I did not know this (born in 1986 over here) and I appreciate all that detail. Neat!

I think you're being too harsh on Lucas. I think his skepticism about that is just… what evidence did they have that she COULD channel Will? They had evidence she could pick things up with her mind - but that's not even remotely the same. These are smart kids who are neck-deep in nerdery before we ever meet them - to…

Oh, see, I kind of assumed the DOE thing was a smokescreen in case townspeople DID get close enough to the lab to start asking questions and that the government agency that is ACTUALLY running the lab is totally different and kind of a shadow agency the general public (and most of the government) wouldn't know about.

Yeah, there's no sign of families being there, and based on the work the compound appears to be involved in - I'm going to guess they're specifically hiring Career Guys without much in the way of family or outside attachment.

I think King DOES have a weakness with endings - but it's not insurmountable. I felt like The Shining's ending was pretty strong, for him And Salem's Lot.

It also implies to us that the "other world" changes as this world does, since he's able to access at least some of the things Joyce is doing in the house to try and talk to her. Or that he's psychic/telekinetic. I'm good with either implication.

I think it's not just that he's good at hiding, but rather that Will is a survivor at heart - he adapts quickly to change because he's HAD to, he's been forced to adapt to difficulty after difficulty in life and it's made him a resourceful kid who can find answers inside of himself if he has to.

Yep. The second they have him run for the shed and pull down the rifle, I thought, "That is a kid who holds up under pressure.

Well, keep in mind that the U.S. imported themselves a big ol' pile of Nazi scientists in the postwar period, too. I imagine they'd have less of an issue with the tattoos.

Yeah, exactly. You end up with the kid who gets CPS called on them "NO ONE lets their kids just walk around alone anymore, that MUST be suspicious". Even in the case of said 9 year old, who was literally just escorting their sibling to play at a park less than a mile away.

For the record, I meant that as a joke about my generation, since it's actually something I and my friends (late 80's-born, grew up primarily in the 90's) have joked about before. But it was already starting to fade by the time I entered middle school - you didn't see the roving-gangs-of-8-year-olds-on-bikes that I…

I also enjoyed Nancy kind of calling out the double-standard there when Barb is naming the other girls Steve has been with and just disregarding the "implications".

Agreed on Winona. To say it without spoilers, she has several moments throughout the season that establish a very well-rounded person and you start to understand who she is when she's not being utterly undone by literally Every Parent's Worst Nightmare.

I don't think guys regularly go out in those vans. We see the same guy in the van several times - so I imagine he's 'known' around town as the "electricity repair guy" and is recognized/written off by the general populace because of it.

A whole bunch of them reached adulthood, sat back, and said, "How the hell did I never get kidnapped?!"

I think it's probably more an accident of casting, but I thought it kind of added a bit of realism to it to me. What is everyone spends all their time hunting down "Will" and instead finds this random kid instead?

Yeah, it seems like it's more that El is a very smart person who has just not been interacted with enough. They kind of flirt with a subdued version of the "feral child" - where she has trouble with language simply because she hasn't heard enough of it and it's harder for her brain to kick in "talk now, please" when…

I just kind of read her performance as "her character from Girl, Interrupted grew up poor instead of rich".

Steve grew on me a lot. He struck me as a very "real" teenager - kind of a douchebag when his hormones are in charge, but meaning well, legitimately interested in Nancy, and he feels terrible when his actions have negative consequences and he (albeit belatedly) tries to make up for it.

I think that's part of the archetype Winona Ryder's character inhabits, though - she's "unstable single mom who everyone in town thinks is a little bit needy/emotional, but she fiercely loves her children no matter what and has done/will do anything for them".