Loading summary
Transcript547 lines
- [00:01]
Mallory Rubin
This episode is brought to you by Happy Egg. The recipe for a better egg starts with how the hen lives. Happy Egg Hens spend their days outside.
- [00:10]
Joanna Robinson
On pasture, running, stretching and flapping their wings in the sunshine.
- [00:15]
Mallory Rubin
That freedom leads to rich, tasty orange yolks and a difference you can see and taste. Happy Egg makes every plate happier. The proof? It's inside the shell. Visit happyag.com Spotify to crack open Happy this episode is brought to you by Trace Minerals. Most people aren't getting the minerals they need to support optimal movement, and your body doesn't make them on its own. That's why Trace Mineral drops delivers over 70 essential minerals to help restore what your body is missing. So if you're choosing just one supplement, make it minerals. Trace minerals. Minerals keep you moving. Save 20% on TraceMinerals.com with CodePodcast. Greetings and welcome to House of Our A Ringerverse Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin joining me today so that I can ask if she'd like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me. It's Joanna Robinson, my favorite member of this scoops troop, Molly Rubin.
- [01:29]
Joanna Robinson
I was promised a Hawaiian shirt from you.
- [01:32]
Mallory Rubin
I know.
- [01:32]
Joanna Robinson
I wore my baseball tee and like my my best attempt to be 80s appropriate. Scoops Ahoy, though.
- [01:38]
Mallory Rubin
I went scoops ahoy. Yeah, I went scoops ahoy. With apologies to both Hopper and Magnum PI I went scoops.
- [01:47]
Joanna Robinson
You're like without the end of the day, without the facial hair. What's the what's. And like the. The voluminous chest hair, what's the point of trying to go, you know what I mean?
- [01:54]
Mallory Rubin
Quite right. We have a lot to get to today. But before we tuck in to the USS Butterscotch in front of us, that is Stranger Things Season three revisited. Some quick programming reminders. As always, I'm going to be out next week. You're holding down the fort. You've got some fun stuff planned. And when we are back together, as we teased Last pod on our fall hype meter, if anybody hasn't checked that out, please do. We have a bunch of stuff coming ahead. We're going to be talking about a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and whatever is revealed about that impending show at New York Comic Con.
- [02:29]
Joanna Robinson
Yes.
- [02:30]
Mallory Rubin
Best of the century so far. That series is resuming soon. We will be getting to our Buffy season two pod soon in person, together. That's the plan. Crisp Nolan, Fall is coming and more. So it is just a bounty of fall goodness here on the House of.
- [02:47]
Joanna Robinson
Our a seasonal cornucopia brimming with, like, decorative gourds and corn husks and all the other things you could possibly ever want.
- [02:56]
Mallory Rubin
Exactly. The guys. Pew pew. The Midnight boys. Yeah, they're gonna be potting on the Peacemaker finale next week, so check that out over on the Ringerverse. Joanna, how can everybody follow along?
- [03:08]
Joanna Robinson
Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Why don't you subscribe to this podcast on the podcast, like catcher of your choice, whatever that might be. You can watch us on YouTube. You can watch us on Spotify. It just sort of like defaults to video on Spotify. It's a very fun experience. Or. And actually not. Or. And follow us on the social media platform of your choosing and email us. Hobbitsandragonsmail.com We've got some emails to get to today because we had folks after our season two look back for Stranger Things just anticipated that we would likely be doing season three and so sent us some emails. So we have some of those. So if you've Got some Season 4 Stranger Things thoughts that you want to get off, you can do them right now and we will get to them when we get to those episodes. You can send us Dunkin Egg questions, any mailbag questions. We've got a mailbag episode coming up. You know, all sorts of stuff. Buffy thoughts, et cetera, et cetera. The mailbag's open. What? Nolan. We haven't decided officially which Nolan movie we're doing next. Which Nolan movie should we do next? Hobbitsanddragonsmail.com Back to you in the studio.
- [04:11]
Mallory Rubin
Mali Rubin, should it be Tenet, let us know. You got a couple weeks to chime in. Maybe a week to chime in, then it's prepped on. Spoiler warning for today, all of Stranger Things. We are mostly going to be focusing on season three today because this is the season three Revisited podcast. But, you know, this is less of a concern now in the season three pod than it was at the beginning of the journey in seasons one and two. We. We might mention a thing or two here and there from season four. We're going to have a little brief, quick season five anticipation check in at the very end of the podcast today. But some stuff from season four might be mentioned. We will. We will do so responsib, but it might come up here and there. Joanna, Valerie, what else would you like to get to before we get to season three? Hit us with some mailbag questions.
- [04:57]
Joanna Robinson
We just have a couple mailbag questions. Well, one is we got an answer to this question, this mystery we had in season two. Karen's on the phone talking to a friend out of context, and she said this thing. She was like, maybe if it was Margaret Thatcher. Mallory and I both were like, help us. We were too Young in the 1980s to understand what this is. Our. A number of listeners wrote in, but Aram wrote in to say when Karen Wheeler Wheeler said, quote, maybe if it was Margaret Thatcher, she was almost certainly referencing Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate and the first female vice presidential candidate for a major political party in the usa. Something along the lines of, I'd vote for the woman candidate if it were Margaret Thatcher. So that's just some more information about Karen Wheeler, a Thatcher fan.
- [05:41]
Mallory Rubin
Sounds right. For the Wheeler.
- [05:42]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, for the Wheeler household. And then our listener Steph, who owns a Sleepy Forest bake shop, sent us in an email. I gave you no prep for this, so I'm actually. This is actually a call I'm sending out to the Bhad Bhabies more than us, unless you've prepped an answer. Steph has put together a number of sort of spooky season themed donuts for her donut shop. Once again, no free ads, but Sleepy Forest bake shop in upstate New York. Yeah, and she's got a couple themed donuts. She sent us an incredible photo of these donuts. They look amazing. She's got a Wednesday themed donut, a Last of Us themed donut that has mushroom meringue and raspberry. A Buffy themed donut that's called Buffy the Pumpkin Slayer with pumpkin glazed stad with a cookie steak. She's got a Hannibal themed one and a Supernatural themed one. And she's looking for a Stranger Things themed donut. Again, I gave neither of us any prep to come up with like a cute empathy answer, but did you. Did you cook up something? Mallory?
- [06:44]
Mallory Rubin
I'm seeing this in real time. In 20 minutes.
- [06:46]
Joanna Robinson
Yep, yep.
- [06:47]
Mallory Rubin
In 20 seconds. Let's see.
- [06:50]
Joanna Robinson
I.
- [06:51]
Mallory Rubin
So this is more season four specific. I don't know if it will be applicable come season five, but the peanut butter bandit, you know, that was a very central aspect of season four. If anyone has not watched season four yet and is listening to this, we'll save the specifics. What does that mean? Who is that? Listen, we'll talk about that in a couple weeks when we get to season four. All you need to know now. A few weeks when we get to season four. All you need to know now is that some peanut butter inspiration could be at play. What about something that builds off the Stranger Things subtitle tradition? Something distending wetly. You know, I'm thinking of like a stuffed donut where you tear it open or you bite in and something distends wetly and or squelches from the donut deeply.
- [07:39]
Joanna Robinson
What if the donut chitters that? That's the worst thing that could possibly happen to chittering donut.
- [07:43]
Mallory Rubin
How about a demo donut? Demo donut. Some alliteration. Yeah, I don't know what the.
- [07:50]
Joanna Robinson
A triple decker Eggo extravaganza donut.
- [07:53]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, but I mean, we're aligned on this. We. This is, you know, something we thought was important to talk through. Last pod. No Reese's Pieces on that bullshit. Not here. Not for us.
- [08:03]
Joanna Robinson
No, no, no. And not. Not at the. Once again, no free ads. Sleepy Forest Bake Shop in upstate New York. But the donuts look delicious, Steph, thanks for listening. She said at like 2am when she makes her donut, she listens to House of R. So if I were, I actually will be in upstate New York in a couple weeks. So if the Sleepy Forest Bake Shop is anywhere near where I will be in upstate New York, Steph, maybe I'll swing by. If not, the Bhad Bhabie should send us their Stranger Things themed donut ideas to hobbits and dragons and donuts. Gmail.com. thanks so much. That's it.
- [08:38]
Mallory Rubin
I love it. I love it. I feel like Argyle would have some recommendations here for sure, you know?
- [08:42]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Oh yeah. What is Argyle wanting?
- [08:45]
Mallory Rubin
She's hit. Yeah.
- [08:47]
Joanna Robinson
Pineapple on donuts. Who says no? You know what I mean?
- [08:50]
Mallory Rubin
Absolutely.
- [08:52]
Joanna Robinson
We will have a few more email serves like sprinkled into some of our categories because we had listeners write in with their like, suggestions for categories. So I will surprise and delight you with those in real time. But once exciting. Hobbitsanddragonsmail.com if you've got some season four ideas you want to share with us.
- [09:06]
Mallory Rubin
Fantastic. All right, Joe, I know that you had a late night with Fagan. Just you and Jonathan.
- [09:13]
Joanna Robinson
Yep.
- [09:15]
Mallory Rubin
Receiving the Oliver Twist insults and readying the rejoinders.
- [09:20]
Joanna Robinson
Oliver Twist routine.
- [09:22]
Mallory Rubin
I do love when Jonathan takes us to Literary Corner. Let's pod. Let's get to it. Let's get to the opening snapshot.
- [09:28]
Joanna Robinson
Foreign.
- [09:33]
Mallory Rubin
Let's set the ste. The stage. The Steve. Always setting the Steve. Let's set the stage quickly for season three before we get to our superlatives. Similar structure today as in past episodes, we have a couple. Couple changes, but broadly we're going to do our opening snapshot and then we're going to get to our robust list of superlatives. We'll be surprising each other with our picks. Joanna. This season of television was released July 4, holiday weekend 2019. That's a long time ago.
- [10:03]
Joanna Robinson
I have. You know what's so funny? I was re listening to Our first season 4 Stranger Things pod this morning and we were talking about like how long it had been between season three. What sweet summer children we were. Little do we know, but we were, I was like, that was pre pandemic, a different world entirely. And now I'm like, that was just, I don't know, a different century. 2019.
- [10:27]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, it's wild. I have like a very vivid memory of watching this over the holiday weekend and then podcasting about it with Chris Ryan at the Sunset Gower Chapel Stage studio. Different office, different part of town. Like you said, pre pandemic, just a different, a different life. And yet talking about the mall is eternal. And so really, what has, what has changed when it comes to covering the season of TV? This is set, the opening scene is set at 84. But then the bulk of the season, almost the entire season is set in July of 1985. Something that I will always remember. Every now and then I'm like, well, okay, we know broadly when each season has said, oh, I got to remember. I always remember season three is 85 because they released a bunch of custom Stranger Things Nike collabs. And I got the Independence Day tailwinds cream with the red and blue. It's a great sneaker that I love. But I like have kind of started wearing very judiciously because I, I, I don't want them to get too distraught. They're pretty beat up already. And it's just they say 85 on the back. So it's a very, very helpful reminder for me. Always a summer setting.
- [11:34]
Joanna Robinson
General I don't have, yeah, I don't have a shoe based reason to know it, but it is the Back to the Future sort of season, right? They're watching Back to the Future in, in the Cinema Cinema Classic 85 moment.
- [11:46]
Mallory Rubin
So, yeah, great stuff. I do always. Long before our beloved Steve and Robin are crawling on the bathroom floor and my hygiene notes emerge, I always have some. Don't pull the popcorn out of the trash, the trash can and eat it, Steve notes.
- [11:58]
Joanna Robinson
But you know, that was like number five on my list of funny things that Steve does this season. And Steve just like hooking a finger into a bag of trash popcorn and then just like throwing it back for the few minutes they're inside the movie theater. Yeah.
- [12:12]
Mallory Rubin
They did tell Dustin they needed some food, that they needed a snack. You know, when you've been drugged by Russians in a secret Laird, you need a snack, apparently. Joanna, this is different. The fact that this is set in the summer, that it is not set around Halloween, set in the fall. And the kids are not at school, they're in short shorts. Everyone's at the pool. There's all sorts of summer goodness happening, fireworks. Mayor, Mayor Larry Klein's unfair Independence Day everywhere. How does the summer setting feel to you compared to the autumnal Stranger things vibe of seasons one and two?
- [12:51]
Joanna Robinson
I love it. We're so far away from the anniversary, so we, you know, like. Well, the sad thing is Will has even less to do this season than he will in some other seasons. This is like a lot of neck tingles. Yeah. Grabbing the back of his neck. And then we've got some potent Will moments that we will talk about. But overall, just like a light use of Will, I would say, this season. So, um, there's that. I think, you know, the anniversary effect is something that we will talk about as we go on. And then I'll save some of my other stuff for because we've got a summer based category coming. So I'll say some of my other thoughts for that.
- [13:24]
Mallory Rubin
I think the Holly Trauma Tracker, it's something we wanted to hit right at the top today. It's something that we've promised we will be incorporating to all discussions. We feel emboldened based on initial glimpses of season five in the trailer. To support our inclination to drag Holly's.
- [13:41]
Joanna Robinson
Trauma based on what we've done, we've recast the actress. You know, it was twins who played Holly in the first few seasons. And whether it's sort of age dependent or in a sort of like Myrcella and Tommen, Game of Thrones way, we're gonna need more from these actors. So we picked someone else. They've cast a new actress. Nell Fisher is taking over the role of Hollywood in the final season. I have some more thoughts about that, but. But let's talk about the trauma Tracker.
- [14:09]
Mallory Rubin
Here's what I've got to throw your way. Let me know if you have anything you'd like to add. From what we saw in season three, I'm going to throw out. This is like the deep trauma. It's the less obvious trauma, but it's something that I. I suspect that Holly, if she makes it through season five, Will be working through in therapy for years to come. My mom glimpsed me napping on my dad's lap in the recliner. And it's the only thing that stopped her from fucking a teen.
- [14:34]
Joanna Robinson
It was like a disqualifle. Disqualified because Holly's asleep. She has no idea this is going on. I feel like it's gonna come up later. This is a lovely Ted Wheeler moment. Like. Like very few great moment. I know she's like, ted sucks, but at least he cuddles with our daughter in a very sweet. He doesn't give a shit about his other two kids, nor do I really care. Never knows where they are, you know, but he is still trying to parent our last remaining small child. So he is.
- [15:03]
Mallory Rubin
I wonder. I really wonder if Karen will. Will share this with Holly one day. That'll be a thing. Entry here, though, today is that, you know, Karen slipped the fiber so that they would get prime seats the top of the Ferris wheel. Pause. Wait till you see this fireworks display. Guess what? Holly sees something else. And it's Veigar moving through the tree knobs. Basically. In House of the Dragon here, Holly's like, guys, something is moving through the woods.
- [15:31]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [15:32]
Mallory Rubin
Hand waved. Seriously, look at the pretty lights in the sky. This is gonna leave a mark.
- [15:40]
Joanna Robinson
What hasn't? This charming scene this based on, like, you know, we talked about Holly and the lights. Holly in the wall in season one.
- [15:49]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [15:49]
Joanna Robinson
Holly noticing the massive mind flayer moving through the. The foliage is. Is very interesting. I do want to say shout out Karen Wheeler for the primo position for fireworks one year at the Marin county fair. This will come back up in my summer category. But one year at the Marin county fair, we were determined to be at the top of the Ferris wheel for the fireworks display. Did she succeed? I want to say. I want to say we were like in high school. Here's what I will say. We were gaming it out. It was a really long line. We were gaming it out. We were trying to figure out. At one point we were telling people to go in front of us because we were getting too close, blah, blah. And then people started to try to cut in front of us and talk about Karen Wheeler. I turned into the biggest Karen I've ever been in my entire life. Was teenage Joanna being like, no, no, no, no. We have masked this out. And you are not allowed to get in front of us in line right now to destroy our chances of being on. And we did. We weren't like top top, but we were like. I would say Three quarters of the way up to see the fireworks display on the Ferris wheel. But it took a lot of. I mean, had I but known all it would take as well, given inflation, $5 in the 1980s, I don't know, but like a few bucks. Yeah. To a carny to just skip the line and get right to the top, I. I would have taken the Karen Wheeler approach. Absolutely.
- [17:08]
Mallory Rubin
Man, I enjoy Ferris wheel. I haven't been on one in quite a while. We did have the. I was gonna say pleasure, though. It was actually kind of alarming recently when we were at Comic Con and had a nice team dinner of seeing how quickly a Ferris wheel could be disassembled that was mere feet away from us. Remember that in like 12 minutes.
- [17:26]
Joanna Robinson
I would say never again. After what we saw, the horrors we saw of those. Once again, I respected Carnie. But the carnies just like slinging bolts and like, like they were nothing. It was upsetting. Tough.
