#the way s2 doesn't bother until near the end

[cantsayidont]

Probably unpopular opinions:

YELLOWJACKETS: Engrossing but half-baked Showtime horror-thriller series, obviously inspired by the TV show LOST and the real-life Uruguayan rugby team lost in the Andes in 1972, about a suburban high school girls' soccer team that descends into madness while stranded for two years in the wilderness following a plane crash in the mid-1990s, split between the period leading up to and following the crash, with the characters as teenagers, and the present day, where the rescued survivors are now maladjusted adults struggling to live down what happened to them 25 years earlier.

While the show's dark humor and assorted plot mysteries command attention, it's marred by a growing sense, even in the more tightly written first season, that many of the questions have no actual answers, and the showrunners are basically just winging it — unwise with a series this structurally complicated, and the same mistake that eventually reduced LOST to an extended shaggy-dog joke.

The plot holes really begin to accumulate in the clumsy, badly paced second season, which leaves the capable adult actors struggling to navigate obvious gaps in their characters' histories and interrelationships that the writers haven't yet gotten around to mapping out, and causes what are supposed to be fireworks-laden confrontations to fizzle ineffectually. An initially amusing plotline about the adult Shawna (Melanie Lynskey) trying to cover up a murder with the help of her loyal but useless husband (Warren Kole) and snotty teenage daughter (Sarah Desjardins) eventually reveals itself as a weak imitation knockoff of SANTA CLARITA DIET that doesn't know when to pivot, and the introduction of Elijah Wood as a (ludicrous) hetero love interest for the adult Misty (Christina Ricci) creates an obvious tension between Ricci's decision to play Misty as a closeted lesbian in love with Natalie (Juliette Lewis) and the writers' apparent determination to there-homo the main characters.

However, the biggest problems with YELLOWJACKETS remain the show's ongoing reluctance to make up its mind about whether it's a psychological thriller or a supernatural horror story in the mode of Stephen King's THE SHINING — an ambiguity that's more exasperating than intriguing — and the troubling fact that the characters of color are consistently treated far more brutally (and more dismissively) than any of the white characters.

[ouraboras]

S2, E8 and Overall Thoughts (Spoilers)

If we don't get season 3 I'll end up on the news. This is more string of consciousness but oh well.

First, I love everything with Richter and Annette. No complicated feels, no note. Though I do wonder if we get a season 3 how it will be handled. Season 3 and most of 4 of the first series kept the Belmont, mage, and Alucard apart. They might do the same thing again. We might get a timeskip and an opening like SotN.

I don't like how we go from seeing Alucard pinned to the ground with his own sword through the heart(?) to just standing there in the sun. I wish there was an in-between. I knew they wouldn't kill him but still.

I'll be interested to see where they take Olrox and Mizrak if they get a season 3. Especially since we see how they treated Tera's character (we'll get to that, trust me). There is a lot they could do with it. Mizrak was quite religious so his arc of wrestling with his faith can go in a very interesting direction.

I was VERY surprised with that blush on Maria's face. Now, I'm not going to touch that discourse. There is nothing the showrunners could do to please everyone. A lot of people ship them, a lot of people find the age thing weird. I chose to create a weird little Dutch man to smooch Alucard. We all have our own freewill.

I figured that if they were going to have them end up together they'd have them not meet (similar to how in canon they didn't meet until SotN). I found everything with them ambiguous until that.

I found Alucard's expression of hurt(?) interesting when she said those who worked with the vampires deserve to die. And the cut to Tera with that weird ass expression watching with the shadow thing (OH I'LL GET TO MY THOUGHTS ON THAT FUCKER). This might just be me but yeah, go off queen. She isn't saying all those who fraternize with vampires deserve to die. I'm guessing Alucard's (hurt?) is one of two things. Either:

"She doesn't like vampires and humans interacting :("

He sees some of himself in her. She killed her own father and her mother "died". However, she has the opportunity to interact with her mother. Something Alucard was and will never be able to do (Unless the show kept the thing where they moved to England at the end of S4). She is throwing that away

Maybe it's a mix of the two or something I am missing. I'll be on the lookout for analysis.

Shadow. Man. I am HOPING that I was right in my OG theory (which ended up ultimately being wrong FOR THIS SEASON). My theory isn't dead yet! If you haven't read it: in Castlevania their is an entity which is the source of Dracula's powers called Chaos. I theorized that that was him and we'd see a Dracula resurrection at the end. We didn't get this. But we still can! Now, is this theory ultimately selfish wish fulfillment because I desperately want a Soma Cruz season: Yes.

I'm guessing shadow man wants Maria's soul. Hopefully we get a season 4 or his existence will bother me. Fingers crossed.

I am fascinated by Tera's character arc. I feel like S1 had a lot to say about colonialism. I feel like the themes of this season were life, death, and grief. I've always found exploring those themes through vampirism interesting (you'll know that if you've read my fic). I had figured they'd take her in a more stereotypical direction but I am pleasantly surprised. I love the way they animated her to give her a profound sense of wrongness. I could (and may) analyze why she got that treatment compared to the other vampires. Likely it is because we are seeing her as those who knew her in life see her, all her life and love gone. But I think there is something to be said for a vampire who has made peace and found themself vs. one who is newly turned.

Overall, I loved this season. The brain worms are back. There things which I think could have been polished. But I have nowhere near the amount of issues with it as I did S3+4.