Is that a bicycle in the distance? Did I just roll a nat 20? And is that yet another creepy monster terrorizing Hawkins?? That can only mean one thing: Princess and Tessa are ready to dive into the Upside Down and talk all about Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1!!
Is that a bicycle in the distance? Did I just roll a nat 20? And is that yet another creepy monster terrorizing Hawkins?? That can only mean one thing: Princess and Tessa are ready to dive into the Upside Down and talk all about Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1!!
!!WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!!
In this episode, Tessa and Princess discuss episodes 1-6 of Stranger Things Season 4, so !!SPOILER WARNING!! for all who haven’t watched that far yet! They will be going over episode 7 of Stranger Things 4 in a special double feature, coming out tomorrow.
Also, Tessa sits down with Eddie Munson himself, Joseph Quinn, to talk all about what it was like to play the king of Hellfire Club (and our hearts).
PRINCESS: Hello, geeks. I'm Princess Weekes.
TESSA: And I'm Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And you're listening to the Geeked Podcast, your weekly energy boost of the worlds fandoms and stories you love.
TESSA: Each week, we're going to skim the surface of what's popular in geek culture, then deep dive into the lore of Netflix worlds bigger than our own.
PRINCESS: Today's world is one we all know and love. And if you don't, what are you doing with your life? Upgrade yourself. We're talking about Stranger Things, y'all.
TESSA: Yes! Stranger Things, Season four. Oh my gosh. There's so much to talk about that we had to split this up into two parts. So this episode is part one and we're going to talk about episodes one through six of Stranger Things. And then in part two, coming out tomorrow, we're diving into Stranger Things episode seven and all of our theories for the rest of Season four.
PRINCESS: I'm so excited to talk about it with you. And if I sound different today, it's because I'm on vacation. But geek-ness takes no vacation. So if I sound a little different, it's because I'm in my value hotel room drinking Coca-Cola and looking at my beautiful co-hosts face as we record this amazing podcast episode.
TESSA: And guys, we also have a special interview with Joseph Quinn, the actor who plays one of my favorite new characters, Eddie Munson, the leader of the Hawkins High DND Club, The Hellfire Club.
PRINCESS: An amazing X-Men cameo, if I may say so myself. But Tessa, my darling, what are you geeked about this week? The only thing that has me geeked is Stranger Things season 4.
TESSA: Honestly, same. Do you just want to get into the rest of the episode?
PRINCESS: Let’s do it. So to get us into the Stranger Things mood, we're going to play a little game we like to call Fight Club.
TESSA: That's right. The first rule of Fight Club is you do talk about Fight Club right now on this podcast. This is a game we're playing.
PRINCESS: Basically, we are going to pit two characters against each other and decide which one would win in a battle. And one of those characters will be from Stranger Things. So we're rooting for them, but we will see.
TESSA: We're rooting for them.
PRINCESS: We're rooting for them. But it's hard in these streets. Let's go.
TESSA: It is hard. It's tough. So first, we're starting off probably the toughest.
PRINCESS: Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Round one, fight.
TESSA: Round one. We have in one corner, Eleven from Stranger Things, you know and love her. She's El, she's powerful. She has telekinetic energy. Let's pretend her powers are back. You know, let's let's let's give her the benefit of the doubt here. And then in the other quarter, we have Five, Five, Five, Five, Five from the Umbrella Academy, number Five himself. He's very, very skilled. He is a trained assassin. Do we think when we put them up against each other, like basically we have two characters, two children, or I guess one's technically not.
PRINCESS: Semi child, yes.
TESSA: Semi child, looks, two, two characters that look like children that have odd numbers for names. So who do we think is going to win, princess? Who do you think is going to win here? Do you think El stands a chance?
PRINCESS: Even though I think Eleven has the better powers, I think I have to go for Five, mainly because, like, he knows how to use his powers very competently without bleeding from his nose. And he is-
TESSA: Shade.
PRINCESS: I mean, it happens to the best of us queen. And he is also like a 60 something year old man. So he's had just a lot more time to have strategy and tactics.
TESSA: Experience.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I think he had- his XP points are higher and he's got really good wisdom that- he's got all of the things. He got wisdom, dexterity. All that stuff.
TESSA: I mean, he can jump through time and space.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: Like, that's nuts. Like, I feel like he could just immediately jump behind Eleven and just knock her out and-
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: She wouldn't even know what was coming.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
CLIP: Do you have any idea how many people I have killed?
PRINCESS: And I just think that he would know how to take her out before she would know how to handle his powers.
TESSA: Yeah.
PRINCESS: So that's. Sor- sorry, El. I love you, but I'm going to have to go with Five.
TESSA: Sorry, El. I think five is going to win.
PRINCESS: Five is the victor. Flawless victory. Round two. Nancy Drew Wheeler versus Hermione Not-like-other-girls Granger.
TESSA: That's right. In one corner, we have Nancy Wheeler, and in the other we have Hermione Granger, two bushy haired overachiever girls that- and let's pretend that Hermione doesn't have magic, but let's think about, like, the power of their minds. If this was like a debate or some sort of thing where they were both using their strengths, like who do we think would like outsmart the other? Would it be Nancy or would it be Hermione?
PRINCESS: Honestly. If it was like to debate and get people on our side, I would go for Nancy. I don't think... I think the thing that Nancy has going for her, that Hermione doesn't is that Hermione is not a charismatic person. She is not, she is not like- evidence SPEW. You know? It's like she is not going to getting people on her agenda, whereas Nancy is not also- she's also not a great team leader. I think people will follow her and trust her more than they would trust Hermione. And I think Nancy also has more protagonists energy, which in terms of brain acumen, makes you make more risks, whereas Hermione is very risk averse.
