Books Pluribus What to Read After You Watch Pluribus Hi Carol, we have some book recommendations for you By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 29, 2025 Photo: Apple TV Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Apple TV Life after Pluribus feels pretty lonely. Expectations were high for Vince Gilligan’s next show, and Pluribus has quickly proven to be one of the best new sci-fi series since Severance. Yes, Pluribus was heavily inspired by numerous genre works that came before (most notably Invasion of the Body Snatchers), but the show’s vision of a post-apocalyptic landscape run by an intergalactic hivemind has rarely been exactly what you think it’s going to be. The twists, the dark humor, the quiet moments of reflection, absolutely everything that Rhea Seehorn does… there really is nothing quite like Pluribus. If you are struggling to fill that Pluribus-shaped hole in your life, though, then your best option may be to pick up a book. It’s not only appropriate given that Pluribus protagonist Carol Sturka is a romantasy writer (more on that in a bit), but there are some tremendous novels that present their own fascinating visions of unusual doomsday scenarios while offering at least an element of what makes Pluribus so special (as well as their own charms). Severance by Ling Ma (2018) A mysterious illness is tearing through the United States. The infected continue to live their lives, but only as a shell of their former selves. With no cure in sight, a young woman named Candace and other immune survivors navigate an uncertain future. Like Pluribus, Severance imagines a different kind of apocalypse in which the world continues to spin and efforts are made to retain “normalcy” even as such a concept begins to feel increasingly absurd.  The Seep by Chana Porter (2020) Earth is upended by the arrival of an alien force known as the Seep. Their takeover is swift, but proves to be oddly peaceful. Much of Earth becomes an unlikely kind of utopia in which the Seep connect people and gift them with the knowledge that anything is possible. In that world, a trans woman named Trina Goldberg-Oneka and her wife Deeba embark upon a mind-bending journey of self-discovery. There’s a fever dream quality to The Seep we haven’t seen in Pluribus yet, but it too raises incredible questions about what is lost and gained when our identities are blurred.  All Better Now by Neal Shusterman (2025) Stop me when you’ve heard this before, but All Better Now imagines what would happen if humanity were suddenly infected by a virus that washes away all negative feelings and leaves everyone feeling entirely happy. Yes, Pluribus drew connections to All Better Now before its release, and both certainly deal with the downsides of what initially appears to be a utopian (if disturbing) scenario. Spoiler alert, but it turns out a little conflict can go a long way.  The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (1963) Many post-apocalyptic stories (including Pluribus) deal with the pain of isolation. Few address that theme as overtly and effectively as Marlen Haushofer does in The Wall. It follows a woman who suddenly finds herself cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible wall that mysteriously appears one day. Her time is then spent trying to find a way out, making the most of the world around her, and, gradually, trying to accept her circumstances. It’s a powerful examination of our relationship with other humans, nature, and the sheer will to survive at the heart of it all.  The Host by Stephenie Meyer (2008) Imagine, if you will, what may happen if we were all taken over by an invading force of parasitic beings known as “souls.” Most of the world is essentially hijacked by these creatures, but your invader has a harder time taking over your body. Instead, you and your invader engage in a prolonged battle of wills that ends up impacting both of your fates as well as the rest of the world. That core premise drives Stephenie Meyer’s The Host: a novel that overtly deals with the relationship between the body and soul while emphasizing the value and scarcity of a true home.  The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2012) The Age of Miracles is one of those fascinating sci-fi novels that explores the effects of a quieter kind of extinction. Here, the inciting event is an unexplained phenomenon that causes the world to spin more slowly than before. The immediate results are fairly trivial things like slightly longer days. As the effect continues and escalates, though, people begin to react to it in drastic (though not altogether shocking) ways. Much like The Leftovers, the hooks in this page-turner come not from its biggest moments but rather by watching how the people caught at the center of it all gradually reshape their lives as well as the world around them.  