Thank you for participating in /r/Yellowjackets . Please help us keep this community a healthy place for discussion by reporting posts and comments that violate our rules using the report button. You can find the subreddit rules listed in the sidebar.
Please consider applying to become a subreddit moderator. Anyone can apply!
I genuinely think that the writers intended for Natalie to be the pilot antler queen. In the pilot, it cuts between the antler queen and adult Nat in the rehab facility - maybe a misdirect but I also feel like the writers aren’t afraid to make the obvious choice. I think Juliette leaving the show made them have to switch because it just wouldn’t have been as impactful when they got to this point in the wilderness if the adult antler queen wasn’t there for it.
Obviously they knew Juliette was leaving when they initially made young Nat the antler queen, so maybe they truly meant for that position to be passed around idk. It’s also hard not see young Nat as the moral compass of the group but I think it would have been interesting to see her go from the most grounded to leading the charge - we saw what she was willing to do to survive when it came to Javi so I figured that was her first step down Lottie’s pathway and then losing Ben would be losing her last shred of humanity.
Then obviously idk how the rescue would have played out without Nat. The scene of her up on the mountain was so iconic and young Nat is absolutely my favorite character so maybe it was all for the best. Both Sophie’s absolutely kill it so I see why either of them would have been an easy choice for antler queen.
Honestly, I think preserving Nat’s morality feels more accurate. The fact that she broke ranks and saved them makes her all the more endearing. I think you need to have someone who is truly good to root for.
Near the end of S3 they address this and it's talked about a few times in other scenes throughout the seasons iirc. All of them but Nat and Van seemed to have suppressed their memories of the Wilderness. They suppressed Antler Queen Shauna as well as the more feral parts of themselves that mirrored her.
I'm gonna have to find the link, but there's an interview on YouTube where Shauna's actor mentions being fitted for the antler queen costume really early in s1 filming, so she knew it would be her from the beginning.
I don’t think that shows in any conceivable way that they were planning to make her the pilot antler queen. with all the easter eggs and specific choices this show has made, having a reveal that major be teased in such a half assed way would be unbelievable for me. not to mention, there are antler queen teases with shauna, misty, lottie, nat, etc layered throughout the pilot and all of season 1. I think the point is for it to feel like it could be any one of them.
It also seems insane that they would go into the show with natalie being planned as such a drastically different character than she ended up becoming. their characters from the very beginning are so important to what they become. shauna is the certified “sidekick” who is extremely resentful over that fact. over time, that resentment grows, anger builds, and trauma seeps through the cracks until she finally gets what she secretly (or unconsciously) always wanted: total control. natalie is the “burnout” who doesn’t care about about her life or her future. but that’s flipped on its head when she has to care for people other than herself. she carries such an immense amount of guilt that she can’t help but take on responsibilities. not to prove herself, like misty, or to finally have control, like shauna— but because she feels like she has to. she owes it to others for all the damage she thinks she’s caused. these motivations are consistent for them throughout the 3 seasons, they just gradually intensify the further they’re both pushed. I think it’s crucial in analyzing the show to understand just how differently they both cope.
I say all this to say- these characters (specifically shauna and natalie) have been so intricately and intentionally built upon from their respective introductory episodes until now, it feels almost unfair to think that they could’ve written the pilot with the purpose of altering nat’s inherent values and motivations that strongly. not to mention, what the hell would have been the end goal for shauna in that case? she was absolutely always meant to be the pilot antler queen. her character arc could not possibly have gone any other way.
There’s a few scenes that tease Nat as the queen. In the pilot, while she’s on drugs and hallucinates Misty, the scene flashes between her and the antler queen both staring at Misty. When she does Lottie’s therapy, she sees herself as the AQ, but it might’ve been the same outfit from the trial I can’t recall.
They also had a bunch of extra people in the scene that weren’t in the pilot so clearly they changed things quite a bit.
I think Natalie was gonna go in a somewhat darker direction after Javi died and she started believing in the wilderness in the season 2 finale but that went poof.
Ofc all of this is subjective, but I thought Shauna would have finally achieved her goal of becoming queen in the adult timeline after she survived the draw but the cult has no rules besides whatever Lottie says so that went nowhere as well.
Think what you want. It makes more sense that it was the bad best friend who was meek in her actual life but turned into a monster when there were no societal norms to live up to anymore. Remember, she is the first one to eat human meat. She ate an ear raw. I’m sure she didn’t tell anyone about that.
i’m a little bit confused by your phrasing, it seems like you’re saying shauna eating the ear was like a sign was originally meant to be AQ, but that happens in season 2 after they already knew juliette wouldn’t be on the show anymore?
I’m saying it makes more sense that she is the antler queen. At least to me. I have no idea if they had someone else in mind. But it always sounded like Natalie is the one who was responsible for them getting rescued. Tai hints at it in season one, even if the line is vague and they could’ve had it mean something else.
