#wilderness 1x01

[1liv]

"Come on. You're too easy. Like anyone really wants to hear things turned out just peachy." WILDERNESS 1x01 "Happily Ever After"

[winnie-the-monster]

[amygobrrr]

a Jackie Taylor character analysis

or, why—

[I'm serious btw. this is ~3800 words, or about 15 minutes reading time.]

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The Facts of the Case

"For the record... I was trying to save you." Jackie. 1996, 1x02

(Nothing else Jackie ever says sums up who she is more succinctly than that.)

Our first real introduction to Jackie Taylor as a character—the first shot of her bedroom scene in 1x01—is a framed photo of her sitting close to Shauna, at a party. This is also the very first protagonist-centric character scene of the entire show; from the outset, we are told that the relationship between Jackie and Shauna will be critically important to the narrative. They are best friends, it's implied they do practically everything together, and right from their very first scenes we see how important they are to each other.

Yet likewise from the beginning, we see the fractures between them.

Shauna hides her acceptance to Brown from Jackie, and is uncomfortable with the assumption that she will be following her friend to Rutgers. She disapproves of Jackie's boyfriend sneaking out of her room, and is frustrated by Jackie telling her what to wear and who to hook up with. She is visibly upset at seeing Jackie and her boyfriend together at a party, and, on the way home, has sex with said boyfriend.

Jackie makes her boyfriend drop her off from the party first, forcing Shauna to wait much longer to get home. After Shauna chooses a rival plan for survival over hers, she gives her the cold shoulder, even actively tries to make her jealous. Jackie steals and reads Shauna's journal, and outs her pregnancy to the rest of the team. She sleeps with the only eligible man in the wilderness, just to try and hurt Shauna.

Jackie and Shauna may care deeply about each other, but we see them spending an awful lot of time driving wedges into the space between themselves.

So why do they behave this way? Why does Jackie fidget sadly with her necklace, why does she look at Shauna the way she does before giving the necklace to her, why is she so heartbroken over a boy she says she barely even likes, why is she so crestfallen at the idea Shauna lost her virginity without telling her, why does she pull Travis away at Doomcoming and look back at Shauna the whole time? Why does Shauna seem to think Jackie has abruptly backtracked with Jeff, why is she so disapproving when she sees Jackie leave Doomcoming with Travis, or when she sees Jeff leave her house? Why does she look so heartbroken when she sees Jackie and Jeff dancing together at the party? Why are they both so hurt and hardened towards each other at the end of it all, and yet why does Shauna's heart still seize in anguish the next morning?

I believe all of those questions have the same, straightforward answer:

Before the crash, Jackie and Shauna were hooking up with each other in secret, and never mentioning a word of it—let alone talking through their feelings for each other.

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Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved

"[Jeff and I have] been together for so long that if we're each others' firsts, then we'll be linked forever. It's more poetic that way. Oh! That reminds me—I decided on a color palette for our room at Rutgers next year." Jackie. 1996, 1x01

They make an unspoken habit of it; one always dragging the other away at parties after a few drinks under the pretense of mere friendly accompaniment. Jackie is reluctant to go all the way with her boyfriend Jeff; even after four years together, something always holds her back. She knows (or strongly believes, anyway, which is the same thing) that that's not entirely normal, and she wants more than anything to be normal, so she takes it in stages. She builds up to it with her boyfriend—slowly—and with her best friend—less slowly, but more comfortably. And it's fine—because Shauna is a girl, after all. Nothing they do together even counts. It's just fun. It's practice, for the real thing. It doesn't count.

But tipsy trysts alone aren't enough to fully explain the dynamic we see. Jackie had a change of heart regarding Jeff—what happened? Shauna seems a little hurt but also genuinely confused that they're back together at the beginning of the show, and even more so that Jackie intends to sleep with him 'for real' before college. I don't believe guilt over her actions fully accounts for her reaction. No, there is something else here, too; I think that, as important as Jackie and Shauna's clandestine hookups are to their dynamic, just as important is the fact that at some point they end. It's Jackie who puts a stop to them, possibly in the midst of the final time it happens.

