It’s deceptively worded, because it kinda happened (at least according to Clarke).

From https://ew.com/tv/2019/05/19/game-thrones-finale-interview-emilia-clarke/

“What, what, what, WHAT!?” the actress recalls thinking. “Because it comes out of f—king nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”

“I cried,” Clarke says. “And I went for a walk. I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet. I didn’t come back for five hours. I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?’”

She never says she dislikes the script and makes it clear that she found the story surprising and emotional. Which is true, the story is surprising (not in a good way, but it is surprising) and for her character it is full of emotion.

I agree with basically everything you said.

For the age discrepancies, I think they pushed them so young for so long I couldn’t see them ever as aging up. The “adult” older kids scene just felt so weird.

Why won’t Apple and Google pull it?

Google will pull it as soon as Apple does, they’re a follower not a leader.

Like smothering a loved one with a pillow.

You also get to salute the spaghetti as it lowers itself into the pot.

Agreed and a much better choice than Scarlett Johansson.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen Scarlett do a Mother Gothel type role versus Kathryn Hahn who could adapt Agatha and boom gold.

It is but if Natasha Lyonne wasn’t returning it would have been a whole different show. That being said if Rian Johnson and Peter Dinklage want to make a show together, I’m interested.

It also says “Franchise properties must be considered as a whole and awarded as such.” So would “Star Trek” as a whole just be one nominee?

The article mentions “All in the Family” would qualify, does that include “The Jeffersons” as part of the franchise?

I agree completely with your first half, Poor Things was weird as hell, I liked parts of it, Emma Stone is great, Jesse Plemons is great, return of Yorgos…

But I was a HUGE fan of this film.

The story was a simple one. But this was Plemons vs Stone in the best way. We had a few side characters like the cousin and the police officer, but mostly it was each character trying to convince the other and the audience.

We know Plemons is a crazy conspiracy theorist. We know he can’t be right. But there are moments. Stone tries to be reasonable. She tries every imaginable strategy to convince Plemons he’s wrong.

And of course the twist. He was right. It forces you to reexamine everything Stone said during the film.

That’s why I find it important to look at both critic and user reviews. If they agree, they’re probably right. If they disagree things get interesting.

If critics liked it, but audiences disliked it, it’s probably technically good but boring. If critics disliked it, but audiences liked it, it’s probably kinda bad but exciting.

Both are also affected by social media, especially user scores, so if “the Internet” hates/loves something if can be unfairly inflated/deflated.

New, but not brand new, films also usually have a more accurate score. I enjoyed The Godfather, so I would rate it positively, but if I didn’t like it I’m probably not rating it at all. I saw it X years ago and unless it was absolutely terrible or I have a vivid memory of disliking it, I’m just going to ignore it.

The one in the bathroom or any sink?

I really loved the scene where Joyce was hacking off Vecna’s head

There was a moment a few scenes before where I noticed just how big Joyce’s axe was. It was a Chekhov’s Axe moment for me where I was left wondering just how she was going to use it. I completely agree that Joyce walking up to Vecna and hacking away at his head was just perfect. He’d caused Joyce so much pain I’m glad she got a moment to shine.

Another is, why isn’t everyone under surveillance after they lost El?

I mean they might be. But it’s also 18 months later and they maybe have just have one dude on it. Or standard NSA listening to all their conversations or something.

But honestly the original Hawkins experiment ultimately lead to a huge scandal (end of season 2 I think). Papa dies twice and is replaced at some point, but returns and dies. And of course this season is a whole quarantine and ultimately fails again. So this project has been funded at least three times and ultimately has nothing to show for it? At a certain point you just give up.

I mean it was a bold choice to feature a character from a disliked backdoor pilot episode. The best thing to do would have been to just let everyone forget about it and move on. The decision to bring her back is odd, but if you’ve got a good reason then let’s do it.

But… It doesn’t seem like they did.

Like it’s not your fault at all. You saw the previous episode she was in, the one with the psychic kids. I could blame you if that character was mentioned at all in season 3 or 4, but they weren’t.

This would be like referencing something Superhero Bob did. Remember that speech he gave Will?

I don’t ultimately hate the decision, it was just kinda meh.

I mean that ending with Mike telling the I Believe story and the group putting their binders away was a huge emotional hit. Both because I didn’t want it to end and because I think they gave El a great ending.

We have to sit and wonder if El is really dead for a while, and then Mike has his moment at graduation where he figures out something, but we’re not quite sure what.

It hit hard. It hit good.

I mean she was in season 2. It’s just that she was in the weird one off worst rated episode.

Bringing her back was a bold choice… I’m just don’t think it worked.

Re Russian Demogorgons.

Really this is a season 4 question, but I assumed season 5 would explain it. How did the Demogorgons get to Russia? How did Hopper get to Russia? Did the Russian portal open into Hawkins?

I need Dustin to explain.

I rewatched the first four seasons as a lead up to season five and season five overall really did an excellent job wrapping everything up. I would happily (years from now) rewatch the entire series again.

I think it helps that season 4 is both an excellent season with an excellent finale, but also sets up season 5.

Especially Linda Hamilton.

I think if the military was just that random dude who yelled at people, that might have worked. Even having a Linda Hamilton type that wasn’t Linda Hamilton might have worked. But when you HAVE Linda Hamilton… Do something with her. Give her a storyline.

Re Nancy Wheeler.

During the epilogue I believe all of these young adults have moved on. I believe Johnathan is an awkward filmmaker. I believe Steve coaches children. I believe Robin is just vibin in life. But I don’t believe Nancy.

Nancy started this series as the “preppy” girl and ended it as Ripley/Rambo. Leaving college made sense. She obviously wanted to be a reporter, so jumping right into reporting makes sense. But even as she says she’s happy about it… She isn’t. And maybe that’s part of her story. Maybe her story isn’t over.

I think we needed something more of Nancy. Maybe we see her trying school and trying reporting, but she doesn’t really feel at ease until discussing monsters with her friends, who seemingly have moved on.