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Revisiting our first viewing of The Mandalorian S01E01

A look back at our reactions to Season 1 episodes as the new season of The Mandalorian begins.

November 24, 2019

The Mandalorian: Chapter 1 recap by K (includes detailed spoilers)

A Mandalorian bounty hunter tracks a target for a well-paying client.

Directed by Dave Filoni

Written by Jon Favreau

Music by Ludwig Gӧransson

Airdate: Nov 12, 2019

As I write this, I have watched the first three episodes of The Mandalorian three times now. I’m hooked. I did not expect to be. I expected to like it well enough — but not to love it.

I’m a Star Wars fan for *cough* many years, since childhood. Adore the original trilogy, intrigued yet annoyed by the prequels, less than wow’ed by the final trilogy. I like Rogue One. I also liked Solo, although I get that I’m one of maybe three people in that camp. I have not watched Clone Wars. So this is my frame of reference.

Boba Fett is perhaps my favorite character. He is one of the best characters in the franchise, and I will die on that hill. You know next to nothing about him, and that adds to his mystique. I read Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales of Jabba’s Palace back in the day, and “Last Man Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett” and his showdown with Han Solo will always be the quintessential Boba Fett/Mandalorian story for me, canon or not. I was enraged when they changed his voice in the original trilogy to Jango’s (like he couldn’t just be disguising his voice??).

For me, Boba Fett is the original Mandalorian against whom all others will be measured. I have spoken.

All this to say, my standards were high. My expectations for The Mandalorian in particular would have been even higher, if I wasn’t somewhat disappointed by the final trilogy of films. And this was the first live action Star Wars television series, so it’s uncharted territory.

I also managed not to be spoiled at all for this show going in, which was how I like it. Everything came to me fresh as I watched.

From the establishing shot, the cinematography is like the original series movies. Check. You feel immediately immersed in the Star Wars universe. Check. It’s a snowy ice world, like Hoth but greyer and flatter in terrain.

The titular Mandalorian, who is all but certainly not Boba Fett, as he looks a bit different in his armor (and the show is set 5 years or so after Return of the Jedi, which you don’t know yet in the show itself but meaning Boba Fett should be dead by now, or at least dying in the Sarlacc’s belly), looks good. Same imposing figure, same mysterious-yet-badass immediate impression in his imposing armor and weaponry. Can he pull it off? I mean that for the actor as much as the character. I know nothing about which actor is playing him (Pedro Pascal, from Game of Thrones, I learn later). I’ve remained completely unspoiled.

He’s holding a tracking device. So, also a bounty hunter. Check.

He’s heading for an establishment, a darkened bar, or saloon, or cantina. Inwardly I eyeroll a little. Another cantina?

From inside the bar we see the round spiral blast door opens from the middle outward and the Mandalorian is darkly silhouetted against the icy white exterior landscape.

Nice, iconic character-establishing shot. I am interested.

Simultaneously, the music starts. A soft, repetitive, lulling theme of eight wind notes vaguely Native American in tone that we will come to know quite well. For now, it adds a touch of mystery and suspense. The lulling, almost hypnotic aspect of the music gives the sense this is all just routine, and the Mandalorian’s short, almost imperceptible shake of the head as an insult is hurled at him seems to add to this effect.

Two patrons of the bar, a couple of aliens, have been roughing up a meek, chubby merman guy, some kind of aquatic creature. He’s a new species so that’s interesting. They are bullies, who threatened to cut off his glands, so the violent type, and it feels like Mos Eisley or worse. Inwardly I eyeroll again because we’ve seen this before in the original Star Wars film, A New Hope. Don’t they have any new ideas?

The Star Wars universe has at least one entire galaxy to play with. Yes, establish place as the Star Wars universe with familiar things. But within that we don’t need to keep seeing so many of the same things we have seen before. Give us some easter eggs because we’re fans, but give us new things to love, too. It’s a balance, and I personally want more new than repeat. One of my main gripes with the final trilogy is that it’s too much of the same, just with new characters who aren’t fleshed out and developed enough for me to care about them. But that’s another review.

So it’s a cantina, and they want Star Wars fans who are perhaps not as well versed as me (like say, my sister) to be oriented. Fine, I’ll be patient. I don’t doubt a bounty hunter will frequently find himself in such places.

All the patrons’ eyes are on the Mandalorian as he enters and stands at the bar counter. If you haven’t started to feel vaguely Western elements yet, they start to come now. He’s got his back to the rest of the bar, waiting. Almost baiting. The bullies immediately shift focus leaving the merman alone to go pick on him instead. It’s a mistake and everyone knows it. But they must test our hero. And I too, as if just another patron at this cantina, want to see them test him. I’m curious.

The loud one calls him “Mando!” and we have something of a name to call him for now. But it might be an insult and I’m not quite sure yet.

They seem interested in his armor — Beskar Steel — and this is something I personally have not heard of before. I’m interested.

A bit of Mandalorian taunting and a quick fight later, one of the bullies who tried to escape the bar is pulled into the blast door entryway as the Mandalorian’s grappling hook yanks him halfway back inside, and closes it, severing him in half. I let out a bitter laugh. It wouldn’t be Star Wars without some bully losing a body part in a bar fight, right? Check. And the Mandalorian proved himself badass, so far.

He goes over to the merman, who first just tries to thank him, then bribe him with credits and a drink. The stoic, imposing Mandalorian simply places a disc on the table in front of him, and immediately a holographic image pops up showing his face and name in Basic.

“Is that a bounty puck?” the merman asks. A device that’s new to me, perhaps not to others. Further interested. The weak man tries bargaining some more.

The Mandalorian brings a hand to his blaster and speaks for the first time.

“I can bring you in hot, or I can bring you in cold.”

Cut to opening title credits.

Perfect first line.

The voice itself doesn’t immediately wow me. It’s not as grizzled as Fett’s, it’s younger and somehow... unseasoned? I’m not sure. But it’s not Jango’s voice, so I’m willing to accept it. And again I think, why couldn’t Boba Fett have kept his original Jeremy Bulloch voice?

Title credits. Nice font. The drum beat theme music that also sounds vaguely Western. I like it.

Then we are back outside on the ice world, walking back up the path where we first saw the Mandalorian. He’s got the merman in handcuffs.

“I need passage, to the yards.”

An Ortollan, a species from the original series, plays a little flute and a land speeder comes up piloted by a droid.

“No droids.”