I think Jackie, at a party some time around the beginning of the show—and maybe even giddy with the fresh excitement of a game or championship win—allows herself to be swept away in the moment with her best friend. Maybe she catches herself about to push too far with Shauna, about to venture into territory that she would have real trouble pretending "doesn't count," even with alcohol and adrenaline buzzing through her veins. Maybe she catches herself wishing that this could be her normal, that she could be with Shauna instead of Jeff. The specifics aren't what matters.

I think Jackie has long been vaguely aware that what she feels for Shauna falls outside of what you would expect for a friend, even a best friend. Normally, she doesn't give it a second thought; it's Shauna, of course it feels different. This time, though, she has a moment of extreme clarity about what exactly it is they're doing, and what it means that she wants it. More specifically, Jackie realizes what it says about her that she craves everything with Shauna that she cannot bring herself to crave with Jeff.

Jackie is in love with her best friend—and that makes her gay.

Jackie realizes, and the knowledge terrifies her.

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The Necklace

"And, here... it's a good-luck charm. Now nothing can touch you." Jackie. 1996, 1x01

Our attention is drawn to Jackie's heart pendant four times in the pilot episode. In order: we see it on the body of the girl hunted in the cold open, we see Jackie fidget with it after brushing her teeth, we see her fidget with it again during the pep rally, and we see her give it to Shauna on the airplane before takeoff. Three of the four scenes feature Jackie, with only the first finding her absent. That initial sighting certainly seems the most cryptic—we learn very quickly that it's Jackie's necklace, so why is someone else wearing it?

While we would need to see through Shauna's eyes to truly satisfy that question, for now at least the fourth scene—in the airplane—provides an answer: the necklace has nomadic tendencies. Jackie gives it as a protective charm to Shauna, who doesn't seem at all surprised by the gesture. Quite the contrary, exchanging the heart feels more like a known ritual between the two, maybe even first established during the trip to Hilton Head that Jackie references in preamble. (This ritual will be repeated—in the other direction—when Shauna gives Jackie a pep talk in 1x05.) Shauna holds the pendant close, clutching it with her entire fist. The thing seems just as precious to her now as it does to Jackie in the remaining scenes; perhaps it was originally a gift from one to the other?

Regardless of whether or not we are meant to infer that the necklace was a gift, in the pep rally scene we are explicitly shown that Jackie does strongly associate it with Shauna. It's a very brief moment in comparison to the full scene we get on the airplane—just one look exchanged, a set of smiles shared. After the Yellowjackets stream into the gym and line up to victorious music, Shauna looks past Lottie over to Jackie. And Jackie is already looking back, smiling as she plays with the heart pendant. Shauna's own grin widens, full and genuine, until it reaches all the way to her eyes. Jackie savors the look for a moment, then glances away, smile unbroken... her goal seemingly achieved.

What goal?

The bathroom scene is an even quicker blip than the gym, yet I believe it's the most impactful and telling of the four. One single shot with a punch-in. Jackie brushes her teeth quickly and then gazes in the mirror, looking forlorn as she fiddles with the necklace. On its own this one scene is not particularly remarkable—its true significance comes from the two others it glues together.

The scene preceding is the aforementioned bedroom introduction. Jackie is in bed with Jeff and he is clearly pushing their activities farther than she finds comfortable. Jackie fakes it to get things over with, powering through as he tells her he loves her. She lets Jeff think he's doing well... and as her immediate reward is coaxed into reciprocating his advances, and then some.

Jackie scrubs her teeth violently. She is unhappy.

The scene following is the car ride with Shauna where we learn that Jackie has suddenly gotten back together with Jeff. When Shauna brings him up, Jackie laughs and shrugs it off, but not before a flash of nervousness escapes in her chuckle—she tries twice to change the subject away from her boyfriend, only finding success once they pass a sign prompting her to talk shit on the boys' baseball team by singing the praises of the girls' own soccer team. Jackie leans out the window as her best friend rolls her eyes and giggles at her antics.