It should’ve been about how they evolved into a creepy cannibalistic cult, where they were doing it for the love of the game and not for survival, and they’re all feral, instead we got some super contrived, unclear plot to take out Shauna who was forcing them all into it? Like tf? And Nat not being there and not being into the wilderness religion at all was moronic. what was the ending of season 2, where she used the wilderness as a way of deflecting guilt from javi’s death, and then accepting a cult of personality like role in the group, all for then?!!
The cave fumes and frogs took me out so bad. I don’t know how they managed to make S3 feel like something out of riverdale mixed with an unfunny sitcom but holy hell was the mystery and atmosphere murdered
I literally paused the show and threw my hands up like seriously?!?!? Just like house of the dragon every character is speedrunning the ability to dislike and wish death upon.
I hate to say it but after a season airs, I pretty much forget it really quickly and going into the next season makes it hard for me! I don't know what my problem is. I will be honest that I didn't *love* S3 as much as the other two.
Edit: I think the fact that more of the team that we didn't really know before becomes more "main characters" confuses me because I'm like were they there before?! Does anyone else relate at all?
My partner and I just finished rewatching S1 and S2 (and watching S3 for the first time so disappointed lol). Backward Baseball Hat Girl becoming a HUGE focal point out of nowhere gave me whiplash.
YO. When she showed up onscreen WEARING THE HAT I damn near screamed. Fucking bonkers. Also the shit with the fireplace made me lose my goddamn mind. You're telling me those other two mfers wouldn'tve noticed a house filling up with smoke? Actually wild lol.
Her wearing the hat as an adult absolutely sent me like they knew they didnt give her any screen time before season 3 and needed her to be recognizable as an adult so shes just wearing the hat
It's because it's just dumb entertainment. There's nothing really to think about in between seasons because we know by now the writers are making it up as they go along.
I think most people are like this and it takes rewatching the show from time to time or being very involved with the online fandom to remember details of a season from years ago.
Im the same way!! I have a hard time remembering details from all sorts of media shortly after consuming it. I've never heard of anyone else experiencing this and assumed I just have bad memory.
If you want a show about people surviving the freezing wilderness, The Terror season 1 is about the crew of a British Arctic exploration that went missing, and is a fictionalized version of real events
Incredible show, mostly incredible book with some moments that made me recoil a bit but still, love that suggestion. And anything about the Franklin expedition.
The Terror season 1 is an absolutely incredible standalone miniseries. It’s basically a masterwork.
Season 2 was also incredible for me, but in a wildly different way because it was such a wildly different story/setting. It was apparently quite divisive based on some opinions I’ve come across, but I absolutely loved it. Wish we had gotten a third season!
That would’ve made a lot of sense as well; and, in a way, she still kind of is the king/queenmaker. I think Lottie as AQ would’ve been the way to go if they stayed faithful to the spirit of the pilot. You could’ve had pretty much all of the girls going wild out on the hunt and Nat could’ve been the moral center.
I like the idea of someone with metal issues on the outside being perceived as (maybe actually does in the YJ universe?) as more in touch with the divine and thus put in a position of power. Surely, something we’ve seen through the course of human history.
yeah i agree with nat being the moral center too. and w the AQ it would have made so much sense for lottie because the garment that acts as like a veil— Lottie wore, and there were so many scenes where it cut between her and the AQ. it just gave Lottie energy in my opinion
Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I was personally really disappointed with this reveal and found it really underwhelming.
I get that a lot of the time with shows like this, people create all sorts of theories from insignificant things and set their expectations too high. I don't think this was that. The writers nearly completely changed the original premise of this scene. The fact that nobody was really enjoying the hunt except Shauna was major letdown. And the pilot being from her perspective is such a dumb retcon.
I HATED this retcon/twist/whatever you wanna call it. Going from “these girls went absolutely feral out there” to “actually no one really wanted the hunt except for shauna” is a bummer. It just feels like they talked a big game in the pilot then watered it down later.
“subversion of expectations” actually sucks when you’re expecting something better than the twist.
We were all sold on the premise “watch this girls soccer team descend into wilderness madness” and then they rug-pulled us with “actually that was just Shauna being a bitch.”
I fucking hate the trend of writers following fan theories to “subversion of expectations” because they often do so so wrong.
If people are guessing things correctly, it's because you've done a good job building the narrative. It's rewarding people who guessed correctly especially if it requires the audience to catch more subtle clues or hints on rewatch.
Don't rewrite and throw out all your work just because you want people to be shocked! That's bad writing. Make it make sense!
It's like reading a murder mystery novel and all the clues lead to one guy, only for the writer to throw in a random character at the last chapter who ended up doing it instead. Not a fun time.
That's the whole point as Shauna as unreliable narrator tho, since the pilot is being seen from her perspective. What she is writing in the final scene of S03 is her perspective.
Ehh it feels like they retconned the original opener and now the writers are trying to paint shauna as the unreliable narrator to fit that narrative. A few things from season 1 have been retconned, namely the surviving adult yellowjackets being super chill with shauna only for them to stop and say “wait wasn’t she a dictator that last winter in the wilderness? That’s right, we can’t trust her.”