- [17:41]
Mallory Rubin
Joanna.
- [17:42]
Joanna Robinson
Mallory. Oh, wait. Can I say a couple more things on the Holly Trauma Tracker, please? So a couple things about. Again, we're not going to talk a ton about season five, but a couple things I want to flag. And we'll come back to season five at the very end of the pod. But when I was re listening to our season four pod, I was reminded of this Duffer Brothers quote about the three levels of nostalgia that they like to play in inside of a Stranger Things season in early season. So, like, that the kids are in this amblin Kids on Bikes Goonies world that the teens are in this Nightmare on Elm street sort of Halloween teen horror world. And the parents are in this, like, Close Encounters of the Third Kind slash, like government conspiracy world that these are the levels they're playing in. As the children get increasingly tall and the hemlines on their shorts get increasingly short, we are just moving further and further away from. You know, this season ends with, you know, some of the kids on the bikes. Like, they're still getting on those bikes. But it. It beggars credulity when they're gonna be about 16 in. The youngest kids are gonna be about 16 in the final season. So enter Holly Wheeler and like, can she represent the younger kid faction that we sort of started that sentimentality that we started Stranger Things with? There's a bunch of Holly Wheeler theories going around, but, you know, we've no need to get into theory corner. But we've glimpsed her in the trailer seemingly in peril with Karen. There is a shot of her in a teaser in like a Blue, sort of Alice in Wonderland dress. Like. There's just, like, a lot of questions about what's going on with Holly. So I think it will be good to keep in mind all the things that Holly. The way in which Holly has seemingly been, like, a bit marked from the beginning and so a way in which this probably was not their plan because they didn't plan to take as many years to get to their final season, but a way in which they could take advantage of a character like Holly Wheeler, who has been in the margins for so many seasons. So I'm excited.
- [19:42]
Mallory Rubin
Me, too. I wonder if the fact that Holly suddenly needs to become a primary figure explains why every episode is three hours. We'll find out. No, I do like the idea that this poor child, who is kind of quiet, borne witness to so many strange happenings, would, you know, have an odd turn of her own. Joanna.
- [20:02]
Joanna Robinson
Yes, Mallory?
- [20:04]
Mallory Rubin
Set the mood for us. What is your overall relationship to season three inside of your overall Stranger Things journey? How do you feel about season three?
- [20:16]
Joanna Robinson
I really like it. I like it more the more I watch it. This is an oft, I think, season two, in terms of, like, the larger fandom. I think season two people don't really love. And there was a lot of chatter around season three, people not loving, and then people coming back in droves for season four. You and I have always, I think, thought higher of seasons two and three, but season three, I think, especially than other people. I love the mall setting. I think it's so brilliant to have the mall setting in an 80s, you know, let's explore all the corners of 80s culture kind of show. There are a few things that don't work for me. I would say the Schwarzenegger goon stuff, like, never once works for me in the entire season. I would say the Cary Elwes casting doesn't hit the way that Sean Astin did or Paul Reiser did or Matthew Modine. Like, it's just not. I love Cary Elwes, but this is just, like, not executed as well. And the other thing I will say that flat that, like, pings for me every time I watch it back through, is at this point in their shared adventures. It is frustrating to me the way that, like, Hopper doesn't believe Joyce at the beginning when things are going wrong and Jonathan doesn't believe Nancy. Like, Jonathan doesn't believe Nancy and Hopper doesn't believe Joyce. And I was like, guys, three seasons in, if the magnets aren't magneting, something is going wrong. So. But. So those are my, like, because this is largely gonna be a celebration this season. I would say those are the things that don't work for me. But the additions to the cast, be they big or small, other than the ones I just mentioned, are great. We're gonna talk about some of these evolving friendship or identity dynamics as the kids are bumping up closer and closer to full blown adulthood, which is where we find them now in season five, I would say. And yes. And yeah. So I just, there's just a lot to love about this season, even, Even though, like, basically every time Hop and the Schwarzenegger guy fight, I like, go do the dishes or something like that. It's not interesting to me. But everything else, you're like, I've seen.
- [22:21]
Mallory Rubin
A funhouse, hall of mirrors and John Wick too. I'm good, I'm good.
- [22:25]
Joanna Robinson
We've done it. So. But you know, like Nancy in the workplace or like Steve Post High School or all these other, other things are like, really interesting to me. So.
- [22:34]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, yeah, I, I, I would never say that this is the best season. And I definitely, like, you have notes on it and think that there are things inside of it that don't work. And I think in the, you know, we'll see how this feels once the series is complete. We go back and, and reconsider every installment in the full context of, of how the story concludes. But I think to this point at least, it certainly feels like it's also like the least, least consequential in terms of how it evolves and advances the mythology. Like in terms of what we learn. We're just down the mind flare. Yeah.
- [23:09]
Joanna Robinson
Like, it's the, it moves the story.
- [23:10]
Mallory Rubin
Forward in that respect the least. However, while I will not say it is, I will never make the case that it is the best season because I don't actually think it is the best season. But I, it is like, sneakily, I think my favorite season. It's the one I consistently have the most fun revisiting because it's the one that has my fun. Like a lot of my, you know, this, we've talked about a lot of these already and we'll, we'll revisit them today. But like, a lot of my favorite moments from the show are in this season and I think it has just some of the character dynamics that I love the most. Like, we won't step on all the categories here, but Scoob Troop is all time God tier. There's just nothing like it. It's like the best Hopper and Joyce Hopper and Elle in Terms of complicated. Like, I like watching characters who I root for be deeply flawed and backslide and make mistakes. Very emotionally, very rich text this season. The Mall, as you said, is to me, like, this is one of my favorite settings for a coming of age story period. And I think the way they use it inside of this show is so great and it is so nostalgic for people of our age. I think I just have such potent memories of growing up and what the mall represented. I remember the evolution from I would go with my mom, my mom would take like my sister. We would go on Friday night and I would just like, hope none of my. I love my mom. It was great to be there. But like, you know, that kind of like I hope none of my friends, like, see that.
- [24:36]
Joanna Robinson
Hanging out with your mom.
- [24:37]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah. The next phase of I would be like sent off to go spend time with my friends. But my mom was still there, just in a different part of the mall. Into the like dawning of what felt at the time like adulthood and true independence. You can go to the mall with your friends and like, just like Elle and Max talk about, like, what do I like, like, figure out what you're interested in. Look at the things that are fun for you. Figure out who you are. Just that first, like, taste of independence when you're. You're young and how the mall kind of feels like this next step after the. I got to ride my bike through the neighborhood with my friend. It's just like very emblematic of that time of life to me and really nostalgically rich. So I love it.
- [25:18]
Joanna Robinson
It's such a specific era in American culture too, because we didn't know this at the time, that mall culture would be so temporary like that. You know, mall culture new and high in its heights in the, in the 80s, late 70s into the 80s, you know, enduring into the 90s. But then like, you know, the waning of mall culture as, you know, as commerce moves online and that if you go to a mall now, it's like a. Often a ghost town and there's just like derelict malls around and stuff like that. And so it's such a specific time period, such a specific change. Like this is like becomes the town square to a certain degree. I used to go where I grew up. There weren't. There were like two kind of open air malls that were like very bougie and not very like mall like, but then there was the Northgate Mall, which was like a mall mall. And they had a. That was the movie theater that had the most screenshot in, like, where we grew up. So, like the most option, like, if I was at the mall, I was probably going to the movies with my friends. And. And then. And then I reached. Because I, like, grew up in the same place and then was an adult in the same place, which is not always the case for people. I got to like, an insufferable era of film snobbery where I was like, I refuse to see it at the mall. I was like, I don't care. Those screens are tiny. I don't want to go to the mall, the Northgate Mall and see it with the youth or whatever. And so I became like very anti mall later. But like, it's just, yeah, the mall. Reflecting your eras of your life, whether it's your more pure, like my independence from my parents and my less pure. This is where you can mark my film snobbery emerging is. It's. It's a very clever setting. And one of our listeners. I'll get to the. To the full email a bit more later. But one of our listeners pointed out how like, like delicious it is that this ode to American capitalism that is the mall, is built by these communists who are literally undermining it. Literally undermining it. Yeah. In order to further their communist agenda.
- [27:27]
Mallory Rubin
Great touch.
- [27:27]
Joanna Robinson
Very funny.
- [27:28]
Mallory Rubin
It's a great touch. I also worked at an ice cream shop at the mall, so. Did you never got to. I did, yeah. Never got to. Never got to.
- [27:36]
Joanna Robinson
Where did you master the quite like the scoop flip? No, that's.
- [27:39]
Mallory Rubin
That's something that I think only Steve Harrington can execute in that way. Wow. Just true gunslinger stuff from Steve.
- [27:46]
Joanna Robinson
That was really good.
- [27:46]
Mallory Rubin
Remarkable. You had a wonderful idea, which was that before we got to our categories, we should set the table in one other way, which is to talk about which scene from this season of Stranger Things feels to each of us most representative of the spirit of the show, most emblematic of something that feels elemental to you, to us, to the fandom about what Stranger Things is. So what is your pick for season three?
- [28:11]
Joanna Robinson
I really like the way our picks go together, and I was pretty sure I knew what we were going to pick. But this is my favorite scene of Stranger Things, and my pick is Steve the Hair Harrington and queen of my life, Robin Buckley in the bathroom, having just vomited up, but still feeling the after effects of being drugged with truth serum by the Russians. And so there is this like, as. As I think could or should be the case in some of these picks. Like, there is a heightened element to this Right. We're on a. We're on the vapor end of truth serum. So that's like a supernatural extra special element of the growing up experience. But this Robinson moment where Robin comes out to Steve and their friendship just. Just deepens from there because, like, watching it. So all season, Dustin has sort of been like, teasing Steve, and he's like, you know, you should be looking at Robin, you know, and Maya Hawk is here, and she's great. And, you know, like, Robin is so cute and all this sort of stuff like that. And so it's like. So the first time I watched it, I was like, yeah, kiss, kiss. And then you get this reveal. And I was like, oh, oh, no, they're not gonna kiss. And then I realized I liked it better. And then every time, I'm just, like, so grateful that that's not where it goes or it goes in this very different direction, which is, like, a different test for Steve's character. And so all of that is really interesting to me. We talk about how potent and important these deeply rooted friendships are, especially, like, our core four, the party, who have known each other since they were teeny tiny. And again, we'll talk about that a little bit more in your scene. But, like, those deep rooted friendships are so important, but so are the relationships that you. As you grow and change. And so for Steven, Robyn, you know, and we'll talk about max and 11 this season and all these other things. But, like, Robin is such an interesting character in her own right, and this is such an important moment for Robin to feel like in the middle of the 1980s, once again, perhaps influenced by the vapor of some truth serum, able to tell someone, someone who used to, like, be her social media, like, enemy in high school, her. Her real truth, that she's a queer woman and a queer teen in the 1980s, and to have it received the way that it's received by Steve, which is not like. Which is not even, like, deep, deep, deep emotion, but is like, now we're just gonna. I'm just gonna tease you for the, like, kind of girl you had a crush on.
- [30:59]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, tammies.
- [30:59]
Joanna Robinson
It does. And then they laugh. Yeah. And then they just, like, laugh about it together. Make fun of her and laugh about it. It's like I'm tearing up thinking about it. I think it's so good, visually, I think it's so good. Like, the slide he does under the stall into hers, like, the color palette, them and their bedraggled uniforms, all this sort of stuff like that. Mallory's hygiene concerns notwithstanding, And I think it's just, like, it's an important moment for Robin. So I don't want to just frame this around Steve. It's an important moment for Robin, but it's such an important moment for Steve's identity. Like Steve, who we meet in season one. Steve, who was not supposed to survive season one because he was just like the high school bully guy. And, you know, when his dad is like, go get a job, it'll build character for you. I don't think this is exactly what he meant, but this is the most character building thing that could happen for Steve. And when we think of Steve going forward into season four, like, his most defining relationship is his friendship with Robin. Like, you know, with love and respect to Dustin. Like, Robin and Steve, bff. Like, that's what this. This is. And so the relationship that Steve forms here with Robin, who will become his, like, best friend, is Steve having an opportunity to redefine who he is. We hear from Robin in this scene, and then later I forget his name. The guy who was at the arcade in season two and is there Keith in the video store. Yeah, he's a douchebag. Steve Harrington's a douchebag.
- [32:31]
Mallory Rubin
Right?
- [32:31]
Joanna Robinson
And that's who Steve Harrington was. But who can Steve Harrington be? So who can these people that we meet at these pivot points in our lives change who we are? And I was thinking about the friendship groups that I went through in my life. And, like, how I talked about this when you and Rob and I talked about Battlestar Galactica. Like, the friendship group that I joined at that moment in my life changed my life. Like, they introduced me to Game of Thrones, which changed my life. They introduced me to so many things that changed my life. And so, like, and it just opened up a different aspect of who I didn't change who I was, but more, it just, like, opened up a different door inside of me of who I was. And I still kept those other things, but it gave me this other opportunity. So just like Robin and Steve, so important to me, this. This scene makes me laugh and makes me cry. And I love every time I rewatch it. And thinking, like, I can't believe I wanted them to kiss when this is so much better, is very special to me. So that's my. That's my pick for the season.
- [33:32]
Mallory Rubin
Beautiful. It's a perfect pick. It's also one of my favorite scenes in the entire not just season, but series. I think it is a little miracle of a relationship, and it's just beautiful to watch their Bond and their impact on each other. I love it. It was difficult for me filling out the categories for this pot. I'm glad that this is the. Your pick to kind of just like, set the stage for the entire discussion, because it does feel like it should transcend the categories, you know, like, it's right. I. I had a hard time not picking Robin and Steve centric stuff for like, 20%, 25% of my categories, and then, like, 25% of the others for. For Hopper. So I don't know that today will be my best, even distribution across the field when we get to our categories, but I think that's fine and appropriate, honestly, I think. Did you have a clip?
- [34:26]
Joanna Robinson
One last one? Oh, yeah. Can we play my clip, please?
- [34:32]
Mallory Rubin
Tammy Thompson's a girl. Steve. Yeah. Oh. Oh.
- [34:46]
Joanna Robinson
Holy.
- [34:48]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [34:50]
Joanna Robinson
Holy.
- [34:51]
Mallory Rubin
I love it. I love that second o.
- [34:52]
Joanna Robinson
He's the best.
- [34:53]
Mallory Rubin
They're the best.
- [34:55]
Joanna Robinson
In the. In this script, it's. It says, like, Steve, and then in, like, brackets like, I'm gay, dummy. Like, that's. That's. Like, that's the read she was given. The other thing I want to say, just from a storytelling point of view, there will be other moments in this sort of very climactic. A lot of shit is happening where we will take a pause and it will be a little like, really, do we have time for this? But what I like about this moment is because of the drugs, it just sort of. It makes sense that these two would just be taking this beat here. Even though all this other scary stuff is going on, it makes sense for them to be taking this beat. The music is crescendoing and this tense confession becomes a joke. And then Dustin just busts in and intrudes with actual plot, and it's just.
- [35:45]
Mallory Rubin
And then they start to giggle. So charming. That's one of the things I admire about the show, is the commitment to always making space for those personal moments and those moments of reflection. No matter how much is going on and no matter how many people or monsters are chasing our heroes at a given moment in time, this is ultimately what the show is about. That balance and centering these journeys of discovery. Fantastic pick. It's the best. My pick, unsurprisingly to you and anybody who's heard us talk about Stranger Things together before, is one of my other favorite moments from this season and favorite moments from the show overall. So similarly, I could have put it in any number of our categories. It could have gone in Most emotional scene, best coming of age moment, most important relationship, A number of them. But I liked the idea of pulling it out of the categories and just focusing on why it feels so important overall. Carlos, can we. Can we hear my Mike and Will clip? I'm not trying to be a jerk, okay? But we're not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?
- [36:57]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [36:59]
Mallory Rubin
Yes, I did.
- [37:01]
Joanna Robinson
It really did.
- [37:04]
Mallory Rubin
I love that moment. It's so sad. It makes me so sad every time I. I see it. That's. You can hear the rain, so you can probably visualize it. That's from chapter three, the case of the missing lifeguard. Mike and Lucas have been fretting over girls, right? Ella's broken up with Mike. Will has asked time and time again, can we play D and D? Can we play D and D? He's mastered this wonderful campaign. Will the wise is there to be with his friends and to restore this, like, sense of, like, he'll say elsewhere, you know, have some fun. Like we used to, right? The things that kind of define the rhythm of. Of their friendship and of their young life together. And the. The. The rest of them just don't care. Like, Dustin's not there for other reasons, as Will. Will later note. And Mike and Lucas are, like, focused entirely on other things. And when the phone rings, it breaks the. What is at that point already, like, a very, very, very fragile remaining spell gone. And Will leaves, and Mike follows him, and they have that conversation, and he tries to stop Will from going and says, like, we just weren't in the mood. And Will's like, that's the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. Right? And I think that this is like. Like, we've. We talked about this in our season four pods because we called back to this moment a couple times. We've talked about it elsewhere. But I think that this just, like, really showcases something that's present in your pick as well. I agree. They pair nicely together. It's present in something like Hopper's letter to Elle, which, spoiler, no surprise, will come up in one of my categories later today.