I find it interesting that our Mandalorian would prefer a living creature to a machine as a programmed droid should be more reliable but perhaps machines can be remote controlled, or else there’s a story there that I really want to hear.

The Ortolan plays his flute again and the next speeder comes up, a red one. It's considerably more broken down than the previous one, driven by an older guy in a hooded coat. “Where to?”

They pull up to a silver-colored ship of some kind, bigger than the Slave IV I think. Kind of clunky, really, more like a C-130 cargo transport than an F-16 fighter jet — not what you’d expect to be necessary for a bounty hunter to make quick getaways. Merman agrees with me.

“You’re kidding me, right? I’ll hire us a Livery Cruiser. I’ll pay for it. Just trying to make it pleasant.”

The speeder pilot meanwhile is scanning the horizon anxiously and demands payment. The Mando pays him. “I’d stay off the ice if I were you.” Something’s gonna attack, and probably from beneath the ice. Can’t wait.

Merman is worried and watches the speeder depart into the distance as the Mando readies the ship.

Something launches up from under the ice and consumes the speeder, and a snakelike body with dragon-like spinal plates disappears beneath it again. Merman freaks out and demands they hurry as the ice cracks in their direction.

The Mando yanks him out of the way just in time for a giant walrus-tusked creature with a long body launches out next to the ship. It catches part of the ship’s landing gear in its mouth as they try to take off and there’s a familiar sound effect like the Falcon losing power.

The Mandalorian grabs his tuning-fork weapon from outside the cabin doors (where it stays when it’s not on his back) and heads out to fight. The creature has one of the landing gear legs in its mouth as the music swells very tribal. One zap from the tuning fork weapon and the creature is electrified, immediately lets go, and they escape.

The ship is more impressive in air than on the ground as two enormous jets fire. It seems heavy though. I don’t see any weapons except two forward cannons of some kind, but of course there is probably ample hidden weaponry. Can’t wait.

Once in space the merman starts bargaining and conversing but the Mandalorian is silent, having none of it.

“I like your ship,” the merman says, now trying to butter him up. “She’s classic. Razor Crest, am I right? Pre-Empire?”

So it’s an older ship. The cockpit, entryway and ramp, halls and hull are quite wide and roomy. It makes sense that a bounty hunter needs room to carry cargo. I suppose some quarry may be quite large depending on species. I’d like to see him have to capture something large. I wonder if he has a larger ship because he’s young, and can’t yet afford something speedier. Or perhaps he loves it, despite being old and possibly rickety, like Han loved the Falcon. It doesn’t look like it’s been through the wars, though, so that’s a mystery. Can’t wait to learn more about the ship.

Merman goes below on the pretense of having to use the evacuation tube. There’s some funny toilet humor here. There’s no restroom, the evac tube is in the middle of the floor against a wall--kind of like a New York City basement apartment I viewed once. To the right of the evac tube is a wall with what looks like a palette inside -- I guess that’s where the Mandalorian sleeps? It’s hard to tell.

Merman keeps exploring as he talks. Finds a cache of weapons but surprisingly just closes it again. And then he finds the other bounties.

This actually pissed me off on first viewing. The Mandalorian has several other quarry below deck--all encased in carbonite. I did a massive eyeroll here. Boba Fett (really, Vader) encased Han in carbonite as a matter of convenience at the location they were at in Cloud City. It was a test to see if he could transport Luke that way to the Emperor--IF he survived. But it’s NOT like it was the preferred mode of choice for bounty hunters to transport their quarry. So why would this Mandalorian just happen to have not just bounties in carbon freeze on his ship but has a carbon freezing /chamber/ on the ship, as he shoves the merman into it.

This really annoyed me until a friend suggested maybe the other hunters heard about Fett and Han at Jabba’s Palace and it became a thing once they knew it wouldn’t kill the bounty. After some thought I have accepted this idea, even though it seems quick if this is only set 5 years after Jedi. Still, the other Mandalorians would have been among the first to know, and it’s a more practical mode of transport allowing low risk of escape and not having to address your quarry’s various biological needs. Also easily stackable while protecting them. So okay, I’ve come to accept it.

Mando arrives at a spaceport in a semi-large desert city, that actually looks a lot like Tatooine--both what we’ve seen from the original trilogy and the prequels. They never actually state where we are at any of these locations, but this is my theory. There’s a droid like Red, there are people walking around dressed like Tatooine inhabitants. More evidence comes later in the series.

He enters another drinking establishment that seems to be the meeting place for his contact. The feel is very much like the bar where Han shot Greedo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was even the same one years later. Aliens of all types, again, watching him closely.

He meets his contact and returns the fobs. Payment is arranged. The Mandalorian says the Empire is gone, and he accepts Calamari flan at half than Imperial credits at full payment.

The question of the next job comes up. Guild rates are high. The Mando wants the highest. 5,000 doesn’t cover fuel these days.

The contact says “Well, there is one job.” No puck. Face to face, direct commission. Pays well. “Underworld?” No codes. The Mandalorian accepts the chip.

More of the city. Goes to a back-alley establishment. Arrives at a door with a TT-8L/Y7 gatekeeper droid, like at Jabba’s Palace. Inside is a walking garbage-can droid like in the Jawa’s ship. I take this as more evidence we are on Tatooine, though of course these items could be sold throughout the galaxy.

Inside there are four Stormtroopers. An older man with an Imperial pendant who is clearly the leader and client. “Greef Carga said you were coming.” So that’s the Mando’s contact back at the bar. “He said you were the best in the parsec.” Haha, at least we are using parsec correctly now.

A side door opens, which startles the Mandalorian and he draws his tuning fork weapon (a modified amban phase-pulse blaster rifle). The four Stormtroopers draw also. A younger man with glasses comes in, shielding his face, apologizing profusely. The client introduces him as Doctor Pershing. A scientist. The Mandalorian still has weapons drawn in both hands, facing off with the Stormtroopers. “We have you four to one.” “I like those odds,” he responds. “He also said you were expensive. Very expensive.”

All calms down and the client invites him to sit. He unfolds a block of beskar steel as down payment. He has more upon delivery of the asset -- alive. Proof of termination is also acceptable for a lower fee. The Doctor protests.

No puck. Tracking fob, age, and last known positional data only. The quarry is 50 years old.

“It is good to return the beskar back to the Mandalorians. It is good to restore the natural order of things after so much disarray, don’t you agree?”

The Mandalorian pauses here and almost imperceptibly again cocks his head. He touched a nerve. Amazing how an actor can still convey so much behind a helmet. I still don’t know this actor but he’s pulling it off.

