Yellowjackets: Old Wounds
April 14, 2023 2:02 PM - Season 2, Episode 4 - Subscribe
The Yellowjackets arrive at a dangerous way to choose between Nat and Lottie as their guiding light.
I'm digging Misty and Walter's Big Adventure. Especially the setup of Walter saying that he's a millionaire - no a multimillionaire...
That he became so by suing a scaffolding company for a freak accident that resulted in a metal plate in his head.
posted by porpoise at 8:13 AM on April 15, 2023
That he became so by suing a scaffolding company for a freak accident that resulted in a metal plate in his head.
posted by porpoise at 8:13 AM on April 15, 2023
Something something about Shauna understanding a teenager's potential acceptance of monstrous behavior and thus her willingness to confess to the murder her daughter already figured out (smart), but also tell her about her father's blackmail scheme so the daughter doesn't think Jeff is completely innocent (funny).
And now I feel bad for judging Lottie so harshly last week. She's...maybe trying to not be a megalomaniacal cult leader? And she has very suspect therapists as backup?
Is Van the last survivor? Akilah seems too good for this world (like poor Laura Lee), and Mari is belligerent enough that she's skirting the edge of "annoying character in a horror film whose death pleases the audience."
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:53 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
And now I feel bad for judging Lottie so harshly last week. She's...maybe trying to not be a megalomaniacal cult leader? And she has very suspect therapists as backup?
Is Van the last survivor? Akilah seems too good for this world (like poor Laura Lee), and Mari is belligerent enough that she's skirting the edge of "annoying character in a horror film whose death pleases the audience."
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:53 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I felt bad for Young Lottie this episode… the constantly bewildered look on her face made it seem like she wanted nothing to do with the competition but didn’t know how to get out of it.
Did Javi say a single word? He seems to have gone feral.
The split screen of Misty and Walter was so cutesy that I now suspect Walter’s cozying up to Agent African Grey only because he suspects she’s involved in the Adam Martin disappearance.
I love that Tai can drive in her sleep but not get gas in her sleep.
I expected Nat to come running out of Lisa’s mother’s house with the fishbowl. How that scene actually played out had me dying laughing.
Adult Shauna is probably my favorite character on TV right now with the way she navigates the absurdity with the appropriate amount of humor. But I was struck by the conversation with Jeff where he said something like “We have one child, one chance not to screw her up”—it sounded like whether or not his and Shauna’s baby survived the woods, he doesn’t know it was his. I can’t recall, has this been confirmed one way or another?
posted by ejs at 11:30 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Did Javi say a single word? He seems to have gone feral.
The split screen of Misty and Walter was so cutesy that I now suspect Walter’s cozying up to Agent African Grey only because he suspects she’s involved in the Adam Martin disappearance.
I love that Tai can drive in her sleep but not get gas in her sleep.
I expected Nat to come running out of Lisa’s mother’s house with the fishbowl. How that scene actually played out had me dying laughing.
Adult Shauna is probably my favorite character on TV right now with the way she navigates the absurdity with the appropriate amount of humor. But I was struck by the conversation with Jeff where he said something like “We have one child, one chance not to screw her up”—it sounded like whether or not his and Shauna’s baby survived the woods, he doesn’t know it was his. I can’t recall, has this been confirmed one way or another?
posted by ejs at 11:30 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
My guess about Walter is that he isn't independently wealthy at all, but lives off some kind of disability payment for being quite insane.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:26 PM on April 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:26 PM on April 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think the queens are a red herring. I don’t think it will matter who turns out to be the antler queen. Someone else proposed in a previous comment section that the girls might be taking turns; it might be a purely ritual role, maybe the antler queen is just the person to be sacrificed next.
Of course, actual leaders emerge in such situations - those with a plan, or a skill, or plain courage to make a choice. We’ve seen that with the core girls in various situations, Miss is the authority when it’s about tending to the wounded, Taissa makes the bold choices, Shauna and Nat feed them, Lottie gives hope. The others turn to them in various hours of various needs. But the shows is gradually establishing the limitation of their agency. The king is played by the other actors, and so, I suppose, is the queen. There will be queens, but they might not drive the plot. It’s much more interesting to look at the queenmakers.
In this episode two queenmakers emerge: Van for Taissa, and Mari for Lottie. Van pushes Taissa to give in to her dark passenger, because she sees the potential power in her connection to the spirit of the wilderness. Van is the one who reveals Taissa’s gift to the group, against Taissa’s own wishes. But will she try to crown regular Tai, or rather Other-Tai?
Then there’s Mari, clearly the truest believer, already a fanatic, already persecuting non- believers, ready to chomp on the coach, ready to blame all misery on Nat’s lack of faith. If Laura Lee was Lottie’s John the Baptist, Mari might be her Saint Peter.... or Judas. The fact that we don’t see her dressed in purple in the present-day-scenes however suggests that there might have been a rift between queen and queenmaker, just as there was between Tai and Van. There are readings, where Judas does not betray Jesus out of greed or opportunism, but out of disappointed idealism.
I think that in the wilderness, the queen candidates got pushed to the brink by their queenmakers, but snapped out of it just in time to prevent a battle royale, ultimately rejecting their roles. And now everything seems to be conspiring to push them into those roles against, to play out that unfinished third act.
posted by sohalt at 4:37 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Of course, actual leaders emerge in such situations - those with a plan, or a skill, or plain courage to make a choice. We’ve seen that with the core girls in various situations, Miss is the authority when it’s about tending to the wounded, Taissa makes the bold choices, Shauna and Nat feed them, Lottie gives hope. The others turn to them in various hours of various needs. But the shows is gradually establishing the limitation of their agency. The king is played by the other actors, and so, I suppose, is the queen. There will be queens, but they might not drive the plot. It’s much more interesting to look at the queenmakers.
