relationships that you build as you grow and change. And so for Stephen Robin, you know, and we'll talk about Max and 11 this season and all these other things, but like Robin is such an interesting character in her own right. And there's such an important moment for Robin to feel like in the middle of the 1980s. Yeah. Once again, perhaps influenced by the vapor of some true serum, able to tell someone, someone who used to be her social milieu, like, enemy in high school, her real truth that she's a queer woman at queer teen in the 1980s. And to have it received the way that it's received by Steve,

which is not even like deep, deep, deep emotion, but is like, now we're just going to, I'm just going to tease you for the kind of girl you had a crush on. Yeah, Tammy's a done. And then they laugh, yeah, then they'll just like laugh about it together, make fun of her and laugh about it. It's like so, I'm tearing up thinking about it. I think it's so good. Visually, I think it's so good. Like the slide he does under this doll into hers, like the color palette, them and their bedraggled, like, uniforms, all this sort of stuff like that.

Mallory's hygiene concerns notwithstanding. And I think it's just like it's an important moment for Robin. So I don't want to just frame this around Steve. It's an important moment for Robin. But it's such an important moment for Steve's identity. Like, Steve who we meet in season one, Steve who was not supposed to survive season one because he was just like the high school bully guy. And, you know, when his dad is like, go get a job, it'll build character for you.

I don't think this is exactly what he meant. But this is the most character-building thing that could happen for Steve. And when we think of Steve going forward into season four, like his most defining relationship is his. friendship with Robin. Like, you know, with love and respect to Dustin, like, Robin and Steve, BFF. Like, that's what this is. And so the relationship that Steve forms here with Robin, who will become his, like, best friend is Steve having an opportunity to redefine who he is. We hear from Robin in this scene and then later, I forget his name, the guy who was at the arcade in season two and is their, Keith in the video store.

Yeah. He's a douchebag. Steve Harrington's a douchebag, right? And that's who Steve Harrington was, but who can Steve Harrington be? Yes. So who can these people that we meet at these pivot points in our lives change who we are? And I was thinking about the friendship groups that I went through in my life and like how I talked about when you and Rob and I talked about Battlestar Galactica. Like the friendship group that I joined at that moment in my life changed my life.

Like they introduced me to Game of Thrones, which changed my life. They introduced me to so many things. it changed my life. And so, like, and it just opened up a different aspect of what. It didn't change who I was, but it more, it just like opened up a different door inside of me of who I was. And I still kept those other things. But I, it gave me this other opportunity. So just like Robin and Steve, so important to me, this scene makes me laugh and makes me cry. And I love every time I rewatch it and thinking, like, I can't believe I wanted them to kiss when this is so much better. is very special to me.

So that's my pick for the season. Beautiful. It's a perfect pick. It's also one of my favorite scenes in the entire, not just season, but series. I think it is a little miracle of a relationship. And it's just beautiful to watch their bond and their impact on each other.

I love it. It was difficult for me filling out the categories for this pot. I'm really glad that this is your pick to kind of just like set the stage for the entire discussion because it does feel like it should, transcend the categories, you know? Like, it's... Right.

I had a hard time not picking Robin and Steve-centric stuff for like 20%, 25% of my categories and then like 25% of the others for Hopper. So I don't know that today will be my best even distribution across the field when we get to our categories. But I think that's fine and appropriate, honestly. I think... Did you have a clip? One last one. Oh, yeah, yeah. Can we play my clip, please?

Tammy Thompson's a girl. Steve. Yeah? Holy shit. Yeah. Holy shit. I love that second, oh. He's the best.

They're the best. In the script, it says, like, Steve, and then in, like, brackets, like, I'm gay dummy. Like that's like that's the the read she was given. The other thing I want to say just from like a storytelling point of view, there will be other moments in this sort of like very climactic. A lot of shit is happening where we will take a pause and it will be a little like, really, do we have time for this? But what I like about this moment is because of the drugs, like it just sort of, it makes

sense that these two would just be like taking this beat here, even though all this other scary stuff is going on it. makes sense for them to be taking this beat. The music is crescendoing, and this tense confession becomes a joke, and then Dustin just, like, busts in and intrudes with actual plot. And it's just... And then they start to giggle. It's just really well done. So charming.

That's one of the things I admire about the show is, like, the commitment to always making space for those personal moments and those moments of reflection, no matter how much is going on, and no matter how many people or monsters are chasing our heroes, a given moment in time. Like, this is ultimately what the show is about, that balance and, uh, centering these journeys of discovery. Fantastic pick. It's the best. My pick, unsurprisingly to, uh, you and anybody who's heard us talk about Stranger Things together before, um, is one of my other favorite moments from this season and,

favorite moments from, uh, the show overall. So similarly, I, you know, could have put it in, um, any number of our, our categories. It could have gone in most emotional scene, best coming of age moment, most important relationship. a number of them, but I liked the idea of pulling it out of the categories, so just focusing on why it feels so important overall. Carlos, can we hear my Mike and Will clip? I'm not trying to be a jerk, okay? But we're not kids anymore.

I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends, that we're just going to sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives? Yeah. I guess I did. It really did. I love that moment. It's so sad. It makes me so sad every time I see it. You can hear the rain, so you can probably visualize it. That's from Chapter 3, the case of the missing lifeguard.

Mike and Lucas have been fretting over girls, right? Elle is broken up with Mike. Will has time and time again, can we play D&D? Can we play D&D? He's mastered this wonderful campaign. Will of the Wise is there to be with his friends and to restore this like sense of the, like I'll say elsewhere, you know, have some fun like we used to, right? The things that kind of define the rhythm of of their friendship and of their young life together. And the rest of them just don't care. Like, Dustin's not there for other reasons, as Will will later note. And Mike and Lucas are like focused entirely on other things. And when the phone rings, it breaks the, what is at that point already like a very, very, very, very fragile remaining spell gone. And Will leaves and Mike follows

him and they have that conversation. And he tries to stop Will from going and says, like, we just weren't in the mood and Will's like, that's the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore, right? And I think that this is like, like, we've talked about this in our season four pods, because we call it back to this moment a couple times. We've talked about it elsewhere. But I think that this just like really showcases something that's a present in your pick as well. I agree. They pair nicely together. It's present in something like Hopper's Letter to L, which spoiler, no surprise, will come up in one of my categories later today. This is a season. I mean, the whole show, but like this is a season in particular that is very rooted in change, right? And what it feels like to be changing,

like yourself, or to confront change in other people who have been like the centerpieces and the heartbeats of your life and how you think about your life. And, you know, the party, that friendship, as we've discussed many times, is the heartbeat of the show. I really love what you said about Stephen Robin, though, that part of the joy of the show and part of how I think it mirrors so well. Real life is that, like, sometimes you hold on to the things that defined you before and sometimes you discover new things and all of that is true, right? And like, Will and Mike even inside of the party, you know, we talked about this a lot in season two, how like their moments of confiding in each other or taking each other into a circle

of awareness and trust, even inside of that friendship, like really always larger group friendship really stands out. And so you have these shifting dynamics, which every season has given us a version of this. Who is focused on something. other than kind of the core longstanding nature of what the party has been, right? And that has changed season after season. The constant is that someone is always thinking about something new. The change is how it's manifesting in with whom. So change amid the constant.

I really like the way the show explores that. And just like growing up and growing apart and that not meaning that you don't care about somebody or don't love them or don't want them to be okay, but sometimes it does mean, actually, that like you're not giving them what they need or that they feel like you're not giving them what they need. And the things that people care about, even when they still care about each other, like, diverge. They just do. And sometimes one person is ready for that inside of a relationship and the other person isn't, and they're on different timelines and different paths. And that just feels like so true to young friendship and young life and, like, the journey of discovery

and all of its many different forms and how you can hopefully find safe harbor and people who know you and who you trust, and also, like, you will feel lost amid that all the time. And I think the show captures that really well. I always love how, you know, because this is, like, so fraught and so tense, and it feels like it's such a key wound. And obviously, like, there's a lot of other stuff that Will is thinking about with, like, his identity and who he is. And we'll talk about some of the meaningful moments that manifest in that front in season

four. But I always love them when we build toward, like, they're packing at the end, the goodbye. And Will puts the D&D box into the donation box. to eventually make its way to Erica via Dustin and Lucas, great touch, Lady Applejack, Rise. And there's this, like, heartbreaking moment where you're like, Will doesn't think that he can play D&D anymore. Like, he doesn't think he can do that anymore. And he's like, when I come back, we'll use yours. You know? And Mike's like, well, what if you want to join another party? Not possible. Like, the party is them, you know? And so even though it changes, it's like eternal and it's always going to be there for them.

So I just really, yeah, I really love that. It's like really sad, but also I, I think. think really beautifully speaks to how these experiences and moments of your life that you share with other people feel like these little time capsules that are so specific to like who you were at a certain moment. And so it feels like because it is like existentially unmooring when those things are in any way challenged, but also like not also like because of that so deeply precious to you. So like you noted rightly at the top, not like a season where Will has a ton to do. But even so, he gives us one of the more emotionally resonant and I think poignant moments of the season. And so this felt like the place to toast him and to toast

that relationship and to acknowledge the things change, which they do. I love having spent years with you essentially talking directly about and then around this show and the fact that I know you and your love for the show well enough at this point that I knew that you were going to pick this scene, and I know we're going to talk about Hopper's letter, like, all that sort of stuff, obviously. But, like, I will never be able to prove this. Well, my suspicion is that the Duffer brothers tend to sometimes test balloon things for future seasons in lower stakes moments.

So, like, Robbins coming out in this season as, like, a test balloon for how is the fandom going to react to a queer character inside of this story? And how will they then, how does that then influence how we decide to tell Will's story? I don't think they would, like, if they had it in their mind that Will is queer, which is something that is made even more apparent in season four, I don't think they would ever, like, change that, but how explicit they decide to make that or not, perhaps is, you know, a Robin Test Balloon. Or I have suspicions that some of the season four, like, de-aging flashback stuff with L was a sort of like, how big is the appetite for something like that? if we're going to potentially do time travel in season five, which you know, you and I have been long theorizing or something like that. So, yes. But the connection between Will's queerness, which is very important to this scene because the division is like, you know, Mike says, like, it's not my fault.

You don't care about girls, right? You don't like girls, right? And then immediately realizes how triggering that is. And that's not what he meant, but still. But he doesn't know the full extent of what that is, right? No. And because he's like oblivious again in season, Mike ever oblivious. Like oblivious again in season four.