More of the city. Whatever that laughing thing was at Jabba’s feet, two of his species are roasting on a spit. One more is in a cage. (It’s a Kowakian monkey-lizard like Salacious Crumb. I had to look that up.)

The Mandalorian ducks in behind a curtain. Down some steps. Strings here that sound very Star Wars. A long hall with other Mandalorians about. Some have the helmet antenna like Fett. Some are small, running. Children.

At the end of the hall over the archway is a Mandalorian skull emblem. Within is a person working at a forge, hammering metal and heating it over a ring of open gas flames like Bunsen burners. The blacksmith, which IMDB tells me is Armorer, comes forward and sits down with our Mandalorian. There is fur around the collar, the helmet is different, golden with two small horns, and looks more like a gladiator helmet. From the way she moves, and especially once she speaks, this is a woman. I am intrigued, since I have not seen a female Mandalorian before. They nod respectfully to one another. The Mando produces his payment: the Calamari flan--and then, the bar of Beskar steel, marked with an Imperial insignia at one corner. She is visibly surprised and impressed.

“This was gathered in the Great Purge. It is good it is back with the tribe. A pauldron is in order. Has your signet been revealed?”

“Not yet.”

“Soon.”

A pause here to discuss armor. Any show about Mandalorians was going to have certain elements. Ships, weapons, lore, armor.

Mandalorian armor is famous in the Star Wars universe. Beskar steel, the material it is made of, is strong, and can withstand almost anything, yet very light, rather like mithril in the Lord of the Rings universe. It would seem the Great Purge by the Empire included not just Jedi but Mandalorians, and their armor was melted into bars, as currency or for transport. (This is speculation on my part.) And that a goal of the Mandalorians is to reclaim as much beskar as possible, and reforge it back into Mandalorian armor.

The blacksmith does just this and makes him a pauldron, or shoulder cover, from the bar of beskar. She tells him this is extremely generous and the excess will sponsor many foundlings.

“That’s good,” he responds. “I was once a foundling.”

“I know.”

A bit more of our hero’s background.

Her forge is a combination of computerized part designs and heavy iron machinery, like a 3-D printer on steroids. And as it bangs out the new pauldron each loud clang of metal on metal shows us a brief flashback of our Mandalorian’s memories. A battle with fire and sparks all around. A woman in dark red robe carrying a boy also in dark red robe. He is terrified. Presumably this is our hero. She is carrying him, he’s maybe 8-10 years old. A man is with her, her husband? People getting shot--massacred--all around them as they run. Explosions. She opens an underground container of some sort, deposits the boy. He has brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. He reaches for her as the doors close. And then the pauldron is completed; the flashbacks stop.

Having viewed 3 episodes already, this becomes a pattern and I love this device. You get a little more of his backstory with each piece of armor, with each clang of the forge. It’s perfect. It makes sense that in these moments as he waits in this safe place, he might slip into memories. Or perhaps they come unbidden at this time for some reason. There’s also a nice theme of memories being buried beneath his armor, along with his emotions. And only when there’s a chink in the armor, does it show through.

The pauldron goes on, shiny and new, and for the first time I notice the wipes. A center point wipe expanding outward, with fuzzy borders, and so very Star Wars that it makes you smile.

He heads to another planet that looks from space like Tatooine. If we weren’t on Tatooine before, we might be now. We are at least in the vicinity. It’s a desert planet with jagged sandstone cliffs all around. He lands his shiny ship, and gets out with the fob. He looks through his turning-fork weapon’s scope, and spots two distant creatures I can only describe as land grouper with legs and long tails. Suddenly he is attacked by one, sinking its teeth into his arm before he can get a shot off, and then a second, and though he fights with flamethrower and even fists, it looks like we will lose our hero until someone shoots them with taser darts.

It appears our hero is not wounded, but his arm pieces are damaged.

A small man with a piglike face and a kind, wise voice and goggles on his head. An ugnaught. Remember them from the original trilogy? IMDB tells me his name is Kuill, although this is never actually said in the episode, so I will refer to him as the ugnaught.

I suspect anonymity is a running theme in this show, as part of the Western genre. So far we’ve heard almost no character names (which makes writing reviews a little difficult). I’m wondering if there’s any significance to the ones we do know, vs. the ones we don’t.

“You are a bounty hunter. I will help you. I have spoken.” This last part is his trademark line, as we’ll see. I love it.

We go to what looks like a wind or moisture farm. There is, from what I can see, only one sun.

The ugnaught tells the Mandalorian that others have come looking and died. He will show him the way for half of the blurg they caught. Mando will have to learn how to ride them to pass to the compound.

On the first few attempts the blurg throws him. Apparently it’s a female; the males are all eaten during mating. (Thanks for that tidbit, Kuiil.) He gets thrown again and loses patience, asking for a speeder.

The ugnaught challenges him.

“You are a Mandalorian. Your ancestors rode the great mythosaur. Surely you can ride this young blurg.”

Our hero is challenged; the words touched him. He approaches the blurg like a wild horse that needs breaking in, and the Western theme is back, even in the music. Eventually he succeeds, a triumphant moment that impresses the ugnaught, and they’re off across the landscape full of ravines that only the blurg can jump, apparently. The theme music swells until they arrive at a cliff where they can spy on the encampment. This is where the bounty hunter’s quarry is.

Mando tries to pay him off. Ugnaught reveals his motive: it’s been an endless stream of warriors trying to get this quarry, breaking the peace. He’s read the stories about Mandalorians and believes ours can make quick work of it and bring peace back to his land.

Our boy does some recon with a hand telescope and the place is swarming. Then he spots a bounty droid, and groans. The droid is just walking right in, and demands the asset be produced.

The bounty droid looks like IG-88 from The Empire Strikes Back and again, for a moment, I almost eye rolled because really, can’t we see something new? All bounty droids look the same? But whereas IG-88 just stood there, this one moves, and the way he moves is COOL. Although humanoid in appearance like 3PO (head, two arms, two legs), unlike 3PO he appears to operate around a central pole or spine, allowing his parts to rotate 360 degrees. This includes his head, his eyes, his arms and therefore weapons, and his waist/hips. It gives him an amazing advantage as he can just keep spinning and shooting. The way he steps over a body is awesome. He’s also really skinny and thus hard to hit. Whole new respect for the IG series.

