The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 8 Recap

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Mallory and Joanna break down ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 8: "It Chooses." They start by examining Walter’s motives and where his story might go in the finale. Then, they discuss the conf...essions of Shauna and Misty in the sharing shack and the touching conversation between Jeff and Callie. They also talk about the dark and unusually quick decision that the girls made in the 1996 timeline, as well as the episode’s tragic ending. Hosts: Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You may find this hard to believe, but 60 songs that explain the 90s. America's favorite poorly named music podcast is back. With 30 more songs than 120 songs total, I'm your host, Rob Harvilla, here to bring you more shrewd musical analysis, poignant nostalgic reveries, crude personal anecdotes, and rad special guests, all with even less restraint than usual. Join us once more on 60 Saws that Explain the 90s every Wednesday, on Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Borris Head.
Starting point is 00:00:34 What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli? Well, Borishead just did that. Bursting with flavor, perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means pointing your whole day around it, presenting the friars turkey breast only from Borershead.
Starting point is 00:00:49 The backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftmanship behind every bite. Borershead committed to craft since 1905. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce
Starting point is 00:01:07 and some very tasty limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic or brunch, as is their trending mango, Yuzu chantilly cake. But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with yellow. sales signs storewide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring. Save at Whole Foods Market. Hello, welcome back into the Prestige TV podcast, me and I'm
Starting point is 00:01:50 Joanna Robinson. Joining me today, fresh from the icy lake, but I pulled her out in time. It's Mallory Rubin. Hi, Mallory. Oh, Joe, it stinks. God, it's making my eyes water. A Mari quote. traditional way to start the podcast. Just for you. We are here to talk with the Penn Ultimate episode of Yellow Jackets. Buzz Buzz Baby, I cannot believe we are already here. It's wild. Feels like you just started.
Starting point is 00:02:24 Before we get into this week's episode, episode eight, it decides. We just want to give you some progging reminders elsewhere in this feed. You can hear us all, like 90 different ringer employees talk about the end of succession. It's a big deal. It's finishing up. We're very stressed out. So, yeah, a lot of succession content going on this feed. And then who knows what's going to come next?
Starting point is 00:02:47 I actually don't know. We'll see. We'll find out together. Over on the ring reverse feed, Mallory Rubin and I are covering a lot of different things. This week, yeah, when you're listening to this podcast, we've got a end of spring, rest of summer. rest of spring all of summer podcast about the things that we're excited for that are coming back type meter time
Starting point is 00:03:13 type meter time yeah yeah we love the parameter of this one which is what was the official wording rest of spring slash summer yeah rest of spring summer top 2023 top 10 countdown height meter podcast mal and joe rolls off the tongue It's pretty. Spring and summer height meter. You know, what is time? That might come up today. What is time? You might come up today. Last was certainly not least. Next week on the ringerverse feed, we are doing a Doctor Who rewatch pod check-in, Mallory, and I have been zooming through seasons two and three of Doctor Who. You're spending some quality time with David Tennant, Mallory. You're having a good time with David Tennant?
Starting point is 00:04:03 Better than good. Time of my life. Hell, yeah. So, yeah, we'll be talking about season two and three of Dr. Hu over on the Ringerverse. And we'll continue to check in with more seasons leading up to the November specials, etc., etc. So you can check all that out over on the Ringers. Maui, so much going on, including a mystery about what's the future of this feed. Where can people make sure they know what shows recovery next on Prestige,
Starting point is 00:04:31 what wacky thing you and I will be up to on the Ringiverse, etc., etc. My first recommendation would be to follow the pod. Follow the prestige TV podcast. Follow the ringerverse. Follow trial by content. Follow all of it on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'd also recommend that you check out the social channels for all of our ringer shows, your favorite ringer hosts, the ringer proper.
Starting point is 00:04:54 All of it. Any of it. Twitter. Instagram. TikTok. I think it'll be a nice week for Joe and Mal. Joe me and Steve on social. We're going to be in Sweden together, you know?
Starting point is 00:05:07 Yeah, all together. We're going to be recording together for the first time in person. This very podcast, Joanna, our Yellow Jackets finale pod, assuming that all go smoothly from a hotel in Stockholm. So maybe we'll do a little behind the scenes action, you know, something for the gram. Live from a hotel in Stockholm. Yeah. You know, high on Lincoln Berries.
Starting point is 00:05:32 we will come to you. And then if folks want to email us, Mal, how can they do that? Can they do it? Should they do that? I'm glad you asked. Thank you. Whether we are in the great state of California, whether we are in Sweden, whether we're elsewhere in Europe, wherever we're gallivanting in a given moment.
Starting point is 00:05:49 Who knows? Maybe we're on the TARDIS. Maybe we're not even on planet Earth. Somewhere in time of space? Send your inquiries, your theories, your take on delicious pies full of warm fruit filling to Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. We're here, of course, today to talk about season two, episode eight,
Starting point is 00:06:10 It Chooses. Written by Sarah L. Thompson and Liz Pung, directed by Dizzy Vaughn, Scherler, Mayer, making her return. All of these are return talents, of course, to Yellow Jackets. Let's start with our usual unreliable narrator slash hallucinator slash dreamer counter.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And it helps us address the most staggering loss of the episode, which is, of course, the loss of our dear beloved nugget. I was ill-prepared. I actually shrieked. So Akela is here on the... I was horrified by this. Horrified.
Starting point is 00:06:48 Because then you have to think about all the times that Akela, like, while she was helping Shauna and she was just like rubbing a little... Stroking his corpse. ...desiccated corpse in her pocket. It's upsetting, folks. And with apologies to Javi. who has been a central preoccupation here on this podcast. Our heart is with Nugget for the next 90 minutes.
Starting point is 00:07:10 I think the listeners already do that about us. Mari is here because, not because of the dripping, because it seems like she got some corroborate, couple key corroborations on the dripping this week. Yeah. From famously reliable narrator, Ty. But also, we were in a very drippy spot. Ben and the rest of us were in a very drippy spot together.
Starting point is 00:07:35 Is it bad if you imagine the wall oozing and dripping blood? Is that bad? I think that's not great. So Mari is officially here for the blood, not the auditory dripping, but it would be the blood oozing. Lottie, having had her entire face and insides rear ranged by Shauna's fists and boots, uh, is seeing some things as she sort of.
Starting point is 00:08:01 cuts in and out of consciousness. As you mentioned, faints, sturdy as a rock tie, is seeing a physical projection of her darker self, not merely in the window, but also when she turns around. Standing right there in the room. And then our guy, Jeff,
Starting point is 00:08:19 had a real sexy dream involving some carving knives for hands. Anyone that I'm missing? Am I missing anyone? This is a, that's an ample crew. It's an ample crew here at the time. Stop. Do I want to count Jovey's dreams for his future? I mean, no.
Starting point is 00:08:38 It's a little cruel, but we could. I think we honestly just put everybody in the mix here, you know, whether you thought it was Sean or Travis or both of them flashing back to the stag on Doomcoming, nobody is fully tethered to the present, the now and reality in full. And that's just where we are with this crew. I think a key above and beyond the usual reason why they do this, which is like, ooh, where are we? What's happening?
Starting point is 00:09:04 Is to denote how desperately hungry everyone is, which we already knew. But there's a lot of like blurry vision camera shots for a lot of our... A ton of soft focus in the corners and the margins. And it's like, okay, this is... We're not totally trusting what we see because that's what that visual cue on the show tells us to prepare for. But also everyone is quite literally about to topple over from starvation. And the haze has set in in full and the desperation. has as well. Yeah. It's like us when we're doing a recording and the dinner hour, you know?
Starting point is 00:09:39 And Mari's making delicious, fragrant belt soup in the other room and we're like, dear God. Man, the belt soup, that really, that took me to Barathean headspace. I was really thinking of Stannis boiling the book binding for Salis, you know. I love to think about Stannis, Barathean, honestly. Desperate times. Where's an onion night when you need him? You know what I mean? Indeed. Let's talk about some emails and corrections. Not any actually no, no major corrections this week. I'll pat us on the back, but some emails, some thoughts, some perspectives from our listeners.
Starting point is 00:10:12 First one comes from Joanna, not me, another Joanna, they exist. And other Joanna writes, I was touched by the detail of Shauna wearing Jackie's butterfly t-shirt in the scene where she beats Lottie. Shawna is tapped into a state of total fury and darkness, but the shirt brings you right back to how tender and vulnerable she really is. You can imagine her putting that shirt on to bring herself some comfort, desperate for a hug from her best friend. Yet that soft spot of pain takes her to a place of savage violence. The scene also reminds me of Misty's steel magnolia's monologue, a quote unquote gift for Shauna's baby shower, no less. When Sally Field's character has lost her child and says, I just want to hit someone until they feel as bad as I do. Sorry, maybe that was not the time for an impression.
Starting point is 00:10:55 Okay. They're questioning around the wilderness. Sorry. They're questioning around the wilderness, possibly bargaining with them, the baby's life or shot his life, et cetera. Highlies to me that they're really just children and they're utterly unequipped to deal with harsh truths on their own. Any thoughts or feelings about Joanna's email here? Lovely email. Poignant sentiment.
Starting point is 00:11:15 The shirt call-out is a great one. And in general, it's always interesting to track who's wearing what and when. You've, you've chatted about this before. The creators have talked about this in their interviews before. I love the idea of simultaneously, and this is often where Yellow Jackets is at its best, when you're living in like the real urgent practicality of a certain imperative, right? Well, we only have so many articles of clothing with us. So, of course, we'll all swap, we'll share.
Starting point is 00:11:44 We're in this communal existence where if we're not all tapping into whatever resources here, we can't possibly move forward. But also the idea that the thing you might grab on a given day in a given moment, would be some tether to a person who you loved or to a moment where things were simpler is really nice. And also then it's very dark to think about, you know, how did we start the show, right? We're tracking like, who's wearing which color converse and which soccer tea standing over the pit. And that idea, too, of like something that you really associate with like childhood and the normalcy of teenage life. Like I'm wearing my best pal's t-shirt,
Starting point is 00:12:22 becoming a part of this absolutely horrifying death ritual that everything, even those totems from the past, the most normal thing, becomes corrupted by the urgency of their situation. Yeah, the flash of Jackie's necklace, like the way it was last classed around someone's neck versus the way Shawna does it in this ritual here is a really chilling underlined to your point. All right.
