#just like how shauna loves jackie so much but she's so terrified of showing it because she cannot love JACKIE of all people. of all girls.

[super-nova5045]

and if i said travis is a parallel to shauna

[tabithatwo]

okay, it has been a HOT fucking second, but it's time for the rest of my jackie taylor is a lesbian and she knows it (or she at LEAST knows she likes women) thoughts for the pilot (this is a continuation, if you feel like this is abrupt click the link <3)

jackie trying to set shauna up with randy LISTEN she does it in SUCH a lesbian-minded way...like ah yes, a boy that can be an accessory and what if you dated randy and you wouldn't like him (i KNOW you wouldn't like him) and i kept dating jeff (i don't like him and don't you KNOW that i don't like him?) and then we could always insist on double dates and every time i have to go out with jeff, i'd actually be going out with you <3 <3

jackie is not even looking much at shauna's outfits when shauna turns to her for feedback and y'know why??? the existence of BOOB DRESS!!! the sheer lesbianism of that line continues to amaze me. shauna! just wear the dress i got you that makes your boobs look sooooo good pleasssse?? LIKE HELLO??

shauna gets frustrated which jackie clearly didn't expect, so what's she gonna do?? immediately make a joke <3 back off <3 try and make her smile <3 (sidebar idk how people read this scene as intensely mean and controlling jackie like i beg you to watch again, they're teenagers being teenagers, jackie unintentionally upsets shauna and shauna gets frustrated and jackie smooths it over and shauna chills out like that's the scene baby)

jackie being sooo happy that shauna is joking again (this is one of those times we see the smile/laugh that only shauna really gets out of her)

she's got her arm around jeff but her eyes on shauna for much of this scene and we get a completely different jackie here with jeff than we saw in the opening because she is PERFORMING! like this is the man she makes herself tolerate serving his purpose for real, such a young lesbian experience

okay that is ENOUGH of that man (truly three seconds with her arm around him, where her eyes were still on shauna not him), jackie hands jeff her drink and immediately reaches for shauna when she wants to dance

okay more performance yes, like she's clearly putting on a show here but also?? it is SOOOO obvious that little miss broody shauna is watching right now and jackie actually looks directly at her for good fucking measure, like she is very aware of shauna watching her and shauna's attention being on her. she does this AGAIN when she's desperate for shauna's love/attention/affection in doomcoming when she walks away with travis (to FUCK HIM IN SHAUNA'S BED)

the compliments scene? so fucking flirty, so fucking gay, so clear that this is their usual dynamic. like the level of baby dyke flirty love in the i dunno...you haven't said anything nice about me yet and all the little smiles and the ritual of it the you're my best friend as a stand in for i love you like we really don't get a ton of them precrash but the pilot establishes SO MUCH of their relationship prior to all the trauma so beautifully ughhh

jackie wanting to be dropped off first GOD THIS SCENE, it is so often taken as her being selfish for selfishness sake (or out of fear of her parents) but she also does NOT want to be left alone in the car with jeff!! we saw her discomfort with being sexual with him right away in the pilot, it was immediately established, he ignored every sign that she did NOT want him to be touching her. i don't know about you but this was a dance i did allll the time at that age!! the plotting to not be alone with the boyfriend!!

also her performative happiness with jeff EVAPORATES, like that is for public straightness perception, she does the minimum saying bye to that man and then she hugs shauna like its her goddamn job

jackie taylor queen of gay-zing tbh

y'know when your parents are terrifying but your girl got really anxious last time you flew somewhere so you steal your insane mother's valium for her??

but that's not enough so you have to GIVE HER THE HEART NECKLACE THAT YOU WEAR EVERY DAY AND SAY THERE NOTHING CAN TOUCH YOU NOW (because you have my heart, you have my love, jackie taylor ALSO queen of discomfort with saying i love you verbatim but saying it in a million other ways, this is a thought for another day but!! a heart!! that she wears!! next to her heart!! for the girl who has her heart!!)

of course she's also got to watch shauna put it on (gay-zingly) and did i need to include 10 screenshots of this moment to make my point?? MAYBE NOT but YOU'RE WELCOME cause LOOK AT THEM!!

more to come eventually <3 <3 this one was largely fun sweet precious honestly compared to the last and the ones to come, so yeah i really went wild with the photos <3 <3

[glutaminase]

Sorry ive become so insane about the final jackieshauna fight again having read the scripts !! i cannot believe the original script had shauna saying "this was a lucky break for you, wasn't it?" before all the im sure everyone is sooo sad to be losing their perfect princess etc. like that is just another level of mean . to say that its good that jackies gonna die before everyone finds out shes a fraud and insecure boring etc. especially awful because we know jackie is in fact secretly terrified that shes nothing without her perfectly curated life and image and tbh shauna must know that too. but she still basically says Yea all the worst things you believe about yourself are 100% true btw 👍🏼👍🏼 and has to live the rest of her life knowing THATTT was the last thing she said to jackie wkdjhkjd

also based on this i cannot imagine what kind of venom was in her journal lmfao and jackie spent her last days carrying around the knowledge that thats what her best friend & the person she loves the most thinks of her and she believed that up until her death 😀💖 its pretty clear to me imo that jackie feels like shauna's the only person who has ever been truly in her corner and i imagine the journal makes it clear that these shauna's been suppressing these feelings for a WHILE so like jackie would have been questioning YEARSSS of their friendship like how much of the most important thing in her life was a lie??? like she wouldve died believing she actually had no one who genuinely loved her 🤪😍👍🏼 Love my fun teen cannibal show

[the-lonelyshepherd]

whst r your top 3 fav and least fav yellowjackets characters shep

im gonna do LONG answers bc i want to talk about my sillies

for faves…. i love them all so much it’s actually not funny but for my top #1 yellowjackets character of all time it HAS TO go to my girl Lottie

1. Lottie

she’s insane she’s a cult leader she’s a champion soccer player she has big brown eyes she’s been in multiple odd relationships with various blonde girls she’s a prophet and above all she’s just a girl. 

i’m literally just gonna TOUCH on many topics and not go in depth bc i will actually write a full ass essay. if i haven’t already. 