- [38:24]
Joanna Robinson
This is a season.
- [38:25]
Mallory Rubin
I mean, the whole show, but, like, is a season in particular that is very rooted in change. Right. And what it feels like to be changing like yourself or to confront change in other people who have been, like, the centerpieces and the heartbeats of your life and how you think about your life and, you know, the party, that friendship, as we've discussed Many times is the heartbeat of the show. I really love what you said about Steven Robin, though. That part of the joy of the show and part of how I think it mirrors so well real life is that sometimes you hold onto the things that defined you before and sometimes you discover new things. And all of that is true. Right? And Will and Mike, even inside of the party, we talked about this a lot in season two. How their moments of confiding in each other or taking each other into a circle of awareness and trust, even inside of that friendship, really always larger group friendship, really stands out. And so you have these shifting dynamics which every season has given us a version of. This is focused on something other than kind of the core long standing nature of what the party has been. Right. And that has changed season after season. The constant is that someone's always thinking about something new. The change is how it's manifesting and with whom. So change amid the constant. I really like the way the show explores that. And just like growing up and growing apart and that not meaning that you don't care about somebody or don't love them or don't want them to be okay. But sometimes it does mean actually that, like, you're not giving them what you need, what they need, or that they feel like you're not giving them what what they need. And the things that people care about, even when they still care about each other, like, diverge, they just do. And sometimes one person is ready for that inside of a relationship and the other person isn't and they're on different timelines and different paths and that just feels like, so true to young friendship and young life and like the journey of discovery and all of its many different forms and how you can hopefully find safe harbor and people who know you and who you trust. And also you will feel lost amid that all the time. And I think the show captures that really well. I always love how, because this is so fraught and so tense and it feels like it's such a key wound. And obviously there's a lot of other stuff that Will is thinking about with his identity and who he is. And we'll talk about some of the meaningful moments that manifest in that front in season four. But I always love them when we build toward, like they're packing at the end. The goodbye. And Will puts the D and D box into the donation box. It'll eventually make its way to Erica via Dustin and Lucas. Great touch, Lady Applejack, rise. And there's this, like, heartbreaking moment where you're like Will doesn't think that he can play D and D anymore. Like, he doesn't think he could do that anymore. And he's like, when I come back, we'll use yours, you know? And Mike's like, well, what if you want to join another party? Not possible. Like, the party is them, you know? And so even though it changed, changes, it's like, eternal, and it's always going to be there for them. So I just really. Yeah, I really love that. It's, like, really sad, but also, I think, really beautifully speaks to how these experiences and moments of your life that you share with other people feel like these little time capsules that are so specific to, like, who you were at a certain moment. And so it feels like, because it is, like, existentially unmooring when those things are in any way challenged, but also, like, not also, like, because of that. So deeply precious to you. So, like you noted rightly, at not like a season where Will has a ton to do, but even so, he gives us one of the more emotionally resonant and, I think, poignant moments of the season. And so this felt like the place to toast him and to toast that relationship and to acknowledge that things change, which they do.
- [42:11]
Joanna Robinson
I love. I love having spent years with you essentially talking directly about and then around this show and the fact that I know you and your love for the show well enough at this point that I knew that you were gonna pick this scene. And I know we're gonna talk about Hopper's letter, like, all that sort of stuff, obviously, but, like, I will never be able to prove this, but my suspicion is that the Duffer brothers tend to sometimes test balloon things for future seasons in lower stakes moments. So, like, Robin's coming out in this season as, like, a test balloon for how is the fandom gonna react to a queer character inside of this story? And how will they then. How does that then influence how we decide to tell Will's story? I don't think they would, like, if they had it in their mind that Will is queer, which is something that is made even more apparent in season four. I don't think they would ever, like, change that, but how explicit they decide to make that or not, perhaps, is a Robin Tess balloon, or I have suspicions that some of the season four, like, de aging flashback stuff with Elle was a sort of, like, how big is the appetite for something like that if we're going to potentially do time travel in season five, which you and I have been long theorizing, or something like that. So yes, but the connection between Will's queerness, which is very important to this scene because the division is like Mike says, it's not my fault you don't care about girls. Right. You don't like girls. Right.
- [43:44]
Mallory Rubin
And then immediately realize how triggering that is. And that's not what he meant.
- [43:49]
Joanna Robinson
But he doesn't know the full extent of what that is. Right, because he's oblivious again in season. Mike ever oblivious, oblivious again in season four. But it's true, this otherness that Will feels here is specifically oriented around Lucas and Mike and their experience of becoming guys who are interested and focused on girls. And Will is just othered inside of that dynamic. And so it's. It's directly related to his. His queer identity. And so, like, when you think about this show, which is about tentacle monsters, monsters from other dimensions and, and Russians and all these other things, it's. The stranger thing inside of this world is also these kids who feel so othered, right? Whether they're othered for being geeks or poor or whatever the case may be, or in the case of a Robin or a Will for being queer, they are the stranger thing inside of these various dynamics. And so the found family, the warm embrace that, you know, Will will receive from his brother in season four or Robin receives here from Steve is so important. You know, 11 is the strangest of things. And we will talk about that. But supernatural as a metaphor for real world issues, something that we talk about a lot when we talked about Buffy, something we will talk about a lot inside of this season too. That idea of queerness is so baked into the Buffy fandom, they see parallel for that inside of there. So it's really. It matters a lot to me. I remember when the Season 5 trailer dropped, or one of the trailers dropped and there's like a shot of Robin and Will together and a bunch of the fandom was like, yes, look at this little community that's potentially burgeoning here. So, yeah, I love these pics.
- [45:58]
Mallory Rubin
Great stuff, great show. So we have a lot of other highlights to hit. Let's get to the stranger superlatives. Well, the holidays have come and gone once again, but if you've forgotten to.
- [46:12]
Joanna Robinson
Get that special someone in your life a gift.
- [46:14]
Mallory Rubin
Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try@mintmobile.com limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50gb per month when network is busy. See terms. I have to assume we have the same pick for our first category today and that it's one of the easiest in the entire run. It's best new edition. I feel very confident we have both picked up picked Robin by a mile.
- [46:58]
Joanna Robinson
Should we, should we listen to my clip?
- [47:01]
Mallory Rubin
So like, I wasn't totally focused in there or anything, but I'm pretty sure that mom was trying to bang her son.
- [47:13]
Joanna Robinson
Robin Buckley, queen of our hearts. Just like an incredible, incredible addition to the show. It's very smart, I think, to, you know, an Eddie. It's some of this in season four. If you want to loop someone new into the show, it is smart to do it via Steve. I think that's like a great key into adding someone to the cast. But Maya Hawk is so wonderful as Robin. Robin giving Steve shit, giving all the kids shit. Calling stuff out all season is just incredibly fun. And like Robin is like the kind of teen whose three favorite films are like the Apartment. Like include the Apartment. I'm like, this is a kid I would want to be friends. This is a teen I would want to be friends with. So yeah, Rob, it's Robin. Obviously Robin Buckley has to be.
- [48:10]
Mallory Rubin
I mean, season two there were like a lot of great new characters, but even then Max was the pick by a comfortable margin as well. Like an Eddie spoiler we will be for this category in season four. They do a good job of introducing new characters, obviously with some notable exceptions, but the people who really become central to the story. It's been impressive. Robin coming into our lives initially, not just as you noted through the Steve relationship, but specifically by the face she makes watching him try to hit on these scoops are away customers and the tally and the you rule you suck whiteboard and then her outrage when it's erased and she says that that was important data she was collecting is just so funny to me. I think that the gusto with which she jumps in to participating in the mission long before she has any. I mean her, her sense of the full scope of the supernatural, LS powers, etc, that comes at the very end of the season. But everything was like, let's decode the mission. Yeah, okay. We've wound up accidentally in an elevator shoot into a secret lair. I'm in the spirit, the spark, the humor, the heart, the intellect. It's just that she's Just an incredible character in every context. I think that the moment they just flex with the torturers when she says, you broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town. And we picked it up on her cerebro and cracked it in a day. A day. Like the emphasis on a day is one of my favorite things in the entire season. It's just absolutely perfect. And you know, as you, as you beautifully explored like that, that bathroom scene with Steve is really an all timer. And I also adore the scene that primes us for that. I mean all of their scenes prime us for that. But the real like bookend companion piece when she's basically like, do you even remember me from class? You know, and you think about like.
- [50:12]
Joanna Robinson
I have some questions about Steve being in the same history class as Robin. Like, I understand that Steve struggled in school, but like, yeah, it's, I think.
- [50:21]
Mallory Rubin
Given what we've seen of Steve's academic performance, I, I have, it makes sense to me. I'm like, wouldn't have been surprised if Steve and Dustin were in some of the same classes before they were even, even though they were never at the same level of school. I love Steve, but yeah, I just like, you know, the jolt of life that she provides to the show and then the way that through their relationship we could see, like you said, the, and explore the way that people can impact each other and the way that growth and like your understanding of who you are and who you think you can be can, can be so enhanced by really authentically forming a connection with somebody who just a few months prior you wouldn't have talked to and didn't even know existed. Like, that's the kind of stuff that a story that is set in high school or middle school or early college years or Scoop Shop or a family video store, like, can tease out and I just really, really love it. So like, with apologies to Alexi, who I also really enjoy and Alexi is my runner up. Maybe is my runner up. It's, it's, it's not close. This was not a close contest.
- [51:30]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, Alexi really only gets like two episodes to shine. Really. So like it's, it's, it's tough sledding for him. But like the, I also just want to shout out Maya Hawk and Joe Keery.
- [51:44]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [51:45]
Joanna Robinson
For wearing those oh my God, Scoops Ahoy costumes almost the entire, like they get to change right at the end in their like video store interview scene. But like they're wearing those costumes the whole time. Again, I, I, I said something similar recently, but like, imagine You're Maya Hawking. You get cast in Stranger Things, one of the biggest shows in the world. And they're like, and this is your costume.
- [52:11]
Mallory Rubin
And it's a season where everybody else gets, like, really to play around.
- [52:15]
Joanna Robinson
Some fun fashion, tubular style. And you've got some rock those knee socks, girl. Do it. And she does.
- [52:23]
Mallory Rubin
It's great stuff. Oh, Robin, what an icon. Okay, next category. Category. Best use of the summer setting. What are you going with?
- [52:33]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, you gave us the rundown of. Of the summer setting options. Community pool.
- [52:39]
Mallory Rubin
We got the community pool, the mall. Specifically an ice cream parlor in the mall. Independence Fun Fair.
- [52:45]
Joanna Robinson
Camp nowhere county fair. ICs, ice cream, fireworks. I'm gonna give it to the fun fair, though, because, yeah, again, the Marin county shout out. The Marin County Fair. Like, you know, there's amusement parks and the amusement parks and then there's county fairs, and they're so singularly summer. And the rigged games that I remember playing and sometimes winning the goldfish I got at the Marin County Fair, which very soon thereafter died. The Jim Carrey is the Riddler poster that I won. That was like a cherished item that I owned. You know, the weird shit you eat only at a county fair. The way you take your life into your hands every time you go into one of those rides, like, that's just. That's a very potent summer jolt of electricity. So that's what I would say.
- [53:41]
Mallory Rubin
I watch those scenes and in a really great, powerful way, I can, like, feel the stomachache that is so specific to the oil that funnel cake is fried in him, you know, or like the. The burn abrasion on your leg from like a tilt a whirl if your shorts were too short. You know, it's just. It's a very evocative thing. That is my pick as well. I will be addressing the community pool and other categories today, so I think it gives me permission to focus on the fair here. We have a responsibility to talk about the pool elsewhere. I. I do think my runner up is using the fireworks to attack the monster at the mall. Very nice way to say this came out on July 4th weekend, this is set on July 4th, etc. So I like that as well. Most important relationship.
- [54:40]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, is Robin and Steve for me. But given that we already talked about that ad nauseam, I will throw in 11 and Max because not only because of how often they used clips from this mall montage in season four for both 11 and max to remember what it's like to be a human and a Friend. I feel like they were so grateful to have all of that footage to play with. But this is so important because, you know that. That moment that Max says when they are, like, trying to figure out 11 style in the gap, and she's like. She's like, who are you? Like, the style that works for you. Not what Mike likes and not what Hop likes, but what do you like? And. And it matters a lot to me. You know, they have their, like, sleepovers. They're talking about Raf Mancha. They do a double sleepover. Like, that's true friendship. If you can go from a sleepover, sleeping over at one friend's night, and then double down the next night, like, the kids. The parents don't know where their kids are. That's. That's important to think about. But. But also, it's just like, this friendship is immediate, and it is so important. And for Elle, you know, we love Max's introduction in. In season, like, in. In previous seasons. But, like, though the way in which she and El are, like, pitted against each other. Yes. And then the miracle of their. Of their bonding and, like, Mike's, like, Mike's irritation with it. They're conspiring against me. But the way in which. When we. When we split up into various groups, when the monster is attacking at the end, it's Max and Mike and 11. Like, Max and 11 are like, you know, a. You know, and then when. When Max is devastated over what happens to Billy, she. She collapses into Eleven's arms. You know what I mean? And so it's just like. Like, that is so. So necessary and so good for a character like Elle to have. And then she's about to move away to California and be ripped away from all that. So that sucks. But. But it really. It matters a lot, and it. And I love that they took the time for that inside of the season.
- [56:59]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, I think it's fantastic. This was in our prior two seasons rewatch pods. This was one of the first categories that I penciled in for those pods. Like, I really knew what I wanted, you know, who and what I wanted to feature in that category. And this was. It was a little different for me, this pod, because, okay, I have basically, like, my contenders, but like you, I. I'm just like, I'm talking about these characters and their relationship in so many other categories. So my pick is also Steven Robin and then more broadly, the. The Scoops troupe and how that's used Steve, Robin, Dustin, Erika. I just have them in so many other categories. I'm like, I Can't pick them here. Kind of co heartbeats of the show, I think, with the, the Hopper, Elle Hopper, Joyce, dual Hopper relationships. And then Max and Elle was my other contender here. But I have all of them in other categories, like, prominently featured. And so I decided to go with something here that I'm going to concede. I don't think it's the most important relationship of the season, but it's like, like the one that maybe feels important that I honestly, I got, I was like, I'm not talking about this anywhere else. I don't have this anywhere else. This maybe is something we should talk about here. So I'm going with super important thing that I realized I wasn't going to talk about elsewhere in the pot unless I picked it here. And my pick is ln the Mind Flayer via Billy. Because I think that the.
- [58:29]
Joanna Robinson
You let.
- [58:30]
Mallory Rubin
Us in, like that sequence. Don't you see? All this time we've been building it. We've been building it for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it for you. And now it's time. Time to end it. And we are going to end you. I will not get into the specifics here. We'll save the specifics for season four. But I will say, hey, this is pretty important in season four, this idea. So it felt like worth, even though I, I, I said at the top of the pod that this feels like the season where the kind of lore is teased out maybe the least fully compared to the other seasons. And I do think that's true. This aspect of it, what is the connection between El and what is happening here is obviously going to be very important for the endgame of season five and is very central in season four, which we'll talk about in the next couple pods. And so, yeah, important in a different way. It's not the one I care about the most. It's not the one that generates the most meaningful scenes. Those are the other relationships, which we'll continue to toast throughout the other categories. But, yeah, this one is like, okay, they're giving us something here that will be pretty central to the canon of Stranger Things. And this felt like the spot to note it. And then also, of course, it's connected with the way that El reach, you know, penetrates and reaches Billy in a very, like, Patronus slash running up that hill. Kate Bush, you know, is coming in season four way. Also enjoyed that. So, yeah, that's my, that's my pick.
- [60:04]
Joanna Robinson
I'm Glad. I'm glad you brought it up. I actually don't have Billy anywhere else in.
- [60:07]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, exactly. No, this is nowhere.
