Where Trump and co. are concerned, I find that a good default explanation for most things is “Because he is a stupid asshole.” It rarely fails to explain whatever dumbassery is underfoot, so it saves me a lot of hassle.

The Duffers have mentioned that they had Schnapp read some “possessed Will” scenes during the audition process, so they weren’t going into it totally blind. Even so, they seem as astounded by his work this year as anyone else. It’s amazing how many times they hit the casting jackpot.

There’s definitely some slashy subtext there, though Billy seems to be the one who’s interested, with no indication that Steve reciprocates.

Yeah, that part would be a little kludgy to explain, but maybe losing the hive-mind connection only kills creatures native to the Upside Down, or only those who have already been fully coopted. It wasn’t even a carefully established rule, just a theory based on a D&D character, so it wouldn’t be too much of a cheat…

Agreed. The way people were ragging on the episode, I figured it was gonna be something really inane—like, El must choose between loyalty to her friends and becoming a bank robber or some shit. But the dilemma she faced was actually pretty meaningful.

The best theory about Billy’s character I’ve heard is from someone on Reddit who pointed out that . . .

LOL. My favorite is the one where John Podesta and his brother are both the same unknown person wanted for questioning in the Madeleine McCann disappearance, because the two sketches of him look different.

Well, let’s see, does it still involve thinking that a cabal of evil globalists conduct ritual child molestation in the privacy of a public eating establishment, disguising the fact that they’re molesting people inside a pizzeria by using the extra-secret codeword “pizza”?

Yep. I’m not even in the biz and I’ve known about his rep for twenty years, thanks to a college classmate with industry connections.

Max rang true to me, too. Her tomboyishness felt genuine, not affected.

I was a freshman in high school when I saw JFK on videocassette soon after its theatrical release. I remember it fucked my shit up so badly that I could barely sleep. I was already a bit of a conspiracy head even before that; I hadn’t thought about it super carefully, but I had an completely uninformed opinion that…

“. . . one of those Norman Rockwell facsimiles of small-town America . . .”

Yeah, there’s been a lot of knee-jerking when the Russian allegations touch something people legitimately care about, as if someone disingenuously supporting your cause implies that you, too, are disingenuous in your support. Which is stupid; just because the Russians may have been stoking, say, the Dakota Access…

So Mikey Day mentions that originally Kate and Vanessa played each other’s roles, which makes me wonder: When the script went into production, was the second scare just supposed to be the waiter opening the platter to reveal the head of the woman from the first scare? And then the ladies had to switch parts, but…

If the show was going to never revisit the characters again, why even have Will go through his weird sickness/flash thing? Why have Hopper be delivering food in the woods to Eleven? And since the show was filmed and released all at once, it wasn’t audience feedback that made them add these elements to the end.

Which, according to all the stories we’ve heard lately, seems to be how he prefers to sexually assault people too—lurching back and forth between cold-blooded intimidation and absolutely pitiful begging.

What I keep thinking about are the women who knew that this perv had their career in their hands, so they went along to get along. I imagine there’s a fair number, and they’ve been just as victimized, but if they come forward they risk their own actions being judged and their success being tainted.

Actually, that reminds me of another theme song I hated: the third-season revamp of the Veronica Mars theme. “We Used to Be Friends” is already a deeply melancholy song; doing a slowed-down bummer remix doesn’t make it more melancholy, it just makes it obvious and annoying.

Several theme songs on the official list are among the best themes on television, but to each his/her own, I guess. My choice would be the theme to Wonderfalls, which introduces a wry, often wickedly biting dramedy with tinkly easy-listening bullshit.

Yeah, what surprises me is how deliberate the Russian influence was, not the mere fact that there was Russian influence, which to me was always apparent. I had assumed much of the Russian misinformation was spreading more organically: if you’re a die-hard Trump supporter and you select for news sources that say “Of…