But like, but like, you know, it's true. This otherness that Will feels here is specifically oriented around Lucas and Mike and their experience of becoming guys who are interested and focused on girls. And Will is just othered inside of that dynamic. And so it's directly related to his queer identity. And so like, when you think about. this show, which is about tentacle monsters from other dimensions and Russians and all these other things. It's the stranger thing inside of this world is also these kids who feel so othered, right? Whether they're othered for being geeks or poor or whatever the case may be or in the case of a Robin or a Will for being queer,

they are the stranger thing inside of these various dynamics. And so the found family, the warm embrace that, you know, Will will receive from his brother in season four or Robin receives here from Steve is so important. You know, 11 is the strangest of things. And we will talk about that. But like, supernatural as a metaphor for real world issues, something that we talk about. about a lot when we talked about Buffy, something we'll talk about a lot inside of the season two. That idea of queerness is so baked into like the Buffy fandom. They see like parallels for for that inside of there. So it's really, it matters a lot to me. I remember when the season five trailer

dropped or one of the trailers dropped and there's like a shot of Robin and Will together and like a bunch of the fandom was like, yes. Look at this little community that's potentially burgeoning here. So yeah, I love these picks. Great stuff. Great show. We have a lot of other highlights to hit. Let's get to the stranger superlatives.

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I feel very confident we have both picked Robin by a mile. Should we listen to my clip? So, like, I wasn't totally focused in there or anything, but I'm pretty sure that mom was trying to bang her son. Robin Buckley, queen of our hearts, just like an incredible, incredible addition to the show. It's very smart, I think, too. And Eddie gets some of this in season four. If you want to loop someone new into the show, it is smart to do it via Steve. I think that's like a great key into adding someone to the cast.

But Maya Hawk is so wonderful as Robin. Robin giving Steve shit, giving all the kids shit, calling stuff out all season is just like incredibly fun. And like Robin is like the kind of teen whose three favorite films are like the apartment, like, include the apartment. I'm like, this is a kid I would want to be friends. This is a teen I would want to be friends with. So, yeah, it's Robin, obviously. Robin Buckley. It has to be. I mean, season two, there were like a lot of great new characters, but even then Max was the pick by a comfortable margin as well. Like an Eddie, spoiler, we will be for this category in season four. They do have a job of introducing new characters, obviously, with some notable exceptions. But the people who really become central to the story have, it's been impressed. Um, Robin coming into our lives initially, not just, as you noted, through the Steve relationship, but specifically by the face she makes watching him try to hit on these scoops of the way customers. And the, the tally and the you rule you suck whiteboard.

And then her outrage when it's erased and she says that that was important data that she was collecting is just so funny to me. I think that the gusto with which she jumps in to participating in the mission long before she has any, I mean, her sense of the full scope of the supernatural L.S. Powers, etc. That comes at the very end of the season. But everything was like, let's decode the mission. Yeah. Okay, we've wound up at accidentally in an elevator shoot into a secret layer. I'm in. The spirit, the spark, the humor, the heart. heart, the intellect. It's just, she's just an incredible character in every context. I think that the moment they just flex with the torturers when she says, you broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town. We picked it up on her cerebro and cracked it in a day, a day. Like the emphasis on a day is one of my favorite things in the entire season. It's just absolutely perfect. And, you know, as you, as you beautifully explored, like that, that bathroom scene with Steve is really an awesome. all-timer. And I also adore the scene that primes us for that. I mean, all of their scenes

prim us for that. But the real like bookend companion piece when she's basically like, do you even remember me from class? You know, and you think about like, I have some questions about Steve being in the same history classes, Robin. Like, I understand that Steve struggled in school, but like, yeah, it's, I think given what we've seen of Steve's academic performance, I have a, it makes sense to me. I'm like, wouldn't have been surprised if Steve and Dustin were in some of the same classes before they were even, even though they were never at the same level of school. I love Steve. But yeah, I just like, you know, the jolt of life that she provides to the show and then the way that through their relationship, we can see, like you said, and explore the way that people can

impact each other and the way that growth and like your understanding of who you are and who you think you can be, can be so enhanced by really authentically forming a connection with somebody who just a few months prior you wouldn't have talked to and didn't even know existed. Like, that's the kind of stuff that a story that is set in high school or middle school or early college years or a scoop shop or a family video store, like, can tease out. And I just really, really love it. So, like, with apologies to Alexi, who I also really enjoy it. Alexi is my runner-up.

Maybe it's my runner-up. It's not close. This was not a close contest. Yeah. Alexi really only gets like two episodes to shine, really. So like it's tough sledding for him. But like the, I also just want to shout out Maya Hoc and Joe Kiri. Yeah.

For wearing those scoops, Hawaii costumes almost the entire, like they get to change right at the end in their like video store interview. scene, but, like, they're wearing those costumes the whole time. Again, I, um, I, I said something similar recently, but, like, imagine you're Maya Hawking, you get cast and Stranger Things, one of the biggest shows in the world, and they're like, and this is your costume. And it's a season where everybody else gets, like, really to play around some fun fashion. Tubular, tubular style, and you've got some, rock those knee socks, girl, do it. And she doesn't.

It's great stuff. Oh, Robin, what an icon. Okay, next category. Best use of the summer setting. What are you going with here? I mean, you gave us the rundown of the summer setting options earlier, right? Community pool. We got the community pool, the mall specifically an ice cream parlor in the mall.

Independence Day Fun Fair. Camp Nowhere. County Fair. Iceys, ice cream, fireworks. I'm going to give it to the fun fair, though, because. Yeah. Again, the Marine County... Shout out the Marine County Fair. Like, you know, there's amusement parks and then there's county fairs.

And they're just so singularly summer. And the rigged games that I remember playing and sometimes winning, the goldfish I got the Marine County Fair, which very soon thereafter died. The Jim Carrey is the Riddler poster that I won that was like a cherished... item that I owned. You know, the weird shit you eat only at a county fair. The way you take your life into your hands every time you go into one of those rides, like, that's just, that's a very potent summer jolt of electricity.

So that's what I would say. I watch those scenes and in a really great, powerful way, I can, like, feel the stomach cake that is so specific to the oil that funnel cake is fried him, you know? Or like the burn abrasion on your leg from like a tilt-a-wirl if your shorts were too short, you know, it's just a very evocative thing. That is my pick as well. I will be addressing the community pool in other categories today. So I think it gives me permission to focus on the fair here.

We have a responsibility to talk about the pool elsewhere. I do think my runner-up is using the fireworks to attack the monster at the mall. Very good. Very nice way to say this came out on July 4th weekend. This is set on July 4th, et cetera. So I like that as well. Most important relationship. I mean, is Robin and Steve for me?

But given that we already talked about that at nauseam, I will throw in 11 in max. not only because of how often they used clips from this mall montage in season four for both 11 and Max to remember what it's like to be a human and a friend, I feel like they were so grateful to have all of that footage to play with. But this is so important because that moment that Max says when they are like trying to figure out 11's style in the gap and just. she's like, she's like, who are you, like the style that works for you, not what Mike likes and not what hop likes, but what do you like? And it matters a lot to me. You know, they have their like sleepovers. They're talking about rough mont. They do a double sleepover. Like, that's true friendship. If you can go from a sleepover, sleeping over at one friend's night and then double down the next night, like the kids don't know where their kids are. That's, that's important to think about. But also,

I was just like, this friendship is immediate and it is so important. And for Elle, you know, we love Max's introduction in season, like, in previous seasons, but, like, the way in which she and Elle are, like, pitted against each other. Yes. And then the miracle of their, of their bonding and, like, Mike's, like, Mike's irritation with it. They're conspiring against me. But the way in which when we split up into various groups, when the monster is attacking at the end, it's Max and Mike and 11. Like, Max and 11 are like, you know, a, you know, and then when Max is devastated over what happens to Billy, she collapses into 11's arms, you know what I mean? And so it's just like that is so necessary and so good for a character like L to have.

And then she's about to move away to California and be ripped away from all that. So that sucks. But it really, it matters a lot. And I love that they took the time for that inside of the season. Yeah. I think it's fantastic. This was, in our prior to season rewatch pods, this was one of the first categories that I penciled in for those pods. Like, I really knew who and what I wanted to feature in that category.

And this was a little different for me of this pod because, I have basically like my contenders, but like you, I'm just like I'm talking about these characters and their relationship in so many other categories. So my pick is also Stephen Robin and then more broadly the scoop's troop and how that's used, Steve, Robin, Dustin, Erica. I just have them in so many other categories. I'm like, I can't pick them here. Kind of co-heartbeats of the show, I think, with the Hopper L. Hopper Joyce, dual Hopper relationships. And then then Max and L was my other contender here, but I have all of them in other categories, like prominently featured.

And so I decided to go with something here that I'm going to concede. I don't think it's the most important relationship for the season, but it's like the one that maybe feels important that I honestly got, I was like, I am not talking about this anywhere else. I don't have this anywhere else. This maybe is something we should talk about here. So I'm going with a super important thing that I realized I wasn't going to talk about elsewhere on the pot unless I picked it here. And my pick is LN the Mind Flaier via Billy. Because I think that the

you let us in, like that sequence, don't you see all this time. We've been building it. We've been building it for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it for you. And now it's time, time to end it. And we are going to end you. we will, I will not get into the specifics here. We'll save the specifics for season four, but I will say this is pretty important in season four. Yeah. This idea. So it felt like worth, even though I said at the top of the pod that this feels like the season where the kind of lore is teased out, maybe the least fully compared to the other seasons. And I do think that's true. This aspect of it, what is the connection between L and what is happening here? Uh, is, is,

obviously going to be very important for the endgame of season five and is very central in season in season four, which we'll talk about in the next couple pods. And so, yeah, important in a different way. It's not the one I care about the most. It's not the one that generates the most meaningful scenes. Those are the other relationships, which will continue to toast throughout the other categories. But yeah, this one is like, okay, they're giving us something here that will be pretty central to the canon of Stranger Things. And this felt like the spot to note it. And then also, of course, it's connected with the way that, like, L. reaches, you know, penetrates and reaches Billy in a very, like, Patronus slash running up

that Hill Cape Bush, you know, is coming in season four away. Also enjoyed that. So, yeah, that's why, that's my pick. I'm glad, I'm glad you brought up. I actually don't have Billy anywhere else. Yeah, exactly. I was like, oh, no, this is nowhere. I think it's important to talk about in terms of, like, I, as I said in our, in our previous pot,

Billy's introduction didn't really work for me. Yeah. Because I felt like that sort of turn on the bully, the bully was bullied sort of thing, comes too late in the season and is sort of deployed not well enough to really define what came before it. But in this season, Billy's angst and, you know, the Mind Palace memory stuff that 11 does. This exploration, which I think, you know, is important to think about again when we think about, you know, the Vecna creation and stuff like that is like, what is the origin of evil inside of a person? Like, hurt people, hurt people. Like, where does it all come from? So I think all of that's interesting.

And then also when you were just talking about sort of the mind players focus on 11, it reminded me of a line that I think about a lot from an episode about The Vampire Slayer, which you have seen, but we will talk about later, which is passion, where a character. talks about a villain's preoccupation with our heroine and says, you're still the only thing he thinks about, right? How close that idea of, like, of, like, destructive fixation can sit right next to sort of, like, other obsessions and how that idea of obsession of passion, of all of that sort of stuff is commingled and so close. So, great stuff. Great stuff.

Love it. Can't wait to talk about that episode more in a couple of. I know. Oh, God. Okay. Next category, most emotional moment. I have absolutely no doubt you know what I picked here. What did you pick?

