showtime’s yellowjackets (2021 ‘til it inevitably falls apart)

I last saw Franco in The Deuce so was a bit puzzled at first, but I can see it; the louche artist character he's playing also part of it I would guess!

okay i finished the season

Natalie - I'm a fan still a fan, super cute = the snack machine incident where she smashes it but only takes the one thing that she wanted (as opposed to taking all the snacks she could possibly want); also that she was the only one with the wherewithal to allow Misty to perform her "true calling"

Tai - I like her too still a fan; the ways she handles her relationships with both Van and Simone are cool, in that, she isn't perfect but not a total wreck. Like, she is real. Also she's a land use lawyer, so <3

Jeff - dude just thinks with his dick and is dumb; i don't hate him enough to want him to suffer or anything, though maybe that's what we're supposed to think? idk i do appreciate him standing up for Shauna with Jackie's parents, I was impressed. Still think he was probably fucking Bianca, or had made moves that way and that was part of the leverage the loan sharks had on him, because if I were a loan shark, I would totally implement multiple points of leverage.

Misty - she's the walter white of this show, yeah (in that she breaks bad)? omg, there is a whole feminist essay to write about Misty, in terms of comparing her to other tv anti-heroes like Dexter and Walter White.

Jackie - she isn't horrible but ... another feminist essay in terms of Jackie's downfall as compared to Ralph in Lord of the Flies.

Shauna - idk, definitely ambivalent still ambivalent, but I feel like she is kinda the "stand-in" for the viewer in a way, in that we would naturally try and determine what _we_ would do if _we_ were in that situation, and most likely we would do some stupid shit and not be the heroic/visionary ones, but we would survive, because, well, we're sitting here in front of the tv watching this show, right?

the blond jesus girl - she's kinda supposed to be everyone's top pick to die next, yeah? yep, she was the first to go.

Lottie the tall girl with the rich dad who takes pills whose name I don't remember - no opinion lol there's another feminist Lord of the Flies essay here

Van the red headed girl with the ponytail that Jackie was gonna let burn in the plane whose name I also don't remember - I like her still like her.

also, since this is ILX, can we talk about the use of Ultravox's "Vienna" in this show? Like, it was a recurring song, but it was the one recognizable song that wasn't from the early-mid 90s? Not complaining about the inconsistency. I also like the song a lot. But it stuck out to me, and because this is ilx, I don't think I need to explain why.

the show was also triggering college flashbacks for me (because of the music), and the Rumpshaker song at the reunion reminded me of the horrible freshman roommate I had for a few months (because I had to move dorms mid-year) who would basically play that song over and over again, and was like the antithesis of glowering goth me ... and she actually had some very Jackie-like tendencies tbh

The only thing that made me angry -- because it's a hacky cliché, because I love dogs -- is when Biscuit first appeared, I thought, "Goddammit. Dog in series = dead dog by end of series." It's like when a character coughs ten minutes into a show or a movie, that character's definitely gonna die. With Biscuit, I knew he was only there to be killed off. With all the pseudo-supernatural stuff happening, couldn't they at least make it a talking dog that becomes Tai's campaign manager or something?

yeah ... especially in the context of the wolf motif appearing around the same time as the dog ... i was thinking, that dog is gonna be dead because the dog will represent wolf in trauma brain. ... also when the dog is beloved by a small child ... that's double points against the dog's longevity.

a few other minor things:
1. when they first find the lake, Van yells "Hell yeah, bitches!" -- and that was an anachronism ... like, I don't remember that being a common thing at the time.

2. They've been stranded for months at one point, and Natalie seems to have done touchups on her hair, because by that point, her roots would have seriously grown in ... i mean, maybe there was bleach on site, or she brought something with her ... but ... otoh i can see them being attentive to hair and make-up on a regular basis because there really isn't that much to do? It could be a way of preserving "normalcy" or "civilization" ?

3. the thing with Natalie's hair (and makeup tbh) is in contrast to Tai, who cuts her hair short and in one scene we see that her armpit hair has grown in ... like, that's kinda what I would expect would be the norm

Yeah, that was another aspect that I had trouble with...granted, they had access to a lake to bathe in, but none of them looked like they'd been stuck in the woods for one month, let alone six or seven.

As for anachronisms, the diary of Jackie's that adult Shauna read had references to music and movies that would have come out post-1996...but with Jackie being dead, it's either a mistake (and a weird one for a series where clues are constantly teased) or she's not dead. And if she's not dead, then she got caught up on 1997 films and music pretty quickly after they were rescued.

oh yeah, I read some Vulture article that mentioned that ...

it also thought Adam was actually Javi, and that made no sense to me.

