Is one of the male writers’ family members standing IN THE MIDDLE OF AFGHANISTAN?

Very true. I’m sure there are people in North Korea who secretly and inwardly rage at the conditions they live in, but no revolution will come to save them. Or look at Venezuela - people there have revolted and demonstrated, but the regime still stands, with no end in sight. Most of those who are able to have fled.

The inherent problem is these kind of stories are dystopias. There is not meant to be happy ending. It is kind of the entire point. It is a fictional, sometimes science-fictionary story to make a political allegory. If some believable “revolt” was possible, it would have been done ages ago. To stay true to the theme…

I’m against such a plot development as well, but if nothing else I don’t think Billy’s a self-insert character, given how he’s clearly supposed to be seen as a massively unpleasant psycho-asshole and, well, the whole point of writing a stand-in is to make yourself look pretty good to the audience.

Cara Buono however was Shaw’s nemesis Martine on Person of Interest, who once had a shootout with her in a crowded department store at Christmas. So, she does have a life outside of being Mike and Nancy’s mom

I enjoy this show, but they’ve really wasted Cara Buono, who deserves better than playing the role of sexually dissatisfied  mom.

I had said that if anything happens between Mrs. Mike and Nancy’s mom and Billy, I would throw my computer in the trash. And I will stand by that.

I might be one of the few, but I really don’t care for this character and cannot, for the life of me, see how he makes any meaningful impact in the Stranger Things story.

Are we fine with Billy, a high school student, being objectified by middle-aged women?

Glad I didn’t rent Vox Lux last weekend. It’s been on my to-watch list for a while. Also, 12 Monkeys was a highly underrated show and I’m glad it’ll all be there for easy viewing.

I’ve been saying this in conversations with my friends as well. Why are we rooting for a monarchy? Why does fantasy always get a pass when it promotes feudalism and caste systems? Even with a just ruler, it’s still a fundamentally unjust system (in fact, one of the most unjust systems in history!)

Gita is right, that throne looks super uncomfortable. “Oooh, look at me, I’m Big King Toughguy, behold my absurdly pointy chair. My ass hurts more every day and I think I might be bleeding.”

I gave this show a chance but very quickly lost interest and wandered off halfway through the first season. Probably because I was in choir in high school and, it probably goes without saying, the experience was neither dramatic nor life-altering. The most memorable thing about it, 25 years after graduation, is that…

But how would the movie have suggested this? Because you are right that male characters in these types of movies aren’t taken to task nearly enough (as in at all), but within the framework of the movie, I don’t know who would be doing the teaching except the female characters, which is absolutely wrong. It’s not their…

Do you worry about the self-harm of people who see things like child separation and have no emotional response?

I don’t watch game of thrones but isn’t the whole point that you can never “win” conclusively and you always have to be watching out for the next person to try and take you down?

It was pretty early in her Hollywood career, and I don’t know if she really had her choice of roles at that point. To Die For, which came out the same year, was really her breakout acting performance. Also, she may not have cared about feminist roles at that point, considering her character in Malice is pretty…

No, the star power helped, especially Jim Carrey, who could do no wrong at that point, but the movie didn’t need it. What hooked ticket sales was it was the next Batman movie, and maybe wouldn’t make us as uncomfortable as the more Gothic elements of Batman Returns, which we liked, but only just. Plus the ads showed…

Random thoughts about this:

No, we did not all think that was fine.