My pick is sort of similar to your billy pick previously. It's not that I can't talk about anywhere else. It's like I'm not actually sure I think this is the most emotional moment, except it catches me off guard and makes me cry every single time. So I was like, I think I have to pick it. even though, like, really, I don't think it is, but actually viscerally, it kind of is. Just gets me off guard. Carlos will play this clip.

They're funny, don't you think? Yes. I know. I just wish they'd get back together again already. Me too. Okay, so. Bob. Joyce comes home from work having, like, put off Hopper's invitation to dinner.

microwaves some sad lasagna for one and sits in front of the TV to watch, you know, the kids are not there, sitting from the TV to watch TV alone, and then flashes back to watching cheers with Bob. And it's important inside of this season where we meet Joyce and she's just not ready to move on from the devastation of losing Bob to the end of the season where she proposes, you know, that she and Hopper go on a date. So we need to, like, see where she starts where she comes from. But this just like, I think I forget that it's coming every time it comes. And then it's just sort of like, Sean Austin's back for a brief second. She's so happy and they're just sharing this thing together.

This idea of a shared story of like what you and I love to do is just like they're talking about Sam and Diane from Cheers and wanting them to get back together and all this or stuff like that. And then smash cut back to Joyce alone with her lasagna front of the television. And it echoes one of my favorite TV moments of all time, which is from a show that Stranger Things Does a lot of debt to, which is Freaks and Geeks, one of my all-time faves. And there's a moment where a scene where Martin Starr's character comes home from school, makes himself a grilled cheese sandwich, sits down in front of the television, by himself with a grilled cheese sandwich, and a glass of milk, chilling combination. and watches Gary Shanling stand-up routine and then eats a brownie and just laughs. And that is about sort of like solitude dispelled by your communion with the stories you love and the entertainment you love and stuff like that. So it's a very joyous moment-ish for that character. And so this is just like a really sad reflection of that of like how this thing that you took delight in can become so sad and so empty when the person's,

used to share it with is gone. So yeah, it's hard to put it up against some of the, like, extremely sad things that happened this season, and I have some runner-up so we can talk about a second, but I kept coming back to this, and I was like, I have to pick Bob and Flashback. It just gets me every time. I love that pick. Oh, man. That's a great pick.

I really love that. That's beautiful. Yeah, it's, I'm not, I'll try not to spoil another show for people who would have no reason to expect spoilers for that show here. but like reminds me a little bit of the conversation we had during Last of Us season two, a few episodes in when one character has lost and is missing another and just the reminders that are everywhere and the most routine things, like a dappling beam of sunlight catching the sleeve of a jacket that reminds you of somebody, you know, and like the rhythms of your life that you used to share with somebody when that person is not there anymore, the things that bring you joy cause you pain. Yeah, I always, I think that's another great example of that, that larger note you struck earlier of just the show like taking a pause. Like we are just with Joyce as she pours the wine and looks down at the peas and like there should be room for moments like that because they're as important as the fact that like this is a town on a hellmouth, a hell mouth, a hell mouth now, I think I think I think that's a hellmouth now, I think, that's a great thing. Yeah.

Well, you know, they just get better and better at this, right? Like there's Bob stuff here, which I think is better than the Barb stuff that came before it. And then the evolution into like the billy stuff in season four. You know what I mean? Like how do we reckon with the loss that we just experienced? So, yeah. Anything's better than confronting Barb's photo on the toilet. It's not great.

What's your, what's your pick here? Surprising no one. My pick here is Hopper's letter. Carlos, can we hear a snippet? But I know that's naive. It's just not how life works. It's moving. Always moving, whether you like it or not.

And yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad. And sometimes, it's surprising. Happy. This kills me every time, no matter how many times I watch this. So this is, of course, like the very end, other than the, Stinger, the very end of the season, we think, we should say for anybody

who didn't watch season three in real time, the Theory Corner was buzzing right away. There was like, here are all of the bits of evidence that Hopper is not really dead, like, all over the internet immediately. But still, you worry, you wonder, you hear not the American in the Stinger, and still, you're like, dare I hope. And regardless,

the characters in the story think he's gone, right? No matter what our theory brains are doing at home, like Elle thinks she has lost Jim Hopper. Joyce thinks that she has lost Jim Hopper. We just talked about this. I had this on my list for the best speeches of the century. So far episode that we did. So we just talked about it recently. When I covered season three in real time, it was like one of the things that I just couldn't stop focusing on in real time in the moment. Like from the first time I saw this through now, every time I revisit it, it still hits me as powerfully. I just adore it. And I like, I think.

that part of the clip is my favorite, but one A and one B is like what comes right after that when he says, so you know what, keep on growing up, kid, don't let me stop you, make mistakes, learn from them when life hurts you because it will remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave, which I just love and think is like such a gift for Hopper to be able to give to Elle in her moment of grief. Hopper is a complete mess across the season. Like, he is just acting. A lot of notes.

Yeah, he's acting. And, like, that's part of why I love it because he's just like, he, you know, as, as Murray will say, he's, like, behaving like a, like, a man child and a brute and, like, the nonstop bickering. And he's, like, you said earlier, like, questioning people around him and he's insecure. And, like, does he behave? well? No. But does he behave in a way to me that feels like very human? Yes. And I think that like with Elle in particular, watching him at this phase where he is like the way that he behaves with Mike and what he does with Mike is like horrible. But it comes from this place that we as characters who have watched Jim Hopper for years now really understand, which is like, Elle is at a place that Sarah never got to.

and he's afraid. But he also wants to find a way to, like, help her be who she can be. And, like, he doesn't know how. And I think that's a really important thing to show us. And it's, like, I love that this letter is, it's simultaneously, like, the gift of that message from a person who is gone. Like, they have their beautiful little moment at the mall. They sit, they hold hands. They get to kind of repair and heal a little bit before everything that happens.

but this is ultimately also like a misconnection kind of a moment. Like this is what Hopper didn't actually have the strength in real time to sit there and say. And they didn't get that moment and they do in a different way. And I just think that's like really potent to show us. And I always love when we glimpse because he has the moment at the general store with Joyce where he's basically like, can you do it for me? She's like, no, you got to do it. But I can help you prep. And they write.

And then when we see that he's at his cabin and he sits down and then he does do it himself. Like these are his words. This is like what we hear here. This is from him. This isn't what Joyce coached him up to do. Yeah. It's not what Joyce said him to say. Yeah.

And I don't know. I just like, I just really love it. I think that desire to try to like reach out to the most important person in your life and communicate something that feels like the most important thing you're carrying inside of you. But like you don't really know how. is like a really lovely thing to capture. And again, this is just very entwined with this season long and series long study of change.

You know, I love the way that he says, like, life is moving, always moving. I love the power behind that idea that, like, when something hurts, it doesn't mean you should run or hide, even though that's a human, normal thing to do. It means, like, you've felt something that was worth mourning, you know, that the loss of it means you had something that was precious. And so, of course, it hurts when it's gone, but, like, it means that it was there. So, yeah, I just, like, I just love this scene. I will talk elsewhere about the what were the footage that's paired with it and how it's edited and the theory corner stuff around that, which is still very top of mind for us, as you already alluded to.

But in terms of just the emotional, like, wallop of this, it, it, it just shreds me every time. I love it. I think to, when I was rewatching this. most recent time. And he got to that part about like, you know, the heart means you're out of the cave and something like that. And I was, it just sort of like flashed across all these moments inside of the season. Like, you know, Robin and Steve in the bathroom.

Like, it's letting someone close enough that they can hurt you. You know, you just said something similar. But I think it's like that letting someone in Hopper, who drinks plenty to medicate this season but is no longer popping pills, thankfully, but who when we met him was so medicated and so reserved and so numb. Yes. That he's not letting Joyce in. He's not letting all these people in.

And he's just solely sort of peel back those layers and let people in. And it is uncomfortable. And I have major issues with Hopper this season. And in a way that I hope does not yuck your yum for Hopper this season. Because like, not at all. I love, I love homicidal vampires. So, like, who the fuck am I to, like, whatever? But, but, like, thinking about, like, Jonathan and Nancy, like, a pair that I am not, like, all that invested in necessarily, but, like, their fight that they have, you know, about her being privileged and his Oliver Twist routine and stuff like that.

The way in which there are these various breaks these season, Dustin being separated from his friends all season for, you know, plot reasons, but also because. Because, like, none of them gave a shit about him being, like, his radio and talking about his girlfriend and stuff like that. They didn't believe him. No one gave a shit about him. Those breaks that then reheal stronger. Jonathan and Nancy coming back after that fight or, you know, Hopper and 11 talking to each other in the mall. Or, you know, Dustin saying, I could have used you down there and they're like, we could have used you up here. Like, all of these reconnection points that heal back stronger.

Because there was something that hurt to have you close to them. but it was too important to let go of, and so you have to do the work of healing it. My runner-up for most emotional moment ties into all that and ties into your key scene that you pulled out, which is poor wet will destroying Castle Buyers. You know, stupid, stupid, you know, like, it's just, like, devastating.

To watch what that kills me. You know? Yeah. Really God. When he picks up the Ghostbusters picture and tears it, It's like, oh, my God. And that's everything because it's the friend group. It's Jonathan.

It's everything that gave him a sense of structure and safety. It was his safe place. Yes. In the upside down. You know what I mean? And it's just sort of like. Mood shift. Yep.

Funniest moment. Pull us back up. I have so many. This is not a Steve moment, but I just want to say I have like so many Steve runner-ups for this and we can talk about all of them. Joe Keri continues to say. Honestly, but my funniest moment actually requires some imagination because it takes place off screen. We don't get to hear it, but it gets invoked.

So I will listen to the clipboarder is invoked, and then we can discuss what this visual is. Excited. Carlos, will we play this clip, please? How long have I been out? A while you've been drifting in and out. Slowly. Thank you for picking this. So

mere seconds later They discuss how his clothes are soaked To your delight We can talk about Joyce taking his clothes off Sure That's his own name I would like you to now envision

Winona Ryder Joyce dragging an unconscious Wet Hopper Slowly back to his cabin I like that they lampshaded this because they were just sort of like, how did she get him back there?

And the fact that she's like slowly. And then I just like, this time I just sat there and thought about that and just thought about the physical comedy of Winona Ryder dragging David Harbor, whet back to his home. And it just like absolutely killed me. So that's my pick. I think this is an incredible pick. It's obviously something that is deeply improbable. I'd go so far as to say makes no sense.

And yet we all know. As much like the candy later. Physics, told you. Physics, bitch. Yeah. Physics bitch. Yeah.

We got some magnets bitch action in this season. It's all coming up breaking bad and inception paradox bitch for us. I, this is a moment where I am deeply okay with the show team saying, we just need Hopper to stand up, drop the blanket, have to. go, oh, and have Hopgo? Why am I naked? And every question could just melt away. I'm not, this is not picking nits. I'm not like, no, actually this couldn't happen. I was just like, I wish they had filmed a few like moments of her like tugging, dropping, like pushing. Like, I think that would have been really funny to watch. Same. I also wish that. Here's my actual favorite thing about

this. Yeah. It kind of already done this this season. Not that she needs to like carry in, hold and good work him out of his sodden outfit aspect of it. But elsewhere, previously in the season, he opens his door in a towel. Sopping wet. Sopping wet. And they're like, let's run it back. Yeah, dripping wet. Like, does not...