Jackie was sporting a lot of spotless white outfits after living in the woods for six months

otoh Jackie was routinely criticized for not doing work, so maybe that's how come her whites stayed white? though Natalie's white & black checked pants looked pretty clean as well. and then there's the white nightgowns ... granted the only time we were shown the portion of a garment that could have a stain from vag blood was after Jackie fucked Travis ... like, those nightgowns could have menstrual stains but we were just not shown that part ... still ... it was established that there were some cleaning products left, but uh ... yeah

I binged this this week. Great show!

I became immensely emotional at both Nat's moment of suicidal resignation and Jackie's death; the latter not because I care a tonne for the character but because her death sequence was so sad and so sinister at the same time

season 2 when???!!?

Late March.

I should probably re-watch the last few episodes to get back up to speed on it.

finally watching - it’s diverting & i love juliette lewis always & forever so i’m in
but god i’m only 3 eps in & they need a misdirection intervention

but kim wilde “cambodia”!! <3

I thought Lewis was terrible in this, like unwatchably bad and selfconscious.

hard agree

in another mood i could have probably gotten into the ultra-pulp of this but it felt like so little actually happened… the show is deliberately withholding lots of information in order to ratchet up the suspense and i prefer the other way - that you get the information you think you need - what does the symbol mean? who’s leaving it? who’s the girl in the pit? - and are then presented with FURTHER questions i.e. why, or how etc

lewis was ok, i thought, just paled in comparison to the actress who plays her younger self

I liked all the performances, incl Lewis. I find Misty genuinely terrifying, Christina Ricci is so so good in this

I generally think this is some 10/10 fantastic trash TV and the only thing I'm dubious of is where they're going with adult Taissa's arc

lewis was ok, i thought, just paled in comparison to the actress who plays her younger self

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Tuesday, December 20, 2022 6:58 AM (two hours ago)

totally yes!

I liked all the performances, incl Lewis. I find Misty genuinely terrifying, Christina Ricci is so so good in this

omg Misty -- otm!

idk, a lot of my enjoyment of this show is gendered. If this were a show about boys/cis-men, I wouldn't be as willing to accept certain imperfections, because these stories are generally about men. Probably because they were teenagers not too long after I was a teenager, the gender norms feel more salient to me? ... As opposed to just watching something solely from the vantage point of 2022 where there is a lot more gender equity in media

I just started watching this as well, just a couple episodes in. The animal killing and constant impalements make it a bit of a hard sell for my partner, but the triple timeline and soundtrack are pretty fun.

It is bananas to watch a show in which I know every word of every song that is sync'd

I anticipate the next seasons are going to be great.

I do hope that the showrunners/writers treat this more like an Agatha Christie murder mystery ("And Then There Were None", i.e.) rather then get too X-Files on us all. I dunno if this narrative world can carry too many supernatural elements or encounters with feral Quebeckers or "guess who's still alive in the present day?" reveals

My partner and I went back and forth on whether anything supernatural was occurring; there’s nothing too wild shown, and plenty that could be explained as the camera subjectively showing someone’s PTSD/hallucination/etc. rather than an objective depiction of supernatural phenomena.

I do hope that the showrunners/writers treat this more like an Agatha Christie murder mystery ("And Then There Were None", i.e.) rather then get too X-Files on us all.

agreed!

finally watching this and I enjoy bits and pieces of it but overall the number of storylines on this that I couldn’t give less of a shit about are staggering yet I am in for the long haul because obv I want to find out how they get to the cold open in the pilot

Christina Ricci is a lot of fun in this and Melanie Lynsky deserves better material

Also the music supervisors are as good at rationing their supply of 90s hits as the girls are at rationing food, yeesh

I think we bailed after three episodes, great hook but the writing just does not seem very good. :(

Coincidentally we're also watching I Love That For You, which also has Anna Waronker making fake (excellent) '90s songs.

ok i finished the season - show is pure pulpy trash and I love it

i got so triggered by the way the girls would gang up on each other & have those standoffs, even the way they would talk to misty felt verrry horribly familiar

mr veg was laughing/incredulous that Nat’s whole life / addiction was all so linked to Travis but in the flashbacks he treats her SO badly “like he’s never nice to her!”
and i was like dude that’s always how it works!!! high school boys are ~fucking rotted~ the more emotionally unavailable they are the more damage they’ll do.
like an out of control 18 wheeler leaving freeway pileups of girls in their wake lol

and i love the theme song

i was like dude that’s always how it works!!! high school boys are ~fucking rotted~ the more emotionally unavailable they are the more damage they’ll do.

otm!!! also it was super triggering ... like, it really is a horror tv series!

yeah like emotional horror and actual horror

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyTgg0fb9DA

man I really forgot a bunch of what happened on this show, the recap at the top of episode one helped a bunch but some of it's still pretty foggy.

