S03.E03: Them's the Brakes

[paulvdb]

Quote

The return of a Yellowjacket sparks a vengeful frenzy in the team. Lottie’s rendition of Cool Aunt Without Kids leaves Callie with an open door to answers about her mother’s twisted past. Tai and Van receive a karmic payout for their dine and dash.

Premiere date: February 21, 2025 on Paramount+

[AnimeMania]

[BitterApple]

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. 

Edited Yest. at 08:34 AM by BitterApple

[Brn2bwild]

8 hours ago, BitterApple said:

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. 

Some might be frustrated with the slow-burn nature of these episodes, but I loved it.  Everyone seems to be on drugs in both timelines.  And welcome back, Jackie!

[tennisgurl]

This episode was so deeply creepy, but I had to stop being disturbed for a second to enjoy slap bracelet nostalgia. Those were so much fun, and its very on brand for Jackie to have been a fan, even the one that isn't a hallucination. Mari talking about alternate timelines made me think right away that they were foreshadowing the unreliable narrator reveal, and the rest of the episode just kept hitting us with it. I suspect that when they bring Ben to the camp he'll see their camp as a mess instead of the summer camp that we keep seeing.  

Poor Ben, he let Mari go even though he knew it could backfire on him and saved Van (and probably Akilah/Shauna) from the deadly gasses and now he's going to be a Ben Burger. 

It seems like Other Tai came out the second Van revealed that her cancer was going into remission, she seemed to be feeling guilty about the death of the waiter but as soon as Van told her that she was getting better, her eyes went creepy and started chanting. I thought that Van would be the one to quickly jump to cult life when she found out, but she looked disturbed at Tai doing her chanting, I very much worry about where this is going. 

All those theories about poisonous gases seem to be coming true, that could be an explanation for all of the weird noises, hallucinations, and general crazy, bad air and water mixed with the traumatic situation could be behind some of this. 

This might be one of the shows eeriest episodes, but I appreciate that we still got some laughs. Ben and Mari awkwardly pepper spraying each other, Akilah hallucinating an alpaca with a Jersey accent, Misty being her cringy self.   

[Anela]

I need to start watching this before dawn. I can’t see the dark scenes, at all, except for the ones with the torches - barely.  

[Anela]

Okay, I figured that was all hallucinations from gas fumes. The flame sparked like it was being ignited by gas.  I’m not into the really trippy stuff, though.  

Lottie encouraging Callie to shoplift. I don’t like it.  Also giving her that necklace, when she knew what they used it for.  

Misty screwing with Shauna’s brakes, to get in some trauma bonding, and friendship time.  That is messed up. 

Mari didn’t want to out Coach, but here we are.  Their opening scene was funny.  I don’t want him to become their food. 

I hate tight spaces, and used to have nightmares about barely squeezing through tunnels.  That was all painful to watch.  What I could see of it.  
 

Edited Yest. at 08:13 PM by Anela

[Brn2bwild]

33 minutes ago, Anela said:

Misty screwing with Shauna’s brakes, to get in some trauma bonding, 

 

I don't think that was Misty's work. Maybe Melissa (or Walter?).

[Anela]

1 minute ago, Brn2bwild said:

I don't think that was Misty's work. Maybe Melissa (or Walter?).

I hope so.  In that case: poor Misty. 

With everything else, I forgot about Tai going all creepy with the candle.  I thought Van was the true believer, but dark Tai is. 

[Affogato]

30 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

I don't think that was Misty's work. Maybe Melissa (or Walter?).

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Misty. Who needs to get some outside friends. Honestly.  

[BitterApple]

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. 

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

 I suspect that when they bring Ben to the camp he'll see their camp as a mess instead of the summer camp that we keep seeing.  

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. 

[AstridM]

14 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Also, maybe more evidence the supernatural didn't exist? There's poisonous gas and polluted water due to mining?

It never has? The show’s creators have always said there were never ghosts in the woods🤷‍♀️. Shawna clearly stated last season that it was always “just them.”

14 hours ago, BitterApple said:

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. 

I didn’t necessarily hate it, but I am strongly considering never watching again, lol. I can’t bear what’s likely about to happen to Ben. He doesn’t deserve it. I experience enough cruelty living in the US.

Edited Yest. at 11:23 PM by AstridM

[Thalia]

4 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

4 hours ago, Anela said:

Misty screwing with Shauna’s brakes, to get in some trauma bonding, 

 

I don't think that was Misty's work. Maybe Melissa (or Walter?).

I immediately thought the person who seems to be following Shauna around tampered with the brakes.  

