We Watch TV
We Watch TV is a podcast where we (Hope and Daniel) watch TV and then talk about it. We bring our own brand of weird humor and obscure references to the various shows and topics we discuss. This ranty and tangent filled podcast is just for you if you like commentary on current streaming TV and rewatches of old shows with spoilers and laughs.
We Watch TV
We Watch TV Episode 124 – Stranger Things Season Five So Far!
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In this episode of We Watch TV, Hope and Daniel talk Thanksgiving Day fun, including the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Listen to find out why they think this was the best one in years! The hosts dive deep into the upside down to chat the long-awaited return of Stranger Things. Holiday joy continues as Hope and Daniel have two more riveting Hallmark Christmas movies to discuss. Conversations continue with the Dancing with the Stars finale and Zootopia 2. As per Daniel’s birthday tradition, Hope also had to watch a Star Trek movie and shares her thoughts on “the one with the whales”.
(00:00:00) Intro and Thanksgiving
(00:16:33) Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1
(00:59:37) Hallmark Christmas Movie: An Alpine Holiday
(01:05:11) Hallmark Christmas Movie: The Snow Must Go On
(01:11:40) Dancing with the Stars Finale
(01:17:50) Zootopia 2
(01:20:47) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the one with the whales)
(01:25:50) News and stuff
Music by yourtunes from Pixabay
Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/wewatchtvpodcast
Do you know why I want to rant about about it? Because I saw some headline somebody put on the internet that was like, Stranger Things, the greatest television show ever. Are you kidding me? With that, I don't have it a big enough, I don't have a long enough bleep, but are you kidding me? Q mead leading out hope's egregious burp in response to my commentary. Hey everybody amount the TV that we want. This is episode 124.
SPEAKER_00:Why do you keep doing this?
SPEAKER_02:This is episode 124. And as you can tell from Hope's um burp there, Thanksgiving's over.
SPEAKER_00:I don't normally eat. We ate our fill like that.
SPEAKER_02:And then it's just been that's all I've been I've been living with that for the past couple days.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and you're that's how it is every day of the year with me with you. I'm sorry that I've been a little burpee. You also had we also had to eat little Caesars for your birthday, which is good, but it always it always gives it gives the burpees. I don't I'm sorry everybody for that you guys had to hear me burp, but as the great buddy else said, did you hear that?
SPEAKER_02:It was quite possibly the best accidental timing we've ever had on this podcast.
SPEAKER_00:You like a lot of sugar, don't you?
SPEAKER_02:Is there um sugar and syrup?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Then yes.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, so Daniel's not a total hater of Stranger Things, but we'll get into that in a little bit. So back to back to Thanksgiving. I have to say this. This okay, okay, let's just rewind back in time. One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions, even dating before the turkey tribe. Since I was a child, I'm about to start burping now. This is not the burp podcast. I'm sure there's I bet there's a podcast out there that exists where people just burp. Burp like the Toots podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Don't don't give trademark, trademark, trademark, don't give it away.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, anyway, I I can't even concentrate now. Uh one of my longest remembered Thanksgiving traditions is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I love seeing Tom the Turkey. That's where you were like, who's this? What's this stupid float? And I was like, that's Tom the Turkey. You put some respect on his name. I love watching that. I don't care that it's a giant commercial. I don't care that they are for the most part poorly lip-syncing. I've always loved it. I love it so much that when I, you know, got older and we had to be traveling and going places and we were turkey trotting for Thanksgiving, that I DVR it or add it now to my YouTube library because I'm one of those really cool adults. That so I will watch it in the evening of Thanksgiving when I return home. And this was the best Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade since I was like a kid. I feel whoever millennial, and you were probably an elder millennial that put this parade together, you deserve your flowers. What did you think about it? Do you I mean, come on, Busta Rhymes on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float with Raphael vibing in the back time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was pretty that was pretty good. Uh the Toys R Us float was pretty good.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sorry to say, does it get any better than Lil John on the Toys R Us float with Jeffrey being the DJ in the background singing turned down for what? Then we had Shaggy singing all his hits, it wasn't me, and then girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel. Uh Jewel showed up. Yeah, yeah, and saying you went for me. Like all the hits. And you know what? The older people still got their cool in the gang. They were there singing celebration. All I can ever think of is where Ross plays the bagpipes to celebration on friends. Um, but then I was like, wow, these are hit after hit after hit. And I've been hearing all day about how the parade was weird this year and how it was really bad. And I'm like, y'all are haters because this was great. And then I realized, oh my gosh, I am now the target age demographic. They put the stuff in for kids, but if you notice, a lot of times like the singers and stuff are for the you know, the elders. Parents we we that is us now. You know what? I loved it. I like it was just it was so good. I knew we were in for it when they o like Cynthia Arrivo um from Wicked like opened it with like a special song, but when they actually like cut the ribbon and started the parade, they were playing, Where's my husband? I was like, why are we starting with this song? Um, but I also liked K-pop Demon Hunters brought down the house. You know, that was for the kids and probably the adults that have also had to watch that. Amazing, perfect performance. And then Taylor Mommsen, Cindy Louhu, performed, she scenes with The Pretty Reckless now. A lot of people know her as Little J from Gossip Girl, but she got her start, like her first big role was Cindy Louhu in The Grinch, which I can't believe uh that that movie's celebrating its 25th anniversary, which by the way, I told my nephew, I'm like, we got we got a preview for it, they're bringing it back to theaters. And uh, he's like, Oh, we should go see that. That'd be really cool. And I said, you know. I was like, I saw that in theaters when it came out, and he looked at me as if I, you know, like grew up in black and white times.
SPEAKER_02:I'm always amazed by the I think some of that is because like they don't your nephews don't necessarily see you as an older person. I mean, who wouldn't? Like a very young person. It's just always amazed anytime you're like, yeah, I saw I saw that in theaters, and people and younger people are like struggle to imagine like things happened before they existed.
SPEAKER_00:It's just so like Because for them that's always been like a movie. Like, we're gonna talk about a movie that I watched with you for your birthday, where my dad was like, I saw that in theaters the day, like the day it came out. And I'm like, Oh well, that's cool.
SPEAKER_02:He makes good life choices.
SPEAKER_00:I guess he does. I mean hello, number one is hope. Uh but yeah, like I really one of my favorite trends is when I guess not really a trend, I guess moments in life is where people embrace like their childhood and kind of the thing that made them famous. And she never had a bad experience on the Grinch set. It's just she's like clearly trying to be like a rock star. Like, and I think she didn't have the greatest time on Gossip Girl, I'm not too sure about that. But like you would ask her about it and she'd be like, Yeah, I was in that movie, but like now she's re-recorded, which I'm sure it was part of it is for the 25th anniversary. So she also was at the parade, and I I like it. I've made you listen to the cards though, and you watched it when you watched the parade with me, like kind of like punk punk rock version of Where Are You Christmas? I think it's good, I love it. And there were people like, Who is this girl singing that song? And that's like that's Cindy Lou Hu. I'm trying to think, was there anybody else in the parade that was like amazing? I know, okay, so Shaggy was on the golden turkey float when he was singing. Let's talk about the floats. I I can't think of any other. We covered Jewel, we covered Little John, we covered Busta Rhymes.
SPEAKER_02:I can't think of anybody.
SPEAKER_00:Um and you pointed out with the turtles that they played the like OG.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they were playing the old turtles song, not not the any of the new theme songs that they've had in the recent years. They were playing the 1980s, you know, Ninja Turtles theme, which yeah, I get it.
SPEAKER_00:Like I can't really remember.
SPEAKER_02:It's still the most iconic one. Like, I'm sorry. If you're thinking Ninja Turtles, you're going teenage mutant, ninja turtles, teenage mutant, ninja turtles, teenage mutant, ninja turtles, turtles in a half show.
SPEAKER_00:Turtle power. There we go. I thought it was Heroes in a Half Show.
SPEAKER_02:Probably is.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe somebody's like.
SPEAKER_02:I know I struggle with lyrics, right?
SPEAKER_00:And your guy from Hot Ones was also randomly at the parade, like when an apart it looked like he was like in not an apartment, but like the ledge of like a building. And literally was it just his dream to like get to be featured on the parade. I thought he was gonna like co-host more stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe he was doing something online or something that we didn't see, but because he just was there at the beginning and never showed up.
SPEAKER_00:All he did was like spout out facts, and I was like, Yep, knew that, knew that, knew that, because I'm a Macy's Day Parade dork. So that was like really a highlight of Thanksgiving. Let's see, the food was awesome as usual.
SPEAKER_02:What was your favorite thing to eat?
SPEAKER_00:Um, obviously the sweet potato casserole that we made. My 99 years young grandma told all the people at her assisted living that her granddaughter's sweet potato casserole was amazing. So, of course that. Always love a good sweet potato casserole. And then the stuffing or the dressing, as we say. Apparently, people, this is like a new thing. I don't think it's a new thing, but like this technically stuffing is like this when you add like giblets and you like put it in your bird. And like what we do down here in like Appalachia are probably like the south, is it's more of like cuddressing, but I mean everybody cuts stuffing.
SPEAKER_02:You know, everybody cut talks about West Virginia like it's the South. Um I said Appalachia first. I know. I don't feel like the South right now. It's like 20 degrees outside. It's gonna we're not supposed to have a snowstorm tomorrow. We're I've always thought like Appalachia, yeah, you're right. I think Appalachia is a better way to describe the region.
SPEAKER_00:Not Appalachia.
SPEAKER_02:The South, because I just don't West Virginia is not so we're our own thing. We are our own thing.
SPEAKER_00:But I would say, like, when it comes to regionally, though, like more people call like eat the dressing style, like what we do. But that would be my obviously my second favorite. Um, we had quite a bit of leftovers. Mom's like, take the rest of this, and dad's like, they're never gonna eat all that. We ate it in like two days. So what what was your favorite part of the? I mean, you always like the turkey, but I mean I like the turkey. Turkey would be first to go for.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the turkey is like, it's whatever. I like the turkey. I like the sides. But um I think the stuffing for me. I this sounds so bizarre to say, but the pea salad.
SPEAKER_00:The pea salad. The pea salad is really good. Or is that other people call a pea salad like seven layer salad? I don't know why my family calls pea salad because peas are just a tiny little ingredient.