Starting point is 00:12:55 On the question of like is Crystal, yeah, so for example, we don't want to waste clothing. Do you think Natalie peels the gloves that she just gave Hobby off of his frozen little hands once he's fully out of the water and on the ice? No? You know, it's a great question. They had the whole conversation about not taking Jackie's clothing before they burned her. And of course, Shawna was motivated by the self-preservation of, like, not letting them see that she had been slicing off pieces of little Jackie Arm Pringles to eat. Would you see Pop? You can't stop.
Starting point is 00:13:42 I mean, we're seeing it. They simply cannot stop, Joanna. They cannot stop. I would like to apologize for Prangles for the association in this year podcast. But will they? Will they take what they can? from Javi and put it to use? Will it be too painful?
Starting point is 00:14:02 It's a great question. I don't know. I mean, not already wasted a pair of pants in her like, you know, in her little gambit earlier this season. So we'll see. All right.
Starting point is 00:14:13 I mean, they're going to end up wearing a bunch of animal fur in at least one of their clans before along. So maybe they're not preserving much of the clothing after all, you know? I don't know about how... That's probably more of a stylistic choice and a declaration of intent than it is just like,
Starting point is 00:14:27 we need the clothing. But I don't know about how like before, because I feel like we've talked about this before, but that feels like a year from now, right? The. I have thought that the entire time we've been podcasting until this episode. Right.
Starting point is 00:14:42 We're already drawing cards. I still do think that's probably right, just given the extremity. But it won't shock me. Not to jump ahead, but it won't shock me after this episode if, if we see an escalation to, the precipice of the pit in the finale.
Starting point is 00:15:00 Mara, your days are counted. All right. And Joe is thrilled. Joe cannot wait to see your blood drain out of your body. And for you to hear the drip of your life's force and fluids leaving you as you exit this mortal coil. I thought my connection to Misty would never be stronger than when she's like belting showtons in the car with Walter. And then she said my boyfriend, Walter Towers. But in this episode when she called Maria Brat, I was like, yes, and more, Misty, more.
Starting point is 00:15:36 All right. Alex, Alex, Alex, wrote into us. Fucking arm pringles. Alex run into us. When the 96 crew opens the cabin door in last week's episode, there's about four feet of snow blocking the entrance. It snowed a lot in the few days they were stuck in the cabin. But when Misty goes digging for Crystal, she digs maybe eight inches down. Crystal, slash Kristen.
Starting point is 00:15:57 Could still be down there, deeper under the snow. P.S., bogey apples are the best, crisp, sweet, and consistent. So what do you think? Do you think Misty, we got a couple emails about this? Do you think that Misty just did not dig deep enough for Crystal slash Kristen? And will that come to bite her ass in the thaw in the spring? It's definitely possible. Misty basically got knuckle deep and then lost her courage, you know?
Starting point is 00:16:25 It happens to the best of us. Come on, I think she got like elbow deep, but that's not deep enough. It did seem cold and uncomfortable. You know, if it's not 72 and sunny, I don't leave my home. So who am I to judge? Yeah, hoops among us has not given up early furrowing through the snow to find our former best friend that we kind of, but sort of didn't, but mostly did kill. I think the comp for us is like, it's not super pleasant to scrape your windshield in a wintry day back in a Syracuse winter. You know?
Starting point is 00:16:56 That's my version of this. I've literally never had to do that. Sorry. What a California kid you are. My goodness. Once again, I don't want to jump ahead. And I would like to state for the record that I am not a biologist. Or a meteorologist.
Starting point is 00:17:15 Yeah, nor a number of other professions that we have gone out of our way to say that we are not. I can't claim that I have great expertise in the skeletal structures of humans or other creatures. But I will say, and this might just be wrong and dumb, and that's fine. It's just the two of us here. No one else can hear what we're saying. I did think when Ben wandered into the cavern beneath the tree, and by that, I mean, the hatch, any chance those are the bones of Crystal's corpse.
Starting point is 00:17:47 They're very small. They were very small. They seemed like they were animal bones. But it at least got me thinking, are we certain? as we talked about before, that the others didn't take Crystal and eat her. I am not certain that they did not take Crystal on her. Unless they're only eating like finger bones. Like that's, those bones are too small.
Starting point is 00:18:09 I think we all, I think we all zoomed in on the bones. Yeah. Ben was like, my God. And I was like, are we about to pan to see half of crystal hanging in the corner? But no. Crystal. Crystal light.
Starting point is 00:18:23 Okay. Yeah, they were small. All right. But I don't know. I still think Crystal was taken. If she's just there. Because if they find her body, then what? Then Misty will have learned the important lesson about how deep to put a body
Starting point is 00:18:40 and how much you have to like curiously dig, right? But it would just be like her, she died in the storm. Not, oh my God, Misty, you definitely did this. Though as we know, as we learned in this episode, Misty is all too ready to fess up to a murder after the fact. So maybe. It's true. It's not like they can tell that her chest.
Starting point is 00:18:59 is crumpled from chest compressions and not from length of all. All right. So, Joe, we got a couple emails about this, but there's a, there's a very interesting line in last week's episode. So Lottie tells the adult women who are assembled at her cult slash intentional community. I think you should all go. I think we can go back to calling it a cult after this episode. I feel comfortable with that.
Starting point is 00:19:22 What's the fetal barbitol comes out? I feel comfortable. Calling it a cult again. In cult territory. Great. Natalie says something to the effect of, come on, we're all here. Joe writes, do you think the grown versions we've seen are the only ones that made it out of the wilderness? And I have a follow-up question for you.
Starting point is 00:19:41 Okay. So given the increased Mari, Jen, Akila, Melissa, FaceTime that we've seen this season, like if we are going to see another adult version of a character, which would you most like to think we're going to see? Or do you think we have maxed out on adult characters? I'm not sure. I think the show it's possible is not sure either and is leaving open the ability to make this decision later on based on how certain characters play. And I think that that's appropriate and actually kind of smart. I feel most attached of that group to Akela and Coach Ben. That's probably I would assume what most people would say. This was also the first episode where I considered that Ben might make it a little longer than I think. which was exciting. Akela, on the other hand,
Starting point is 00:20:30 I'm gravely concerned. And I think the number of times that this season has gone out of its way to show her talking about the future, the SAT study book, talking about her nephew, telling Sweet Nugget that he would get some funnel cake
Starting point is 00:20:43 and a little house with tunnels. I'm just like, this is not a character who's making it back. And that is, that is grievously painful. What about you? Who do you think is most likely to about it? appear. I'm most invested in Akila and I really would love to see an adult Akela. That would be great. Send us your dream casting for adult Akila to Hobbits and Dragons
Starting point is 00:21:04 at Gmail.com. We'd love to see them. Also, maybe we'll get adult versions of all of the characters they'll meet in various Dharma stations. That could happen to. Yeah, all the, uh, the weird mole tunnel people, hash people. Great. All right. And far and away, this is not our last email, but I just want to say far and away, the most number of emails we got this week. We're in rebuttal to Zach's, I'm going to say the phrase again, human cheese email from last week. We got a lot of emails from a lot of mothers who have a lot of opinions about Zach's human cheese email.
Starting point is 00:21:37 So I shall read this one from McKenzie. McKenzie wrote, I currently breastfeed my five-month-old baby, and I can say from personal experience that the yellow jackets were not overlooking the possibility of using Shauna's milk for calories, as human cheese guy stated. The show acknowledges the challenges of breastfeeding
Starting point is 00:21:52 through Shauna's dreams sequence, and I believe it was a van. week's episode, who said something along the lines of it's better that the baby didn't survive because Shauna is starving. First, it takes a lot of calories for her body to produce breast milk. A lot. There is no way Shauna would produce enough milk to feed a baby, much less the whole team with a couple bites of dead bird meat or pine needle tea. Second, stress reduces milk supply. I'm pretty sure she's under extreme amount of stress surviving the wilderness slash capital W wilderness. The show has suspended disbelief quite a bit. For example, Ben and Van not getting an infection.
Starting point is 00:22:25 they're mysteriously being a rifle and plenty of ammunition in the cabin. Everyone's hair in season one. But I'm glad that they acknowledge that there's no way Sean's pregnancy could lead to them having enough breast milk to make human cheese. That would be the least plausible thing in the show to date. So thank you to all the mothers and others who emailed us about the last time I'm going to say the phrase, human cheese. It's actually not, honestly. It's not. You haven't elsewhere in the outline.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Don't lie. You monster. You have it elsewhere. And you folded it and underlined it and metallicized it. Reeges. Last one at least. Colleen wrote in about in response to our discussion of the email where an emailer outlined all the times in which someone in a fantasy space has like eaten or drunk or drunk something and then died or didn't and then lift. And we were talking about Persephone and the promulgranties in the underworld.
Starting point is 00:23:28 and we were talking about some other mythological things. Colleen waded in with another. This is a very ring-overarse answer, so I had to read it. Colleen wrote, there's another legend about avoiding food or drink offered to you. The Fayeys, many legends and works of fictions like Midsomeran's Dream, a thinking woman's guide to real magic, or Jonathan's Strange and Mr. Norel, warn the reader not to consume or accept anything offered in the fairy realms. Doing so would ensure that you'd never be able to leave because you've consumed part of their world
Starting point is 00:23:55 and you're now trapped within it, giving a fairy, especially, a high fay could also bind you to them directly, giving them absolute power over you. There's an alternate legend where if you refuse fairy food in the real world that you'll be cursed, however, so just be sure you know where you are. If the yellow jackets are caught between the fay realms and the real world, they would already be doomed. They've eaten deer, birds, mushrooms, berries from the forest, but also ate the bear that the wilderness seemingly offered.