TESSA: I do agree that Nancy is better at bringing a team together than Hermione is. And I mean, in this season, I think Nancy really stepped it up, actually. Because she, she was like making the plans for everything and she was like, okay, this is what we're going to do. So I do think that she is good at like coming up with the plan. I do think that Hermion is better at executing a plan like thinking through all the things that could happen. Nancy doesn't really do that very well. So I don't know. I don't know about like, I- I agree with you that Nancy has better people skills. She could definitely convince people to get on her side. But I do think that Hermione, could outsmart Nancy, like, because, I mean, Hermione has done some things where it's like, girl, like, how did you even think of that? Like, kind of, like, badass. Like, that's nuts. So... I... It's hard. It's difficult. But-
PRINCESS: We we have to call it we have to call in...
TESSA: I think we have to call it because I think I'm going to say Hermione and I think you're going to say, Nancy. So I think we should.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I think I think we should ask our lovely producer, Kelly, based on our arguments and your knowledge of these apps. Who do you think? Who's your favorite? Who do you say, Nancy or Hermione?
KELLY: Um, honestly, the- what I was coming up with in my head was that Nancy and Hermione would just end up joining the same team.
PRINCESS: Kelly chose the lesbian option. She was like, They would be best friends.
TESSA: Yes! Lesbian option.
PRINCESS: Round two: lesbians, victorious.
TESSA: Yes, lesbians victorious. Love that. That is always the better conclusion. Like why are we fighting? Let's kiss.
PRINCESS: This is dumb. Let's go hang out with our friends. Round three. We have Dart to the Demogorgon pup slash Demodog versus the one the only the eating champion of the world, mister scooby doo.
TESSA: Scooby dooby doo. Fight. This is terrifying to me.
PRINCESS: Scooby would get so hurt and I'm so sad for.
TESSA: He would get slaughtered. This is not good.
PRINCESS: We should have at least given it to Krypto. You know, Krypto at least I like my Kryptonian.
TESSA: Okay. I think that it's not fair that Scooby-Doo is by himself, because I think that Scooby is merely an extension of Shaggy's infinite power. So I think if Shaggy was with him, then Shaggy could, like, destroy Dart very easily. But Scooby alone, he has no chance. So I don't know. It's tough.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I think. I think Scooby Doo is going to be a demodog food.
TESSA: Oh, no. He's gonna be a Scooby Snack.
CLIP: [Scooby Doo Whines]
TESSA: No...
PRINCESS: Not a Scooby snack.
TESSA: And now it is time for the moment we've all been waiting for. Let's dive in to the new season of Stranger Things. Season four. Volume one. Episodes one through six. Baby, I'm pumped. But just so you know. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler alert. Spoiler warning. Spoilers! Guys, this is a spoiler alert. Okay. If you have not watched the first volume of Stranger Things the new season, do not listen to this. Watch it, then. Listen. Watch. Listen. Okay. This is your warning. That is all.
PRINCESS: We have spoken. This is time for spoilers. If you complain, we will remind you that you have been warned quite sufficiently.
TESSA: You have been. Warned.
PRINCESS: Sooo, Tessa, what did we think? What did we think about season four? Part one, part un.
TESSA: Oh, my gosh. I just have to say that this season is so good. It, it blew my expectations, like, out of the water. Seriously, like, I think this is the best season since season one. And it's, it's so hard because we haven't watched this show in a long time. It's been a long time. And so that made me really worried that I wouldn't like get as into the show because I haven't seen it and it's not like fresh on my brain. But oh man, they brought me back immediately. It was so good. It was- it just was the same Stranger T hings like excitement that I felt after watching that first season of like the mystery, the eighties vibes, the, like, grounded in friendship, like, oh, my gosh, I loved it.
TESSA: I loved it so much. What about you, princess?
PRINCESS: I love this season so much. I think it probably, if not, is my favorite since season one is my favorite season because it brings up one of my absolute favorite true crime bits, which is like the satanic panic. It is like one of the great things from me. So I rewatched season three before season four and I love how that season is very much setting up. Like all of this weird stuff happening in the eighties will set people off because that was the middle of all that suburban, you know, panic of Satanism and DND. So it was really fun to see the writers play with that concept in a world that is legitimately cursed. And that was excellent to me. And I always love it when that little Stephen King element comes through in Stranger Things and like my girl, Eleven is going through her absolute biggest Carrie season, and I've been wanting this for a long time. So it was just like I'm feeling the season a lot esthetically, the vibes, how it's using its setting everything going on with Lucas right now so I'm feeling it.
TESSA: Yes it was just it's one of those things too that like the kids are like older now and I feel like they're my own children. Like I am Joyce Byersand I'm like, Will! Will, my boy! Ahh!
PRINCESS: Will is so tall. When Will here is- It's good. I'm like, But you're a grown man. I was like, who are these adults?
TESSA: I know, I know. It's it's a lot, but it makes me emotional. I, like, feel so protective over them. I'm like, we must save them.
PRINCESS: I know. Especially like, I think like the styling choices are really key because I think you have this juxtaposition of like Will, who still seems to be in his like arrested development state, still kind of dressing like himself, but is just like a big man, you know, like, still like being like a kid. But in a male body. You have Mike who is like absolutely like a string bean of a lad. You have Lucas who is like sporting the, you know, the essential black male high top of the eighties. And then you have Eleven, Jane, who is just out here full Amish. And I'm just sitting here like, Oh, sis, this is why the bullies are bullying. I don't I don't agree with it, but I was looking at her fits and I'm just like, cJoyce. I know you got two sons, but come on, Wynonna. Come on. Got my girl out here looking repressed, like I was offended.
TESSA: It is true because like in season three, she had, like, such cute outfits, and then she went back. It's. It's all Joyce's fault. It's all- I blame Joyce. Like.