The Bees by Laline Paull (2014) There are many sci-fi stories that deal with the concept of a hive mind, but there are few such stories quite like The Bees. That’s because its protagonist is an actual bee living in a literal hive. It sounds gimmicky, but it’s so much more than that. Often compared to Watership Down, The Bees is an adventurous exploration of both the intricate inner workings of a collective (which often reads like palace intrigue) and the power of an individual life within that environment.  Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014) Station Eleven is a story about what keeps us going. Not just the instinct to survive, but the idea that life (much less civilization) must include things that are finer and greater than our primal needs and urges. The “present day” chapters of Station Eleven largely focus on a group of traveling performers trying to bring hope and joy to the world through art and entertainment. Their adventures are juxtaposed with flashbacks of the terrifying early days of the deadly flu that wiped out much of society, which underscore both how much was lost and the importance of finding it again. As a bonus, Station Eleven received an exceptional HBO adaptation that remains tragically underrated, partially due to its proximity to our own global pandemic.  The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (1957) A classic of the genre that was later adapted into the Village of the Damned movies (one of which was great, one of which was… well, we still love John Carpenter), The Midwich Cuckoos is often described as a cozy kind of catastrophe. Granted, that’s an odd way to describe a story featuring villainous children inexplicably born across the world in droves following the appearance of a mysterious object in the sky. Yet, there is something darkly quaint about this story of a powerful group that nefariously works its way into our world which recalls some of Pluribus’ more quiet and menacing moments. Bloodsong of Wycaro by Carol Sturka (2025) Finally, this list would feel incomplete without mentioning Bloodsong of Wycaro: the third entry in the Winds of Wycaro series. Yes, Apple released a real section from Carol’s fictional romantasy book series in the Pluribus universe. While the section’s real author remains a mystery I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of, it is a remarkably entertaining standalone work that also adds a little context to the Pluribus universe. And hey, maybe it’ll be your gateway into the exciting world of pirate romantasy.[end-mark] Note: Comments are closed until the Reactor offices reopen on January 5, 2026. See you in the new year! The post What to Read After You Watch <i>Pluribus</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News Strange New Worlds Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 Casts Thomas Jane as Dr. McCoy and Kai Murakami as Sulu The two actors are expected to appear in Strange New Worlds’ series finale By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 23, 2025 Photo: CBS Paramount Television Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: CBS Paramount Television Paramount has confirmed a new casting update for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5, revealing that Thomas Jane will play Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Kai Murakami will portray Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in the series’ final season. Interestingly, both actors will only join Strange New Worlds for the season 5 finale (the show’s final episode, which was shot over the past weekend in Toronto). While it’s a bit odd that Paramount decided to reveal what appear to be elaborate cameo appearances so far ahead of that episode’s air date, it does make sense that these two characters will join the show as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds inches closer to The Original Series timeline. Beyond that, little is known about their appearances at this time. You likely know Thomas Jane from his work in films like Boogie Nights, The Mist, Deep Blue Sea, and the HBO comedy series Hung. He is, at least in this writer’s opinion, always a welcome presence in whatever he is in. As for Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, he was first played by actor DeForest Kelley in the Original Series show and movies and later by Karl Urban in the JJ Abrams’ rebooted film universe. He’s Kirk’s best (human) friend, a lovable grump, and a damn good doctor (though don’t assume he’s qualified for other professions). Granted, Jane is perhaps a bit older than what the part strictly calls for, but there’s no good reason to let trivial things such as time get in the way of what is honestly some pretty perfect Dr. McCoy casting. Kai Murakami is a bit of an unknown. He’s actually