Shes actually one of my fav characters of all time, not even just yellowjackets. deadass she is SO fascinating, both adult and teen version. unloved by rich parents. schizophrenic (or is it really the wilderness speaking to her??? we don’t know!!!) but hides it until it’s too late. her transformation from sarcastic a little odd but generally kind and cheerful soccer player to borderline mute haunted prophet to years later mysterious but successful wellness center (…cult) leader??? INSANE!!!!! 

her whole religion arc with laura lee??? actually one of the DRIVING forces of EVERYTHIBG i could write an ESSAY on this. insane. her weird one sided rivalry with nat??? INSANE!!! (and lwk homoerotic). her obsession with wilderness baby??? this could be its entire own post

also she like… just wants the best for everyone. she’s been put on a pedestal, marked as an enemy, had her words twisted to excuse HUNTING and EATING someone and then told it was her fault. she also couldn’t stop this because she let someone beat her up to let their anger out. she’s so self sacrificial she’s so overly caring and it ends up hurting herself and everyone and all she’s trying to do is understand things. she can’t be a god but she can be a martyr if they kill her quick enough. she’s MY tragic queen no one gets her like i do. i love her so much. also courtney eaton is really fine. irrelevant.

2. Nat

next up is nat. nat is also like. ohmygoodness. 

first of all the most interesting thing about me for nat HAS to be her dynamics with the group. you could put her with anyone and learn so much about both characters. travis? jackie? misty? lottie? shauna? ben? all of them. it’s a combination of nats insanely interesting character and sophie thatcher’s (sorry juliette lewis but it just wasn’t as impressive for me) INSANE screen presence. she shows so much emotion with just facial expressions and fucking steals every scene she’s in. def a huge contributor in making nat the character she is.

also unlike a lot of the other yjs, nat already has a history with this sort of tragedy. we see in her flashbacks with her dad (i think s1.4?)

this stuff sets her up as immediately apart from the group - not only is she a bit of a social outcast, labeled as an alcoholic, a druggie, a whore etc, but she also already came from a dark place and physically spent a lot of time seperate from the other girls. she spends a lot of time w coach Ben and travis, expanding a lot of their characters and making javis death even more horrible for her. the trauma she has surrounding guns and her father also leads to another really interesting thing - above all, no matter how much she pretends she doesn’t, nat does really fucking care. she cares a lot.

i LOVE this kind of character so much, the kind that pretends to be rlly apathetic but is almost more genuine in their kindness than anyone else. nat just genuinely fuckung cares and she’s been through so much and i rghhhhh. her apology to jackie???? hell even her moments with travis. cutting off his dads finger to get the ring when he couldn’t do it himself. i’m losing it. anyways i have to cut this off bc i need to get to my next girl and i WILL write an essay if i keep going. 

3. Shauna

Shauna fucking shipmannnnnnnn (and by an extent jackie because let’s be frl they are kind of one) let’s go crazy girls. Shauna is honestly terrifying. starting strong!!! but it’s kinda true. she has this like weird underlying sense of something violent about her. she’s always wanted more, she’s always kind of lived in jackie’s shadow wether jackie meant to or not. she had this kind of mindset that’s just SO like obsessive??? i kinda sound like a shauna hater rn this is NOT TRUE 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ she is so compelling it’s insane. 

first off sophie nelisse is incredible. actually incredible. like from the BEGINNING she had me FASCINATED with shauna just with her expressions and rghhhh everythibg. the talent is INSANE. 

and shauna herself is just. so tragic. now you can’t really talk about shauna without talking about jackie. and it’s okay bc i love jackie as well she is my favorite girlloser, resident coldgirl, mislabeled, misjudged queen. et cetera.

and having jackie is such a core part of shauna’s character. when she comes to the wilderness she starts to slip apart a little. rifts form, promises broken and secrets start to slip out. but she still CARES about jackie. she tries so hard to help her do something useful so the other girls don’t turn on her. 

but in the end she was always going to be the one holding the knife. she was always living in jackie’s shadow (at least in her mind) and she had this weird relationship with her where she both villainized and obsessed over her. standard homoerotic highschool girl bestfriendship. i don’t even know where i’m going with this there’s so much i could say. before i end let me rq touch on

wilderness baby and callie. this is also one of the most compelling things to do with shauna. after jackie’s death, shauna is technically on her own. after being so long on begat she perceived as jackie’s shadow, she has, in her mind, autonomy. and things really start to go downhill. first, she’s carrying the baby of her dead best friends boyfriend. which is a situation. but jackie isn’t ever really gone - she’s in shauna she’s in the baby she’s in the meat shed she’s a ghost and eventually she’s a full on fucking meal. so even though she’s dead, she NEVER leaves shauna and shauna is haunted by her forever. normal best friend stuff. but anyways shauna carries wilderness baby to term and loves him so so much and then it turns out he was stillborn. let me emphasize she loved this baby SO FUCKING MUCH. then later as an adult we see her with callie. „i don’t even like my daughter”. the switch up is crazy???? i think i’m running out of room to type fuck but anyways shauna shipman you will always be famous i love you i would write essays on you

okay least faves is actually harder.  beacuse i love them all. i’m gonna say that annoying mustache groomer cop. and like idk who else tbh. nats dad? jackie’s mom??? oooghhh jackie’s mom and dad scene is a whole mother tangent

anyways i hoped you enjoyed me exhibiting symptoms!! thank you for your question idk if you can tell but i love talking about yellowjackets

[bratspike]