As far as twists go, the girls not actually wanting to hunt/shauna being an unreliable narrator falls pretty flat. It just feels tacked on, as if the show decided to go in a different direction. If anything, it would make WAY more sense if Misty was the unreliable narrator IMO. She’s crazy enough that you feel like you’d never get the actual truth no matter what she says - and she’s the only one we see in the pilot after the hunt. PLUS she’s even wearing glasses with a broken lense in that scene after the hunt - symbolizing that Misty literally CANT see things accurately. The symbolism was right there and they chose not to use it.
So, you're saying that all the wilderness scenes are from Shauna's diary version? What about current day? How would she even know more than half of what we see? If we paint the whole show as an unreliable narrative from Shauna, then we risk heading toward a horrible St Elsewhere ending.
Also, if you are power tripping and writing a false narrative of yourself, why make out everyone else to be reluctant and unsupportive of your rule? Even in her darkest fantasies she is a crap villain?
Dude I'm Just talking about the opening scene. Of course Lottie's visions are from the pov of Lottie and so on...
And yes, even in her darkest fantasies she is a crap villain, that much we know about Shauna.
THIS. It felt downright lazy for them to go "Noooo but wait the pilot was how Shauna was seeing it and Season 3 Finale is was actually happened" like huh???? Then why was MISTY her focal point??? Such a massive let down
Did the writers say that about the pilot? Because if so I missed it. But I agree, feels like a mistake to introduce unreliability into the past events so late in the game.
My initial reaction to this is just kind of “that was the whole point”
humans are human and we don’t typically do awful hard things for fun. I think Shauna being the one who wanted the hunt to happen is just in total alignment with her character. To me Shauna is not a normal person and I don’t think she was okay long before the crash. S1E1 we see it how she sees it. S3 we see reality. I find that way more profound than if they just were in a feral cult or whatever.
I think Lottie supporting the hunt and her fear (for example, the bloody beehive) tells a story about the power of religion as a necessary pulse but also a poison. She in herself is the embodiment of fear —> contrived meaning —> fabricated relief —> fear cycle/feedback loop
Yellow jackets feels like a weird fever dream to me now. I binged the first two seasons hard not even knowing the third season was about to come out (but I’m sure it was no accident and the algorithms orchestrated this) and then obv kept up with season 3 and podcasts about it along with this sub.. it was such a concentrated time of watching this madness and then it ended abruptly and I went on with my life. That’s all!
This season actually kind of did me in. After coach Ben I was just like, I don't know if I really care anymore. I dont think I can take Wilderness Shauna anymore.
When I watched the episode that they eat him, I had to stop watching for a while. It was more the tourturing that did it for me. And this is coming from someone who could sit through movies like Hostel or the Saw franchise no problem.
Im right there with you. After Coach Ben, I couldn’t make myself watch the rest of the season. All my favorite characters are dead 😢 and wilderness Shauna was too much to put on top of all that
Exactly! I am curious of what’s going to happen and how it ends but I don’t have any excitement like I did before.
And the scientist story line annoyed me. I remember in season two thinking, “I’m gonna hate it if some hikers just come across them.” I mean that was before how they played that out with Hannah. But still I just didn’t like that.
I know it might be an unpopular opinion but I hated the way they did the PitGirl scene SO much. They changed the whole meaning of the show in my opinion. Took what (I thought) was group desperation and psychosis and retconned it into "Tee hee arent Shauna and Lottie so crazy 🤪😜🤪" like the entire point of the show wasnt watching them devolve and turn what they were doing into ritualism. Like I said just my thoughts but I am forever disappointed
From what I've seen that is not really an unpopular opinion, most people didn't really like the pit girl scene (the opening hook of the series) going from a display of inhumane savagery to a rather convoluted plan to distract/kill Shauna because they couldn't knock her out or simply just walk away is pretty disappointing. I'm curious if that was always the plan or the writers wrote themselves into a corner on how to arrive at that point in the teen timeline.
Yeah I can see that being a possibility. Hopefully they lock in for the finale season. Because in the teen timeline we got rescue and (maybe) post rescue content. And the adult timeline we got the final conflict with the surviving yellowjackets. If they lock in then they can end the series on a high note. 🤞🤞
I can understand, adult Melissa's whole thing was like huh? They really made Callie kill Lottie (accidentally) when Shuana was right there and it would have made perfect narrative sense. Tai and Van just galavanting around New Jersey. They set up alot of mysteries this season and they payoff were all kind of weak in my opinion. Like I get you want to get the adult timeline to the narrative point of the yellowjackets split and Shuana returning to evil. That's fine. But there was a better way to go about it, because I'll say tai and Misty's conclusion to kill Shuana because they feel she wants to be the "last man standing" is dumb conclusion because Natalie, Lottie, and Van death was not her fault. And if they wanted it to work, Shauna should have killed Lottie and then tried to kill Melissa by pinning Lottie death on her, which much like with Adam would be another problem Shuana created and drag them into which lead to Van's death at Melissa hands and then the conclusion alongside remembering Shuana was a jerk in the wilderness towards the end would make more sense.
