I recently finished watching the final season of Stranger Things. Without spoiling anything for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, there’s a profound conversation near the end of the season. One character is struggling with the weight of a painful loss and the guilt that comes with it. Another character, who’s been down a similar road, offers some wisdom about the choice we all face when dealing with difficult relationships and painful circumstances. The moment I heard the conversation tears began rolling down my face. It absolutely wrecked me and taught me something  powerful.

Welcome back, cortexifans, to our fifth and final season! We are kicking things off a tad unconventionally by starting off season 5… with a season 4 episode! “Letters of Transit” was Fringe’s whacky, out of the box 19th episode of season 4 and truly behaves as the backdoor premiere to season 5 which is why we ultimately decided to watch it and cover it that way.

I thought I had it all figured out. I’d driven that route dozens of times. I knew exactly where I was going. I didn’t need any help. So I turned off the GPS and relied on my own knowledge and experience. And that’s exactly when things went sideways. Sometimes I turned it off too early and ended up heading the wrong direction. Other times I turned it on too late and missed my opportunity to avoid trouble altogether. In both cases, the problem was the same. I thought I knew better. I thought I could handle it on my own.

Can the truth be both our salvation and our damnation, depending on how desperately we need to escape ourselves? “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room” follows small-time hood Jackie Rhoades as he confronts his reflection in a mirror that forces him to face his true self and choose between continuing his criminal life or finding redemption. Meanwhile, “The Whole Truth” centers on a used car salesman who acquires a cursed car that compels anyone who owns it to tell nothing but the absolute truth, ultimately destroying his dishonest livelihood and forcing him to confront his own moral bankruptcy.

The final chapter of Stranger Things has closed, and the Hawkins crew is gone but not forgotten. After years of covering every twist, monster, and Upside Down revelation, we’re gathering with listeners who’ve been on this journey from the beginning to dissect what worked, what didn’t, and what it all meant. From the emotional gut punches to the unresolved mysteries, we’re leaving no stone unturned as we not only examine the series finale and final season that everyone’s been debating since it dropped, but all the seasons and moments that led us there.

Heroes have been a part of American pop culture for decades. We’ve seen them come to life on the pages of comic books and movie screens, and heard them sung about by some of our favorite musical artists. Songs by David Bowie and Foo Fighters are some of my favorites, but I think Mariah Carey’s song about heroes is probably the best one to match up with today’s story.