Jackie has a superiority complex because of her parents and shauna feels inferior because of Jackie.

i think jackie knows she’s supposed to feel superior to shauna because her parents have told her she is. objectively, jackie should feel superior to shauna: she’s wealthier, more popular, she’s the captain, she has the boyfriend. she has the outward confidence to show it. but she ultimately ~feels~ inferior. jackie is screamingly insecure, always looking to shauna and jeff and everyone else for validation. she cares so much what other people think about her. and whatever shauna actually feels, jackie sees shauna as someone who knows who she is and doesn’t care what other people think. (and that’s partially true. shauna doesn’t care what anyone thinks but jackie. what jackie thinks matters quite a lot). also thinking about how shauna is so much more sexually secure than jackie, she pursues her desires and isn’t afraid of them just their consequences. vs jackie only thinks of the outcome (lose virginity) not what she actually wants

jackie tries to keep shauna tied to her in every way (rutgers, telling her who to fuck and what to wear) because if she lets shauna be her own person then where does that leave jackie taylor? jealous and lost and terrified. all jackie knows how to do is to fill the role she’s been given and keeping shauna at her side by any means necessary is the only way she can convince herself it’s working. but of course she also resents shauna for what she could be and shauna resents jackie for keeping her from it. brown is actually a huge huge symbol for everything like it’s proof shauna is better is smarter. and shauna keeps it from her because it would destroy jackie’s illusion. shauna is the first person coach martinez mentions when listing who on the team is better than jackie. jackie knows shauna is better than her and shauna does too but they’ve always (consciously or not) agreed to pretend otherwise

i agree that shauna feels inferior to jackie but it’s because they both feel both sides of it. jackie has all of the success but shauna can see the desperation under it. she knows jackie doesn’t love jeff. she knows the confidence is all bullshit. but the trappings are still there the outward signs of success that jackie has. so she has to concede that jackie is better than her right? so it just makes it all bubble worse underneath

and then in the wilderness when shauna becomes essential and jackie doesn’t matter. that’s when they both reassess and when they can’t come back into an arrangement or a balance and they can’t talk to each other about it either? when jackie feels inferior and everyone tells her she is? when ~shauna~ tells her she is? she believes it. she gives up

[disregardcanon]

i think that the degradation of shauna and javi's relationship is. an interesting case study. a lot of me wants to go all doylist "they didn't decide showing that happening was worth the effort" or "showing no interactions between them in this season actually is, in itself, showing the degradation". i'm still not sure how i feel about it from a doylist perspective, but from a purely watsonian perspective, i think that it gives us a lot of interesting wiggle room with both characters.

shauna, obvs, is really Going Through It TM with the loss of jackie, the baby, and then the guilt over what she's done to lottie. she knows that they need to eat someone, and she really doesn't want it to be lottie... but she doesn't want it to be nat either. nat is one of the only ones who hasn't gone full wilderness woo woo. nat is steady and kind and both in reality and in her dream helped shauna through the loss of that baby. and she really really does not want her to die, especially by her own hand.

so of course shauna jumps on the "wait, don't save him!" bandwagon here. what she used to have with javi is dead and gone since doomcoming, but nat... she's gone through so much with her already and nat hasn't forsaken her.

from javi's perspective, not interacting with shauna makes a LOT of sense because even though she used to be kind to him and he really liked her at one point, his last interaction with her before his exile was her shouting at him to run before chasing his brother through the woods. shauna is pregnant and shauna is unpredictable and the things that he used to think he knew about her aren't right. he is TERRIFIED of every yellowjacket at this point. he watched them try to ritually sacrifice his brother and then tai and van brought him back even though he clearly didn't WANT to be there after what he's seen them done and his safe little hidey hole.

he doesn't have anything resembling a relationship at this point with any characters but coach (who is not in any state to be. providing emotional support) travis (big brother who he still loves and trusts to some extent but ALSO knows is drinking lottie's kool-aid. vs javi who has someone else's kool-aid) and then a bit with nat, because she's been kind to him and she's clearly important to and good to his brother. so of course javi's not seeking out interactions with the unpredictable pregnant girl who showed so many of her worst colors to him earlier. and the lack of interactions just made it so much easier for shauna to disregard her compassion towards him in exchange her the idea of saving nat.

[cdyssey]

Yellowjackets 2.08 Reactions

CW: Cannibalism

The opening scene of Mari and Misty helping Lottie pee is harrowing. Jfc. One thing that it’s high time for me to give YJ flowers for is its unflinching look at the human body. It’s unafraid to show us what the body does and how it functions in every facet. It’s gross at times, and yeah, that’s the point. Having a body can be gross; what comes out of it is abject.

MISTY CALLING MARI OUT!!!!!! WOW, THAT WAS GOOD. But now I’m sad for Mari. All of these girls are so fucked up.

Every time Akilah talks about her baby nephew, I wanna cry bc I have a baby nephew and I’d do anything in the world for him.

NOT FUCKING NUGGET BEING DE A D. GODDAMMIT.

THESE GIRLS ARE SO FUCKED UP.

If I had a nickel for every time Taissa has called out her teammates for talking to corpses, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Shauna returns to the group and they’re all so happy and tipsy; just five minutes ago, all these women were howling and dancing in the flurrying snow.

“Well, I didn’t have a fucking tape measure.” KQKWDJFNWK

Misty: “I should have done it myself.” Yeah, lmfao.

Van immediately knowing that Tai is lying to her.

VAN JUST YEETING THE KEYS OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS QOOQKDOWEK

The girls are fighting!!!!!

Lottie plays the peacemaker here. THE SHARING SHACK!!

Shauna, anguished, disgusted: No.

That cut from Lauren to Liv was so good.

Jesus, that shot of the two Tais in the window.

Oh, my fucking god. Belt soup. They have to eat belt soup.