This IG unit is also funny, and his repartee with our Mandalorian is instant comedic chemistry. There’s a fantastic shootout, where they team up, and as they are outnumbered, the bounty droid seeing no way out, keeps trying to self-destruct. “Do not self destruct!” our Mando keeps shouting at him, and after a very badass moment with an [ion machine gun], by the end they win, and everyone in the yard lies dead. Mando helps him up, saying “You’re not so bad for a droid,” and the droid replies likewise. I saw a sidekick in the making. They shoot their way inside, kill a few more people until there’s no one left, and determine the quarry is just before them in the corner.

Except there is no one there, just a white ball looking thing with a net over it that the fobs indicate is the target.

They remove the net, and open the ball, which is really more egg-shaped.

And then it opens, it looks more like a bassinet with a blanket inside.

“Wait--” says Mando. “They said 50 years old.”

“Species age differently,” replies the IG unit. And we get our first glimpse over the top of the blanket as he says “Perhaps it could live many centuries. Sadly, we’ll never know.” And as he’s speaking, a little head peeks over the blanket.

Oh. My. God. And in this one moment, I am glued to this show forever.

It’s a baby Yoda.

Except it isn’t Yoda, because Yoda’s dead. But we don’t know Yoda’s species name, and we don’t know the baby’s given name, so we will call it what the internet has dubbed it in the meantime: Baby Yoda.

And this moment, above all, is the biggest reason I am so glad I wasn’t spoiled.

Baby Yoda is the most adorable, most precious, most endearing thing you have ever seen. And in a franchise that has at times been criticized for its more saccharine “cute” creatures that appeal to young children (Ewoks, anyone?), this is one we can all get behind.

Baby Yoda is CUTE. <3

Baby Yoda is everything.

Remember my aversion to anything we’ve seen already? I NO LONGER CARE. Looking at those huge brown eyes and long floppy ears, this doesn’t even cross my mind.

I would give my life for Baby Yoda. I know this all in one second.

And the IG unit is about to kill it.

Apparently our Mando feels something similar.

“Wait,” he says, and reaching out he lowers the IG unit’s weapon. “We’ll bring it in alive.”

“The commission was quite specific. The asset was to be terminated.” The IG unit raises his blaster again, aimed squarely at the crib.

The camera closes in on the Mandalorian’s helmet, fixed on the bassinet, and there is a red blaster flash from his right, reflected in the helmet. The Mando’s head never moves.

But the IG unit falls to the floor, shot in the head. Sizzling. He’s toast.

Our guy shot him without even looking. He’s fixated on Baby Yoda, as we all are. He puts his own blaster away, and tilts his head.

The camera cuts to a gorgeous profile, backlit from a doorway. The Mandalorian stands before the crib, which is now floating in the air at waist height. He raises a finger towards the crib, as a tiny finger comes up from inside it. They don’t quite meet.

End credits.

End credits for this show are a series of beautiful concept drawings and if you know Star Wars at all, these are some stunning art. The whole theme also plays over the end credits and it is hauntingly beautiful. Ludwig Gӧransson’s score is perfect.

Thoughts.

Themes: Space western. Anonymity. (Even the ship still has no name, just a model.) Foundlings. Characters that seem to have no family, but instead bond in other social ways (covert/religion, bounty hunter guild/profession). Remnants. Loss.

I LOVE the concept art at the end. Fans love this concept art, and I have a couple of books of it myself. Nice way to incorporate it into the series. You can see how the original concept and final product differ (very little, in most cases) and a few intriguing pieces that were either filmed but cut from the final edit or never filmed. I love how they add the 3-D effect to some of the drawings, and I still don’t know how Hollywood achieves that.

Concept art round-up:

Mando and Baby Yoda’s ET moment

Some intriguing glow-dice game between two Mandalorians? I need to know more about this.

Mando firing a blaster

Mando entering a cantina

Mando and Kuiil on Blurrback

Mando and IG-11 taking cover during battle

Mando and Kuiil entering Kuiil’s home

Mando walking on the icescape with his back facing the camera

Mando battling the ice creature while hanging out of the Razor Crest

Mando and IG-11 standing shoulder to shoulder

Mando on Blurrgback

Taika Waititi is amazing as the IG unit bounty droid. Never would have guessed it was him.

Werner Herzog is perfect as The Client, I love his voice, and the article/video about him crying over Baby Yoda.

This show is going to get me writing fanfic again, dammit.

*****

The Mandalorian: Chapter 1 recap by K (includes detailed spoilers)

A Mandalorian bounty hunter tracks a target for a well-paying client.

Directed by Dave Filoni

Written by Jon Favreau

Music by Ludwig Gӧransson Airdate: Nov 12, 2019

Run Time: 40m

Greef Karga (Carl Weathers)

The Client (Werner Herzog)

Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi)

Kuiil (Nick Nolte, voice)

IG-11 (Taika Waititi, voice; Rio Hackford, performance artist)

Mythrol (Horatio Sanz)

Alpha Trawler (Tait Fletcher)

Beta Trawler (Ryan Watson)

Quarren Trawler (Dmitrious Bistrevsky)

Armorer (Emily Swallow)

#the mandalorian #the mandalorion season 1 recap #disneyplusfan #tha mandalorion s01e01 #star wars

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goldkirk · 4 years

Note

You know virus/disease knowledge, right? I mean I'm assuming because of your Ebola, and Smallpox posts. So quick bit of background, I live in Europe and during January and February, the colds/typical winter virus strains that have been going around seem to be much worse. They're lasting longer than a week and sometimes up to a month, they're making people way more fatigued and bunged up and completely knocking them flat. Do you have any idea why this is happening this year?

Hey anon!!! Sorry it’s taken me a bit, work ran overtime today and I basically scarfed down leftovers and laid on the couch staring at the ceiling for an hour once I got home until I felt like a human person again. Now my brain is back in business and ready to give you an answer, which mostly boils down to yes, and also it’s complicated.

So the cold and flu season is, of course, seasonal. Happens every year, same basic time. The viruses circulate all year, but spike DRAMATICALLY in the winter months. The strains are a little different every year, and sometimes even month to month, because of the high mutation rate of cold and flu viruses. It’s why we can pretty much never, ever achieve the dream of having one permanent vaccine for all flus, or whatever.

So, quick recap on colds and flus. “Colds” can be caused by multiple types of viruses. Often Rhinoviruses, but you know how everyone in the world is like, losing their shit over the new coronavirus right now? Like it’s the end times? Well. There are officially seven coronaviruses that we know can make humans sick. One causes SARS, one causes MERS—both of those are serious respiratory illnesses usually. One is the new one, which is more like them than a cold, but not SUPER worrying unless you’re already more at risk (old, a little kid, immunocompromised, etc.). And the other four? All they do is cause colds. You catch one, you get sniffly and tired and under the weather for a week or so, and you’re fine.