- [60:10]
Joanna Robinson
I think it's important to talk about in terms of like, as I said in our. In our previous podcast, Billy's introduction didn't really work for me because I felt like that sort of turn on, the bully was bullied sort of thing comes too late in the season and is sort of deployed not well enough to really define what came before it. But in this season, Billy's angst and, you know, the mind palace memory stuff that. That 11 does, this exploration, which I think, you know, is important to think about again, when we think about, you know, the Vecna creation and stuff like that is like, what is the origin of evil inside of a person? Like, hurt people, hurt people. Like, where does it all come from? So I think. I think all of that's interesting. And then also, when you were just talking about sort of the Mind flayers focus on 11, it reminded me of a line that I think about a lot from an episode about the Vampire Slayer, which you have seen, but we will talk about later, which is passion, where a character talks about a villain's preoccupation with our heroine and says, you're still the only thing he thinks about. Right. How close that idea of like. Of, like, destructive fixation can sit right next to sort of like, other obsessions and how that idea of obsession, of passion, of all of that sort of stuff is commingled. And so close, close. So great stuff. Great stuff.
- [61:43]
Mallory Rubin
Love it. Can't wait to talk about that episode more in a couple.
- [61:48]
Joanna Robinson
God.
- [61:49]
Mallory Rubin
Okay, next category. Most emotional moment. I have absolutely no doubt. You know what I picked here?
- [61:55]
Joanna Robinson
What did you pick? Mine is sort of sim. My pick is sort of similar to your Billy pick previously in that. It's not that I can't talk about anywhere else. It's like, I'm not actually sure. I think this is the emotional. Emotional. Most emotional moment. Except it catches me off guard and makes me cry every single time. So I was like, I think I have to pick it. Even though, like, really I don't think it is. But actually, viscerally, it kind of is just. It gets me off guard. Carlos, will you play this clip? They're funny, don't you think? Yes, I know. I just wish they get back together again already.
- [62:35]
Mallory Rubin
Me too.
- [62:44]
Joanna Robinson
Okay, so Bob Joyce comes home from work having, like, put off Hopper's invitation to dinner, microwaves some sad lasagna for one and sits in front of the TV to watch. You know, the kids are not there, sit in front of the TV to watch TV alone. And then flashes back to watching Cheers with Bob. And it's important inside of this season where we meet Joyce and she's just not ready to move on from the devastation of losing Bob to the end of the season where she proposes that she and Hopper go on a date. So we need to see where she starts, where she comes from. But this just like, I think I forget that it's coming every time it comes and then it's just sort of like Sean Astin is back for a brief second. They're just. She's so happy and they're just sharing this thing together. This idea of shared story of like what you and I love to do is just like they're talking about Sam and Diane from Cheers and wanting them to get back together and all this sort of stuff like that. And then smash cut back to Joyce alone with her lasagna in front of the television. It echoes one of my favorite TV moments of all time, which is from a show that Stranger Things owes a lot of debt to, which is Freaks and Geeks, one of my all time faves. And there is a moment where a scene where Martin Starr's character comes home from school, makes himself a grilled cheese sandwich, sits down in front of the television by himself with a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk chilling combination and, and watches Gary Shanley stand up routine and then like eats a brownie and just laughs. And. And that is about sort of like solitude dispelled by your communion with like the stories you love and the entertainment you love and stuff like that. So that's, it's a very like joyous moment.
- [64:41]
Mallory Rubin
Ish.
- [64:42]
Joanna Robinson
For that character. And so this is just like a really sad reflection of that, of like how this thing that you took delight in can become so sad and so empty when the person you used to share it with is gone. So yeah, it's hard to put it up against some of the like, extremely sad things that happened this season. And I have some runner ups that we can talk about in a second. But I kept coming back to this and I was like, I have to pick Bob. And flashback. It just gets me every time. Love that pick.
- [65:11]
Mallory Rubin
Oh man, that's a great pick. I really love that. That's beautiful. Yeah. I'll try not to spoil another show for people who would have no reason to expect spoilers for that show here, but reminds me a little bit of the conversation we had During Last of Us Season 2, a few episodes in, when one character has lost and is missing another. And just the reminders that are everywhere. And the most routine things, like a dappling beam of sunlight catching the sleeve of a jacket. Jacket that reminds you of somebody, you know, and, like, the rhythms of your life that you used to share with somebody when that person is not there anymore. The things that bring you joy cause you pain. Yeah, I always. I think that's another great example of that. That larger note you struck earlier of just the show, like, taking a pause. Like, we are just with Joyce as she pours the wine and looks down at the peas. And like, there should be room for moments like that because they're as important as the fact that, like, this is a town on a hellmouth. A hellmouth now. A thing. I know.
- [66:11]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [66:11]
Mallory Rubin
So I think that's a.
- [66:12]
Joanna Robinson
Well, you know, know. And they just get better and better at this. Right. Like, there's Bob stuff here, which I think is better than the Barb stuff that came before it. And then the evolution into, like, the Billy. The Billy stuff in season four. You know what I mean? Like, how do we reckon with the loss that we just experienced? So, yeah.
- [66:33]
Mallory Rubin
Anything'S better than confronting Barb's photo on the toilet.
- [66:37]
Joanna Robinson
It's not great. What's your pick here?
- [66:42]
Mallory Rubin
Surprising no one. My pick here is Hopper's letter. Carlos, can we hear a snippet?
- [66:50]
Joanna Robinson
But I know that's naive. It's just not how life works.
- [66:57]
Mallory Rubin
It's moving, always moving, whether you like it or not.
- [67:04]
Joanna Robinson
And, yeah, sometimes that's painful, sometimes it's.
- [67:09]
Mallory Rubin
Sad, and sometimes it's surprising. Happy. This kills me every time, no matter how many times I watch this.
- [67:22]
Joanna Robinson
It's just.
- [67:23]
Mallory Rubin
This is, of course, like, the very end, other than the Stinger, the very end of the season. We think we should say for anybody who didn't watch season three in real time, Time Theory Corner was buzzing right away. There was like, here are all of the bits of evidence that Hopper is not really dead. Like, all over the Internet immediately. But still you worry, you wonder, you hear not the American in the Stinger. And still you're like, dare I hope? And regardless, the characters in the story think he's gone, right? No matter what our theory brains are doing at home. Like, Animal thinks she has lost. Lost Jim Hopper. Joyce thinks that she has lost Jim Hopper. We just talked about this. I had this on my list for the best speeches of the century. So a far episode that we did. So we just talked about it recently when I Covered season three in real time. It was one of the things that I just couldn't stop focusing on in real time, in the moment. From the first time I saw this through. Now every time I revisit it, it still hits me as powerfully. I just adore it. And I think that part of the clip is my favorite.
- [68:27]
Joanna Robinson
But.
- [68:30]
Mallory Rubin
1A and 1B is like, what comes right after that when he says, so, you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes. Learn from them. When life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave, which I just love and think is, like, such a gift for Hopper to be able to give to El in her moment of grief. And, like, Hopper is. Is a complete mess across the season. Like, he is just acting a lot of notes. Yeah, he's acting. And, like, that's part of why I love it, because he's just like, he, you know, as. As Murray will say, he's like, behaving like a. Like a. A man child and a brood and like, the non stop bickering. And he's, like you said earlier, like, questioning people around him, and he's insecure and like. Like, does he behave well? No, but does he behave in a way? To me, that feels, like, very human. Yes. And I think that, like, with Elle in particular, watching him at this phase where he is, like, the way that he behaves with Mike and what he does with Mike is, like, horrible. But it comes from this place that we, as characters who have watched Jim Hopper for years now really understand, which is like, El is at a place that Sarah never got to, and he's afraid, but he also wants to find a way to help her be who she can be, and he doesn't know how. And I think that's a really important thing to show us. And it's like, I love that this letter is. It's simultaneously the gift of that message from a person who is gone. Like, they have their beautiful little moment at the mall. They sit, they hold hands, they get to kind of repair and heal a little bit before everything that happens. But this is ultimately also, like, a missed connection kind of a moment. Like, this is what Hopper didn't actually have the strength in real time to sit there and say, and they didn't get that moment. And they do in a different way. And I just think that's like, like, really potent to show us. And I always love when we glimpse because he has the moment at the general store with Joyce where he's basically like, can you do it for me? She's like, no, you gotta do it.
- [70:53]
Joanna Robinson
She.
- [70:53]
Mallory Rubin
But I can help you prep. And they write. And then when we see that he's at his cabin and he sits down and he. Then he does do it himself, like, these are his words. This is like what we hear here. This is from him. This isn't what Joyce coached him up to do.
- [71:07]
Joanna Robinson
Not what Joyce told him to say.
- [71:08]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah. And. And I don't know, I just like, I just really love it. I think that desire to try to like reach out to the most important person in your life and communicate something that feels like the most important thing you're carrying inside of you, but like, you don't really know how is like a really lovely thing to capture. And again, this is just very entwined with this season long and series long study of change. You know, I love the way that he says, like life is moving, always moving. I love the power behind that idea that like when something hurts, it doesn't mean you should run or hide. Even though that's a human, normal thing to do. It means like you felt something that was worth mourning, you know, that the loss of it means you had something that was precious. And so of course it hurts when it's gone, but like it means that it was there. So, yeah, I just like, I just love this scene. I will take talk elsewhere about the footage that's paired with it and how it's edited and the theory corner stuff around that, which is still very top of mind for us, as you already alluded to. But in terms of just the emotional like wallop of this, it just shreds me every time. I love it.
- [72:23]
Joanna Robinson
I think too, when I was rewatching this most recent time and he got to that part about like the heart means you're out of the cave as a. Like that. And I'm. And I was. I just sort of like flashed across all these moments inside of the season. Like, you know, Robin and Steve in the bathroom. Like it's. It's letting someone close enough that they can hurt you. You know, you just said something similar, but I think it's like that letting someone in Hopper, who drinks plenty to medicate this season but is no longer popping pills thankfully. But like, who met who when we met him was so medicated and so reserved and so numb. Yes. That he's not letting Joyce in, he's not letting all these people in and he's just slowly sort of peeled back those layers and let People in and it is uncomfortable. And I have major issues with Hopper this season and in a way that I hope does not yuck your yum for Hopper this season because, like, not at all. I love homicidal vampires. So, like, who the fuck am I to like, whatever. But. But, like, thinking about, like, Jonathan and Nancy, like a pair that I am not, like, all that invested in necessarily, but like, their fight that they have.
- [73:42]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [73:42]
Joanna Robinson
You know, about her being privileged and the his Oliver Twist routine and stuff like that. The way in which there are these various breaks these season. Dustin being separated from his friends all season for, you know, plot reasons, but also because, like, right. None of them gave a shit about him being like, his radio and his talking about his girlfriend and stuff like that. They didn't believe him. No one gave a shit about him. Those breaks that then reheal stronger. Jonathan, Nancy coming back after that fight or, you know, Hopper and Eleven talking to each other in the mall or, you know, Dustin saying, I could have used you down there. And they're like, we could have used you up here. Like, all of these reconnection points that heal back stronger because there was something that hurt to have you close to them, but it was too important to let go of. And so you have to do the work of healing it. My runner up for most emotional moment ties into all that and ties into your key scene that you pulled out, which is poor Wet Will destroying the fires. You know, stupid, stupid. You know, like all like. It's just like, devastating to watch.
- [74:51]
Mallory Rubin
How it kills me, you know? Yeah. When he picks up the Ghostbusters picture and tears it, it's like, oh, my God. And that's because it's the friend group. It's Jonathan. It's everything that gave him a sense of structure and safety.
- [75:02]
Joanna Robinson
It was his safe place in the Upside down, you know what I mean? And it's just sort of like, yeah.
- [75:13]
Mallory Rubin
Mood shift.
- [75:15]
Joanna Robinson
Yep.
- [75:16]
Mallory Rubin
Funniest moment. Pull us back up.
- [75:20]
Joanna Robinson
I have. I have so many. This is not a Steve moment, but I just wanted to say I have, like, so many Steve runner ups for this and we can talk about all of that. Joe Keery continues to slay honestly. But my funniest moment actually requires some imagination because it takes place off screen. We don't get to hear it, but it gets invoked. So I will listen to the clip where it is invoked and then we can discuss what this visual is.
- [75:45]
Mallory Rubin
Excited.
- [75:46]
Joanna Robinson
Carlos, will you play this clip, please?
- [75:48]
Mallory Rubin
How long have I been out? A while. You've been drifting in and out how did I get. Slowly. Thank you for picking this. So mere seconds later, they discuss how his clothes are soaked.
- [76:02]
Joanna Robinson
To your delight. To your delight. We can talk about Joyce taking his clothes off. Sure. That's his own name. I would like you to now envision Winona Ryder. Joyce. Dragging an unconscious wet copper.
- [76:20]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [76:21]
Joanna Robinson
Slowly back to his cabin. I like that they lampshaded this because they were just sort of like, how did she get him back there? And the fact that she's like, slowly. And then I just. Like, this time I just sat there and thought about that and just thought about the physical comedy of Winona Ryder dragging David Harbour whet back to his home. And it just like, like, absolutely killed me. So that's my.
- [76:49]
Mallory Rubin
I think this is an incredible pick. It's obviously something that is deeply improbable. I'd go so far as to say, makes no sense. And yet maybe she.
- [77:01]
Joanna Robinson
Leverage. You know, Leverage.
- [77:03]
Mallory Rubin
Much like the kids when they lit the car. Physics. Told you.
- [77:06]
Joanna Robinson
Physics. Yeah. Physics. Yeah.
- [77:09]
Mallory Rubin
We got some magnets. Action. In this season. It's, it's. It's all. It's all. Coming up Breaking Bad and Inception. Paradox. Bitch. For us, I. This is a moment where I am deeply okay with the show team saying, we just need Hopper to stand up, drop the blanket, have Joyce go, oh. And have Hopper go, why am I naked? And every question could just melt away.
- [77:34]
Joanna Robinson
I'm not. This is not picking knits. I'm not like, actually, this couldn't happen. I was just like. I wish they had filmed a few, like, like, moments of her, like, tugging, dropping, like, pushing, like. I think that would have been really funny to watch.
- [77:47]
Mallory Rubin
Same.
- [77:47]
Joanna Robinson
But I just wish that.
- [77:49]
Mallory Rubin
Here's my actual favorite thing about this. Yeah, they kind of already done this. This season. Not that she needs to, like, carry and hold and work him out of his sodden outfit. Aspect of it. But. But elsewhere. Previously in the season, he opens his door in a towel, sopping wet.
- [78:12]
Joanna Robinson
Sopping.
- [78:14]
Mallory Rubin
And they're like, let's run it back.
- [78:16]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Dripping wet. Like, does not. Hopper does the insane thing where he gets outta the shower. Instead of toweling himself off, he merely, like, he's just gonna air dry.
- [78:25]
Mallory Rubin
Likes to air dry.
- [78:27]
Joanna Robinson
Quick question. Do you think David Harbour got a wet bump that day for acting? Follow up question. Whose job was it to, like, spray him down with the glycerine between takes to make sure he stayed sopping wet? These are all question. We're merely asking.
- [78:38]
Mallory Rubin
Third question.
- [78:39]
Joanna Robinson
Are they hiring still scholars of cinema and television just who are interested in the way the sausage gets made. If you wouldn't catch my phrasing.
- [78:49]
Mallory Rubin
Wow. Geez.
- [78:51]
Joanna Robinson
Your funniest moment.
- [78:54]
Mallory Rubin
Really love that pick. Great stuff. Okay, I believe. I can't remember if it was season one or season two. I believe it was season two where I kind of hinted that like there was a pick coming across all the seasons that just when we started, when we were like, we're going to do this, I knew would be my pick. And here it is. This is my funniest pick for this season, which is. I don't know. It is the thing that makes me laugh the most of anything that happens in the series over four seasons. Carlos, can we hear my clip? Henderson.
- [79:25]
Joanna Robinson
Henderson. He's back.
- [79:26]
Mallory Rubin
He's back.
- [79:27]
Joanna Robinson
I'm back.
- [79:28]
Mallory Rubin
You got the job.
- [79:28]
Joanna Robinson
You got the job.
- [79:40]
Mallory Rubin
How many children are you friends with?
- [79:46]
Joanna Robinson
Robin Queen? This is.
- [79:48]
Mallory Rubin
This is.
- [79:48]
Joanna Robinson
This is your. This is your. How was the pullout, Jonathan? Which is my number one funniest thing that happens with Sager things. Yes. Do you know that this is a. This is a. This is a viral TikTok audience audio. Do you know that this is like a very popular TikTok audio?
- [80:04]
Mallory Rubin
Of course I don't know that because my entire relationship to TikTok used to be things that you send me and now it's. It's. It's nothing.
- [80:12]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Because I'm learning. I've been on TikTok for a while. Yeah.
- [80:14]
Mallory Rubin
You haven't sent me a tick tock in a minute. But I did not know that. I do remember like seeing this because I think they. This was one of the. It featured in one of the first trailers. Right. So I remember like immediately just the joy. This is of course from chapter two Mall Random rats. I. Everything about this is perfect. Seeing Dustin and Steve reunite after Dustin has been gone to camp, realizing that their. Their bond that we spent so much time talking about in season two and celebrating is preserved, is intact, is lasting. Steve's face when they move to the booth and they're talking and catching up over ice cream and Dustin says. She says kissing's better without teeth. And Steve's just like, you're just like. These two are each hotter than Phoebe Cates.