Damn 😭, but yeah they probably had because I haven't seen any person praise the reveal that pit girl was a botched plan all along. Hell most people were still pissed at van's death from the previous episode.
No fr like it’s clear the writers strike rlly had an impact on the story bc the fact that Shauna, Lottie, and the two unkowns Britt and Robin were the only ones hunting her fr.. not even Lottie wanted her dead. And I understand why someone like Nat might not hunt her and even Akilah and Gen who are both friends with Mari would try to be team rescue but I feel that would be it. Like why was everyone plotting and making these crazy and complex plans to save Mari when they just could’ve jumped her. Who’s gonna help her? They’re not that scared of her as we’ve seen clearly. And the fact they changed Misty’s smile that we saw in the pilot to her being happy Natalie ran away instead of enjoying going crazy and eating ppl in the wilderness and finding a purpose for herself like it intended.. the entire point of Misty’s character is how she can find herself and be her crazy self by going crazy in the wilderness and find happiness we didn’t much see pre crash. Like all the girls could’ve just jumped Shauna it’s not like any of them believe in the wilderness anymore. Like damn the writing has gotten so bad omg
Honestly, if the adult timeline didn't exist they probably could have gone all out. Or actually they could because 23 years is a big enough time gap for it to work if written well enough.
I wish they went with the original documentary idea, I feel like it would really work showing the animalistic side of the girls, because they wouldn’t have to make the adult timeline characters so likable
They mean all of them being outright crazy. For example, having an actual hunt where all of them are onboard and they actually kill the hunted themselves. They mention it numerous times in the adult timeline yet the teen timeline is almost over and it still hasn’t happened.
I said this a bunch when the season was airing. Just watch the show and judge it for what it is. Not what you think it should be. Everyone wants to play writers room
I specifically judge the writers because they OPENLY said "Yeah we just decided to say screw it and do what we think is fun" now Im no professional but I do enjoy writing and yes having fun is a huge part of it but do you know what has to come before even fun? Having the story make narrative sense.
That’s not quite what my point was. You can dislike the show and I never said it’s perfect. I just find the “this isn’t what I thought was gonna happen” a weird criticism
That's totally fair, but that's not quite what my point was either. its not so much of "Oh I didn't think that would happen" and more of a "that makes absolutely no sense narrativly"
No they did, but people were theorizing hills have eyes type of devolving, like completely feral. Which I can understand why they thought that, but honestly the adult timeline kind of messed with that theory unless they were under possession. Like during doomcoming
Season 3 was definitely something, but I guarantee that Season 4 will be worse, and I say that just because there was supposed to be a fifth season, and now they’ll have to cram everything into one Season to make it make any sense. Not to mention, anything to do with Mel. I’m such a proud hater.
Thank you for participating in /r/Yellowjackets . Please help us keep this community a healthy place for discussion by reporting posts and comments that violate our rules using the report button. You can find the subreddit rules listed in the sidebar.
Please consider applying to become a subreddit moderator. Anyone can apply!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
I genuinely think that the writers intended for Natalie to be the pilot antler queen. In the pilot, it cuts between the antler queen and adult Nat in the rehab facility - maybe a misdirect but I also feel like the writers aren’t afraid to make the obvious choice. I think Juliette leaving the show made them have to switch because it just wouldn’t have been as impactful when they got to this point in the wilderness if the adult antler queen wasn’t there for it.
Obviously they knew Juliette was leaving when they initially made young Nat the antler queen, so maybe they truly meant for that position to be passed around idk. It’s also hard not see young Nat as the moral compass of the group but I think it would have been interesting to see her go from the most grounded to leading the charge - we saw what she was willing to do to survive when it came to Javi so I figured that was her first step down Lottie’s pathway and then losing Ben would be losing her last shred of humanity.
Then obviously idk how the rescue would have played out without Nat. The scene of her up on the mountain was so iconic and young Nat is absolutely my favorite character so maybe it was all for the best. Both Sophie’s absolutely kill it so I see why either of them would have been an easy choice for antler queen.
Honestly, I think preserving Nat’s morality feels more accurate. The fact that she broke ranks and saved them makes her all the more endearing. I think you need to have someone who is truly good to root for.
I don't necessarily disagree but it doesn't track with their interactions in the adult timeline.
Sure it does. Tai even says to Shauna “we wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for her” when it explaining why she keeps paying for her rehab.
I mean the way Natalie and the others interact with Shauna.
Near the end of S3 they address this and it's talked about a few times in other scenes throughout the seasons iirc. All of them but Nat and Van seemed to have suppressed their memories of the Wilderness. They suppressed Antler Queen Shauna as well as the more feral parts of themselves that mirrored her.
During the scene of Nat at the fire in the pilot, while she's hallucinating Misty, it cuts between her and the AQ looking at Misty.