Starting point is 00:24:23 This could mean that they're all stuck forever, partially in reality, partially in the forest. while this turns out to be true or not, it adds a new wrinkle in the show's mythology. I love Faye stories. How do you feel about the Faye? Wonderful. Love. Love this email.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Love all of the connections. What do you think about the last part of this and the possibility? I mean, we chatted actually with Ben last episode about this idea of existing, you know, in multiple realities and this is this pull into a different plane. And obviously, in general, the way the characters have been talking about bringing something back with them, this tether. across time. Do you think that there's a chance that beyond the way that we're already seeing it
Starting point is 00:25:07 in processing it, there's an equivalent of flash sideways somewhere in yellow jackets and that the thing that a play sort of moment in time that we're with our characters is going to prove to be
Starting point is 00:25:20 quite a different thing than maybe what we initially thought? Or does that seem very unlikely to you? I actually wasn't going to read this email, but you open the door, so I'm just going to do it. We got a really interesting email from Sarah about this idea of, like, the wilderness being where they found themselves is like maybe a weak spot in between worlds sort of thing. So Sarah wrote, I believe the wilderness of the girls have found themselves in is a weak spot in the fabric of reality, sort of a liminal space in between parallel universes, if you will. And this weak spot has allowed some sort of entity, malevolent or just chaotic, to leak over into our plane of existence. I like the idea that in one universe, all the girls did die in the plane crash, and
Starting point is 00:26:00 Nat's vision gave her a temporary glimpse into that reality. I also love what this means about Cabin Man, Dead Jackie, and Laura Lee. Maybe their spirits or energies are trapped in between planes, keeping them there. After all, Cabin and Man did tell Jackie that they were waiting for her. Maybe they were. Maybe Shauna wasn't even completely talking to her herself with Dead Jackie. This could also give insight into Ben's recurring visions of Paul being in an alternate version of the cabin. The scene in the latest episode with quote unquote Paul telling Ben he couldn't
Starting point is 00:26:26 come back to that space has got all my wheels spinning. So again, like, I do think that at the end of the day, these showrunners are most interested in a story where we, the audience, up to the final minutes of the finale and after, will have to reckon with whether or not anything supernatural ever did exist, like particularly in this episode when, again, the phenyl barbitol comes out, right? Sean is like, it wasn't real. Like, our idea of an it, it chooses, our construction of an it, that's not real. And Lottie's like, oh, but it is. And that's going to be, you know, this is, of course, the Man of Science, Man of Faith thing that we were talking about in conjunction with loss.
Starting point is 00:27:09 Though loss, of course, goes full bore, supernatural, bore pun unintended. But like, the, that back and forth between was it real or was it not, is it in us because it's our nature or is it in us because it's some supernatural thing that is taking a hold of us, I think that's going to be something that the show is going to want us to have to decide for ourselves. Yeah, I think so too. It feels like we just keep getting invitation after invitation to consider and maintain that consideration. We've talked so much about the lost comps, the Lord of the Flies comps.
Starting point is 00:27:45 The charge of the wild youth in pursuit of their friend and classmate they intend to kill. is about as Lord of the Fliesie as you can get. And that is, of course, the story about the darkness inside of man, the devil inside of you and the capacity of a human being to do an evil thing. I think it's also true that just as many people watching it are going to see Ben walk into the base of a tree and think about stranger things and think about the upside down, which that email kind of connects to nicely, right? And so both of those things are there and present and valid.
Starting point is 00:28:21 And I, this was the first episode in a while because I'm really, I really agree with you. And I think we've, we've both watched the show through that lens the entire way. Like maybe we'll wonder not only up to the end, but through the end. Maybe we'll never get that clarity. And actually wouldn't that be interesting and cool? We'll be debating. Yeah. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:28:38 This was the first episode, I have to say, where I was like, maybe as soon as next week, we just learned definitively that this is a supernatural power. I don't know. It just felt really palpable here. then things happen inside of the same episode that pulled me out of that. So, interesting. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help.
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Starting point is 00:30:54 soaking up the atmosphere in the crowd. But too often, life gets busy. Or the price holds you back. Priceline is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars, you can go see the game live. Don't just dream about the trip. Book it with Priceline.
Starting point is 00:31:15 Download the Priceline app or visitpriceline.com. Actual prices may vary, limited time offer. All right. Let's get into the episode itself. We are dividing pretty cleanly between present day and past tense this week just because everyone is kind of clustered together. We're not doing the entire pod about Walter's living room. That's weird. I was misled. Guess what? I'm so ready to start there if you want to challenge fucking accepted. All right. We're in the most beautiful home you've ever seen in your entire life. Marry me, Walter, please. My guy, Walter. Are we actually started here? I love it. Okay. My guy Walter is doing two puzzles at once.
Starting point is 00:31:54 Dude, did you see that there was a folder on his desktop for completed puzzles? A king. Do you think he takes photos of them and then uploads them? I hope so. I hope so. I love him. All right. He's doing, yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:08 One puzzle is a tall ship. The other is an astronaut cat. Great. Great stuff. Love this for him. I have heard of people doing this, right? You dump both boxes on the table. and it just like doubles the intensity of the exercise.
Starting point is 00:32:21 So that's an admirable, right? Doing two puzzles. Deeply attractive to me. Yeah. Doing it while sipping milk from a brandy dumbler. Less attractive? Absolutely no. The goblet of milk was a real neutralizer for me.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Puzzles? Milk. Okay. However, putting Walter back on top is the sound. track. Is that where you like them on top? It's Barbara Streisand. It's okay. It's Presti-TV podcast feed. Contains a dull concert. Barbara Streisand is singing a track from Sweeney Todd, not while I'm around. We'll talk about that more in a little bit. But this is off for, we had this album and we played it so often. This transported me instantly to my child. Sometimes I worry.
Starting point is 00:33:15 that that person that they have in their writer's room who knows, who provides all their musical information is actually me. Like, is it me? Is it alternative me? Is it me from the other side of the wilderness? Like, dark Joanna? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:33 Shadow Joanna. Has anyone in your life mentioned lately that you've been sleepwalking or eating dirt? Have you left any prayer circles recently? No, but if I've, if Shadow Me is, the WGA picket line. It would explain a lot of, you know, sore feet and headaches
Starting point is 00:33:49 that I've been having. So he's on, he gets an alert from the Citizen Detective Board about the fact that Adam's remains have been found buried, not deep enough. And whatever that, is it like Hackleberry Park? Something really. Hacklebury, yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:04 Yeah. Okay. We learned that this was Nat. It was a tough moment to learn that this was Nat. Didn't measure. She said. Misty was like, I should have done it myself.
Starting point is 00:34:16 And I said, Missy, thank you for listening to last week's episode of the prestige TV podcast where we said exactly that. Nat, you had like the easier job,
Starting point is 00:34:25 right? Misty had to get, smuggle a head into a coffin that was going to be incinerated. I know. And all of that the news article
Starting point is 00:34:32 had like a little, there was like a partially obstructed line, but about how they're not like sure how this was dug up. Intriguing. Okay, yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:42 No, I mean, we got some people wondering if perhaps, this is Walter somehow. But that's going to go to our, the burning question of this Walter sequence, right? So like the messages are like,
Starting point is 00:34:53 she's a literal man eater. Red Herrings is the name of one, 33 Red Herrings is the name of one of the posters. Anyone know which direction the case is going in now, blah, blah. And then he emails, Walter emails in to the police department, you know, a piece of shit Syracusa at police department.com. and says Sorry, dot org.
Starting point is 00:35:16 And he says he has intel, right? DotGov, probably, okay. And he says he has intel, right? So the big question is, is Walter's intent here to betray Misty or to protect Misty? I feel 100% certain about my answer. What's your answer?
Starting point is 00:35:33 Okay, well, I'm eager for you to walk me through the musical theater clue that we got here, which I think is a big data point that, among others points us toward protector. I assume that's where you're coming down here.
Starting point is 00:35:49 Though I have some, I think there's compelling evidence in each direction. I kind of, I liked the 33 underscore red herrings. Does anyone know where the case is going? Because the red herring honestly could work in either direction. And I think they've laid the track
Starting point is 00:36:03 for me to buy it either way. I believe Walter is on Misty's side and that he will, grabbed the purple, right? He's in like quite a bold aquamarine. Were these pajamas or just really cool clothes? Like, you know, because I've definitely seen really cool people. Yeah. And I know that makes me sound really uncool to say really cool people. But no, no, no. I just mean like, you know, like, you know, star athletes or, you know, certain musicians will like rock a fashionable, like, matching set of pants and shirts that to me looks like pajamas, but is actually like,
Starting point is 00:36:40 designer wear or whatever. Walter doesn't seem like designer wear guy. This seems like he's in his gym jams. But this is kind of, this is one of the, regrettably, this is one of the points of, maybe he's not who we think because he's got his whole, I've got my high socks and my khaki shorts and let me take you to my houseboat.
Starting point is 00:37:03 And then he's in this absolutely stunning modern abode with his goblet of dairy. I don't think he said that was his houseboat. This is his boat. I don't think he said he lived there. That's just a leisure vessel. It's just his pleasure yacht. But this is a different vibe.
Starting point is 00:37:22 Like what we see from him here is definitely a different vibe and a vibe that he was not presenting to Misty. So which Walter is the real Walter? Maybe Walter contains multitudes and that's part of his charm. The fact that like we got the close-up of the computer with the cat background, you know, we've seen cat, we've seen cat iconography on Misty, before, so maybe it's just one more thing they share.
Starting point is 00:37:43 But what do we mostly associate Misty with? Birds. And we keep getting this bird imagery for Misty and the cat imagery for Walter. We've got the Sherlock Moriarty thing, which I can't quite shake. 33 of them. The fact that Walter was in the animation with all of Misty's murder weapons, the syringe, the axe, the flaming coffin, perhaps most alarmingly of all, just the rugpole with Crystal, right?
Starting point is 00:38:08 Misty swinging so forcefully into my boyfriend Walter Tattersall territory in this episode, my bestie crystal, and then it's like this person doesn't actually support you the way that you think. All that said, I still go protector. I think there's a lot of evidence to the contrary, but maybe that's why we got the red herring tag.
Starting point is 00:38:32 The Sweeney Todd Clue, the Barber's Reyes and Track. Yeah. It could kind of go either way, to be honest with you. I still feel very strongly, like 100% that he's in protector mode. But, like, because I think they're trying to make you think that he's about to betray them. This is Mrs. Lovett singing to this child, this urchin boy character in Sweeney Todd. Mrs. Lovett, by the way, has been putting people into pies, like, you know, on the Campbell's in front. We talked about Sweeney Todd before.
Starting point is 00:39:03 That's a perfect analog for that. that the kid that she's singing, nothing's going to harm you not while I'm around. Demas may charm you for a while with a smile, but in time, blah, blah, that kid dies.
Starting point is 00:39:15 That kid does not stay protected. Like, that's not what happens for that poor kiddo. So, you know, you might be a little bit worried if we're thinking of like Misty as the person wanting to protect her. But the thing about Sweeney Todd in general,
Starting point is 00:39:30 of course, is that it's like a love story between a twisted, very twisted love story between two people, zero killing together. his and hers, zero killers. The purple coat aspect, I was so confused by it the first couple times I saw it. And then I was like, well, duh, Joanna. Like, why would he need purple?