(Even months and months after her death, mere weeks after they literally ate her, they’re still consuming Jackie Taylor.)

“Lottie took it from her to protect us.” Such a goddamn fascinating line because the implication is that if Shauna hadn’t been allowed that catharsis, she would have wrought vengeance upon them all.

“Maybe Lottie dying wouldn’t be the worst thing.” Goddamn. It’s a mirror of Nat telling Jackie’s remains that she was the lucky one.

Coach Ben and Nat’s relationship is still one of my favorite things ever. God, I’ll never forget their moment in the woods at Doomcoming.

Ben seems much more invested and present here (and while he’s rifling through Javi’s drawings) than we’ve seen him look all season; Misty really got through to him!!

Oh, my God. She almost tried to eat the mouse skeleton. (Like Shauna, if Akilah had to, she’d eat a creature that she loved to survive.)

Taissa hearing the dripping as well hhhh. THAT FUCKING BLOOD IS TERRIFYING.

I always get chills when I think of the theory of Mari’s hallucinations possibly portending her death as Pit Girl.

Matt the Cop is the FUCKING WORST. Every time he says something with that smarmy grin, I grind my teeth!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can he fucking look Callie in the eye?!

Go, Callie, for video taping him!!

“The other-just-as-problematic cop has your back. Congratulations.” I LOVE HER.

That fucking low blow about the cannibalism. KILL KILL KILL.

Eurghdhhdh, the photos of Adam.

WOW, THE GIRLIES (cough, Misty) DID THINK OF THE TATTOOS.

Jeff doesn’t back down from Kevyn, underscoring his utter loyalty to Shauna, the lengths he’d be willing to go to protect her, and I really do love him for it.

The girls are fucking SNIPING at each other in the Sharing Shack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Yeah. I’ve had Van’s address for years. You could’ve just asked me instead of outsourcing.” AKQKQOWIOWOWWJJDNSJE. Goddamn, never change Misty.

OH, ALL THE SECRETS ARE COMING OUT TONIGHT, HUH? YEAH, I’M HERE FOR IT.

MISTY NOT EVEN HESITATING TO GO FOR THE JESSICA ROBERTS REVEAL!!

“And, fuck, Shauna, it’s not like you couldn’t use the money.” GOD GOD GOD GOD?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND THEN JUST STRAIGHT UP CALLING NAT AN ADDICT.

CLAWS OUT TONIGHT.

Misty’s concern for Ben here is so touching, esp. right on the heels of her adult self saying that she fixed things, like she always did. She’s fucked up in a thousand myriad ways, at least a hundred of which the other girls are not, but it’s a testament to the show’s writing and Samantha/Christina’s acting, that it’s genuinely clear that she believes she’s doing it for some greater good.

Nat tenderly caring for Javi. 😭 So glad that young Nat’s getting some more screen time. I’ve missed her!!

“You’re a good person. And I’m sorry for… ever making you feel otherwise.” Sobs. Listen, Travis gets it.

“If I die, don’t waste my body.” Goddamn. Even on the verge of death, Lottie’s thinking about what’s best for the collective.

“Oh, wait, maybe those were her hands.” AKKQKWDNWJNSS. Van, I fucking love you.

“Misty, you are nothing if not proactive.” / “Thank you?” AOQOQKWOWJIWJWDJD.

SHAUNA’S FACE WHEN MISTY SAID THAT RANDY MENTIONED JEFF EJDJEND.

I’m so fucking glad this secret is coming out—all cards on the table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love that shirt on Elijah. Really makes his eyes pop. Walter possibly being a fuckin’ snitch. I think it might be a misdirect, though.

THIS JEFF NIGHTMARE JESUS.

“Why the fuck would I like it?” AWMEKKEWMSN

The nightmare told us something we’ve deeply suspected for a long time: Jeff loves Shauna, yeah, but he cannot fucking handle the wilderness within her.

JEFF KNOWS ABOUT WILDERNESS BABY.

THIS BEING THE FIRST FUCKING TIME CALLIE HAS LEARNED ABOUT HIM.

GOD GOD GOD

Callie reacting with absolute devastation when she hears this. She loves her mom so much.

This talk between Jeff and Callie is so goddamn tender and good. But his emphasis that she doesn’t have to bear her parents’ burdens is tragic in light of the fact that, Jesus Christ, she already has. From the moment Callie Sadecki entered the world, she was a product of all the effed up shit her parents had gone through, and now she just learned that for herself.

Shauna saying “Me either” at being unable to imagine being in the cabin without Lottie. Like, girl, YOU PUT HER IN THIS POSITION. WOQKWKWOWNDDJNDNDS. YOU’RE SO FUCKED UP ASNDNSND

Taissa: “You lied to me.” / It’s personal for Tai after all the shit she and Shauna have gone through together.

This Tai-Shauna back-and-forth is brutal. The reaction shot to Lottie just made me realize that she’s been quiet during all of these exchanges.

“… I probably would have fucking killed them.” Shauna’s unflinching honesty here is so, so good. Every uncontrollable impulse she’s had this season has been unexplainable to her, but she knows for certain that she would have killed, even if it meant hurting her friends. She’s done far worse to them before.

Hell, they’ve all sunk their teeth into each other, with equal amounts of violence and all-consuming love.

Oh, God. Lottie doesn’t believe in therapy and psychological needs anymore. 😬 And ironically enough, Nat is the one who is advocating for talking it out.

ARE THEY DRAWING CARDS TO FUCKING HUNT

OH GOD I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE LATER

THEY START IN THE FIRST WINTER?!

THE QUEEN CARD

AND THEY’RE ALL COMPLICIT. THEY’RE ALL STANDING IN THIS CIRCLE BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THEY’RE MAKING THE CORRECT CHOICE OF ACTION. HOLY GODDAMN SHIT

Tai’s visceral sigh of relief when Van doesn’t draw it.