SPEAKER_02:Well, the special ingredient.
SPEAKER_00:I guess pea. I can't believe I like didn't eat that for so many years of my life when it's like the perfect.
SPEAKER_02:She says so many years of her life, folks, she didn't eat it until like 2023.
SPEAKER_00:No, I it was oh yeah, I was saying, I feel like it was around like a pandemic era, but so that would have been I don't know why being just per snickety, I guess. Just I was just pulling it in, y'all. You being like, no, no. It's it's really refreshing. Yeah. There was this I listened to this podcast the other day where they had a whole debate on like salads or not, and I'm like, I don't want like a plain salad, but something like that to take away like the kind of just the hotness of the other food is really good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that or the cranberry sauce. I do, I do enjoy the cranberry sauce. I know I'm I feel like I'm in a minority lately because like nobody else eats it.
SPEAKER_00:Um well mom made well the boys because they were my sister had her thing for uh my brother-in-law's side of the family. They like that the like well, at least one of them, like the jello style, but she made it two different ways, right? So which way do you like? I don't like it.
SPEAKER_02:I like the traditional cranberry sauce.
SPEAKER_00:And every year mom's like, Don't you want to eat this cranberry sauce? And like, no.
SPEAKER_02:Well, jello stuff is fine, but I like to take a little bit of cranberry, get it on the fork, then get a piece of chick a turkey or get a piece of stuffing, and it helps break up that dryness of the So you like a sweet and salty thing sometimes. I guess some of it is cranberries. It's not like it's that that sweet.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you might be able to get it.
SPEAKER_02:But the actual the actual favorite answer here for both of us is the stuffing that I made for out of the leftovers. Yes. Where you patty them up into little hamburger style patties and you fry them in a little bit of olive oil on each side until they're nice and crispy.
SPEAKER_00:So good. Nothing like eating leftover stuffing done that way, watching little John singown for what on the Toys R Us float to make my life complete. But it was a great, it was a good Thanksgiving. Like I've said in recent years, Thanksgiving for me, like is elevated for when it comes to the day. I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas because Christmas is depressing because that means it's sad. Christmas is about the season, it's uh Christmas, the fun of it, is about the buildup. And Thanksgiving, you're kind of like in that peak of buildup. And yes, guys, I've already cried on December or November 30th. I was like, oh my gosh, it's not even December yet. And I'm already sad that Christmas is almost over. That's my toxic trait. But if I had to like pick between the two of them, like I would pick Thanksgiving over Christmas, just the day. The season is different. It's a season with Christmas. Does that make sense to you?
SPEAKER_03:I get it.
SPEAKER_00:That Christmas is more the season, Thanksgiving's been more the day. And I feel like just you know, Thanksgiving's just about like eating and you know, being thankful and whatever. Um, we also had another special holiday over the weekend, and that was Daniel's birthday. Happy birthday, Daniel. Um, did you have a good birthday?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I was gonna say, if you say it was fine when I watched Star Trek with you and ate Little Caesar's pizza when I was already burping up a storm. So was it good?
SPEAKER_02:It was good, yes, it was very good. And I feel like I'm not gonna have I'm not gonna defend myself with my little Caesars pick because I feel like I've discussed my pizza preferences. On this podcast multiple times, and I think everybody listening, if you've been listening for a while, you know why I picked Little Caesars over some of the other options that we have around. But the pepperoni cups that they sell, I didn't have any of them. I don't get them every time, but they are divine and they were very good yet again.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I I'm glad that I remember you I was like, you that's what you want, and you were like, Yeah. I'm like, what do you want? A cake? And you're like, I don't want a cake. I want my pizza. Well, like I want you to watch Star Trek. And I was like, all right.
SPEAKER_02:If I had chosen a pizza place, like let's get let's like an actual place I would choose would be like pies and pines.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But pies and pints is in Charleston. That is an hour drive down and an hour drive back.
SPEAKER_00:And we were like whales on a couch, yeah, beached all day on Friday. I took like a three-hour nap. Speaking of whales, we'll talk about that later.
SPEAKER_02:Even even my grease ball local pizza from Gal from the town I'm from originally, because of the holiday festivities going on over there, would have taken forever to go and get and come back. Because there are two locations of that pizza place, La Robee's and Galapalis. Shout out if you know you know. One of them is just real right across the bridge, but that's not the one that's good. I like downtown.
SPEAKER_00:Makes no sense to me.
SPEAKER_02:They're different, they're different, they're different. Every Hannah, if you're listening, you know Silver Bridge is different than downtown. You gotta get downtown.
SPEAKER_00:Are they owned by the same people?
SPEAKER_02:Probably.
SPEAKER_00:Because I always thought that all the pizza places in the mid-Ohio Valley area were owned. It's called that's what it's called, the pizza place. Very creative, was owned by the same people, and then I learned like really only in the last year or so, that the people, the one um across from the high school has a different owner than the one inside the mall, but they I think are related. And I'm like, what's the story behind this? I I would really like Parkersburg people weigh in. Fill me in, let me know. I want to know what's going on.
SPEAKER_02:We want, we want to know We want to know the lore. We want to know the pizza lore.
SPEAKER_00:And I've never been, I'm this is gonna make all the Parkersburg people mad at me. The pizza place has never been my favorite. Like we they were we were talking about at Thanksgiving, were you already like in a food coma?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I was like, yeah, I don't like it. It's so greasy. And everyone was like, That's why you blood out with a napkin. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02:That's not the place I went to right next to your high school after your reunion that one night.
SPEAKER_00:Let's not talk about that. I I was back in the turn room.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, maybe I need to retry that place.
SPEAKER_00:You've had it at the mall, too, but again, they're two different owners, apparently, so they probably taste different. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, maybe I need to retry that place because I did not enjoy my time, but I had had a Okay, next.
SPEAKER_00:Never mind. That was that was that was a really oh.
SPEAKER_02:I was hungover.
SPEAKER_00:You were way younger then though.
SPEAKER_02:All right, listen up, everybody. Um we've talked long enough about Thanksgiving. Thinking speaking of time, speaking of like long gaps in between things. Believe it or not, we are almost three years into this podcast, and we have never talked about our new season of Stranger Things.
SPEAKER_00:Because they take forever to film this show. I think somebody said we had three seasons of the summer I turned pretty, and one with a break in between because we didn't get a new season last summer. Then we in during all that time, we never got another season of Stranger Things. But finally, at long last, Stranger Things dropped their episodes on Thanksgiving Eve at 8 p.m., which I think was the right move. People were complaining about that, but I'm like, that makes it it seems like it's almost a contest these days. And speak uh speaking of, remember, we are a spoiler podcast. So if you have not watched these first batch of Stranger Things, you're gonna want to look into those handy dandy chapter markers and go ahead and skip to the next one. You have been warned. But another one.
SPEAKER_02:Go listen to the section about Star Trek, you're gonna love it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, Stranger Things, season five, part one, first four episodes.
SPEAKER_00:First four, and like I said, I think it was the right decision to drop it at eight o'clock. And honestly, I really complain a lot about these split seasons, but for this show, and with it being the last, I think it makes sense to split it. And on it, like it just because it's so hard to just go completely. Like, you can try to get knocking on TikTok, on Instagram, and then you could open your phone on Facebook and there could be a headline and be like, oh, this is twist on Stranger Things. And then you like, unless you just go compl and if you're you know a working human being, like it's gonna be really hard for you to avoid that. I think it makes it easier. So this is the one time where I will support the split decision, and I will actually support them waiting to make us watch the finale on New Year's Eve, because that way, you know, not everybody is gonna have time on Christmas the night of Christmas to just fly through it all. So I think spreading it out that way kind of like I I think it's good for people that are fans of the show and want to watch and don't want it ruined, and it also generates excitement. So that's the one time where I will commend Netflix on that choice. How do you feel about that? The internet is mixed.
SPEAKER_02:No, I'm I'm I'm uh if if every if every episode of Stranger Things had dropped on Wednesday af before Thanksgiving, we would already know what the ending is right now, even if we hadn't watched all of it. Because we did get through these four episodes and I would say it didn't feel like a chore.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it didn't.
SPEAKER_02:But no, no, no. I get what you're saying. If we had if it had all dropped, if it was what eight, nine episodes had dropped, I would have felt really pressured to watch it all. I was really pressured to watch it all because I because you're right. Like I don't want to be spoiled for what's gonna happen at the end. And and I but still like it enough. Don't want to put blinders on and have to ignore the internet for however many days I have to ignore it until I can get through it all. Because uh, you know, my thoughts aside, the episodes are longer than they've ever been.
SPEAKER_00:And this is like I'm not gonna agree with whatever article you read that said it was the best show ever, but I would say I didn't read that article, I just saw the headlines. Okay, nice. Ooh, what every journalist loves to hear. Um I will say that it is in pulp culture phenomenon, it is like a staple show. A lot of people have been, I think one of the things that hurt them was the gaps. But news good news is they do give you quite a significant, like previously on Stranger Things, um, to fill you in on what's happened. Because I was like, I don't I barely remembered how season other than the Vecna one stuff, I was like, I don't even remember how season four ended. Like it was so long ago that we watched that. Um, but yeah, it's it's one of those shows that like it's gonna get it's gonna get ruined somehow because everybody's talking about it. Like I feel like we had it's been just a whirlwind of pop culture, wicked, stranger things, like all my personalities, like the holidays are just like in an argument with each other.
SPEAKER_02:Um not to mention now you saw you finally saw the trailer for Frankenstein and you want to watch that. I wonder Knives Out is out.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, Knives Out, that's right, it is out. Yeah, it's already out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's already out.
SPEAKER_00:It's just like content overload.
SPEAKER_02:And then like Fallout's coming soon, and Percy Jackson is coming soon. Emily in Paris. Emily in Paris is coming soon.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like it's a lot. It's a lot.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, okay, we got the first four episodes of season five of Strange Stranger Things. I keep wanting to do it. I wish.