PRINCESS: Like it's her like literally. I'm like, I know you're, like, styling your kids for comfort, but, like, Jonathan's out here, like, full on pothead. Will is still wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was 12 years old. And you have Jane out here looking like she's about to, you know, try to convert me to Christ's love or, like, make me part of like her, her, her six wives. I'm like, this is like not okay. Someone save her.
TESSA: Oh, my Gosh, I know. And it's I did love the little like- There were certain specific things where it just really brought in like the fashion and the vibes of the eighties. I mean, we need to talk about so many things. There are so many like we okay, Hopper is alivee.
PRINCESS: Hopper's alive, which we knew. But I guess that I'll ask you is like, what was your big WTF moment from the season?
TESSA: Oh, my gosh. Well, that was one of them. I mean, I knew that Hopper was alive, like I called it like back, you know, way back. And so but it was just nice having that confirmation. I was like, the mustache lives. Amazing because I love, I love Hopper. I'm in love with Hopper. I love him.
CLIP: Emotions have been shared.
TESSA: He was too hot to die. I was like, There's no way he's dead. Like, Daddy lives on. So wait, what do you think about the whole Nancy and Steve, like, hinted at romance that's rekindling. Are you all for that?
PRINCESS: I mean. Here's the thing. I've always been team like, I like Steve, I like Jonathan, I like Nancy. I feel like Nancy and Jonathan make sense in like an eighties rom com. But in an eighties horror movie, I'm like, you need to be with Steve because Jonathan- jonathan don't got no swing in his game. Like I remember watching season three, she's about to get eaten by the mind-flayer and he's just like, Nancy, I'm like, But Steve is the one who will back the car into the wall. I'm like, That's the energy you need in your man. So I'm like, y'all gotta figure it out.
TESSA: Agreed. Jonathan is kind of a mess right now, personally, like he's all over the place. He really needs to find himself and figure it out. And it was actually the whole like Jonathan Nancy thing kind of like pissed me off a little bit because I'm like, they could have just started the season with them, like broken up something. Maybe they're trying to do like a love triangle thing and trying to bring that into it. But to me it's like not strong enough.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: So I.
PRINCESS: And we already did that, you know, we already had a long time between the three of them and I just feel like I was always team Steve. Jonathan is just like- to me of the of the core cast, jonathan has always been the most extraneous, the most caught up in everyone else's thing and being pulled his own way. He doesn't. He's rudderless. He doesn't have a purpose or a journey.
TESSA: Princess!
PRINCESS: He can go, I mean, if we have to if we have to kill someone, he can go.
TESSA: So you’re team kill Jonathan.
PRINCESS: I mean if someone must die.
TESSA: Someone is going to die, but I don't think they're going to die now anyway. I do think at the end and like when this is finally done, when stranger thing is, stranger things is all over, they're going to have to kill somebody.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: It's like either El's going to have to do it, Will. It's going to have to be someone and it's going to hurt.
PRINCESS: I know I have-
TESSA: It's goint to hurt us all.
PRINCESS: I have my money on who I think it's going to be at the end end, but it's just a theory.
TESSA: Oh, so we're going to wait. We're waiting on it.
PRINCESS: I mean, I will say like I, I feel like it has to be Eleven because she's the special. And the special is the one thing in all of these shows and properties that doesn't really remain, you know, like, you know, Carrie dies. ET goes home. Like I think that we are seeing very much her trying to struggle between being a person of multiple realities.
TESSA: Right.
PRINCESS: And really struggling under that. So and we haven't spent a lot of time seeing her adapt to this world on her own. Like, I feel like she's in such a place where she's so dependent on other people that I da- I really don't know how she could survive because we've never really seen that be the focus of her journey.
TESSA: Right. That's such a good point. It's... Oh, I love her. I don't want her to go.
PRINCESS: Well, for me when it comes to like my WTF moment I... It was literally, it was early on but it was definitely when Eleven, Jane put hands on Angela with that roller skate.
CLIP: Angela! Oh shit. You, okay?
PRINCESS: I was like I was like, that happened. I was like, this is... People are going to be like, Princess. Do you condone violence? I'm just like, no. But I was like, literally what the most gangster things I've ever seen in my life. I was just like, I was like, like. Cause here's the thing, eighties bullying is not just light. That was- what they did to her was traumatic. And she brought up her dead father. Who is you, Angela? Literally, I was like, What? After all she did, that's the least that could have happened to her. TBH.
TESSA: This is a classic platinum blond bully. Like, Come on, girl, what did you think was going to happen? Do not go there.
PRINCESS: Don't go there. And I just think to myself, like, you all live in a world where Carrie exists, like, so you all think it's appropriate to pick on the little, religiously dressed little girl who can't really do things right. That is the person who's going to destroy prom. Like, I don't know, be that person's friend. And I think the thing that made me so sad and brought me to that point where I feel like Eleven is really struggling, is that like she cares so much what Mike thinks about her that she'll like make up having friends?
CLIP: It helps that everyone is so nice here. I have made lots of friends.
TESSA: Oh that hurt my heart.
PRINCESS: And I'm just like and you know, she doesn't really connect with Will in that way, although I did love when he had them do that thing of Allen turning. I'm like, Gay alert, Gay alert, Gay alert.
TESSA: Oh, we need to talk about that because that is... I am so mad. I am distraught!
PRINCESS: We'll, we'll put a pin in that. But like, yeah, I was just like she really has not attached to other people and I don't feel like the people around her fully understand that. But let's go into- let's go into what you were talking about.
