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?

Re: Linda Hamilton aka Dr Kay & the military.

I was so excited when she popped up on screen. We learned so little about her character and what the military is up to. I expect we’ll learn more when we learn more about Eight and what they were using her for.

Setting up a whole base in the upside down is also crazy. The military also seemed unaware of how best to handle Demogorgons aka fire. They figured it out eventually, but they must have had to deal with them a little bit here and there. Unless Vecna has been making sure they stay away from the military on purpose… In which case why is he ignoring the military?

Re: Return of Eight.

I originally thought the military had captured “Henry” and he was behind the secret door. Maybe they made a deal with him and he was projecting himself as a weak kid/human aka “Henry”.

When they revealed it was Eight behind the door I was flabbergasted. I recently did a rewatch with my partner who was watching for the first time. After Eights original episode I asked what she thought and she confirmed it was a weird out of place episode. I told her not to worry, they’ll never come up again. As the door opened she jokingly said it would be Eight. If I hadn’t just done a rewatch, even with the flashback, I don’t think I would have remembered her.

My gut says it would have been best to just leave that story/character behind and let it just be a forgettable loose end, but she’s back now so I’m trusting the Duffers. Illusion magic powers will be useful, I’m sure of it.

Re: Will getting powers.

I thought that was a great bit of character development. Will has been kicked around for five seasons so far. Tortured, possessed, just had the worst fucking time. Then Vecna just taunts him directly to his face. I broke you. You were a weak child and I broke you.

Going full Vecna on the Demogorgons was just a beautiful scene.

I’m really looking forward to Will overpowering and stealing the Demogorgons from Vecna in the future.

I also had a hunch that someone other than El would get powers this season. Before we learned her story I thought it would be Max. I thought she was choosing to stay in the dream/memory land and gaining/stealing powers while fighting off Vecna. But I’m glad it was Will.

Spectre tried to have a lot of twists, none of which worked.

Spoilers for Spectre going forward. First the film pretended that Waltz wasn’t Blofeld, he was some other character. He looked like Blofeld and acted like Blofeld, but he was someone else entirely. Then the movie happens and guess what… He was Blofeld. Second, they made Blofeld his secret brother for some reason. I think everyone enjoyed Skyfall and it was a fun little peek behind the mysterious “James Bond” figure, but it was also a risk. Skyfall was just so well told that it largely worked. So they tried again, but it was just silly. Remember James? Your long lost secret adoptive brother that you forgot? It was like a soap opera. Finally we’re going to recon all the previous films and say that Blofeld did it all. Maybe if they had told that story better it would have worked, but it just came out silly.

I think if you want to do Blofeld, especially as the Craig serries was full of origin stories, you have to introduce or hint at him much earlier.

He’s on his way up (celebrity/film-wise) so it makes sense that he’s leaving. I’m guessing he hung on to be part of Ariana’s show and making that his last episode.

I wish him well and hope he returns someday to host, I think he’d make a great host.

To be fair I don’t have 100% confidence that self driving is safer than human driving. I just believe that based on the current data, it seems to be. If new data comes out tomorrow, then I’ll look at and evaluate that data.

I also don’t believe that investment is a zero sum game. We should absolutely be investing in both. Both are valuable. You don’t have to only invest in one.

They’re safer than human drivers. Tesla cars absolutely are not. But Waymo cars? They do seem to be.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/12/nx-s1-5634879/why-one-trauma-doctor-sees-self-driving-cars-as-a-public-health-breakthrough

It’s still early. We still need more data. They should be closely watched. But self driving cars do appear to be safer. That’s why they are a great idea. They are making driving and roads better.

I mean the US is heavily car centric. Self driving cars are an attempt to adapt to what the reality of the world currently is.

We should absolutely be doing things to make cars less of a requirement by improving public transit and creating more livable spaces that don’t require cars, that can even be the primary goal, but it won’t eliminate cars completely, and if it does it will take A LOT longer than self driving cars.

Self driving cars are a great idea, but they aren’t a fix everything solution, they just one part of an overall solution.

Quick edit: Also the cars Musk is developing are not even close to what we need. He’s being deliberately obtuse and creating more problems than he’s solving.

That’s already where I’ve been watching it. Clips pop up, give them a watch if they look interesting, otherwise read the highlights.