BitterApple

Based on the painfully slow burn of S3, it definitely feels like the showrunners are shooting for 5, but I think the Adult timeline is too thin. Once they resolve the Melissa issue, then what? There's really nowhere left for it to go, unless Shauna just starts killing everyone out of paranoia. My guess is they're hoping to use S4 to cover the last couple months in the Wilderness and dedicate S5 to post rescue, but I'm not sure we'll get there. I think they need to do an extended season and wrap things up in 4.

It's late autumn, so they have around 2 months left.

That's odd. Paramount+ uploads the new episodes Friday at midnight. I'm on Pacific Time and can get them Thursday a little after 9:00. I'll check the app on my phone now to see if I can get it. Eta: it's showing up on mine, maybe try again? Or log out and log back in?

It may have been both. I also think Akilah had misgivings about Kodi. A six day hike to the pickup spot with no supplies. Akilah and Travis have the weapons but Kodi is fitter and stronger. It's unlikely they could keep him contained over the course of a week.

Let's see a show of hands: how many of you think Carlin would've gone through all this effort to decorate if she didn't have items to merch? Anyone? Anyone?

With regards to Adult Melissa's "I was no longer one of you," one possibility that ties in with Black Knight's prediction: The groups split. Kodi kills a couple of the girls, and either escapes or gets killed in return. Some of them decide to return to camp and a few (including Nat) decide to push forward. They eventually find rescue but the bad weather sets in and those left behind are forced to spend another winter. Also, if the Kodi group takes the gun and crossbow, that explains the spiked pits. The remaining girls have no weapons so they have to come up with alternatives to hunt. Another reason I want a group split is because if they don't, then that means there's no more adult survivors. There were eight in the Pit Girl Scene and eight when the girls were being shuffled towards the plane. The revelation of Adult Melissa means she's the last one.

I can't figure out Melissa's angle either. Sending the tape (even if Shauna had gotten the note) serves no purpose. Shauna didn't even know Melissa was alive and living under an assumed name, so why risk her showing up on your doorstep? Why put your wife and kid in danger? I'm also really curious about this therapist. Melissa said she wasn't a doctor, so if she's just some random unlicensed life coach, does that mean she isn't bound by confidentiality rules? Because if so, yikes.

Okay, so I absolutely loved Hillary Swank's performance as Adult Melissa, but before I get into that, What the fuck, teens? Are y'all really gonna stay in the Wilderness because Shauna says so? She doesn't have a bad feeling about Kodi. Neither does Lottie or Tai. They want to stay for their own selfish reasons. As soon as she told everyone they weren't leaving, Travis should've dropped her ass. Or the rest just go. What are three gonna do against twelve? Also, what is Kodi going to do? He has no weapons and he's outnumbered. I'm hoping the next episode is the group splitting, because if they cave, then we've jumped the shark. With regards to Shauna, I agree it's both things. Yes, she's a violent sociopath but I also think someone's messing with her. Maybe not with the breaks and the freezer, but definitely the cell phone and taking Melissa's note. Speaking of which, I was expecting to hate Adult Melissa and I ended up liking her. It's all kinds of messed up she didn't tell Alex her true identity but I loved her assessment of Shauna. She was spot on that Shauna is largely the creator of her own misery.

Target is a revolving shitshow. I think they've managed to piss off every demographic in the last several years.

She was working at a dental practice. I'm not sure if she's a hygienist or assistant.

I wonder if Emerson will continue to work after the baby is born? I can't imagine Jackson can afford to support them off his dock building salary.

Stick it out, it gets way better!

The thing is, the hikers managed to walk a hundred miles from their last known location to the YJ camp, so why couldn't the reverse happen? Just follow the route back. The girls found the hikers' campsite so they could presumably grab their gear, plus Ben's stash plus whatever food they have stored. I think it would be doable if the weather was favorable.

They haven't discussed it since the failed attempt where Van got mauled by the wolf.

I've been thinking about why they don't take the opportunity to be rescued. Assuming they can't fix the satellite phone, maybe the group realizes they have no choice but to wait out another winter? The 100 mile mark where the hikers disappeared was likely the last known point of contact between them and the university, not necessarily the point where they left civilization. If the latter was the case, the Yellowjackets could easily hump it out of there. Ten miles a day and they're home in under two weeks. I'm guessing the researchers were airlifted in by helicopter, making the distance to the nearest town or city far greater. If we're now pushing into late October/early November, that doesn't give the girls a big enough window to walk out of the wilderness before the cold and snow hits. They may all want to go home, but have no choice but to stay put.

Interesting that we got the info Gen and Melissa are dead, but we don't know in which timeline they died. I think either Gen or Hannah is Pit Girl, so maybe Melissa took the tape and was killed post-rescue? It ties in nicely with Ghost Jackie inferring the survivors did bad stuff when they got back, and opens up the possibility of Swank being Melissa's relative. If Swank is a YJ but not Melissa, the only other option is Mari, however that would be horrible casting. They look nothing alike.