Jackie whoops for joy. She is happy.

Viewed as a whole, the sequence paints a clear picture: Jackie does not truly want to be with her boyfriend. She is unhappy both while and after she is alone with Jeff, happy while alone with Shauna, and while truly alone between the two encounters, draws some kind of strength from the necklace we know she associates with Shauna. In the car, she is eager to turn conversation away from her boyfriend and onto her best friend.

In her mind, everything she's doing with Jeff, everything she's letting him do with her? She is doing it to save her friendship with Shauna. She is working to build plausible deniability.

"I have a curfew too, you know." "Yeah, but... you know what my parents are like." Shauna and Jackie. 1996, 1x01

Conformity is the only weapon Jackie has against her parents' expectations, and naturally she is an expert in its misuse. Plausible deniability is the only tool at her disposal to avoid scaring Shauna away, and so Jackie picks up a double major. Half her work is already done; it's not like they'd ever talked about what they were doing or what it meant, so she can count on Shauna to never bring it up—as long as Jackie withdraws to the safety of being normal best friends.

If Shauna knew the truth, if she knew what Jackie cannot un-know... she would walk away, their friendship ruined, and it would be Jackie's fault. It would be Jackie's fault for being this way, and so the other half of her work must be undertaken. Jeff is living proof that whatever they've done together wasn't real, that Jackie could never be interested in her friend that way. Jeff, therefore, must stay, so that Shauna will stay. Jackie must be strong, for Shauna.

Each of the three necklace scenes Jackie has in the pilot shows us something very specific about her relationship to Shauna. On the airplane, Jackie wraps Shauna in her love—for protection. In the privacy of her bathroom, Jackie wraps herself in Shauna's love—for strength.

And in the gym, in public, Jackie suns herself in the warmth of their friendship—her strength rewarded.

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Abandonment and the Wilderness

"What did I do? When did you stop wanting me to be your best friend?" Jackie. 1996, 1x07

The thought of Shauna replacing her with another is something Jackie dreads above almost all else. Whether in conflict, in resolution, or both, most of the battles and the skirmishes that we see play out between the two revolve around this fear.

Shauna gets upset and causes trouble at the party in the woods before seeming hurt that Jackie hasn't complimented her, so Jackie attempts reassurance by emphasizing how important their friendship is. Her choice of approach here seems at least partly motivated by a guilty conscience (with a side of projection): deep down, she knows that she is trying to replace Shauna... with Jeff. Jackie feels guilty for ending their hookups in favor of her boyfriend, so she assuages that guilt by firmly stating no, Shauna, you're not going anywhere. Jeff could never be my best friend. Only you. This fight ends when Shauna confirms she understands her importance to Jackie.

(As an aside, the timid "Hi" and "Are... are we cool?" Jackie greets Shauna with after the team-building exercise have such a soft lilt to them that they seem decidedly more than friendly.)

After the crash, Shauna snubs Jackie's plan for survival in favor of Taissa's—so Jackie gets buddy-buddy with Mari. Here, Jackie nakedly projects her fear through her actions: Shauna wants to choose Tai over Jackie, well, we'll see how she likes it when Jackie chooses Mari over Shauna. Things are only patched over between them when Shauna comes to Jackie with extra blankets saying she is scared and needs her best friend. Jackie melts at once.

This next one is not really a fight, but does involve reassurance: when the team grows annoyed with Jackie for not pitching in, Shauna pulls her aside to try and find something she can do. Jackie flunks out of badass butchering school, so Shauna switches gears to attempt a pep talk, which goes badly until she lands on the winning words.

"You taught me how to be like this, you know. You make people think things are gonna be okay, just by showing up and being your dumb, hot, awesome self. At least you always did that for me." Shauna. 1996, 1x05

Jackie softens, but holds firm on putting a knife through a deer knee, which Shauna accepts, but counters that Jackie still needs to find something to do. "We need you, Jackie." Shauna pulls out her trump card—she returns the heart pendant to its place around Jackie's neck. "I mean, you're basically the best, remember?" she says. Jackie preens, and a hug seals the deal.