Starting point is 00:39:49 Like, if he's going to maybe go to the bee farm is why he would wear a purple coat. Yeah. So, like, well, I was surprised with that because, like, my first assumption, I guess, while I was watching it was like, he's going to the police department. Though I guess why would he email him if he was just going to go there? So, okay. So he's going to the cult. I think we've been worried.
Starting point is 00:40:07 all season that Walter is going to die. So on the red herring front, I think it's more tragic if for some reason Misty gets the idea or someone gets the idea that he was going to betray them when actually he was going to protect them. This is where I am too. He's showing up to try to help. But in the midst of their poisoned meat,
Starting point is 00:40:27 Fiena Barbertoe. Yeah, exactly. And a potential, and on the heels of a speech about this whole sequence, which we'll talk about in a few minutes, about Jeff and Shauna's desire to protect Jeff from their potential murderous rage. And Sean is saying, if this had been one of your partners, I probably would have killed him. What did I put in the notes after that?
Starting point is 00:40:51 Uh-oh, Walter, right? Yeah. It's very worrying. I would be surprised if Walter made it out of next week. I will be, like, with love and respect to Nugget, this will be the most devastating thing for me. Still biscuit and nugget at the top of the power rankings for me there. Walter checking. It's Walter,
Starting point is 00:41:10 Wittlitt. Then poor, sweet dear hobby. Last and certainly at least, just before we leave Walter in his, again, incredible home. Walter,
Starting point is 00:41:20 honestly, if you want a friend to do a third puzzle with you, call me please. Music of the night, Michael Crawford, fan of the opera, is playing as he, and that's about like,
Starting point is 00:41:29 you know, a mentally unwell person who, who, stalks the girl of his dreams is how I would characterize Fan of the Opera. But it should be noted that Misty has also been known to Blair, fan of the opera when she's about to do some dicey shit. I believe it was playing when she stabbed Jessica in the thigh with a syringe
Starting point is 00:41:49 when she first kidnapped her. So, you know, the couple that listens to Phantom and does crimes together, hopefully stays together. All right. So that's it for Walter. My God, please survive, my friend. Okay. Let's go back.
Starting point is 00:42:01 let's go back to the ladies in, as you mentioned, airing all their dirty laundry, right? I thought it was like, do you, I think it was a little cute little winky moment coming out of the opening credit song. And we hear Ty say that song's going to be stuck in my head for a while. Like, she's, she's referring to the outside soundtrack. But that's what we're talking about here. And then Shauna tells, tells everyone about Adam. They try to play a cool van and Lottie are like, excuse me, what the fuck is going on here, right? I enjoyed Van saying Jeff did not come through on the phone sex thing.
Starting point is 00:42:36 I don't know. I mean, he could have gone strawberry, Joe. He almost did. So I don't know a strawberry. I could have a strawberry. You know, if it came to that, he'd be, he'd be down. Oh, God. What did you think overall?
Starting point is 00:42:53 Okay, I just asked you like a big picture question. Yeah. What did you think of the Sharing Shack stretch of this episode and all? We've wanted so long for all. of the adult characters to be in one place. And for some of this to come to light. It's not like this. I will say.
Starting point is 00:43:09 It didn't quite work for me. No. I mean, like I think all of their stuff last week where they're talking about like, you know, teasing Misty about her love life and all that sort of stuff. I think all of that with them together worked. This felt like a terrible tumble of exposition of secrets coming out. Like, wait a minute.
Starting point is 00:43:26 What about the glitter in the closet? What about this, that, and the other thing? So I don't think we need to dwell on every twist and turn. this, like all the secret, as far as I can tell, uh, oh, I mean, like, what is Sean his explanation then about why she killed Adam? If Jeff was the, I don't think she explicitly says, uh, I just got the heba-jibis, you know what I mean? Like, no. Yeah. So her excuse for killing Adam is out the window. I don't think she's fully explained why she killed him, but like, uh, even though she, you know,
Starting point is 00:43:56 we basically were all on the same page that Jeff said the fucking postcards, I think is not. I mean, I mean, like, it wasn't my favorite sequence of scenes, but I do want to shout out Juliette Lewis for her delivery of did Jeff to send the fucking postcards? Shana? Like, that was pretty good. We still got some really good lines. I enjoyed Shana calling Misty's basement and dungeon. That was great. I loved Van Sank, Misty, you are nothing if not proactive.
Starting point is 00:44:27 And in general, Misty's absolute conviction. that she had done the right I took care of it like I was doing. So you're welcome. And that they were all lacking and derelict in their commitment to the group.
Starting point is 00:44:42 That stuff was good. I agree with you that just the volume and the sequence, particularly because I think Misty's an interesting character. We've chatted a lot all season about like, would Sean have made that mistake? And so it was interesting to hear her
Starting point is 00:44:54 kind of talk about that in this episode. I'm making a lot of mistakes. Misty, we think of as being so logical, right? So buttoned. up so on top of it, the one who's going to anticipate every other mistake. And I thought, like, a little thing, but like, Misty having the, wait a minute, why did Randy mention Jeff moment here when it was at the time so strange that she didn't catch that? It's just like, it's a lot for all of the reveals to build up to and hinge on in the Penal's Mid episode of the season.
Starting point is 00:45:23 It made you feel actually more so the absence of that time between the characters earlier in the season when maybe we would have had more organic in the moment. in the moment conversations Yeah, I hear what you're saying Speaking of organic Maybe all it took was like Bottles and bottles and bottles of honey meat
Starting point is 00:45:40 Organic booze to unlock The detective skills here Not special Vans car tequila But yeah Not my fave Not the smoothest writing we've seen On Yellow Jackass for sure
Starting point is 00:45:54 We've already talked about Most of the rest of this right Like Lottie saying Sean is saying, if it were one of your spouses turned out to be blackmail, I probably would have killed them. And then Lottie saying, we give it what it always wants one of us. Like, also felt like a really quick sprint to phenobobarbital. But like it also kind of felt like a quick sprint to the queen of hearts. So like, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:46:18 Like maybe the lid was already loosened on this jar for them. And they're like, what's a little Russian roulette of murder among friends here? Yeah, it was interesting with Lottie. that something guided you all here and it wasn't guilt and it wasn't some psychological need, it was something greater. To think about the difference with teen Lottie last episode talking about the wilderness giving them what they want, you know, saying, no, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't trade or haggle.
Starting point is 00:46:48 The wilderness adheres us. It gives us what we wanted. And adult Lottie espousing the complete opposite of that, that it is incumbent on them to give the wilderness what it demands, what it requires. That was interesting. I think like the all of, the way that each of the characters was responding to Lottie, and this has been true across both timelines,
Starting point is 00:47:11 is consistently pretty interesting to parse. I did, this kind of gets to that larger question of like, how is time moving? And when do we, when do the scales tip from, I think something we really enjoy about the show and think is like rich and compelling, which is that idea that we've discussed a lot Like, it's not just an either-or, it's not a light switch.
Starting point is 00:47:31 These characters move in between different states. They're pulled back and forth to something like van. This is back in the, we'll talk about Van more later, but in the, you know, in the 96th Wilderness timeline, going from last week's like, what's it for? What's my purpose? Utterly shaken faith to like the look of hunger on the man's face. The absolute. The face is scariest. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:58 Absolutely. And right back into like team faith, team Lottie. And, you know, in the present, Shauna, I got a kick out of Shauna saying, yeah, I think you might be taking the whole cult leader persona thing a tad far. But on the heels of this like, this moment of supreme, almost unparalleled for Shauna vulnerability that Shauna and Ladi had last week. And I'm trying to reconcile all of those things, you know.
Starting point is 00:48:30 I think again, that's genuinely interesting about the relationships and the dynamics inside of the group is that they do feel that way about each other in all directions. Shauna mistrust Lottie. Shana is on edge with Lottie, but also Lottie is able to open up things for Shana and for all of the other characters that no one else can. Even in 96, Shauna being one of the characters who says, like, it can't be Lottie, right? Shana is driven by her guilt there, not by a belief in Lottie's power, but there's still so much movement between positions and point of views in the span of just a couple episodes here that it's, I'm like already really feeling the need to rewatch this to like anchor myself a little bit more in everybody's particular point of view at a given moment. I think to your point about like we're missing the time with them together, I really think of, I like this season, but I really think a big. mistake was the Sadecki plot line. And I think they were sort of drawn in by, again, how
Starting point is 00:49:27 delightful Warren Cole is. They've said as much that, like, they expanded Jeff's role because of how delightful Warren Cole is as Jeff. Delightful again in this episode. But I think giving him more screen time upset the balance of the story that they're trying to tell. And so, like, so then Shauna feels like she's adrift in this side plot when I consider her the main character of the show, right? And so I think if we had gotten, if not everyone, at least a few other people to the farm earlier, rather than having like not, not wandering around with Lisa is interesting, but it's not as interesting as having like more of them bumping up against each other. You know what I mean? So if it were me to do again, I would have Nat call Shauna and Shauna
Starting point is 00:50:15 show up like earlier. I would not pull Misty up earlier because Walter Misty. We need all that time with them together, you know what I mean? Can't lose it. Not for anything. Yeah. But why not have Shauna standing there when Lottie is explaining the beehive, you know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:32 Yeah. And not fucking making repulsive sandwiches in her kitchen with Jeff. So we get the title of the episode here with Lottie saying, we don't get to decide. It chooses. It will help us survive now if we give it what it wants. And I think the, obviously, we're going to talk about what happened with Javi and like the way in which we go from like Jackie freezing out in the snow, Jave falling through the ice,
Starting point is 00:50:58 and how we can track that to the ritual of Pit Girl, where it's like, well, they didn't strike the killing blow, right? She falls into the pit. So is this whole idea, like, I don't think we're ever going to see Shauna draw her knife against the throat of someone and then eat them. I don't think that that's going to happen. I think we're always going to,
Starting point is 00:51:18 these girls are always going to find a way to keep their hands as clean as they can and just chalk it up to the wilderness deciding, even if they establish a complicated ritual that involves hunting, you know, pit girl through the woods, et cetera, et cetera. They still haven't technically been the one to kill her. Yeah, I agree. We don't, I liked hammering at home with such precision here all that time later after they've spent 25 years of their lives, either thinking about what they had done or trying not to think about what they had done,
Starting point is 00:51:52 repressing what they had done, confronting new decisions and new choices they're about to have to make. We don't get to decide. It chooses, like, you know, we've talked all season about the parallels to any number of manifestations of faith. And like, when that can be a comfort and a boon and when it can be an excuse to absolve yourself of some responsibility. or when it can be the way that you find that comfort for yourself on an individual or in a group way, well, it wasn't up to us. This had to happen. Or this was some other force outside of our own.
