BitterApple

I agree. Killing Adam was impulsive. Shauna thought he was digging into the past, all her trauma bubbled up and she lashed out. Teen Shauna suggesting Ben be burned alive was vicious. I think part of the issue is the group relies on her to do the dirty work, which only fuels her rage and bloodlust. Now that she's got a useful idiot enabling her grievance complex, it's only going to get worse. I'm just curious as to what's going to be the tipping point where leadership shifts from Natalie to her? It has to be something significant.

My biggest fear is Lottie is going to push the cave thing too far and one of these times Akilah won't wake up. Now that Lottie is convinced Akilah's visions foreshadow their rescue, she's going to encourage her to keep exposing herself to the gas. I don't think it will end well. I rewatched today and circling back to my earlier comment, it definitely looked like there was a knife under the fish Misty gave Ben. If he doesn't commit suicide, I'm hoping he takes out Gen or Melissa. With regards to the adult timeline, I know there's been rampant criticism of this season and I agree much of it is warranted. I'm fine with the writers using the adult plots to bring moments of humor, but I wish they'd dial it back on the camp. Lottie's death should've been devastating for all of them, and yet I feel like I'm watching a wacky cop caper. I also agree it's crazy how they made such a big deal of casting Swank and McHale, yet we're halfway through the season and they've yet to appear.

Here's my take. The Stewarts currently have three income streams. BSB, YouTube, Influencing. When you combine them, I think they're making a pretty penny. Child exploitation is very lucrative. However, I also think they're spending everything that comes in and have next to nothing in savings and retirement. If one of those streams goes bust, they're screwed. As far as the BSB staff, they're probably paid peanuts. It also wouldn't surprise me if they're not given enough hours to be classified as full time, so Whit and Carlin don't have to give them benefits (although I'm unfamiliar with TN laws). As far as the operation itself, there's signs it's floundering. They did a mall pop up store. The constant cash and carries to dump old stock. Now they're having in-store shopping by appointment. Everything screams "desperate for cash flow." Their clothes are already ridiculously marked up as it is, and in this shaky political and economic climate, most women aren't casually dropping $85 on a cheap fast fashion dress. If BSB is around in three years, I'll eat my hat.

Damn. That was pretty ballsy of Tai to bring the new/old woman to a meet up with Simone and Sammi. I wish Van had sat this one out so we could've had more dialogue between Simone and Tai. I agree Akilah's vision doesn't mean what they think it does. There's no practical reason Ben would be the key to their rescue. Also, did anyone else notice that lingering shot of the fish when the girls brought Ben out to be executed? I wonder if there's a knife in there which leads me to my theory that The scene with Shauna and Lottie's dad was sad and sweet. Someone on Reddit had an interesting theory. They speculated that when Mr. Matthew's was making references to law enforcement classifying Lottie's death as an accident, he was talking about the plane crash, not the fall down the stairs. He kept mentioning a meeting with Bear Stearns, a company which hasn't been in existence in nearly 20 years. Even in his conversation with Shauna, he saw the teen version of his daughter, not the adult. Just some food for thought.

As screwed up as Shauna is, I definitely think there's a hint of conscience buried somewhere. Her entire marriage to Jeff feels like a penance. She could've gone on to college and had a career like Misty and Tai did, but instead she settled for the exact life she never wanted. Ditto for suffering through the annual brunch with Jackie's parents. If Shauna didn't still feel some guilt, she would've cut it off years ago. With regards to the potential bad thing the girls did when they got back, I'm hoping they left someone behind too. We've already seen them murder, so another death wouldn't be quite so shocking. Abandoning a teammate in the woods is way more diabolical and intriguing.

I'm assuming the writers know where they're going with the adult timeline, but to me, it felt like Lottie's death was a tad premature. We barely scratched the surface on why she's interested in Callie, and then boom!, she's dead. I am curious as to who Lottie was planning to meet when she was rehearsing her apology in the mirror. I wonder, are we going to get flashbacks, or is this it, the character is done? It'll be interesting to see how Shauna reacts. That's twice now that she's kicked a friend out of the house only for them to end up dead. Jeff charming the pants off the seniors was hilarious. The actor playing Ben has given two magnificent back-to-back performances. I'm trying to come up with a scenario where the girls let him live, but it's not looking good. It pissed me off that the guilty verdict came after Shauna bullied everyone into it. I also don't understand why nobody brought up the fact that Ben saved Van, Shauna and Akilah from the poison gas in the cave. It would've been a checkmark in his favor that he didn't want the girls dead.