“Flus” often include stomach flus, which are caused by gastroenteritis and not actually a flu at all, so we’re going to ignore that one. The “flu”, the tru flu, is always caused by one of many, many influenza viruses. There are so many. They sometimes make a cross-species jump to humans from an animal like a bird or a pig. Hence, the “bird flu” pandemic and the “swine flu” scare in recent(ish) years. Some flu strains are worse than others. But at a MINIMUM, flus, how do I say it...ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SUCK. Even a mild flu makes you feel MISERABLE. You have no energy, you’re congested, everything aches desperately, you’re flat in bed for at least a few days straight, and your energy is absolutely tanked for at LEAST a week. Often longer than that. A cold, you can function through and just kind of be miserable. The flu drop kicks you straight out of daily life within hours, usually, and doesn’t let up until it’s curb-stomped you so hard that you’re feeling the fatigue for multiple days to weeks.

So in a cold or flu season, it can seem like the viruses going around are more severe than usual even if they aren’t really if in that particular season there are more people catching the flu than usual. So that’s option one.

I’m not sure where you are exactly in Europe, but different countries/regions have slightly different flu seasons because geographic spread affects the main viruses circulating in an area.

THAT BEING SAID, this 2019-2020 flu season DOES have global constants, and the main one is that the two main flu viruses of the season across all of Europe have, thus far, been H1N1 and H2N3. Which sucks. It’s good news, because they were both included in the flu vaccine this year. But it’s bad news, because those are some of the lousier strains. Let’s break it down really quick! This should help.

Types of influenza:

All influenza viruses are respiratory viruses. There are three types of flu viruses:

Influenza A

Influenza B

Influenza C

Influenza C doesn’t matter for our purposes, because those strains are much milder and not really seasonal. Influenza A and B viruses are where it’s at!!! They’re the ones wreaking havoc on humans during flu season every year, and BOY are some of them doozies. Type A viruses are mostly in humans, but sometimes in animals (especially birds). Type B viruses are humans all the way. And Type A viruses are the worst. THEY’RE the ones that get classified by subtype and cause pandemics and all that jazz. So they’re the ones we really worry about, because all it technically takes is ONE mutation at the right spot at the right time for us to have a global flu pandemic again like in the early 1900s and there’s literally no way to predict when the next one will happen.

The annual flu vaccine generally contains at least three flu vaccines, two type A (H1N1 and H3N2) and one type B. Sometimes it now includes a second type B strain. But the important ones are H1N1 and H3N2. Those are lousy. You don’t want to catch them. And most years, they’re going around pretty cheerfully, infecting tons of people. While H1N1 is pretty commonly known among the general population, it’s actually H3N2 that gives doctors much more of a headache during the years it circulates heavily, because it has a more rapid mutation rate, is harder to keep on top of, is much harder to TEST for, since it stopped binding to blood cells used in the testing, and generally means you’re going to have a more severe flu season.

It’s especially bad for adults over the age of 50, but it’s still bad for everyone else. And because of its high mutation rate and the difficulties scientists have getting it to grow in egg cultures for vaccines, the vaccine for H3N2 in a given year is generally 30-40-something-percent effective, which is, uh, definitely not even 50. It’s the weak link in the flu vaccine. But still better than nothing!

So in a given area, if you have some Influenza A viruses circulating, and a couple Influenza B viruses circulating, people are going to get more severely sick from the A ones. And of the A ones, people are going to get more sick from bird flus (like the H5 subtype, for example) and H3N2 and H1N1. This year, in Europe, the MAJORITY of areas have seen either mostly Influenza A dominance or a pretty equal balance between Influenza A and B viruses. And most places are seeing much more of the H1N1 and H3N2 strains than the other Influenza A subtypes. So if people were getting more colds in previous years and fewer flus, or if they were catching mostly type B flus before, where you are, that would make this season easily feel (and be!!!!) more severe.

There’s a really handy dandy website that gives weekly visual summaries of the flu season across Europe, broken down by virus type and country and everything, and I love it, and you can check it out here: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/seasonal-influenza/surveillance-and-disease-data/flu-news-europe

Luckily, the flu season peaks in January and February, so unless a freak pandemic happens in the next week or so, it’s going to get better from here. I hope you stay safe and healthy this winter! And I hope this was able to help answer your question! There’s not really a single simple answer, it more depends on where you live, which strains are going around, and how much the viruses have mutated since they started manufacturing this year’s flu vaccines, because if the vaccine gets too far out of date after some major mutations, the effectiveness goes down a LOT and more people get more sick than they would have before.

Hope this helped!!!! Feel free to ask me more questions if you need or want to! :)

#influenza #katie explains things #anonymous #katie answers asks #science

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humansoulsarg · 4 years

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Recap - artifact555 video solve

In the early days of this blog, some of the solves weren’t documented as cleanly in one post as has become the pattern. In reviewing the solutions to Pangent’s publicly available videos, it was discovered that a few of them could use a newly compiled summary solve post. So here goes the first of those, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVWfnqiuVXk Binary title: artifact555 Video begins with a warning about flashing images, and whoo boy, those happen. There’s lots of shots of the cube, glitching in colors and flashing, and interspersed with possible flashes of Lottie, and some more interesting effects. The sound is also ‘interesting’. The cube is alive. There doesn’t appear to be any coded content in the video, but the description has some things worth investigating. almost-binary in the description, replace the ‘O’s and 'C’s with '0’s and '1’s to get actual binary for: xV_OQ4CQqE8

This is a YouTube ID: https://youtu.be/xV_OQ4CQqE8 - A video with binary title 'theline’, showing Lottie 'speaking’ but the audio sounds computer-generated and states:

There are some things we as a species weren’t meant to know

This video also contains some pastebin links in the description, more on those later.