Starting point is 00:52:30 Like, that's a, it's a way to maintain something inside of yourself and keep your tether. But it's a dangerous, dangerous thing as well. Speaking of dangerous things. Let's talk about Sedeckis before we leave present day, right? Electric kitchen knives for hands. Is that what you mean by dangerous things? Fucking Syracusa. I mean Syracusa and Callie's fucking.
Starting point is 00:52:48 bedroom like just what the fuck dude my guy gets someone else to toss the room um he's relishing it he's having the time of his fucking life i love callie though but so like callie's like given you know filming him giving her mock little like rehearsal for how she's going to cry for the jury etc etc if she needs to and he says this thing the psychopath apple what kind of apple though doesn't fall far from the fucked up man eating tree do you think he's the one on the citizens detective bureau leaving the man eater comment i thought it was was suspicious. Parallel language.
Starting point is 00:53:20 I did think the parallel language was suspicious. Yes. She's a literal manninger. Get it, bro. Oh, my God. And they tried to, like, sort of what we were talking about might happen without Shauna there. And this is such an interesting recurring theme in this episode of, like, what happens
Starting point is 00:53:37 when a key person is not there, right? Like, what happens with Nat and the ritual, it do not think happens if Lottie isn't incapacitated upstairs and Ben isn't out looking for a hatch. You know what I mean? If one of those two people are downstairs in there with them, that doesn't happen. That connects to what we were just saying too, right? You do something in the name of somebody. That's what I was thinking.
Starting point is 00:54:00 I was thinking so much about like, so we talked about Lottie being, sorry, we're bouncing all over the place a little bit. We talked about Lottie being Wilderness Jesus last week and this idea of taking her sermons, like her ministry, which is about like calm, communing. listening to the trees, like blah, blah, and the ways in which, like, hashtag, not all Christians, certainly, but like, hashtag plenty of sex of Christianity have taken the Jesus Christ, the message of like, love thy neighbor, peace, like, blah, blah, and use it as a cudgel against people. Like, that happens all the time with, you know, ideologies, faithful ideologies.
Starting point is 00:54:43 In Lottie's name, we do this. We're doing it for her, right? She won't survive unless we get this meat. So we're doing it for Lottie. But would Lottie have won? I don't think Lottie, you know, and that's what's so fun about what they've done with Lottie this season is like the showrunner said at the beginning of the season. Like Lottie isn't our big bad. And so like we went into the season being like, oh my God, Lottie's the antler queen.
Starting point is 00:55:03 Wadi's going to be like, let's slice them and dice him. You know what I mean? And that is just not who she is. Now she might come around. I'm certainly sure she's going to like have a hobby snack or two. I mean, she's incoherent. Of course she is. And like she ate Jackie.
Starting point is 00:55:17 Like she's not above this. but like she's not, she's the, the soulful, thoughtful sermon, not the application of it to this sort of barbaric, right, you know? Right. Yeah. And that struggle that she experiences over time within herself, right? Like, this is how we always give back. It helped us survive then.
Starting point is 00:55:44 It'll help us survive now if we give it what it wants. like that she is the one in the present day pushing for that. And the others are now fearful and shy and appalled. And how dare you, even though that's a thing that they had participated in. Van, Van, most of all. Yeah. And part of that is because it's forcing them to confront something from their past that they would rather leave buried.
Starting point is 00:56:09 But for Lottie, like across the oscillations for Lottie across the season of like, when are you topping in to that primal elemental self? when are you confronting what is real or not real? And I think that's also interesting with the idea of like zealotry or dogma or any sort of like a faith or a culture that springs up around it and a community that can spring up around it is even if it wasn't the original intention, if it becomes the creed, if it becomes the practice
Starting point is 00:56:37 and you are the figurehead, then when do you get subsumed in the thing that other people did in your name, even if it wasn't what you would have wanted in the first place? Though all that said, Lottie is, like you said, we're jumping around a little bit, but it is all, it's very, it's all just so connected in this episode. Lottie's visions, and if we think back to Lottie as a kid before the crash and the car accident, right, that Lottie's got these visions, these prophecies, this like inner eye that Lottie has. When Lottie is flashing to visions up in the attic, ailing, clinging to life, the thing that she's seeing is Javi falling into the lake, is the hunt, is the pursuit. So, you know, and you can interpret that. What is it something that she is fearing?
Starting point is 00:57:18 Is it something that she is craving and welcoming and is, uh, is something she is somehow causing fulfilling? Yeah. If that's, if that's, if that's, if that's how you decided to think about it. Yeah, that's interesting. Let's just zip through the rest of the Sedeckis. So, yeah, we can just hang out in 96. Without, so to the point, without Shana there, Jeff is much more vulnerable to influence from
Starting point is 00:57:39 Kevin Tan and from Syracusa. and they're showing some absolutely appalling crime scene photos. This was horrifying. Horrifying, Joanna. This was, I thought, I struggle sometimes with the horror and the gores, you know. This was, I think, the most scared I've been by a Yellow Jackets episode since season one, maybe the attic seance. Mostly with the bleeding wall with Mari. Is it because you spent so much time staring lovingly at the tattoo on Adam's back?
Starting point is 00:58:10 and so to think of it being taken off with a cheese grater. I mean, are we putting, are we putting this to rest? No. I'm Joanna. Home he's dead. I'll talk about it now or, okay, we'll just do it now. Here's the thing. He's dead.
Starting point is 00:58:27 Valerie. But like Nuggets Corpse, I will continue to stroke this theory and believe that it's full of vibrant life. Okay. Do I think still that Javi who died is Adam who died? No. However, maybe some of these theories about whether we're in a different plane and any of this is real. Maybe there is a connection there. Let's roll with it.
Starting point is 00:58:57 Why not? Here's the only thing I'll throw out. Of course, as I'm sure you did, I went as frame by frame as I could when Ben was looking through Harvey's drawings. And I'm sorry, but these are Adams back to out. They just are. Now, is it exactly one for one? Like the bird of prey and the hair? No, but like the circle that we have seen elsewhere, like the dark middle, the rings around like a lake or whatever it's supposed to be, the triangles of the mountains. Adam's back tattoo is the wilderness that Javi drew. It is. So there is some connection there. Now, maybe. He just went to a tattoo shop and was like, give me a wilderness. Give me the wilderness special. Give me the Chris McCanness.
Starting point is 00:59:53 Or. And they went out of the way to draw our attention to the tattoo again with the cheese Crater Joe. Do you think they're messing with you? 33 red herrings. That's great. But like I'm going to keep talking about the fucking tattoo and they keep drawing our attention to it.
Starting point is 01:00:10 I love you and I will never stop you from doing that. But did you pin your zooms? Did you? Oh my God. She's got her phone out. Did you? Did you? Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:00:21 Oh, my God. She just clicked over to her photo roll and I saw like dozens of the drawing. So did you, did you pinch and zoom in on these? There's so many of these. Did you zoom in on these before Javi went into the lake? And were you like vindicated? And then he went into the lake. Sorry, it's a tough, it's a tough look for you.
Starting point is 01:00:43 It's okay. I've never actually, and I swear, this is just true. And you know this. I've never actually really truly thought definitively that Javi was Adam. I've always really liked the theory. But I do think Adam is somehow connected to the wilderness and I will, I actually still believe that. Maybe he's part of the others. I hope that's true. Oh, yeah. He's one of the, he's one of the hatch people. I love that. Listen, they're both artists, though. Don't forget that. I would never forget that. I will say you're not wrong about like consensual, concentric circles and triangles and mountains and all that sort of saying.
Starting point is 01:01:23 But I also think those are fairly like standard tattoo imagery. That circle in particular is recurring in such a way. Okay, maybe Ben makes it after all, makes it back and took the drawings with him and opened a tattoo shop in Javi's honor or maybe Travis did before his, subsequent demise. And maybe Adam just walked in one day. I was like, I'm an artist. I love art. Give me that one.
Starting point is 01:01:54 Give me the flash sale. Can I just say that that is flash sale? Can I just say that that is set? That would be such a lost, like in later seasons of loss, by the way, it was like everyone was somehow connected. So if we got an episode later in a later season of Yellow Jackets where Adam walked into a tattoo parlor and Ben was the tattoo artist. That would be a very lousy moment.
Starting point is 01:02:16 This is ultimately not actually being a tattooer. Yeah. This is something that I actually think is like kind of, if not likely or probable, then at least possible. It's just that Adam has some tie to somebody who is there and that that will reveal itself in time. I think, I think a tree person, tree, let's just say lady is his mom. All right. So, so Jeff had a tough time with seeing these pictures, though, with hearing and having to confront, you know, even though he said, but Sean is not capable of this. He knows that she did this.
Starting point is 01:02:48 And so he sees the evidence of what she did that she disempered this person and grated off his back tattoo with a cheese grater. Now, the Sedecki spent a lot of time in their kitchen. So that one had to hurt. That one had heard, Joe. Graded off like a rind of pecorino is, I hope they went home and patted themselves on the back after they wrote that line. And this is where, yes, in the notes.
Starting point is 01:03:10 I wrote the phrase human cheese. So, so, so, so upsetting. This is the blood on the family photo that you've been waiting for. This was in the nightmare. I eagerly every night you dream of the back tattoo and I dream of the blood spattered Sedecki photo. And then Jeff catches Calli drinking a beer, right? He has this dream.
Starting point is 01:03:34 By the way, I'm not sure that they were trying to fool us, but, like, Melanie Olenski's dream acting is hilarious. It's like she's in a bad porno. It's so funny. You like it. I thought you loved all of me. Like, I love all of you. That's, of course, that theme we've been recurring theme of the season,
Starting point is 01:03:52 the series that we've been talking about, right? You love the darkness. And, of course, love the light. It came up in a non-dream sex scene of theirs, right? In Adam's studio in the first episode that I like being the way I am. This was gnarly, slicing off just Jeff's side. with her electric knife hands. Which a snack brand are you going to besmirch by associating with this cut of?
