Mini Board

EAGERLY ANTICIPATED

The last time we showed you pictures of this place, it was going out of business signs for Toys ‘R’ Us three years ago. Luis and Boom have been counting down the days to it re-opening as a Target for what feels like two years.

Boom came into the world knowing nothing but toy shopping every weekend, but I stopped taking everyone out to Long Island. Then pandemic meant toys weren’t being delivered or restocked.

Now there is a Target within walking distance with a new escalator that leads to toy shopping on the new second floor. Well, where toys should be. EBay sellers also pounced on the opening. Shelves are only being restocked when the store opens at 8 a.m. making for more guys asking about toys than actual toys. Boom and Luis are still happy to have Target nearby and will just not be there at 8 a.m. —MV

WE MADE IT A YEAR

I don’t think I baked banana bread. Maybe I blocked it out. Definitely no sourdough! I did whip coffee, but that was just me putting coffee and ice in a blender. It was nothing like the videos I saw. I watched a lot of TV. And I made a lot of Dubbs.

BREAKING PETE

Luis has always commended Breaking Bad as an amazing television series, but Madeline didn’t start watching it until this month. She agrees it is amazing, but all she can think about when Skinny Pete appears on screen is that he must have been who handed down the hat in Betty’s collection. Who wore it best?

PROCESSING TRAUMA

The expectation that all the Marvel series on Disney+ would set up the forthcoming movies—or at least the other series—overwhelmed the expectations for WandaVision. It was fun to guess what everything meant and who might show up, and I don’t regret that for a second. Elizabeth Olsen saying there would be a cameo as big as Luke Skywalker showing up in The Mandalorian was not cool, but she also said she was pulled into WandaVision because it would be about Wanda on Wanda’s terms. That’s all the spoiler anyone needed to be sure this was a show about how she would deal with all her pain.

“What you are dismissing as Easter Eggs are trauma triggers Wanda was creating to process her complex trauma. The writers were intentional and many trauma specialists and survivors understood,” Kyle Howard, a preacher, posted on Twitter. “What some of you saw as ‘slow’ is actually care. Processing trauma IS tedious.”

I think the reason I ended up being so happy with the finale is that Wanda remains the most powerful person in the Marvel Universe. Mephisto didn’t make her do it. Dr. Strange didn’t save the day. Wanda did what everyone who experiences loss wishes they could do and created an idyllic world for herself.

Howard sounds hopeful. “Those who fall into the pit of finding their identity in their grief will often find themselves in despair. Those who understand how they are shaped by their grief can grow from it and cannot be consumed by it.” Check out @KyleJamesHoward. —MV