Hopper does the insane thing where he gets out of the shower instead of toweling himself off, he merely, like, he's just going to air dry. Likes to air dry. Quick question. Do you think David Harbor got a wet bump that day? for acting. Follow-up question, whose job was it to, like, spray it down with the glycerine between takes to make sure he stayed, sobbing wet? These are all questions. We're merely asking. Third question. Are they hiring still?

Scholars of cinema and television, just who are interested in the way the sausage gets made, if you wouldn't catch my... Fraising. Wow. Jeez. Your funniest moment. Really love that pick. Great stuff. Okay. I believe... I can't remember if it was he one or for season two. I believe it was season two where I kind of hinted that like there was a pick coming across all the seasons. That just when we started, when we were like, we're going to do this, I knew it would be my pick. And here it is. This is my funniest pick for this season, which is, I don't know. It is the thing that makes me laugh the most of anything that happens

in the series over four seasons. Carlos, can we hear my clip? Henderson. Henderson. He's back. He's back. I'm back. You got the job. I got the job. How many children are you friends with? Robin, Queens. This is your, how was the pull-out Jonathan, which is my number one funniest thing that happens to say this other things. Yes. You know that this is a viral TikTok audio? Do you know that this is like a very popular TikTok audio?

Of course. know that because my entire relationship to TikTok used to be things that you send me and now it's it's it's nothing yeah because I'm on in the middle of TikTok for a while yeah you haven't sent me a TikTok in a minute but I did not know that I do remember like seeing this because I think they this was one of the it featured in one of the first trailers right so I remember like immediately just the joy this is of course from chapter two mall rats everything about this is perfect seeing Dustin and Steve reunite after Dustin has been gone to camp, realizing that their bond that we spent so much time talking about in season two and celebrating is preserved, is intact, is lasting Steve's face

when they move to the booth and they're talking and catching up over ice cream. Dustin says, she says kissing's better without teeth. And Steve's just like, you're just like, these two are eternal. And harder than TV Cates, huh? That's the best. These two are eternal. And yet. the perfect sprinkling in of Robin to branch us out into the new and how it all just, like, this is alchemy. That's what this is, this moment. It is perfection.

And obviously, like, Robin witnessing, you know, earlier, we got, like, the dinghous your children are here. Yeah. The way that Robin responds to this, like, Steve, the Hare Harrington, the babysitter, alter ego that ultimately goes from being an alter ego to just who Steve is. is just absolutely perfect. And Steve, this I think actually does kind of connect nicely to the more kind of thematically and emotionally rich stuff

we already talked about today. Like, Steve, Mr. Cool, coming out and being like lightsaber sound, whoosh, wish, like Steve's a nerd now. Steve's a dork. A little like air trumpet moments. This is the best. That's the best.

I absolutely love it. That's my pick. Scariest moment. Oh, no, you have some runners up. Yeah, yeah, hit me. I would like to further celebrate. See, before we get to Steve, I will give this to Jonathan. I think the ongoing runner of Nancy busting into Jonathan's dark room when he is developing

photos is really funny. It's good stuff. It's good. Here's my Steve. What have we not gotten to with Steve? Steve's saying whatever happened to standards to Dustin when they're watching the girls from his high school sort of like flirt with people that he thinks undesirable. He's like, come on.

Steve grabbed with a bag of popcorn, which he mentioned. Steve flipping his ice scooper, which he mentioned. And he says, come on, dude, not my scooper. But doesn't wash it. But doesn't rinse it. No. After Dustin licks it. My groin.

It fell on my groin after the elevator. Fantastic stuff. Yeah. Also, please, can you redirect your stream when he's pissing down to the elevator It's like, can you redirect your stream? Great stuff. Oh, man. Last one at least, this one belongs to Max, right?

And 11, right, they scream, but like happy screams. What are happy screams going to lend you my mom's consmo? Incredible stuff. Absolutely. Genuinely incredible moment. Max wise to the world in a way that Elle is just simply not yet. Yeah, Elle's got a lot to learn. I don't know if this is going to come up later?

Can we talk about it now? I know, let's do it now, actually. This is one of my favorite, this is one of my favorite corners that you could take us to in a stranger things chat, please. This is the moment. I have one other Steve thing,

but I'm going to save it for another category, actually. So let's talk L. 11 not knowing what Illinois is, even though she went to Chicago in a previous season, is so upsetting. I understand that Hopper is focused on Word of the Day, or watching Westerns or Miami Vice or whatever it is.

But as you texted me, perhaps some geography lessons are in order. Illinois is right next door to Indiana. Like, what are we doing here? Help this girl. Please help this girl. She needs it. That's all. Illinois.

This is incredible. I like when they try to clarify and she just sort of shrugs and it's like, Illinois. I know. Great stuff. Worrying, but great. Scariest moment. One of you have here. Okay, I do love you, and I do love how hot you think Hopper is this season, and I do support you in that. Nonetheless, roll this clip. I'm afraid no alcohol is allowed off the premises.

You do anything I want. Yeah, that's terrible. This man in an absolute emotional psychological freefall who is demonizing his daughter's boyfriend, railing against Joyce, who is a tiny woman while he's like shirtless and wet and like banging on walls that she didn't show up for something that was not a date. He said it wasn't a date. And then he's like, you fucking stood me up. He's just huge and careening out of control all season and the fact that this is the chief of police.

And he says multiple times. I know. When he talks about it when he talks about like disappearing Mike's body. Like I can do whatever I want. I'm the chief of police. Like this is a man who should not have any power in the community. He needs therapy, not a badge of a gun. I can do whatever I want.

I'm the chief of police chilling. It is. To my core. It does not know how to pronounce Kianti on top of. What's you say? Chianti. It's great. Cheanti.

Chianti. Yeah, women like cherries. All women love cherries. It's great stuff. It is, I'm always grateful when he goes, even though he eventually, he does crumble and succumb. But he does have the moment when he goes to downhall where he's like, let these people express their American right to protest. Yeah, which I'm always grateful for. Before he arrests all of them. Even though it doesn't last. Shows us what he believes inside just for a second there.

Oh, our hoppy. Impeach chief hopper. Or set him to a Russian prison. One of the two. I have a slightly less serious hopper pick here. But the hygiene of the characters has already come up multiple times today. You know how I feel about germs. I like to watch my hands.

I'm a big Pirel person. Listen, it was a different time. That's fine. When Hopper pumps the gas, taking the pump. He's about to accommodate to the Toddfather, Cadillac.

Hand on a public gas pump, right? And then he has procured a snack that I think is wonderful. Hopps 7-Eleven order, it's basically like if Mal and CR went together because you've got the funnions, the slim gyms and the Coke,

that's me, and then the box of SIGs, CR. He opens a slim gym, and with a bare hand that he has touched the gas pump with, he snaps off the top of the slim gym and eats it and then hands the rest to Todd.

That's harrowing. He needs to get my guy some Purell. I'd like to also throw out a couple other just quick nominations here. Alexi conceding that strawberry's fine. If you want a cherry, it's not fine. It's just not. The scariest moment, Alexi settling for Starbury. After when, Hop has beat the shit out of him, among others.

He tested him. He tested him by any. And who was proven right in that scene? Was it Murray or Joyce? It was Hopper. I do really love when Hopps's like, they didn't have it. They didn't have it.

David Harper's delivery of that is really good. He's so good. I mean, he's like, this is Burger King of the 7-11. We're nowhere near each other. Murray's like, I never said they were. That's great. Hopper, on the list of like impeached cheap hopper,

I will also add when he just like kills those three Russian soldiers. And he's like, I had it. man. Yes. Now, I was sure that Murray did. Murray saying Lieutenant Molotovie did not have it. He definitely did not have it. But Hop went to the machine gun with a quickness.

Just like spring bullets very quickly. The lack of, you know, different time. Again, lack of concussion protocol for these children. You know, we do get bleary-eyed L-cam toward the end. But before that, I'm like, has anyone checked Jonathan's brain? He was hit in the head with a metal. stool like 87 times during the hospital fights, that's very worrying. Very worrying. Oh, God. I guess I'll take it more serious. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, no, no. You want to put in

serious. Not, not, I don't really have like a serious contender because I think most of the like scary monster stuff I'll hit in another category. But I, I do, I will say on a more serious note, I think that the deployment of American Pie as the soundtrack for the scene where Billy and Heather Flai, Tom and Janet, and, like, the contrast of the idealized Americana juxtaposed against that domestic horror, like the dining room table, into the living room. That's spooky. Heather's blank expression is she, like, wields the wine model. Very, very good. I will say, Mrs. Driscoll gobbling that fertilizer? It's a no for me.

Absolutely tough. A lot, I mean, we'll get to the goop a little later on that. Goop Rat. In terms of the sort of like Buffy-inspired real-world threat becomes monster, I will say Nancy being stalked by the sexist from her workplace and her ineffectual

boss. Like that, that is genuinely scary to me, that like hospital sequence. That, like, it's scarier when it's Jake Busey than when it's the goop monster. Yeah. And I've one for you, just for you.

When the Scoops Troop slides down the center of the escalator, is that close proximity to something is very scary to you, which is just going down an escalator. I don't like a down escalator. How was the slide down the center of it? How did that sit for you? Episode 7. If I didn't feel so deeply opposed to just smearing public filth, fall over my person. I actually would prefer to slide down the divider in the middle of an escalator because the thing that fills me with dread with an escalator is just, it's just the

first step. Once I'm on it, I'm okay. A little like a tentative on the balance front, but it's really just, it's the first step and the question of will it be plummet to my doom? So the slide kind of takes that out of the equation for me. I don't mind it. Yeah. As you know, I now travel with Purell. A little bottle that you gave me when we were at ComCon is now in my bag always. Yeah. You still have that. Do you got there like 20 since then?

Sorry, I do. Do you puerle your hands after every time you pump gas? You're telling you, pump gas, and then you purel your hands. Well, back in the day, and now I have an electric, so it's not really an issue for me anymore. But if I touched an electric charger at a public place, I would absolutely. Absolutely use Purell. Oh, my God, immediately. Then I would probably go wash my hands and then I would use Purell again.

Then I would use moisturizer so that my skin didn't fall off. Right. Speaking of. Speaking of time. Yeah. Oh, on the Bruce Tom Hospital Chasing, which I agree is harrowing, that's a good little hive mind reminder moment, too, when, like, there's the one, the crunch in the nose and the other guys, like, ah. They do some good, some good little stuff with that. Goopiest moment.

Are you taking us back to our little rat friend who explodes and then sloshes forward with his little tail still visible? That was mine? I really thought it was going to be goop rat. There's just like few things that goop better than that rat gooping out of the cage. And there's also when the goop remains of Tom and Bruce go down the sewer and the bone is left behind. Those are the two. Those are the two. It's a coin flip between those two.