I agree it's unlikely the daughter is behind this. Based on what Shauna said, the girl had no relationship with Hannah, so why would she enact an elaborate revenge plot 25 years later? Also, logistically it makes no sense. She lives in Virginia but hops up to New Jersey to stalk Shauna, cut her brake line, lock her in a freezer and then kill Lottie in NYC? She must have a lot of free time on hands. I also think Walter is lying about Shauna killing Lottie. I think it was either Callie or Jeff. In the teen timeline, we saw how fast they snapped out of the woo-woo when given an opportunity to go home. Van trying to call her mom, Travis and Akilah begging to go with Kodi, Mari telling Lottie to f*** off. Now with Hannah in their camp, they're about to discover it was never the Wilderness talking to them, it was a bunch of frogs. I wonder if this will finally split the girls? Those who believe and want to stay, versus those who want to go home. Random nitpick, but given that Kodi was Edwin and Hannah's only source of protection, I'm surprised he didn't have a more powerful weapon than a crossbow. And yeah, he's totally taking some of those girls out before he dies (if he dies).

It's honestly shocking. There's been no noticeable improvement in Zade's speech since he started therapy. I'm sure this is 100% Evan and Carlin's fault and not the speech therapist's. They're probably not following the protocol she laid out. Zade is old news now that #3 is on the way and pool season is coming up!

I just did the grossest Google search of my life and learned the average human body produces 75 pounds of meat. Dividing that by 14 people, that's just over 5 pounds per person. Even rationed sparingly, I can't see it lasting beyond what, a week and a half maybe? So Ben plus three teammates plus birders, goats, rabbits and ducks could get them to the finish line, although I'd guess they'd still be malnourished and starving.

When Van was on her phone she googled something akin to "how long can DAT tapes survive outside" which indicates to me it was supposed to be destroyed or buried. Clearly that didn't happen. My guess is one of the girls squirreled it away, maybe as an insurance policy? When they were eating Ben, Lottie said "It's not supposed to happen like this." I think she and Shauna are going to convince the other girls the Wilderness doesn't want them to leave, or force the issue by killing the hikers.

I've heard people say it before. In most cases, they've been told they have a Native American ancestor, so any features they deemed exotic are referenced back to that. It's not exactly culturally sensitive and given who the Bates are, I'm not surprised. With regards to Tiffany, I feel worse and worse for that girl. It seems like she has no one to hang around with except Lawson and her parents. I know they travel all the time which makes it hard to establish friendships, but don't they belong to a church? Surely there must be some young women and moms in her orbit?

I think she does. The E7 trailer shows a scene where Shauna says she's going to have a chat with "this woman." I'm guessing it's Swank who's blackmailing them with the tape. Assuming the show gets renewed for S4 and S5, how do you guys think the runners will pace things out? Are they going to stretch out winter over the next season? Or will they be rescued in the finale and S4 focuses on the aftermath? I just keep thinking of how much death has to occur in the last two months. The two hikers are obviously goners. Then you've got three background girls, Akilah and either Melissa or Mari. I think Mari is possibly rescued and killed when they get back. She's shown repeatedly that she can crack under pressure. I don't think she's the type who could keep her mouth shut for 25 years.

The clear tubing could've been a line that supplied water to the plane's galley or restrooms. I think cutting the tendon was a compromise of sorts to appease Shauna. In exchange for not killing him, she got to inflict torture and ensure Ben's remaining time was miserably painful.

I'm glad they gave us some sort of marker. It's a huge pet peeve of mine when shows don't let us know where we are in the timeline. So if Mari went missing in June, and now we're in early October, Ben was held prisoner for 3 1/2-ish months. His hair was noticeably longer, so it fits. Also, if they did 19 months in the wilderness, they've got about 2 months to go. IIRC, they crashed sometime in May. If the 8 survivor assumption is true, that's a lot of murder and death happening in a very short amount of time. Yikes. So what are we thinking? The girls have to be relatively close to civilization, right? The hikers looked clean and weren't dragging gear. They didn't look like they'd been trekking through the woods for weeks. They have to be within walking distance to a road or parking area. Although if they are close, how unlikely is it they've been out there over a year and have never seen anyone else? Or nobody saw the smoke from the cabin fire? This is going to drive me crazy all week. 🤔🤔🤔

The tape was made by the hikers. They were wearing the recorders around their necks. That's why Van freaked out when Tai was asking who'd have a DAT recorder. Van mentioned birders, and then realized "oh shit." The recording they listened to in the car was the events of the night the hikers found them. Trippy how the episode came full circle. For all the social media naysayers saying the show sucks now, jokes on you, because we. are. fucking. back. This episode felt like S1 in terms of the drama, tension, horror and massive plot twist at the end. For starters, poor Ben. I'm never going to get over his death. To survive what he did, only to end up like that. You could see the last shreds of sanity slipping away from the teens in the aftermath. It's scary to think it's going to get uglier than even this. I feel like the adult timeline finally has some teeth. Who would have that tape? How did they get it and what do they want? Obviously whatever happens to the hikers isn't good knowing we have another winter to go. I cannot wait for next week.