TESSA: My poor little baby is in love. Like, honestly, I've always felt that Will like is like my son. I kind of look like Winona Ryder slightly and I feel like Will like combined with me and my husband right now. Like, that would be the child. We'd have this, like, bug eyed, haunted looking ass kid. So, like, I've always connected with Will, I've always felt like he's my child. This little gay, little boy is in love with his best friend. And it's like they keep leaving these clues. And if they don't act upon those completely, I will lose my mind.
CLIP: Maybe I am a mess. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm out of my mind.
TESSA: I will absolutely lose it. So we need, I need him to. Oh, but like when he was telling Mike, like, it's scary to open up and say how you really feel. Like I was... I'm furious.
PRINCESS: Like that entire s- like here's my. All right. So this last season, I have really felt like the party, as they call themselves, do really dirty by Lucas and Will in general, because Duncan is very adaptable. He, like, has made his friends and he's good. I feel like the group doesn't really understand either Lucas's blackness or the fact that Will literally has spent a very long time in a very traumatic situation and adapting to that. Like they're not good at communicating that. And yes, they're children. But when Will's talking to Mike, it's like we used to be best friends and he's just like, I have a girlfriend now.
CLIP: She's my girlfriend, Will. And us? We're friends.
PRINCESS: I was just like, aaah! I was. I was in a rage like flames on the side of my face. I was so angry because at that moment I was like, So Will is obviously in love with him. And I'm like, I hate that trope because they did it in part two which, you know, so already clock that. But I hate that trope because it's like we're setting Will up for like heartbreak or lik disaster and my heart can't take that.
TESSA: I can't take it either. Will's been through nough. He's been through nough.
PRINCESS: He's been through enough. And even though I'm enjoying, you know, Maya Hawke and Anne of Green Gables, it's also just like, again, it's this whole, like, fear and tension. It's like, I know that we're in the eighties, but like, this is also wish fulfillment. Can we get a little bit of, like, happy queerness? You know?
TESSA: Yeah. I'm hoping that he's going to, like, open up. Like, I do hope they talk about it. I hope that he opens up to Mike and they have like a conversation and he's not... Somehow they resolve it where he's not just completely heartbroken and it's actually like a positive thing for him. And then maybe we see like in the future, if Will doesn't die. Mike doesn't die?
PRINCESS: Oh, God, they hope they know that Will can't die. Yeah, it's like you cannot market a show and do this whole like skirting around someone's sexuality and then decide at the end, well, like, we're just going to, like, do whatever. Like, you can't. You need to know your tropes. And it's been very frustrating with like in rewatching season three how like Robin is like very much not queer coded until like the very end because like it was like I was watching it knowing that she was, you know, a lesbian.
TESSA: Right.
PRINCESS: And everything they do is absolutely setting it off that she's going to end up being with Steve. And they're like, no, I like girls. And like, that's fine. But also like, well, why didn't she make her Butch? Why did she, like, overemphasize her femininity in that way? It's like, I love the show, don't get me wrong. But like that- when ,when shows make those kind of choices around queerness, it feels very cliche and like repetitiv,.
TESSA: Right. Well, they're just using it as like a reveal where it's like. It's a it's a whole person.
PRINCESS: Yeah. Like nothing about her would have. Yeah, exactly. And it's like, I know it's Indiana. Like, I've seen The Prom, so I know it can be rough out there, but at the same time, I think that there are better ways they could have handled that dynamic than just being like surprise at the end. Although I do love that Steve and Robin are still BFFs.
TESSA: Besties. Yeah. Yeah, I love their, I love them together. I love like Steve with everyone. Yeah. Steve and Dustin. I love Steve and robin, I even like Steve and Nancy. Like, put Steve with anyone and I'm happy.
PRINCESS: Yeah, because Steve has a personality and charisma. It's like that's the thing is like from like since the very beginning, Steve has been compelling to watch. And Jonathan is not. No shame to the actor because it's not the actor's fault. That character is just very like-.
TESSA: Princess, I'm dying. You just hate Jonathan so mcuh.
PRINCESS: Because Jonathan is like every problematic trope of like eighties love interest that we've all decided suck. But he still does all of them. Like, he does the, like, light stalking. He does the like light peeping. He does the like, I can't communicate with my girlfriend.
TESSA: That's fair. That's fair. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about like DND, because it's so fascinating because first of all, like DND itself, like right now has blown up so much since season one of Stranger Things. And I do think it's partially because of Stranger Things really.
PRINCESS: Oh for sure.
TESSA: Like and it really sort of introduced Andy to a lot of people and I'm so I'm just really happy that they're like incorporating more DND this season because last season they did not. It was just like at the end real quick and I, it, it's like I know that they're still using like DND with the villains, but I still like when they incorporate like the game as well. And just with Eddie and with everything, the Hellfire Club, The Satanic Panic, I just love it. I think it's so brilliant and perfect and it's it's awesome. I don't know, like my, one of my favorite scenes was like the slo mo shot of Luca's, like, scoring that winning goal. And then it gets to Erica, like, friggin rolling that natural.
PRINCESS: That 20 yeah!
TESSA: I was like. It was like, it made me want to play DND so badly. It was so epic. I actually, like, cheered. I literally went like Yeah! when, when it happened.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: So it was just like, it's so good. I love it. I love it so much.
PRINCESS: What I do want to do is I want to just give a little bit of extra attention to my boy Caleb, who plays Lucas and Stranger Things. I love him. I love that actor. He's a New Yorker like me. Although Carmel and I, I have always had this feeling of like, I love the show. I never really felt like the show really knew how to connect Lucas's blackness, his nerdiness all together in the show. But in watching this season, it was the first time in a while I felt like they're sort of dealing with the fact that, like, Lucas wasn't just a nerd, he was a black nerd. And like, with athleticism, he has a chance to really, like, stand out and to find himself outside of his team. And the look on his face when, like, nobody came to his game was just really devastating to me.
TESSA: I know. It made me sad.
