S03.E10: Full Circle

[paulvdb]

Quote

Things turn frigid as bloody new alliances get built and spilled. It’s our time, right now, down here in the new Queen’s court. Eat up, drink deep, and descend.

Season finale. Premiere date: April 11, 2025 on Paramount+

[WaltersHair]

Poor Caligula. Died of starvation and neglect. How ironic.

I didn't care for the tone and the pacing of this episode. Felt very rushed and the pit girl scenes were somehow anticlimactic. Maybe too many seasons of waiting to find out who she was.

I'm now firmly on the Misty and Tai train. Shauna can kick rocks. Walter is the only true wild card here.

Do Shauna and the rest truly not remember any of the wilderness? This does not ring true, unless she's leaving the note to be found.

Go Nat, go.

[Brn2bwild]

RIP, Mari. 

I felt hope initially when I saw her wearing colorful clothes: "Nah, it won't be her."  Then she took her clothes off.  "Oh, shit."

They did a really good job matching up these scenes with the pilot, but giving them a different spin.  The only ones who were bloodthirsty were Shauna and Lottie - the rest were trying to distract and give Mari more time to escape. Van's crying when she saw Mari was dead, oh my heart.  And I wondered how Misty's smile in the pilot would make sense given that she was supposedly upset about losing her friend, but it was a great twist to have her smile at Natalie's escape.

It's weird how everything was a surprise, yet was there from the beginning.  Shauna's rise to leader, her hatred of Mari, the "It Girl" title making us think Mari was a fake out when actually the show was telling us point blank that Pit Girl would be Mari.  I'm wondering if the other girls did not know the pit with the spikes was there - only Travis and Lottie.

Did Akilah ever leave the cave?  The last time we saw her, she was standing behind Lottie with a rock.  Lottie made it out, but did she?  And was it Akilah who killed her animals in order to pretend her vision came true (at Lottie's behest) to justify a hunt?

I hope the show gets another two seasons, but I honestly can't see it lasting more than one now that Shauna has decided to embrace her inner psycho and Tai and Misty have combined to try to take her down.

[Anela]

Yes!! Go Natalie, and Misty!! So, that's what her grin was about. 

RIP Mari. I was hoping you were really a decoy. I was wrong about it all being a lifestyle. Van was upset. 💙 She looked like she was used to it, when she walked up to the pit. And poor Travis, being the one who made the pit.

Who was the woman that people thought would be adult Akilah? I don't think I saw her. Young Akilah - I don't know what happened in the cave? 

Tai and Misty in the current day, plotting against Shauna. Shauna remembering everything, and wanting to be that person again. Damn. 

Jeff doing the right thing, and taking Callie away from Shauna, but what if Callie kills in anger again? Just like her mother.

Melissa trying to kill Shauna in the past. I was rooting for you! I can't believe Shauna said that she was boring. 

1 hour ago, WaltersHair said:

Poor Caligula. Died of starvation and neglect. How ironic.

I didn't care for the tone and the pacing of this episode. Felt very rushed and the pit girl scenes were somehow anticlimactic. Maybe too many seasons of waiting to find out who she was.

I'm now firmly on the Misty and Tai train. Shauna can kick rocks. Walter is the only true wild card here.

Do Shauna and the rest truly not remember any of the wilderness? This does not ring true, unless she's leaving the note to be found.

Go Nat, go.

I didn't see that Caligula died. :( Oh.

I suppose they could really stuff things down and forget, in order to go on living. But I don't know how. 

I did notice that when Natalie was chosen, she was the one who came up with the idea. Or part of it.

This time, it was Mari who pointed out that the people they'd recently killed, were their enemies. Although, Coach meant something to some of the girls. So, they needed to kill a member of the team. Then she was chosen. And frog guy wasn't an enemy. 

I wish I had someone to watch with. I want to watch something nicer now, but I admit, this has me wanting to talk more. I hope it's renewed. I guess I'll go to reddit.