SPEAKER_00:What'd you think? Sorry, everybody can probably hear my water bottle. Um, I I I'm not gonna be like you and be like, but like I I I liked it. I thought they were good episodes. I was entertained by you because sometimes I feel like when I watch a show, a longer episode, I'm not locked in. I was very locked in and entertained. It's a bit of a slower start than I thought they were gonna do. I don't know. I don't know. I thought they were gonna be more like guns blazon, and I think that might be the back half. Um they kind of had to show what everybody was doing, which, you know, I'm I'm glad they did that. I just I guess it it's like it's slower pace, but we're having right now, I feel like only what, like a day of time has passed. And I'm like, is this gonna be like, are we gonna get like any breaks in between, or is this all like all these events and then the finale is gonna be like another time jump? Like, are we basically having all the events of these next, you know, four or five, six, seven episodes in like the span of like a 24, 48 hour period? I wasn't sure if they would go like that. Um, but yeah, I thought that each like you can tell when I am the type of person that even if I'm enjoying a show when it's a drama, I do need to take breaks. And we were able to watch, I think like I think we watched the one Wednesday night, and then we watched the rest on Friday evening. Um we didn't watch any Saturday, we were done with it. And I was able to watch three in a row. So that that tells you right now that I was entertained and locked in enough if I was able to sit on the couch and finish it all the way through. Cause like I said, it could be one of my favorite shows of all time, and I still sometimes need to just take a breather, and we really didn't need to do that. Uh, the one like possible spoiler, but really not that I had seen, and like you got y'all had me stressed about this, was everyone's like, Steve is a jerk this season. You guys are stupid. You are so incorrect and so wrong for so many reasons. What does Michael Scott say? Ryan is like a son to me. I'm like, Steve was like, I didn't think he was a jerk at all. Like, I think he was rightfully frustrated, which we'll get into. But basically, it the season opens. Um, there's been, I think they said not quite a year, but like about seven, eight months time jump since the events of season four. And they are essentially in quarantine. They are locked. The government is not letting people leave Hawkins, but yet we're all spected to go to work and to school, as one does.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I that broke me a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:I I you went real dark. I was like, this is how it would really be. The government probably would like lock us in there, and you're like, I think they put us in camps. And I was like, ah! I just I you don't think that's probably their next move, what they're thinking on Stranger Things.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. I just there was something about like the way I've had this vivid image of how they ended season four with them all kind of standing on that hill looking out over Hawkins with that giant, like upside-down, you know, fissure that had broken out of the town. And then they did it, they kind of undid all that, and like, oh, we put the metal grates on and we're let's see here. And it's like, I guess for me.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, can I just say something? Let's see here. This we don't live in the social media internet-filled world with you. They're gonna be able to keep that lockdown. A lot of people aren't gonna be posting pictures on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, finding out what's going on. The government could get in there, they already have operations in there. I think that's fairly realistic. That they probably had that time, they were at the school, and they're like, Okay, it's safe enough to go back to your homes, but we don't know what you guys have been exposed to. So you guys aren't gonna be allowed to leave, but you're you can go to work, you can go to school, you can carry on like normal. You just can't leave Hawkins yet. And they probably have been moving the goalposts like that, and that's how I feel like they were handling it. I we have to think of ourselves in the time frame, what is it, like 1986? Yeah, 87. We have to think of ourselves in that time, not 2025.
SPEAKER_02:But the thing is, I don't the realism isn't the problem for me. I don't care about the realism. I'm watching Stranger Things.
SPEAKER_00:You almost said Stranger Worlds. I'm gonna do it every single time.
SPEAKER_02:I'm not here for the realism because that's not what this show is about. What the problem is for me, I think, is that like it's just they basically what they did was they reset it so they could start this season the same way every season has started. Oh, we're just going to school. And like Yeah, but you don't think that they would look what happened with like the pandemic. The Wheeler parents are just doing their thing. They don't know any better about what's going on. They don't they have no idea that their children have been fighting an interdimensional war for the last five years or some shit. And it's like, I just it's just so like they they and I know they um they almost immediately pivoted out of it. So I get it, I get it, I get it. But it's just like every single season of Stranger Things has started the exact same way, and it's like we you we you and I even had a conversation earlier where they were talking about something and they were like that just doesn't seem realistic. The characters, I can't remember who it was. I think it was Robin and and maybe um what's her name?
SPEAKER_00:Nancy.
SPEAKER_02:Not Nancy, the the I can't remember the actress's name, I can't remember the character's name. Uh Will's mother.
SPEAKER_00:Joyce.
SPEAKER_02:Joyce. And and somebody was like, Well, that's not very realistic. And you paused it and was like, how can she possibly say this isn't realistic considering the things they've gone through in the past five seasons? And I agree with you. It's like just it's just so broke me that they had to do it. They had to even I I understand and I understand that like within the school. Things are clearly different this season, but they were going to school still, like within the.
SPEAKER_00:You don't think they'd still okay. I know in the pandemic they had in the early days, they had people like virtual school, but you don't think they'd be like, like, like hell's freezing over. You have to go to work. You don't think they'd be like that, because I do. I think that that people and nobody and a lot of people would are probably burying their head in the sand. They don't want to wake their to be aware of what's going on. A lot of people probably would behave like Ted Wheeler. The man just wants his bacon and to get his house guest out of his home and then work to work on his golf swing blissfully unaware. And I think that's the way a lot of people would deal with a situation like this because they wouldn't want to accept reality or facts. And I think that people would be expected to just the world's ending, carry on, go to school, go to work. Like, I I think that's like I think I don't know what I was talking about that's not realistic, but in terms of this, like, yeah, I think that's unless they went super dark like what you were saying, I I think that's how this would be handled, especially back in those days.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. That just that just broke it, that just broke a little bit of my not real not realism, but it broke me out. That that kind of restart because I love because like I kind of liked the end of season four specifically because I was like, oh, they things have now changed to the point where this is way more public than it has ever been before. They can't go back to the same old, same old, and then here we are.
SPEAKER_00:But they did it. It's not the same old same.
SPEAKER_02:It isn't, but it is at the same time.
SPEAKER_00:I will argue with you this. It's not the same old, same old. They are clearly, and you're only seeing it a lot of it from the perspective of our core group.
SPEAKER_02:I understand that.
SPEAKER_00:Ted Wheeler, I feel like, is almost a representation of probably how most people are just going about their days. Like he just wants his bacon. That's all he wants. And then he doesn't get any because he has all these house guests. And I think that I still I'm thinking the internet's wrong about the Karen Wheeler theories that she's Henry Vecna's sister.
SPEAKER_02:You must be like way more online about all this stuff than I've never heard that. I've but then again, I'm you have heard it. That's because you're well, I've heard it from you, but then again, I'm not online looking for spoilers from Stranger Things because I know.
SPEAKER_00:I just I mean I'm chronically online and into the content. But taking that out aside, um, I feel like again, like you were entertained, you would have wanted to stop too if you were in entertainment with the other six.
SPEAKER_02:Listen, sim I again, I don't want everybody to think I'm like some big downer on Stranger Things. Every time I watch it, I'm entertained from time to time. My problem is they the they they are very capable of making incredibly compelling, entertaining television and and set pieces and all this stuff. The problem I had with season four, and I think I'm gonna have it again here, is all the waiting I have to do in between.
SPEAKER_00:And I the But you just said that you liked it, that it's gonna be split till Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, no, not no, no, not the waiting in the in the episode. Oh, okay. Like these episodes, like they had they'll they'll be having this like Sadie Sinck's a perfect example for me of this. Um if you find it later in the in the in the back was like the second one. Like she yeah, she's she's She we find out what she's been up to, and then and like between her and then the Wheeler's sister, the getting all this screen time that just like C's always had a lot of time.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you're talking about Holly. Holly. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Like, what are we doing? Well, Holly's the catalyst. Introduce a brand new character in the final season of your show.
SPEAKER_00:You know Holly.
SPEAKER_02:What has she ever had a line?
SPEAKER_00:No, but she's the she's they needed a driving force to get everybody in there and go off the plan. Yeah, and I feel like I see what you're saying with like some of Max's lines, but at the same time, like I liked having the explanation of because she uh why she's still in that coma, that basically she's trapped in like the whole like Vecna world, and that's why she can't get out. I totally agree.
SPEAKER_02:I totally agree. But she was Exposition City. All of her scenes, all that's all that was.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, because when she feels like she is the best actress on the show, though.
SPEAKER_02:Because we okay, but that doesn't need to give her a bunch of bland lines to say, oh, here's what I've been doing.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna disagree with you again. I don't find that a lot of that is bland because I like that character, the characterization part, and I feel like Holly needed to be filled in because as you said, she was she's a lump, like she barely did anything, and they did cast a new actress for Holly.
SPEAKER_02:And again, I do I want to point out that's the one. When we found out that it was Max, yeah, I was excited because I wanted to see how Max's story was going to resolve. Yeah. So I really do think part of that is the Holly of the situation and her the focus on her in these four first four four episodes just seems like one, it's coming out of nowhere because this is not a character we were ever given any focus on.
SPEAKER_00:And like But it's the catalyst.
SPEAKER_02:Also, the you know, her and the Vecna thing, and it just like I'll I'll say it right now. Vecna was a great villain last season. They're just doing the same thing with him again this season.
SPEAKER_00:See, I think the main villain hasn't while Vecna is the villain, I think the main villain is like the government, that what they did to Elle and what they're doing to the kids, and what they're were I think that is the actual villain because Vecna, Henry, went to go in that same place and like they kind of made him to what he what he became. Like I think that that like I think it's almost like a Game of Thrones thing.
SPEAKER_02:You have the existential threat, and I was thinking Game of Thrones at this very moment, and I'm gonna tell you right now that I will if the ending of this show ends like Game of Thrones did, where they defeat Vecna, like in the next in the third episode of the second set, and then the government is who they deal with for the finale, that is gonna be a big wet fart for me.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not sure though that'll go as quickly, but I think that ultimately, if you've been watching and paying attention, that wouldn't you not agree? Like Henry wouldn't be Vecna if it wasn't for the stuff that the government had been doing to those kids. I agree with that. They are that like that is the villain.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Linda Hamilton, though, good casting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I expect her to you can't bring in the city.
SPEAKER_02:Do we expect Linda Hamilton's character to be and remain bad?
SPEAKER_00:I have no idea. I just know that you're bringing in a heavy hitter like that. I think she's gonna whatever she's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02:She's gonna have a big role, yes.