No, you got something else. It's actually not my number one. My number one. It also involves Tom. It's when the mind flare latches on to Tom's face, and we go from like suck to blow, and it's just sort of like, for a while, it's just goop in on his face for a protracted period of time. It's not phrasing. Suck to blow.

And for a while, it's just goop it on his face. Fuck to blow timer on the phrasing. front. Suck to Blow is just an elite spacewell's reference. Anyone with taste knows that. You're right. You're right. Keith would be impressed.

You have a spot of family video whenever you want. Thank you. Yeah, that's a, this is a real, this season was made for goopiest moment, man, or goopiest moment was made for this season. I love the sub. This is also where we'll get to our subtitle category later, but it does start to really level up this season. We get a lot of good stuff this season on the subtitle front.

And I think that when Mrs. Driscoll's rat explodes, turns it to the goo starts marching forward with its little tail still visible and we get goo snarling. That's just great. I sent you a photo of that when I was watching it. It's just amazing. The chunks of bone being left behind on the sewer grate is so revolting. Like, I just, it's bubbling and squelching. That's the accompanying subtitles there.

You know, the green goo, not Prometheum, alas, but the green goo can't hope to compete ultimately. And I got to say, I love that there's neon green goo. I mean, the 80s were a decade of neon green goo. So I love that it shows up in this, you know, it's a teenage mutant Ninja Turtles, Nickelodeon double-dair sort of vibe. It's very good. I love double-dair. Yeah.

Great stuff. All good picks. Very goopy season. Neither of us picked Billy touching the windshield of his car after the crash and we get wet, check. Maybe that'll come up in... I did write that down to my notes. I wrote that down on my note as like an early Goop option. Yeah.

Oh, God. Best coming of age moment. When do you got here? This is always a fun one. I would like for people to skip ahead. Actually, I'm going to go back to Goop for a second. I don't like people to skip ahead if they have like delicate ears or like children nearby. Okay.

Should we consider the moment when Billy walks by Carrie? and her friends at the pool as an option. Certainly, yeah, definitely. Just asking questions. Okay, best coming of age moments. Oh, my God. Great stuff. You're the best.

What do you have here? What's your best coming of age moment pick? I don't have anything beyond your pick for seed because it's like, Mike and Luke being little bitches to Will while he unfroles his campaign, like just extreme. My Mike Wheeler hate abounds this season, right? But like Mike and Will and the Rain, which is your scene, and then, you know, Will destroying Castle Buyers. Like, that's just like a real, like, growing pangs moment.

So I knew you were going to talk about elsewhere, but, like, I couldn't, I couldn't top it. Couldn't leave it out here. That's my. Yeah. So this is where, because I didn't, this is the reason I didn't pick Max and L and most important. relationship is because I had already decided to feature the Material Girl shopping stream montage here. Brilliant in all respects no matter what, but the extra just genius of splicing the hapless boys into this sequence is the best to me. Like the way that we are cutting

between the groups and the guys are flailing, looking for their apology, gives panicking as they look at the lingerie squirting perfume in their faces like dipshits. They're just hapless. They're lost. And the girls are thriving. They are thriving. Which, as you mentioned when you talked about this relationship, and I really like, I really agree, it's, you know, this lovely snapshot of female friendship. I also really love the way that we evolve from the kind of like threatened jealousy of the end of season two into this embrace.

And even though it's kind of out of necessity, it ends up becoming such an authentic thing for both of them. like that. Then you have the empowerment of going to the mall when you're young and like asserting your independence and discovering who you are. You talked about that line already, but I love it too. The like, how do I know what you like? You know, you try things on. You find something that feels like you like me. I just think it's so great. And the smiles on their faces. I mean, I love making the Orange Julius explode and we hate Stacey now and always. So she really, I mean, she had it coming. She had it coming. You know, the trying on the shoes, the trying on all of the outfits, taking the photos. But when they walk out and they're like strutting and they're

smiling and their hair is bouncing and they just like had a fun day out in the world in a place L is not even supposed to be with a person who 24 hours before she never would have been there with is like such a great, wonderful little moment and the way that the party will still come together to fight this evil and they are united and they are still in each other's lives and they are working through their complicated feelings and the way that they are, like, changing. But there's this moment where it's like, yeah, sometimes these paths diverge a little bit. And you go and have a day with a new person at the mall. And I just really love it.

And, of course, it builds towards the, you know, instantly iconic, I dump your ass. I dump your ass. Moment in front of the bus, which is just absolutely brutal stuff for Mike Wheeler. And then giggling on the bus after, like, after they go. The bus giggle is great. And, like, you have, like, you think of L on the bus. just a lone, traveling to and from Illinois, place she did not remember. Innoid?

I know. But, you know, that, like, loneliness and a stranger asking, you know, where she was going home. And then you see here sitting next to somebody who she feels like a sense of belonging with. It's just really lovely. I really like the moment where Max offers up the comics Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. And, you know, so Max's big DC head. And of course, Elle doesn't know what these things are. And Max is like, see, this is who she explains who Wonder Woman is.

And Matt is like, this is why you just can't hang out with Mike all the time. It's just great. She's learning all sorts of new things about herself. So, yeah, that's, and you know, could this be needle drop? Of course. I actually have multiple categories, say, outside of the needle drop category that are musically inclined, because this is just an all-time needle drop season. Yeah.

Really great. Really, really great. Actually, I have a musical one coming up in the next category, which is the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when your Uncool Award for honoring the nerds. What do you got here? I have so many. Why don't you go first? You've got a clip. So why don't you?

Carlos, let's hear my clip for the Nerds Award. You can make it up to me now. What? I want to hear it. Not right now. Yes, now, Dusty Bun. Susie Poo, this is urgent. Yes, yes, you're saving the world.

I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earthsea, and he's about to confront the shadows. So this is Susie signing off. Wait, wait, wait, okay, okay, okay. And then after that, we are treated to one of the most memorable duets in the history of story, right down to a split screen, people. We get a split screen. This is Dusty Bun and Susie Boo. singing the never-ending story in order to get the accurate numbers, Plank's Constant,

to plug in and save the world. So all of this to me is like perfect. The musical number, obviously iconic. I love the way that like at the end of the finale, Lucas and Max are kind of mocking Dustin by singing this is great stuff. It's a very, I mean, there's so, we have a pop culture category. there's like so much pop culture nostalgia in this season, even by the standards of a stranger thing season. It's wild. But like we have talked about on other pods. We both are never ending storyheads.

And so this was like such a jolt of nostalgia for me watching this. I just loved it. Everybody realizing that Dustin does in fact have a girlfriend in this context is so incredibly entertaining and perfect to watch. I love the way that Dustin goes from like, because he's had a suzy switch frequencies because he needs everyone else to hear Plank's constant. And the way that he goes from like the abject mortification of realizing what he's about to have to do, and that his friends are going to hear this over the walkies, into just completely succumbing to the joy of sharing this thing with Susie. Susie's standing up and she's dancing. And then I just love the reaction shots.

My favorite is like Joyce, like against the wall and the bathroom. This is what I was the key of when I was like, it makes sense for Robin and Steve to sit in the bathroom. vomit drugs out of their system. This musical interlude, multiple shots of Joyce just up against a wall, like banging your head against the wall, being like

tick. We're on the talk. Guys. I love. The meta aspect of this Well, so Gaden Montarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink, we're all Broadway kids before they were a stranger thing kids.

So giving Gaten the opportunity to like flex how good of a singer he is here. And then giving Caleb and Sadie, who are also good singers, even though they're making fun of him later, like a little song moment later is really fun. Yeah. I just like, what could possibly be a bigger nerd victory than saving the world by correctly reciting Plank's constant after insisting on a duet, which you're sharing via the radio that your boyfriend built you at science camp? I have some follow-ups here. This comes from our listener, James. He says, I really enjoy the ironies that are stacked together in season three. Not only is a secret communist Russian base underneath a veritable shrine to American capitalism, also known as the mall, the season hinges on a lock that can only be open by using the scientific discovery Plains Constant of a man who hated Communists. As a fun but not ironic addendum to the second irony, Susie gives Dustin the 2014 version of Plains Constant.

The numbers would have been different in 1985 because the numbers changes our measurements get better. So the number she gave Dussons shouldn't have worked. Science. Who knew? Wow. So the word for honoring the nerds goes to our listener, James, who well actually. Who actually in Planck's constant. The Plains Constant inside of, so shout out bad babies.

Good job. James. Great stuff. I will give my awards, which my number one goes to Robin, the linguistic queen for bragging. for bragging that she knows multiple languages and for decoding the Russian. Great job. Runners up to the My Little Pony moment

between Erica Dustin. We mentioned, this is my nomination in a previous season one, but calling that the Hill Weathertop, this little like Lord of the Rings moment for the kids, and then calling the radio cerebro. It's just sort of,

baked into these kids and how they think about and define the world around them. So, yeah. Weather top really gets me. It's great. Seems like where? What are you talking about? Perfect. Oh, man.

Yeah, my little pony is a really great one. I love Edda Dustin is helping Erica, like, discover the fact that she's a nerd. Yeah, you're an nerd. Yeah. Lovely. Lovely. Okay. Ship Wars.

This is a season defined by breakups, attempted dinner plan. A lot of things that you could pick here. Breakups after a tough day at work. What are you going with? I feel like I know what yours is going to be. So I will zag. Okay. And say for the record,

I think Karen Wheeler should have fucked Billy before he got gooped. Oh my God. Incredible. And if Karen is in mortal peril and she's in five. in season five. If it's curtains for Carol in season five, Karen for season five, in season five,

like we don't know, but things look dangerous at the Wheeler household. Always, yeah. If Karen does not make it out of this series alive and she missed the opportunity to have sex with Billy when Ted is,

who Ted has been this entire time. This is an incredible take. I do really get a kick out of the moment at the fair when when they're watching Hop and Joyce run off and Ted's like, yeah, you know, well, you know what they say? Like someone for everyone and Karen is just like, that comes, that comes right after Karen Wheeler basically orgasms on the Gravitron for, I don't understand why.

Anyway, that's my, knowing that you're going to pick exactly what you're going to pick. Yeah. I thought I would give this one to Karen and Billy. So why don't you... That is an all-time zag, and it is an incredible one. You're a legend. I think she should have. The way that she looks at Billy when he puts the stick of gum in his mouth?

Really something. All the neighborhood ladies are having a time at the pool. Okay. I'll be coming back to them. They're historic to me. Okay, I have a clip for Shipwurst. Carlos, can we hear it? And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish-maid ritual.