Edited Friday at 07:23 AM by Anela

[Anela]

Why did they drag Natalie out of her hut, at the beginning?

 

[Black Knight]

I watched this morning at 6am and then immediately rewatched the episode. Damn, that was good.

I am a little disturbed, though, that my cat who normally shows no interest in TV when it's not a bird video playing was transfixed during the hunt of Mari. I've been side-eying her and warning her ever since that humans are not for stalking and eating!

Goodbye Mari. Once we knew Lottie made it to adulthood, she was always the logical candidate. I'll miss Alexa Barajas, who did a lot to make Mari fun to watch. It made for a great bookend with the chase in the season premiere and Shauna's comment about eating her first. Shauna didn't even pretend to be anything other than happy about getting her wish here. I noticed even when they were first discussing whether to call a hunt, Shauna looked right at Mari before declaring that there would be one. However, Mari was part of the plot with Lottie and Akilah to bring about the hunt in the first place, so I don't exactly feel sorry for her.

So, instead of it being Tai in control or Alterna-Tai in control, the two seem to have fully fused into one personality. That'll be interesting.

I had been wondering about Natalie's submissive body language in the last act, so learning that it was actually a disguised Hannah made so much sense. So Hannah ended up having to be the one to chop up Mari. For someone who was only around a couple of months, she still got to experience aaaaaaall the trauma! I absolutely loved Van's, Travis's, and Misty's smirks. It's the beginning of the end for Teen Shauna, right after her Antler Queen moment (and seriously, wearing Mari's hair???).

I also liked the moment when Shauna tried to intimidate Tai and Tai wasn't having it, forcing Shauna to back down. Face it Shauna, even when you're theoretically top dog, you're still actually not. She lacks a certain something that would allow her to be fully leader. I think it's what Misty referred to in this episode, which is that Shauna never takes responsibility for her actions. You can't be a true leader if your chosen narrative is always that things happen to you, because then you're saying you have no agency. And having agency is a fundamental part of being a leader.

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

She lacks a certain something that would allow her to be fully leader. I think it's what Misty referred to in this episode, which is that Shauna never takes responsibility for her actions. You can't be a true leader if your chosen narrative is always that things happen to you, because then you're saying you have no agency. And having agency is a fundamental part of being a leader.

That sounds good but I think it is a flawed assumption. I am on the fence whether Shauna is on the apd spectrum, but narcissists are often leaders and victims.  Taking responsibility is often that you would take responsibility, but it is someone else’s fault, so not your fault. I think it is mean girl stuff. People don’t like her enough. No one will make excuses they would make for someone else. 

[BitterApple]

I liked the finale and the title of Full Circle was so apropos. We got the Pit Girl and Antler Queen reveal, and Mari's journey truly was a full circle. She was the decoy in It Girl so her team could win the game and she was the decoy in the hunt so Nat could escape with the SatPhone.

The writers did a great job throwing a cool twist into what was inevitably a predictable scene. The reality was a totally different context from what we assumed in the pilot. Misty wasn't smirking because her teammate died, she was gloating that they fooled Shauna. The girls weren't gleefully hunting their friend down, they were deliberately creating distractions to buy her time. Even Shauna being crowned AQ felt more like a bratty toddler being appeased than a true boss girl moment. Tai telling her to back off? Epic, and I predict we're going to get a totally different group dynamic in S4. 

In the adult timeline, I thought Shauna was going to finally take some accountability when she started writing that note, but nope, she's fully leaned into the villain arc. So game on. Now we know we can collectively wish for her to have the most awful death ever. And what was up with her telling Misty that Callie and Jeff wouldn't know how to call the phone company? She really thinks a tech savvy Gen Z teen wouldn't know how to cancel her phone number? Weird. 

I do have to eat my words though. I predicted they wouldn't use the phone to call for help and they did. Now I have to stew on how they're going to explain it to the rescuers. Bring on Season 4!