Starting point is 01:04:20 I mean, that was just full like Thanksgiving turkey stuff right there, right? I mean, without question. Butterball. Yeah. Butterball, Jeff. Okay, great. I loved this Jeff Kelly scene, though. I thought this was, I really, really love this. This might have been my favorite scene in the episode.
Starting point is 01:04:34 This is a huge moment that we've been waiting for to know whether or not Jeff knew about the baby that Shauna lost. And he did. And he tells Callie about it. And when he says all that stuff, that's your mom's burden to bear, but you don't have to make it yours. This is going to be a cross promo with my succession discussion that Sean and Bill and I have been having. But like, there was a line in succession, that's not a spoiler, but there was a line in succession last week of the poison drips through, this idea of passing down trauma or whatever you want to call. it, passing down the darkness within you into your children. And is it inevitable? Is it inevitable that Callie becomes another Shauna? Or can you break that cycle somehow? Again, we don't know anything
Starting point is 01:05:23 about Shauna's parents. We don't know, like, what is the origin of the darkness within Shauna? Because, as Jeff has pointed out, it was there before the wilderness, right, given how their relationship started. So we don't know what poison may have dripped down to Shauna. the first place. And will the poison drip down to Cali? That is, you know, that was Syracuse's taunt, right? Psychopath Apple doesn't fall far from the fucked up manating tree. Rolls off the tongue. But Jeff is saying it doesn't have to be. This doesn't have to be you, right? It doesn't, this doesn't have to be you. And I just, I loved, again, like, I don't dislike Jeff's scenes. I love Jeff's scenes. Martin Cole is so good. He's my favorite. He's so funny. And then he's
Starting point is 01:06:06 also just like very emotive in this scene. But we didn't need Shauna here for this really strong Jeff and Callie moment. What do you want to say about it? Yeah, I just loved this. And I think like what was so moving about it, and I thought very true, very true, again, inside of an extreme circumstance that you can't relate to, you find something human that you can. For everything you're saying about how he's telling Callie that it doesn't have to be her burden, He also, on the heels of seeing those photos of Adam's dismembered decomposing corpse,
Starting point is 01:06:43 having the dream of Shana slicing his side off and slitting his throat against our family photo, he wakes up and when Callie says, am I like her? He says, sure, yeah, you're smart and you're good at stuff. And you don't take any shit. Like he's still thinking about the good things and the parts of Shana that he loves and that he accepts. And I just think that's amazing. And like, I loved that we got to, I loved learning that he knew about the baby. And the way that he said, I mean, this just shredded me. It was our baby. It was hers and mine. That was just so heart-wrenching. And in the line that you already
Starting point is 01:07:29 mentioned about him talking about the burdens to bear and saying that's your mom's burden to bear, he said, and mine too, I guess. And, and, you know. And, and. And, you know, And that was just really clarifying for me. Like the way that, like, he wasn't out there with her, but this shared loss, this thing that they lost together, even though they weren't in the same place, even though it would have been something that Jeff learned about after, is in a, not in a very serious conversation here to make a joke about our favorite Allie from season one,
Starting point is 01:08:02 trauma bonds and the way she said trauma bond. But like, kind of, right? Yeah. This thing that they share that is just forever a part of their history. And because of that, they're present. And it was just like a really lovely moving scene. I thought this was great. Jeff is great.
Starting point is 01:08:18 Callie's great. Sedeckies are great. I hope they all make it out of this season okay. And I hope Saracusa dies a painful death. Like the worst. Like, that's the thing. It's like, what if Walter dies this season in Syracusa lives? Like, well, maybe Walter will kill Saracusa because Saracusa's on the, on the, on the, on the, on the hunt. That would be great. I would be wonderful. Maybe he and Misty can do it together. Bobby B. Boy, Bobby Bradheian voice, how'd you do it? How do you think he'll do it? Um, how do you want to see Walter kill detective Matthew Saracusa? Like in as many bits and pieces as possible. Do you know what I mean? While a, a banging showtum blair's.
Starting point is 01:09:05 in his well-appointed home with tarps down. Like a real dexter murder. Yeah. His blood just seeping through the honeycomb. Here's what I will tell you. When Walter, who was living, who's going to survive the season, when Walter, oh my God, are they going to eat him? Okay, when Walter makes it through, I'm so, so worried.
Starting point is 01:09:30 I'm worried that, like, he's going to have a fall. Maybe all this, like, stuff about how he almost died multiple times will come into play, right? but like, he does have like a plate in his brain protecting him. Yeah. That guy's kind of handy.
Starting point is 01:09:45 Maybe I don't think he's dead and he's not. When he went to the local news site to read the Adam article, there was a thing at the top about a storm, like about a really bad weather coming. So is the storm from the wilderness
Starting point is 01:10:00 going to hit Sunshine Honey? Is a snow gust going to claim will misty? No mere gust. No mere gust could take Walter from us. Burble from Walter's mouth. Will a song be frozen in his throat? A song is definitely going to be thrown. Oh, just so upset. I'm pre-greaving. Maybe it'll be great. Maybe nothing bad will happen and they'll fuck in the sensory deprivation tank. Or maybe, maybe like someone scared and, I don't know, drug down to their mind will crack him upside the head with a rock.
Starting point is 01:10:34 And then it'll be like metal plate. I'm fine. I live to murder a cop with you, Misty. Okay, let's go to 1996. I like that. I actually think that's going to happen now that we've said that. I think that they're going to kill. We've manifested the middle plate.
Starting point is 01:10:51 Okay, great. Oh, I love it. I'm so excited. And then celebrate with some fresh honey and some wonderful sex. Frosty milk? What is Walter allergic to again? However you hydrate, you know. This guy's a maniac with.
Starting point is 01:11:08 this fucking breakfast taco food and like all the things you know beans I guess you can't eat sensitive stomach all right 1996 we've already covered a lot of this because we are efficient and we are great at our jobs but yes that's why we've already covered all of it that's why so I cut a few things out that we've already covered so let's just start let's just start with nat right so nat and ben you know famously friends are having a little chat Joe I missed these two together Yeah, I'm glad to see them back together, right? Me too. Maybe Lottie dying wouldn't be the worst thing.
Starting point is 01:11:48 And Ben's like, hey, yeah, she's in pain. And that's like, no. She was fucking dark. And she's talking about Lottie's influence, right? And the irony being, as we've already discussed, that it's like Lottie is certainly not to blame for what happens with the hunt here, right? Again, Natt's feelings about Lottie are both, on the one hand, correct in some sense, but then also irrational and driven by her jealousy.
Starting point is 01:12:11 right? But I do think it's interesting that like Travis approaches Nat for the first time in this episode for plot convenient reasons, sure, but also because Lottie, it feels like it's connected to Lottie being not there and him not being. Being under her influence, like it makes it sound like she's sort of like a witch that his like, you know, insorseled him and that's not what I'm trying to say. He's like enthralled to her and the whole thing. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:12:45 Definitely. Yeah. But it was sweet. The sweeter part of it is that he saw Nat and Javi together. And she's a good person. Mittins that should simply not serve as a flotation device. Should have given her some swimmies. Oh, well.
Starting point is 01:13:06 And that was sweet. And it also was just so painful on a rewatch knowing where the swoosh. knowing where this was going. First of all. I think Swimmies is regional because we don't call them that here. Wait, what do you call them? Are they not called Swimmies? They're called Floodies.
Starting point is 01:13:23 Yeah. Swimies is really cute. That is so cute. Should have given them some swimming. Maybe they're not. It's entirely possible that no one else calls them then. It's a very sweet little reunion for Nat and Travis. These on the brink of irreparable despair for them
Starting point is 01:13:42 that they will literally never recover from. So one brief little sweet moment for them. I also noticed later when Misty comes down to be like, LOL, Lottie said we should eat her. Travis and Natter sleeping together on the floor next to each other. So, you know, hopefully they had one more night of... No one's... Holesenogenic sex.
Starting point is 01:14:01 No one's fucking. They're so tired. Yeah. All right. I thought it was interesting. On the Lottie front, I thought it was interesting, you know, of course, that Sean is the one who grabs a... code and or blanket for her.
Starting point is 01:14:16 And I think that's all I need to say about Lottie. She's sweating. She's moaning. She's having visions. She says, eat me. Yeah, we talked about that she was flashing forward to like later in the episode already. Let's see. Is there anything else about Lottie?
Starting point is 01:14:34 I guess again, just Vann in the context of Lottie was interesting. Like Vand sort of snapping during the, during the blanket or quilt sequence, hey, Lottie took it from her to protect us. Don't let that be for nothing. And Van really like being staunchly in this team Lottie camp yet again. Did you get some, Promise Me Ned vibes from Lottie during the
Starting point is 01:14:58 Lottie in her bed of fett of blood? Piss blood. Oh my God. Promise. Promise. Piss blood. Okay. So let's talk.
Starting point is 01:15:11 We were going to talk about everything else, I think. Anything else you want to say on the bed front? Did you, like, give out a primal yell of yes when he had to merely move three ferns? And lo and behold, there's a giant, a little... A plume of steam and then a branch cast aside. And there he is in the hatch, hatch, hatch. What happens next for Ben? Obviously, this was also the place that Hobby was trying to bring that.
Starting point is 01:15:45 I'm so certain. I know what happens to bed next. Is that we're going to end with someone grabbing him. You know, someone being behind him or someone grabbing him. And then we'll find out in season three. Whether or not that person is friend or foe. Do you think that this is, in fact, as we have speculated, a connected system that all of the simple trees market entrance to what is ultimately like a tunnel network or that each of these is the equivalent of like a Dharma station and they are part of a network but are ultimately
Starting point is 01:16:15 standalone. I'm inclined to say network. Me too. I think so too. Yeah. Like because otherwise wouldn't they have cited somebody. Do you know what I mean? I think if they can travel around underground, that's a far less, far less chance of being cited, you know? Agreed. Yeah. And even just like, it was hard to see in there again. We're watching on screeners. I'll look forward to checking that sequence out again on the big screen. But the way that you got to glimpse little like other pockets of light and air elsewhere in the cave, it just gave you a sense of scope that maybe pointed to a deeper recess.
Starting point is 01:16:58 And yeah, exactly, something lurking and waiting. The moment, I mean, everything that happens with the choosing, Nat, the Chase, Javi, the parallel to the moose and the lake, all of that heart pumping and deeply distressing. The brief, we already talked about the brief moment of reconciliation with Travis and Nat.