Back to the text in the description of 'artifact555’:

imgur bAqfpxr

This is theoriginal MSPA ad which was the trailhead for this ARG imgur jbUD1v0

This is a nonogram, popular in those days. Can be solved manually or with tools like http://a.teall.info/nonogram/

Interpret the squares as binary:

011010110111101001110110 011000110110011101110001 011010000110001001110111 011110010111100101110101 011101000101011001101011 011000100110111001100010 011011010110101101110011 011001110111010101100011 011101100110110101101001 011011010110111101111001 011011010111001001100111 011110100111001101110001 011011000110111001100111 011001111111111111111111 kzvcgqhbwyyutVkbnbmksgucvmimoymrgzsqlngg Vigenere with key 'conscioushumansouls’ (and add spaces): i like it here it Isnt quiet can you hear the waves imgur 7Foyrsz

Kcode - read off the RGB values of each square In decimal they are: 49 53 32 104 111 117 114 115 32 102 114 111 109 32 116 104 101 32 99 101 110 116 101 114 32 111 102 32 116 104 101 32 115 111 117 114 99 101 0 15 hours from the center of the source xV_OQ4CQqE8 is a YouTube ID leading to: https://youtu.be/xV_OQ4CQqE8 unlisted video with binary title: theline Contains several Pastebin links in the description: PB CBiWsY85 https://pastebin.com/CBiWsY85 - hex title: themoth contains binary text encoded as Vigenere with key 'guineapix’ which decodes to:

I have a friend, let’s call her C. Let me talk about C for a minute. The wonderful and terrible thing about C is that she’s a moth drawn to flame. For a few years now I have supported her in everything she’s done. She’s reckless. If she were a character in a movie, she’d see an explosion and run toward it while most people are running away. She’d run into the burning building and inhale the smoke while taking notes on how it affected the building structure. And she’s probably the one who caused the fire in the first place. Metaphorically, I mean. She gets results only because she loves the danger of it. She’ll come up with a solution and write it down without knowing if it’s right or not. She’ll try it a dozen different ways, watch the entire thing fall to pieces in a dozen different, irreplaceably expensive ways. Destroy everything while taking notes on the wreckage. When she’s done she’ll clean up the mess and she’ll understand the problem on a molecular level, from the inside out. She’ll be standing in the catastrophe she created, with a thousand pages of notes on how to do it right next time. I believe she’s the greatest genius I’ll ever know. And she’s a disaster. A walking disasterpiece. Her mind makes leaps that other minds can’t, because they understand that actions have consequences. She knows that messes can be cleaned up, and systems rebuilt. So she plays with fire. Well, not every mess can be cleaned up. You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube. Now that I’ve typed that I’m not so sure. She could probably figure it out. She’d ruin a lot of tubes of toothpaste in the process. But hey, toothpaste is cheap. The Twitter archive is still broken because of her, but I suspect if she hadn’t been fired she’d have fixed it within a few days. And because of her we did figure out how to decrypt the deleted data. It’s a slow, manual process, but it’s all there in some form or another. I wonder if that was X’s plan all along, somehow. He remembered Sandy Bridge, and figured if there was smoke there there was fire. He followed a trail of clues and now he’s taken everything. It’s not C’s fault. She did what she always did. She made a mess so that we could learn something. Maybe something we shouldn’t have been messing with in the first place. There’s this object, Artifact 555, alias The Cube. I’m not going to ask where it came from or how X’s father got it, because I value my life and my career and I know that questions have consequences. I’m not going to ask what it is, either. But I don’t have to. C is asking. What I know is this: X, because he’s an asshole, sent the three of us photos of this thing. It’s hard to see and harder to look at but I’d describe it as a glass cubic box with reflective blue matter inside. When I looked at the photos of this thing, I was filled with a paralyzing fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Afterward I was sick for two days. Leslie was sick too. Even her cat was sick. I don’t know how that’s even possible. I don’t want to know how that’s possible. But then, I’m not a moth drawn to flame. C was at the store when she saw the photos. Just on her phone, not even on a big monitor. She fell and hit her head. E had to come and get her. She didn’t walk straight for days. Now, a normal person’s instinct would be to get the hell away from this thing, and get the hell away from X, who used it as a weapon. Another kind of woman with another kind of mind would have changed her name, left the country, called in an exorcist and dedicated her life to rejecting satan and all his ways. Instead she signed the world’s worst contract and said she’d be back to work on the second. Because she’s a moth drawn to flame. She loves the mystery and danger of meddling where she shouldn’t. I know that right now every cell in her body is screaming out wanting to know what this thing is, even if she has to burn the world down around her to understand it. Well, that’s just who she is. X knew that too. He knew that if he shouted “DANGER” at her with a megaphone and police sirens and flashing lights five hundred feet tall, she’d come running toward that kind of danger. She can’t help it. For years, I’ve supported her in everything she’s done. I hope I never have to regret that.

PB i1pxP041 https://pastebin.com/i1pxP041 - hex title: gnixob (reversed: boxing) It’s almost-binary again, replace the 'C’s and'O’s with '1’s and'0’s then reverse, then decode as binary, then Vigenere with key 'argentina’ to get:

Another question. Let’s say there’s an object. Let’s call it “an object.” I looked at a few photographs of this object and became violently ill for reasons passing understanding. It was a couple days before I could walk without worry. The others in my group had a similar reaction. Here’s the question. What happens when I see this thing in person? And work alongside it for a long period of time? What exactly happens to my sanity? Happy Boxing Day.

PB sd7MrRX5 https://pastebin.com/sd7MrRX5 - hex title: analog Contains binary, Vigenered text with key 'argentina’:

Okay, I’m calm now. The Cube reacts to electrical stimuli. It even reacts in a predictable and reproducible way, suggesting that data can be imprinted on it for later use. X’s father must have known this. Someone must have run tests, suggesting this could work for data storage, if we could only understand how it works. Well, we don’t need to understand the Cube. And it doesn’t need to understand us. We’ve been thinking of this thing as digital, thinking how can we connect to it, like it’s a hard drive. But it’s not. It’s squishy, it’s meat, it’s liquid, it’s practically a brain. It’s analog. Do you understand? When I was a kid, we had cassette tapes. We had vinyl records. A vinyl record isn’t made with digital data. Vinyl doesn’t understand and interpret the music, it’s just plastic. And the needle is just a needle. There is no artificial intelligence there. But when a song is playing, you can etch the vibrations of that song onto that dumb plastic, and the needle will react the same way to play it back again. Magnetic tape is dumb too. It doesn’t need to understand and interpret the signals being sent through it. It just needs to be able to play them back accurately. VHS tapes of movies, cassette tapes of music. Did you ever record a computer program onto a cassette tape, and then play it back? You could just play the sound, all of this whirring and beeping, and your Apple II or Commodore 64 would understand what the tape couldn’t. The original analog medium is a book. The pages of a book don’t understand the data written on them. But the writer understood, and the reader understands, and that’s enough. We don’t need to understand the Cube. We don’t access that data by plugging in a cable. We don’t learn its language and it doesn’t learn ours. It’s a book. We write something on it, and then we can read it later. So. Let’s say I set up a server which reacts to data. And we test the Cube’s reactions to the same data. And we test it and test it and change the way we deliver the data to the Cube, until the reaction matches. We don’t need to speak the Cube’s language. We just need it to react in the right way when we speak ours.