JAVI FUCKING RUNNING TO HIS BROTHER. I’M UNWELL

NATALIE?!

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT

And they’re all in goddamn tears.

JACKIE TAYLOR’S FUCKING NECKLACE FOR GOOD LUCK.

I AM SICK. FUCKING JACKIE FLASHBACK.

THE GIRL WHO HAUNTS THE NARRATIVE; SHE WILL ALWAYS HAUNT THE NARRATIVE.

SHAUNA THE BUTCHER. THEY WERE GONNA SLAUGHTER HER IN THE CABIN.

I love how Ben steps out for a few hours and the team decides to resort to ritual killing and cannibalism.

“Wait. You’re gonna have to look me in the eye.” Shauna is visibly terrified. Jesus Christ. It’s one thing to carve up something that’s already dead—a deer, a bear, your very best friend—it’s another thing entirely to hold a knife up to the throat of someone you love and slaughter them.

TRAVIS SAVING NAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT THE GIRLS FUCKING HOWLING AS THEY GO HUNTING. THIS MAKES THE SCENE LAST WEEK WHERE THE ADULTS WERE HOWLING SO FUCKED UP!! THAT WAS THEIR HUNTING CRY!!

This needle drop is insanely good.

Adult Shauna, right on the heels of the girls sacrificially hunting Nat: “None of that was real, Lottie.” GOD GOD GOD

“Natalie’s right, look at what we lived through.” NAT, WHO LITERALLY GOT HUNTED!!!!

OH GOD. LOTTIE MATTHEWS FULLY SUGGESTING THEY SACRIFICE ONE OF THEMSELVES. GIRL.

LOTTIE HAD THE EUTHANASIA DRINK ALL PREPARED. JESUS

“It is quick and it is also painless.” Unlike the death that those hunted will receive—i.e. Pit Girl.

“Misty, you did actually kill someone.” AKWMSNSNDNNSSN.

Van is the only one whose big secret didn’t get revealed in the circle.

“Why don’t you just volunteer to drink it, Lottie?” HOLY FUCK. THE DISDAIN

LOTTIE IS REALLY ON THE VERGE OF CONVINCING ALL THE WOMEN THAT THIS IS HOW IT GOES.

Ben, while ur doing the good work, your girlies are hunting Natalie in the woods.

Javi trying to save Nat too. 😭 And this is the most he’s spoken this season since talking to Ben in that one episode.

THE WAY THEY BREAK OUT OF THEIR ANIMALISTIC STATES WHEN JAVI FALLS THROUGH THE ICE.

THE GIRLS ALL STANDING THERE.

MISTY ACTIVELY TRYING TO FACILITATE THE DEATH.

“If you save him, the others will get you.” AND SHE’S FUCKING GODDAMN RIGJT

AND NATALIE STOPS STRUGGLING. BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO LIVE.

TRAVIS AND JAVI BOTH TRIED TO SAVE HER. I’M

THIS IS THE MOST UPSETTING FUCKING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY GODDAMN LIFE

IT’S A REVERSAL OF THE WHITE MOOSE.

I’M NOT WELL.

NOT VAN SAYING THE WILDERNESS CHOSE.

THIS EPISODE IS UNREAL. HOW IS IT EVEN MORE UNHINGED THAN “DOOMCOMING?!”

THE PROMO THE PROMO THE PROMO THE PROMO

THE WOMEN ARE GOING TO FUCKING HUNT ONE OF THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN 2021!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRAVIS EATINT HIS BROTHER IS SO FUCKING. IT IS?????

[docholligay]

Ep 9: The descent

Hello! This is about up to Episode 9 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 9 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the ninth episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Man, this is such an evocative part of the episode, and I almost feel unequal to the task of saying something about it. 

I love that there is no real blame to be had for this. Misty had the mushrooms, of course, but it was never her intention to drug everyone in camp. She was absolutely going to drug coach Ben, so I guess there’s that, but it wasn’t her fault, and nor is it the fault of the cook, who had no idea that they were those kind of mushrooms, only thinking that it would be a delightful addition to the stew. 

The reason for this is because the show doesn’t want us making this into an event with a wrong doer, it wants to use this to talk about the girls and the way the show is heading. 

There’s a definite quasi-Roman bent to the whole thing here with Travis. Travis, the boy who has seen them in every aspect here. Seen them in their nakedness, in who they are when they are separated from society, and I think it’s not for nothing that we shift from this sort of sexual sharing of Travis, this erotic consumption, the way he becomes community property, to a very literal calling him the stag Diana and the hunt thing going on, where they pursue him like hunting hounds. 

THIS is the whole reason it was so careful earlier to tell us that they were in fact still very much human because it needs us to know that this is coming out of something that already exists in the girls. Nothing has been lost here, just enhanced, and these girls are hungry and they are predators, and it is speaking to the wildness of women, that terrifying truth that so few people can live with. 

The whole of Lottie’s “Something’s coming” thing is of course the wildness and how it moves to control and own and kill through the girls, but also, I would argue that it can’t bring out something that’s not in them. It would be easy to say. “Oh this was all because of the evil whatever in the woods” but I think this was always inside of them. THey are soccer players, and they hunt in packs, and I think this spoke a lot to that level of power in the group, maybe that’s even why this whatever in the woods thing that I certainly hope the show has plans for took them in the first place. Violence isn’t a part of doing shrooms, really. What it did was allowed them to see themselves as part of this wilderness, this forest, that cries out for blood. 

Important social shift for this moment with Jackie being told she doens’t matter, the one-time leader of them, the domesticated one more than all of them, the one who cannot adapt to 

The wild and so will be slain by it. And of course it’s Lottie who says this, and of course it’s Lottie who calls for Travis’ death, because Lottie is going to be their leader now, their spiritual guide, a girl who lost her light in the darkness and does not understand that she herself is no lighthouse but a bonfire. 