- [81:01]
Joanna Robinson
Huh?
- [81:01]
Mallory Rubin
That's the best. These two are eternal. And yet the perfect sprinkling in of Robin to branch us out into the new. And how it all just like this is alchemy. That's what this is. This moment, it is perfection. And obviously like Robin witnessing, you know, earlier we. We got like the dingus. Your children are here. The way that Robin responds to this, like Steve the hair Harrington, the babysitter alter ego that ultimately goes from being an alter ego to just who Steve is, is just absolutely perfect. And Steve, this, I think, actually does kind of connect nicely to the more kind of thematically and emotionally rich stuff we already talked about today. Like Steve. Mr. Cool coming out and being like, lightsaber sound.
- [81:48]
Joanna Robinson
Whoosh, whoosh.
- [81:49]
Mallory Rubin
Like Steve a. Steve's a nerd now Steve's a dor.
- [81:52]
Joanna Robinson
Air trumpet moment.
- [81:54]
Mallory Rubin
This is the best.
- [81:56]
Joanna Robinson
This is just the best.
- [81:57]
Mallory Rubin
So I absolutely love it. That's my pick. Scariest moment.
- [82:01]
Joanna Robinson
Oh, no.
- [82:02]
Mallory Rubin
You have some runners up. Yeah, yeah.
- [82:03]
Joanna Robinson
Hit me. I'd like to further celebrate Steve before we get to Steve. I will. I will give this to Jonathan. I. I think the ongoing runner of Nancy busting into Jonathan's dark room when he is developing photos is really funny. It's good, Bob. Really good. Here's my Steve. What have we not gotten to with Steve? Steve saying, whatever happened to standards to Dustin when they're watching the girls from his high school sort of like, flirt with people that he thinks undesirable. He's like, come on, Steve. Grabbing a bag of popcorn, which he mentioned. Steve flipping his ice scooper, which he mentioned. And he says, come on, dude, not my scooper.
- [82:41]
Mallory Rubin
But doesn't wash it, but doesn't rinse.
- [82:44]
Joanna Robinson
It after Dustin licks it just reholsters it.
- [82:47]
Mallory Rubin
It.
- [82:49]
Joanna Robinson
My groin. It fell on my groin after the elevator.
- [82:53]
Mallory Rubin
Fantastic stuff. Yeah. Also, please, Red, can you redirect your stream when he's pissing down to the elevator?
- [83:00]
Joanna Robinson
Like, can you redirect your stream? Great stuff.
- [83:03]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, man.
- [83:04]
Joanna Robinson
Last but not least, this one belongs to max. Right? And 11. Right. They scream, but, like, happy screams. What are happy screams going to lend you? My mom's Cosmo. Cosmo.
- [83:15]
Mallory Rubin
Incredible stuff.
- [83:16]
Joanna Robinson
Absolutely.
- [83:17]
Mallory Rubin
Genuinely incredible moment. Max wise to the world in a way that El is just simply not yet.
- [83:25]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, El's got a lot to learn. I don't know if this is gonna.
- [83:30]
Mallory Rubin
Is.
- [83:30]
Joanna Robinson
Is this gonna come up later? Can we talk about it now?
- [83:34]
Mallory Rubin
Let's do it now. Actually, this is one of my favorite. This is one of my favorite corners that you could take us to in a. In a Stranger Things chat, Please. This is the moment. I. I have one other Steve thing, but I'm going to save it for another category, actually. So let's talk. Elle.
- [83:49]
Joanna Robinson
11 not knowing what Illinois is, even though she went to Chicago in a previous season, is so upsetting. I understand that Hopper is focused on Word of The day or watching Westerns or Miami Vice or whatever it is.
- [84:08]
Mallory Rubin
Is.
- [84:10]
Joanna Robinson
But as you. As you texted me, perhaps some geography lessons are in order. Illinois is right next door to Indiana. Like, what are we doing here? Help. Help this girl. Please help this girl. She needs it. That's all. Illinois.
- [84:26]
Mallory Rubin
This is incredible. I like when they try to clarify, and she just sort of shrugs, and it's like, great stuff. Worrying, but great. Scariest moment when you have here.
- [84:42]
Joanna Robinson
Okay. I. I do love you, and I do love how hot you think Hopper is this season. And I do support you in that nonetheless.
- [84:48]
Mallory Rubin
Yes.
- [84:49]
Joanna Robinson
Roll this clip. I'm afraid no alcohol is allowed off the premises.
- [84:57]
Mallory Rubin
Do anything I want. Yeah, that's. That's terrible.
- [85:05]
Joanna Robinson
This man in an absolute emotional, psychological free fall, who was demonizing his daughter's boyfriend, railing against Joyce, who was a tiny woman while he's, like, shirtless and wet and, like, banging on walls that she didn't show up for something that was not a date. He said it wasn't a date. And then he's like, you fucking stood me up. He's just huge and careening out of control. Season and the fact that this is the chief of police. And he says multiple times, like, he talks about it. When he talks about, like, disappearing Mike's body. Like, I can do whatever I want. I'm the chief of police. Like, this is a man who should not have any power in the community. He needs therapy, not a badge and a gun. I can do whatever I want. I'm the chief police. Chilling.
- [85:53]
Mallory Rubin
It is. Does not know how to pronounce Chianti on top of. What's his name? Chianti.
- [85:59]
Joanna Robinson
It's great. Chanty.
- [86:01]
Mallory Rubin
Chanty.
- [86:02]
Joanna Robinson
Women like cherry.
- [86:03]
Mallory Rubin
All women love cherries. It's great stuff. It is. I'm always grateful when he goes. Even though he eventually. He does crumble and succumb. But he does have the moment when he goes to town hall where he's like, let these people express their American right to protest. Yeah. Which I'm always grateful before, even though.
- [86:21]
Joanna Robinson
It arrests all of them, even though it doesn't last.
- [86:26]
Mallory Rubin
Shows us what he believes inside. Just for a second there, though, our heart needs help.
- [86:31]
Joanna Robinson
Impeach Chief Hopper or send him to a Russian prison. One of the two.
- [86:36]
Mallory Rubin
One of the two. I have a slightly less serious Hopper pick here. But the hygiene of the characters has already come up multiple times today. You know how I feel about germs. I like to wash my hands. I'm a big Purell person. Listen, it was a different time. That's fine. When Hopper pumps the gas, Taking the, taking the pumpadier, the Todd father Cadillac hand on a public gas pump, right? And then he has procured a snack that I think is wonderful. Hops hop 711 order. It's basically like if Mal and Cr went together because you've got the Funyuns, the Slim Jims and the Coke. That's me. And then the box of snacks, Sigs cr. He opens a Slim Jim and with a bare hand that he has touched the gas pump with, he snaps off.
- [87:31]
Joanna Robinson
The top of the Slim Gym and.
- [87:32]
Mallory Rubin
Eats it and then hands the rest to Todd. That's harrowing. Need to get my guy some Purell. I'd like to also throw out a couple other just quick nominations here. Alexi conceding that Strawberry's fine. If you want a cherry, it's. It's not fine.
- [87:48]
Joanna Robinson
It's just not scariest moment. Alexi settling for Strawberry after, after. When Hop has beat the shit out of him.
- [87:56]
Mallory Rubin
He tested him. He tested him by and, and who was proven right in that scene? Was it Murray or Joyce? It was Hopper. I do really love when Hop's like.
- [88:05]
Joanna Robinson
They didn't have it.
- [88:06]
Mallory Rubin
They didn't have it.
- [88:08]
Joanna Robinson
David Harper's delivery of that is really good.
- [88:10]
Mallory Rubin
So good. And we like this Burger king and the 711 were nowhere near each other. Murray's like, I never said they were. It's great.
- [88:18]
Joanna Robinson
Hopper on the list of like, impeached cheap offer. I will also add when he just like kills those three Russian soldiers. And Murray's like, I had it, man. Yeah.
- [88:29]
Mallory Rubin
Yes. Now I'm sure that Murray did. Murray saying Lt. Molotov. He did not have it. He definitely did not have it. But Hop went to the machine gun with the quickness. It was worrying.
- [88:39]
Joanna Robinson
Spraying bullets very, very quickly.
- [88:42]
Mallory Rubin
The lack of, you know, different time again. Lack of concussion protocol for these children. You know, we do get bleary eyed L cam toward the end. But before that, I'm like, has anyone checked Jonathan's brain? He was hit in the head with a metal stool like 87 times during the hospital fights. That's very worrying. Very worrying. Oh, God. I guess I wanted to make it more serious. Yeah, go ahead.
- [89:09]
Joanna Robinson
Oh, no, you want to put it serious.
- [89:11]
Mallory Rubin
Not that I don't really have, like, a serious contender because I think most of the, like, scary monster stuff I'll hit in another category. But I, I, I do. I will say on a more serious note, I think that the deployment of American Pie as the soundtrack for the scene where Billy And Heather Flay, Tom and Janet. And like the contrast of the idealized Americana juxtaposed against that domestic horror. Like the D room table into the living room. That's spooky.
- [89:41]
Joanna Robinson
Heather's blank expression as she likes the wine bottle. Very, very good. I will say, Mrs. Driscoll gobbling that fertilizer.
- [89:52]
Mallory Rubin
It's a no for me.
- [89:54]
Joanna Robinson
Absolutely. Tough a lot. I mean, we'll get to the goop a little later on. That goop rat in terms of the sort of like Buffy inspired real world threat becomes monster. I will say Nancy being stalked by the sexist from her workplace and her ineffectual boss like that. That is genuinely scary to me. That, that like, hospital sequence that like, it's scarier when it's Jake Busey than when it's the goop monster.
- [90:24]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [90:25]
Joanna Robinson
And I have one for you. Just for you, Mallory. When the scoops trip troop slides down the center of the escalator is that. That's in close proximity to something that is very scary to you, which is just going down an escalator.
- [90:42]
Mallory Rubin
Like a down escalator.
- [90:43]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [90:43]
Mallory Rubin
How.
- [90:44]
Joanna Robinson
How was the slide down the center of it? How did that sit for you? Episode seven.
- [90:49]
Mallory Rubin
If I didn't feel so deeply opposed to just smearing public filth all over my person, I actually would prefer to slide down, down the divider in the middle of an escalator. Because the thing that fills me with dread with an escalator is just. It's just the first step. Once I'm on it, I'm okay.
- [91:10]
Joanna Robinson
You're fine. A little.
- [91:11]
Mallory Rubin
A little, like tentative on the balance front, but it's really just. It's the first step and the question of will it be plummet to my doom. So the slide kind of takes that out of the equation for me. I don't mind it.
- [91:23]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. As you know, I now travel with Purell. A little bottle that you gave me when we were at comcon is now in my bag. Always.
- [91:37]
Mallory Rubin
You still have that? You got there like 20.
- [91:39]
Joanna Robinson
I do. Sorry, I do. Do you Purell your hands after every time you. You pump gas that you're telling me you pump gas and then you Purell your hands?
- [91:49]
Mallory Rubin
Well, I. Back in the day. And now I have an electric. So it's not really an issue for me anymore. But if I tongue. If I touched another. An electric charger at a public place, I would absolutely use Purell. Oh my God. Immediately. Then I would probably go wash my hands and then I would use Purell again. Then I would use Moisturizer so that my skin didn't fall off.
- [92:04]
Joanna Robinson
Right. Speaking of.
- [92:10]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah. Oh, on the. On the Bruce Tom hospital chase scene, which I agree is. Is harrowing. That's a good little hive mind reminder moment too, when, like, there's the one. The. The. The crunch in the nose. And the other guy is like, ah, they do some good. Some good. Little stu. Goopiest moment. Are you taking us back to our little rat friend who explodes and then sloshes forward with his little tail still visible? You're going out for it.
- [92:38]
Joanna Robinson
Else was mine. I really thought it was gonna be goop rat. There's just, like, few things that goop better than that rat gooping out of the cage.
- [92:45]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [92:46]
Joanna Robinson
And there's also when the goop remains of Tom and Bruce go down the sewer and the boat.
- [92:53]
Mallory Rubin
That's my pick. Those are the two. Those are the two. It's a coin flip between those two. Two.
- [92:57]
Joanna Robinson
No.
- [92:58]
Mallory Rubin
You got something else.
- [92:58]
Joanna Robinson
It's actually not my number one. My number one. It also involves Tom. It's when the mind flare latches onto Tom's face and we go from, like, suck to blow. And it's just sort of like, for a while, it's just gooping on his face.
- [93:16]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [93:17]
Joanna Robinson
For a protracted period of time. Stop phrasing Suck to blow.
- [93:23]
Mallory Rubin
And for a while, it's just goop it on his face. Yeah. That's a long timer on the phrasing front.
- [93:28]
Joanna Robinson
Suck to blow is just an elite Spaceballs reference. Anyone with taste knows that.
- [93:32]
Mallory Rubin
You're right. You're right. Keith would be impressed. You have a spot in family video whenever you want.
- [93:37]
Joanna Robinson
Thank you.
- [93:38]
Mallory Rubin
That's a. This. This is a real. This season was made for Goopiest moment, man. Or goopiest moment was made for this season. I love the sub. This is also where we'll get to our subtitle category later. But it does start to really level up this season. We get a lot of good stuff this season on the subtitle front. And I think that when Mrs. Driscoll's rat explodes, turns into the goo, starts marching forward with its little tail still visible, and we get goo snarling.
- [94:03]
Joanna Robinson
That's. I sent you a screen. I sent you a photo of that when I was watching it. Great. It's.
- [94:08]
Mallory Rubin
That's just amazing. I. The chunks of bone being left behind on the sewer grate is so revolting. Like, I just. It's bubbling and squelching. That's the accompanying subtitles there, you know, the green goo. Not promethium, alas. But the green goo can't compete ultimately, can.
- [94:27]
Joanna Robinson
I gotta say, I love that there's neon green goo. I mean, the 80s were a decade of neon green goo. So I love that it shows up in this. You know, it's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nickelodeon Double Dare sort of vibe. It's very good.
- [94:41]
Mallory Rubin
I love Double Dare.
- [94:43]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [94:44]
Mallory Rubin
Great summers. All good picks. Very goopy season. Neither of us picked Billy touching the windshield of his car after the crash. And we get what we get. Wet. Squelching. Maybe that'll come up in.
- [94:59]
Joanna Robinson
I did write that down in my notes. I. I wrote that down in my note as like an early goop option. Yeah.
- [95:06]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, God. Best coming of age moment when you got here. This is always a. Always a fun one.
- [95:13]
Joanna Robinson
I would like for people to skip ahead. Actually, I'm gonna go back to goop for a second. I like people to skip ahead if they have, like, delicate ears or like children nearby by. Okay. Should we consider the moment when Billy walks by Karen and her friends in the pool. As an option?
- [95:36]
Mallory Rubin
Certainly. Yeah, definitely.
- [95:38]
Joanna Robinson
Just asking questions. Okay. That's coming of age.
- [95:45]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, my God. Great stuff. You're the bad. What do you have here? What's your best coming of age moment pick?
- [95:52]
Joanna Robinson
I don't have anything beyond your pick for seed because it's like Mike and Luke being little bitches to Will while he unfurls his campaign. Like, just extreme. My Mike Wheeler hate abounds this season. Right. But like Mike and Will in the rain, which is your scene. And then you know, Will destroying Castle Byers. Like, that's just like a real like, like growing pangs moment. So I couldn't. I knew you were going to talk about elsewhere, but I, like, I couldn't. I couldn't top it.
- [96:22]
Mallory Rubin
Leave it out here.
- [96:23]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [96:24]
Mallory Rubin
So this is where. Because I didn't. This is the reason I didn't pick Max and. And Elle in most important relationship is because I had already decided to feature the material girl shopping street montage here. Brilliant in all respects, no matter what, but the extra just genius of splicing the hapless boys into this sequence.
- [96:52]
Joanna Robinson
Is.
- [96:53]
Mallory Rubin
The best to me. Like the way that we are cutting between the groups and the guys are flailing, looking for their apology. Gives panicking as they look at the lingerie squirting perfume in their faces like dipshits. They're just hapless. They're lost. And the girls are thriving. They are thriving. Which as you mentioned when you talked about this relationship and I really agree, it's this lovely snapshot of female friendship. I also really love the way that we evolve from the kind of threatened jealousy of the end of season two into this embrace. And even though it's kind of out of necessity, it ends up becoming such an authentic thing for both of them. And then you have the empowerment of going to the mall when you're young and asserting your independence and discovering who you are. You talked about that line already, but.