I'm gonna have to find the link, but there's an interview on YouTube where Shauna's actor mentions being fitted for the antler queen costume really early in s1 filming, so she knew it would be her from the beginning.
I think she was referring to the season three premiere
Oof you could be right. My bad.
I don’t think that shows in any conceivable way that they were planning to make her the pilot antler queen. with all the easter eggs and specific choices this show has made, having a reveal that major be teased in such a half assed way would be unbelievable for me. not to mention, there are antler queen teases with shauna, misty, lottie, nat, etc layered throughout the pilot and all of season 1. I think the point is for it to feel like it could be any one of them.
It also seems insane that they would go into the show with natalie being planned as such a drastically different character than she ended up becoming. their characters from the very beginning are so important to what they become. shauna is the certified “sidekick” who is extremely resentful over that fact. over time, that resentment grows, anger builds, and trauma seeps through the cracks until she finally gets what she secretly (or unconsciously) always wanted: total control. natalie is the “burnout” who doesn’t care about about her life or her future. but that’s flipped on its head when she has to care for people other than herself. she carries such an immense amount of guilt that she can’t help but take on responsibilities. not to prove herself, like misty, or to finally have control, like shauna— but because she feels like she has to. she owes it to others for all the damage she thinks she’s caused. these motivations are consistent for them throughout the 3 seasons, they just gradually intensify the further they’re both pushed. I think it’s crucial in analyzing the show to understand just how differently they both cope.
I say all this to say- these characters (specifically shauna and natalie) have been so intricately and intentionally built upon from their respective introductory episodes until now, it feels almost unfair to think that they could’ve written the pilot with the purpose of altering nat’s inherent values and motivations that strongly. not to mention, what the hell would have been the end goal for shauna in that case? she was absolutely always meant to be the pilot antler queen. her character arc could not possibly have gone any other way.
There’s a few scenes that tease Nat as the queen. In the pilot, while she’s on drugs and hallucinates Misty, the scene flashes between her and the antler queen both staring at Misty. When she does Lottie’s therapy, she sees herself as the AQ, but it might’ve been the same outfit from the trial I can’t recall.
They also had a bunch of extra people in the scene that weren’t in the pilot so clearly they changed things quite a bit.
I think Natalie was gonna go in a somewhat darker direction after Javi died and she started believing in the wilderness in the season 2 finale but that went poof.
Ofc all of this is subjective, but I thought Shauna would have finally achieved her goal of becoming queen in the adult timeline after she survived the draw but the cult has no rules besides whatever Lottie says so that went nowhere as well.
Think what you want. It makes more sense that it was the bad best friend who was meek in her actual life but turned into a monster when there were no societal norms to live up to anymore. Remember, she is the first one to eat human meat. She ate an ear raw. I’m sure she didn’t tell anyone about that.
i’m a little bit confused by your phrasing, it seems like you’re saying shauna eating the ear was like a sign was originally meant to be AQ, but that happens in season 2 after they already knew juliette wouldn’t be on the show anymore?
I’m saying it makes more sense that she is the antler queen. At least to me. I have no idea if they had someone else in mind. But it always sounded like Natalie is the one who was responsible for them getting rescued. Tai hints at it in season one, even if the line is vague and they could’ve had it mean something else.
ah, i see now, thank you!
It should’ve been about how they evolved into a creepy cannibalistic cult, where they were doing it for the love of the game and not for survival, and they’re all feral, instead we got some super contrived, unclear plot to take out Shauna who was forcing them all into it? Like tf? And Nat not being there and not being into the wilderness religion at all was moronic. what was the ending of season 2, where she used the wilderness as a way of deflecting guilt from javi’s death, and then accepting a cult of personality like role in the group, all for then?!!
The tone of season one was perfect—a good balance between horror and suspense. Seasons 2 and 3 felt like a comedy. The wilderness plot ruined it.
My thoughts exactly. I went into the show thinking they slowly became a shamanistic proto-cult out there and went feral.
Not, whatever the fuck we got
I liked the mystery of was it supernatural or not. Instead we get cave fumes.
The cave fumes and frogs took me out so bad. I don’t know how they managed to make S3 feel like something out of riverdale mixed with an unfunny sitcom but holy hell was the mystery and atmosphere murdered
I literally paused the show and threw my hands up like seriously?!?!? Just like house of the dragon every character is speedrunning the ability to dislike and wish death upon.
I hate to say it but after a season airs, I pretty much forget it really quickly and going into the next season makes it hard for me! I don't know what my problem is. I will be honest that I didn't *love* S3 as much as the other two.
Edit: I think the fact that more of the team that we didn't really know before becomes more "main characters" confuses me because I'm like were they there before?! Does anyone else relate at all?
My partner and I just finished rewatching S1 and S2 (and watching S3 for the first time so disappointed lol). Backward Baseball Hat Girl becoming a HUGE focal point out of nowhere gave me whiplash.
I swear they just wanted Hillary Swank for the credits and then bent over backwards to make her fit. Badly.