SPEAKER_00:But do we think she's well they called her Dr. K, and at first I was like, oh my gosh. I was like Henry Creel, but it it's Creel with a C, the last name, because I was like, maybe that's the sister.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you guys were all crashing out over that. I'm I'm like, it was right there on the piece of paper. It was Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sure it's gonna matter. Um, for everybody that hated on the season two episode with Eleven Sister, that everyone like, what became of that? Well, guess what? The Deafer brothers just said, and here you go. Because it turns out a lot of there was a where they were thinking that they had maybe had Vecna trapped and that he was controlling things in there. It turns out it's 11 sisters. So that episode, the Deffer brothers are like, here, we're gonna make it relevant. I don't know if that was always their plan, but I feel like they wouldn't have done that without having a plan. Just throwing that out there. Like I know plans change and evolve, but I I always thought that that episode held more meaning than what people gave it to. It just you had to wait, like, you know, a decade to to find out what happened to the sister. I don't know when season two aired, but had to be a long time ago, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, a while ago.
SPEAKER_00:Quite a while ago. And I'm kind of like the opposite of you. Like, I wouldn't I don't know if this is what you meant by how things started. I was concerned that they weren't going to be allowed back into Hawkins. And I was like, no, I want the last season to be in Hawkins because one of the things I did not like about season four was that we had half the cast in California and have, and I liked that they are back where it all like began. So let's get let's touch on some of the character stuff then. Uh Steve, not a jerk, a frustrated man. Now, could you some of his actions like trying to impress Nancy be interpreted as maybe being, you know, a bit like chauvinistic, I guess. But like everyone said he was like mean to Dustin. I don't think he's being it's clear mean to Dustin. It's clear that Dustin is still very much grieving Eddie's death. And the as the other characters have pointed out, Dustin is really not making good choices. He's like, yeah, those guys, those comically awful. What is up with all these movies and shows? I know that bullying happens in schools, but these they these are like like serial killer like villains.
SPEAKER_02:The bullying, and this isn't, and and this isn't just season five. This has been Stranger Things. I think since season two. Season one was Steve, and he was not crazy and insane.
SPEAKER_00:And guess what? I'll defend Steve again. That camera that he broke of Jonathan's Jonathan was taking pictures of Nancy and her bra. Without her consent, my man's broke the camera and it was deserved.
SPEAKER_02:Ever since the since then, since season two, the bullying in this show has been just like off the chart. Like these people should be committed.
SPEAKER_00:Do you not agree though that Steve had every right to break that camera?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we're not talking about season one here, Hope. Well, you were. We can't. You were. I no, I was referring back.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I will defend it.
SPEAKER_02:I agree with you. It's just like it's just it's over the top at this point.
SPEAKER_00:Like anyway, so moving on from that, he is making bad choices. He's getting beat up by these villains because everybody thinks that Eddie is the one that killed Chrissy. Wake up. I don't like this. Hey, hello. How to get out there. Everyone thinks that they all still think that Eddie killed Chrissy. And clearly this whole show is about like the 80s, where people they thought that people that played what's it, what's the game called? That there were Dungeons and Dragons. They thought they were like, because this is like a real thing that happened, right? Like in the 80s. They thought it was like demonic and like terrible and like all these horrible things. So I think they they all like associate that. But um Dustin, our little Dusty Bun, is like, I'm gonna keep Addy's memory alive. So he's wearing like their little, like I think they're called like Hellfire Club shirts, and he is he's poking the bear. The villains aren't the villains, the bullies aren't just coming after him. Like he's putting snakes in their lockers. He's he's making it. And it's clear that he's been doing this for a little bit. And you know, we have all these other threats going on around us, and the guys are like, like, Dustin, you gotta, you gotta stop doing that. And to me, a lot of Steve's frustrations come from a place of love. Like, like he he knows, he knew that Dustin got beat up, and that's why he was late. And it's not that Steve was being callous and uncaring, he was just like, dude, come on. Like, we've talked about this, and then we're and also let's I know that Dustin is grieving and he's capable of doing that, but I really didn't appreciate the way he was speaking to Steve. He kept calling Steve an idiot, a moron, and that's hurtful. And Steve's just like, I have been doing everything I can, and I think it hurts Steve's feelings, and I think they're gonna be okay. There's a hug in the trailer for the next part that we haven't seen, but I felt like that was just frustrations of two characters who love each other. I didn't feel like Steve was reverting back to because yes, while I do think he deserved to break that camera, I mean he was kind of your your classic arrogant jerk in the beginning of the series. Um, I don't think he's reverting back to that. I think, yeah, he clearly has it bad down for Nancy. And I don't think he would be this way for Nancy if she hadn't indicated in season four that she might be into it because let's just Nancy at Nancy could tell them to stop at any moment. And you know what if Jonathan was secure in their relationship, he wouldn't engage he would just kind of laugh while Steve tries to show off. But Jonathan gets right into it as well. And Nancy, I think part of Nancy is like she's kind of like, we have so many more things to deal with, and it's just I think she just doesn't I think she doesn't want to recognize that she might have feelings for Steve again. I don't know if she does or not. I think she's definitely attracted to him. We had that scene where he like reached over and she kind of like looked, but I don't know if Stancy's in-game. I would like it if it was. And you know what though? For me, I wasn't always a stancy shipper until really season four put that in the universe. And I'm like, this would make sense because it would be earned for these characters, but at the same time, I'm fine if they don't end up together. I do think Jancy's cooked. I don't know if Jonathan's gonna bite it, but he was already wanting to soft break up with her last season. I don't think I just don't think they like each other. I think they they have a fondness for each other. They're trauma bonded, and I would really like this show to explore that sometimes trauma bonding isn't the best thing. And I think they've grown apart, and I think right now they're just desperately hanging on, and there's so many other things going on. But what do you think of these chipboards? Like, I think Nancy's either gonna be single, she's gonna croak, or maybe we will get Stancy. I don't know. I like I just don't think that Jonathan and Nancy are in-game, period.
SPEAKER_02:I forget Jonathan exists every single time we are in between seasons of this show. Yeah. He for me is such a bland nothing of a character. Yeah. That I just like he is nothing to me. I like I don't like I agree with you. I don't think he and I think he and Nancy are certainly on a path towards n breaking up. Yeah. I don't know. I would be fine if Nancy don't don't need no man. Yeah, I would be fine with Nancy. And her resolution is with nobody. I don't think that's going to go how it's gonna play out. She's gonna be with somebody by the end. And I if I had to choose, I guess I would say I wish it was, I was hope it's Steve, not Jonathan, because I he's just so meh. Like again, I f I legitimately.
SPEAKER_00:I don't even think he I think he's hanging on to something like they because I just think they're and I think she is too. Like she again, I know there's other stuff going on, but she could shut that down, and this was all before her parents got attacked. She could, and she I think she's just confused, and I think she doesn't want to come off like the bad guy either. I'm not like I said, I'm not sure if Stancy is in-game, but I think in I think if it would be, I think it would be very much earned because they actually, and that is what case where I will say that the writing has been good for Stranger Things. Because even when I we started liking Steve in the second season with his character arc, like I still wasn't like, oh, they need to get back together. Like I I was like, you know, I I wasn't even thinking about it. But then with his character evolving, Nancy changing, like, no, that is I I'm serious, Daniel. That is a case where I feel like if they put them together, it would be earned and it would make sense that two people that have grown are now, you know how like Rory and Jess never got together on Gilmore Girls, wrong place, right person, wrong time, all this stuff. We could have a situation like that here, and I think it's been built built up well. That being said, I just don't know if that's Nancy's arc, but I definitely think that she and Jonathan aren't gonna be a thing. Um, Robin and Vicky, they kind of had a little spark at the beginning of last season. They're together. We didn't get as as much of that. I do would like to see some more of her, Robin. I fear, I fear though, that we've had a lot of focus on Robin, and now I'm afraid that she might die.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she also just seemed really out of place.
SPEAKER_00:I don't see okay, someone fight you on this too. Are you talking about Vicky or Robin?
SPEAKER_02:Robin.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, you want to know why Robin seemed different? She's finally unmasked.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:She's not trying to be someone she's not, she's comfortable around all these people, and we're getting to see her actual personality. You had to have liked her sweatshirt she had on the whole time, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I sent you a TikTok about how to buy.
SPEAKER_00:I know. Be me. What does it say? Be me up, Scotty. This place sucks. Yeah. So I've seen a lot of discourse about Robin feeling weird, and I do think that a lot of I I agree that like she's more comfortable, like she's comfortable with these people.
SPEAKER_02:Again, I'm not saying she felt weird. I think her as a character felt fine. I just think that the the gravity of the situation of which they are in, and she's still just over there quipping away like it ain't nothing, um was odd.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, Maya Hawk is delivering the lines that is given to the colour. But then again, yeah, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:Believe me, I know all of them are, because then there's the whole like um uh, you know, the conversation when they're in the tunnels with in, you know, uh they weren't referring to anything bad, so I can say the word, but the the dick joke, yeah, like that was just was like, what are we doing with this? Like, guys, this is like it again, you you're right. They have some writing that we're relationship-wise, some stuff that if it happens will be very earned and well done. And then on the other side, they've got this Marvel-esque almost kind of like quippy conversation they're trying to do, and it's coming off really flat and weird.
SPEAKER_00:It's not as funny as the turn round. Is that season three? Were they saying?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where somebody is.
SPEAKER_00:That's who needs to help Dustin out of his grief period. So back to the Wheeler parents. Um, they get attacked by Demogorgon, so now they definitely know. No one checks in on Mr. Ted Wheeler, he's in a coma. Karen Wheeler, can we just talk about what a baddie Karen Wheeler is? She's irritated with her husband. My girl's trying to take a bath and listen to some ABBA and drink some wine. Fernando. She can't hear Holly screaming. Finally does. And what does Karen do when she sees the Demogorgon? She doesn't run away like the government people. My baddie takes her wine bottle and posts up while Abba's playing in the background and takes one out. Obviously, Karen's very injured. Uh, but well done, Karen. We we gotta we gotta give our Karen Wheeler our flowers too. That was a funny scene.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I agree. That was a good scene. Um again, like I said, they're able the Duffer brothers put together some really like very entertaining and captivating moments. Yeah. My problem is the things that stitch those moments together don't they just they seem sometimes flat to me. Um I guess that brings us around to Will, who kind of had the final arc of this first couple set of episodes. Um he's trying to find himself, he's had some thoughts about himself and and who he might be, and then he's kind of observed um what's her what's my hawk's character's name again? Robin Robin with Vicky, and so now he's really starting to ask some questions about himself.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we already know he liked Mike from season four, he kind of came out with it.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, not to Mike, but but I think him having Robin is a good to kind of help him walk through some of that stuff. Because, like you said, Robin, who is a person who's kind of unmasked themselves and and is almost living, she's still not quite there because she's not.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, you again we have to we have to take ourselves back to that time period. It's not now, it's the 80s.