PRINCESS: It made me really sad. And I get it. Like DND was their thing that they could all enjoy together. But like, those are like- even though now they had like another black kid in that group, but those are tend to be predominantly white spaces. Like I play Magic, The Gathering, I play dND. When I go to my, you know, my local game store, I am the only black girl that's there, like.
TESSA: Mm hmm.
PRINCESS: It was really sad that, like, no one could understand that, like, this is equally important to him. And I think it's something that they really needed to start dealing with, but. Because, you know, Lucas, Lucas kind of guess the short end of the stick in this series, in my opinion. So I like that they are letting him have a more complicated journey this season because I think that he deserves that, because his relationship to the characters will always be different because he's not white. And he has to straddle these two worlds differently of being a regular person and being a jock and being black and being a nerd. And I just felt really like, it was refreshing to finally see that character get to do that. And Caleb McLaughlin, I think, is his last name. How it's pronounced is a great actor. So it was great seeing him get that versatility to get to do.
TESSA: Mhmm. Oh, he did a great job. He really like you can tell that he stepped it up and he like took it seriously and really added layers to this character. Like we want layers from these, especially these characters that we've known for many seasons now. It's like, these are the ones that we want to really connect with and the ones that like we want to care about if something happens in their friendship. Because this is like a core group that we've known since they were a little tiny babies.
PRINCESS: Babies! I know, and now he's 20 years old like he can drink this year. Like he'll turn 21 this year and he'll be able to drink in October. I'm like-
TESSA: Wild.
PRINCESS: You're just a little baby. But yeah, I have loved him for such a long time. He was great and concrete cowboys and I'm just really- which was released on Netflix. It just it feels good to see him get to lean into that. And I know he's been very outspoken about his blackness, so I just wanted to give him some props. We love you, Caleb.
TESSA: Okay. I want to talk about freakin Vecna.
CLIP: Vecna lives
PRINCESS: I was going to say it's Vecna time. You can read my mind.
TESSA: It's Vecna time, baby. Oh my gosh
PRINCESS: We're bringing Vecna back.
TESSA: We're bringing in back to back. Yeah! Well, actually, this is the first time we're seeing Vecna in this series. So we're not bringing him back. We're bringing him back in our hearts because I I'm I'm obsessed. I don't know if I should just, like, start talking about my obsession with Vecna, but I'm in love. I think he's really hot. So I am.
PRINCESS: He is giving him. Mm hmm. He's giving Swamp Thing, Daddy. You know, I'm saying? I was just like.
TESSA: He is! Like his voice. Excuse me? It was like when he was like, join me, I would be like, Yes, Daddy. Let's go to your spooky demon house in the upside down. Like, I'm coming, like, would smash 100%. Like, I, I'm obsessed with him because there's another thing where I like I love villains I-
PRINCESS: Me too.
TESSA: Love monsters. I love it all, so. But I was not into the de-Demogorgon was too much for me. Mind Flayer. No. Vecna, though? Vecna, though? Obsessed. Simp for days. I would join him immediately. And I'm obsessed with everything about him. I just want more. More of him, like I will be your lich-bitch. So.
PRINCESS: Yes, I loved Vecna. He was giving me Swamp Thing. I enjoy, like the brutality of it. Like each death scene, I was like, Vecna! Oh. And then I was like, What did they do to you? I don't understand. It was so intense.
TESSA: So intense.
PRINCESS: I saw when he asked to join you, it was giving like, do you want to live deliciously from the VVitch, where I was just like, yes, yes, yes, yes.
TESSA: Exactly! I like his little like scary haunted mansion house in hell. I would go. That sounds fun. Let's do it.
PRINCESS: And I did a little bit of research because he really is a DND character.
TESSA: Yes! He's a big DND baddy.
PRINCESS: So for those who may not know, Vecna is considered one of the greatest villains in DND. He was originally a very powerful warlord who became a lich and was eventually destroyed with only like his hand and one of his one of his hands and one of his eyes remaining. And he achieved godhood, and still has those same things. And he is now this very powerful godlike figure. He is natural evil, and he is just one of the most popular characters, which makes it so cool that he actually is showing up in this series.
TESSA: So great. I wonder like how far are they going to go into like the DND lore? Like how much of that are they going to use in the show? Or are they just like taking him? Because with the Demagorgon, it didn't connect too much to like DND. They just sort of like made it their own. So I'm wondering like, are the kids going to have to like find and destroy the hand and eye of Vecna like in order to destroy him or are they like not going to go with that, and just, you know, they have to go to the upside down and kill him, you know?
PRINCESS: Yeah, it's I'm like maybe like Eleven will like her fate to become the new like Raven Queen or something like that, which would be very on brand.
TESSA: Oh the sword of Kas?
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: Oh, shoot. Aawww. Could you imagine Eleven with a sword
PRINCESS: I know!
TESSA: Forget it. Oh, my God, I'd obsess. Yeah. Okay. Also, I definitely want to get into Eddie, especially since I got to interview the actor Joseph Quinn himself, which you will hear later on in this episode.
PRINCESS: Eddie is such an interesting character because he's definitely, like I mentioned before, like an expie of like the West Memphis Three. This like poor kid, you know, with his long hair, very intense attitude. He is the new DM for the Hellfire Club.
CLIP: Welcome to Hellfire.
PRINCESS: Which great X-Men slash The Avengers call out. The British Avengers, not the Marvel Avengers. So he is the DM of the Hellfire Club, and he accidentally is in the same room with Vecna when he comes for this girl.
TESSA: Oops.
PRINCESS: And it's like, Oh no. And like it was so- I was like, I was ready for him to actually be the villain. And I was like, Oh no, he's just a lamb. And I'm like, Oh, no, run, Eddie. Run!