YO. When she showed up onscreen WEARING THE HAT I damn near screamed. Fucking bonkers. Also the shit with the fireplace made me lose my goddamn mind. You're telling me those other two mfers wouldn'tve noticed a house filling up with smoke? Actually wild lol.
lmao that's what I'm saying, youre telling me she did allllll that to fake her death and get away and KEPT THE DAMN HAT?!?
Going “in hiding” by keeping your name and iconic fashion statement with someone who’s related to your deep dark secrets was a series of crazy choices
Iconic? Really?
Her wearing the hat as an adult absolutely sent me like they knew they didnt give her any screen time before season 3 and needed her to be recognizable as an adult so shes just wearing the hat
It's bc they take 2 or 3 years to make a new season of anything these days.. pretty ridiculous
It's because it's just dumb entertainment. There's nothing really to think about in between seasons because we know by now the writers are making it up as they go along.
Dumb entertainment was 24 episodes of 43 minutes each every year. That’s over 1000 minutes a year
I think most people are like this and it takes rewatching the show from time to time or being very involved with the online fandom to remember details of a season from years ago.
Im the same way!! I have a hard time remembering details from all sorts of media shortly after consuming it. I've never heard of anyone else experiencing this and assumed I just have bad memory.
Honestly I just wish I could watch a whole show about the wildness and leave out the present day stuff.
If you want a show about people surviving the freezing wilderness, The Terror season 1 is about the crew of a British Arctic exploration that went missing, and is a fictionalized version of real events
I love The Terror! Book and show!
Incredible show, mostly incredible book with some moments that made me recoil a bit but still, love that suggestion. And anything about the Franklin expedition.
The Terror season 1 is an absolutely incredible standalone miniseries. It’s basically a masterwork.
Season 2 was also incredible for me, but in a wildly different way because it was such a wildly different story/setting. It was apparently quite divisive based on some opinions I’ve come across, but I absolutely loved it. Wish we had gotten a third season!
Im definitely looking forward to post show edits of the individual timelines. The teen story is so much stronger and more interesting.
The adult cast is fantastic but it feels like the writing is letting them down
Same I hope someone somewhere can make an edit of it in chronological order when it’s all out cuz that’s what I want
My exact thoughts
yeah i always thought lottie was gonna be AQ tbh
That would’ve made a lot of sense as well; and, in a way, she still kind of is the king/queenmaker. I think Lottie as AQ would’ve been the way to go if they stayed faithful to the spirit of the pilot. You could’ve had pretty much all of the girls going wild out on the hunt and Nat could’ve been the moral center.
I like the idea of someone with metal issues on the outside being perceived as (maybe actually does in the YJ universe?) as more in touch with the divine and thus put in a position of power. Surely, something we’ve seen through the course of human history.
yeah i agree with nat being the moral center too. and w the AQ it would have made so much sense for lottie because the garment that acts as like a veil— Lottie wore, and there were so many scenes where it cut between her and the AQ. it just gave Lottie energy in my opinion
After all, the church did rule from the shadows during the middle ages and colonial era
Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I was personally really disappointed with this reveal and found it really underwhelming.
I get that a lot of the time with shows like this, people create all sorts of theories from insignificant things and set their expectations too high. I don't think this was that. The writers nearly completely changed the original premise of this scene. The fact that nobody was really enjoying the hunt except Shauna was major letdown. And the pilot being from her perspective is such a dumb retcon.
I HATED this retcon/twist/whatever you wanna call it. Going from “these girls went absolutely feral out there” to “actually no one really wanted the hunt except for shauna” is a bummer. It just feels like they talked a big game in the pilot then watered it down later.
“subversion of expectations” actually sucks when you’re expecting something better than the twist.
We were all sold on the premise “watch this girls soccer team descend into wilderness madness” and then they rug-pulled us with “actually that was just Shauna being a bitch.”
I fucking hate the trend of writers following fan theories to “subversion of expectations” because they often do so so wrong.
If people are guessing things correctly, it's because you've done a good job building the narrative. It's rewarding people who guessed correctly especially if it requires the audience to catch more subtle clues or hints on rewatch.
Don't rewrite and throw out all your work just because you want people to be shocked! That's bad writing. Make it make sense!
It's like reading a murder mystery novel and all the clues lead to one guy, only for the writer to throw in a random character at the last chapter who ended up doing it instead. Not a fun time.
That's the whole point as Shauna as unreliable narrator tho, since the pilot is being seen from her perspective. What she is writing in the final scene of S03 is her perspective.
Ehh it feels like they retconned the original opener and now the writers are trying to paint shauna as the unreliable narrator to fit that narrative. A few things from season 1 have been retconned, namely the surviving adult yellowjackets being super chill with shauna only for them to stop and say “wait wasn’t she a dictator that last winter in the wilderness? That’s right, we can’t trust her.”