- [97:40]
Joanna Robinson
I love it, too.
- [97:40]
Mallory Rubin
The, like, how do I know what you like? You know, you. You try things on. You find something that feels like you like me. I just think it's so great. And the smiles on their faces. I mean, I love making the Orange Julius explode. And we hate Stacy now and always, so she really.
- [97:56]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, she had it coming.
- [97:58]
Mallory Rubin
She had it coming. You know, the. The trying on the shoes, the trying on all of the outfits, taking the. The photo. But when they walk out and they're, like, strutting and they're smiling and their hair is bouncing, and they just, like, had a fun day out in the world in a place El is not even supposed to be, with a person who 24 hours before, she never would have been there with, is, like, such a great, wonderful little moment. And the way that the party will still come together to fight this evil, and they are united and they are still in each other's lives, and they are working through their complicated feelings and the way that they are, like, changing. But there's this moment where it's like, yeah, sometimes these paths diverge a little bit, and you go and have a day with a new person at the mall, and I just really love it. And of course, it builds towards the, you know, instantly iconic I dump your ass, I dump your ass moment in front of the bus, which is just absolutely brutal stuff for. For Mike Wheeler.
- [98:52]
Joanna Robinson
But. And then giggling on the bus after, like, after the bus giggle is like.
- [98:57]
Mallory Rubin
Is great. And like, you have like a. You. You think of Elle on the bus just alone to traveling to and from Illinois, a place she did not remember.
- [99:05]
Joanna Robinson
I.
- [99:07]
Mallory Rubin
But you know, that, like, loneliness and a stranger asking, you know, where she was going home. And then you see here sitting next to somebody who she feels like a sense of belonging with. It's just. Just really lovely. I really like the moment where Max offers up the comics Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. And, you know, so Max, big DC head and of course, Elle doesn't know what these things are. And Max is like, see, this is when he explains who Wonder Woman is. And Matt is like, this is why you just can't hang out with Mike all. It's just great. She's learning all sorts of new things about herself. So. Yeah, that's. And you know, could this be needle drop? Of course. I actually have multiple categories, say outside of the needle drop category that are musically inclined because this is just an all time season. Yeah, really great. Really, really great. Actually, I have a musical one coming up in the next category, which is the. The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're on Cool award for honoring the nerds. What do you got here?
- [100:16]
Joanna Robinson
I have so many. Why don't you go first? You've got a clip, so why don't you.
- [100:20]
Mallory Rubin
Carlos, let's hear my clip for the Nerds award. You can make it up to me now. What? I want to hear it.
- [100:29]
Joanna Robinson
Not right now.
- [100:30]
Mallory Rubin
Yes, now.
- [100:31]
Joanna Robinson
Dusty Bun, Suzy Poo.
- [100:33]
Mallory Rubin
This is urgent. Yes, yes, you're saving the world. I heard you the first time. But GED is also saving Earthsea and he's about to confront the shadows. So this is Susie signing off. Wait, wait, wait.
- [100:42]
Joanna Robinson
Okay, okay, okay.
- [100:46]
Mallory Rubin
Shit. And then after that, we are treated to one of the most memorable duets in the history of story. Right down to a split screen, people. We get a split screen. This is Dusty Bun and Suzy. So singing the never ending story in order to get the accurate numbers Planck's constant. To plug in and save the world. So all of this to me is like perfect. The musical number, obviously iconic. I love the way that, like at the end of the finale, Lucas and Max are kind of mocking Dustin by singing. This is great stuff. It's a very. I mean, there's so. We have a pop culture category. There's like so much pop culture nostalgia in this season. Even by standards of a Stranger Things season. It's wild. But like we have talked about on other pods, we both are never ending story heads. And so this was like such a jolt of nostalgia for me watching this. I just loved it. Everybody realizing that Dustin does in fact have a girlfriend in this context is so incredibly entertaining and perfect to watch. I love the way that Dustin goes from like. Because he's had him. Susie, switch frequencies because he needs everyone else to hear. Playing Scott Constant. And the way that he goes from like the abject mortification of realizing what he's about to have to do in that his friends are going to hear this over the walkies into just completely succumbing to the joy of sharing this thing with Susie. Susie standing up and she's dancing. And then I just Love the reaction shots. My favorite is like Joyce, like against the wall in the back. This is what I was thinking of.
- [102:22]
Joanna Robinson
This is what I was thinking of when I was. When I was like, it makes sense for Robin and Steve to sit in the bathroom, vomit drugs out of their system. This musical interlude, multiple shots of Joyce just up against a wall, like banging her head against the wall, being like.
- [102:38]
Mallory Rubin
Take her on the clock, guys.
- [102:41]
Joanna Robinson
I love it. The meta aspect of this, well, so Gaydon matarazzo and Kaleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink were all Broadway kids with the way Stranger things kids. So giving Gaedan the opportunity to like, flex how good of a singer he is here and then giving Caleb and Sadie, who are also good singers, even though they're making fun of him later, like a little. A little song moment later is really fun.
- [103:09]
Mallory Rubin
I just like. What could possibly be a bigger nerd victory than saving the world by correctly reciting Planck's constant. After insisting on a duet which you're sharing via the radio that your boyfriend built you at Science Science camp, I.
- [103:23]
Joanna Robinson
Have some follow ups here. This comes from our listener James, who says, I really enjoy the ironies that are stacked together in season three. Not only is a secret communist Russian base underneath a veritable shrine to American capitalism, also known as the mall, the season hinges on a lock that can only be opened by using the scientific discovery Planck's constant of a man who hated communists. As a fun but not ironic addendum to the second iron irony, Susie gives Dustin the 2014 version of Planck's constant. The numbers would have been different in 1985 because the numbers change as our measurements get better. So the number she gave Dustin shouldn't have worked. Science who knew? So Nerdiest honor award for honoring the nerds goes to our listener James, who. Well actually.
- [104:08]
Mallory Rubin
Well, actually in planks Constant, the planks.
- [104:09]
Joanna Robinson
Constant inside of so shout out bad baby babies. Good job.
- [104:15]
Mallory Rubin
Great stuff.
- [104:16]
Joanna Robinson
I will give my awards which my number one goes to Robin the the linguistic queen for bragging that she knows multiple languages and for decoding the Russian. Great job. Runners up to the My little Pony moment between. Call we. We mentioned this was my nomination in a previous season one, but calling that the hill. Weathertop. Yeah, this little like Lord of the Rings moment for the kids and then calling the radio Cerebro like it is just sort of like baked into these kids and how they think about and define the world around them.
- [104:59]
Mallory Rubin
So yeah, Weathertop really gets me. It's great.
- [105:02]
Joanna Robinson
Steve's like, where? What are you talking about? Perfect. Oh, man.
- [105:07]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah. My Little Pony is a really great one. I love that Dustin is helping Erica, like, discover the fact that she's a nerd.
- [105:14]
Joanna Robinson
You're a nurse. Yeah.
- [105:15]
Mallory Rubin
Lovely, lovely. Okay, Ship Wars. This is a season defined by breakups, attempted dinner plans, a lot of things that you could pick here. Breakups. After a tough day at work, what are you going to do with.
- [105:34]
Joanna Robinson
I feel like I know what yours is going to be. So I will zag. Okay. And say for the record, I think Karen Wheeler. Wheeler should have Billy before he got gooped.
- [105:52]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, my God. Incredible.
- [105:54]
Joanna Robinson
And if Karen is in mortal peril and she's inside, like, like if it's. If it's curtains for Carol in season five. Karen for season five in season five, like, we don't know. But things look dangerous at the Wheeler household always. If Karen does not make it out of this series alive and she missed the opportunity to have sex with Billy when Ted is who Ted has been this entire time.
- [106:18]
Mallory Rubin
This is an incredible take. I do really get a kick out of the moment at the fair when and when they're watching Hop and Joyce run off and Ted's like, yeah, you know. Well, you know what they say, like someone for everyone. And Karen's just like.
- [106:35]
Joanna Robinson
That comes right after. Karen Wheeler, basically orgasms on the Gravitron for. I don't understand why. Anyway, that's my knowing that you're going to pick exactly what you're gonna pick.
- [106:52]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, of course.
- [106:54]
Joanna Robinson
I thought I can only be me one to Karen and Billy. So why don't. Why don't you just an.
- [106:59]
Mallory Rubin
That is an all time zag. And it is an incredible one.
- [107:02]
Joanna Robinson
You're a legend. I think she should have.
- [107:07]
Mallory Rubin
The way that she looks at Billy when he puts the stick of gum in his mouth. Really something.
- [107:19]
Joanna Robinson
All the. All the neighborhood ladies are having a time at the pool. Okay?
- [107:23]
Mallory Rubin
I'll be coming back to them. They're.
- [107:25]
Joanna Robinson
They're.
- [107:25]
Mallory Rubin
They're historic to me. Okay, I have a clip for shipwurst. Carlos, can we hear it?
- [107:31]
Joanna Robinson
And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual. So please, for my sake, either quit.
- [107:42]
Mallory Rubin
Your bickering or quit Pull over, tear.
- [107:44]
Joanna Robinson
Off those clothes and get it over with already.
- [107:49]
Mallory Rubin
Listen, there was Alexi's, like, I was.
- [107:52]
Joanna Robinson
Going to pick you up.
- [107:54]
Mallory Rubin
The way that. The way that Murray and Alexi giggle in astonishment and mockery at the idea that Joyce and Hopper have not fucked yet. And the looks on Joyce and Hopper's Faces.
- [108:08]
Joanna Robinson
Winona, writer's acting choice here is like, I'll just make that face I pulled when David Harbour gave that award Wards. Like, it's just like a very, like, what are you talking about look on Winona's face here. Yeah.
- [108:22]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [108:23]
Joanna Robinson
Well, we, like Murray, know the truth.
- [108:26]
Mallory Rubin
This is the thing. Like. So of course I had to. I had to talk about Joyce and Hopper here. You know, I ship it. I've always shipped it. I continue to ship it. I believe that Murray is right and that these two should be fucking. Should they pull over and just on the side of the road, like he suggests. As you know, I've always had some notes on his particular suggestions. And that's also part of why this clip felt right, is because the fact that for a second season a row, Murray Bauman is like, I'm just going to point out to a couple people that they should fudge. And this time it is adults and not children in his home. So progress, I guess. But this is just incredible. Beats plied with vodka, alcohol and like, unbelievable stuff. This, this, this scene is. Is really incredible. I. I get a particular kick out of him, like, kind of going almost like beat for beat, parallel structure to what he. He said to Jonathan. Nancy, were like, he's sort of like, you know, let me. I know what's in your past. Yes, yes, he's a brood. I know probably reminds you of a bad relationship and gosh, you really like a nice man to settle down with. But admit it, you're real curious to know what he's like in the sack. And it's like, again, you feel like.
- [109:32]
Joanna Robinson
He was talking directly to you, Mallory, straight to your soul.
- [109:36]
Mallory Rubin
I feel like I know exactly what Hopper is like in the sack. Oh, Hopper, this guy, man. And then we get to. To, you know, we have all of moments across the season, Joe. We've got. I do think it's kind of. It's worth remembering that Hopper is like a. He's like a canonical stickman in Hawkins. Right. You know, we talked about the season one. Like, the woman who's kind of just like comes out to his portraits. Come back to bed.
- [110:03]
Joanna Robinson
Right?
- [110:03]
Mallory Rubin
Canonical stickman.
- [110:07]
Joanna Robinson
Use it with this. Use it with Harrison Ford. It's.
- [110:10]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, it's a big ring. It's a big ringer term for sure.
- [110:13]
Joanna Robinson
Know.
- [110:15]
Mallory Rubin
Can'T go to the library without having a. Like, you know, why didn't you call me? Like, Hop is a man about town and has just absolutely no idea at any moment how to properly navigate his feelings for Joyce. The Enzo Scene you've already chronicled in a meaningful and important fashion, the procurement of the outfit, which will be coming up in another category. But just like the role that that plays in this season, sparked by the prospect of a date or not date with Joyce, the towel scene, the blanket scene, on and on. We go across the season, sweating, filthy in the woods. And Joyce is like, can you just, like, get away from me? You stink. He's jealous of Scott Clark. He's jealous of Alexi. Joyce calls him out on the bullshit. Yes, every man to from now on has to be my boyfriend. And then you have the heart mixed in with Hop. Behaving like a complete. When he's like, reveals that he has learned that Joyce is considering moving away. It's important to me. It's important to me that you feel safe. Like, this is a person he loves. He just doesn't quite know how to handle it. And Murray is like, guys, I'm going to try to help you work through this. Building toward the little tender scene, sitting on the steps as they are plotting, plotting and waiting. And Joyce, we get a little bit of like, a little Peggy Steve, I had a date action. You know, like, it's just all very powerful. And then building toward, of course, Joyce having to turn the keys and looking out at him and the way that he has the tears in his eyes and the little sad smile and the nod. Just the best. This is the best.
- [112:03]
Joanna Robinson
I support how important this is to you. And so in. In that. In that spirit, I want to say that there are building blocks here of my favorite shit, which is their bicker. Like the bicker, bicker, bicker all season, which is just covering for the sexual tension. I love that stuff. There's just other Hopper stuff I don't love, but I do love that stuff. And I do ultimately, at the end of the day, support these two together, especially after Hopper's had a sober time in season four. I think post season four, Hopper, great.
- [112:44]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, man. Best quote. You have a short list, you have a winner. Okay.
- [112:52]
Joanna Robinson
This is actually really hard for me to pick one for this season because, again, I didn't want to dive into the letter territory. That's a very mal. I was just like, let's leave that for Mallory. But the letter is iconic and N is stuff like that. This one really, this is like, sort of similar to my Bob watching Cheers pick, where I'm just sort of like, I'm gonna have to now defend this pick, but, like, it feels right to me. And it will sound a little familiar. Carlos can you play this?
- [113:20]
Mallory Rubin
You can make it up to me now.
- [113:22]
Joanna Robinson
What?
- [113:22]
Mallory Rubin
I want to hear it.
- [113:25]
Joanna Robinson
Not right now.
- [113:26]
Mallory Rubin
Yes, now.
- [113:27]
Joanna Robinson
Dusty Bun, Juicy poo. This is urgent.
- [113:29]
Mallory Rubin
Yes, yes, you're saving the world. I heard you the first time. But Dead is also saving Earthsea. And he's about to confront the shadows. So this is Susie signing off. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, okay, okay. Oh, man. A Le Guin head. Our queen.
- [113:46]
Joanna Robinson
It's the Ursula K. Le Guin. For me. It's that. It's that Susie. That's. The whole season's like, she's the perfect one woman. And then our first shot of her, she's just, like, sitting there of an evening in her bedroom reading. Ursula K. Le Guin. She is that woman. Like, she is that girl. The fact that what I love about her is that she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, a lot's going on for you, but what's happening for Susie? What's Susie gonna get out of this? You. You have talked to me since we got back from camp. There's some girl. I don't know that she's a child. There's some girl murmuring in the background of this radio call. And you just want some fucking number for me that you, Dustin, should already know, by the way. And then she's like, I'm in the middle of my story. And so, like, her talking about Earthsea and, like, how she's at this pivotal moment inside of her novel. And what I like about this is, like, a demented pick for Beth quote. But what I like about it is that it's. I think it's great. It's like these kids are living a story. They're living the kind of stories that nerds dream about disappearing into. This is like Susie's in her bedroom in Utah, just sort of, like, vanishing inside of an Ursula Kayla Guin story. Because, like, that's just sort of like, what usually nerds do. And Dustin's, like, living this kind of story day to day. And so it's just like, the gift of Stranger Things is like, what if the stories that you love to read became your life? That's the joy of an Amblin sort of adventure.
- [115:30]
Mallory Rubin
And so making the Neverending Story song choice all the more perfect, obviously.
- [115:34]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, very, very good.
- [115:36]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [115:37]
Joanna Robinson
If you've never, like, obviously, you should see the Neverending Story. If you've never seen it, but most people have seen the Neverending Story, you should read the Neverending Story. Michael Enda's book is so good. And so, yeah, we just love A fantasy nerd. We love, love that For Susie. We love this for Dustin, that he's got this cool girlfriend. And I know I just, I just had to pick it. It's genuinely. I'm confused by my own choice, but I'm also feeling really good about it.
- [116:03]
Mallory Rubin
So I think this is an absolutely sensational pick. Gold star.
- [116:06]
Joanna Robinson
Thank you.
- [116:07]
Mallory Rubin
No notes. Susie will not have to break into the records and change your transcript. In season four, only Dustin's.
- [116:15]
Joanna Robinson
Oh, man.