Edited Friday at 04:31 PM by BitterApple

[Chaos Theory]

Everyone who called Callie as Lottie’s killer gets a cookie.

Lottie to Callie “you are just like her (Shauna) but more”

Callie immediately pushes Lottie down stairs to her death.

Was that the shows theme song playing during the Callie kills Lottie moment?

Poor Jeff.  But Jeff still remains the good guy he always was.   
 

And the show finally answered the age old question….”Who is the pit girl.”

The Antler Queen could only have ever been Shauna.  “We were having so much fun.”

And I love that everyone was basically setting up roadblocks to give Nat time to get the Sat phone to a place where she could make a call

God I love this show.     Even at its worst it is a thousand times better then most television.

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 03:46 PM by Chaos Theory

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

I think it is mean girl stuff. People don’t like her enough. No one will make excuses they would make for someone else. 

Shauna has never been shown to be low on the social ladder, unlike Misty. She wasn't homecoming queen, but she was liked among her peers until recently. I don't think her losing status now can be attributed to "mean girl stuff" when the actions that have caused her to lose status are so absolutely awful - threatening people (including with death), running ramshod over them, preventing escape, glorying in brutality. People cut her a lot of slack - remember her beating the crap out of Lottie, and how people just moved on from that? - but have run out of tolerance. People like Van and Tai and Akilah all seem well-liked, but I don't think they would have gotten away with acting like Shauna has either.

I keep thinking about Lottie's words to Mari, something about how she's been in this place before and that things could turn out differently this time. Mari ignored her - understandably - and kept running. But Lottie was right. Mari fell into that pit at the start of the season, she didn't recognize she was in that area again and fell into the pit again, this time fatally. Hmm. And of course the wood covering the pit didn't cave under Lottie last week, but did this week with Mari. Hmmm again. Travis's words were also interesting, talking about another reality (similar to Mari early this season), that he hears Javi and Jackie. I don't know what is up with that boy.

[Chaos Theory]

 absolutely adore that at this point Shauna has been made the one true villain of the story.    None of the other survivors are perfect and have done terrible terrible things but Shauna is the true face of unhinged violence on the show.   It would have been easy to make Misty the villain but she has been the same person through the show.   Capable of murder but also loyal to the people she calls friends.   Shauna doesn’t give a shit.  Tai has deep emotional and mental issues but she truly loved Van.   Shauna is incapable of loving anyone.   I find that kind of character fascinating.

Edited Friday at 04:28 PM by Chaos Theory

[Affogato]

36 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Shauna has never been shown to be low on the social ladder, unlike Misty. She wasn't homecoming queen, but she was liked among her peers until recently. I don't think her losing status now can be attributed to "mean girl stuff" when the actions that have caused her to lose status are so absolutely awful - threatening people (including with death), running ramshod over them, preventing escape, glorying in brutality. People cut her a lot of slack - remember her beating the crap out of Lottie, and how people just moved on from that? - but have run out of tolerance. People like Van and Tai and Akilah all seem well-liked, but I don't think they would have gotten away with acting like Shauna has either.

 

Jackie’s value was popularity and Shauna was always not badly positioned, exactly, but not seen. Yes, invited to the big party, but people would forget she was there or not notice that she wasn’t there. And she’s angry and the kind of person that just isn’t sympathetic. Some of it is just not fitting into the correct peg. 

27 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

 absolutely adore that at this point Shauna has been made the one true villain of the story.    None of the other survivors are perfect and have done terrible terrible things but Shauna is the true face of unhinged violence on the show.   It would have been easy to make Misty the villain but she has been the same person through the show.   Capable of murder but also loyal to the people she calls friends.   Shauna doesn’t give a shit.  Tai has deep emotional and mental issues but she truly loved Van.   Shauna is incapable of loving anyone.   I find that kind of character fascinating.

I’m theorizing that Shauna does love, but no one particularly cares. 