By the time Taissa leads her ill-fated expedition away from the cabin, Shauna has been sneaking around around conspiring with her for a while, so Jackie jumps on the opportunity to corner her and demand an answer. This fight also happens to be when Jackie finally gives voice to the worry she carries; she openly wonders what she could have done to make Shauna want to replace her. And again, the fight ends not so much when Shauna spills a half-truth, but when Shauna allows her to simply be there. Jackie's relief is palpable as she stays cheerful for her best friend, wrapping her in maybe the tightest hug we see throughout the entire show.

Throughout the entire season, virtually all conflict between Jackie and Shauna can ultimately be solved—in Jackie's view, at least—by a reassurance that they will still be best friends no matter what. That is the core of the matter to Jackie, the driving force behind everything she does; she can withstand any blow, weather any storm as long as her best friend remains by her side. Shauna's love will carry her through.

Jackie fears being replaced, because more than anything... she fears being unloved.

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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

"It's funny, I used to pretend I didn't know if I loved Jeff, when the truth is: I didn't even like him that much. And I was so mad at Shauna, but now I realize she's right! Friendship doesn't matter. Love? Doesn't matter. They're just things we use to pretend like we aren't gonna end up like dead cabin guy, like rotted-out husks in some bullshit attic. But of course that's how it ends. That's all we are the whole time. It doesn't matter. We're just shells with nothing inside." Jackie. 1996, 1x09

Whatever reassurance Jackie has gleaned by the time of the pregnancy half-confession is shattered once again by the revelations contained in Shauna's journal—and yet, she doesn't seem to give up on Shauna entirely... until the end of their explosive argument.

Jackie spends the bulk of 1x08 and 1x09 depressed, bitchy, and passive-aggressive, yes—but through it all, she tries to make things work. She outs Shauna's pregnancy to lend urgency to Laura Lee's mission, but conspicuously deflects questions about the father, despite having the opportunity to go for the jugular. She does her Doomcoming preparations side by side with Shauna, makes her entrance to the party itself next to Shauna; continues to smile at Shauna when she's not looking.

Jackie doesn't cut ties with Shauna—to the contrary, she gives her multiple opportunities to course-correct. When Shauna confronts her about spilling the secret of her pregnancy to the group, Jackie responds with "It's not really the time to be keeping secrets." While wandering through the forest together picking flowers for decoration, Jackie brings up Rutgers before asking "You ever think about what we'd be doing if we hadn't crashed?" and stating—even more plainly—"What if this is it, Shauna? Everything we did, everything we didn't do? All the mistakes that we made, it's like... permanent." In both cases, Jackie knows what Shauna is still trying to keep from her—Jeff, Brown—and is handing her an opening to come clean.

When Shauna deflects away from her mistakes, Jackie scoffs. "Well, I was naïve. I realize that now," she muses.

Jackie still looks back at Shauna to make sure her friend is watching as she leaves the dance on her way to sleep with Travis; to make sure she cares. Just like she did with Mari at the lake, Jackie is trying to inflame Shauna's jealousy—all the way up until the very end, right up to the moment when uncertainty becomes lost to her entirely, Jackie still holds onto hope that deep down, Shauna cares for her.

In her attic confession to Travis, Jackie contrasts friendship with love—directly after explicitly stating that she never loved Jeff.

She is very obviously talking about Shauna.

Shauna was supposed to be the one person who truly loved her. The one person who loved Jackie, not as a soccer captain (like the team did), or as just a girl (like her boyfriend did), or as the mirage of perfect daughter (like her parents did), but loved her as her, as Jackie. Shauna's journal reveals even that to be a lie.

Jackie sees now... she sees that none of it matters.

The curse of the viewer is that we see what Jackie never does. We see morning light fall on the snow, sparkling. We see Shauna fall on her knees, screaming. We see the inhabited meat shed, and the pyre, and the bacchanal, and the empty meat shed, and the bridge and the uniform and the childhood bedroom. Jackie, however, is neither prophetic nor clairvoyant; all she sees is an incomplete account of Shauna's actions. She certainly doesn't see the whole picture, can't imagine the chain of events that drove Shauna to such extremes. Jackie is hurt, not over Jeff—though he provides her with a convenient excuse to the others—but over what Shauna being willing to sleep with him says to her about how Shauna must view their friendship.