TESSA: You thought he was going to be the villain?
PRINCESS: I thought maybe. But then I was like, Oh, no, he is good. Oh, no, but he's poor. He's going to get screwed. Run, Eddie, run.
TESSA: Yeah.
PRINCESS: You're too poor to get caught with a dead body.
TESSA: He really did get screwed. He really did. And this like crazy chaos, nerd boy. I immediately loved him and his energy and how he was just like, you know, we're the nerds and freaks, baby. And like, hell yeah, I would join. I'd be in your club like.
PRINCESS: Uh for sure.
TESSA: Obsessed. And it was- he just every, every time he just keeps getting screwed. Like every time where you think, like, he's going to be okay, something happens, and then he's like, Oh, crap, I then he's trying to get away. And then he almost doesn't make it, but then he does. So like, I definitely think he's going to die. No offense, but.
PRINCESS: Oh for sure. Plus that wig like must be like 85 degrees. I'm sure he is sweat-ting. I was just like, oh A, that's a wig. B, that wig is so hot.
PRINCESS: Well, it's because like- it's one of those things where a lot of my favorite characters die. So when I like liked him, immediately I was like, Oh no, he's going to die. Like, cause I loved Billy. And then Billy died and I'm like, oh, God, here its, here it comes again. Another boy that I like is going to die. Maybe he lives, maybe I'm wrong. And maybe he will live and I will be a little happy clam. But I don't think he's going to live because I like him too much.
PRINCESS: Well, at least Billy lived for like a season because I didn't like Billy. But he ended and when he dead, I'm like, Well, that was sad, but, you know, goodbye. But at least he got to go out being a champion.
TESSA: Ha ha ha. Well, speaking of Billy, like Max, this reason is... She was just, like, completely brought into the forefront. And I'm glad because-
PRINCESS: Me too.
TESSA: I was worried that she was just going to be like another throwaway character. And I'm like, we can't just keep bringing in characters for no reason. I hope that, like, we're bringing this character in, like, for a specific reason. And I think this was the reason and I'm... It was brilliant. I loved like the whole- the entire episode four was so wild and so, like, insane where they, like, realized Max had like 24 hours to live before, like, she would be, like, caught in Vecna's curse. So they're trying to figure out how to help her. Like, that was so wild. And I, like, I just felt for her so hard and and then the like, the end of that episode, it really got me. I mean, I'm a sucker. I'm a freakin sucker being a Harry Potter fan, of when like, friendship and love, like, saves the day.
PRINCESS: Same.
TESSA: Forget it. I'm a big, big sucker for that. So, like, you know, the end moment where Max is like listening to the music and she sees her friends and then like the friend montage moment. I was like, almost crying.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I- as like a magical girl, Sailor Moon nerd, I'm like, This is especially my jam. And I think, I think it really worked because her depression this entire, that entire season, which is really well done, even though, again, I felt like Billy was supposed to be abusive. So I'm like, I don't. It was very complicated. But I love that they were giving her time to be emotional and sad, and that character has not always been used in the most constructive ways. So it was great to see, like her emotions, her feelings really be at the center. Because she has gone through something very hard like that was her brother, you know, and losing him in that way and not being able to really talk about what happened to him. Like if you think about-
TESSA: Right?
PRINCESS: If Angela knew how Hopper died, she wouldn't be talking all that shit, would she? No.
TESSA: Very true. Very true. Oh, my Gosh.
PRINCESS: Like, like he saved America, Angela. Skate to the face.
TESSA: Yeah. ANGELA! He's the reason that you're alive, okay? You would be dead.
PRINCESS: Respect on Hopper's name. On his sexy name.
TESSA: Exactly. Definitely 100%. I am a Hopper stan till the end. But, but, yeah. Max was like... I loved how grounded in real her char- again they did such a good job with making all of this whole show being grounded in the characters like real emotions and feelings that you go through of just like growing up. And then also there's a supernatural element to it.
PRINCESS: Yes.
TESSA: So it's like we're dealing with all this human stuff. And then there's also like we could be killed by these DND villains.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: I just love it.
PRINCESS: It. It's the perfect Buffy episode. Like Stranger Things is definitely like the great combination of, like, my favorite parts of Stephen King, my favorite parts of eighties horror, and my favorite parts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer all match together. So it's super fun.
TESSA: They really like up to the horror aspect this season.
PRINCESS: Oh for sure, because last season was gross as hell, but this was scary. Like, I was like, is this The Conjuring? Like, what's going on?
TESSA: Yeah, there are moments that I actually screamed, like there were moments where it was scary. And, my favorite thing is like watching Stranger Things by myself at night. I love getting scared. So I was just like I was so pumped because the last season didn't really scare me that much at all.
PRINCESS: It was just gross.
TESSA: I know, and I'm just like ehh, but this season? It's spooky. I like it. It feels like a horror movie, so I love it.
PRINCESS: Yeah, that's the other thing is giving Pinhead because he is definitely leaning into the body horror and I'm just like, okay, sir. You're hitting all my soft spots, all my sweet spots as a horror fan. So it's really good.
TESSA: So I do have a question for you, Princess, because this is one of my like favorite things that they added to this season was like solving like the mystery of like, oh- well, they didn't fully solve the mystery of Vecna yet, but just like how we can help Max, it's like, Oh, you have to play like her favorite song to get like her out of Vecna's trance. I thought that was great. I freaking loved it. I love little stuff like that. So I have to ask you, what song would get you out of Vecna's trance? I neeed to know.
PRINCESS: Hm, that is a very in case of emergency question.
TESSA: Right?
PRINCESS: I think honestly, Spice Up Your Life by the Spice Girls is like amazing. This is also your like [sings the melody] when you're feeling sad.
TESSA: Okay, that's good to know. So if this happens, I'll know what song to play for you.