Starting point is 01:17:20 Similarly, like that brief moment where Javi goes to Nat and says, like, I know somewhere they don't. I'll take you and you allow yourself to think just for a second that Javi and Ben and Nat could end up there together. Find a way to get Travis. And that could be one of our
Starting point is 01:17:36 groups. And then boom, go. I didn't have time to think. I had like a couple seconds. I was like, maybe they'll all end up together. I mean, I definitely, I definitely thought Javi was going to, I didn't think they were going to, I don't know, I don't know, I didn't have time.
Starting point is 01:17:54 My heart was pounding. I didn't have time to speculate. Because this is the other tragic thing, right, is that Travis is, Travis interrupts, now we're jumping around again. I'm so sorry. Travis is the one who interrupts the, the ritual. the ritual. And then as he is being held at knife point after others are already pursuing that, he's gesturing to Javi.
Starting point is 01:18:16 He's imploring him to go help. So he's the one who sends Javi ultimately. Or that's how he will carry it is I'm the one who sent my brother to his death. Yeah. Travis is going to be fucked up for the rest of his life starting now. If he thought it was bad when Hobby was merely missing, wait until Travis, I don't know, eats him. So, okay. The ritual happens, right?
Starting point is 01:18:41 Okay, did you want the conversation? Now, we know they're using the card deck for chores already, so it's logical. Hey, let's use it for this. We had the moment that we talked about at the time where we hear Akila ask Javi where he got the queen card from. Brief and, like, barely noticeable. Like, you had to point it out to me. Like, and I swear I watch these episodes closely.
Starting point is 01:19:00 Like, I don't watch them with close captioning because we don't have them. But, like, if I did, like, uh, it. I think it's so weird that the queen of hearts got introduced into the pack after them saying overtly, there's no queens. There are no queens in this pack without a more overt moment where that happened. I thought that was a little, it felt like something that we were missing too. And also, honestly, just like the desperation is clearly established. That's handled well. We understand why they would make this choice. But like, how do they talk about it with each other? How do they say and all accept that? I mean, Again, we see like the buildup, all of the, and it can't be her. I can't imagine being here without her, me either, all the stuff about Lottie. But like, how do they get to the, okay, we'll pull a card and then someone will be eaten? I will say this.
Starting point is 01:19:49 In an episode where we were just saying, like, that sharing shack exposition tumble felt a little like funky. I mean, there's every possibility that they wrote that out and then it just didn't play. And they were like, well, what if we just cut to the ritual and everyone can imagine what that conversation was like? like I'm with you. Again, it feels, it feels soon to jump to the ritual.
Starting point is 01:20:15 You know what I mean? And so like I, I'm, you know, their vision's blurring before you kill a person. Right? Wouldn't that like, well, I had a moment. Okay, I had a,
Starting point is 01:20:24 but cheek. I calorie butt meat. It's canon. Speaking of, yeah, you're like Pringles for days, man. Speaking of you having a whole fan fiction event while they were running through the woods with Javi and that I had a moment when
Starting point is 01:20:43 Nat pulled the card but we know Nat survives I was like do they take her leg here or something like that has Nat had like I was like have we ever seen her legs does she that's why she never takes like a prosthetic leg yeah yeah does she have a prosthetic leg like because they ate her leg or something like that like are she and Ben like one leg friends like what's happening um Yeah, and then it was hobby. Of course it's hobby that went in because we've been talking all season. This is, again, to invoke loss, this is a problem that happens when you cast a child in your show where you don't want a ton of time to be passing. He's so tall.
Starting point is 01:21:19 The character of Walt on loss, spoilers, sorry, slight spoilers for our producer, lovely producer Carlos, who has just started watching Lost. But we'll just say, Walt has to be taken off the board of the series because he gets too tall, right? And so hobby got tall, man. The kid should have drank some more coffee. And then maybe he, I don't actually believe that it's done too gross. But like something. Maybe he would have survived this season. But they had to put him on the ice.
Starting point is 01:21:46 You know what I mean? Or they could have just let him be rescued. I suppose I didn't have to kill him. Yeah, he could have lived with the others for years. But alas, instead. He's the white moose who fell in and madhead. I guess did the wilderness send her the white moose as a vision? Like, as a, this is a portent?
Starting point is 01:22:03 Yeah. Everything that happened is a portent. I mean, right down to the position in the ice and the failed attempt to pull out the moose. Yes. Correct. Not saying you're going to have to look me in the eye when Shauna goes to cut her throat was a moment I really loved. When the hunt starts and the girls are back in their doom coming howling mode. Shrieking. Bowling. Bullet with butterfly wing is incredible. Smashing Pumpkin song plays. Great needle drop here. Havie saying, you can trust me, right? You can trust me. Travis saying to Nat, you're a good person, right? The, like, relief on Havi's face and Travis's face when neither of them pulled the card. You're going to be okay, Travis says to Javi during the card pulling. When he ran over for the hug. Yeah. And like we talked about this last week when
Starting point is 01:23:02 Shauna was about to beat Lottie up and Lottie's like, Travis take Havi into another room. Like Lottie is thinking of Javi still as a child to be protected. Yeah. So we let the innocent freeze. And Misty's saying, if you save him, the others will get you. This is a reflection, of course, of Missy's sharing shack comments about like, you know, my murders were practical. I did what needed to be done, right? So Misty's like, this is a practical moment.
Starting point is 01:23:33 This is a trade. If you just let him go. And again, then we can say, it wasn't us. We didn't do it. It shows. The wilderness shows, as Veyn says. And yet it was interesting the different degrees, like, of how complicit every person is in that moment. And we'll have to, like, carry that.
Starting point is 01:23:53 Well, yeah. Let's talk about the potential ramifications here. Yeah. So, like, please. So not already. lied to Travis about Harvey is everyone going to lie about what happened on the ice
Starting point is 01:24:07 and how long is that lie going to stay buried? You know what I mean? I think they come back and they lie. This is where the fact that this is what Lottie sees is really interesting to me. Because she can recount this vision
Starting point is 01:24:24 and basically say to them like that's not true and that can be another wedge and maybe we've been like kind of asking in a recurring fashion this question of what is the wedge that that causes a division? Like how do we get these clans plural if that is in fact
Starting point is 01:24:43 happening? This feels like it could be it. I mean a number of things leading up to this point I felt that way too but this really feels and it's gotten kind of like muddy right because Shauna versus Lottie while Shauna because of maybe her
Starting point is 01:25:01 guilt and desperation is a part of this. Like, is the one with the knife in her hand is flashing back to seeing Travis's stag is out there in the pursuit. That flash from the intro of like the wild chase, you know. Maybe it's Travis who sets off and maybe will he find his way to ban? I mean, maybe Nat will be so disturbed by her role in what happened and what she allowed even because of just a desire to live, self-preservation, maybe she will set off.
Starting point is 01:25:39 She's the one who led Ben to that tree in the first place, right? She said, Javi had gone to the dark side was bowing in front of symbol trees. We also saw the, another thing we saw Lottie flash to were the symbols. The symbol on the tree is symbol on the attic floor. So what does that indicate in terms of other people chasing the symbols? I think most, I mean, yeah, I don't know about chasing the symbols. and I feel like the division, I'm still very much of the belief that
Starting point is 01:26:06 the pit girl chase is next year, is next winter. So we're going to have a whole thaw, a whole spring and summer fall. They just don't have the dead animal hides. So, I mean, they could always find it under a tree somewhere, but like, yeah. Right.
Starting point is 01:26:21 It's true. But that means they're going to have a whole spring, summer, fall, where in theory, they'll be able to hunt again. and let's just let's just give poor Natalie the benefit of the doubt and say like the reason she couldn't find any fucking game is whoever's living under the tree is eating all the small woodland creatures, okay? But hopefully they're going to be able to hunt and live off like animals again, hopefully, right? And then the, and then winter's going to come back around, right?
Starting point is 01:26:53 And it's going to be a question of have we stored up enough meat to survive for the winter? we do this again? And I think that's going to kind of be the, like, the main division of like, if they did it want, and they told themselves this is what they were doing to survive the winter. And then they have many months to think about that. Are they doing it when the sun's out? Are they doing it because it feels like the wilderness demands it? Or are they waiting until winter requires them to do it again, et cetera? How do we do it again? Then again, this was much frictionless than I thought it would be. Like from Jackie to Javi is it was a much quicker slope than I thought it would be.
Starting point is 01:27:37 Yeah. As far as we know, no pushback on, yeah, let's just draw cards to see who's eaten. I guess that's what a belt soup will do to you, you know? I feel like Travis is going to eat hobby. I feel like that's going to happen. And this is why he's never going to be able to forgive himself ever in his life. Because if your brother, if your brother falls through a hole in the ice, Even if he takes on the guilt of I gave him a head gesture to go help Nat, I think he's going to eat him.
Starting point is 01:28:07 And I think he's going to forever be devastated by that. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. I think he leaves. I think he refuses to accept this and he sets out. And he knows that Javi found a way to survive somehow. And then Nat follows him. I think we have a division at the end of next week of the group.
Starting point is 01:28:32 I really don't want Travis to eat Harvey. That would be even inside of Yellow Jackets. Have you seen the show? Almost unbearable. I know. I mean, it could definitely happen. It could definitely happen. I mean, maybe they've been preparing us for it since the moment Travis dug up his own father to take his ring.
Starting point is 01:28:48 I want to say that I'm a little worried. I'm worried about Walter. Yeah. I'm worried about Lisa. Like, why is Lisa here? You know what I mean? Someone at Sunshine Honey has to die, without question. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:01 And I feel like it's probably Lisa. Like, that's what it feels like. Could be Walter. Could be both. Needle drops on the nose needle drop. Poor Sucker by Lowe from 2018 plays us out in the credits. And here are some of the lyrics. Some poor sucker at the bottom of the lake took the wrong way up when the ground began to break.
Starting point is 01:29:19 It's a long way back up. That's the price you got to pay. So before I like was able to decipher the lake specific lyric. I was thinking that, like, the connection was, it's a long way back. That's the price you got to pay. I'm sort of like, it's a long way back from this, like, the low depravity of the, the absolute nadir of morality of letting a boy drown who's just trying to save you. So for Nat, we understand why Nat has been fucked up for the rest of her life, right? It's a long way back.
Starting point is 01:29:49 That's the price you got to pay. But also, it's literally about a guy to like. So that's what this song is about. Um, hmm. Lost corner. I'm wondering now, too, on the Travis Havi front, how Travis will process because he is a, he's a prayer circle guy. He's a lot of guy. But I mean, but I think, you know, Lottie shows.