- [116:16]
Mallory Rubin
Okay. I had a hard time with this too. I have like a. A short list of contenders. Maybe you can help me pick. All right, Dustin to Steve. Now that you're out of high school, which means you're technically an adult, don't you think it's time you move on from primitive constructs such as popularity? Just great stuff from our little wise man, Dustin.
- [116:33]
Joanna Robinson
Very good couple.
- [116:35]
Mallory Rubin
Good Erica. Contenders. Erica is a real treat and I enjoy both of these quite a bit. You know what this half baked plan of your sounds like to me? Child and dangerment. Great stuff. And I also then love the. You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Just bartering with them is great.
- [116:57]
Joanna Robinson
Can't spell America without Erica.
- [116:59]
Mallory Rubin
Without Erica.
- [116:59]
Joanna Robinson
And then calling it, calling it operation. Operation child endangerment.
- [117:06]
Mallory Rubin
We already mentioned. Hey, dingus. Your children here. We already mentioned. Think Phoebe cancel my daughter. It's just incredible. I really enjoy when Murray says to Hopper, you have dragged an enemy of the state into my home as carelessly as a child on his ship. Murray has some great lines. That's a really, that's a really fun one. Oh, and then another Murray one he's translating for Alexi. But then kind of tacks on his own commentary here when he says, could Edison not turn off a lamp? Could Bell not hang up a phone? A cocky bastard. And then this was the. So this was when we were. When you were running through all the Steve moments in Funniest moment. Here's my additional nominee. But I put it here in best quote. Steve saying to his torturers, I don't know if you have Russian ice cream or if that's considered gelato.
- [118:05]
Joanna Robinson
Gelato.
- [118:06]
Mallory Rubin
Now it's like a perfect Steve moment to me. I just think it's so funny. Oh, man. So I don't know. I, I didn't really make a pick. I don't know what's my pick of those? H. I'll go with shit on a shoe. Let's.
- [118:19]
Joanna Robinson
Let's, let's get marry Another moment.
- [118:21]
Mallory Rubin
That's a great one. Okay. From words to visuals. What is the most memorable visual of season three for you, Joanna?
- [118:30]
Joanna Robinson
This is my first and easiest answer, actually. Actually, tell me. And I think it's the Mind Flayer crashing down into the roof of Starcort. Like the Mind Flayer broken down into Starcourt Mall. Is the season. Like, that's what the season is. I do have a runner up, and we do have a listener pick, but I'm curious to hear what your memorable visual is.
- [118:55]
Mallory Rubin
My pick is from the opening scene in Russia, Russia, when the machine fires up and then crackles out and we get the initial explosion and the workers in their masks and their suits are initially levitated into the air by the jolts of electricity, almost like Palpatine is there using force. And then they're fried and disintegrated. Both because, of course, I mean, it looks really cool and memorable. It sets up, obviously, the specific terror that we feel when we see Hopper down. Down there in Hawkins under Star Court at the end. But I also. Just. Part of the reason that's like a kind of a lasting visual for me is because I remember very vividly seeing that in the trailer for season three and feeling like, very afraid. Very, very afraid. So that I don't know, that one just really stuck with you. I was like, what is that?
- [119:45]
Joanna Robinson
What is this new machine?
- [119:46]
Mallory Rubin
Like, what is going to happen? And just being really worried. So, yeah, that's my pick. My monster pick for my runner up is one I talked about elsewhere in the summer setting. But I love when they're throwing the fireworks at the spider monster at the end. It just looks cool. I also really like the. This is like a subtler one, but in chapter one, I love that shot of the. Of the kids and Cerebro, like, silhouetted against the golden sunset atop Weather Tower. That's a beautiful visual. The radio tower there, that's a good one. What's your runner up? What do we have from the listeners from the Beautiful Bad Babies?
- [120:23]
Joanna Robinson
Okay, so our listener, Casey, and you've already mentioned this, but said the most memorable visual was Robin holding up the whiteboard to tally Steve's failures because it turned into a meme and I saw it everywhere for months. So that was a really. That was a really fun one. The other pick that I have from the season is, you know, it's worth mentioning. So the final season, the director's off are the duffer brothers. Shawn Levy, who obviously has directed a bunch of Stranger Things, but also Frank Darabont is directing a couple episodes of the final season of Stranger Things. Which is really exciting. So in this season, UTA Bersovitz, who's done a bunch of severance and a number of other things, directs a couple episodes and one of her episodes is when Flayed, but they don't know yet. Tom is chewing out Nancy and Jonathan and he kicks something and the camera cants. And the rest of the scene is shot at this canted angle, like inspired by Tom's moan of violence. And it is a very like arty bit of visual flare inside of a show that doesn't usually do that. And so I was just like really struck by that. I was just sort of like, what a. Ooh, yeah. What a fun choice that UTA made there in her.
- [121:41]
Mallory Rubin
Great pick.
- [121:42]
Joanna Robinson
Leaving her mark on stage. Major things. So. But really it's the mind flayer in Star Court for me. Like that's. That's it. So.
- [121:49]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, that's good. Good stuff. Favorite pop culture influence on this.
- [121:54]
Joanna Robinson
The list is. It's interminable.
- [121:57]
Mallory Rubin
It's impossible.
- [121:58]
Joanna Robinson
Should we go back? Should we ping pong back and forth? You do one and I'll do one.
- [122:02]
Mallory Rubin
Yes, throughout. Like we, we can. We'll try to cap ourselves at like 5 to 10 total. I guess so. We've already talked about a bunch of them. But yeah. What's.
- [122:09]
Joanna Robinson
You, you.
- [122:10]
Mallory Rubin
You start, kick us off. What do you got?
- [122:14]
Joanna Robinson
I'll go further down the list and I'll say Mayor Dread Pirate Roberts and his Zack Morris phone.
- [122:21]
Mallory Rubin
That's a great one. I also think of Zach Morris when he picks up that phone. It is so huge. It is so huge. I guess we could just talk once more about Phoebe Kates. Fast Times, obviously. All over Stranger Things always. But the, the Scoops of outfit is.
- [122:41]
Joanna Robinson
Like a Fast Times reference.
- [122:42]
Mallory Rubin
Oh yeah, definitely. Every. Yeah. The whole food court mall thing. All of it, obviously. And then just the, the absolute magical payoff of Steve running into the cardboard cutout. Remember what movie he likes is great. Also of course, just the like Billy gender swap of like Hot person walking in us.
- [123:02]
Joanna Robinson
When they're like fake fuck, she's leaving about Heather, who is the like sort of female baby Kate's type. And they're like, she's getting.
- [123:10]
Mallory Rubin
She's going away and then Billy gets the needle drop instead. It's a slow mo. It's just great stuff. Great stuff. Very good.
- [123:17]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Red Dawn, War Games, Termination Day. Day of the Dead. But dawn of the Dead for the shopping mall stuff. Body Snatchers, the thing, obviously. Gremlins, the Flies, Back to the Future, Star Wars, Christine. I wrote down on my list. Oh, Steve with the radioactive goop. Very Indiana Jones. Of course. I wrote there's a sequence where, when, okay, when. When 11 and Max and Mike are hiding in the Gap. And I was like, oh, is. Is this velociraptor in the kitchen? And then also you can got people huddling behind the car as the mind flayer goes. And I was like, oh, that's the hobbits hiding from the Dark Riders. And then my follow up question, my notes was, are there only so many ways you could show small people hiding from things? And so because we already called out raptors in the kitchen for the season five trailer. So I was like, there's literally so many ways that you can duck behind something while something is stalking you. So I wanted to.
- [124:30]
Mallory Rubin
Funny, I had the same. Because like it is so. The Gap hideout is so Dr. Parky. But then I was like, wait, didn't Jo. Didn't we just call this out in the season five trailer? They're.
- [124:38]
Joanna Robinson
They're doing it again. Huh.
- [124:39]
Mallory Rubin
But like, I guess it's a. It's. It's one you keep running back. Oh man.
- [124:44]
Joanna Robinson
Great. Another thing I hadn't googled before, but you know Billy's license plate is PCE235. And I was like, is that a reference to something? Like an Easter egg for something? And so like the, you know, the Internet, especially Google's dumb as shit AI was like, well, the penal code for murder in California is 235 or whatever. The real answer is that. And I didn't know this, that 235 on a license plate is the same as 555 on a phone number. As in it doesn't exist in real life. So you can do a 235 license plate and throw it on a. On a movie license plate. So fun fact I learned.
- [125:22]
Mallory Rubin
I had no idea.
- [125:23]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, it's the 555 of license plates.
- [125:27]
Mallory Rubin
Geez. Genuinely learned something new today, as I always do in a him with you.
- [125:31]
Joanna Robinson
Oh, same.
- [125:35]
Mallory Rubin
Most potent use of 80s nostalgia. What are you going with here?
- [125:41]
Joanna Robinson
This is so dumb, but so very true to me. Mike's Doritos bag.
- [125:48]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [125:48]
Joanna Robinson
Yep. I have such a strong memory of when Doritos bags look like that. So Mike Ceritos bag. And then I also say Will and Mike riding in the way, way back of. Of a station. Wa. Yeah. Which I feel like they don't do anymore.
- [126:04]
Mallory Rubin
No.
- [126:05]
Joanna Robinson
Probably because I remember that when I.
- [126:07]
Mallory Rubin
Was a kid too.
- [126:08]
Joanna Robinson
But I loved doing that. I loved on like A field trip when, like, someone's parent is driving and they've got the way, way back in there. And I'm like, I want to sit in the way, way back same. And then you would, like, play car games with the people behind you on the road and stuff like that.
- [126:20]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, yeah. I once got. I was not the driver. I was in the way, way back, but was in a car accident once, sitting back there. Scary, scary stuff. That was fine.
- [126:28]
Joanna Robinson
Terrifying.
- [126:29]
Mallory Rubin
It was scary. It was scary. Yeah, it was scary. Um, it's really funny that you mentioned the Doritos, because in this is obviously the. The late 90s, not the mid-80s. But as I'm watching Buffy when the vending machines are. The Sunnydale vending machines are frequently present in scenes. And I'm always like, boy, do I remember when Dorito bags looked like that.
- [126:51]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Or that's what the. That's what the Coke can look like then. Or whatever. Yeah.
- [126:55]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, on that. On that front. I really enjoy that we get an entire. Because the new Coke cans are sprinkled throughout the season. But the fact that. And Lucas conversation. Lucas scene about New Coke and the comp to carpenters, the thing is just, like, so funny to me. So that's great. The 80s fashion is always good in Stranger Things, but this season is God. Tier. Like the. The hats, the neon, the patterns, the short shorts, which we'll be talking about separately. It's just. It's incredible. I guess I'll toss in less charming and fun, but Cold War paranoia in terms of the deployment of the Russians in this season, you know, obviously, that's a. That's a very of the. Of the time story beat. And like, you know, we remarked upon this when we were revisiting the prior seasons, but, like, the. The seeds that are planted for, like. Well, what if, you know. Yeah, they got a hold of this and they did this thing or, like, you know, the COVID stories or the fear that a Russian agent is that, you know, Elle is like, oh, this is a Russian agent in the neighborhood. And then like to act, actually go there with the story in season three is. Yeah. Interesting development there. Even though I just call him Terminator in my notes, I guess his name is. Is it Grigori?
- [128:11]
Joanna Robinson
I did not bother to look it up because I just wrote Terminator every time.
- [128:15]
Mallory Rubin
I was just like this Terminator. So there's that, too. We'll stick with the 80s here. 80s parents. We have some notes. And I will just say that this is where I have all of the moms and adult Women in Hawkins go into the pool with a full face of makeup on, sitting there waiting for Billy, who, yes, has graduated high school, but is a teen to walk by so that they can think about fucking him. This is just an incredible thing that obviously they're priming us for this at the end of season two when they have. When Karen and Billy have their moment and the door. Yeah, Karen's just got this. Got the romance novel still at the pool here. Just incredible. This is like.
- [128:57]
Joanna Robinson
I will. I will spoil that car. I have this in my Fit Fit Watch sort of thing. But I'll. I'll bring it up here.
- [129:04]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [129:04]
Joanna Robinson
Not just the suit. Karen wearing heels to the pool. High heels to the pool. Karen Wheeler. Excellent stuff. I actually have a Karen Wheeler moment for this. In 80s parenting. We have some notes.
- [129:19]
Mallory Rubin
Me too. As my runner up.
- [129:21]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, it's like a good scene between Karen and Nancy in the kitchen. It was great. Later in Graviton, when Joyce is like, where are our kids? Karen will be like, I don't know. Who knows?
- [129:32]
Mallory Rubin
I would like to read that entire quote. Oh, my gosh, I can hardly keep track these days. They were at Dustin's, then Lucas's, then Max's. You know how it is. Summer.
- [129:45]
Joanna Robinson
Right. And then Erica also talks about her, like, network of Sleepover cover as well. Blah. But she's like, but it. If I miss this party, my mom. Blah, blah. But Karen and Nancy in the kitchen, right? You're a fighter. I get it from you, Mom. I get it from you. I got it from watching you.
- [130:03]
Mallory Rubin
Basically, it's the emotional.
- [130:05]
Joanna Robinson
It's extremely good. It's really, really good. And I really liked it. So.
- [130:09]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah, I love that because Karen and. Karen and Nancy, like, you know, they have so much tension between them in the earlier seasons. And, like, when does Nancy feel like she has to. To push back against Karen? When does she feel like she can, like, confide and open up to her? When does she feel like she's being judged? And so obviously we have, like, this access to how Karen is thinking about her own life. And like, on the one hand, this feeling of, like, this is a thing I can't jeopardize my family. But also clearly feeling, like, a little bit trapped by it. And then, you know, saying to Nancy, like, people are always saying that you can't. That you shouldn't. That you're not smart enough, you're not good enough. Right. Like, go do the thing that you believe is right now. Yeah, I'm always really struck by that scene. I love that Especially because, like, they set it up with Karen knocking at the door, and you're kind of like, well, Nancy's not going to answer. She's not going to tell her mom what's going on, because that's their. Their history. And then when she. When she does, it's, like, really lovely.
- [131:06]
Joanna Robinson
I will say, I think it's a silly and abrupt swing for Joyce to go from, like, clinging, overprotective Season 2 Joyce to I'm going to Illinois. And, yeah, I'll call, like, once on the payphone to try to figure out, like, where Will is and stuff like that. That 11 is the one who, like, checks in on them and is, like, ill annoyed. Like, she's the one looking where Hop is, like, for them to, like, we had notes about how overprotective but then selectively forgetful they were in season two. Hopper's, like, stringent rules, all these sorts like that. But to go from that to, like, they're like, we're about to open a rift. When Alexi is in Murray's house and he's like, oh, yeah, the gate was still a little open, so we're opening it and stuff like that. And Joyce is like, our kids. And Hop is like, the whiskey. I was like, find 11. Like, what are we doing? So, yeah.
- [132:00]
Mallory Rubin
All priming us for just gallivanting about the globe in season four.
- [132:08]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [132:09]
Mallory Rubin
Instead of checking it on the kids at all. Yeah, it's. It's quite a swing. I agree. The fit or hair lord of season three. I mean, you know, my pick here, it's the. It's the shirt. It had to be the shirt. You got the shirt. You got the shirt. It's Hopper going full Magnum PI with the mustache in the shirt. Not to be clear, when he has the blazer and this, like, the more kind of tidy hair for the. The Enzo state. But when he puts the shirt back on and he's got the light wash jeans and the hair is messy and the mustache looks great, and then he's really sweaty and dirty and eventually covered in scratches. In other words, the Aragorn, like, the filthier he gets, the hotter he looks across the season. It's just very memorable to me. It's an iconic look that was. Was my instant, easy pick. What is your. What is your pick for this one?
- [132:54]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, as I've already mentioned, the Wheeler family glow up. Do you think, like, Karen and Nancy went together to get perms? Like, do you think? I feel like they really decided to revamp their looks together. Nancy's wearing a lot of, like, great dresses. She's got that red and black stripe, like, sort of leotard number. Later in the season when she's in the hospital fighting for her life against goop monsters and her mascara just runs all down her face. Later, she kind of turns into a smokey eye. Like, all of this is. Is great stuff. Also, I already texted this to you, but will byers wearing classic 80s 49ers color and his, like, rub rugby shirt that he's wearing. Like, fucking 49ers, man. San Francisco. Love to see it, but it's got to be. It's Maxinella at the Gap.
- [133:43]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [133:43]
Joanna Robinson
And then later, I would say the Mind Flayers biting critique peak of her copying the outfit straight off the mannequin.
- [133:53]
Mallory Rubin
Knocking over the mannequin wearing the exact same outfit is an incredible moment.
- [133:57]
Joanna Robinson
It's great.
- [133:58]
Mallory Rubin
It's pretty good.
- [133:58]
Joanna Robinson
It's pretty good. I love it.
- [134:01]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, man. We have a related category today. At your. At your request.