Shauna has told her that love and friendship don't matter. The romantic love Jackie knew she didn't feel for Jeff, the romantic love she believed Shauna didn't feel for her, and the platonic love she believed Shauna did; none of them mattered, none of them ever existed. Jackie shaped herself into a shell by pretending, a shell perfectly tailored to accept what Shauna was willing to give—only to find that what her friend really handed to her was rotting faster than Jackie could build the husk around it. But it's not until the night after Doomcoming that Shauna twists the knife in Jackie's heart, removing any last shred of doubt.

And that, more than anything else, is what breaks Jackie in the end; the knowledge that Shauna never cared for her.

"I'm sure everyone back home is so FUCKING sad to be losing their perfect little princess, but they'll never know how tragic, and boring, and insecure you really are. Or how high school was the best your life was EVER gonna get." "Fuck you." Shauna and Jackie. 1996, 1x10

"I don't even know who you are anymore." "Or maybe you never did." The last words Jackie and Shauna ever spoke to each other. 1996, 1x10

Jackie was trying her best, she really was. She offered Shauna her love in the form of everything she endured to keep Jeff in front of her, and therefore to keep their friendship intact. Shauna knows Jeff is her boyfriend, she knows he's off-limits, and yet she gets pregnant by him anyway. Jeff is Jackie's shield (her beard; not that she would know THAT term), her proof that all is right and she can be normal. Shauna ripped that protection away from her. From Jackie's perspective, she saw Shauna take her love, crush it underfoot, and spit right in her face. Not only does Shauna not love her back the way Jackie wants, but she doesn't love her even as a friend.

Jackie is, at this point, totally convinced that no scrap even of the friendship she was so desperately clinging to really exists. Everything she feels for Shauna is unrequited—everything except, of course, the anger and the hurt. So when her attempt to banish Shauna backfires and she is told to leave instead, Jackie listens; she walks outside to reenact the ending of Romeo & Juliet.

Jackie tried hard, so hard, not to let her baggage—her longing—ruin her most valued friendship, or push away the most important person in her life... and in the end it was all for nothing. She lost her anyway.

Or worse, she never even had her in the first place.

On her way to oblivion, Jackie dreams of being loved.

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If you read all the way to the end here, you're the best, especially cause tumblr posts are so <--> narrow. I'm sorry for leaving things on such a downer note... but Yellowjackets do be that way.

this has been Jackie's side of things—I have a partially-written follow-up half from Shauna's perspective, but it has proven even harder to stick to some semblance of objectivity when arguing from Shauna's POV than it was for Jackie. if this one resonates with people I might refactor and finish part 2, we'll see.

in the meantime though, if you agree with my conclusions in this essay and hunger for a taste of Shauna's side, check out this "Jackie lives" fic I wrote:

featuring 4k of Tai trying to get Shauna to use her words, followed by 6k of Shauna's words! I wrote it between bouts of working on this (some snippets I cut from the Shauna section for being too un-essay-like made it in there), and it pretty much assumes everything I talk about here, both Jackie's-character-wise and jackieshauna-history-wise, holds true. except, of course, the part where Jackie stays dead lol

later haters (mari and crew)

[ojacksonscohen]

I think any minute now someone's going to tap on my shoulder and say, "there's been a mistake, this is not your life, shut the door on your way out." You've as much right to be here as anyone else. WILDERNESS (2023) | 1x01 Happily Ever After

[blueiight]

“ when im tired im not so kind “ is str8 up from the book and is said by both lestats [albeit in different moments obviously]. something thats interesting tho is how amc lestat at the s1 finale describes new orleans (doubly operating as metaphor for the saint louis he found in the vieux carre) in a way similar to how book louis described new orleans in relation to paris..

book iwtv (76)