But it was Shauna who was ready to make the cut. Shauna who was willing to kill, and maybe it’s always been her.

[jamesunderwater]

But now I need to know your Yellowjackets thoughts.

Oh nooo oh noooo the yellowjackets can of worms I've been stuffing into an old box in my mind 😆 are you wanting my thoughts on anything in particular??

I actually still have 6 episodes left in season 2 so my thoughts aren't fully formed yet, but I just found out Van survived 😭 and I'm so happy 😭 also I was fucking SHOCKED when Jackie died, I was just staring at the screen with wide eyes and my mouth hanging open, goosebumps down both my arms. The actress for young Shauna performed that so incredibly, I felt her shock and pain and desperation.

Other than that....agh I dunno! It's really interesting to me the way they're telling both the past and present stories at once, because at least for me it can be hard to connect the adults to their teenage selves since it's just been SO long. I'm fucking dying to understand what is happening in the present day, too. And to understand if what happened in the woods was actually supernatural shit or just literally a result of trauma and them trying to make meaning of and have a sense of control over what they were going through. Bc if it really is just that, then what's happening in the present with Taissa and Travis and Lottie? I mean...eh yeah it could also just be the trauma. Yeah. I'm hooked and curious.

As for opinions on the characters........ probably Natalie is my favorite in both time periods. When they lost the moose in the frozen lake and she sobs "we need it! We need it!" 💔💔💔 and her heartbreak over Travis. Fuck man. I just think she loves so hard and never gets it in return and that makes me really sad. I love that Shauna's so unhinged in the present, tbh. I'm frankly kinda terrified of Misty and want everyone to just......stay AWAY from her. I love Taissa so much but I'm so frustrated with her older self because girlfriend GET HELP you're a grown woman, a mother, wtf dude go see a psychiatrist why do you think you can handle this with some fucking espresso. Oh and I loooove her friendship with Shauna. It's just sweet how they've trusted each other with their most vulnerable things and even all those years later Tai still felt safe showing up at Shauna's house when she didn't know where else to go. Oh and and. I fucking love Ben and he's currently really losing it and I'm gonna be so gd depressed when he dies (cause.....I don't see how he won't)

Lol sorry it really did turn into a can of worms. 😅 I'll be even more excited to go on and on about it when I finish the season, I'm sure. What are your thoughts???

Omg and I didn't even address the cannibalism 🤦 uhhh well I literally couldn't watch. And it was so freaky how they all sort of hive mind converged. Thought the way the writers had Ben not participate and be so digusted by it was a great way to force the audience to feel that. And. Tbh. I can't blame them. I don't know if I could have done it but like...I can understand how...in some ways...it could have felt like a waste of meat? Idk like if you're capable of separating it mentally then honestly good for you. What was Jackie gonna do with it? She's already dead. So. That said it was obviously the moment that tilted them over the edge into eventually creating traps and actively killing and eating people. So. Not great.

Okay I really am done now 😅

[jollyreginaldrancher]

Yellowjackets S2 e3

So that all happened.

Everytime a non-main character starts to get flashbacks, they've died so that coach Ben guy is probably next, if the pattern continues.

Are we to really believe Taissa was sleep-eating with the gals? Not that it matters but I feel like this is just denial. She was wide awake when it all happened. Like I can rewatch to check but I remember her and Van hand-feeding each other at some point. That doesn't exactly scream sleepwalking to me. I think she just doesn't want to cope with what has happened.

I was thinking if Van is alive, why wasn't she with Taissa? I know high school relationships rarely last but come on. They've gone through so much and they're trauma bonded so something big must have happened. I wonder if it's the cannibalism of Lottie's clan stuff.

I'm starting to like adult Nat again but she's on pretty thin ice to be honest.

What was with the bleeding bush? Was that from Lottie's compound or part of the next scene with Taissa? I honestly stayed up just to see what happens to her and Simone. I couldn't tell if she intentionally got in that accident or if it was an actual accident. It's hard to tell when she switches between her normal self and her other personality.

Which begs the question is it just sleepwalking and a response to stress and trauma or another personality that surfaces in high stress situations?

I cannot stand this new Walter guy.

I honestly don't care much for Shauna and Jeff's midlife crisis stuff either.

I love Shauna though. She would be that old lady at the retirement home who casually reveals she killed a guy.

Lottie is getting within romantic distance of Nat and am I going to ship this? No, I'm too invested in Nat X Misty, but in another life maybe.

Lottie doesn't seem to have that accent anymore so maybe she just sounded a bit weird in that one scene.

It's sweet what Nat is trying to do but wouldn't the scent just attract every vulture or other predator to the airplane? Or worse, would it not bring everything to her location?

I'm really worried about that baby now. For starters how did it survive all this stress? And for second, wouldn't it be extremely fucked up by the mom drinking alcohol and eating human meat? Also the starvation and the cold. I don't think this baby will survive.

Misty is adorable. Her new friend is funny. I still don't like Mari.

It's nice to see someone other than Shauna show a sympathetic side to Jackie, even though she's already dead. A lot of time she'd been treated like a burden. The way I imagine they treated Misty before she turned out to be invaluable. I imagine Shauna realised she was in her shoes and that's why she was kind to her.

I have to give it to them though. Not a lot of shows can make you terrified of an Elk. Rightfully you should be scared of them but they're generally seen as a symbol of youth or freedom and dignity. They're seen from afar and give the protagonists courage. They don't scare the shit out of them and nearly knock them off the gene pool.

Is the one with no eyes tied to that funeral flashback? I don't remember much about it but it had something to do with maybe her grandma's funeral? Maybe she saw a dead body being prepared and that image stuck with her and that's the man with no eyes? I really don't remember much about that though and I don't want to google it and get spoiled.