more of a theater actor whose credits include various performances in London and Japan. Some of you may actually know him best (relatively speaking) from the motion capture work he’s done for games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows. He also performed as a Kazego (special puppeteer performers) in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of My Neighbour Totoro, which you can actually read a little more about in this fascinating interview with the show’s costume designer. It’s interesting to see them go with a lesser-known performer for the Sulu role following some memorable portrayals of the character from actors like George Takei and John Cho, though perhaps Murakami’s physicality tells us something about the nature of Sulu’s casting and the character’s eventual Strange New Worlds appearance. Sadly, you’re going to have to wait quite a while to see either performer in Strange New Worlds. As previously reported, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 isn’t expected to premiere until late 2026 or early 2027. [end-mark] The post <i>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds</i> Season 5 Casts Thomas Jane as Dr. McCoy and Kai Murakami as Sulu appeared first on Reactor.

News The Odyssey The Odyssey Trailer Is Visually Dull but Full of Promise Odysseus’ journey will see him battle the elements, monsters, and bad YouTube uploads By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 22, 2025 Photo: Universal Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Universal Pictures We’ve all been wondering what Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey will look like. One of our great epic film directors is adapting one of the great literary epics with help from a massive budget, IMAX cameras, and a stacked cast? They’ll have to kick us out of the theater, because we are already seated. Well, we finally got a proper trailer for The Odyssey and, to tell you the truth, it’s still hard to tell what Christopher Nolan’s movie looks like. To be very fair, it seems like something may have gone wrong when uploading this trailer to YouTube. It is incredibly blurry and dark even when viewed on the highest allowed YouTube resolution (which, for some reason, is limited to 1080p, at least for free users). This is seemingly not the ideal way to view this preview, so all comments about its looks have to be taken with that grain of salt. That said, Nolan may not be beating certain allegations anytime soon. Production photos of The Odyssey have been criticized in some circles for their lack of color and generally dull designs. The same criticisms could certainly be applied to this trailer, even if we only get the briefest glimpses of some of the movie’s potentially grander sequences. There are lovely shots spread throughout, though they are spread somewhat thin among other, simply serviceable glimpses of fairly mundane moments. The night scenes in particular are pretty rough, though it’s worth noting again that YouTube could be a co-conspirator for that particular crime. Still, the style debate will continue. That said, there is a lot to love here. The storm sequence, in particular, looks appropriately horrifying, as do the shots of the soldiers cowering in fear in a desperate attempt to avoid what appears to be a massive sword. Ludwig Göransson’s score is simply magical, and the sheer wattage of star power fueling this thing remains impressive. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth…hell, Lupita Nyong’o is in this movie, and we don’t even know her role yet. Perhaps most importantly, this is still The Odyssey we’re talking about. Reasonable concerns about what certainly seems to be a dark, dour, and dude-driven take on that story aside, The Odyssey remains both an incredible collection of potentially cinematic moments and a story that has rarely received a direct adaptation, much less one on this scale. We’ll all find out if The Odyssey lives up to that potential when the movie is released on July 17, 2026. [end-mark] The post <i>The Odyssey</i> Trailer Is Visually Dull but Full of Promise appeared first on Reactor.