Edited Friday at 04:56 PM by Affogato

[Black Knight]

10 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Some of it is just not fitting into the correct peg. 

Up until Shauna went full-blown bully complete with death threats, she was someone who just had her moody and surly moments same as practically any teenager. Laura Lee was the only one in the group who was nearly relentlessly perky. Honestly they've all had their times when they fit in better and when they don't fit in so well - it's an ever-shifting tapestry and there are a ton of variables, like varsity/JV, believer/non-believer, rescue/no-rescue...

I think Shauna has capacity to love but that it mostly died in the wilderness with her baby and her best friend. I do think she has love - but not affection or liking (she's acknowledged the latter point blank) - for her daughter. All I have to do is think about how she flipped out when she saw The Necklace around her daughter's neck to be sure of that. I think it's the lack of affection or liking that really confuses Callie. She's still very young and doesn't yet understand how like, affection and love are all different things and do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.

[BitterApple]

I just had an interesting thought. As much as it sucks that Mari died, Shauna screwing up the card draw may have been a blessing in disguise. Hannah doesn't know the woods like the girls do, and likely isn't as athletic. If she'd drawn the Queen as intended, the hunt wouldn't have lasted long enough for Nat to get away. Even if the other girls were running in circles, Shauna would've chased her down pretty quickly. 

I wonder why Lottie didn't just tell Mari, "Hey, there's a giant hole with spikes right in front of you," but I guess her philosophy has always been the wilderness will decide. She gave Mari an opening to question her further, Mari told her to eff off, and fate had the ultimate say. 

 

[Affogato]

15 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Up until Shauna went full-blown bully complete with death threats, she was someone who just had her moody and surly moments same as practically any teenager. Laura Lee was the only one in the group who was nearly relentlessly perky. Honestly they've all had their times when they fit in better and when they don't fit in so well - it's an ever-shifting tapestry and there are a ton of variables, like varsity/JV, believer/non-believer, rescue/no-rescue...

I think Shauna has capacity to love but that it mostly died in the wilderness with her baby and her best friend. I do think she has love - but not affection or liking (she's acknowledged the latter point blank) - for her daughter. All I have to do is think about how she flipped out when she saw The Necklace around her daughter's neck to be sure of that. I think it's the lack of affection or liking that really confuses Callie. She's still very young and doesn't yet understand how like, affection and love are all different things and do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.

I am not devoted to the idea that Callie will turn out to be a full blown sociopath, but I’m not discounting it.
 

Shauna sure isn’t warm or communicative or expressive. 

Edited Friday at 05:27 PM by Affogato

[Armchair Critic]

Shauna had fun being a warrior, she can fuck off.

Natalie is the most likable teen to me, it's too bad Juliette Lewis was killed off early.

 

Edited Friday at 07:32 PM by Armchair Critic

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Armchair Critic said:

Shauna had fun being a worrier, she can fuck off.

Natalie is the most likable teen to me, it's too bad Juliette Lewis was killed off early.

 

I actually like Misty, but it is the actress. Upset about Caligula, though. 

[tennisgurl]

This really did come full circle, in so many ways. This totally changes how we see the opening scene in the first episode, everything is totally different with this context. Now its not just a bunch of crazed cultists chasing down a partially naked girl, its the kids trying to create a distraction so that they can finally be rescued and Mari sacrificing herself to save the others. The reveal that Misty's smirk was actually because Nat's plan worked and not glee about killing her friend was amazing, I did not see any of that coming. So much of what happened in the episode, Mari going from thinking all of this is dumb to bringing up a sacrifice, the animals dying like in Akilah's vision prompting the hunt, Mari pulling her clothes off, so much makes so much more sense now that we know there was another plan happening. 

I do think that Shauna is capable of love, but she is not really able to express it in a healthy or warm way, it does seem like Callie picked up some of her moms twistedness but unlike Shauna she isn't happy about it. 