Starting point is 01:30:12 Do you think Lottie, I don't know how long Lottie has been nursing her wounds. It feels like it's the same day or the next day. Do you think she's going to be out of Comish for three days and then rise again? I don't have a great feel for. for time. How much time has passed in the wilderness. We got an email about this, which we may or may not get to. But like, I was just like, what if they're, if they're going with wilderness Jesus,
Starting point is 01:30:35 what if it's three days and then she rises? You know what I mean? Love it. Do you want to pick a needle drop before we go to Lost Corner? Neal drop with a yep. I'm, I'm sparse. I like the Walter musical theater ones. Did you?
Starting point is 01:30:51 Yeah. Well, are you. I'm going to give it to Barbara. I did some, I did some Googling. Yeah. read some Sweeney Todd lyrics, you know? I was like, huh, into this. Good stuff. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:31:03 You saying I read some Sweeney Todd lyrics, like, makes me so happy. Shadow Me, who wrote this in the writer's room, was thrilled at this outcome. All right. Lost Corner, if you don't want to hear us talk about loss, this is where you get to skip ahead. Unless you're Carlos and you have to produce this podcast. So our producer Carlos literally just started watching Lost. have a pretty good sense of which episode he was on based on what he texted me yesterday.
Starting point is 01:31:30 So I put some redactions. To be clear, we're spoiling all lost, except when it comes to our producer Carlos in this case, from being sensitive. Sorry. But Francesca wrote in an email about a comp that she thought was interesting. This idea of it chooses, the wilderness chose, et cetera, et cetera. She says, in loss, this is evocative of John Locke's reference to a character being a sacrifice, the island demanded on loss.
Starting point is 01:31:59 A much more straightforward interpretation of the powers that were under those circumstances. Was Jackie a sacrifice the wilderness demanded? Crystal. Shauna's baby? Coach Ben before long, I'm sure. I don't know, Francesca. As we know, quote unquote, it wants blood. I think the tone of their relationship with the wilderness seems to be shifting more
Starting point is 01:32:17 the way of sacrifices which it demands. After all, the sacrifice of a character on loss led the way to the discovery of the hatch. I'm wondering if the aforementioned sacrifices in the wilderness. will lead to the wilderness version of some discovery, the hatch, Havi's friend, etc, etc. So Ben does discover the hatch. It's not a hatch, but it's a hatch in the same episode that Havi goes into, like, perhaps concurrently almost. So, you know, will Havi's friend be angry that he died and these people ate him? Great question.
Starting point is 01:32:51 Great question. Also, Havi's friend is definitely a woman, right? she said. Doesn't he say she said? She told me, this is episode five, Javi to Ben. She told me not to come back. Who did my friend? I'm excited for Ben to, you know, meet this, you know, lady who may or may not be named Rousseau. Okay. So. Benjamina, Linus, what do you think? That's too early for a Ben Linus character. Catherine wrote a long email about time on this show and I couldn't figure out a way to pare it down. So I decided if we had time we would read it. So here we go. Ahem. Time is a key element of the show. 25 years separate the wilderness from the present and we have a better sense of time passing
Starting point is 01:33:38 in the former. Seasons help us mark time in the wilderness and the daily chores help us see the day to day. Time doesn't pass so clearly in the present timeline. The year it takes place isn't as important as the day's passing and when character developments and plots even happen. Plot events happen. Sorry. Take the first season's culmination, the 25th high school reunion, it suddenly appears as a topic of casual conversation in the ninth episode. Something so
Starting point is 01:34:03 off our and the character's radars that may be intentional, but can't we all picture the event popping up in a laundry list morning conversation in the Sadeki Kitchen, or consider the finale with the premiere when Ty wins the campaign she launched in the very first episode. The reunion and campaign could have been signposts
Starting point is 01:34:19 to mark the passage of time in the present day gives us a sense of how long Sean his affair was, how long Natalie's been in town and fucking Kevin Tan. How long Misty held Jessica Roberts hostage in her dungeon? Or how long Shadow Tye terrorized her family? The show presents all of this is happening
Starting point is 01:34:35 within days when such key events as the reunion and campaign are months in the making. Consider that season one, episode 5, present day is Halloween, and season one episode 10 is election night in early November. That means basically the entire present day in season one happened in
Starting point is 01:34:51 less than a week. Season two doesn't give a fuck about time in the present day. It's like the showners have harvested the power of the wilderness to make Van and Ty arrive at Lottie's bee farm slash cult headquarters at the same time as Shana. All three get there around mid-morning. Never mind that it took Ty and van two hours and 40 minutes or 176 miles from Oberlin, Ohio, while Shauna, after spending her morning at police headquarters, drove for six hours and 31 minutes or 403 miles from northern New Jersey. And are we to believe Natalie has acclimated to Lottie's mystical therapy and bonded with a nearly scar-free Lisa within a week,
Starting point is 01:35:24 Or that Misty's kidnapping investigation with Walter, not to mention her blossoming love affair slash murderous relationship, happened within a week. Time passing also raises the question about the wilderness. All screen developments happen, sure, but some need to be on screen. Knowing how long Crystal and Missy were besties gives us a better understanding of Misty's mindset and how that relationship and its end influenced her present relationships. Better yet, giving viewers a sense of how long ties been in Lottie Prayer Circle lets us know how and why her relationship or dependence with Van Deepen and how long Shauna has felt isolated.
Starting point is 01:35:59 I thought this is a great email. This is stuff that's sort of been burbling around in the backgrounds of our conversations about Yellow Jackets. But I felt it, like, I think the point is most keenly made. I think in that season one timeline of Halloween to election night is pretty wild if you think about it. Yeah, we're Shauna and Adam fucking for like a couple days. like what was going on. And then the crystal misty thing, I think, is really, like, especially
Starting point is 01:36:25 if you're going to interest a character, I kill her off a couple episodes later, and, you know, really force that bond between the two characters in order to make us feel the pain of it. I would have loved to see a little bit more understanding of the passage of time of that relationship. Any thoughts about time that you want to share? Yeah, no, I agree. I think it's a really astute observation. And, you know, it was interesting even in this episode to hear like Misty say about Jessica. I'd already held her captive in my basement for like a week
Starting point is 01:36:56 and like get, you know, or we have certain moments with Shawna's pregnancy in the wilderness that definitively mark time. And then I think that actually exacerbates the absence of that clarity and other circumstances. Like if we think about how long was Ben in essence, comatose staring at the wall
Starting point is 01:37:14 in his bed with basically nobody caring. Right. you know and like obviously there's a lot of other stuff going on but I think that the and even I will say like in this episode in the we talked about the speed of the reveals and the exposition in the present day in the past there was just some like odd sequencing stuff it's like misty's downstairs misty's upstairs misty's upstairs this character's with this character this character's with this character and maybe that's just stuff that's happening in the edit and everybody's in one room and that's fine but I do think that there have been more moments definitively this season in both timelines than there were in season one where you were like, wait, how much time exactly has passed between Thing X and where we are now? And given the dissent that we are watching, I mean, on the one hand, it's like, well, all the time has passed, right? So how much time has passed between episode seven and nine is maybe like less relevant than the fact that they have gone through this winter, as you noted, right?
Starting point is 01:38:17 and the longing and the want and the absence that is defining every minute of their day feels like a year to them and that's kind of the point. But it feels definitely less precise. I wonder in some ways if it's intentional because sometimes when shows back themselves in with too many firm dates and markers, then they're just bound by them
Starting point is 01:38:44 in a way that ultimately does become limiting. So there's like a little part of me that doesn't mind it, I guess. But we are feeling it for sure. Yeah, and I think that, you know, it's always tricky in this TV landscape when you don't know when you're going to be canceled. Like obviously, Yellow Jackets is a sizable hit for Showtime, but like, and they kind of want to do five seasons. But like, are they going to get to do five seasons? And if they're told, hey, actually, season four is your last, like, are they going to want to, like, be able to zoom through the final months of the wilderness or whatever it is they still need to do?
Starting point is 01:39:17 you know what I mean I think they're trying to keep that as loose as possible. We keep getting hung up on time. This might be a show where we just need to like let go of our understandings of time in order to enjoy it. But I think even more to the point. And we love Yellow Jackets. Like this is we're doing this podcast because we love this show. But I will say, you know, it's unfair to success. But when you compare it to like the way in which succession will like really slowly and patiently seed something in.
Starting point is 01:39:44 Whereas I feel like Yellow Jackets is often in almost like a. Glee-esque way, like very reactive to the needs of the episode. So I would have loved to have seen the Travis Nat reunion happen last week, like another episode, not the same episode where Javi goes into the water. You know what you noted? Last week, they've kind of both barely been in the last couple episodes because there wasn't room. All right. Well, that is it for episode eight.
Starting point is 01:40:11 When I see you next time for the next episode, my dear, it will be in the flesh. you can show me all of Adam's back tattoos in person on your phone. She has so many photos of that fucking back tattoo, not to mention the drawings. I love this about you. I love you madly and dearly. Tune in elsewhere on prestige for succession coverage. Come over the ringerverse to hang out more. If you know, if you're just meeting us through this podcast, this is what we do all the time every week over in the ringerverse.
Starting point is 01:40:38 So, you know, it's a good time. Not an introduction. Yeah, I hope this is not the last year of us. I hope you hang with us on other shows. And, Mallor, any thoughts or feelings you want to share about the use of Lenny Bruce on Marvel's Mrs. Maisel in this final season?
Starting point is 01:40:57 I'm not prepared to... I'm not prepared to confront my feelings about that. Mallory is not pre-grieved. Okay. I have not pre-grieved. I need Kendall's grief guy. All right. Or for Roman to teach me how to pre-grieve.
Starting point is 01:41:13 One or the other. I'm struggling. I miss Lenny dearly. This episode is produced by our long-suffering producer, Carlos Chirovoga. And we'll be back next week in Sweden. Bye! This episode is brought to you by Netflix's remarkably bright creatures. What if a Pacific octopus held the key to a mystery that could heal your heart? Well, that's Tova's reality. An elderly widow working at an aquarium. Tova forms an unlikely friendship with their cramudgeonly, Marcellus,
Starting point is 01:41:53 whose remarkable intelligence leads her to a... a life-changing discovery. Remarkably bright creatures is now playing, only on Netflix.

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