So, please, for my sake, either quit your bickering or pull over, tear off those clothes, and get it over with already. Listen, there was an Alexi's like, they have a cure. The way that Murray and Alexi giggle in astonishment and mockery, And the idea that Joyce and Hopper have not fucked yet and the looks on Joyce and Hopper's faces. Winona Ryder's acting choice here is like, I'll just make that face I pulled when David Harbour gave that awards. Like, it's just like a very like, what are you talking about look on Winona's face here? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we like Marini attorney know the truth. This is the thing. Like, so of course I had to talk about Joyce and Hopper here. You know, I ship it. I've always shipped it. I continue to ship it. I believe that Murray is right and that these two should be fucking. Should they pull over and just fuck on the side of the road like he suggests? As you know, I've always had some notes on his particular suggestions. And that's also part of why this clip felt right is because the fact that for a second season in a row, Murray Bowman is like, I'm just going to point out to a couple people that they should fuck. And this time it is adults and not children in his home. So progress, I guess. But this is just an incredible beat for Murray. Applied with vodka. With alcohol and like, unbelievable stuff. This scene is really incredible. I get a particular kick out of him, like, kind of going almost like beat for beat, parallel structure to what he said to Jonathan and Nancy where he's sort of like, you know, let me.

I know what's in your past. Yes, yes, he's a brood, I know. It probably reminds you of a bad relationship. And gosh, you really like a nice man to settle down with but admit it. You're real curious to know what he's like in the sack. And it's like, again. Murray is correct. You feel like he was talking directly to you, Mallory, straight to your soul.

I feel like I know exactly what Hopper is like in the sack. Oh, Hopper, this guy, man. And then we get to, you know, we have all of the moments across the season, Joe. We've got, I do think it's kind of, it's worth remembering that Hopper is like a, he's like a canonical stick man in Hawkins, right? You know, we talked about the season one, like the woman who kind of just like comes out to his course to come back to bed, right? canonical stick man.

Use it with this, he used it with Harrison Ford. It's a, it's a big ringer term, for sure. Can't go to the library without having a like, you know, why didn't you call me? Like, hop is a man about town and has just absolutely no idea at any moment how to properly navigate his feelings for Joyce. The Enzo's scene you've already chronicled. in a meaningful and important fashion. The procurement of the outfit,

which will be coming up in another category, but just like the role that that plays in this season, sparked by the prospect of a date or not date with Joyce, the towel scene, the blanket scene, on and on we go across the season, sweating, filthy in the woods, and Joyce is like,

can you just, like, get away from me, you stink. He's jealous of sky. Clark, he's jealous of Alexi. Joyce calls him out on the bullshit. Yes, every man I talk to from now on has to be my boyfriend. And then you have the heart mixed in with Hop behaving like a complete moron when he's like reveals that he has learned that Joyce is considering moving away. It's important to me. It's important to me that you feel safe. Like this is a person he loves. He just doesn't quite know how to handle it. And Murray is like, guys, I'm going to try to help you work through this. Building toward the little tender scene sitting on the steps,

as they are plotting and waiting and Joyce. We get a little bit of like a little, little Peggy Steve. I had a date. Action, you know? Like, it's just all very powerful. And then building toward, of course, Joyce having to turn the keys

and looking out at him and the way that he has the tears in his eyes and the little sad smile and the nod. Just the best. I support how important this is to you. And so in that spirit. Yeah. I want to say that there are building blocks here of my favorite shit, which is their bigger, like the bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger all season to which is just covering for the sexual attention. I love that stuff.

There's just other Hopper stuff I don't love, but I do love that stuff. And I do ultimately, at the end of the day, support these two together, especially after Hopper's had a sobering time in the... in season four. I think postseason four Hopper. Great. Oh, man. Best quote. You have a short list?

You have a winner? What are you got? Okay. This is actually really hard for me to pick one for the season. Because, again, I didn't want to, like, dive into the letter territory that's, like, a very mal. I was just like, let's leave that for Mallory. But the letter is iconic and N and stuff like that. This one really, this is like sort of.

similar to my Bob watching Cheers pick, where I'm just sort of like, I'm going to have to now defend this pick, but like, it feels right to me and it will sound a little familiar. Carlos, can you play this? You can make it up to me now.

What? I want to hear it. Not right now. Yes, now, Dusty Bun. Susie Poo, this is urgent. Yes, yes. You're saving the world. I heard you the first time,

but Ged is also saving Earthsea and he's about to confront the shadows. So this is Susie signing off. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, okay. Okay. Oh, man. A LaGuin head, our queen.

It's the Ursula K. Le Guin for me. It's the best. It's that Susie does the whole season. Like, she's the perfect woman. And then our first shot of her, she's just like sitting there of an evening in her bedroom reading Ursula K. Le Guin. She is that woman. Like, she is that girl.

The fact that what I love about her is that she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, a lot's going on for you. But what's happening for Susie? What's Susie going to get out of this? You have talked to me since we got back from camp. There's some girl, I don't know that she's a child, there's some girl murmuring in the background of this radio call. I just want some fucking number for me that you, Dustin, should already know, by the way. And then she's like, I'm in the middle. of my story.

And so, like, her talking about Earthsea and, like, how she's at this pivotal moment inside of her novel. And what I like about... This is, like, a demented pick for Bethlehem. But what I like about it is that it's... I think it's great. It's like...

These kids are living a story. There's living the kind of stories that nerds dream about disappearing into. This is, like, Susie's in her bedroom in Utah, just sort of, like, vanishing inside of an Ursula Kayla Gwynne's story because that's just sort of like what usually

nerds do and Dustin's like living this kind of story day to day and so it's just like the gift of Stranger Things is like what if the stories that you love to read became your life like that's the joy of an amblin sort of adventure and so

making the never ending story song choice all the more perfect obviously I mean very very good if you've never like Obviously, you should see the never-ending story if you've never seen it, but most people have seen the never-ending story. You should read the never-ending story. Michael Enda's book is so good. And so, yeah, we just love a fantasy nerd. We love that for Susie. We love this for Dustin. Then he's got this cool girlfriend. And I know, I just had to pick it. I think it's genuinely, I'm confused by my own choice, but I'm also feeling really good about it. So I think this is an absolutely sensational pick. Gold Star. Thank you. No, no. It's. Susie will not. have to break into the records and change your transcript in season four, only Dustin's. Oh, man. Okay.

I had a hard time with this, too. I have, like, a short list of contenders. Maybe you can help me pick. All right. Dustin to Steve. Now that you're out of high school, which means you're technically an adult, don't you think it's time you move on for primitive constructs such as popularity? Just great stuff from our little wise man, Dustin.

Very good. A couple good Erica contenders. Erica is a real treat. and I enjoy both of these quite a bit. You know what this half big plan of years sounds like to me? Child endangerment. Great stuff. And I also then love the, you know what I love most about this country?

Capitalism. It's like just sort of bartering with them. That was great. Can't spell America without Erica. And then calling it Operation, Operation Child Endangerment. Fantastic. We already mentioned, hey, Dengis, your children here. We already mentioned think,

Phoebe King's only honor, which is just incredible. I really enjoy when Murray says to Hopper, you have dragged an enemy of the state into my home as carelessly as a child tracks and shit on his shit. Murray has some great lines. That's a really, that's a really fun one. Oh, and then another Murray one. He's translating for Alexi, but then kind of tax on his own commentary here when he says, could Edison not turn off a lamp?

Could Bell not hang up a phone? A cocky bastard. And then this was the... So this was when you were running through all the Steve moments and funniest moment. Here's my additional nominee, but I put it here in best quote. Steve saying to his torturers, I don't know if you have Russian ice cream or if that's considered gelato. It's like a perfect Steve moment.

to me. I just think it's so funny. Oh, man. So I don't know. I didn't really make a pick. I don't know. What's my pick of those? Hmm. I'll go with shit on his shoe. Let's let's get Marry another moment. That's a great one. Okay. From words to visuals, what is the most memorable visual of season three for you, Joanna? This is my first and easiest answer, actually. Tell me. And I think, I think it's the mind flare crashing down into the roof of StarCold. Like, the mind flare broken down into StarCourt Mall is the season.

Like that's what the season is. I do have a runner-up and I we do have a listener pick but I'm curious to hear what your memorable visual is. My pick is like from the opening scene in Russia when the machine fires up and then

crackles out and we get the initial explosion and the workers in their masks and their suits are like initially levitated into the air by the joltz of electricity, almost like Palpatine is there using force, and then they're fried and disintegrated, both because, of course, I mean, it looks really cool and memorable. It sets up, obviously, like, the specific terror that we feel when we see Hopper down there in Hawkins under Starcourt at the end. But I also just, part of the reason that's like a kind of

lasting visual for me is because I remember very vividly seeing that in the trailer for season and feeling like very afraid, very, very afraid. So that, I don't know, that one just really stuck with you. I was like, what is that? What is this new machine? Like, what is going to happen? And just being really worried. So, yeah, that's my pick.

My runner-up is one I talked about elsewhere in the summer setting. But I love when they're throwing the fireworks at the spider monster at the end. It just looks cool. I also really like the, this is like a subtler one. But in chapter one, I love that shot of the, of the kids and cerebro like silhouetted against the golden sunset atop weather gap. Yeah. That's a beautiful visual.

Beautiful. The radio tower there. That's a good one. What's your runner up? What do we have from the listeners from the bad babies? Okay. So our listener, Casey, and you've already mentioned this, but said the most of the memorable visual was Robin holding up the whiteboard to tally steve failures because it turned into a meme. And I saw it everywhere for months.

So that was a really fun one. The other pick that I have from this season is, you know, it's worth mentioning. So the final season, the directors are the Defer Brothers, Sean Levy, who obviously has directed a bunch of Stranger Things. But also Frank Deribon is directing a couple episodes of the final season of Stranger Things, which is really exciting. So in this season, Uda Bricewitz, who is done a bunch of severance and a number of other things, directs a couple episodes. And one of her episodes is when a flayed, but they don't know yet, Tom, is chewing out Nancy and Jonathan, and he kicks something and the camera can'ts.

And the rest of the scene is shot at this can'ted angle, like, inspired by Tom's moment of violence. And it is a very, like, arty bit of visual flare inside of a show that doesn't usually do that. And so I was just, like, really struck by that. I was just sort of like, what a fun choice that Uda made there in her, leaving her mark on Stager Things. But really, it's the mind-flaring StarCourt for me.

Like, that's, that's it. Yeah, that's good. Good stuff. Favorite pop culture influence on this season? The list is, it's interminable. It's impossible. Should we go back and, should be ping pong back and forth? You do one and I'll do one.

Yes, throughout, like, we'll try to cap ourselves. at like five to ten total, I guess. We've already talked about a bunch of them. But yeah, you start. Kick us off. What do you got? I'll go for the dead list and I'll say Mayor Dread Pirate Roberts and his Zach Morris phone. That's a great one.

I'd also think of Zach Morris when he picks up that phone. It is so huge. It is so huge. I guess we could just talk once more about Phoebe Kates. Fast times, obviously, all over Stranger Things always. but the Shoo-Li the Scoops of the season.

Outfit is like a fast-size reference. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Yeah, the whole food court mall thing, all of it, obviously. And then just the absolute magical payoff of Steve running into when the cardboard cut out

and remembering what movie he likes is great. Also, of course, just the like Billy gender swap of like hot person walking in us. When they're like, when they're like, when they're like, fake fuck she's leaving about Heather, who is.

is the like sort of Phoebe Kate's type and they're like, she's getting, she's going away. And then Billy gets the needle drop instead. It's a slow-mo. It's just great stuff. Great stuff. Very good. Yeah, Red Dawn, war games. Terminator. Day of the Dead,

but Dawn of the Dead for the shopping mall stuff. Body snatchers. The thing, obviously. Gremlins, the fly. Mallrats. Back to the future. Star Wars. Christine.