What happened in that cave between Lottie and Akilah? It looked like Akilah was going to brain Lottie with a rock but then they both came out of the cave alright and neither mentioned whatever happened, and now we know that Akliha was in on the plot to escape, so what went down? Or did she not come out and I missed her in all of the masks?

Its only on this show that Tai literally eating Van's heart is a pretty minor part of the episode. I thought for a second that Tai in the diner was talking to herself (or Bad Tai) or adult Akilah or even Nat, who fakes her death, but its just Misty, which was pretty weird. This episode makes me even more sad that adult Nat was killed off, she still had so much to do especially now that we have this context. 

Shauna has her Walter White "I did it because I liked it" moment, as we see just how deranged she was in the woods. Mari's "you deserve everything that happens to you" seems like a curse as Shauna's life falls apart around her as an adult, it seems like she was the only person actually having any fun out there despite what she wrote. Even Lottie is less having fun and is more in the throes of delusions. 

RIP Mari. You were too sexy for this show. Started as the distraction and ended as one.

Edited Friday at 07:28 PM by tennisgurl

[Black Knight]

Where are people getting that Caligula is dead? I thought Misty was just cleaning his cage. I'd expect her to be sobbing if Caligula was dead. She was so upset in S1 when Jessica Roberts briefly took Caligula hostage.

Mari was smart to take off her brightly colored clothes because her white gown would better blend with the snow. It was unfortunate she wasn't able to get her pants off without taking her shoes off too, and had no time to put the shoes back on.

1 hour ago, Armchair Critic said:

Natalie is the most likable teen to me, it's too bad Juliette Lewis was killed off early.

Agreed, it's really unfortunate that JL found Natalie too taxing to keep playing, because if she were still alive then in the present day the endgame would probably be Shauna vs. Natalie which thematically makes the most sense. I've read that the Natalie role is the only one of the core group in which the teen was cast first, so casting Adult Natalie differently wouldn't have meant potentially missing out on Sophie Thatcher. Oh well.

On a related note, it was cool to see Courtney Eaton and Simone Kessel together. And the writers didn't choose to set their scene on a plane.

2 hours ago, BitterApple said:

If she'd drawn the Queen as intended, the hunt wouldn't have lasted long enough for Nat to get away. Even if the other girls were running in circles, Shauna would've chased her down pretty quickly. 

An even bigger thing is that Mari couldn't have impersonated Natalie like Hannah did. No way could Mari just keep her mouth shut the whole time. And because of that, they got through not only the hunt, but the entire prep of and feasting on Mari's body before Shauna finally realized Natalie wasn't there. Hannah impersonating Natalie bought the conspirators hours.

[peachmangosteen]

I don’t normally do this but I’m gonna post first and then read others thoughts.

Oof. That was rough. Most of this season has been fun bad to me but this was just boring bad. And once again they just gloss over such big things.

I actually can’t think of one scene that really was good to me. I just watched this but I can’t remember one thing that made me laugh or think or feel anything really lol.

I still liked this season though. The finale didn’t really taint it for me.

I am now even more convinced they’re gonna do 1 more season. The writers have pretty clearly realized they can’t possibly fill 5 seasons. 

[peachmangosteen]

And now I’ve read over the posts. Guess I’m a party of 1 lol.

Quote

I keep thinking about Lottie's words to Mari, something about how she's been in this place before and that things could turn out differently this time. Mari ignored her - understandably - and kept running. But Lottie was right. Mari fell into that pit at the start of the season, she didn't recognize she was in that area again and fell into the pit again, this time fatally. Hmm. And of course the wood covering the pit didn't cave under Lottie last week, but did this week with Mari. Hmmm again. Travis's words were also interesting, talking about another reality (similar to Mari early this season), that he hears Javi and Jackie. I don't know what is up with that boy.

Oh yes those 2 scenes did intrigue me.

Also, Lottie and Akilah in the cave only because it seemed like it was going somewhere and then it just didn’t. 