PB 18E6yhak https://pastebin.com/18E6yhak - hex title: repair Contains binary, Vigenere’d text with key 'argentina’

Questions for this Christmas, asked of nobody but myself. The first question is whether or not data can have a soul. This is a question with two possible answers, so for the sake of argument let us assume the ridiculous - that the data of a soul can be saved, and that this does not disprove the existence of the soul as a theological concept and construct. Let us say that data can have a soul. The second question is, what if that data stream becomes broken and corrupted, in the way that souls also become broken and corrupted? If we save the data, do we save the soul? And if so, do we save it in a theological sense or merely on a technical level? What exactly would we be tampering with here? It’s four AM. I’m drunk. I should go back to sleep.

#video #unlisted video #puzzle #puzzle solution #human souls arg #submission #13ago

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 7 years

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[Recap] STRANGER THINGS 2, Episodes 1-5: What Goes Up, Must Come Upside Down

New Post has been published on https://nofspodcast.com/episodes-1-5-of-stranger-things-season-2-recap/

[Recap] STRANGER THINGS 2, Episodes 1-5: What Goes Up, Must Come Upside Down

Stranger Things just debuted its second season on Netflix. Last year’s breakout viral sensation garnered critical acclaim and audience goodwill for its heady mix of nostalgia and horror, appearing on multiple end of year lists and snagging two Golden Globe nominations.

So how does the “sequel” (as series creators The Duffer Brothers have taken to calling it) fare? Read on for my recap of the first five episodes of season two.

Overall thoughts on Season 2

Immediate thoughts upon finishing the season: it’s more of the same, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Duffer Brothers clearly know the show and their audience and even if at times they’re prone to replicating elements from Season One, I would argue that the season wraps up in a more satisfying fashion. Noah Schnapp (Will) proves to be the show’s secret weapon: the young actor has an uncanny ability to play a range of different roles to perfection. Bonus points for a more successful climax in round two, as well.

Episodic Breakdown

As people make their way through the new episodes, Nightmare on Film Street has prepared episodic recaps so be sure to bookmark this page and come back when you finish each episode. Look for the recap of episodes six – nine tomorrow.

Will doesn’t fit in in the season premiere of Stranger Things “Mad Max”

Episode 1 – “Mad Max”

Online chatter suggested the first episode back was slow, but ‘MadMax’ is simply a table setter. We need this reintroduction to Hawkins, Indiana and its denizens in order to set up the season. That means introducing new characters like Sean Astin’s Bob, Paul Reiser’s creepy Dr. Owens and new schoolmates Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and the titular Max (Sadie Sink) – though neither of the kids are given much to do.

“Mad Max” has a few intriguing supernatural occurrences to whet our appetite, including the mysterious poisoning at the pumpkin patch, the lit up control board at Hawkins Laboratory and, of course, Will’s visions of the looming insect-like threat (which would be more striking if it hadn’t been spoiled in Every.Single.Trailer). As for everyone’s favourite Eggo-eating, telepathic feral little girl, the Duffer Brothers naturally keep Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) hidden until the very end of the episode as one of several examples of characters keeping secrets from each other.

At once point, Dr. Owens tells Joyce (Winona Ryder) that things will get worst before they get better. For her, that’s terrible news. For Stranger Things viewers, that can only means good things ahead.

Odds and Ends:

The cold open features a series of unknown characters getting chased by police before one passenger displays Eleven-like powers that allows them to escape. This will clearly be paid off later (see episode seven in tomorrow’s recap – or rather don’t), but for now, it’s little more than a distraction from our reintroduction to Hawkins.

Danger looms for Will on Halloween night in 2×02 “Trick or Treat, Freak”

Episode 2 – “Trick or Treat, Freak”

First off, let’s address the ridiculous #JusticeForBarb storyline that’s dominating the Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Steve (Joe Keery) story line. The Duffer Brothers clearly want to address the outcry for the fan favourite from Season One, but can we all agree that they’re leaning into it a little too much? Thankfully all it takes is one drunk party for the real fireworks to come out: Nancy drunkenly confesses about the inadequacies of her relationship with Steve and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) gets to put the object of his affection to bed. Just remember kids: repression is bad because it manifests as a giant red punch stain on the front of your First Lady/Figure Skater costume.

The other element that stands out about episode two is that there’s a lot more comedy: the four boys are the only ones who dress up for Halloween at school, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) struggle to speak to Max, Eleven passes her time watching soaps and dimwitted Officer Callahan (John Reynolds) mistakenly touches poisoned crops with his bare hands.

That last piece – the mysterious crop damage storyline – also begins to take shape as we learn that most of Hawkins’ farms have been affected by a mysterious poison, hinting at bigger things to come.

Odds and Ends:

Are the Duffer Brothers candy addicts? First Will and Dr. Owens debate Reese’s Pieces last episode and now there’s a prolonged discussion about the terribleness of 3 Musketeers bars? (Which, for the record, are delicious)

Initially it seemed like this episode was going to offer more insight about contentious siblings Billy and Max, but aside from their chicken-inspired driving on the highway, they remain obscure figures on the periphery. What’s their deal?

Bob and Joyce share a quiet moment in 2×03 “The Pollywog”

Episode 3 – “The Pollywog”

While I appreciate the effort being put into developing Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven’s relationship, I don’t think that the amount of screen time dedicated to this plot line is well spent. Three episodes in and we’re seeing the same content covered repeatedly: she was lost in the woods in winter, Hopper found her after a few feral encounters and they set up a temporary home with three “don’t be stupid” rules. We get it Stranger Things. At this point it just feels like the Duffer Brothers are delaying bringing Eleven back together with the gang.

Thankfully the second season’s dual mythology plot lines continue to develop nicely:

Hopper enlists Dr. Owens to investigate the contagion affecting the crops, which we learn is accounting for the odd smell that Billy and Max described in the last episode.

Meanwhile, Dustin names the “pollywog” creature that he finds in his trash D’Artagnan (because 80s!). A quick examination of the new species reveals that D’Art is a) afraid of the light b) growing exponentially and c) tied to the thing that Will spit into his sink at the end of Season One. Unfortunately the unnatural occurrences end in disaster when Will takes Bob‘s advice to confront the monster head on and he’s literally infected by the smoke monster from his visions. Oops!