News Man of Tomorrow Lars Eidinger Cast as Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow, But Which Version of the Villain Will the Superman Movie Use? There are many Brainiacs, and not all are created equally By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 22, 2025 Photo: DC Comics Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: DC Comics In a statement on Twitter (or X, or whatever), James Gunn confirmed that Lars Eidinger will play Brainiac in the upcoming sequel to his 2025 Superman movie, Man of Tomorrow. James Gunn has strongly hinted (to say the least) that Brainiac will be the villain in Man of Tomorrow and that his arrival will force Superman and Lex Luthor to form an unlikely alliance. So far as that goes, this announcement does not come as a surprise. The decision to cast Lars Eidinger is a bit more surprising. It’s not fair to call Lars Eidinger an unknown (he’s made quite a name for himself on-stage and in the films of director Olivier Assayas), but this is certainly not the big splashy casting announcement that some suspected Gunn might prioritize for such a major villainous role. The casting is potentially quite good, and it will certainly be nice to see a Superman movie villain that isn’t General Zod or Lex Luthor. Actually, those who really only casually follow Superman via the movies probably have little idea who Brainiac is. He was reportedly considered for the villain role in Superman III way back in the day, but he rarely makes multimedia appearances despite being a major player in the comics. In fact, Brainiac has appeared in so many Superman comics in so many different forms that it’s tough to say which version of Brainiac we’ll see in Man of Tomorrow. While aspects of the character often remain the same (most notably, he’s incredibly intelligent, which allows him to create incredible devices and wield mental powers), Brainiac has been remarkably inconsistent for such a major character in the Superman mythos. Will we get the Silver Age Brainiac who was depicted as a green alien from the planet Colu who largely did his evil bidding through incredible devices such as a shrink ray? It’s…not likely. There is a charm to that character’s looks and methods that do fit into Gunn’s visual and directorial style, but Brainiac didn’t really come into his own until later. Still, there are elements of this version of the character (such as his love of shrinking and the more alien aspects of his appearance) that could be used in Man of Tomorrow. Will we get the Brainiac that uploaded his consciousness into a metal skeleton exoframe to achieve a more Terminator-like look? Probably not. That version of the character boasts an incredible design and was featured in some memorable storylines, but he’s pretty far removed from the more iconic elements of the Brainiac concept. It would be another big swing to bring that version of the character to the big screen first. Will we see the version of Brainiac that was actually an advanced AI program used by Jor-El (and other Kryptonians) like the Brainiac featured in Superman: The Animated Series? That is far more likely. Not only would such a villain allow Man of Tomorrow to comment on the evils of AI (a popular film villain trend at the moment), but tying Brainiac into the destruction of Krypton would make his rivalry with Superman (and possibly Supergirl) pleasantly personal. However, it’s far more likely that the Man of Tomorrow Brainiac will be closer to modern, rebooted versions of the character in the comics, which are really an amalgamation of previous Brainiac concepts. Specifically, all eyes are currently on the “House of Brainiac” version of the character. In that story, Brainiac is really the representative of a collective of networked iterations spread across the universe. He uses his galactic powers to launch an assault on Earth. Not only does that arc include Lex Luthor and Superman teaming up to fight Brainiac (something we know will happen in Man of Tomorrow), but it features Supergirl villain/antihero Lobo in a starring role. I doubt that Man of Tomorrow will be a straight adaptation of “House of Brainiac” or that version of the Brainiac character (the latter, in particular, will probably be presented in a slightly more iconic physical form), but that storyline certainly seems to have the most elements that fit into what Gunn is currently doing with Superman and the greater DC mythos. Ultimately, we’re going to have to wait a while to see more of Lars Eidinger’s Brainiac. Man of Tomorrow isn’t scheduled to be released until July 9, 2027, so unless Brainiac appears in Supergirl or unless we get a surprise sneak peek at the character elsewhere, we’ll all just have to wonder which of the nearly infinite Brainiacs in the universe we’ll ultimately get. [end-mark] The post Lars Eidinger Cast as Brainiac in <i>Man of Tomorrow</i>, But Which Version of the Villain Will the <i>Superman</i> Movie Use? appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Stranger Things The Best Moments of Stranger Things As the series comes to a close, a look back on some of the show’s greatest hits. By Tyler Dean | Published on December 22, 2025 Credit: Netflix Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Netflix As I said in my recap of season four, Stranger Things is at its best as an in-the-moment watch. It struggles to keep a coherent tone and build compelling character arcs, but excels at crafting individual scenes that elicit tears or screams or shouts of joy.  