I wrote down to my list. Oh, Steve with the radioactive goop, very Indiana Jones, of course. I wrote, there's a sequence where when 11 and Max and Mike are hiding in the gap. And I was like, oh, is this Velociraptor in the kitchen? And then also you've got people huddling behind the. car as the mind flayer goes and I was like oh that's the hobbits hiding from the dark riders and then my follow-up question my notes was are there only so many ways you could show small people hiding from things and so because we already called out raptors in the kitchen for the season five trailer so I was like are there really so many ways that you can duck behind

something while something is stalking you so I wanted to uh that's so funny I had the same because like it is so the gap hideout is so Jurassic Parky but then I was like wait didn't jump? Didn't we just call us out on the season 5 trailer? They're doing it again, huh? But like, I guess it's one you keep running back. Oh, man. Great stuff. Another thing I hadn't Googled before, but, you know, Billy's license plate is PCE 235.

And I was like, is that a reference to something, like an Easter egg for something? And so, like, you know, the internet, especially Google's dumbest shit AI was like, well, the penal code for murder in California is 235 or whatever. The real answer is that, and I didn't know this, that 235 on a license plate is the same as 555 on a phone number. Interesting. It doesn't exist in real life, so you can do a 235 license plate and throw it on a movie license plate. So, fun fact, I learned. I had no idea. Yeah.

It's the 5555 of license plates. Jeez, genuinely learned something new today, as I always do when I'm with you. Oh, save. Most potent use of 80s nostalgia. What are you going with here? This is so dumb, but so very true to me. Mike's Doritos bag. Yeah.

Yep. I have such a strong memory of when Doritos bags looked like that. So Mike's Doritos bag. And then I also say Will and Mike riding in the way, way back of a station wagon. Yeah. Which I feel like. don't do anymore. No, no.

Probably because I remember that for when I was a kid, too. I loved doing that. Same. I loved on like a field trip when like someone's parent is driving and they've got the way, way back in there. And I'm like, I want to sit in the way way back. And then you would like play car games with the people behind you on the road and stuff like that.

Yeah. Yeah. I was not the driver. I was in the way, way back, but was in a car accident once sitting back there. Scary. Scary stuff. That was fine. Terrifying.

It was scary. Oh, my God. It was scary. Yeah. It was scary. It's really funny that you mentioned the Doritos because this is obviously the late 90s, not the mid-80s, but as I'm watching Buffy, when the vending machines are, the Sunnydell vending machines are frequently present in scenes. And I'm always like, boy, do I remember when Dorito bags looked like that. Yeah.

Or that's what the Coke can look like that or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. On that front, I really enjoy that we get an entire, because the new Coke. cans are sprinkled throughout the season, but the fact that we had an entire conversation, Lucas seen about New Coke and the comp to Carpenter's the thing is just like so funny to me. So that's great. The 80s fashion is always good in Stranger Things, but this season is Godtier.

Like the hats, the neon, the patterns, the short shorts, which we're talking about separately. It's just, it's incredible. I guess I'll toss in less charming and fun, but Cold War. paranoia in terms of the deployment of the Russians in this season. You know, obviously that's a, that's a very of the time story beat. And like, you know, we remarked upon this when we were revisiting the prior seasons. But like the seeds that are planted for like, well, what if, you know, they got a hold of this and they did this thing. Or like, you know, the cover stories or the fear that a Russian agent is that, you know, Elle is like,

a Russian agent in the neighborhood. and then to actually go there with the story in season three is, yeah, interesting development there, even though. I just call him Terminator in my notes. I guess his name is, is it Grigory? I did not bother to look it up because I just wrote Terminator every time. I was just like, Terminator, so there's that too. We'll stick with the 80s here. 80s parents, we have some notes, and I will just say that this is where I had all of the moms and adult women.

Hawkins, go into the pool with a full face of makeup on sitting there waiting for Billy, who yes, is graduated high school, but is a teen to walk by so that they can think about fucking him. This is just an incredible thing that obviously they're priming us for this at the end of season two when Karen and Billy have their moment at the door. Karen's just got this, got the romance novel still at the pool here. Just incredible. This is like, I will, I will spell that Karen, I had this in my fit, fit.

watch sort of thing, but I'll bring it up here. Yeah. Not just the suit. Karen wearing heels to the pool. My heels to the pool, Karen Wheeler. Excellent stuff. I actually have a Karen Wheeler moment for this in 80s parenting. We have some notes.

Me too. As my runner up. Yeah. It's like a good scene between Karen and Nancy in the kitchen. It was great. Later on the Raviton, when Joyce is like, where are our kids? Karen will be like, I don't know. Who knows?

I would like to read that entire quote. Oh my gosh, I can hardly keep track these days. They were at Dustin's, then Lucas's, then Max's. You know how it is, summer. Right. And then Erica also talks about her network of sleepover cover as well, blah. But she's like, but if I miss this party, my mom, blah, blah, but Karen and Nancy in the kitchen, right? You're a fighter.

I get it from you, mom, I get it from you. I got it from watching you, basically. It's extremely good. It's really, really good. And I really liked it. So, yeah. I love that because Karen and Nancy, like, you know, they have so much tension between them in the earlier seasons.

And, like, when does Nancy feel like she has to push back against Karen? When does she feel like she can, like, confide and open up to her? When does she feel like she's being judged? And so, obviously, we have, like, this access to how Karen is thinking about her own life. And, like, on the one hand, this feeling of, like, this is a thing I can't jeopardize my family, but also clearly feeling like a little bit trapped by it. And then, you know, saying to Nancy, like, people are always saying that you can't, that you shouldn't, that you're not smart enough, you're not good enough, right?

Like, go do the thing that you believe is right. And yeah, I'm always really struck by that scene. I love that, especially because, like, they set it up with Karen knocking at the door and you're kind of like, well, Nancy's not going to answer. She's not going to tell her mom what's going on because that's their history. and then when she does, it's like really lovely. I will say I think it's a silly and abrupt swing for Joyce to go from like clinging overprotective season two, Joyce, too. I'm going to Illinois and yeah, I'll call like once on the pay phone to try to figure out like where Will is and stuff like that.

11 is the one who like checks in on them and is like Illinois. Like she's the one looking where Hop is. Like for them to, like, we had notes about how overprotective, but then selectively forgetful they were in season two, Hopper's, like, stringent rules, all these sorts like that. But to go from that to like, they're like, we're about to open a rift when Alexi is in Murray's house and he's like, oh, yeah, the gate was still a little open. So we're opening it and stuff like that. And Joyce is like, our kids and hop is like, the whiskey. I was like, find 11. Like, what are we doing?

So, yeah. All priming us for just gallivanting about the globe in season four. Instead of checking it on the kids at all. Yeah, it's quite a swing. I agree. The fit or hair lord of season three. I mean, you know my pick here. It's the shirt.

It's the shirt. You got the shirt. You got the shirt. It's Hopper going full magna PI with the mustache and the shirt. Not to be clear when he has the blazer and the more kind of tidy. hair for the Enzo's date. But when he puts the shirt back on and he's got the light-washed jeans and the hair is messy and the mustache looks great and then he's really sweaty and dirty and eventually covered

in scratches. In other words, the aragorn. Like the filthier he gets, the hotter he looks across the season. It's just very memorable to me. It's an iconic look. It was my instant easy pick. What is your pick for this one? I mean, as I've already mentioned, the Wheeler family glow up.

Do you think like Karen and Nancy went together to get perms? Like, do you think, I feel like they really decided to revamp their looks together? Nancy's wearing a lot of, like, great dresses. She's got that red and black striped, like sort of leotard number later in the season. When she's in the hospital fighting for her life against Goop Monsters and her mascara just runs all down her face, but later she kind of turns into a smoky eye, like all of this is great stuff. Also, I already texted this to you, but Will Byers wearing classic 80s and 49ers color and his rugby shirt that he's wearing. Like fucking 49ers, man, San Francisco.

Love to see it. But it's got to be, it's Maxinell at the Gap. Yeah. And then later, I would say the mind flares biting critique of her copying the outfit straight off the mannequin. Knocking over the mannequin wearing the exact same outfit. is an incredible moment. It's great. It's pretty good.

It's pretty good. I love it. Oh, man. We have a related category today at your request. It is. This is a category specifically dedicated to short shorts. The shortest shorts lord. Who would you like to honor here?

Here's the thing. It's not that the in-seems got that much shorter. It's that the boys' legs got longer. And so they just look increasingly like storks walking around. you have a clip for this. I'm fascinated to hear what your clip is for this. On the front of the party, the youngsters and how short the shorts are,

I will just remark that when I first watched this season, I was like, my God, those are short shorts. And now I watch the season, and I'm like, these kids are on trend. Same thing with the rugby shirt, actually. They just look like they're being featured in the GQ Instagram. Like, thank you, Paul Meskell for bringing short shorts back.

like we were back in a short, short cycle. But I'm going with a different character. I need not have worried that we would not have already talked about this today, but I needed to ensure that we discussed these Scoops Troops uniforms. And I shouldn't have doubted it for a second, obviously, but it felt right to hear this clip. What the hell? Look at my outfit.

Look at my outfit. You think I just wear this? I'm a spy in his sailor's uniform. Or Barr Harrington has never let us down, including today. The fact that he has to work at Scoops Ahoy in that outfit and then go on this mission in that outfit, be interrogated by the Russians in that outfit, slide across the floor of the public restroom in that outfit, all of it is just absolutely incredible.

Like, Steve was the prior pick for Fitlord. Steve has moved from Fitlord into he is wearing the Scoops of Hawaii. Can I just say? Sailor uniform for 99% of the season. The hair, this is maybe my favorite, my favorite Steve hair season, actually. It's very good. It's fantastic. I almost gave this to Steve.

Yeah. I really did for the Scoops Away outfit. But this category was created for one young master Will Buyers. I mean, it's Mike's category two to lose, but it is Will Byers. And I will say it's even split between. He wears these like high slitted running shorts. with the rugby shirt, what is the temperature outside, will I have questions? But he's in the sonnet test sequence or whatever.

He's wearing these really high shorts with a high slit on them. But I'm going to give it to the frayed denim cutoffs that he's wearing for the entire battle at StarCourt. Like, do you think this is the moment that Jonathan knew? He was like, hmm. I wonder. Oh, man. Those shorts are like, they get a real memorable framing because, like, Joyce and Will run towards. each other.

Yeah. And you're just like, the shorts are really center frame there in a meaningful way. Yeah. Great stuff. Great, great category. Great pick. Thanks. It's inspiring.

Inspiring. It's part of what makes stranger things, stranger things. So it's important. No question. Speaking of which. Another thing that makes stranger things, stranger things, the musical accompaniments. Robust field today. How do we choose?

