Black Knight

Brady bought in at the franchise's nadir. That didn't bother him, so I don't see him selling quickly. He does know how a winning operation is run, and he has Mark Davis's ear more than the typical minority owner would have the ear of the typical majority owner. I think he can temper Davis's worse impulses; Davis doesn't have the same need Jerry Jones does to be designated The One who got the franchise to win, and he doesn't try to play GM. It's a tough division for sure, and the Raiders are not going anywhere until and unless they find their QB. But that's the dilemma every NFL team faces from time to time, some franchises much more frequently than others!

"unalive" is part of common internet speak now and has been for a while, not just a TikTok thing. An important point that came from Misty learning that Lottie lived in that building as a child, before moving to NJ with her mother in the divorce - it gives us the mundane explanation for how Lottie could see that stairway in her vision in...I think it was S2. So her vision then wasn't necessarily a premonition of her death later, just her subconscious bringing up a stairway she was familiar with. Akilah's "vision" of Ben being the bridge to go home could be read differently than him somehow being the key to going home, especially if you think as I do that her subconscious brought it up as a way to save him: It can be read as her belief that if the group crosses this particular line of murdering him, in a figurative sense they will never be able to go home. It would be burning a bridge, figuratively. That parallels with what Shauna wrote in her journal in the season premiere. And indeed, we've certainly seen that none of the adult survivors we know about ever did truly leave the woods (again, speaking figuratively) - from Shauna's pine air freshener in her car to Lottie's framed pics of the teenagers, we're reminded of that in basically every episode.

I don't usually root for Teen Lottie's Wilderness nonsense, but I had a feeling that here it would lead to Ben being saved, so I was all for it this time. Of course Teen Lottie merely incorporates the cave's gas into her Wilderness mythology, as opposed to insisting the visions have nothing to do with the gas. She knows about the Oracle of Delphi; I guess as was said at the trial, she really did pay attention in history class! Continuing to question whether something is purely mundane or in fact supernatural in nature: Akilah's vision, is it the Wilderness, or was it born out of her subconscious wanting to find a way to save Ben? The show made a point of showing us earlier that Akilah was still very sympathetic to Ben. I couldn't help but chuckle at Ben's expression when Misty said he was her first boyfriend and first amputation. He totally thought for a second about correcting her re: the boyfriend part before realizing it'd be better to let it go. It was interesting to see the way Adult Shauna immediately accused Misty for Lottie's murder, after the way Teen Misty made Shauna out to be the prime suspect in the burning of the cabin. It raises questions about how much was Adult Shauna really thinking Misty might have done it as opposed to past resentments over Misty's cross-examination of her in Ben's trial. Also interesting was the weird vibe between Shauna and Walter, the way Shauna actually seemed offended that Walter thinks she's not a "not friend" of Misty's. And Adult Lottie had pictures of them as teenagers on her bedside table. I think it speaks to how they're all so deeply bound together. Taissa should have known better than to bring Van to the meet-up, and Van should have known better than to go. So insensitive. The actor playing Sammy hasn't visibly aged nearly as much as I thought he would have. I'm curious what happened in the second half of Tai and Sammy's interaction that we didn't get to see yet. Also was happy to see that the dog Tai got is safe and alive in Simone and Sammy's care. Simone, I hope you move on and find someone who's actually worthy of you, because I always thought Tai married a 10 when she married Simone. I like Teen Van/Teen Tai together, though not as much as I once did, but I really don't like Adult Van and Adult Tai together.

Mark Davis has done very well out of the Vegas deal. Since the move in 2020, the Raiders are second only to the Cowboys in revenue generated, and the team's valuation has more than tripled.

Christina Ricci's never had hair like this before this role AFAIK, whereas Natasha Lyonne has come a lot closer with hair. So it's totally understandable to think of Lyonne over Ricci if guided by hair. The similarities between Ricci and Hanratty are more about vocals and general vibes. Lyonne would have done well as Misty, as she's a really good actress, but I'm not sure she would channeled that vibe quite as well. Misty focusing on Shauna during the trial is interesting. She's not one to be well tuned into other people, because she does not have empathy, yet she read Teen Shauna pretty well in terms of her frustration about not being chosen leader. She's routinely overlooked herself and finds that frustrating, so she's able to recognize that in Shauna - and she also knows from her own personal experience how extreme her behavior has been in such situations, like destroying the flight recorder or kicking Ben's crutch out from under him.

It's kind of an interesting situation. He and the Packers couldn't agree on a new contract, and he really wanted to reunite with Derek Carr, who was his QB in college, so the Packers traded Adams to the Raiders, who then gave him a hefty contract. The Raiders thought they could contend in the AFC West. But it became clear the team was going nowhere and Adams didn't fit into the timeline to become a contender again, and Rodgers was over at the Jets wanting his buddy there, so it made sense for the Raiders to go ahead and get out of the contract during a sellers' market and get a draft pick and save a lot of money. Likewise, it made sense for financial reasons for the Jets to cut Adams, after they tried trading him. He doesn't fit their timeline now either. If I were a contending team in need of a WR, I wouldn't hesitate to add Adams. He's fine so long as he's on a team playing well. Yeah, he wanted to get paid back when, but so does any player. It would not surprise me if he ended up back with the Packers, who will certainly be one of the teams trying to sign him this offseason...which says a lot, because it indicates that they don't view him as some sort of malcontent. There's no bridges burnt there.

Adams will be in much more demand than Rodgers. As hilarious as it would be if he told teams that he'll bring Rodgers with him, I hope he stops basing his career decisions on QBs he knows. A lot of contending teams who are set at QB could use Adams.