Below is my personal list of favorite moments from the show up through the end of season five, episode four. They are a mix of big moments, quiet scenes of character development, and weird little detours that have kept me engaged even at the lower points in the show’s tumultuous nine-year run. Joyce Plays With Magnets Image: Netflix (Season 3, Episode 5 “The Flayed”) After giving her the iconic Christmas Light set to play with in the first season, letting her play around with an old camcorder in the second and, perhaps, after seeing her brilliant cascade of facial expressions at the 2017 SAG Awards, the Duffer brothers gave her an enduring puzzle with malfunctioning magnets in season three. There is a lot of good, profoundly weird mugging as a wide-eyed Ryder single-mindedly stares at magnets throughout the first half of the season. This comes to a head in episode five, where she tries to ask lovable Russian operative, Alexei, if the demagnetization is due to his countrymen’s operation. As the subtitles tell us that Alexei understands next to nothing about what Joyce is asking, Ryder babbles excitably, reframing her paranoid and desperate performance, in previous seasons, as something winningly batshit. A scene later, Hopper implies that Joyce is as unhinged as Murray and her performance sells it. Ryder started as the series’ biggest get and while she was tasked with carrying a lot of the show’s dramatic heft in seasons one and two, season three lets Joyce be as funny and weird as Ryder seems to be. It’s great! Magnets! Murray Plays Matchmaker  Image: Netflix (Season 2, Episode 6 “The Spy”) The first two seasons take their time getting their star-crossed teen couple, Nancy and Jonathan, together. Given how much Nancy’s previous beau, Steve Harrington, became a breakout favorite of the first season who ended up becoming more beloved than either of the other vertices of the love triangle, keeping the momentum alive was more difficult than anticipated. They spend most of season two on a road trip, investigating how they can expose the Hawkins Lab as the responsible parties in the death of Barb. This eventually leads them to conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman who gives them a strategy to take down the USDoE. But his major contribution is a leery, grotesque calling out of the sexual tension between Nancy and Jonathan. Brett Gelman, whether it’s in Fleabag or Another Period, always succeeds at playing profoundly sleazy men with the sort of wry verve that lets you know they are (mostly) harmless.  Here, his particular brand of ick is applied to plying teenagers with alcohol, demanding they admit they have feelings for one another and calling attention to how much better the sleeping arrangements would be if they shared a bed. It undercuts the seriousness of the Nancy/Jonathan love story in the best way and Murray is the perfect vessel for reminding audiences that the climax of your big love story doesn’t always have to be maudlin and sincere. Eddie and Chrissy  Image: Netflix (Season 4, Episode 1 “The Hellfire Club”) Eddie Munson and Chrissy have a remarkable chemistry across a few scenes in the season four premiere. While we discover that it’s all just a set up for Chrissy’s death at episode’s end, there is a brief window when the show entertains the idea that all the high school cliques are nonsense (it otherwise demands fairly strict allegiance to the norm—see Dustin’s speech about how Erica is a nerd in season three, episode six). But more than that, it’s a great showcase for two actors to display something that feels surprisingly genuine. It’s a fitting homage to all the great John Hughes mismatched romances of the 80s—The Breakfast Club and Some Kind of Wonderful chief among them—with the burnout and the cheerleader discovering that they have more in common than they thought they did. It’s a shame that the show wasn’t particularly interested in exploring this dynamic because it cements Eddie and Chrissy as instant classics and likely went a long way towards cementing Joseph Quinn’s career. Joyce’s Lights Image: Netflix (Season 1, Episode 3 “Holly Jolly”) The image of Joyce Byers communicating with Will through an alphabet of Christmas lights strung up on her living room wall is as iconic a metonymy for the whole of Stranger Things as anything. But it’s easy to forget that it’s undergirded by real senses of menace and wonder and anchored by Winona Ryder’s excellent portrayal of desperation and grief. The turn from a glimmer of hope in Joyce finally making contact with Will to horror as he lights up “RUN” and a demogorgon tears through the wall, more grotesque and pallid than we’ve seen thus far in the show, is the cherry on top of the sundae. Harrington Pool Party Image: Netflix (Season 1, Episode 2 “The Weirdo on Maple Street”) Early in its run, Stranger Things felt like it was angling for something more akin to prestige TV. The weekday party at Steve Harrington’s place, with “Melt With You” playing on the radio, Aqua vapor rising off the surface of the water while Nancy, Barb, and their questionable new acquaintances shotgun beers and Jonathan, half in a trance, photographs them from the nearby woods, feels like something more compelling than mere homage or reference (though it is both of those things).  