Episode 028: Welcome Back, Stacey!

03/16/21 • 75 min

Generation BSC: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast

Life caused some editing snafus, so unfortunately there's no detailed summary of all the ins and outs and on- and off-topic tangents in this episode, but Kate and Lauryn discuss the book where Stacey's parents decide to get divorced and tell Stacey she can decide where to live and Stacey has an existential crisis about said divorce and having to decide where to live before ultimately (and unsurprisingly) deciding to move back to Stoneybrook with her mom.

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Previous Episode

Episode 027: Jessi and the Superbrat!

After the difficult subject matter of our last episode, Kate and Lauryn get a bit of a reprieve with a fluffy story about Stoneybrook’s collective obsession with stardom, Jessi’s audition process for the “practically off-off-Broadway” production of Swan Lake in Stamford, and the arrival of child star, Derek Masters. There’s bullying both of Derek and by Derek (spoiler alert – the superbrat is him, but not in the spoiled child star kind of way we predicted) and the BSC does what they can to ease Derek back into the “normal” world, helping him to make friends and then say goodbye to those friends with a surprise breakfast going away party when he books a TV movie and has to head back to LA. And Derek does what he can to support Jessi’s auditions for Swan Lake while also putting a bug in her ear about maybe switching to modeling and acting like he did. We revisit just how amazing Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are and add some kudos for Mrs. Masters not being a nightmare stage mom. We discuss how much we’d love to see Watson’s financial statements to figure out just what kind of millionaire he is, how normal for Stoneybrook isn’t normal for the world, how little sense it makes that Jess, an 11 year-old, is beating out professional adult ballerinas to be cast in the corps in Swan Lake, how great podcasting is these days with so many perspectives that give everyone the level of deep diving into the subject matter, the detriment of each member of the BSC having that one “thing” that they automatically excel at, how the ghostwriter was just a little off for this one (in particular in how she had Claudia questioning whether the kids would prefer chocolate or coconut donuts), maximizers vs. satisfizers, the weird time vortex some of these books fall into, and the complete lack of weather accuracy in the teen shows of the 1990s.

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Next Episode

Episode 029: Mallory and the Mystery Diary!

Coming off the drama in Stacey’s life due to her parents’ divorce, Kate and Lauryn are relieved to dive into a fun story that involves a mystery that doesn’t include someone doing something mean to one of our girls (like, for example, any time we see Cokie Mason). Instead, the Baby-Sitters Club and everyone they talk to are invested in solving the mystery laid out in a 100-year-old diary written by a 12-year-old girl named Sophie that Mallory finds in a trunk in the attic of Stacey’s new house, in particular finding out who stole the painting of Sophie’s mother and whether Sophie and her father are currently haunting Stacey’s house. Spoiler alert – they solve the mystery with the help of Buddy Barrett, who Mallory spends the book tutoring in reading with pretty conveniently easy results. We discuss how fun it was to find things as a kid and make up a backstory, particularly when we were kids and there was no easy way to find more information or potentially reunite the item with its original owner. We also go in-depth about the problematic séance scene (and Kristy’s even more problematic costume) and touch on the issues that arise when Christianity is seen as the default. On- and off-topic tangents include the cost of art restoration, Charlotte being both a baby murderino and a wise beyond her years child horror movie trope, these books tending to be surface level and easy as compared to real life, which is not, baby ages in months, clutter vs. artfully arranged tchotchkes, and required disclosures when selling a haunted house. And because it needs to be called out separately – DAWN’S SMALL. STRAW. HAT.

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.