Odds and Ends:

Was anyone else surprised to see Shirts vs Skins in gym class was a real thing? I won’t lie: all of these scenes felt remarkably homoerotic. It’s tantamount to a late night flick on Cinemax.

The aftermath of Will’s attack in 2×04 “Will The Wise”

Episode 4 – “Will The Wise”

After the cliffhanger possession ending of the last episode, we pick right up with Will, who claims not to remember what happened to him. After some prodding by Joyce, Will reveals that the creature wanted inside him and their parasitic relationship is deepened when Will refuses to take a hot bath, proclaiming “He likes it cold.”

When Hopper finally arrives at the Byers residence (following an uncomfortable battle of wills with Eleven after she abuses his 3 rules), there’s no narrative clarity about what’s happening, but it still feels like forward momentum. The result – Will confiding in Hopper and Joyce, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) revealing Will’s secret to Dustin and Lucas – makes “Will The Wise” the most satisfying episode of the season to date.

Unfortunately I simply cannot care about the stuff with Nancy and Jonathan and Barb’s mom. The only element of this story line that worked for me was the editing of the sequence in the park, which effectively highlighted Nancy and Jonathan‘s paranoia. The suggestion that these high school students could pull off a covert sting operation against the Hawkins Lab guys is a bit of a laugh, but we’ll see where it goes.

Odds and Ends:

Eleven‘s investigation into her history hits the jackpot when she discovers Hawkins Lab boxes hidden under the floor of Hopper‘s cabin. From there she’s able to connect with her very-much-alive mom, who identifies Eleven as “Jane” before disappearing in a literal puff of smoke.

I’m definitely losing interest in Billy and Max‘s storyline. Is there anything more to this than the fact that he’s racist?

RIP Mews. It always sucks when animals are killed on TV and that poor dead kitty didn’t deserve to be D’Art’s snack. 🙁

Will’s illness is finally address in 2×05 “Dig Dug”

Episode 5 – “Dig Dug”

This is essentially a “choose your own adventure” episode. Most of the characters venture off on their own: Hopper spends the episode foolishly investigating the tunnel system without back-up; Joyce, Mike, Will and Bob decode Will‘s drawings; Lucas catches Max up to speed, and Nancy and Jonathan and Eleven go on separate road trips.

I definitely appreciated the grotty visuals of what Hopper encounters in the tunnels (the blast to the face by a not-at-all-anus-like vine is particularly visceral and icky). Meanwhile Bob earns his high school “Brain” nickname when he deduces that the drawings are a map of Hawkins, though admittedly, hadn’t we all figured this out well in advance? It seems pretty obvious.

The two mythologies finally collide when Will‘s map leads to Hopper, whose survival ironically depends on his smoking habit. Luckily Joyce, Bob and the Hawkins Lab army show up just in time, ending the episode on another cliffhanger when it is revealed (unsurprisingly) that Will‘s physical health is connected to the tunnel vines and he winds up in Grand Mal territory.

Odds and Ends:

I’m glad that Dustin is no longer acting stupid about how dangerous D’Art is. It was evident from the start that the unknown creature was dangerous and “Dig Dug” confirms that as D’Art grows, he becomes more of an (unnatural) threat.

Let’s take a moment to recognize the comedic genius of Lucas‘ sister Erica (Priah Ferguson), who is officially the Dustin of this season. She’s equal parts annoying and hilarious. I love her.

Finally, Eleven‘s storyline continues to (annoyingly) exist completely outside of the main narrative. This episode she meets her Aunt Becky (Amy Seimetz), a Clea DuVall-esque woman looking after her mother. What follows is essentially a redo of Season One: Eleven‘s mom communicates via flickering lights and there’s a whole extended flashback that’s basically the Stranger Things version of Hodor’s “Hold The Door” backstory from Game of Thrones.

Check back tomorrow for recaps of the final four episodes of season two. In the interim, leave your impressions below in the comments!

#caleb mclaughlin #dacre montgomery #David Harbour #finn wolfhard #gaten matarazzo #horror on tv #millie bobby brown #Netflix Stranger Things #noah schnapp #paul reiser #sadie sink #sean astin #stranger things 2 #The Duffer Brothers #winona ryder

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 7 years

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[Recap] STRANGER THINGS 2, Episodes 1-5: What Goes Up, Must Come Upside Down

New Post has been published on https://nofspodcast.com/episodes-1-5-of-stranger-things-season-2-recap/

[Recap] STRANGER THINGS 2, Episodes 1-5: What Goes Up, Must Come Upside Down

So how does the “sequel” (as series creators The Duffer Brothers have taken to calling it) fare? Read on for my recap of the first five episodes of season two.

Overall thoughts on Season 2

Episodic Breakdown

Will doesn’t fit in in the season premiere of Stranger Things “Mad Max”

Episode 1 – “Mad Max”

Odds and Ends:

Danger looms for Will on Halloween night in 2×02 “Trick or Treat, Freak”

Episode 2 – “Trick or Treat, Freak”

Odds and Ends:

Bob and Joyce share a quiet moment in 2×03 “The Pollywog”

Episode 3 – “The Pollywog”

Thankfully the second season’s dual mythology plot lines continue to develop nicely:

Hopper enlists Dr. Owens to investigate the contagion affecting the crops, which we learn is accounting for the odd smell that Billy and Max described in the last episode.

Odds and Ends:

Was anyone else surprised to see Shirts vs Skins in gym class was a real thing? I won’t lie: all of these scenes felt remarkably homoerotic. It’s tantamount to a late night flick on Cinemax.

The aftermath of Will’s attack in 2×04 “Will The Wise”

Episode 4 – “Will The Wise”

Odds and Ends:

I’m definitely losing interest in Billy and Max‘s storyline. Is there anything more to this than the fact that he’s racist?

RIP Mews. It always sucks when animals are killed on TV and that poor dead kitty didn’t deserve to be D’Art’s snack. 🙁

Will’s illness is finally address in 2×05 “Dig Dug”

Episode 5 – “Dig Dug”

Odds and Ends:

Let’s take a moment to recognize the comedic genius of Lucas‘ sister Erica (Priah Ferguson), who is officially the Dustin of this season. She’s equal parts annoying and hilarious. I love her.

Check back tomorrow for recaps of the final four episodes of season two. In the interim, leave your impressions below in the comments!

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