Also Jeff said he's been married almost 25 years. Callie is definitely not the baby she had in the woods cause she's still in high school, isn't she? That baby definitely didn't make it 🥺

Shauna rolled a crit on that intimidation check ☠️

Is Misty spoiling Steel magnolias for me right now? 😭 It was totally in my watch list. I have to give her credit though cause it sounds like she's putting her whole ass in this performance.

What's Taissa miming? It kind of looks like those masks she and Van wore at Doomcoming. Are we finally gonna see adult Van?

Rachel Berry has nothing on Misty 😅

Does this guy know Moriarty was the villain?

Aww the teddy bear 🥹

I guess what tore them apart ultimately was Van's devotion to Lottie.

And Lottie is still having visions? Or she's just started having them again. Either way shit is probably going to go down again.

It does a great job of tiptoeing around the supernatural. There's definitely hints but also scientific explanations of things but when you're alone in the woods and you don't have those explanations it's easy to believe anything, and especially easy to put faith in things when you have nothing else.

The takeaway here I guess is that Taissa has lost Van and Shauna and Nat and Taissa are maybe the last non-believers. Aside maybe from Trent but I don't think he really matters.

[manslaught]

mikayla looks back at her with disbelief, daring jackie to argue with her— when her sister's defense is cut off, never continued, she smirks victoriously, satisfied with herself. she doesn't get the appeal, but shauna's just not her type, as simple as that, so she doesn't comment any more on the subject. she can't get into what her type actually is anyway, terrified to admit the truth, even now, to someone who's clearly not much different than her— into girls, in denial about it. “ thinking about how cute she is, ” she snorts, like that's as much of an argument as she needs. she's in absolutely no place to call her out, but @down1979 must be saying all of this to her for a reason, right? because she wants to talk about it.

she stops completely, deciding to give the conversation the attention it likely deserves, to be a good older sister for what might be the first time in her life. ( that's not true— she tries to be comforting, welcoming, to the younger aphrodite kids, showing them the kindness she was never given as a child, but the same can't be said for those closer to her age. ) “ look, if you want actual good advice, you chose the wrong sibling. mom forgot to give me that power. ” some days, it feels intentional, aphrodite's way of proving to her that mikayla desousa and love don't mix, that she's destined to be angry and alone forever. “ but it doesn't look like nothing, for what it's worth. ” there's something there, she thinks, but she could easily be wrong, easily leading her sister astray.

“ but you haven't gotten the rite of passage yet, ” she points out, like it makes a difference, like it means anything beyond just their cabin's excuse to break hearts. it has to mean something, because otherwise, mikayla's dated so many boys for absolutely nothing. “ i don't believe in curses or anything, but— the past one of us who didn't fulfill it is dead. her boyfriend, too. ” she feels a pang of guilt, just talking about silena, but there could be some merit in it. “ so maybe... date someone else first. just in case. ”

She doesn't mind sitting and watching,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎it's almost therapeutic to be alone with her sister:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎the violent and aggressive nature of her knife digging into the bodily figure with ease keeps others away.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The two of them,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Jackie and Mikayla,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎away from prying eyes,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎she feels more comfortable speaking with little bit of truth she knows she has.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Becoming herself is an uneasy feat,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎one she's been fighting for so long,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎but one dare turned into a self revelation...‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎a revelation she kept from everyone due to fear.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Yet she knows:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎she knows that Mikayla won't say anything,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎won't spread her little girlish crush,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎if it could be called that.

"She's not!‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎She doesn't look like..."‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Jackie scoffs,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎and she wants to finish her sentence,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎but she knows that Mikayla is,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎despite the insulting tone,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎right.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Maybe that's why Jackie's...‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎thinking,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎maybe that's what's drawn her to Shauna.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Who fucking knows.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"I'm not pining,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎I'm just...‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎thinking."‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Knees pull up to her chest and she tucks her chin down.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Although her gaze is turned towards her sister's lonely sparring session,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎she's not focused,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎vision blurred.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"Maybe we're just really good friends!‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Maybe it's nothing?"‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎And now she's almost pleading for her sister to give her some reassurance‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎(and oh if she were to pick a sister why would she pick this one?‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ because she knows that unlike the rest,‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Mikayla will tell the truth).‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"Right?"

[ethanalter]

‘GLOW’ Postmortem: Betty Gilpin and Britney Young Provide a Blow by Blow Breakdown of the Season Finale

Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, and Britney Young in ‘GLOW’ (Photo: Netflix)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Money’s in the Chase” episode of GLOW.

We here at Yahoo TV will go to the mat arguing that Netflix’s wrestling comedy, GLOW, is amongst this summer’s most binge-worthy series. One of the reasons it satisfies is because of its season finale, “Money’s in the Chase,” a terrific half-hour that pays off several long-running storylines and delivers lots of applause-worthy in-ring spectacles. It’s the kind of finale that leaves you wanting the next season right away, even though Netflix has yet to hand down an official renewal. In separate interviews, we broke down the episode with series stars Betty Gilpin and Britney Young — who play ex-soap star (and betrayed wife and friend) Debbie Eagan aka Liberty Bell and stage fright-prone Carmen Wade aka Machu Picchu, respectively — and got their pitches for where their characters should go in Season 2.

Debbie and Ruth doing some kayfabe (Photo: Netflix)

Gilpin Got to Show Off Some Killer Kayfabe

In the opening moments of “Money’s in the Chase,” a nervous Debbie appears to leave her GLOW comrades in the lurch, the very day they’re supposed to shoot their first episode. Even the prospect of battering ex-best friend Ruth — whose decision to sleep with Debbie’s husband Mark (Rich Sommer) terminated their friendship — in the ring can’t tempt her to stay. As we learn at the end of the episode, though, Debbie’s farewell was one hundred percent staged in order to make her reappearance as Liberty Bell for the final bout extra surprising. “There’s a wrestling term called ‘kayfabe,’ which is when wrestlers perpetuate the drama outside the ring to keep up the storyline,” Gilpin explains about why Ruth and Debbie knowingly put on a show for the GLOW ensemble. “They’re exercising kayfabe in that moment, knowing that they’re being watched and playing up the drama so that everyone would be shocked. Because they are actresses first and foremost.”