How authentic. The fans can't see the kids' reactions until they've been properly curated and edited. I wonder how many takes were needed before Carlin thought Layla and Zade were showing an acceptable level of excitement? 🤣

Yep, here we go. Medical drama brings lots of views, comments and sympathy. Carlin is setting the stage. And as far as Evan doing Layla's hair, big whoop. It's not like he has a job or anything else to do all day.

I'm sure all Evan and Carlin are thinking about right now is clicks, sponsorships and dollars, but they're in for a rocky road. Even if everything checks out with Carlin's health, they've created a dynamic where everything revolves around a 5 year-old girl. Layla is NOT going to take well to being displaced. We've already seen vlogs of her on the verge of pitching fits in Walmart and Target, followed by them leaving with Layla getting a new toy. She does okay with Zade, but that's because Zade is second fiddle, not competition. If #3 is a girl, it's gonna get ugly.

My first thought was Walter screwed with the breaks. I don't know what his agenda is, but he seems determined to drive a wedge between Misty and the others. Mari is so freaking dumb. All she had to do was say she tripped on a tree root, bashed her knee into a rock and couldn't walk for a couple days. You could tell she didn't want to rat out Coach, but she wasn't quick enough on the draw to come up with a believable lie. I'm glad we'll get a resolution next episode, one way or the other. I know Ben is experiencing his own alternate reality but I can't imagine he'd see the camp the same way the girls do. If it's still gold-tinted and looks like an Etsy craft project, then we'll have to take it as real. I'm nervous about Ben's fate, especially after we got that bit of exposition in the beginning of the episode. Dying at the hands of the kids you used to coach, (and that job was only supposed to be a stop-gap in the first place) is going to be tough to watch. Does anyone think nobody started the cabin fire? When Van had her dream, a spark from the fireplace landed on the carpet, causing the room to go up in flames. What if it wasn't Ben or Bad Tai? Maybe it was truly an accident.

That was quite possibly one of the creepiest episodes of television that I've ever watched. What the hell just happened? Okay, for starters, major points for Team Hallucination shippers. Mari suggesting to Ben that there's "two realities," the "Land of make believe" in the ice cream ad, the trippy dream sequences, Lottie telling Shauna the necklace never meant what she thought it did. There's so much unreliable narration, I think we're being set up for a huge mind fuck in the near future. Also, maybe more evidence the supernatural didn't exist? There's poisonous gas and polluted water due to mining? I'm terrified Adult Van and Tai are going to go on a killing spree, thinking it's the only way to keep Van's cancer at bay. I know a lot of people are going to hate this episode, but I liked it. I'll add more thoughts later. Right now I'm too freaked out to do a rewatch.

It may have been a kidnapping for ransom that went wrong. They never intended to murder her, but JB fought or panicked and they whacked her to keep her quiet. They then realized they were screwed, so they strangled her and left her in the wine cellar. It's not a perfect theory, but if I had to make a case for someone other than the Ramseys, that's who I'd put money on.

One of my theories is it was someone in the housekeepers' orbit. Not saying Linda set it up, but she may have been indirectly involved. She had chronic money problems. If John's bills and paystubs were left out in the open, she would've had access to financial information. I don't think she was the mastermind, but I could see her having a rough day at work, and then venting to family or friends about how she doesn't get paid enough to deal with the Ramseys' crap, etc. I can also see her griping about Patsy giving her that 2k as a loan rather than a bonus. She might have thrown out how petty it was considering John got 118k, and that started the wheels turning in someone's head. I know BPD cleared Linda and her husband, but again you wonder if they didn't dig too deep?

I think they used the leather from the airplane seats to make the hoods, but I can't figure out where they would've gotten the white material for the capes. That wouldn't have came from the plane and it's unlikely they grabbed enough linens from the burning cabin to fashion 13 or 14 of them, not to mention enough needle and thread.

There was a shed, yes. I think they were using it for meat storage (both human and animal, lol). If worse came to worst, they could've all holed up there. It would've been tight, but it's at least shelter from the elements.