The vaporwave aesthetic that the show cultivates isn’t really a thing of the ‘80s (even if it has its roots in bands like Goblin and Tangerine Dream), but it so evokes that New Wave, synth-heavy yearning that it’s a perfect fit for an ‘80s nostalgia show. And this slice of life recreation of the mythical past that the show is obsessed with is among its finest encapsulations. Will the Warlock  Image: Netflix (Season 5, Episode 4 “Sorcerer”) Okay the internet has made this point over and over and it is, ultimately, a bit of semantic nonsense, but this is a hill I am willing to die on. Will is not a Sorcerer (as Mike dubs him in the most recent episode). Sorcerers, in Dungeons & Dragons, are magic users whose powers come from their genetic heritage or magical intervention in their ancestry. A Warlock is a magic user whose magic powers come from a pact made with a powerful being (like a devil or a genie). Clearly, Will is a Warlock with Vecna as his patron (Warlock pacts don’t need to be consensual). And, given that both Sorcerers and Warlocks as DnD classes postdate the era in which Stranger Things takes place (by more than twenty years in both cases), I feel comfortable saying that, given the choice between anachronisms, go with the one that actually makes sense. That said, the moment in which Will comes into his psychokinetic powers is one of the series’ most transcendent moments. It is the culmination of a personal arc that has been playing out since at least the second season. It’s unclear if the Duffers planned Will’s sexuality from the start but it has been central to his character since season three and largely mishandled (the show leans into a child molestation lens for the ways in which Will is traumatized; you can read my season three review for a more in depth analysis of it). But season five largely redeemed this arc, pairing Will with Robin, its other queer character, and reframing what makes being queer worthwhile away from finding romantic love, and refocusing on self-care. In that regard, the Duffers find some thematic resonance with sorcery (you are already awesome because it’s intrinsic to you, not because you studied for it—and I understand that they want to hammer home the point that gay people are born not made, especially since they already unfortunately paired coming out with molestation) but the reason this moment—Will, eyes rolled back, arms outstretched, breaking demogorgon limbs in the exact way Vecna tortured his victims in the previous season—hit so hard is that it’s the culmination of Will’s relationship to trauma. Whether that’s the trauma of being kidnapped by Vecna or the trauma of enduring ongoing homophobic bullying (both from his father and kids at school), it has made him more than a weak-link (a spy for the Mindflayer as he is called in season two). It’s made him resilient and powerful. Yes, absolutely, being queer is a quality in need of celebration (especially for a rural midwestern kid in the AIDS-stricken landscape of the mid-80s) but what the show has really demonstrated and demonstrates well is that surviving trauma can make you something more powerful than you thought. Will has psychic powers because he endured Vecna’s abuse and came out the other side. In that way, he embodies a DnD Warlock and the show has something much more interesting and important to say about what it means to be a survivor (especially a queer one) than what they draw out of Robin’s advice.  Snow Ball  Image: Netflix (Season 2, Episode 9 “The Gate”) There’s a lot of climactic fun minutes earlier in the season two finale with Eleven closing the gate beneath the Hawkins Lab, but the real heart of season two is the Jingle Ball—the middle school dance that sees romantic closure for Mike and Lucas. The real joy of it, however, is Nancy’s sweet gesture to a lovelorn Dustin who, despite a stylish new hairdo, courtesy of Steve, is experiencing nothing but rejection and derision. Nancy picks him up for a slow dance and tells him that he’s always been her favorite among Mike’s friends and that, if he sticks it out through middle school, the girls will eventually go nuts for him.  