Exciting and New · Jason, Andy, and Dana

S6 Mini 2 What are we watching?

January 12, 2026·37 min·3 clips

Stranger Things season five ends with a controversial Purple Rain scene and a debate over whether Elle is alive.

1. Exciting and New Season 6 Mini 2 is a round-table watch-list discussion with hosts Jason, Andy, Dana, and returning guest Logan, covering streaming content from late 2024 through early 2025. 2. Logan last appeared on the podcast for the Halloween mini, and his previous episode was the Jim Carrey film Once Bitten. 3. The episode is structured as a go-around but is dominated by a lengthy spoiler discussion of Stranger Things Season 5, which all four hosts have seen. 4. Logan opens with Mr. Beast Game Season 2, noting it dropped its first three episodes, that the format changed from 1,000 participants to 200, and that the season pits 100 strong people against 100 smart people. 5. Logan praises Mr. Beast (real name Jimmy) for owning localized versions of his channel in approximately 50 languages and reinvesting all YouTube revenue into the next video. 6. Jason covers Marty Supreme (Timothée Chalamet, set in 1952, about competitive table tennis) as one of his favorite films of the year, available on streaming after a theatrical run starting Christmas Day. 7. Jason and Logan briefly discuss the new Knives Out film Dead Man, which Jason liked and his wife Michelle liked but Andy fell asleep during; a character is identified from the Zendaya film Challengers. 8. The group transitions into Stranger Things Season 5 spoilers, with Logan declaring himself surprised to have enjoyed the season as much as he did after months of skepticism about the long-awaited final run. 9. The group debates the cast's physical appearances, with consensus that Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) and Sadie Sink (Max) are attractive while the male leads get unfavorable comments, and Ted Wheeler is praised after being spotted at the red carpet with salt-and-pepper hair. 10. Jason argues that Stranger Things handled Will's coming out too casually given the 1987 setting and the height of the AIDS epidemic: "Nobody even said be careful. A shit ton of people are dropping dead." 11. Logan identifies the moment he recognized Dustin's graduation speech as a verbatim echo of Eddie's Season 4 cafeteria speech — including the finger-flip — calling it the most emotionally resonant callback of the finale. 12. The group criticizes the finale's loose ends: Linda Hamilton's character having no resolution, Hopper facing no consequences for multiple killings, and the Jonathan-Nancy-Steve group-hug resolution feeling unearned. 13. The debate over the Purple Rain finale scene divides the group: Jason wanted a more somber Stranger Things-specific track, while Logan defends the Prince song as a powerful choice. 14. Dana describes the Netflix documentary Evil Influencer (1 hour 40 minutes) about Jodi Hildebrandt, a Utah parenting-and-marriage influencer who was exposed for keeping children hog-tied in a basement room behind a full-size vault door. 15. The documentary's key discovery moment is described: a malnourished boy with tape around his ankles knocked on a stranger's door in the desert and politely asked, "Can you do me a favor? Can you call the police?" — which Dana says is also how she first encountered the story on TikTok years earlier. 16. Dana notes that Hildebrandt systematically separated couples by telling wives their husbands were evil and ordering no-contact, effectively acting as a cult leader, and that both women are now in prison. 17. Dana also covers the hospital drama The Pit (a 15-hour shift in real time, set in Pittsburgh), which she calls "amazing," noting that even minor injuries — a fingertip with exposed bone — nearly made her vomit. 18. Andy discusses finishing Peacemaker Season 2 and Gen V Season 2, calling both strong, and mentions High Potential returning after a three-month hiatus, with praise for Kaitlin Olson's impractical but crowd-pleasing wardrobe. 19. The tone is conversational and tangent-heavy throughout, with the Stranger Things discussion extending far past the planned time, causing the hosts to note they had only made it halfway around the table. 20. Best suited for viewers who have finished Stranger Things Season 5 and want to hear a casual spoiler-filled debrief, or fans of true-crime documentary discussions.

As heard by us

A skeptical Beast Game season-two check-in that ends up liking it more than expected.

The piece opens as a check-in on Beast Game season two and settles into a mostly favorable read, even after the hosts set out looking for flaws.

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Why you'd press play

You want a skeptical read on Beast Game season two that somehow still lands amused.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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