PRINCESS: What about you? Do I just started whistling the Harry Potter theme song? [hums]
TESSA: Any John- like any John Williams will woul-would like get me out of it. If you play any Elton John, Tiny Dancer would get me out of it. If you play like Holding Out for a Hero.
PRINCESS: That's a good one.
TESSA: Or what's, turn around!
PRINCESS: Bright eyes!
TESSA: Total Eclipse of the Heart.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: Any of those would get me out of Vecna- I love music. Yeah. Any of those.
PRINCESS: Put Spotify on shuffle and just be like, Baby Got Back. That'll do it. That'll do it.
TESSA: Oh my gosh, can you imagine?
PRINCESS: You're like, just like, oh, my God, you're like. You're like, look at her butt. Just like. [laughs]
TESSA: Vecna's like, what is happening?
PRINCESS: You're like, you forgot- you forgot one thing. Tessa loves music!
TESSA: [laughs].
PRINCESS: Just a boombox. Like the weirdest thing.
PRINCESS: Yeah, the boombox over the head.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: All those random stuff keeps coming up. Oh, I love it. Perfect. So I just needed to know, just in case. Of course, these are important questions that you guys should also ask your friends because you never know in a DND slash Stranger Things emergency when we're going to need to know these things. Right. Are you prepared for a zombie apocalypse?
PRINCESS: Yeah, but just shows how much you care.
TESSA: So, guys, this is a little call to action for you. So let us know. What song would you want to be played to get you out of Vecna's trance that would get you out of Vecna's curse. Let us know at Netflix Geeked on, you know, Instagram on Twitter. Talk to us. Because this is a great question and I need to know everybody's song.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: That would, you know, get them out of it.
PRINCESS: Yeah, definitely Spice World. Or the Sailor Moon theme song- the American one. I would just like automatically, or Bodak Yellow by a Cardi B. The top three, obviously.
TESSA: All great. Love that. But yeah, this season so good.
PRINCESS: Really great.
TESSA: Immaculate eighties vibes. Like incredible character development and feelings and emotions and reality. But then also this huge, intense, supernatural mystery with DND villains like this show is perfection. It's so good. They made it like it came back full force.
PRINCESS: Mm hmm.
TESSA: And I'm just so impressed that they nailed it.
PRINCESS: Yeah. I feel like to everyone who really loves season one, season, this newest season is definitely giving you that vibe that you wanted. Because I know people really love that, like, that DND, that fantasy. It's it's giving that a lot this season. It's very enjoyable.
TESSA: Now we have a very special treat for you guys. I'm so excited to tell you that I got to sit down in person with Joseph Quinn, the actor who played Eddie Munson himself, the fricking leader of the Hellfire Club, the DND Dungeon Master. I got to sit down with him and I got to ask him some questions about his character and what it was like to be on the new season. And so here you go. Here is that. Enjoy.
TESSA: Tell me three of your favorite TV shows and you can say Stranger Things go three.
JOE: My favorite TV shows. Peep show. Toast of London. Have you watched that show?
TESSA: These are these all London show? This is a British thing.
JOE: Yeah. It's a British show, and I loved a TV show called The Leftovers
TESSA: Oh, yeah, I've heard of that.
JOE: Yes, I really, really loved that one.
TESSA: Amazing. And going back to Stranger Things, did you watch Stranger Things before you got cast? Like as a fan. Be honest with me, sir.
JOE: Well, yeah, I watched the first season, and then after I got the part, I watched two and three and thought, what a pile of shit, I'm not going to do it.
TESSA: You're like, This is a deal breaker.
JOE: I said, No, no, no, and they were like please, please, please. It was like fine. I'll do it.
TESSA: So this is the fourth season of Stranger Things. The show is freakin massive. It already has this established fan base. Like, what was it like stepping into all that as a new character? Like overwhelmed, excited?
JOE: Totally overwhelming.
TESSA: Yeah.
JOE: I was daunted, I was nervous. But yeah, I mean, everyone in so lovely despite it being so.
TEESSA: Oh, good.
JOE: Huge. There was no kind of no egos, especially, you know, in the group that I was in any way. Everyone was very kind and accommodating. And yeah, there was. It felt like any, but that's a lie, It didn't feel like any other set. It felt like a big scary set but, um, it was.
TESSA: Was there a lot of green screen stuff?
JOE: Oh, it's.
TESSA: Everywhere.
JOE: It’s blue screen. Which is a whole different animal. Yeah.
TESSA: Speaking of getting cast, I always love these stories. Like, where were you and what were you doing when you found out that you got the role of Eddie?
JOE: Oh, God, I can't. Yeah, it was. I think I'm going to the risk of sounding totally self-involved here.
TESSA: Oh, no.
JOE: Yeah. Which is never a good way to start a story. But it was kind of the easiest job of I've ever got, which is crazy crazy. But I sent to in terms of, you know, you know, the know, it's incredibly.
TESSA: Yeah, there's a lot.
JOE: It can be a long process and kind of numerous rounds of auditions and like lots of people saying yes and, or no.
TESSA: Oh yeah, it can be a nightmare.
JOE: And I kind of sent, and I've been sending tapes off to America for years and not hearing anything back, obviously, because no one gets jobs.
TESSA: Yeah.
JOE: And so I sent a tape off and then they asked me to do another one, and then they asked me to do it. Mad.
TESSA: That is wild. That never happens.
JOE: So honestly, so when I got the call, it was kind of I was obviously very, very shocked. I thought kind of, You would think that there would be kind of, I don't know. I, you know, I don't know.
TESSA:Were you just at home and you got it?
JOE: I was, yeah, I was at home. And my agent called me and he's like, Hey, is that Eddie, from Stranger- and I was like, What? Yes. And and then, yeah, and then I was facetiming- I did a Skype meeting with the Duffers a few days later.