SPEAKER_02:Um but that brings us to the last episode and the end of the last episode when you know uh Hopper and Elle are in the upside down and they think Vecna is inside the government compound. They break in, they get all the way in there, they find out it's actually not Vecna, it's her sister, and then we go to the regular world, and and here comes Vecna marching.
SPEAKER_00:Snatched by the way. Did you see that waist? Vecna's like, I want to on a Zampeg. I took over a year off and came back looking good, boy.
SPEAKER_02:She comes out and and is starts, you know, wrecking stuff and um really, really down, talks bad down on Will, like in a bad way. And that kind of gets Will, I can't tell if it was angry, I can't tell if it was focused, but it gives him the ability to unlock his uh powers, and the last shot you see is him wiping that blood off his face the same cringy way that 11 has done it to indicate that he has powers.
SPEAKER_00:You just don't like that they're so obvious with stuff that they don't rely on media literacy, but guess as we've learned the one to get in this season. We did.
SPEAKER_02:Because there's this whole mystery guy with Holly, who again, I Holly goes to the book. I don't want to talk about Holly for this entire episode, but I guess we have to because basically the entire first four episodes were just Holly-focused episodes.
SPEAKER_00:But it's like who's buying that Holly 7, that actress is 13.
SPEAKER_02:Who's the mystery guy talking to Holly? The very first time that we heard that, we were like, it's Vecna, right?
SPEAKER_00:We were like, it's Vecna as his Henry Form.
SPEAKER_02:And then they had to do this whole like five-minute like reveal thing.
SPEAKER_00:And you and I were like, wait a minute, was this supposed to be a shock? We clocked that in two seconds. That's what I think a lot of people on the line were like that wasn't shocking. I don't know if they intended it to be a shock. If you were shocked by that, let me know. Because we were like, wait, we were shocked that it was supposed to be shocking. Yeah, we were like, wait a minute, what is this the big big reveal?
SPEAKER_02:Again, Vecna's back, they've established that.
SPEAKER_00:The bigger shock was Max showing up in the upside down, like that she still has to be able to do it. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So it's just, I don't know. That was like, what? You're trying to because they really spent enough time on that reveal that it that it felt to me like they were trying to say, look how shocking this is that this secret person is Vecna.
SPEAKER_00:That all goes back to what like Vecna Henry's doing though, and what he's talked about. Well, he's like, I go after a week, people you're a week, and he's been rounding up kids or the government.
SPEAKER_02:We don't know what he's doing with them yet.
SPEAKER_00:Because they thought the government was rounding up kids, he's rounding up kids, we don't know. Um, so that's why there's been the focus on Holly as well, with the whole like, and he c he appears to them as like Mr. What's it?
SPEAKER_02:The thing is, like, this show it's so frustrating because yes, the Holly is technically a character that has been around forever, but this is really the first time she's getting anything to do. And then they show us that they can write characters that actually are interesting because Derek comes in.
SPEAKER_00:Delightful Derek and immediately favorite new characters.
SPEAKER_02:He's like, Oh, this kid is like entertaining and very good, and I'm happy he's here.
SPEAKER_00:Well, at first we were like, uh, this kid is cringe, and then when you when he slams that walkie with the lunchbox, and he's like, remember, what are you now? Delightful Derek.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's like it's a lish any emotion.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You feel emotion about a character, that means they've written it well, whatever that emotion may be, whether it's positive or negative.
SPEAKER_00:We need him to survive.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and it's like Holly is just not looking good.
SPEAKER_00:Wasn't Vecna dragging him away?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. He he got them all, so we don't know what he's gonna do with them.
SPEAKER_00:Um Did we talk about I think we're alone now? Where Holly, everyone's looking for Holly, and she's just vibing, making cakes and the upside down, listening. I think you're alone now.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, they always do well with the music. I I I kind of thought the the the the scenes with Max where they were kind of flashbacking and they were like, we really gotta get that song back in there because it was such a and it's like just just move on from it. It was great in season four. We all loved it. Move on and do something new and memorable. And I think that to me, the biggest thing about these first four episodes, and again, the same it's the same with season four because the the stuff that really has the juice is yet to come. This was all set up. There's nothing from this first four episodes outside of when Vecna comes out and and reveals himself finally there at the end, and then Will gets his powers that sticks out to me and that is gonna be memorable.
SPEAKER_00:I know I said they're putting their foot on the gas, or I was one I thought they'd put their foot more on the gas than what they're doing, and they're taking their time even though everything's going down at once, which it's almost like I'm not making sense when I say that, but you know what I mean, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You understand where I thought there would be guns blazing. Like I thought Will with the powers would be revealed in like the first episode. But at the same time, I feel like if they had only done like that, and then the next episode would be the end of it, it would almost feel like whiplash for me. So I like that it's drawn out in a bit. Um, another thing that I we need to talk about Will. Um, I always thought Will had powers, they just hadn't been untapped. I'm like, have people not been like he's had he's this is a Harry Potter situation, guys. We've seen The Order of the Phoenix, we've seen this film before. Um he and Vecna are connected, just like Harry and Voldemort were connected. Even when it comes to, we realize like how Harry could see, like, he saw Mr. Weasley being attacked by the snake. He's even seen like the same visions. That's how we know about delightful Derek. And I'm like, I've always thought that that was gonna be Will's ultimate arc, that he and Vecna are connected and that he can harness those powers. I didn't think it would become like suddenly, I mean, we got poor Eleven working out trying to make hers better, and Will just is like, you know what? I'm gonna take a boo.
SPEAKER_02:And then that's the you know, as we kind of come close this conversation down, Hopper and Eleven are kind of the two we haven't really talked about. They didn't do much.
SPEAKER_00:Like they went to the they they're having the same argument they always do.
SPEAKER_02:They both had the same argument they always do. Same resolution they always do with the same resolution. They found their they both went found their way into the upside down because Hopper was going in to scout and 11 ends up going in trying to get Holly. They they find each other, they get together, they go to the camp to try and get Vecna. It's not Vecna, and that's it. And it's like they're having the same argument they've had for four for five years.
SPEAKER_00:We know Hopper's trauma. We already know this. We know why he's so protective. It's just so theirs was very much repetitive. That's why we haven't talked about them very much. I think she's gonna now that she's found her sister again. I think Eleven's big arc is coming in the back half.
SPEAKER_02:And I thought that, you know, yeah, like you said, we know the trauma with Hopper, so I thought that the all the flash to it once, but they did so much flashback stuff with his daughter. And it's like, and I get it. Do you want us to remember? Because the first season was like 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Even longer than that.
SPEAKER_02:But it's like, uh guys, there's there's just too much fluff here.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so talking about shipping, I feel like, and this would be where I would say, then why did you write the scene that way? I think, and I want it to be out here too, because I've seen people that are like, if you don't support this ship, that you're like against like same-sex romances, uh, couldn't be further from the truth. I'm one of the biggest Loki, what's his name? Who I ship on the Loki show. Mobius, yes, Mobius, Mobius, Mobius. Loki and Mobius. Yeah. I am totally fine with same-sex parents when it's written properly. We know that Will is into Mike. I have never been given any indication that Mike is into Will at all, other than a friendship way. And I felt like the conversation that Will and Robin had was very, I feel like it shut it down.
SPEAKER_02:I do too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because she was like, she talked about how the Tammy girl she liked, but then he what she went out with. Tammy ended up going out with Steve, and she realized, you know, that that's I think I think that Mike might be his Tammy. You know, other people are like, well, when he was all sad with Vecna, he was thinking about his memories with Mike, and that's when he got better. I I disagree. I'm gonna have to, they're gonna have to do a lot in the next three episodes before the finale of showing that Mike thinks of Will in that way. Because right now, Mike is still totally into 11 and he's never showed anything other than a even interacted this season? They have a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:I think they still like that's been also a weird thing, is we never got the core kid group together.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they they hunt out a little. I think they talked a little bit before because she was like, I'll go in and get Holly. I will say this Mike is finally, I finally like Mike again. He's been, and I get it, he's a little kid and he's going through issues, but Mike has not been a pleasant character, in my opinion, since season one, and I feel like Mike is showing leadership. He's like back to being the leader of the group again. Yeah, he's much better.
SPEAKER_02:He's much better. You can tell he's grown up, you can tell he's kind of like taking the reins. And I don't want them to backtrack on it. I really don't. I really I I think he's one character who has gone through it and is coming, and I'm what I'm hoping is we're seeing him coming out the other side to be the better person that he has that he's become. Yeah. And like you said, I don't want to see backsliding in this network. Not that Tyler would be backsliding, that's not a attitude and no, that relationship just simply is if it they're gonna have to do work on Mike's side to make it believable.
SPEAKER_00:I think that Mike is being a good brother, a good friend, and he's just the character, and I think for your full circle, like he was the leader, quote unquote, like I would say he was like kind of the main character, if you will, in the beginning. So I I like what they're doing with him. Um I do think from an acting perspective it's clear these kids are done with this show.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like Sadie Sink, uh, I think she is the best actor and she did what she could with her lines. I hate that they made us wait to what, like episode three to get Erica back. You can't smell America without Erica. Um, so what are you?
SPEAKER_02:It just feels so like it feels so slow yet so fast all at the same time. Yeah, that's what I've been trying to say. Really strange these first four episodes. It is strange, if you will.
SPEAKER_00:Stranger things. I already new world. I keep wanting to say that. So what are your predictions? How do you I don't know how it's gonna be?
SPEAKER_02:Um I think they're going to beat the bad guy and win the day.
SPEAKER_00:Well, me too. Do what casualties? Who's not making it out of this season?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I don't think Hopper's making it out.