Best needle drop. Yeah. What are you going? with. I will shout out our listener, Dana, who, this is her entire email. She wrote it immediately after our last pod. And she says, I don't even need to rewatch the season to tell you that moving in stereo by the cars when Karen is at the pool and Billy is going to the lifeguard station. She says it is now one of her Spotify, like, most listen to tracks that it just sort of like, she thinks about it all the time. So the cars needle drop at the pool is Dana's pick.

We've already talked about the never-neying story, right? Like, that is absolutely iconic. Neverending stories iconic. Material Girl, iconic. There are some great ones here. I, of course, unsurprisingly, you know what I went with. You don't mess around with Jim. Yeah.

The return. Going from the funny smacks, one of my favorite serials into, I just love the way he's singing in the car. He's celebrating. He thinks he's won because Mike doesn't show up. And the way that he is rocking out in the truck slam it on the steering wheel. You don't suck. For his like.

Incredible. His all-time bad parenting. All right. Yes. Mr. Clark, listening to My Bologna by Weird Al, is like one of the best things to happen. Wake me up before you go, go for the aerobics guy would be a Russian spy, but is an aerobics guy. So good. Higher and higher, Jackie Wilson from memorably and used in Ghostbusters, too, one of my favorite tracks.

Love that. We'll meet again when you see how much of the town has been flayed. a Dr. Strangelove reference. Yes. But I'm going to give it again to Jim Hopper for listening to Lover Girl by Tina Maria. That's just a very off-brand Jim Hopper pick, and I really love it. So that is my choice. Great one.

Paired with moving and stereo, the use of hot blood and really good as well. I am always struck my mic breaking into song mid-makeout session I can't fight this feelings. Very good. And then of course we should note that there's more than one returning song this season. It's not just hop, rock it out in season two

while cleaning the cabin to you don't mess around with Jim and then bringing it back here as a victory anthem. We also get the return of the Peter Gabriel version of heroes, which of course is so memorably deployed in season one and then returns here to close the season. So that's a big one in the needle job front. I mean, I feel like it kind of is like it's material girl or an ever-ending story,

but we talked about them in other categories. We did. If this had Netflix subtitles, wait, it does. What is the most Netflix see of the Netflix subtitles? I want to give it to a sequence that we get from, This is the affirmat. You already mentioned one of them. This is the aforementioned like a goop that goes down the drain moment.

But we get bubbling and squelching as well as chittering and squelching. Upsetting. As well as then rhythmic grunting. And this is all in attribution to the goop monster here. So bubbling and squelching, chittering and squelching, rhythmic grunting. And we should say, one of our listeners sent us an article that was in The Guardian, and I think it was, about how Netflix is moving into using AI to translate their shows for foreign markets, for international audiences, as you say. But that there's a worry that that could encroach on their captioning.

This is a human art, the art of the Netflix caption. And, like, if we remember, like, the origin of this, and it's funny, I was listening to our season four first episode when I first said, Flesh Descends Wetly and you and I, like, laughed about it. Like, that's the origin of that. So nostalgic. But if you remember, after that season, there were, like, profiles of the person who wrote those captions. It's a human art. Do not replace it with AI. So just protect the captioners at all costs, what I will say.

What is your Netflix subtitle moment? the field got crowded, a lot of squelching contenders this season, certainly. I am once again going with Hopper, and Joyce, after they have Hopper has intimidated Mayor Klein and Larry into giving up the land deed information. And they're searching these properties. And then they make their way to the house where they will quickly find the secret layer. And they're just walking in. Okay.

They've entered the premises and they're just walking. And here's what we get with just Jim Hopper walking. Hopper panting. Hopper gasps. Hopper exhales sharply. Pulsing intensifies. And I'm sorry, but like my mind can't help but wander if that is the subtitling for him entering a room. Imagine the subtitling following a successful night at Enzo's.

I'm just saying. With not too much Keonti. just enough. We have love cherries. Season MVP. You could pick a character, you can pick a performer. As always, we have two. Kid and adult, you are free to interpret that as you see fit.

Who counts as a kid at this point is up to you? What do you got? For kid? I mean, this is just a repeat, but I have to give it to Myahawk as Robin, just for so, like, quickly becoming. so integral, similar to the way that Max just felt so integral the previous season. And for adults, you know, on this rewatch, this most recent rewatch, the number of times that Joyce just loses her shit on someone is deeply enjoyable to me and less of a paranoid ranty

like season one kind of way and just more of a like, no, fuck you, I've had a day and my kids are in danger. She does it multiple times and they're all. really good. And again, I would say impeached Chief Hopper, but I would also say when she stops the mayor's assistant from using the phone, and she's like, who are you going to call the cops? Pretty good Joyce. This is a good Joyce season, I think.

It is. Joyce is great. I love Joyce. Yeah, no surprises for me here. I've got Robin and Steve sharing the honors for the kids and hop for the adult. They're like the centerpieces of the season, those characters. Those are our superlatives. We are going to quickly put a bow on the pod by separating out.

This had been one of our categories. Previously, we're going to instead end on this. We'll season five look ahead. What is the most enticing endgame setup or question on your mind after revisiting season three? What in season three specifically has you going? Huh. Thinking about this now on the Eva's season five. I want to sprinkle a few things in here really quickly.

I will say. Tell me. We did get an email from our listener, Sean, because we were talking about one of the titles, the season five titles in our hype. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Pod. So, escape from Camazotsot's, which I was like, is a Maya and Becca. Yeah.

Sure, it is. But also shows up in Stephen King. And also, I think, most crucially, in a wrinkle in time. Wrinkle in Time. I saw this in the Spotify comments on the pod that people were shouting out Rinkle of Time. Yeah. Sean said, I just rewrite a wrinkle in time to my fifth grade class last spring. So when you were reading Stranger Things episode titles, my ears popped up.

In addition to my and back god, Camusotz is also the dark totalitarian planet controlled by presence called It, that made Charles Wallace and the others have to escape from in that book. And it's the end of Sean's piece. And Ross Duffer posted a photo of the cover of A Wrinkle in Time to his Instagram in 2023. So probably a wrinkle in time is like a chief text, some Madeline Langel book corner coming up for us. Also, don't mind if I do. Let's do it. Ross Duffer also posted

an Alice in Wonderland painting from the 1950s on his Instagram. So, you know, like paired with that shot of Holly Wheeler and like an Alice blue dress running through one of the trailers.

That's something I think about. But on your beloved, will there be time travel? This is my pick. Yeah. Here's a new description of the Stranger Season 5 season. In Strader Things 5, the final season of the beloved sci-fi horror saga, Hawkins faces its greatest threat yet as the upside-down fully merges with the real world, with cracks splitting the town and time itself unraveling.

Eleven, Mike Will, and the rest of the crew must confront Vecna in a battle that spans dimensions and memories. As secrets are revealed and past traumas resurface, the group must rely on their bonds and 11's evolving powers to close the gateway once and for all. So can 11 open gates in time is like a fun question. And how far back are we going to go? We had always thought about when we had brought this up before, we had thought about folding back on the events because the upside down is stuck in time to when season one started. We had always talked about that being a thing.

But can we go back even further into like, you know, the Vecna origin story, time parishes like that. Like people in theory corner are bringing up the first shadow, which is the Stranger Things play that is canonical and how that takes place with like young Joyce and young Hop and young Bob Newby and Bob Newby's sister and all this sort of stuff like that. So are we going to get like for Joyce and Hop when they were teens? Like is that what we're going to go back into, which is something that I hadn't thought about, but is kind of it.

Like, I get stuck in time periods, and I'm like, the 1950s is too far back to go for Hoppejoys into the 1960s, but I'm like, no, it's obviously not. Like, I was thinking about Winona Ryder. I was like, no, no, no, no. Like, you have to think about when we started in their early 80s, so to go back to the 50s, which is a back to the future three or back to future in the first place thing to do is enticing. So, yeah. Yeah, this is my, this is what's most on my mind.

rewatching this season as well. Like, how could it not be? It's just we've talked about this a million times. Obviously, yes, the back to the future of it all. And how that is like incorporated throughout this entire season feels so purposeful. The, as you mentioned, the like season four revealed that the upside down is frozen in time, really further fueled what was already such a vibrant theory coming out of season three. Rewatching every time I rewatch and every, I think this is obviously like a widely held belief,

every time you revisit the letter. sequence. It's just, it is, how can it be anything but incredibly purposeful the way that that is edited, where we are moving in and out of time? I'll be so, I'll be so happy for you if this is the case, because, like, this has been your, but it just feels like, hold your theories loosely. Yes. Yes. But this has been a cherished theory for you for your many years. So I hope that. It has been so many years. Have we mentioned how many years it's been this season came out of 2019? I just, man, like, I still remember watching it the first time. And it's like, okay, Elle is reading the letter.

We're hearing Hopper's voice. We see him writing it. We're watching the kids, like, sob as they say goodbye to each other. Will crying, Elle crying in the U-Haul, leaving Hawkins, driving past the sign. Mike goes home. Karen hugs him. Dustin and Lucas give the box with the D&D to Erica. Like, we have moved through sequences of events.

And then we go back and Joyce walks into the room in Ellis. sitting there reading it. Time to go? Yeah. And then we watch them go and pack the U-Haul again and leave the house. It's just like I expect that kid has to be telling us to expect something, but we'll find out. Okay. Fun season of TV.

We did it. Oh, yes. Our longest Stranger Things Rewatch Pod yet. How long will. Oh. Season four. That's another deffer quote I wanted to share. with you.

I don't have it in front of me. But basically, they said, we were talking about run times in the season five episodes. They said four and eight are like movies, right? So not every episode is like movie. They said four and eight are like movies. And they also said every runtime we've seen on the internet so far has been wrong. I'm not surprised by that at all. Yeah.

You know what? Season four had some really long episodes. Chunky. Chunky little ups. Chunky little laps. They were great. But episode four, which acts as like the finale of the first. Volume one.

Yeah. Is a long one. And then episode eight, the finale is going to be a long boy. The right side up? I can't wait. Can't we only a few months away from the end of Stranger Things. A decade long journey. Sheesh.

All right. We did it. They didn't have cherry, but they had a two and a half hour. Revisitation of season three. You know what? That's even more delicious. That's even more delicious than a slurpy of any flavor. This was an absolute blast, delightful.

I will miss you terribly next week, and I cannot wait to reunite. I have a vacation. Thank you. I'll try. You deserve it. I'll try. I can't wait to talk about all the things that we're going to talk about when we are back together. We're just a couple weeks away from potting about Buffy season two.

What a time to be us. My goodness. Thank you, as always. Thank you to our Scoops troop today. Carlos Chiroboga, back from Ireland and here with us in the Upside Down. John Richter has been here at StarCourt with us the whole time, and Arjuna Ramgo Powell, who what's another place that's featured in this season other than Scoops Away? It's been at the fun fair with us.

The Fun Fair. Mayor Klein's Fun Fair. Proven that the games are not rigged. And of course, Joomi Adon on the socials, as always. Thank you to the whole Scoops Troop today. We will see you in just a few weeks for our rewatch of season four. And then before you know, it's season five. We'll be here.

No, can't wait. What a time. Bye. Bye. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th. The powerful vocals of Demi Lovato

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