- [134:06]
Joanna Robinson
It is.
- [134:07]
Mallory Rubin
This is a category specifically dedicated to short shorts. The shortest shorts. Lord, who would you like to not.
- [134:14]
Joanna Robinson
Here's the thing. It's not that the inseams got that much shorter. It's that the boy's legs got longer, and so they just look increasingly like storks walking around. You have a clip for this? I'm fascinated to hear what your clip.
- [134:29]
Mallory Rubin
Is for this on the. On the front of. Of the. The party, the. The. The youngsters and how short the shorts are. I will just remark that when I first watched this season, I was like, my God, those are short shorts. And now I watch the season and I'm like, these kids are on. On trend. Same thing with the rugby shirt, actually, like, they just look like they're, like, being featured in the gq Instagram. Like, thank you, Paul Mescal, for bringing short shorts back. Like, we are back in a short, short cycle. But I'm going with a different character. I need not have worried that we would not have already talked about this today, but I needed to ensure that. We discussed the Scoops Troops uniforms, and I shouldn't have doubted it for a second, obviously, but it felt right to hear this clip. What the hell? Look at my outfit.
- [135:15]
Joanna Robinson
Look at my outfit. You think I just wear this?
- [135:18]
Mallory Rubin
I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform. Steve the Hair Harrington has never let us down, including today, the fact that he has to work at Scoops Ahoy in that outfit and then go on this mission in that outfit, be interrogated by the Russians in That outfit. Outfit slide across the floor of the public restroom in that outfit. All of it is just absolutely incredible. Like Steve was the prior pick for Fit Lord. Steve has moved from Fit Lord into. He is wearing the Scoops Ahoy. Can I just say sailor uniform for 99% of the season. The hair. This may be my favorite. My favorite Steve Hare Season actually.
- [135:59]
Joanna Robinson
Very good.
- [136:00]
Mallory Rubin
It's fantastic.
- [136:01]
Joanna Robinson
I almost gave this to Steve. Yeah, I really did. For the Scoops Away outfit. But this category was created.
- [136:08]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [136:09]
Joanna Robinson
For one young master, Will Byers. I mean it's, it's Mike's category two to lose, but it is Will Byers and I will say it's, it's even split between. He wears these like high slitted running shorts with the rugby shirt. What is the temperature outside, Will? I have questions but he's in the sauna test sequence or whatever. He's wearing these like really high shorts with a high slit on them. But I'm going to give it to the frayed denim cutoffs that he's wearing for the entire battle at Star Court. Like do you think this is the moment that Jonathan knew he was like, I wonder.
- [136:54]
Mallory Rubin
Oh man, those shorts are like. They get a real memorable framing because like Joyce and Will run towards each other.
- [137:00]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [137:01]
Mallory Rubin
And just like the, the shorts are really center frame there in a meaningful way. Yeah. Great stuff. Great, great category. Great pick.
- [137:08]
Joanna Robinson
Thanks.
- [137:10]
Mallory Rubin
This inspiring. Inspiring.
- [137:14]
Joanna Robinson
Part of what? It's part of what makes Stranger Things Stranger Things. So it's important.
- [137:18]
Mallory Rubin
Speaking of which, another thing that makes Stranger Things Stranger Things. The musical accompaniments robust feel today. How do we chase needle drop. Yeah. What are you going with?
- [137:30]
Joanna Robinson
I will shout out our listener Dana who this is her entire email. She wrote it immediately after our last pod and she says I don't even need to rewatch the season to tell you that. Moving in stereo by the Cars when Karen is at the pool and Billy is going to the lifeguard station she says is now one of her Spotify like most listened to tracks that it just sort of like she thinks about it all the time. So the Cars needle drop at the pool is Dana's pick. We've already talked about the Never Ending Story. Right. Like that is absolutely iconic.
- [138:02]
Mallory Rubin
Never Ending story is iconic. Material Girl iconic. There are some great ones here. I, I of course, unsurprisingly, you know what I went with. You know, you don't mess around with Jim.
- [138:11]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah.
- [138:12]
Mallory Rubin
Return going from Jim Croc Background, one of my favorite serials into I just love the way he's singing in the car. He's celebrating. He thinks he's won because Mike doesn't show up. And the way that he is rocking out in the truck, slamming on the steering wheel. You don't suck pants cape. Incredible.
- [138:29]
Joanna Robinson
His all time bad parenting. All right, Mr. Clark. Listening to my bologna by Weird Al is like one of the best things to happen. Wake me up before you go. Go for the aerobics guy would be Russian spy, but is an aerobics guy so good. Higher and higher. Jackie Wilson from Memorably used in Ghostbusters 2. One of my favorite tracks. Love that we'll meet again when you see how much of the town has been flayed. Dr. Strangelove reference.
- [139:01]
Mallory Rubin
Yes.
- [139:02]
Joanna Robinson
But I'm gonna give it again to Jim Hopper for listening to Lover Girl by Tina Maria. That's just a very off brand Jim Hopper pick and I really love it. So that is my my choice.
- [139:17]
Mallory Rubin
Great one. Paired with moving in stereo, the use of Hot Blooded. Really good as well. I am always struck by Mike breaking into song mid makeout session. I can't fight this feeling.
- [139:35]
Joanna Robinson
Very good, Very good.
- [139:36]
Mallory Rubin
And then of course, we should note that there's more than one returning song this season. It's not just hop rocking out in season two while cleaning the cabin to you don't mess around with Jim. And then bringing it back here as a victory anthem. We also get the return of the Peter Gabriel version of Heroes, which of course is so memorably deployed in season one, and then returns here to close the season. So that's a big one in the needle job front. I mean, I feel like it kind of is like it's Material Girl or Never Ending Story. But we talked about them in other categories. We did. If this had Netflix subtitles. Wait, it does. Does. What is the most Netflix y of the Netflix subtitles?
- [140:19]
Joanna Robinson
I'm going to give it to a sequence that we get from. This is the aforementioned. You already mentioned one of them. This is the aforementioned, like goop that goes down the drain moment. But we get bubbling and squelching as well as chittering and squelching.
- [140:40]
Mallory Rubin
Upsetting. Yeah.
- [140:41]
Joanna Robinson
As well as then rhythmic grunting. And this is all in attribution to the goop monster here. So bubbling and squelching, chittering and squelching. Rhythmic grunting. And we should say one of our listeners sent a sent us an article that was in the Guardian, I think it was about how Netflix is moving into using AI to like translate, you know, their shows for four foreign markets. For international audiences, I should say, but that there's a worry that could encroach on their captioning. This is a human art. The art of the Netflix caption. And if we remember the origin of this, and it's funny, I was listening to our season four first episode when I first said, flesh descends wetly, and you and I laughed about it. That's the origin of that. So nostalgic. Yeah. But if you remember after that season, there were like, profiles of the person who wrote those captions. It's a human art. Do not replace it with AI so just protect the captioners at all costs. What I will say, what is your Netflix subtitle moment?
- [141:51]
Mallory Rubin
The The.
- [141:52]
Joanna Robinson
The.
- [141:53]
Mallory Rubin
The. The field got crowded. A lot of squelching contenders this season. Certainly I am once again going with with Hop when Hopper and Joyce, after they have Hopper has intimidated Mayor Klein and Larry into giving up the the. The land deed information and they're searching these properties and then they make their way to the house where they will quick, quickly find the the secret lair. And they're just walking in. Okay, they've. They've entered the premises and they're just walking. And here is what we get with just Jim Hopper walking. Hopper panting Hopper gasps Hopper exhales sharply pulsing intensifies and I'm sorry, but, like, my mind can't help but wander if that is the subtitling for him entering a room. Imagine the subtitling following a successful night at Enzos.
- [142:44]
Joanna Robinson
I'm just saying, with not too much Chianti, just enough.
- [142:51]
Mallory Rubin
We would love Chance, Season mvp. You could pick a character, you could pick a performer. As always, we have two, kid and adult. You are free to interpret that as you see fit. Who counts as a kid at this point is up to you. What do you got for kid?
- [143:14]
Joanna Robinson
I mean, this is just a repeat, but I have to give it to my hawk as Robin, just for so quickly becoming so integral, similar to the way that Max just felt so integral the previous season. And for adults, you know, on this rewatch, this most recent rewatch, the number of times that Joyce just loses her shit on someone is deeply enjoyable to me and less of a paranoid, ranty, like, season one kind of way, and just more of a like, no, fuck you, I've had a day and my kids are in danger. She does it multiple times and they're all really good. And again, I would say impeach Chief Hopper. But I would also say when she stops the mayor's assistant from using the phone and she's like, who are you going to call the Cops. Pretty good Joyce. This is a good Joyce season, I think it is.
- [144:08]
Mallory Rubin
Joyce is great. I love Joyce. Yeah, no surprises for me here. I've got Robin and Steve sharing the honors for the kids and Hop for the adult. They're the centerpieces of the season. Those characters. Those are our superlatives. We are going to quickly put a bow on the pod by separating out this had been one of our categories previously. We're going to instead end on this little Season five Look ahead. What is the most enticing endgame setup or question on your mind after revisiting season three? What in season three specifically has you going?
- [144:39]
Joanna Robinson
Huh?
- [144:40]
Mallory Rubin
Thinking about this now on the eve of Season five.
- [144:45]
Joanna Robinson
I want to sprinkle a few things in here really quickly. I will say we did get an email from our listener Sean, because we were talking about one of the titles, the season five titles in our hype oh yeah, Pod. So Escape from Camazotz, which I was like, is a Mayan bad guy. Sure it is, but also shows up in Stephen King and also I think most crucially in A Wrinkle in Time.
- [145:11]
Mallory Rubin
I saw this in the Spotify comments on the pod that people were shouting out Wrinkle of Time.
- [145:15]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah, Sean said, I just reread A Wrinkle in Time to my fifth grade class last spring. So when you were reading Stranger Things episode titles, my ears popped up. In addition to mayimbat God, Camazotz is also the dark totalitarian planet controlled by a presence called it that Meg Charles Wallace and the others have to escape from in that book. And that's the end of Sean's piece. And Ross Duffer posted a photo of the COVID of A Wrinkle in Time to his Instagram in 2023. So probably a Wrinkle in Time is like a chief text, some Madeleine l' Engle book corner coming up for us also.
- [145:49]
Mallory Rubin
Don't mind if I do.
- [145:50]
Joanna Robinson
Let's do it. Ross Duffer also posted an Alice in Wonderland painting from the 1950s on his Instagram so that, you know, like paired with that shot of Holly Wheeler and like a Alice blue dress running through one of the trailers. That's something to think about. But on your beloved Will there Be Time Travel friend?
- [146:12]
Mallory Rubin
This is my pick.
- [146:13]
Joanna Robinson
Yeah. Here's a new description of The Stranger season 5 season in Stranger Things 5, the final season of the beloved sci fi horror saga, Hawkins faces its greatest threat yet as the Upside down fully merges with the real world, with cracks splitting the town and time itself unraveling. 11 Mike, Will, and the rest of the crew must confront Vecna in a battle that spans dimensions and memories. As secrets are revealed and past traumas resurface, the group must rely on their bonds and Eleven's evolving powers to close the gateway once and for all. So, yeah, can 11 open gates in time? Is like, a fun question. You know, we. And. And how far back are we gonna go? Are we gonna. We had always thought about when. When we had brought this up before, we had thought about folding back on the events of. Because the Upside down is stuck in time to when season one started. We had always talked about that being a thing, but can we go back even further into, like, you know, the Vecna origin story, time period, stuff like that? Like, people in Theory Corner are bringing up the first shadow, which is the. The Stranger Things play that is canonical, and how that takes place with, like, young Joyce and young Hop and young Bob Newby and Bob Newby's sister and. And all this sort of stuff like that. So are we gonna get. Like, when I was under the bleachers for Joyce and Hop when they were teens, like, is that what we're gonna go back into? Which is something that I hadn't thought about, but is kind of like, I get stuck in time periods, and I'm like, the 1950s is too far back to go for Hop and Joyce or into the 1960s. But I'm like, no, it's obviously not. Like, I was thinking about Winona Rider. I was like, no, no, no. You have to. To think about when we started in the early 80s. So to go back to the 50s, which is a Back to the Future 3 or Back to the Future in the first place thing to do, is enticing.
- [148:08]
Mallory Rubin
So, yeah, yeah. This is what's most on my mind, rewatching this season as well. Like, how could it not be? We've talked about this a million times. Obviously, yes, the Back to the future of it all and how that is incorporated throughout this entire season feels so purposeful. As you mentioned mentioned, the, like, season four revealed that the Upside down is frozen in time. Really further fueled what was already such a vibrant theory coming out of season three rewatching. Every time I rewatch and every. I think this is obviously like a widely held belief every time you revisit the letter sequence, it's just. It is. How can it be anything but incredibly purposeful? The way that that is ended, where we are moving in and out.
- [148:51]
Joanna Robinson
I'll be so happy for you if this is the case because, like, this.
- [148:54]
Mallory Rubin
Is mean it to be, but it just feels.
- [148:56]
Joanna Robinson
No, I know. Hold your theories loosely. Yes, but this has been a ch. Ch. Like a cherished theory for you for years. Many years. So I hope that it has been so many years.
- [149:07]
Mallory Rubin
Have we mentioned how many years it's been? This season came out?
- [149:10]
Joanna Robinson
20.
- [149:10]
Mallory Rubin
19. I just. Man, Like, I. I still remember watching it the first time and it's like, okay, Ella's reading the letter. We're hearing Hopper's voice. We see him writing it. We're watching the kids, like, sob as they say goodbye to each other. Will crying, Elle crying in the U Haul.
- [149:27]
Joanna Robinson
U Haul.
- [149:28]
Mallory Rubin
Leaving Hawkins driving past the sign. Mike goes home. Karen hugs him. Dustin and Lucas give the box with the D and D. And it's Erica. Like, we have moved through sequences of events. And then we go back and Joyce walks into the room and Elle is sitting there reading it. Time to go. Yeah. And then we watch them go and pack the U haul again and leave the house. It's just like. I just feel like that kid has to be telling us to expect something. But we'll find out. Okay. Fun season of tv.
- [150:01]
Joanna Robinson
We did it.
- [150:01]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, yes.
- [150:02]
Joanna Robinson
Our longest Stranger Things rewatch pod yet. How long Will.
- [150:08]
Mallory Rubin
Oh, Season four.
- [150:09]
Joanna Robinson
This is another. Another Duffer quote I wanted to share with you. I don't have it in of front of me, but basically they said we were talking about run times of the season five episodes. They said 4 and 8 are like movies. Right. So not every episode is like movie. They said 4 and 8 are like movies. And they also said every runtime we've seen on the Internet so far has been wrong.
- [150:33]
Mallory Rubin
So not surprised by that at all. Yeah, see, you know what? Season four had some really long episodes.
- [150:39]
Joanna Robinson
Maybe chunky, chunky little ups. Chunky, chunky little laps. But they were great. But episode four, which acts as like the finale of the first volume one.
- [150:50]
Mallory Rubin
Yeah.
- [150:51]
Joanna Robinson
Is a long one. And then episode eight, the finale is gonna be a long boy.
- [150:56]
Mallory Rubin
So the right side up. I can't wait. Can't wait for. Only a few months away from the end of Stranger Things. A decade long journey. Sheesh. All right. We did it. They didn't have cherry, but they had a two and a half hour revisitation of season three. You know what? That's even delicious. That's even more delicious than a Slurpee of any flavor. This was an absolute blast. Delightful. I will miss you terribly next week. And I cannot wait to thank you. I'll try.
- [151:28]
Joanna Robinson
You deserve it.
- [151:29]
Mallory Rubin
I'll try.
- [151:30]
Joanna Robinson
I'll try.
- [151:31]
Mallory Rubin
I can't wait to talk about all the things that we're going to talk about when we are back together. We're just a couple weeks away from potting about Buffy Season two. What a time to be us. My goodness. Thank yous as always. Thank you to our scoops troop today. Carlos Chiraboga back from Ireland and here with us in the Upside Down. John Richter has been here at Starcourt with us the whole time and Arjuna Ram go Powell, who what's another place that's featured in this season other than Scoops of Hawaii?
- [152:08]
Joanna Robinson
Been at the fun fair with us.
- [152:09]
Mallory Rubin
The fun fair. Mayor Klein's fun fair. Proven that the games are not rigged. And of course, Jomia Denon on the socials. As always, thank you to the whole scoops troop today. We will see you in just a few weeks for our rewatch of season four. And then before you know it, season five will be here.
- [152:26]
Joanna Robinson
Wow.
- [152:26]
Mallory Rubin
Can't wait. What a time.
- [152:29]
Joanna Robinson
Bye Bye.
- [152:32]
Mallory Rubin
Sam.