TESSA: Oh, my god.
JOE: And they were like, Listen, we really want you to do, and I was like what? And obviously, they were so kind of like, Oh, we loved you in this. Some bullshit that I've never seen, obviously, but they were being nice. It was What? OK. .
TESSA: Like what is happening right now?
JOE: Yeah, I mean, obviously, I was like, No, it's fine- Next question. Yeah.
TESSA: You're like, Obviously, no, I watched it.
JOE: Yeah, yeah, I've watched it. It's not good. Your show is not good.
TESSA: OK, let's talk about Eddie Munson. Describe your character to our audience. This boy.
JOE: He is... He's chaotic.
TESSA: Yes.
JOE: Falsely accused. Stylish and kind of manic.
TESSA: Yes. Did you like wearing the outfits? The outfits get you into character?
JOE: I kind of loved it.
TESSA: Yeah.
JOE: I've never had that before.
TESSA: And the wig? Does the wig help too?
JOE: Totally.
TESSA: Yeah.
JOE: It was a very kind of surreal thing. Looking back at yourself, kind of. You see that monster, you know. It’s very weird.
TESSA: You’re like, that, that's me. Oh yeah.
JOE: But it's so helpful. You know, it's kind of like, Oh, it's it's I think when you've got a kind of look that that bold.
TESSA: Right?
JOE: It kind of does do a lot, that it does most of the work for you.
TESSA: Like, I'm just filling in the blanks here, like this is this is who he is. Totally.
TESSA: So we find out at the end of Chapter four, that if you are under Vekna's Curse and in the real world, a song is playing that has meaning to you that it can help snap you out of it.
JOE: Right.
TESSA: If you were under Vecna's Curse, what song would snap you out of it? What's a song that has meaning to you? Any song?
JOE: Golden Years by David Bowie.
TESSA: And why?
JOE: Because it's a banger.
TESSA: Just because it's a banger.
JOE: Yeah.
TESSA: There's no, like, memory attached to it.
PRINCESS: Oh yeah, I mean, I listen to it a lot as a kid. That whole album, actually Station to Station is kind of one of my favorite albums. It's not massively celebrated of David's.
TESSA: So play some Bowie and you'd be brought back.
JOE: I'd be, I'd be back, yeah..
TESSA: Real, quick. What did you love most about playing Eddie so far?
JOE: You know, he's the best character I've ever played. He, like, just it was beautifully, well written.
TESSA: Yes.
JOE: And I think kind of that was he's given so much space to for redemption and for a kind of play. He's really playful and he's ultimately very heroic. He's had everything that an actor could possibly want. You know, he had light, shade, guilt.
TESSA: Yeah, juicy.
JOE: Levity.
TESSA: Mm hmm. Exactly. No, he was great. I'm telling you, that's why I liked his character. He was a great character.
JOE: I'm glad you like him.
TESSA: It's one of those things where when you add new characters, they got to be good.
JOE: Yeah, it could go wrong, right?
TESSA: Yeah, exactly. So you lucked out. You got a great one.
JOE: Thank you.
TESSA: And you fucking nailed it.
JOE: Bless you.
TESSA: Yeah. I wouldn't lie to you. OK. We're going to do a little Stranger Things rapid fire. You're going to tell me if you I'm going to say a thing and you're going to say yes or no, if you personally like it.
JOE: Okay.
TESSA: It's all referenced in Stranger Things. All right, right? Waffles.
JOE: Yes.
TESSA: Bikes?
JOE: Yes.
TESSA: Walkie talkies.
JOE: Yes.
TESSA: California.
JOE: Yes.
TESSA: Handwritten letters.
JOE: Yeah.
TESSA: Basketball?
JOE: Yeah.
TESSA: Dice.
JOE: No.
TESSA: But that's it. And we're done. So nice meeting you, man.
JOE: And you
PRINCESS: Ah. So, Tessa, what is your one more thing?
TESSA: My one more thing is I just need everybody to remember we covered episode seven in a separate episode.
PRINCESS: Which will be coming out tomorrow.
TESSA: And it will break down everything in episode seven and our theories for the rest of Stranger Things Season four. Also, I just want to say Hopper is alive and we must celebrate David Harbor and his sexiness that it's all back, Daddy's back, he's bringing sexy back and Vecna is hot.
PRINCESS: Agreed. Daddy, Daddy Vecna.
TESSA: Daddy Vecna forever.
PRINCESS: We love him. One more thing. Allowing queer babies to be happy is a good thing. Yes. And even though labels aren't necessarily, fiction writers, sometimes you should label your characters because audiences want to know if you're queer baiting us or not. FYI.
TESSA: Give them happiness.
TESSA: Give them happiness. Don't queer bait, it's bad. We don't like it. Stop shooting lesbians. The end.
PRINCESS: The Geek podcast is hosted by me, Princess Weekes.
TESSA: And me Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: Find me on YouTube as Princess Weekes and on Twitter as @WeekesPrincess.
TESSA: And you can find me on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. All the Internets @TessaNetting. Guys, this is a Netflix Geeked and Spoke Media production.
PRINCESS: Our executive producers are Keesha TK Dutes, Brigham Mosely, Alia Tavakolian and Keith Reynolds.
TESSA: Kelly Kolff is our producer. Reyes Mendoza is our associate producer. Da'Laura Patton is our coordinating producer. And Carson McCain gets a special thanks for being awesome.
PRINCESS: Sound Design in engineering by Evan Arnett, who also composed and performed our original theme.
TESSA: And to stay updated on all things Geeked, be sure to follow Netflix Geeked on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.
PRINCESS: Thanks so much for listening, Bye!
TESSA: Bye!