But New Orleans, though beautiful and desperately alive, was desperately fragile. There was something forever savage and primitive there, something that threatened the exotic and sophisticated life both from within and without. Not an inch of those wooden streets nor a brick of the crowded Spanish houses had not been bought from the fierce wilderness that forever surrounded the city, ready to engulf it.

amc iwtv (22)

There's not an inch of this city that wasn't built from the fierce wilderness that surrounds it. Hurricanes, floods, fevers. The damp climate on every painted sign, every stone facade. (also a callback to ‘every face you wear…’ in 1x01 maybe?) High windows, through which enameled bits of civilization glitter. Silhouettes emerging, wandering out to catch a silent flash of lightning. The silky warmth of summer rain. Desperately alive... and desperately fragile.

[novelconcepts]

hi novel! i just saw your yellowjackets and american gods post and you managed to articulate something that's been rattling around in my head since I saw the first episode. I feel like in popular culture, "lost in the wilderness stories" like lord of the flies tend to be viewed as "watch these people become uncivilized." But with the yellowjackets, they're not necessarily becoming uncivilized - they're just creating a new society / culture that has set roles (butcher, acolyte, prophet, etc) and rituals (the card game, the masks, etc.). One of my favorite things has been watching the team slowly develop the customs that will eventually become the well rehearsed hunt we see in 1x01. Like I got really excited seeing Shauna cover her face with the scarf to carve up Javi because I was like "oh is this why the end up wearing the animal masks." To your point, if you built a society from scratch and were isolated in it for almost 2 years because that's the only way you could survive, it's probably very hard to return to the old one which is also essentially new. Blame it on my sociology degree but I fucking love analyzing this show and your meta is amazing.

Yes, this exactly! Like we love to pretend these stories are about the brutalist nature of uncivilized behavior, but that’s not it at all. It’s about finding what works to keep people safe and fed and going. You shed the parts that are just…extraneous, and you learn new skills you’d never need in suburban New Jersey, and it’s all just a shift to a new kind of perspective. It’s so interesting. Especially because we know “civilization” isn’t that different, in certain ways. It’s just about what society deems palatable. It’s not okay to stab someone who upsets you, but we see in the Taylors, and in the political event Taissa attends, that people will say truly vile things and just paste a smile over it. That sort of behavior gets dropped in the woods because it serves no one. It’s replaced with violence, but both kinds do damage. So we have a bunch of kids who have spent 17-18 years learning the rules of society, and then have to unlearn them in a hurry just to survive. Those who can’t shift their perspective, acclimate to the new rules don’t make it. It’s violent, and it’s devastating, but it does have rules. It’s something I can’t wait to see more of down the road.

[zee-has-commitment-issues]

I kinda low-key want to write a fic, but I also don't want to write it (if you know what I mean). Because I just know you'd do a much, much better job of it, so I'm going to just throw this plot bunny at you like a belated Valentine (heehee) even though I know I'm being ridiculous and you probably have enough great ideas of your own without me throwing random stuff at you. But anyway, here goes:

In 1x01 Nils got a blow job from some other guy and Madison walked in on them. Unnamed other!guy fled the scene, but before Madison could get a word out, Vincent walked in, finding Nils hastily buttoning up his trousers and a wide-eyed, open-mouthed Madison on the scene of the crime, so to speak.

Nils frantically tries to communicate to Madison that she should lie for him because he's insanely in love with Vincent, but also doesn't want Vincent to find out he's gay (even though Vincent might suspect).

Madison silently agrees.

Vincent is just happy his best buddy pulled (or is he?).

Lunch the next day is wild. And the ensuing days get even wilder when Unnamed other!guy didn't get the memo about the Madison cover-up (at least not fully) and starts to drop stupid salacious hints around Nils and (an as of yet oblivious, but more and more suspicious) Vincent and everyone else.

Rumours are starting to spread far and wide. Nils tries everything in his power to nip them in the bud.

Anon, I think you should write this.

You are clearly passionate about it and you said yourself that you low-key want to write it. You have half of it written right here already. That is a whole plot, with character motivations and reactions. That is a fic. That's an outline.