is that a deaged or AI Loder?

just watched the first season of this show in time to start the second. first season is the show most targeted to my sensibilities i’ve ever seen. season 2 premiere was a lot of fun but my confidence in the show is sapped a little now that they’re introducing teens we’ve never seen before into the past timeline and pretending they were always there

i do love that the gay coach is the worst “adult in the room” ever

i am feeling the s2 opener
the more unhinged this shoe gets the more i enjoy it

i laughed at the papa roach garage moment but i wish it was candlebox or creed or Live or something generally more feels x slightly lame

*show

now that they’re introducing teens we’ve never seen before into the past timeline and pretending they were always there

ok thanks for confirming this; were they not even shown in the background in season 1? they looked utterly unfamiliar to me

they’re tailies

Adding my voice to the chorus of "How dare they"s re: introducing a new character and asking us to believe that NOT ONLY has she been there all along, but she was being so annoying offscreen that everyone is completely done with her bullshit by the time we meet her.

The one thing that might redeem the writers' weird choice there would be to keep the new character around until the team gets rescued, and then reveal that actually, she was a figment of Misty's imagination the entire time; it's Misty who everyone can't stand, Misty who has the compulsive singing tic; and how gullible can you viewers possibly be, that when a brand-new character appears unexplained among a group of starving delusional people trapped together in a cabin in the wilderness, you just blindly accept it?

I really hope e1 ends up being the worst of s2. It had its moments, but the way they kept cutting between the different plot threads and timelines (probably out of necessity, to get everything in motion for the season) felt super disjointed and unsatisfying.

Also I was glad that the show didn't sensationalize Lottie's ECT treatments as tv and movies have often done. The scene was pretty visceral and intense, but that's just how the sausage is made. I know some friends of mine have really benefited from it, but I wouldn't enjoy watching their sessions either.

ok i’m no longer worried. episode 2 was fucking amazing!!!!

That's good to hear. We weren't sure about episode one at all in our house. It was just kind of an unpleasant trudge.

Oh, turns out I thought episode two was an unpleasant trudge also. Maybe this show is not for me anymore.

Have just got myself up to date with this. I pretty much enjoyed all of s1, this season… the Sharon van etten in the opening montage was a shameless attempt to woo the poster wins market (& I also enjoyed the usage of angst in my pants in the latest ep)

For a show at the trashier end of mystery-box tv one thing i think they’ve done v well is give a real intensity to the flashback scenes that is then mostly deflated in the present day timeline (even as just as many outlandish things happen), the contrasting tones make the whole scars of adolescence metaphor pop way more than it should. I think the balance is a little off this season tho, which is maybe inevitable as they pile on more & more stuff

Only a brief glimpse but the casting of adult van seems perfect

Addressing a nitpick above, it seems like nat’s roots are growing in now (my own s1 nitpick is that canonically Jackie is the first person ever to say “mayor of pound town”, a thing annoying ppl would start saying like 10 years later)

I def view present-day Shawna differently

Hello adult Van - quick sidebar what the fuck is up with your cheesewagon video store name.
While You Were Streaming?
dude.
srsly.

The $50k blackmail money paid off the mobsters

There are holes and missteps and some bad dialogue but I signed up for a free paramount+showtime trial on prime just to binge this whole show and it didn’t disappoint.

- The first season was much slower than I expected.
- I LOVE all the 90s music but I graduated at the end of ‘97 so no surprise.
- I appreciate the hijinks aspect of the current timeline to balance out the grim and gore.
- This show is way more gory than I expected.
- it’s def like an adult riverdale or pretty little liars but better-looking and funnier.

yeah def some riverdale vibes
i think that’s why i don’t really worry about the plot holes? the ott-ness makes it feel like i’m reading a pulpy novel, i’m good with it

what happened to the person missy had locked in the basement? I'm in season 2 episode 5. maybe that was resolved last season and I completely forgot about it

missy let her go but dosed her cigarette w a heavy sedative (?) or poison (?) so she crashed her car & died

Fentanyl overdose

The $50k blackmail money paid off the mobsters

I got that, I just thought it was weird that the motivation for the blackmail, and the resolution of that plot, happened entirely offscreen aside from Jeff walking through a hotel lobby with some woman, who by the way didn't even look remotely threatening.

FYI: Adult yellowjackets vs Teen yellowjackets on Celeb Family Feud is up on Hulu.

I have to say teen Juliette Lewis actress has completely perfected her Juliette Lewis voice this season

Frodo's flimsy last minute police corruption thing was a bridge too far

it was dumb but i was willing to accept literally anything to sweep that plot under the rug forever

yeah same, that was an annoying storyline