Wouldn’t the Enterprise just beam them directly to the brig?

Other than knowing Gary Oldman was in it I went in knowing nothing. I really enjoyed it. It’s a quick watch of a show, so I’d say watch the first episode or two and you’ll know quickly if it’s the show for you.

It’s possibly from people trying to help, but don’t understand AI hallucinations.

For example a Wikipedia article might say, “John Smith spent a year Oxford University before moving to London.[Citation Needed]” So the article already contains information, but lacks proper citation.

Someone comes along and says, "Ah ha! AI can solve this and asks AI, ‘Did John Smith spend a year at Oxford before moving to London, please provide citations.’ and the AI returns, “Yes of course he did according to the book ‘John Smith: Biography of a Man’ ISBN 123456789”

So someone adds that as a citation and now Wikipedia has been improved.

Or… has it? The ISBN 123456789 is invalid. No book could possibly have that number. If the ISBN is invalid, then the book is also likely invalid, and the citation is also invalid.

So the satisfaction was someone who couldn’t previously help Wikipedia, now thinking they can help Wikipedia. At face value that’s a good thing, someone who wants to help Wikipedia. The problem is that they think they’re helping, but they’re actually harming.

The cable is fiber optic, which is to say light. Light don’t care about gold and silver. The highly polished lens bit is probably also bullshit, but at least light cares about lenses.

I have to disagree that the stakes are never raised. Season 1 the big bad is a Demogorgon who is just a scary monster. Then we add multiple Demodogs to the Demogorgon. Then we add an intelligent creature with the Mind Flayer who controls the above creatures, but he still mostly a monster. Then we add an intelligent human who does all of the above, but hunts children. And now finally in the finale it’s all of the above trying to bring the upside down into the real world (technically the plan for season 4, but he won and then “died”, so he’s doing it again but properly.)

So Demogorgons go from the big bad to just bring minions in the current season. Our main characters are fighting off a dozen whereas one used to be impossible.

I can’t think of any terribly done characters either

I would say Johnathan is underwhelming. He had character in season 1, but after that it’s been pretty sparse. I wouldn’t get rid of him because I think it’s interesting in the context of other characters… But in terms of what he wants, I don’t really know.

Based on the junk emails I get the same is true of most places. The number of random emails I get in my birthday month or birthday week from random companies that somehow have my birthday, they just want you to come in.

I don’t know how many seasons are planned, but I assume the past scene was just a small tease. Assuming 4 seasons as a complete guess, would think season 3 will have 2-3 past scenes right after a character learns something, then season 4 would have an episode of parallel scenes or one full past episode.

Ultimately leading to a past scene that says “And hopefully, years from now, the human race can rebuild, having learned to treat Mother Nature more kindly”, jump to Solo people starting a new world and the the audience, knowing why, but the Solo people not, if they can rebuild.

I went into the show knowing nothing and really enjoyed season 1. I thought season 2 had good elements, but didn’t work overall. I’ll probably still watch (or at least start) season 3.

For me season 2 felt like a show trying at adapt a book, if that makes sense. Parts of it didn’t feel believable, but I could convince myself it made sense if someone took time to explain it, but the show didn’t. Or the opposite where a subtle reveal would beat you over the head because instead of slowly hinting, they just very clearly make odd decisions that have to have meaning.

Is saying you have a four season plan the same as forcing a show to last x number of seasons? Four isn’t some arbitrary number, it’s how many seasons the creator of the show thinks it will take. Vince wants to tell a story and he is saying I need four seasons of episodes to do it.

Breaking Bad was just a two season show, Walt either wins or he loses.

Better Call Saul should have just been a one season show, we already know he’s Saul Goodman.

/s

Breaking Bad was interesting because we watched Walt go from a mild mannered high school chemistry teacher to murderous meth kingpin.

Better Call Saul was interesting because we saw a screw up little brother turn into a huge drug lawyer. (It’s more than that, but I’ll keep it light on the details for now.)

And Carol? Look at episode 1 Carol versus this past episode Carol. How will the new episode/finale change her again? There is a lot of ways the story could go, and I’m excited to see what happens.

I admire your bravery to admit such a thing. You’re a fool, but a brave fool.

No six months to a year is probably about right. They’ll have enough data by then to say “most people don’t turn it off” because realistically most people will use the default, which is on.

Twenty years from now Firefox will be in a new controversy that we can’t even begin to guess.

Plus, while I can’t predict when the AI bubble will pop, whatever they add in the next year will be removed within the next five years. AI isn’t like browser tabs, or extensions, stuff that will always be a great idea, it’s just the current fad.

Evil Hank says, “Taste the heat, not the meat!” as he burns you alive with his propane flamethrower. You can’t burn a man alive with charcoal.

I plop on my couch and put a throw pillow on my lap and put the Steam Deck on the pillow. So I’m not really holding it. My arms do still get tired, but only after playing for hours at which point I should probably take a break anyway.

This episode was probably my favorite after the first episode. I could watch more episodes just like this as we grow to understand who these characters are and what they’re up to.

I understand the feedback of the show being slow, because we should have already had this scene and many like it. But I do think the build up is important. Really what it means is I want more episodes. But I’m still happy with what we have.

It’s so funny watching Dustin grow into an rebellious teenager. He really does Eddie proud.

And Holly starting off in a blue dress like Alice in Wonderland, then putting on the Red Riding Hood to venture into the woods. Holly the Heroic!

After the craziness of season 4’s ending I was thinking, “Why would anyone stay in this town that’s split halfway open?”

Patch it up and force them to quarantine! And then the main gang can run secret missions. It was perfect.

Re Holly & Devin.

The show has never been shy about adding new characters, and technically Holly isn’t new, but her being an actual character had been great this season. It’s given Mike a chance to be a big brother. It’s given the whole Wheeler family a chance to shine. Her story adds a fun mystery that syncs up so well. It’s sort of like with Erica, starts as the (annoying) little sister, jumps right into the group proper.

And Devin. Little shit turned hero. Tell all the Whatsit kids to remain calm and then giving them a whack when it’s their turn to leave. Seeing a Demogorgon really changes someone.

Re Max.

When we first saw Max still in a coma I couldn’t figure out how they were going to use that plot line. When Holly is dancing around Henry’s perfect house and someone knocked on the door I knew it had to be Max. Mostly because she was the only hero unaccounted for.

I figured maybe Vecna had tried to convince her that she was living in a perfect world, but Max being both older and having seen his tricks, wasn’t convinced and was hiding. Her being older also explained why Vecna wanted younger kids. (Which is sorta true as Vecna confirms later on, children are easier to control/break.)

However a line I did find interesting is that Max says she “died” and went nowhere, until one day she woke up in a memory, Vecna’s origin memory, the day he began his change from Henry to Vecna.

Is Max’s life tied directly to Vecna? If Vecna dies, will Max die?