There is no one - not one person - who is going to write your story better than you will.

I want you to write it. I want you to open a google doc, and start an AO3 account, and I was you to write it. I want you to promote the hell out of it. I want you to be proud of it. Because even this, even the outline, is something to be proud of.

I'll edit it if you want me to. I'll beta read it. I'll leave my asks and dms open if you want help. But I want you to believe that you can do it. Because you can.

And this is not me saying that I don't like the idea or that I don't want to write it or that I have other things in place. I would read the hell out of this. This is me saying that you are the best possible person to write this. I can't write it better than you can.

[taiturner]

top 5 young taissa scenes

this is an evil ask because i can barely pick 5 favorite taissa moments per episode, but i'm going to be brave and inevitably be mad at what i didn't mention later. this is more of a "5 of my favorite moments that come to mind first" list, if you will:

1x07, the taissa scene of all time, the perfect set up to her entire arc (there's a reason part of this quote is my blog title): "what? what are you just saying? that the fucking woods don't want us to leave? do you know how insane that sounds? the woods don't give a shit! and all of this nonsense with lottie's dreams and omens and whatever the fuck that is... we can survive without a compass. we'll use the sun to travel south, and we can place cairn stones or something under trees. there is a solution for everything. an explanation for everything." taissa i love you so bad

2x05, her talk with akilah, another crucial point in her arc that changes everything for her. she can't hear / isn't willing to hear van when van tells her about her connection to the wilderness, but akilah puts it into words that taissa can understand. and akilah is regularly intuitive with taissa and understanding not just what she needs to hear, but how she needs to hear it. (this goes for their talk in 2x03, also. same idea. she comes to terms with what they did to jackie because akilah put it into words she needed to hear).

i'm counting all these moments into one, but basically everything to do with the bone necklace. her basically calling it dumb to van in 1x07, then later her unconscious self stealing it from van to protect herself while van inevitably gets attacked, then in 1x10 when van confronts her about how she's been feeling and makes a show of her having taken the necklace back (and frankly, their entire fight there, it really gets me going and the way we see adult van stand up for herself later on is so satisfying after this episode), and then ultimately in 2x06 when she is actively + consciously using it on the hope that it might help shauna.

cutting her hair in 1x07, it's such an important scene and defining moment for her identity, plus the song that plays really makes it better. i know there are people who wish that someone else cut her hair but i'm personally glad we have this moment for her to herself because it was really crucial to her before the journey she was about to embark on.

the ending of 1x05, when she insists on going to the attic to sleep. she's just as terrified as everyone else but she's so determined to prove a point that she's willingly putting herself in a position of terror just to stand by it. shauna joining her is included in this <3

bonus answer, but 1x01, defending herself at the pre-crash party. by "defending herself" i mean literally not defending herself at all and spending all her time pushing blame and criticism on everyone else because she is also afraid that they're all correct. i could (and have) talk about The Allie Thing for forever.

basically any paired scene of taissa making her stance clear + inevitably contradicting herself, usually to herself. also every shaunatai scene ever. the abortion scene, the way she supported her throughout 2x06, their whole fights in 2x02 + 2x05, telling only her about her sleepwalking and being completely vulnerable in that scene despite being uncomfortable with it herself. every single scene is so important to me... thank you

[victor-aguilar]

♫ alex wilder !!!

can i say my entire alex playlist? lmao

uhhh joke answer. every breath you take bc thats the song i was listening to when i first met him (started 1x01) 👍

real one. hmmmmm cage the elephant aint no rest for the wicked mayhaps

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Sat 8 June // Day 255 & Sun 9 June // Day 256 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

The Idea of You [2024] (with L)

Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.

A surprisingly enjoyable afternoon watch. It knew what is was and did it well. Anne Hathaway is a babe and she ground the cheesier parts to minimize any potential second-hand embarrassment, which is never usually far away in romcoms. Their chemistry was above par too, some of the kisses were very steamy. A fun easy film.

