Erica is amazing. I love that even though her brother is older, taller, and undoubtedly stronger than her, she manages to maintain the upper hand—and gets to put as much syrup on her pancakes as she wants, no matter what mom says.

I would like more Mr. Clarke in season 3, please and thank you.

I dispute the statement that Lucas’s dad is hen-pecked. His remark that “Your mother’s never wrong” wasn’t a meek statement of deference; rather, it was a warm, joking acknowledgment that when you are trying to make amends with someone, that isn’t the time to point out their fuck-ups. Of all the characters, I think…

I was so disappointed when Mike stopped the others from showing him Dart, and that Mr. Clarke didn’t press them when they were so obviously rattled. I definitely want him brought into their circle of trust next season.

Agreed, Lucas’s dad seemed like he had a great, if a bit routine, relationship with Lucas’s mother. And yeah, Mr. Clarke is the man, I wish he’d had a larger role this season.

Lucas’s dad is awesome. That scene where he gave Lucas girl advice seemed pretty sweet and innocuous to me. More of a “we’ve been married and have two kids and still love one another in a special way” type scenario not a “hen-pecked” one, in my opinion. Also, giving the “your mother’s always right” type speech over a…

Nancy dancing with Dustin was wonderful. I am getting misty just thinking about it. Loved her having to tell him to get a little closer ... okay and then a little closer, still ... and telling him that he was her favorite of her brother’s friends & his adorable happy smile in response. And of course the immediate…

My heart was in danger of breaking on behalf of Dustin, but Nancy to the rescue. Agree that they’re the emotion of the scene and the actors played it so well. (The musical cues always help).

It makes sense to me. If someone steps on your foot and you turn to them like “WTF?” and then they say sorry or that it was an accident, don’t you feel better? It didn’t hurt less, but it makes you feel safer and that someone isn’t intentionally hurting you. Intent is so much of how we react to other people’s…

One of my favorite jokes is, “Where does a mansplainer get his water? From a well, actually.”

Sending megahugs. It took me the better part of a year to really believe my therapist when she told me that having consensual sex with my rapist even after he raped me was “common and normal,” but I still can’t quite shake the shame I feel about it. I know I was in denial about the emotional aspects of the rape, I…

I had consensual sex with my rapist the night after he raped me. I was dating him at the time, and wanted to make it all okay. Somehow, in my mind, having consensual sex would retroactively “fix” the assault. It didn’t, and he dumped me via text message the next morning. I am super open about my rape, but very few…

I haven’t thought about this in so long.

Too Sad Too Serious

You should definitely check out Beyond Stranger Things. Jim Rash is a much more charming aftershow host than Chris Hardwick. Definitely don’t do it before finishing though, they basically start out the show with massive season spoilers.

Yeah, he was kinda useless. (Minor, vague spoilers ahead.)

I like Max. I liked her wavering on whether the baby demogorgons were just dogs or not until getting to see one up close. She had developed enough as a strong, smart, tough-minded character that her scream in that scene seemed fair enough & did not make her seem weak.

“Hey, dickheads... how come the only one helping me out is this random girl?”

To be fair, a teacher who enjoys bringing science to young kids is the scariest thing Betsy could imagine.

One of the nice things about last season is that it felt like they had the typical 80s bully antagonist in Steven and then undercut it in the best way. Not sure why they wrote Billy to just double down on what they seemed to be smarter than.