One of the questions I'm dying to have answered is the rescue. Do they actively try to make it happen or are they randomly discovered by land surveyors or government workers or something similar? Shauna wrote in her journal that they can never go back because of what they've done. In the S3 trailer, Tai says the wilderness will follow them forever. I can see it playing out where the girls are so far gone after that second winter, they actually avoid rescue crews and have to be dragged out of there kicking and screaming.

Gen is a recast, yes.

I don't recall seeing either her or the new African American girl in the background prior to this season, but I could be wrong. They've recast redshirts multiple times. From what I've counted, the total in the camp is 13 (Nat, Tai, Van, Shauna, Lottie, Misty, Travis, Akilah, Mari, Gen, Melissa, random new girls).

I think Lottie wants to get close to Callie and that was her excuse to crash at Shauna's. She definitely has money. She was wearing a Rolex in S2, and her clothes look pricey. Walter is definitely right about how the group treats Misty. Tai forgot to call her about Nat's memorial, ffs. Letting her drive home when she was barely conscious was highly irresponsible of Jeff and Shauna.

If it proves to be true, that's my thinking as well.

Ah, so it was really the Content Trio's vacation and Gil and his brood tagged along. That explains why none of the other marrieds attended and why Tiff nope'd out. She knew she'd get stuck babysitting, and you can't say no when you're staying in a luxury vrbo on someone else's dime.

Jeff noted it had been six weeks since the dust-up at the compound, so there was a bigger than usual time gap between death and memorial service. I'm thinking that was a deliberate writer's choice so they didn't have to cover the fallout, Tai's impeachment and Simone coming out of a coma. Adult Van is stunted and immature, so I could see her walking away from a failing business and pile of bills. In that one scene, Tai was trying to get her to sign what I assumed were legal documents regarding her finances and health, and Van blew her off, making a joke that the only one she signed was the DNR. For me, the time skip in the 90s is way more jarring. I think the premise we're supposed to believe is that the 'sacrifice' of both Shauna's baby and Javi was returned to them in the form of an early spring and plentiful game. There's also a very interesting theory rolling around on Reddit. I'll put it under the spoiler tag in case some don't want to read speculation:

I did too. I think the journalist brings up some valid concerns. I'm not sure there's enough material for a 5 season run, unless they cover much of the post-rescue timeline. If not, they risk becoming another Lost, where the build up led to a fizzled out conclusion. With that said, nothing annoys me more than people complaining about episodes where 'nothing happens'. It was a common gripe during Game Of Thrones as well. It's like viewers don't understand that you have to build characters and relationships so their actions are believable when the big stuff goes down. As far as Tai, Van and Shauna not having a bigger reaction to Nat's death, these women have been living with severe trauma for 25 years. They're not going to have typical responses to anything.

Interesting reveals this episode! Ben wasn't the fire starter. The cabin burned for weeks, which explains how the girls kept warm and didn't freeze while building new shelters. My guess is Bad Tai set the cabin ablaze. I felt bad for Jeff losing the hotel deal, but loved how Shauna put those two douchebags in their places. Does anyone think Travis repeating "they're coming" while high off shrooms was foreshadowing the rescue? Poor Akilah, though. She lets Travis hold Mortimer and then he sics Lottie on her?! Not cool, Travis. Is Coach Scott talking to an actual person in the cave or has he created his own Wilson? Pretty obvious where things are going in the crash timeline. Fucking Misty Quigley ratting Nat out is going to cause a leadership change, and things are going to get very dark and brutal under Shauna's rule.

Yay! Our show is back! Last season when the girls were fleeing the cabin during the fire, they were fast grabbing necessities. I guess I'm going to have to suspend disbelief on how they managed to collect enough material to make 14 white robes, plus candles and what looked to be store-bought paper lanterns. Also, nice that we got a little insight into why Tai and Van broke up post-rescue. When Misty went through the storage unit there was a mug shot photo of Natalie that featured the younger version, so things must've gone off the rails quickly for her after they got back. I loved the comedic moments. Van's total look of horror after Nat's mother spoke at the service. Randy rolling up on the scooter to deliver the pig intestines. Lovable himbo Jeff wondering if the guts were human. I felt like the tone was a little all over the place, but first episodes back after a long layoff tend to be a little clunky. I'm still looking forward to the rest of the season!