Mr & Mrs Smith (with L) 1x01 First Date

Strangers John and Jane Smith are paired by a secretive espionage agency, posing as a married couple. During their first mission together, things go awry.

My first thought about this ep: the tiddies. My second thought was that I appreciated they didn't throw every conceivable plot thread into the pilot episode. It had room to breathe and get to know the characters a little.

Wilderness (with mum) Ep 1 Happily Ever After

An envious apartment in glamorous New York, an intensely passionate marriage, and the promise of the perfect life together, British newlyweds are living the American dream.

Welsh Jenna Coleman wouldn't have this problem if she had married me instead because I would never.

Abbott Elementary (with mum) 3x03 Gregory's Garden Goofballs

Gregory is hesitant when kids start hanging out in his classroom at lunch, looking to him for advice; Barbara is shocked to find Tariq is dating the mother of one of her students; Janine and Jacob try to hire an ASL interpreter.

An episode further highlighting why sign language should be taught in school. I thought with Tariq's sudden appearance that he might have known asl and got the interpreter job. But he'll be ok with his new common-law son TJ Nick, and his stepmum teacher Barbara.

[lupus-exposed]

Wilderness 1x01 "Happily Ever After" ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

[marvelsrunaways]

1x01 | 1x08

[ojacksonscohen]

Just think about how jealous all your colleagues will be… hashtag trip of a lifetime. WILDERNESS (2023) | 1x01 Happily Ever After

[strawberryflavoredshark]

One of my favorite scenes from season 1🤼‍���️🖤

[em-owl]

Runaways tv thoughts

*warning: SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE COMICS AND FIRST 3 EPS*

+OH MY GOD IT’S BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE

+the opening credits are chock full of easter eggs

+like that dinosaur float

+and the shadow of the staff of one

+and that mural of a majesdanian 

+the acting is on point. all the characters feel true to their comic counterparts

+it really sticks to the source material (for the most part, at least)

+EVEN THEIR CLOTHING IS STRAIGHT FROM ALPHONA’S DRAWINGS

+there’s definitely a lot that is different, but I think it all works pretty well

+I’m really curious about amy tho. did she figure out about the pride and they sacrificed her? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER???

+also what exactly happened to molly’s parents?

+and how are they going to handle her powers since they can’t have her as a mutant?

+OH AND THE FACT THAT THE DEANS RUN A CHURCH CALLED THE CHURCH OF GIBBORIM

+really can’t wait to see the gibborim. hopefully the cgi is good

+also Alex was so freaking creepy every now and then

+but then at times he was so innocent and smol

+but then I remembered oh hey he’s going to betray them all 

+like he’s so manipulative in these three episodes

+like the way he talks to the others and sends that photo to all of them and the fact that he was the one to turn the coasters 

+GERT AND CHASE ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER. SHIPSHIPSHIPSHIP

+KAROLINA

+OH MY GOD KAROLINA

+I couldn’t watch the attempted rape scene

+I find it hilarious that they’re making it seem like karolina and chase is going to be a thing

+also that scene with karolina and nico in the bathroom

+”it’s just that you know you don’t need all that, nico”

+SHIPSHIPSHIPSHIP

+if nicolina doesn’t happen I’m gonna die. I’ve been shipping it for over 40 issues I can’t wait any longer

+Molly is so pure and sweet and innocent

+chase is pretty different from comic chase, but I’m okay with it

+”thanks for all the pizza and sadness” (aka new senior quote)

+”I’ve got nothing against you–you’re really nice”

+AND THE GAME OF TWISTER

+I remember that from the comics so well

+OH AND ALEX PLAYING A VIDEO GAME BEING THE FIRST WE SEE OF THE RUNAWAYS JUST LIKE IN THE FIRST ISSUE. LOVE.

+OLD LACE! what more can I say?

+I love how the staff of one looks, but neither tina nor nico have actually said any spells so idk if that’s a thing they’ll do in future episodes or if the whole you can only use a spell once thing just doesn’t exist here

+okay I think I’m going to go rewatch all three episodes

[bodennis]