In this episode two queenmakers emerge: Van for Taissa, and Mari for Lottie. Van pushes Taissa to give in to her dark passenger, because she sees the potential power in her connection to the spirit of the wilderness. Van is the one who reveals Taissa’s gift to the group, against Taissa’s own wishes. But will she try to crown regular Tai, or rather Other-Tai?
Then there’s Mari, clearly the truest believer, already a fanatic, already persecuting non- believers, ready to chomp on the coach, ready to blame all misery on Nat’s lack of faith. If Laura Lee was Lottie’s John the Baptist, Mari might be her Saint Peter.... or Judas. The fact that we don’t see her dressed in purple in the present-day-scenes however suggests that there might have been a rift between queen and queenmaker, just as there was between Tai and Van. There are readings, where Judas does not betray Jesus out of greed or opportunism, but out of disappointed idealism.
I think that in the wilderness, the queen candidates got pushed to the brink by their queenmakers, but snapped out of it just in time to prevent a battle royale, ultimately rejecting their roles. And now everything seems to be conspiring to push them into those roles against, to play out that unfinished third act.
posted by sohalt at 4:37 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
This felt like a slower episode than the last few even with the big discussion and the hunt. (And I don't know how they thought they were going to pull a frozen moose out of the lake, but I get the hope of it)
A couple of thoughts
- Couldn't remember the musical that Misty was disparaging ("Cinderella but everyone's trains") so if you're like me - Andrew Lloyd Webber's infamous Starlight Express
- Shades of last season's Adam speculation - is Walter Adam's friend who "relelentlessly has your back" (reinforced with the mirroring bit and that we know Misty's lie about Adam's mom and her downvoting is going to come back to bite her in the ass, right?)
- Of course the waitress's first response about the "purple cult" is that they're terrible tippers.
- The whole "blood for boon" thing that's been happening makes me worry we're getting a baby sacrifice to finally be rescued..
- Adult Lottie is making me re-think my opinon on cult leaders. :)
- Wonder how much the younger actresses enjoyed not having to be grubby for the mall scene.
- I'm not convinced we actually got Javi back.
- great slow dawning realization on Van's face when Tai walked into the store was the best. Looking forward to seeing more Lauren Ambrose. Feel like my image of her is still trapped in amber as Claire in the last episode of Six Feet Under
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:02 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
A couple of thoughts
- Couldn't remember the musical that Misty was disparaging ("Cinderella but everyone's trains") so if you're like me - Andrew Lloyd Webber's infamous Starlight Express
- Shades of last season's Adam speculation - is Walter Adam's friend who "relelentlessly has your back" (reinforced with the mirroring bit and that we know Misty's lie about Adam's mom and her downvoting is going to come back to bite her in the ass, right?)
- Of course the waitress's first response about the "purple cult" is that they're terrible tippers.
- The whole "blood for boon" thing that's been happening makes me worry we're getting a baby sacrifice to finally be rescued..
- Adult Lottie is making me re-think my opinon on cult leaders. :)
- Wonder how much the younger actresses enjoyed not having to be grubby for the mall scene.
- I'm not convinced we actually got Javi back.
- great slow dawning realization on Van's face when Tai walked into the store was the best. Looking forward to seeing more Lauren Ambrose. Feel like my image of her is still trapped in amber as Claire in the last episode of Six Feet Under
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:02 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Where do I vote for the best musical cue of the show so far?
I swear I will raise up a bot army to crown "Angst in my Pants."
posted by Sauce Trough at 6:26 PM on April 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
I swear I will raise up a bot army to crown "Angst in my Pants."
posted by Sauce Trough at 6:26 PM on April 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Mari might be her Saint Peter.... or Judas. The fact that we don’t see her dressed in purple in the present-day-scenes
Have we seen adult Mari? She’s my current pick for who died in the pit in the pilot.
posted by supercres at 10:49 PM on April 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Have we seen adult Mari? She’s my current pick for who died in the pit in the pilot.
posted by supercres at 10:49 PM on April 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also, I’m really glad Van makes it.
posted by supercres at 10:52 PM on April 16, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by supercres at 10:52 PM on April 16, 2023 [5 favorites]
What was the music over the closing credits? It hit my exact sweet spot.
posted by Mogur at 3:59 PM on April 17, 2023
posted by Mogur at 3:59 PM on April 17, 2023
And she has very suspect therapists as backup?
That was so weird to me, that the therapist would ask her to listen to her visions, that I think that therapist was a vision too. Her regular doctor is "out" and this one is telling her to listen to them, defintely the replacement therapist is a vision.
(Also I recently watched I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore with Shauna and Walter having a detective adventure so this episode really threw me off after that)
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:59 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
That was so weird to me, that the therapist would ask her to listen to her visions, that I think that therapist was a vision too. Her regular doctor is "out" and this one is telling her to listen to them, defintely the replacement therapist is a vision.
(Also I recently watched I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore with Shauna and Walter having a detective adventure so this episode really threw me off after that)
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:59 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm slowly catching up (2 episodes a week)... now I'm not even 4 months after the most recent comment!
I was SO sad when they lost the moose.
posted by inexorably_forward at 2:32 AM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was SO sad when they lost the moose.
posted by inexorably_forward at 2:32 AM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:09 PM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]