And Lottie not getting the airplane death scene is intriguing.

Oh and the blocking of the scene where Tai was talking to someone in the diner only for it to just be Misty deeply annoyed me.

Quote

Who was the woman that people thought would be adult Akilah? I don't think I saw her.

I’ve been wondering all season about pre-season when someone was announced as part of the cast and a lot of people speculated it’d be Adult Akilah. I don’t remember who the person cast was though or if we ever even saw her. I admittedly skipped over a lot of the present Tai/Van scenes in the early eps so I just figured maybe she was just a rando in them or something.

Oh I guess now I’m actually somewhat intrigued to see how Akilah/Hannah/Gen/Robin/Other girl die since it obviously won’t be the girls hunting them.

Edited Friday at 08:10 PM by peachmangosteen

[Anela]

8 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

And now I’ve read over the posts. Guess I’m a party of 1 lol.

 

No, it felt off in ways. But we got a few answers, and I loved the ending. 

I totally forgot that Mari fell into that pit before. 

[peachmangosteen]

Lingering questions: Who was Adult Lottie practicing apologizing to?

Did Akilah get out of the cave or did Lottie maybe kill her there? 

And since it seems Melissa was being truthful, why the fuck did she kill Van?

I’m also now starting to wonder if there really are more than the 8 we know reach adulthood that make it out because I don’t really see 5 girls dying before they get rescued. 

[Brn2bwild]

Did we ever get an answer about who left the phone in the bathroom, or is that supposed to be ambiguous?

[WaltersHair]

Quote

Where are people getting that Caligula is dead? I thought Misty was just cleaning his cage. I'd expect her to be sobbing if Caligula was dead. She was so upset in S1 when Jessica Roberts briefly took Caligula hostage.

She clipped his nameplate off the cage and he was nowhere to be seen. I thought there was a suspicious bird shape in the plastic bag she was holding.

I'd be more than happy if I'm wrong.

[Black Knight]

13 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Who was Adult Lottie practicing apologizing to?

Lisa. The apology went with the return of the 50K Lottie had taken from her.

19 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

Did we ever get an answer about who left the phone in the bathroom, or is that supposed to be ambiguous?

We didn't get an answer per se, but Shauna did call and get a relatively generic description of a woman that would have fit adult Melissa but also would have fit plenty of other women who actually live in the area. Ultimately it really just seems to have been Shauna's paranoia in action once again. She drives a junk car, and Misty confessed to not warning her about the refrigerator lock because she was being annoying. I've accidentally left my phone in a public bathroom and I wasn't trying to troll anyone. LOL

I've been thinking about what might happen to take out more girls, and one thing that occurred to me is that if they have to trek to an extraction point, an avalanche could take out a bunch along the way.

[peachmangosteen]

45 minutes ago, WaltersHair said:

She clipped his nameplate off the cage and he was nowhere to be seen. I thought there was a suspicious bird shape in the plastic bag she was holding.

I thought she got rid of the nameplate because Walter gave it to her. The way she tossed it made it seem like that imo. I didn't notice the bag but I also didn't see Caligula in the cage either so I don't know.

45 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Lisa. The apology went with the return of the 50K Lottie had taken from her.

Thank you. I do remember that lol.

You'll probably know this then: Was Akilah seen after the cave scene with Lottie?

Also, so Lottie told Akilah to kill the animals to incite a hunt. But Akilah (and apparently all the other girls) actually did it to incite a fake hunt to distract Lottie/Shauna from Natalie going to use the phone. Do I have that right?

I really didn't get that while watching lol. I should probably rewatch because I missed a lot. It just wasn't grabbing me so I kinda zoned out, I think.

Edited Friday at 09:52 PM by peachmangosteen

[peachmangosteen]

Ah, I remember something else lol. How did everyone take Travis mentioning 'makeout sessions' between Shauna and Jackie? Something Jackie actually told him, and if so was it true or not, or just them showing that Travis could tell Shauna was in love with Jackie?