SPEAKER_00:I'm worried about Hopper. I'm very worried about Steve still. Even though Steve is a fan favorite, I'm worried. Honestly, though, I'm starting to think that I'm starting to my odds of Steve biting it are becoming lower, and I think Jonathan might be the one now. I d if Jonathan dies, Will's not going to die though, because they're not gonna make Joyce lose two of her sons. Yeah, and I'm gonna do it. I do think there's someone's like, because then I don't think you've watched it yet. They've released the trailers for the back half, and like Will's head is on Vecna's body at some point. So I don't know if it's gonna what's going on. Something's going on.
SPEAKER_02:Do you think a core kid dies?
SPEAKER_00:So 11 would be if I had to pick, you know what? I would lean towards 11.
SPEAKER_02:Eleven's sister showing up dropped the odds for me of her dying. Because now that she that's there, she's gonna I think Hopper is cooked.
SPEAKER_00:And I know the actor who plays um Lucas said that his ending is a little different than the others. I don't know what that means. So I'm a little worried for that. Somebody was like, how sad would it be if Max wakes up because Lucas makes a sacrifice? I'm like, that would be horrible. I don't want to see that, you know. I don't like that.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe they both just get stuck in the dream world and they live out forever. I don't know. I have no idea. That seems strange to me.
SPEAKER_00:It would be strange, stranger things. I don't know. I think that if I I I'm hoping they all survive, but I would say Eleven or Will would be like the ones. What what what do you think?
SPEAKER_02:Like if you're I mean above the of the original, like if we don't count Steve, we don't count Jonathan, we talk about the kids, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you just talk about those first season one kids.
SPEAKER_02:I think Eleven and Will are the most obvious choices. Yeah. I could also say, I could also get into the meta commentary a little bit and say that of all of the child actors, they're not children actors anymore. Yeah, they're like adults. Who are done with this? Um the actress that plays Eleven is super duper done with this, and I can see her being like contractually like, you gotta kill me, so it can so I can never be brought back into this in any way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I I feel like they know that like even though he's being a little bit of a pill because he's grieving, but Dusty Bun, Dustin, I think they know he's like the favorite. I don't think I don't think.
SPEAKER_02:I hadn't thought about Lucas. Um I I I yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:But I I am looking forward to seeing how they wrap this up. It's really hard to write a finale to satisfy everyone. People will complain as usual. Writing a finale is one of the hardest things.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it's I don't envy anyone who has to write a finale.
SPEAKER_00:I think the mark of being a good writer and like doing justice for your show is to come up with a finale that people are going to like. And I think they have a lot, a lot on their plate because so many people watch Stranger Things and people are people are gonna have feelings whatever they do.
SPEAKER_02:And I won't even say come up with an ending that people like. I want to make sense, yeah. I might not be happy that certain characters end in certain ways or in other ways. As long as it makes sense and it makes and it and I understand why they made the decisions, I can live with it.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think they're gonna do what they what people have been saying, where they're gonna like roll in a sob in a game and in somebody's head. I don't think that that's infuriating, and everyone would have a right to be angry. I can see somebody said this. This is a theory I read. They're like, what if we get rid of the upside down and it and by getting rid of the upside down, all of their memories about the upside down are gone. I could see them pulling some crap like that, and that would irritate me. Because I feel like it shaped them as characters.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that seems very fanficy, and it's like, okay, well then explain 11. Yeah, like she is so tied in. I think they wouldn't remember her, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that would I think that would do would not be justice to those characters. So I do believe, I don't know if we're getting four or if it's the three, and then the fourth is the last one. I think it might be the three episodes. We will be getting those, and I believe they're gonna drop at the same time. I think they're gonna do like 8 p.m. on Christmas, which I think is the right move. Yeah, I agree. And then we'll get that final one on New Year's Eve, and we will probably not talk to you guys about Stranger Things until the year 2026, God willing.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so Stranger New World's Things out of the way. Uh we did watch well, we kind of. Hallmarks and Netflix have been, or just Hallmarks, I guess. Yeah, just Hallmarks itself. Have been consumed. Um, one I did not partake in.
SPEAKER_00:Only two because of the aforementioned holiday.
SPEAKER_02:One I did. Uh you want to start with the one you watched by ourselves by yourself?
SPEAKER_00:I watched an Alpin. Holiday, and it stars Ashley Williams, who is Brad Paisley's sister-in-law.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're gonna rant about this, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00:And then it's I'm not gonna rant. I like the movie, but I am gonna talk about age description. And then it starred another actress, so I don't know her name, but it's about two sisters, and they had lived and grew up with their grandparents because their their mom passed away when they were very young.
SPEAKER_03:Deadparent drink.
SPEAKER_00:And the dad is out of the picture because he couldn't handle it. So they've always had a special special connection to Christmas to their grandparents in the city. They would take pictures every year. It's clear at some point as the girls age, because we get these flashback scenes in the beginning that grandpa's passed away, and then it is just them with grandma. And then to our present day, it is clear that grandma probably passed away maybe a year or two ago. And grandma has left some sage advice in the future. And she once she felt like she and her husband, they really started truly living and finding themselves after they took a trip to like I'm guessing the Alps, because it's called an Alpine Hallley. They were somewhere with mountains in outside of Paris. Is that the Alps?
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_00:Don't tell who who took French. Don't talk to me about geography when people don't know West where West Virginia is, just whatever. Anyway, um, so she uh let set this all up for them, had the whole trip, worked with lawyers, left clues along the way. She clearly knew she was gonna die at some point. So she set all this up because she knew that her granddaughters needed to like find themselves. So I will get to the thing that irritated me the most is that our first flashback starts in the year like 2002, and I'm like, Ashley Williams is like older than me. I was like, well, maybe she's at least my age. She is 47. So in one of the flashbacks where there are still children is 2008, and I'm like, you were making out with Ted Mosby in 2008, probably terrible show, How I Met Your Mother, by the way. So I'm like, okay, I know actresses play younger, but that is significantly younger. And just and I'm irritated by this because the whole, you know, all the drama with Hallmark earlier back, you know, several months. I try not to. Well, basically they were which I'm glad they didn't boot the old act, because I like Ashley Williams. That's why I wanted to watch that movie about like wanting like younger actresses. So instead they're like, we're gonna make you play. Like, I was it's one thing to play somebody in like TV when you're like five, ten years younger. Like she was playing someone like almost not quite 20 years younger, but significantly younger, like 17 or so years younger. And it's just insulting to me. That's all. That's all. That's all. What is Miranda Pritzley? That's all.
SPEAKER_02:I think you were just triggered by the flashback to being young, young people in 2002.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but she's not younger than me. You were not a young person. She's quite older than me, Daniel. Oh my gosh. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Did they find themselves in the Alps?
SPEAKER_00:They did. They end up going, we had one sister, like Ashley Williams is more like the laid-back, like but sister. She has a significant other who proposed, we find out, but she's like afraid of commitment. So she hadn't said yes yet, but she had lied to the other sister about like, oh, like Ben proposed. Um, and then the other one's more like the uptight, the anxious one, probably the one I would be like that's always has anxiety about everything. It's like, I can't last minute go on a trip that leaves Christmas Eve. Um I think they left on did they leave on Christmas Eve? I don't know. I didn't watch the movie.
SPEAKER_02:I did not watch the movie. I can't ask me questions.
SPEAKER_00:Sometime around the holidays, and then like she ends up hooking up with their guide who like hit on her. Uh John Paul, who has not said he was was distracted and couldn't finish the movie because he thought it was really weird how like the guide was hitting on her. Um, but he did not. I need to point this out to you, John Paul. He he had looked up the other, so he says this, because they're meeting the guide at this cafe. He didn't know at that point that the blonde sister was coming. He only knew because she decided last minute. So he didn't even realize that was one of his clients. So he just thought she was some random blonde American pretty girl in a cafe. So he was hitting on her. And she's like, he's like, Oh, well, you don't look like you did in the my in your Instagram. So I didn't know you were my client. I'm sorry, because he had looked up what the other girl looked like. So I guess he was still looking up to see what it was, but probably not to see what they look like, to see you know which which woman he needs to be like this is the woman I'm meeting in the cafe. So I don't think he was intending to hit on the client.
SPEAKER_02:John Paul, I haven't watched this movie, but just from everything I've heard right here, he sounds creepy. I'm on your side.
SPEAKER_00:No, he's cute. It works hot people can get by with a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_02:We'll talk about that and then when we talk about Star Trek.
SPEAKER_00:I guess so. But they had a lot, they had they had some good chemistry, and then it turns out, you know, she ends up the other one, does end up with her like her bin. She doesn't at first I was like, oh, are they gonna make her go after this the ex-boy or the ex-girlfriend of the other love interest, and we're gonna have a little thigh-no, no, it's fine. Her whole arc was like learning to commit to things, and the other one was learning to commitment, was loosening up, and I just I thought the backdrop of the movie was very nice, and it was Christmassy, and I liked it that the sisters were the focus more so than just the romance, and I can I see why they bring in Ashley Williams to play the younger one because it was good. She was the one in like the amazing race type one we watched last year that you said was better than fine. Um but yeah, this one was good, and then the next one we watched together called The Snow Must Go On, and I know the lead male's wife. I went to high school with her. We ran track together. Um, she would often be on my four by four hundred team. So flex, he um his name is Corey Cott. He's probably more famous in the Broadway circles because he was the lead on newsies for a year. So I feel like in that type of industry, that's a bigger deal, being the lead on a Broadway show.
SPEAKER_02:Did you play Christian Bale's character?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Being the lead on a Broadway show is probably more important than being a lead in a Hallmark movie, but it's still pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Do they listen to the podcast?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think they do.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:It was uh Should I try to get him on?
SPEAKER_02:It was it was uh it was also you're gonna say if they listen to the podcast and be like, oh man, this is great. I loved it. It was excellent.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. The plot and the overarching wasn't great, but I thought he did do a good job for what it's clear because he that it was about a Broadway person.
SPEAKER_01:He needed a song and dance man, and they brought on a song and dance man.
SPEAKER_00:So he did a good job. Go ahead, is speaking of the plot and give us give us the rundown.
SPEAKER_02:Uh the snow must go on. Main male actor, failed Broadway uh guy.
SPEAKER_00:No one came to his off off Broadway team.