Young Scored the Craziest Match of Her Career

Even before receiving the script for the finale, Britney Young says she was informed that Carmen would be facing her fiercest competitor yet. “Our wrestling coordinator, Chavo Guerrero Jr., and stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins, pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re going up against Kia.'” That would be Kia Stevens, the lone pro amongst the cast, who has wrestled in such real-life leagues as the WWE and TNA Wrestling. For much of GLOW, Stevens had to keep her superior skill set in check while playing amateur wrestler, Tammé Dawson aka Welfare Queen. But for the last match of the season, Young says that the plan was to “unleash Kia,” which transformed her initial excitement to palpable fear. “I just started to panic!” Young says now. “I thought, ‘That means she’s going to go crazy.’ But then we actually started to choreograph the routine and Kia and Chavo really made me part of the team. I’m grateful they saw me as an equal in that moment. Kia really took me under her wing.”

(Credit: Netflix)

Gilpin and the Showrunners Go Way Back

A decade before collaborating on GLOW, Gilpin and the show’s creators, Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, were toiling in the trenches of the New York theater scene. “I knew them first as playwrights,” the actress remembers, adding that they encountered each other again on the Showtime series, Nurse Jackie. And the writers brought some of that personal history to Debbie. “I would often talk with them about how I felt like I had a weird character actor trapped inside [my body]. I was having trouble finding parts that felt authentic to me; I felt them writing things [for Debbie] that I had struggled with, and that was really exciting.” In fact, one of Debbie’s best lines in the finale is something that Gilpin herself often said on set. Speaking with Ruth after the Liberty Bell/Zoya match brings the GLOW audience to their feet, the eternally self-critical Debbie remarks: “I’m sure I’ll hate it when I see it, but it felt good.” “I say that all the time,” Gilpin says, laughing. “That line is Liz and Carly making fun of me. When I read it, I was like “Oh, touché.”

Body Shamers Need Not Apply to GLOW

Speaking with Yahoo TV before the series debuted in June, Flahive and Mensch talked about how they wanted to use GLOW as an opportunity to showcase a wide spectrum of female body types and shapes. Both Debbie and Carmen are illustrative examples of this approach; while Debbie possesses the idealized face and figure of a Hollywood leading lady, Carmen would be cast as the overweight best friend in the rom-com version of her life. But where Debbie is deeply insecure with her appearance, Carmen is wholly comfortable in her skin. It’s notable, too, that there’s only one negative reference to her weight throughout the entire run of the series, when a paramedic makes an offhand (and off-color) remark in an earlier episode. “That’s unheard of in TV today,” Young says. “I’m grateful for all the roles I’ve had, but most of them do focus on weight, either making it the butt of the joke or something that’s intimidating. Carmen isn’t like that at all. This is something that makes her who she is, so we’re going to embrace it and celebrate it. I really appreciated that.”

Like Carmen’s Dad, Young’s Father Practiced “Tough Love”

Although she’s stepping into the ring for the first time, Carmen is the scion of wrestling royalty. Both her father and brothers bodyslam for a living, and don’t initially warm to the idea that she’s interested in following in their footsteps. But on the night of Carmen’s big match, her family leads the applause to cheer her on. Young says she identifies with having a jock for a dad, although her own father was much more encouraging of her athletic and acting pursuits. “My dad is a high school football and basketball coach, and he was a ‘tough love’ kind of person. He plays it very straight outwardly, but then has these moments of, ‘I’m really proud of you Brit.’ He was always encouraging, but also very honest and truthful. That, to me, is the best way to learn.”

(Credit: Netflix)

Gilpin Took a Leap of Faith… Over and Over Again

If you think that flying Liberty Bell leap is fun to watch, Gilpin says it was twice as much fun to perform — even on the 100th take. “We filmed that about a 100 times,” she says, exaggerating only slightly, we’re sure. “It felt incredible.” (Also incredible? Liberty Bell’s costume was made by the same team behind many of Dolly Parton’s outfits.) The Liberty Bell/Zoya title bout was the last thing that the GLOW team filmed in a marathon, day-long shoot. “I remember that my body knew when it was the very last shot. It said, ‘Hi, I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself in the past five months. Your knee is now making a terrifying creaking noise. Your hips are in the wrong place, and your back is the back of an 80-year-old grandmother.’ I had not felt anything the day before, so it was like a complete breakdown!”

(Credit: Netflix)

Here’s What Needs to Happen in Season 2

Having embraced her identity as a wrestler, Gilpin hopes that Debbie brings some of that confidence to other areas of her life. “Maybe it’s a job she’s excited about, or being a better mother,” the actress says. “Or maybe she hikes the Pacific Coast Highway and has an affair with an Argentinian woman!” Young, meanwhile, would love to see Carmen’s relationship with Chris Lowell’s rich kid, Bash, deepen… though not necessarily in a romantic way. “I actually had a huge celebrity crush on Chris back in high school when he was on the show, Life As We Know It,” Young confesses. “He’s a very sweet and kind spirit. We had a lot of conversations about Bash and Carmen and how their relationship changed during the season. A lot of people are like, ‘We want Bash and Carmen to get together,’ which I think is so heartwarming. But if it goes that way, I want it to make sense for them and I want them to have earned it. I don’t just want them to be together because that’s what people want.”

(Credit: Netflix)

GLOW is currently streaming on Netflix.

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