As far as twists go, the girls not actually wanting to hunt/shauna being an unreliable narrator falls pretty flat. It just feels tacked on, as if the show decided to go in a different direction. If anything, it would make WAY more sense if Misty was the unreliable narrator IMO. She’s crazy enough that you feel like you’d never get the actual truth no matter what she says - and she’s the only one we see in the pilot after the hunt. PLUS she’s even wearing glasses with a broken lense in that scene after the hunt - symbolizing that Misty literally CANT see things accurately. The symbolism was right there and they chose not to use it.
well, Shauna has the role of the narrator since season 1 being the girl writing on the diary
That’s cool 👍
So, you're saying that all the wilderness scenes are from Shauna's diary version? What about current day? How would she even know more than half of what we see? If we paint the whole show as an unreliable narrative from Shauna, then we risk heading toward a horrible St Elsewhere ending.
Also, if you are power tripping and writing a false narrative of yourself, why make out everyone else to be reluctant and unsupportive of your rule? Even in her darkest fantasies she is a crap villain?
Dude I'm Just talking about the opening scene. Of course Lottie's visions are from the pov of Lottie and so on... And yes, even in her darkest fantasies she is a crap villain, that much we know about Shauna.
THIS. It felt downright lazy for them to go "Noooo but wait the pilot was how Shauna was seeing it and Season 3 Finale is was actually happened" like huh???? Then why was MISTY her focal point??? Such a massive let down
I honestly don't even remember what the reveal was, how lame am I? hahah.
Did the writers say that about the pilot? Because if so I missed it. But I agree, feels like a mistake to introduce unreliability into the past events so late in the game.
There’s a bunch of continuity errors with the og scene and the s3 scene but I guess it has to be chalked up to “perspective”
My initial reaction to this is just kind of “that was the whole point”
humans are human and we don’t typically do awful hard things for fun. I think Shauna being the one who wanted the hunt to happen is just in total alignment with her character. To me Shauna is not a normal person and I don’t think she was okay long before the crash. S1E1 we see it how she sees it. S3 we see reality. I find that way more profound than if they just were in a feral cult or whatever.
I think Lottie supporting the hunt and her fear (for example, the bloody beehive) tells a story about the power of religion as a necessary pulse but also a poison. She in herself is the embodiment of fear —> contrived meaning —> fabricated relief —> fear cycle/feedback loop
Yellow jackets feels like a weird fever dream to me now. I binged the first two seasons hard not even knowing the third season was about to come out (but I’m sure it was no accident and the algorithms orchestrated this) and then obv kept up with season 3 and podcasts about it along with this sub.. it was such a concentrated time of watching this madness and then it ended abruptly and I went on with my life. That’s all!
I won’t be surprised if the last season is all over the place with the different story lines.
I see season four going one of two ways.
It’s either going to be on par with season 1. They know the show is ending so you’d think they would want to deliver with great writing.
Or
The show being cancelled was a “blindside” and they are going to be scrambling to finish everyone’s arc within 8-10 episodes.
This season actually kind of did me in. After coach Ben I was just like, I don't know if I really care anymore. I dont think I can take Wilderness Shauna anymore.
When I watched the episode that they eat him, I had to stop watching for a while. It was more the tourturing that did it for me. And this is coming from someone who could sit through movies like Hostel or the Saw franchise no problem.
Im right there with you. After Coach Ben, I couldn’t make myself watch the rest of the season. All my favorite characters are dead 😢 and wilderness Shauna was too much to put on top of all that
Exactly! I am curious of what’s going to happen and how it ends but I don’t have any excitement like I did before.
And the scientist story line annoyed me. I remember in season two thinking, “I’m gonna hate it if some hikers just come across them.” I mean that was before how they played that out with Hannah. But still I just didn’t like that.
I know it might be an unpopular opinion but I hated the way they did the PitGirl scene SO much. They changed the whole meaning of the show in my opinion. Took what (I thought) was group desperation and psychosis and retconned it into "Tee hee arent Shauna and Lottie so crazy 🤪😜🤪" like the entire point of the show wasnt watching them devolve and turn what they were doing into ritualism. Like I said just my thoughts but I am forever disappointed
From what I've seen that is not really an unpopular opinion, most people didn't really like the pit girl scene (the opening hook of the series) going from a display of inhumane savagery to a rather convoluted plan to distract/kill Shauna because they couldn't knock her out or simply just walk away is pretty disappointing. I'm curious if that was always the plan or the writers wrote themselves into a corner on how to arrive at that point in the teen timeline.
They absolutely just wrote themselves into a corner and then gave up trying to have it make sense and started throwing spaghetti at the wall.
Yeah I can see that being a possibility. Hopefully they lock in for the finale season. Because in the teen timeline we got rescue and (maybe) post rescue content. And the adult timeline we got the final conflict with the surviving yellowjackets. If they lock in then they can end the series on a high note. 🤞🤞
That's the dream! I still enjoy the show, and the acting was amazing, but the latter half of season 3 are the lowest rated eps imo.