SPEAKER_02:He had at one point had one shining moment where he was like the lead on an actual Broadway show and hasn't had anything yet. Um trying to get auditions for stuff, but it's not working out. So he ends up going home for Christmas to Hancock! The City of Hancock.
SPEAKER_00:We're both children.
SPEAKER_02:The City of Hancock, which the name of the city, Hancock, did not come up in any point in the show as a place of comedy, and yet every time they said it, you and I laughed like 12-year-old boys.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I burped at the beginning of the podcast. I don't know what you people want from me, and we thought that was hilarious. Burping, farting, funny.
SPEAKER_02:Um He stays at his sister's house. Um the first time we meet the sister, she has a daughter, and we both are like We thought they were wives. They were yeah, we both thought they were wives.
SPEAKER_00:The girl looked much older than a high school kid.
SPEAKER_02:Especially in that first scene.
SPEAKER_00:But then when they had her like in her school clothes and her pigtails, she did look younger, but in that scene it was I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, he makes it back to Hancock to stay in his sister's house, and he ends up having to go pick up his niece from school. The drama director is storming out of the school, and it ends up he he ends up um now in charge of directing the school program, which is on Christmas Eve, by the way. Well, it's clear to me it was a private school. Um it was clear to me it was a private school, so maybe you also thought the love interest in this was a math, a math teacher. A science teacher. A science teacher. She's a guidance counselor, guidance counselor. I was like, I didn't know what she was, but I I clocked it like probably assistant by assistant principal or something.
SPEAKER_00:And then you're like, Do you not pay attention? I was like, not they're I guess my assistant principal is vice principal. They're getting closer and closer in these movies to like the job titles that you made up that time when you thought when I thought something was like, Where are the lamps? One time we were watching that one, you guys have heard the story, and I'm Daniel's like that's right.
SPEAKER_02:His sister makes candles in cups.
SPEAKER_00:Daniel was like, he's a lampshade artisan, and like halfway through the movie, I'm like, Where I'm the lamp.
SPEAKER_02:That's half a step from lampshade.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it really is. Like you could go in and like write the script. This one was still better than that stupid Bills movie.
SPEAKER_02:Uh he's doing the play. He finds out that one of the people who one of the kids who is uh in the play um is the daughter of a big time producer on Broadway. So he concocts this plan to get himself an audition via being the lead character in the type of play.
SPEAKER_00:He pulls a baby Billy. I'm gonna make myself tingless.
SPEAKER_02:Um no one seems to find this super odd. They push back ever so slightly, and then they're like, fine, it we're fine with it. And they go on and do that. He makes the daughter his understudy so that he can get close to her and learn things. As the show goes on, he figures out that she has major problems with mom.
SPEAKER_00:But he also finds out that he's a passionate teacher and he likes teaching the kids and he really likes doing this. And because they're likely a private school, he does get offered a job without an education degree.
SPEAKER_02:He gets he so for for dress rehearsal night. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And he's booing up the not science teacher.
SPEAKER_02:Dress rehearsal night, the mom producer is there, he sings his thing. She comes back and is like, that was really good. Gonna do a um And we're all like, was it though? Do you want to do a, you know.
SPEAKER_00:He's a good singer. An audition.
SPEAKER_02:Audition. Um Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve. This is like the the the the board at company and elf. They're like doing stuff on Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_00:She was coming to the dress rehearsal because she didn't want to come to the main play. She doesn't make school function. She's a very absent person.
SPEAKER_02:So the his his girlfriend, quasi girlfriend, hears this, gets all mad at him, makes him tell all the kids. He tells all the kids he's not going to be there. He goes to New York to do the audition, and then he can't do it, and he convinces the mom to come back to the play in time to see the daughter sing and to watch the kids. And then the snow machine finally works, and then he kisses.
SPEAKER_00:Not the daughter, he kisses this the not science teacher, the guidance counselor lady.
SPEAKER_02:The guidance counselor lady.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I thought this one was I thought it was a cute plot, the but plot wise, like I've seen better. You would have liked the Alpine one better. But I did think that he, and it's not just because I know his wife, but I thought like he like he they they they hired a real Broadway person, so he was there to sing and dance and whatever. I think that did he dance? I don't know if he danced. He did, I feel like in his one man show, right? I don't know. Maybe I don't know. It was weird. Um Yeah, I you're missing you're missing a lot that happened, but with like the love story, but I felt like again the the love story was not quite at the it was more about him finding his love for that music, and then he just got a hot teacher lady, or excuse me, guidance counselor lady along the way who had her whole other side plot that she was gonna start a creative writing group for adults. Didn't you go to a creative writing group for adults once?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:I thought you did.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:No, that was a beer group you went to beer group adults.
SPEAKER_02:Come on, give me a little bit of credit.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, but yeah, so no Netflix ones this week. There's some stuff we want to watch. We'll probably do one more regular episode of the podcast before we get into our holiday content. So I'm sure you'll have more of this to um reflect on. Also, last week was the Dancing with the Stars finale, to the shock of no one except for the Alex Earl fan army on TikTok that does not live in the real world. Uh Robert Irwin won.
SPEAKER_02:I was sweating for half a second. Half a second. Because they didn't. And they got it down to the final two, and they said it was the closest they'd had in a long time, and it was Alex and it was Rob or Robert. But at the end of the day, I was absolutely right. There was just no defeating our man, Robert Irwin.
SPEAKER_00:And I thought what was funny was I I saw this TikTok, and this girl was like, You wanting to tell me that Alex Earl, who's so popular on this app, like gets beat by some guy from Australia, and we're all like, Yeah, my parents know who Robert Irwin is. My nephew who knows who Robert Irwin is. If you're a millennial, you know who Steve Irwin was. He's very known. And when I can tell you when for the not the chronically online people, and I bear and I'm on TikTok all the time, and I barely knew who Alex Earl was. People were like, Who is Alex Earl?
SPEAKER_02:She's not as never heard of her.
SPEAKER_00:I became a fan of her dancing, but her fan army was insane.
SPEAKER_02:Surprisingly, I'm not on Get Ready With Me TikTok.
SPEAKER_00:Her the army, and it's been uh across the board, fan base is being bad, but hers was terrible. I ranted about it last week, and that's why I was totally fine with Robert winning. I did not do their little tactic. I still voted. I voted for Elaine. That's you. Elaine got fifth, not surprising. But Jordan beating Dylan.
SPEAKER_02:That was good. But you're not gonna do your who? Oh, yeah, who. Um, I voted for Elaine for two reasons. Jordan got third. One, because uh, you know, like at that point, that was I knew Robert did not need my vote. Yeah, he doesn't need her. And two, Elaine had the best freestyle. I think I was so her Jordan's was Jordan's was very good, but I I the concept of of Elaine's, I just really liked it for my taste. I thought I liked how she brought in other people, like Andy was in there at one point. I thought that was really cool. It was like her story, an audition, getting back in theater. It was a Broadway, it was theater, it was great. It will go down for me as one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_00:All of the freestyles were very different. Honestly, I don't I know Roberts was emotional, but I don't really remember his very much.
SPEAKER_02:It was fine.
SPEAKER_00:Alex's Alex again.
SPEAKER_02:It was a really good passo.
SPEAKER_00:She yeah, she is the best dancer of the season. Not of the season of that was left of the finals. The best dancer of the season went home because y'all booted her off. Whatever, whatever. Whitney Levitt would say who I'd say was the best dancer of the season. But Alex, I don't really, and Val's always struggled to produce a memorable freestyle. I love Val. I think he's a great teacher. I think he comes up with incredible dances, but I don't really remember that. Dylan, Danny, Danny, great choreographer, but it just seemed like another it just seemed like another contemporary. But Elaine and Jordan, and I think Jordan's freestyle being so good, because I kind of agree with Carrie Ann. It was, I think Carrie Ann said the best ever, but I don't know if it was the best.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't want to under, I don't want to. But it was really good. I don't want to undercut or undersell what Jordan's did because it was also excellent. For your style. For my personal style and taste, I liked Elaine's, but I can recognize that Jordan's was outstanding as well.
SPEAKER_00:Those were two incredible freestyles, so different. I feel like Elaine's definitely, I love the theatrical. It reminded me of like White Christmas, where they do all the the like that's what it reminded me of. And then Jordan, Ezra let Jordan shine in that freestyle, and it didn't rely on gymnastics like the whole time. Like everybody was worried about that. But I feel like after the week one, Ezra stopped doing that. It was excellent. And I think that that by I feel like that helped Jordan get to third place. So I'm and that that to me was like the real contest of the season because we all knew that Robert was winning. Um I think that the online discourse is still crazy. The fact that now the same army of fans that when Whitney was voted off was like, well, oh, so now it's a popularity contest. I'm like, yeah, like we told you guys last week, the best the best dancer doesn't always win, and they need to touch grass.
SPEAKER_02:Um the good news is that they've all said they're not gonna watch next season, so we don't have to deal with them.
SPEAKER_00:I was so upset that I was not gonna get a Mark Ballast freestyle, but I did, we did get one because Call Her Daddy, which by the way, Call Her Daddy, ABC and Dancing with the Stars sponsored this appearance. Whitney and Mark went on there. It's a really good episode. I finally had time to listen to the whole thing. They did talk about the insane social media bullying and how crazy it was. And I think that I even look back at some of the stuff I might have joked about Hilaria Baldwin. Do I think that Hilaria having, because I think having, you know, ballroom dance is different than dance experience should have been on there? No, but I am I the casting director? No, I'm not. She was on there. She probably got it like looking back, yeah, I think that they were a little hard on her, and I think this season um went a little off the rails with that. And I think we could all do better as people when it comes to these parasocial relationships to realize these are just people. Even when we rip on Carrie Ann, Carrie Ann doesn't deserve some of the comments that she not from us, but like nobody deserves death. No one deserves that, and it really touches on that, and then obviously a freestyle that Mark and Whitney could have done would have looked different on live TV, but they weren't on live TV. So Mark was able to create a dance, give us something, another I've watched it like so many times. You watched it, it was pretty good.
SPEAKER_02:It was very good, yes.
SPEAKER_00:And I I was just I was real pleased with that.