As far as Natalie's death goes, wasn't that because Juliette Lewis wanted off the show? She found playing Natalie to be very hard on her. Yeah, I think Lottie decided that The Wilderness was either saying Ben was guilty, or at least that It wanted Ben. And Travis and Akilah followed her cue. Before that, it seemed 50/50 on the verdict. BTW, the recast of Gen seems pretty bad so far, in terms of looks. This is the first actor cast I haven't been able to buy at all as a teenager, even if I squint. And it's not like Gen is a big part that demands a stellar actor, so you'd think it wouldn't have been hard to cast someone who comes off younger. Jasmin Savoy Brown played a trial attorney on the short-lived For The People series back in 2018-2019, so it was funny to see her playing a lawyer again here. Lottie's death was shocking in how early it came, but she was clearly Up to Something. My guess is that we'll get backstory throughout the season, so they're still doing stuff with her character, to explain how and why she was murdered. It may be that when we learn all the backstory, at that point the character will have run its course.

If they kill Ben, it's because most of them believe that Ben tried to kill them. It's not that I think this is the right way to handle that, because as it happens I don't agree with capital punishment precisely because the innocent may be executed, but nor should this motivation be overlooked. They're not looking to kill him for some trivial reason. Attempted mass murder is a pretty serious crime anywhere. Is their opinion that he tried to kill them partly out of bias because they already resent him for various things, like judging them and abandoning Shauna during childbirth? Sure. It's what's wrong with the American justice system in general that the girls chose to copy with their mock trial, although it's ironic that here the defendant is a white guy and most of them don't know he's gay. The show has mostly leaned towards making viewers believe Ben didn't set the fire, which invariably colors opinion about what the girls (and Travis) are doing somewhat. I don't believe he set the fire either; I lean towards it either being Other Tai or a total accident. But as a thought experiment, let's say that we know Ben is actually guilty, that he did deliberately set the fire with the intention of killing all those girls and Travis. I don't really see executing him in those circumstances as some kind of bridge too far beyond what we already know they've done, even though it's not how I would personally handle the situation. (If I'm going to oppose capital punishment because of the risk that innocent people might get executed, I can't make exceptions for "But I really think that this particular person did it".)

I've been assuming ever since Ben didn't die of gangrene early in S1 that he would be killed and eaten, so that happening to him wouldn't turn me off the show. We saw a girl murdered and eaten in the opening sequence of the series and last season we saw them try to murder and eat Natalie, who has the kindest heart of anyone except maybe Laura Lee (RIP). But he does still seem like a good candidate to be someone left behind in the woods, and I don't know, it seems to me there's a reason the writers didn't just kill him in this episode if they're going to kill him. It would be more than a little anti-climactic to have his execution take place in a different episode than his trial.

Deebo Samuel had two things that always drive down the value of the compensation a team trading a player can get back: 1) He publicly requested the trade 2) He's in the final year of his contract

Oh, I hope not. I really can't see Adult Nat and Adult Misty having positive attitudes towards the ringleaders of burning Ben alive, though.

I'd say entirely the opposite, that Barbara is nowhere near ready to retire. She loves teaching and is in good health. She's one of those who will teach until they physically can't anymore. Someone upthread asked how old Barbara is, and while Sheryl Lee Ralph is 68 Barbara is clearly supposed to be a good bit younger, because when that kid guessed 63 for her everyone gasped. So she's in her late 50s. She has a good 15 years of teaching ahead of her, even more if her health holds up. I loved the Sweet Cheeks subplot. I wasn't worried during the stomping, because that would have been far too dark for this show. I also enjoyed how the writers eschewed the cliche of having O'Shon get psyched out by Janine and Gregory and either not ask out Ava or do something transparently ridiculous and not-him that would go over poorly with Ava. He clearly has a very strong sense of self, which will serve him well in dating Ava. Props to Janelle James for memorizing and flawlessly delivering that incredibly convoluted line about Janine and Taylor.

I absolutely felt Ben was playing the girls with that part of his speech. He knew the biggest reason he was being singled out was because he was judgmental and didn't participate in their cannibalism; they felt he didn't like them and that made them not like him, which made them likelier to vote guilty. He's smart in that way; remember his speech to Misty in S1 about how they had to wait for her to be legal? The theory that the camp is actually not what it seems is interesting, but I really do think the show is mainly going for a Midsommar effect. The camp may be slightly glammed up from the girls' POV to reflect their relief at having regular food and having built decent shelters, but I don't think the actual reality is as extreme as dead animals and pathetic shelters. I'll throw in a bit of mild speculation of my own: The show reminded us, through Mari, that Ben was talking to someone - which was given and taken as evidence of his derangement. Later, Misty brought up Crystal, whose body has never been found and who hasn't been mentioned for quite a while. I've previously theorized that Ben might actually have been talking to Crystal.

I know he has a massive ego, but I'm sort of surprised that he's not retiring because of his massive ego, because what's happening now should be embarrassing. I read that his camp is reaching out to teams. His camp is reaching out to teams, not that teams are reaching out to him. That isn't the norm when a QB is desired. Remember all the wooing Tom Brady got? Kurt Warner? Heck, just this week Matt Stafford? The Giants called Matt Stafford, but Rodgers is calling the Giants. Where's the multi-team tour that the top available QBs get? And all of this is on top of the reporting that Rodgers told the Jets he wanted to stay and they dumped him. He probably will end up with some team eventually (please not the Raiders), just because there are QB-needy teams not all of whom will be able to find an answer in the draft or elsewhere in free agency, and he's willing not to demand max pay, and I guess his massive ego is working in the sense that he thinks that he'll be able to make everyone else sorry when he goes and wins a second Super Bowl even though he'll be another year older.