I can understand, adult Melissa's whole thing was like huh? They really made Callie kill Lottie (accidentally) when Shuana was right there and it would have made perfect narrative sense. Tai and Van just galavanting around New Jersey. They set up alot of mysteries this season and they payoff were all kind of weak in my opinion. Like I get you want to get the adult timeline to the narrative point of the yellowjackets split and Shuana returning to evil. That's fine. But there was a better way to go about it, because I'll say tai and Misty's conclusion to kill Shuana because they feel she wants to be the "last man standing" is dumb conclusion because Natalie, Lottie, and Van death was not her fault. And if they wanted it to work, Shauna should have killed Lottie and then tried to kill Melissa by pinning Lottie death on her, which much like with Adam would be another problem Shuana created and drag them into which lead to Van's death at Melissa hands and then the conclusion alongside remembering Shuana was a jerk in the wilderness towards the end would make more sense.
We call this the " Lost" effect...write a good season and pilot, not expect the show to be picked up and loved... then shit
I got downvoted to hell when I voiced this opinion right after the episode aired lol
I guess everyone’s had time for it to sink in.
Damn 😭, but yeah they probably had because I haven't seen any person praise the reveal that pit girl was a botched plan all along. Hell most people were still pissed at van's death from the previous episode.
No fr like it’s clear the writers strike rlly had an impact on the story bc the fact that Shauna, Lottie, and the two unkowns Britt and Robin were the only ones hunting her fr.. not even Lottie wanted her dead. And I understand why someone like Nat might not hunt her and even Akilah and Gen who are both friends with Mari would try to be team rescue but I feel that would be it. Like why was everyone plotting and making these crazy and complex plans to save Mari when they just could’ve jumped her. Who’s gonna help her? They’re not that scared of her as we’ve seen clearly. And the fact they changed Misty’s smile that we saw in the pilot to her being happy Natalie ran away instead of enjoying going crazy and eating ppl in the wilderness and finding a purpose for herself like it intended.. the entire point of Misty’s character is how she can find herself and be her crazy self by going crazy in the wilderness and find happiness we didn’t much see pre crash. Like all the girls could’ve just jumped Shauna it’s not like any of them believe in the wilderness anymore. Like damn the writing has gotten so bad omg
I don’t know if we can blame the writers strike for this one.
No ur so right. It changed it from being scary!!! I wish we got to see the real horror of all the girls devolving into animals
Honestly, if the adult timeline didn't exist they probably could have gone all out. Or actually they could because 23 years is a big enough time gap for it to work if written well enough.
I wish they went with the original documentary idea, I feel like it would really work showing the animalistic side of the girls, because they wouldn’t have to make the adult timeline characters so likable
You’re not alone. It’s a very controversial and divisive topic.
You think they didn’t devolve ? What show are we watching
They mean all of them being outright crazy. For example, having an actual hunt where all of them are onboard and they actually kill the hunted themselves. They mention it numerous times in the adult timeline yet the teen timeline is almost over and it still hasn’t happened.
You wanted them all to have the same perspective and state of mind?
No, but most of them should be full on feral instead of Shauna "bullying" them to do everything morally bad.
I said this a bunch when the season was airing. Just watch the show and judge it for what it is. Not what you think it should be. Everyone wants to play writers room
I specifically judge the writers because they OPENLY said "Yeah we just decided to say screw it and do what we think is fun" now Im no professional but I do enjoy writing and yes having fun is a huge part of it but do you know what has to come before even fun? Having the story make narrative sense.
^^^^ THIS ^^^^^
Great point! I feel the same way. Do NOT even get me started on the writers publicly saying that. What the....???
(and yes I did save the articles in which they said these things)
Can you link to where they said that?
That’s not quite what my point was. You can dislike the show and I never said it’s perfect. I just find the “this isn’t what I thought was gonna happen” a weird criticism
That's totally fair, but that's not quite what my point was either. its not so much of "Oh I didn't think that would happen" and more of a "that makes absolutely no sense narrativly"
Also fair
Every single adult actress has dragged this season when it was airing lol. We are allowed to critique whatever we want, it's a discussion forum.
I don’t base my opinions on adults actors lol
I judge it for what it is: a show that completely lost its own plot
No they did, but people were theorizing hills have eyes type of devolving, like completely feral. Which I can understand why they thought that, but honestly the adult timeline kind of messed with that theory unless they were under possession. Like during doomcoming
The most disappointed I’ve ever been in a tv show
Season 3 was definitely something, but I guarantee that Season 4 will be worse, and I say that just because there was supposed to be a fifth season, and now they’ll have to cram everything into one Season to make it make any sense. Not to mention, anything to do with Mel. I’m such a proud hater.
The fact that half the picture was Hannah, Britt and Robin is kinda hilarious.
Ready for final season; I prefer the teen timeline but I want to know who the feck Walter is.
le sigh
Another day, another post where 95% of the comments are people who don't really seem to enjoy the show much.
That happens when you like something and it slowly goes down hill.
A lot of us want to enjoy the show. It's not my fault the writing fell off a cliff.