SPEAKER_02:The only thing I miss is again, like you said, seeing it in front of the live crowd, yeah, in how they would have produced it on the show. It would have been different, but I think it would have been I think it would have been good.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm glad they got the chance to do that because and it's not the first time that we've seen like Val and Olivia J did their freestyle once when they were eliminated. So it's not the first time that has happened, but as somebody who's a big Mark fan, I was pleased with that.
SPEAKER_02:Before we move on, yes, Emma Slater put out the call on TikTok. Yes, and this has to be what happens. She wants our man, Nathan Fielder. Nathan Fielder to be her dancing partner next season, and it needs to happen.
SPEAKER_00:It needs I think that he should be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02:It needs to be the rehearsal season three, needs to be about him doing dancing with the stars. Oh my god, I just cannot imagine what he would do with that.
SPEAKER_00:And then I also think Mr. Fantasy, aka who we all know, KJ Appa, who was the first time. We're trying to make this Mr.
SPEAKER_02:Fantasy thing happen and nobody cares.
SPEAKER_00:Everybody cares. He the mate he got he was in the Macy's parade.
SPEAKER_02:Um, okay, so So we're random high school kids in band can't like what what's that mean?
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, did you see though, on the downside of the parade that, like, I guess you know how the horse is crap? Yeah, like the person that was supposed to clean it up in it, so like the high school cheerleaders had to like, and they just the show must go on. I can't even they're like performing in like the feces. I'm not kidding. What what what is this?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, well, speaking of animals crapping in the street, you watched Zootopia 2.
SPEAKER_00:I did. Now they're more civilized.
SPEAKER_02:A little bit more, yeah. They do wear pants and that.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I um took my nephew, the same one I took to see what kid is becoming my um movie buddy, to go see Zootopia 2. You like Zootopia 1, so you I know you'll want to watch Zootopia 2 when it comes out on probably Disney Plus. Um, this was a good it was a good movie. It was super cute. I think it's one of those movies that Disney does a good job with that. Adults, you're gonna like it if you're an adult and you're taking your kids there, or you're just an adult going like me, hello. Um, or little kids are gonna be entertained as well. It was definitely packed. We went on Wednesday in the day. I had the day off, so we went like midday. Every like all the kids were out of school for Thanksgiving break. Like, that was the movie to see, and it had just come out that day. Like Wicked was obviously crowded, and there was multiple theaters, but like our theater was a packed and like it was a line, and you could tell that people that don't often go to the movies were there that were waiting in that line. First day on earth kind of thing. Um, but when it comes to the movie, it was I don't want to say too much what's going on, but Nick and Judy are Nick um wild and Judy Hops. They have been made partners from the events of the first Zootopia, which obviously I'm not gonna explain the plot of that, so go watch that. And it's just you know, they're they're still good partners, they're a good team, but like with any partnership, there's issues to work through. Um stacked cast, by the way. So we have like a whole other villain, basically the whole plot is um the snakes aren't you've never seen snakes in Zootopia, and there's a reason why. And they kind of talk about like the story about how Zootopia was created, and um, it kind of is again like the first one kind of reflected real life, real world historic events. This one sort of does the same thing. Um it's another metaphor on that, which again a child is probably gonna go over their a child's head, but I think the message hopefully the kids will still get the good message of how it resolves itself. I think it's probably a sequel that didn't need to be made. Um but it's not a bad sequel either, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02:Add it to the pile.
SPEAKER_00:Um I definitely think, you know, if you're wanting to save money, like you could probably wait to go see this one on Disney Plus. Um it's set it does set up for the stay all the way through, just like a Marvel movie. Stay clear through those credits because it does set up Zootopia 3. But it was cute, it was fun, I liked it. Um so if you do want to go take your kids and do something on Christmas break and you can't stand having them in the house with you, this would be a good movie to see.
SPEAKER_02:But if you're stuck in the house with them and you have to watch one thing, I think I highly recommend you watch Star Trek 4. Even with the profanity Double Dumbass on you. Um yeah. Alright, we watched Star Trek Four.
SPEAKER_00:I still don't know the name of this movie because The Voyage Home, the one with the whales. Okay, because even my dad was like, I was telling dad that every year on Daniel's birthday I agree to watch a Star Trek movie. So this year was Star Trek 4, and my dad's a big trekie, and I was telling him about it. He's like, the one with the whales. So even the trekys call this the one with the whales.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that is not we do that is not said with any like it's not meant meant to be mean. It's it is endearment.
SPEAKER_00:Um dad was like, yeah, I saw that in theaters. So this would have been the first one that we were alive for.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 1986.
SPEAKER_00:We just aged ourselves, cool. Um this of all the Star Trek movies you've had me watch, this was the best one so far. I thought that might be the case. A lot more lighthearted, it was funny. I felt like I could really see Kirk's Riz on display. Kirk is like such a character that it's he's like probably like the definition of Riz because he's not trying to that's what I my whole perception of Captain Kirk was based on those stupid Kelvin Universe movies, and maybe it was different because he didn't have a daddy in those, but like because I do think Chris Pine's a decent actor. I see that is a JJ Abrams problem.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's a good way to rationalize it, but what I really think happened was JJ wrote Kirk in those movies based off the stereotypical Kirk in media that doesn't actually exist if you watch the source material.
SPEAKER_00:He's just you either have it or you don't, and he has it. And we get to see that more. We get to see it was more of like a mess around with the three friends. I thought it was gonna be because Spock's once again like coming to turn he's getting his memories back from the events of the last movie. And I thought it was gonna be super annoying as Spock tried to figure out his human side, and I was like, oh my gosh, how many times do I have to see Spock do this? But it was actually done really well. Uh this was clearly, I don't know what else you want me to say about it. It was the best one that I've seen. And like canonically with the other movies, like the full circle moment, they did tie that in about like Kirk's journey of of the of how he's aged and not feeling useful and finding this place in the world. They actually nicely circle back to that. So I'll say good things about it. It was and it was it was a lot more funny than like the seriousness of the other ones. And I think I really like what's his name, Chekhov, what he was like, I need plans to the like Oh when they're trying to find the the the nuclear Yeah, the nuclear vessel wessels. Wessels? Yeah, just like randomly asking just for the time period. Annie Camden from I think her name's Catherine Hicks from Seventh Heaven. This must have been probably her first role.
SPEAKER_02:She's like, I know we're deep into the podcast here, and we probably got like three people still hanging on to listen to this, but we added another uneaten food to the list of uneaten of movie uneaten foods. Remember, we've got Kevin's mac and cheese, and now we've got the pizza.
SPEAKER_00:The pizza at the restaurant. I like how she just decides, yeah, I'm done, dumb done with this timeline. I'm looking into the future, and I'm gonna not. I mean, she does mention at the end that she's gonna take classes to try to get caught up to their tech. They like bring the I still don't really understand why the whales were the catalyst of it, but I don't think that's the point. It's not so I like Fox women in the Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh it's one of my favorites, it's not my top favorite, it's probably my third favorite. Um Dr.
SPEAKER_00:McCoy once again delivering with some fantastic one-liners. Of course, always. What's your favorite again?
SPEAKER_02:The sixth one.
SPEAKER_00:I thought you said nobody liked the sixth one.
SPEAKER_02:Nobody likes the fifth one.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, the fifth one. This is not I keep getting confused. This is the fourth one. Why do I feel like I would like the fifth one if you said it's just a big message?
SPEAKER_02:I watched the fifth one um a couple of years ago, and it had been the first time I'd watched it in a while, and I honestly I didn't I like it a lot more than I think most people do, because while the story is if you had a problem with the weirdness of this story in four, just pr just don't go into the fifth one even pretending like there's a story because it's so is it like the Sex in the City movies where at one point it was just them hanging out? But this movie Is that is that kind of how it is? Like the plot goes away. Is is particularly Spock and Kirk and McCoy getting into shenanigans.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and I see it now. It's the love story is Spock and Kirk. The way Kirk looks at Spock with such admiration, and I think like McCoy is just like the friend, the best friend. But yeah, that's you guys are right on that. That is the that's the love story.
SPEAKER_02:I will say, you know, she did say to me after the fourth one was over. Oh my gosh. I could probably watch the fifth one sooner than a year.
SPEAKER_00:I'll watch it on November 28th.
SPEAKER_02:2026. Okay. Alright, everybody, that's about all we've got for you this week. I know that we last week and the week before that said, hey, we were getting ready to watch Special Forces finale. We have We did not. A lot of stuff has been going on.
SPEAKER_00:We have been We had to watch Little John on that float, guys.
SPEAKER_02:We had to watch Little John. Stranger Things took up a lot of our time. We had to watch a Star Trek.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So we'll get around to it. Like I said, we probably got one more regular episode this year, next week, before we kind of go off on a little bit of a break with throwing some super cuts up there. Um, you said you've got a note here, Slomwam. What's that in that?
SPEAKER_00:Lives of Mormon Wives season three reunion is airing this Thursday, so I'll have that to talk about next week.
SPEAKER_02:Uh speaking of dirty soda, I have discovered a dirty soda I am going to try. It's the opposite direction, though, is I'm gonna take um I like how you're like, we gotta start wrapping this up. Zero and some espresso. Espresso. Espresso and a little bit of cream and see what that does.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well you can drink it while we watch the reunion episode. I'm not watching that. Several uh listeners, by the way, I think we talked about this a little bit last week, recommended that I watch that tell me lie show on Hulu. Y'all must know me because uh I did finish season one. Uh diabolical, so good. I will talk to you guys all about my thoughts on this incredible show when I ultimately finish season two, because I know we got season three coming in January, but you you guys were right. I don't know why I didn't listen earlier. Uh this show, it's it's a you uh you probably hear me screaming when I'm like, What? It's it's that good. I haven't I was like, oh, I feel something again with the show. Like, I don't really like any of the characters, I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_02:But uh speaking of feeling something, you did feel something. I know it because I was looking right at you when it happened in Star Trek 4, when he's getting his demotion, and they go, We're demoting you down to Captain Kirk. You got a smile on your face, and you got excited hearing Captain Kirk.
SPEAKER_00:Because it bugged me, them calling him Admiral.
SPEAKER_02:And that moment, what but more important, with your point about that full circle moment, it paid off the trilogy of movies that you had seen and brought it back to what Kirk was with. He needs to be on the ship, doing his thing, out there doing missions and saving the galaxy.
SPEAKER_00:All right, with that note, live on and prosper.
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