#still internally debating whether i'd watch this show with my bf though lmao

[girltomboy]

Last week I started watching Yellowjackets

Since Succession is ending I will be left with nothing to watch regularly, and my bf is starting exams soon so we will not be able to hang out as much, I figured I'm going to need a replacement for my little solo evenings. I was ambivalent towards the pilot but it was entertaining regardless of my petty gripes with it so I kept watching (imagine my disappointment when I logged in the next day to see people shredding the season 2 finale). And last night I finished the first season and I just want to say so far this show blew my hair back. Like it got me staring at my screen, hand stuck in my hair, mouth hanging wide open. The plot got me thinking it was going to be some kind of 90s Survivor Euphoria with cannibalism, but it's really more like teenage Hannibal if it was Stranger Things for the kids, and Desperate Housewives in Orphan Black for the adults.

Initially I criticized it (in my head and my notes app) for not-great acting at times - I saw the post that said Juliette Lewis plays Natalie like she's constantly drunk and I can totally see it and it's kinda bugging me now - AND for playing too much music. Like, I appreciate needle drops when they have a purpose, but here I think the frequency is just excessive. I thought Nicholas Britell has turned me into a spoiled TV watcher with the Succession soundtrack, but honestly there are times in Yellowjackets when I'd just prefer silence. Anyway, those things are too minor to matter in my watching experience at this point because the show is too good so I got over them quickly.

I have a lot of thoughts about it; first of all, is it ever revealed that Callie is really Jeff's daughter? Or that she's the daughter Shauna carried and birthed in the wilderness? So far I'm just not entirely convinced. It is not lost on me that she seems to have a wonky relationship with meat, so I wonder if there's more to that or not.

Second, we still don't know if Adam was for real with Shauna or if he had any hidden intentions. Like, okay, he wasn't involved with the blackmailing, and also he's dead now and apparently his friends and family are looking for him, but that still doesn't mean he was fully honest with Shauna about who he is/what he wants, especially because she caught him lying a few times already, and his whole existence around her was excessively coincidental. By the way, the whole Jeff thing with the blackmail and stealing Shauna's stuff and everything was SO FORCED and weird like I would have preferred the cheating arc instead of this goofy stretch.

Moreover, young Taissa is shown to be skeptical of Lottie's visions and Van's faith, but adult Taissa is implied to have used the cult symbol/sacrifice for professional gain - at least that's what I gathered from it. So I assume this means her skepticism will be dropped in s2 or her sleepwalking takes a freaky turn. I already believe Lottie actually saw her eating dirt in the forest at night and it wasn't a dream or a vision, because when Taissa was bathing with Van in the lake, Van points out how dirty her nails are, and Taissa doesn't know why.

So far Van and Misty seem to have joined Lottie's little church, and at the end of the last episode, Nat's former sponsor Suzie implies Lottie is connected to the blackmail and the kidnapping, and ofc the cult. But if Van, Misty, and Lottie were first in the cult, why is adult Misty apparently clueless about it? I feel like she of all people should have a slight idea, or should be able to draw a connection, even as a theory.

I'm concerned by how little everyone seems to care that Javi straight up disappeared while he was tripping on shrooms. I did think Adam was Javi for a split second (when Shauna goes to his house the second time, the shot of his face fades into a shot of Javi at doomcoming) but apparently that is not the case, and it was a complete stretch (mainly because Javi would not be much younger than Shauna, and also they would probably recognize each other as adults) but just a lightning bolt thought I had. I think perhaps he went to his father's burial place, or maybe the lake, but after the snowfall I have very little hope of him still being alive.

Speaking of snow, I think Jackie died way too soon and too suddenly. I thought the whole Shauna's pregnancy with Jeff's baby - secret thing would drag on for at least a little bit longer. Like, it was just ridiculous, but also I assume the girls who were at the reunion (and Travis) were the only ones that made it back home? Or maybe the rest just didn't come? I know there's an adult Van from what spoilers I accidentally read from s2, but I'm curious to find out why they don't *all* stay in touch.

Anyway, I am enjoying the hell out of it, Flight of the Bumblebee was one of the best TV episodes I've seen in a while, and I'm going to start s2 today, but I've seen people complain about it so I'm not sure if it's the drama in the show or straight up the quality of the season that they were complaining about. So I'm going in with lower expectations.