And I felt a little bad for Misty, who for once wasn't at fault.  I'm guessing that her desire to have a Girls Day with New Bestie Shauna was in reaction to Walter's pointing out how bad Misty is treated by her so-called friends.  Well, that didn't work.  

I couldn't help but notice that when she recited the list of Misty's borderline insane activities, Shauna said nothing about the destruction of the plane's radio signal.   I would think that has to mean that most or all of the survivors still know nothing about Misty's role.   That would certainly be Topic A for me regarding any discussion over Misty's wrongdoings.  

Edited 22 hours ago by Thalia

[Anela]

34 minutes ago, Thalia said:

I immediately thought the person who seems to be following Shauna around tampered with the brakes.  

And I felt a little bad for Misty, who for once wasn't at fault.  I'm guessing that her desire to have a Girls Day with New Bestie Shauna was in reaction to Walter's pointing out how bad Misty is treated by her so-called friends.  Well, that didn't work.  

I couldn't help but notice that when she recited the list of Misty's borderline insane activities, Shauna said nothing about the destruction of the plane's radio signal.   I would think that has to mean that most or all of the survivors still know nothing about Misty's role.   That would certainly be Topic A for me regarding any discussion over Misty's wrongdoings.  

I don't know why I thought Misty did it, because I was wary of Walter, last week, and it was Shauna's car. This person would have to know her history of screwing with things like that, though. So that Shauna would blame Misty. 

[threebluestars]

I also thought Walter because Shauna let Misty drive home drunk, now he messes with Shauna's brakes which puts her in similar danger.

[Anela]

I also forgot to mention that I liked Akilah standing up to Lottie.

[WaltersHair]

If they kill and eat Coach, I don't think I can hang in there. He was the only one to abstain from cannibalism and Nat would have to go along with that plan. 

I don't like the these people anymore (past or present) and personally believe you have to like at least one character to stay immersed in a show. Breaking Bad did a good job of skirting the thin line of the redeemable/irredeemable character.

Mari wins the MVP of being a true Judas.

I hope I feel differently next week.

[JenE4]

The Land of Make Believe is an actual small amusement park in Jersey, and that was their real commercial from back in the day.

Poison gasses causing hallucinations. They’re somehow having the same dream…but maybe not…until Tai’s eyeless tallman dude ends up in their dream, and, okay, I think that confirms that somehow the girls are all psychically connected or whatever because there’s no way they would picture Tai’s creepy guy.

[AstridM]

8 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

If they kill and eat Coach, I don't think I can hang in there. He was the only one to abstain from cannibalism and Nat would have to go along with that plan. 

Same. I might have to just stop watching 😢.

[Black Knight]

15 hours ago, Thalia said:

I would think that has to mean that most or all of the survivors still know nothing about Misty's role. 

I'm sure Misty learned her lesson after telling Crystal. If Crystal does turn up alive at some point, doubtless Misty will kill her to keep that from being revealed.

I was waaaaaay too excited to see Ella Purnell!

I laughed at Lottie teaching Callie how to shoplift, because it's a callback to when Teen Lottie revealed in the second episode of S1 that she stole stuff from TJ Maxx's all the time.

The necklace bit was interesting. After the pilot there was lots of speculation that the necklace designated the next person to be killed and eaten, but then we saw last season that they used the deck of cards for that. So Lottie saying what she did made sense. Is this mythology that Shauna added in her mind? Also, the butterfly shirt of Jackie's that Shauna now wears made what I think is its first appearance in S3.

The open with Mari and Ben macing each other was funny. But, Mari. Okay, so she's a terrible liar, but since she was talking she could have talked more and told the girls how Ben let her go. I don't know what will happen to him next week. Natalie, Misty and Mari obviously don't want him to die, and he saved Van, which should put her and Tai on the side of sparing him too.

I thought the same as tennisgurl, that bad Tai took over as soon as she heard about Van's cancer. When I was watching the break-in to the restaurant, all I could think about is how Adult Tai's life has completely fallen apart since we met her, when she was the most put-together, functional and happiest out of the S1 adult crew. She was a successful lawyer running for state senate, married to an amazing woman with whom she had a son. She's lost all of it. When she was basically being a giggly teenager on the couch with Van, before the creepy guy showed up on the TV, I just kind of wanted to slap her. Look at your life, Tai!

Edited 7 hours ago by Black Knight

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

he saved Van, which should put her and Tai on the side of sparing him too.

He also saved Shauna and Akila, from what I understand of it.

[Black Knight]

9 minutes ago, AstridM said:

He also saved Shauna and Akila, from what I understand of it.