It’s more than a tender moment of platonic charity. The second season sets up a love triangle between Lucas, Dustin, and Max only to quickly make clear that Dustin is a third wheel. He, painfully, doesn’t realize this until long after the audience has—which feels like a riskier and more honest depiction of the ruthlessness of middle school dating and it makes Nancy’s gesture all the sweeter. The following season Dustin is given a long distance girlfriend and the looming tragedy of his romantic life is tidily dealt with. But there is a great little coda that makes perfect use of “Time After Time”—cheesy and sweet in equal measure and, for once, a moment that doesn’t give in to hollow wish fulfillment. Never-Ending Duet Image: Netflix (Season 3, Episode 8 “The Battle of Starcourt”) It may be the most controversial of my picks and it’s definitely the dumbest entry on the list, but Dustin and Suzie’s rendition of Limahl’s “Never-Ending Story,” from the iconic ‘80s fantasy film of the same name, is, hands down my favorite moment in season three and a strong contender for my favorite moment in the whole series.  Wait, where are you going? Come back! Hear me out: it’s very very stupid. Almost exactly the sort of hollow, referential nostalgia-pandering that critics of the show insist it exemplifies. But, in being so thoroughly odd, such a nakedly mercenary scene and treated as such in-world, it’s maybe the most self-aware the show has ever been. Stranger Things, in its dedication to a nostalgic mismemory, loves to hit its on-the-nose needle drops and references (Lucas seriously compares Carpenter’s The Thing to New Coke instead of, you know, the Thing-esque flesh monster currently chasing him), but the inclusion of this pointless reference, where two young Broadway stars belt out one of the ‘80s fizziest and least dramatic anthems, intercut with David Harbour staring—incredulous and dead-eyed—down the endless hallway of the Russians’ secret base, is the closest thing the show has to a tacit admission that most of its raison d’etre is to ask ‘80s kids “hey, remember this?” and does so in the most delicious, troll-y way.  Robin Comes Out Image: Netflix (Season 3, Episode 7 “The Bite”) Another clever subversion of audience expectations, season three introduces Maya Hawke’s Robin, who feels for most of the season like she’s being set up as a new love interest for Steve. In many ways she feels like the perfect Harrington belle—a woman previously ignored by Steve who doesn’t give him an inch and mercilessly mocks his failures while clearly still wanting to bring out the best in him. It’s perfect then, that she reveals that her past problem with Steve is not that he ignored her advances, but that he dated the woman she had been desperately in love with, dashing her romantic hopes.  It’s one of the better coming out moments in recent television and it has the added bonus of forcing the audience to identify with Steve—rooting for the straight boy to get the girl before realizing we had gotten it entirely wrong and a better story was in the works. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Hawke is one of the show’s better actors and, in season three, her autism-coded awkwardness was still being played for genuine pathos and not just for schtick. Stranger Things isn’t typically great about portraying its minority characters with subtlety and clarity, but Robin’s bathroom admission is a rare win.  Hopper’s American Tragedy Image: Netflix (Season 4, Episode 5 “The Nina Project”) Hopper recounting the story of his Vietnam service to Tom Wlascicha’s Dmitri might be the best dramatic monologue of the series. It’s not only a welcome ameliorative to season three’s Red Dawn inspired jingoism, but showcases the ways in which the show knows it can’t exist purely as an exercise in nostalgia.  Sarah Hopper’s cancer death is a long shadow hanging over the series—the original death of a child that gives real stakes and sorrow to all the subsequent child endangerment. To explain that its likely cause is the result of American military hubris, its lack of regard for the safety of its own citizens in the face of its imperial aims, is the closest the show has gotten to a real thesis. After all, the Upside Down is the result of scientific recklessness papered over by a callous American government. Lurking underneath the show’s reverence for the ‘80s is the acknowledgement that the veneer of safety and prosperity was built on some of the darkest inclinations of a Cold War that implicated both America and the Soviet Union. Harbour’s gut-wrenching performance weds the personal and political in the tightest thematic moment the famously scattered show has ever had.  But what do you think? What have I left out here? Do you like the “Running up that Hill” moment as much as the whole internet seems to? Am I over-concerned with the quiet moments on the show and not as into what’s obviously kickass? Let me know in the comments.[end-mark] The post The Best Moments of <i>Stranger Things</i> appeared first on Reactor.