It was colorful. The fashions, the toys, the movies, the bands and singers, everything was drenched in bright colors. In retrospect, it’s easy to see it as some kind of fairytale.

Price of the Farrah Fawcett spray went up.

I know lots of upper-middle class kids (his family’s place seemed upper-middle class to me, not rich) who work—their parents insist on it as a character-building experience, or their allowances don’t cover everything they want to buy, or they want it on their college applications.

Cheap land, maybe? If it’s anything like that Midwestern sprawl I grew up in, Hawkins probably just dribbles over into the next indistinguishable town anyway.

They most certainly did.

Google search yielded this:

I would like to introduce you to people who keep building their houses on the sides of hills in Southern California.

Yes, they did. Especially if it was a new mall about to open.

Oh God that photo always makes me cringe.

It's like Amazon in real life, but smaller and more expensive.

But honestly, it is nice to see Steve again.

Clarke will do anything to protect her people. That’s been consistent from the beginning. What’s changed, especially with this time jump, is how she defines “her people”. She is a kru of one, Madi.

The interesting thing is that what made her so effective before is actually counterproductive now. Madi has it right.

“This is my masterpiece” is perhaps the second best line in the show, after the gloriously supervillainish, “You worried about that thing in your chest? ... No, the other one” followed by a knife to the torso.

I don’t know if I agree about the mid-season slump you mention in your review. Seasons 1 and 4 had weak first halves and terrific second halves. Season 2 was excellent start-to-finish, and Season 3 was weak start-to-finish. So far, Season 5 had an amazing start, but has had a somewhat lackluster middle, though far…

Murphy’s proud “this is my masterpiece” after throwing the rock was great, as was him quickly realizing that in fact that was a mistake & then him him having to deal with Emori being furious at him for trying to fix up his fuckup.

Oh god yes about TPM. I remember those fights getting so much praise and it always just struck me as if they were just trying to hit each other’s weapons, not the actual person.

Ridley could have used more saber training, just in general. But, on the other hand, she did move like someone who was more used to fighting with a staff and had just recently picked up a lightsaber. And her sloppiness fit with the character. Kylo Ren had to pick up Rey’s slack in that fight because she was…

would it make you feel better if it’s explained as a “force disarm”? After all, this clearly intentional bit of choreography may seem sloppy, but actually showcases a powerful ability called the “force kick”:

I wasn’t a big fan...the show seems to have forgotten that it was, at one point, one of the funniest shows on TV. Yes, it’s dealing with mental health and other issues in an impressive and interesting way, but I miss the fun of the earlier seasons. 

Fun fact: Cat’s will NOT be ignored.