Oh, you mean that he dragged each girl up and Van was the last one? I didn't think of that, I just thought Van got deeper into the cave system than Shauna or Akilah. But it makes sense that Ben actually got them all out, and that's helpful to his cause since Shauna is one of the nastier girls and thus important to have on his side.

Until and unless they figure out who really started the cabin fire, he's probably still going to be on house arrest, but at least stays alive.

[overtherainbow]

 

On 2/21/2025 at 3:32 AM, BitterApple said:

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. 

It would be pretty anticlimactic for them to realize they've been on the edge of some kind of natural gas operation this whole time and that's what the screeching noise they keep hearing is actually from, and that's how they end up getting eventually rescued, by one of the workers accidentally stumbling upon them or something. Also, if they're all having the same shared delusions, I'm thinking it must be related to the environment somehow, aside from Lottie and Tai, who are actually mentally ill, I think the fumes, the bad water, and the starvation all come into play.  

I can see a killing spree, Tai has seemingly fully embraced her alter since winning the election. She's just done a better job at holding it together than Lottie and now that her wife is out of the picture it seems like Van is fueling it and the gloves are off. Van knows what she's doing. I'm also concerned for Callie with Lottie sinking her claws in even though she's kind of bratty. 

11 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

If they kill and eat Coach, I don't think I can hang in there. He was the only one to abstain from cannibalism and Nat would have to go along with that plan. 

I don't like the these people anymore (past or present) and personally believe you have to like at least one character to stay immersed in a show. Breaking Bad did a good job of skirting the thin line of the redeemable/irredeemable character.

Mari wins the MVP of being a true Judas.

I hope I feel differently next week.

They're all pretty awful and I think the pagan cult ritual stuff is only going to get more grotesque from here. I was truly rooting for Ben, but boy, did he make some dumb decisions this episode, like the second he decided to let Mari go he should've just packed his stuff, hid the rations and left the cave. It's summer again, so it wouldn't be that hard to put some distance and find another place to hole up instead of deciding to go spelunking. The toxic cave fumes must have really messed his head up. Fingers crossed Nat will try to redeem herself again as the voice of reason and keep the feral in them at bay. 

[Black Knight]

Maybe Ben was worried that, with his crutch especially, he would be tracked easily? And so he decided it would be better to go further into the cave system instead. He might have explored in previous weeks, and maybe there aren't always toxic gases being emitted.

My sense has always been that the show doesn't plan to say definitively that there's something supernatural happening or not. There's usually a real world alternative for those who want one (like me). I guess at this point it's Van's cancer that is the hardest to explain away.

I speculated last week that Lottie thinks the wilderness wants Callie now. This week Shauna freaks out about Callie wearing Jackie's necklace that Lottie gave her, and dark Tai thinks sacrifices are saving Van, so she'd be interested in knowing who the wilderness supposedly wants. I would stay far away from Tai, Van and Lottie if I were Callie!

[AstridM]

14 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Maybe Ben was worried that, with his crutch especially, he would be tracked easily? And so he decided it would be better to go further into the cave system instead. He might have explored in previous weeks, and maybe there aren't always toxic gases being emitted.

My sense has always been that the show doesn't plan to say definitively that there's something supernatural happening or not. There's usually a real world alternative for those who want one (like me). I guess at this point it's Van's cancer that is the hardest to explain away.

I speculated last week that Lottie thinks the wilderness wants Callie now. This week Shauna freaks out about Callie wearing Jackie's necklace that Lottie gave her, and dark Tai thinks sacrifices are saving Van, so she'd be interested in knowing who the wilderness supposedly wants. I would stay far away from Tai, Van and Lottie if I were Callie!

Shauna gave Jackie that necklace. Lottie had no right giving it to Callie or anyone else, imho. I would also have been absolutely livid if I were Shauna!

[Brn2bwild]

Does it seem weird that Adult Tai and Van were watching PeeWee's Playhouse?  Maybe Van was into it as a child, but I can't see Tai of any age enjoying that show.

ETA: Also, it strains credibility that the ice cream shop that closed years ago would not have been taken over by another business.

Edited 1 hour ago by Brn2bwild

[Black Knight]

Jackie loaned Shauna the necklace on the plane, but got it back in S1, and was wearing it up to her death. I don't remember if anyone was shown taking it off her body - obviously the likeliest person would have been Shauna. We know that Pit Girl eventually got the necklace, and now we know that Lottie then got it and held onto it for 25 years. I wonder if that means Lottie ended up becoming Antler Queen.

I don't think Shauna's freaking out was so much about anyone else having the necklace as it was that she seems to think it portends very bad things for whoever is wearing it, so of course she wouldn't like seeing it on her daughter.

Edited 1 hour ago by Black Knight