[WaltersHair]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I thought she got rid of the nameplate because Walter gave it to her. The way she tossed it made it seem like that imo. I didn't notice the bag but I also didn't see Caligula in the cage either so I don't know.

This makes sense. It was just a first impression.

I do think the writers probably would have had  this being a plot point, but it made sense to me. Misty was gone for several days and she has regressed since Natalie died. She  won't take her jacket off. If she's okay with eating humans, backing her best friend off a cliff, and poisoning the whole group, neglecting Caligula is the least of her offenses. 

I also think Walter would have rescued him. Trespassing? Locks? What is that?

[Brn2bwild]

10 minutes ago, WaltersHair said:

This makes sense. It was just a first impression.

I do think the writers probably would have had  this being a plot point, but it made sense to me. Misty was gone for several days and she has regressed since Natalie died. She  won't take her jacket off. If she's okay with eating humans, backing her best friend off a cliff, and poisoning the whole group, neglecting Caligula is the least of her offenses. 

This will be our "is Steve the dog alive?" to tide us over until next season.

[peachmangosteen]

This season really drove home imo what a mistake it was to kill off Natalie. It seems so blatantly obvious that Natalie being killed off that early wasn’t the plan and I think their decision to pivot in this way was not the best one. But I don’t blame Juliette for leaving; it’s messed up that she was lied to by the writers. They really should have just recast. 

I’m trying to enjoy the show for what it is and I mostly do but man it’s hard not to think about the ways it could be better lol.

Edited Friday at 11:29 PM by peachmangosteen

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I thought she got rid of the nameplate because Walter gave it to her. The way she tossed it made it seem like that imo. I didn't notice the bag but I also didn't see Caligula in the cage either so I don't know.

Thank you. I do remember that lol.

You'll probably know this then: Was Akilah seen after the cave scene with Lottie?

Also, so Lottie told Akilah to kill the animals to incite a hunt. But Akilah (and apparently all the other girls) actually did it to incite a fake hunt to distract Lottie/Shauna from Natalie going to use the phone. Do I have that right?

I forgot to look for Akilah when I was watching, so I don't know the answer to that. She wasn't one of the people smirking at Shauna after Hannah was revealed, I know that much, but that may not mean anything.

I'm not sure if Akilah was one of the conspirators. There's an argument for either because she's flip-flopped between stay and go and consequently is a true wild card. What she said to Lottie in the cave does seem to put her back on Team Go, but I'd like confirmation. I assume we'll find out more fully next season, when Tai who is Team Stay has to deal with Van plotting behind her back to make a rescue happen.

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Ah, I remember something else lol. How did everyone take Travis mentioning 'makeout sessions' between Shauna and Jackie? Something Jackie actually told him, and if so was it true or not, or just them showing that Travis could tell Shauna was in love with Jackie?

Well, according to Travis he hears dead people's thoughts now. LOL He might be losing it, or maybe he was just trying to delay Shauna and figured he had a good shot of that remark being true. Van had a line earlier in the season about whether Shauna was making Melissa dress up in Jackie's clothes, so we know this is something that has occurred to people.

[peachmangosteen]

OK so then it’s not entirely clear that everyone sans Shana/Lottie were in on this being a fake hunt to distract for Natalie? I keep seeing so many comments that seem to say that they were all in on it but I really didn’t get that from watching. But again I was kinda bored so I wasn’t paying close attention.

Also, to complain again lol, in addition to hating the decision to kill off Natalie, I really hate that they’ve made Shauna into a cartoon villain. It doesn’t feel like it even makes complete sense it just seems kinda lazy and boring. And Sophie N. kinda sucks at portraying it as well.

Edited Friday at 11:45 PM by peachmangosteen

[JenE4]

I’m not sure whether everyone was in on it, but it seems that most of them were. I was under the impression that Akilah was a “double agent” like Misty. She told Lottie she killed her animals to incite the hunt, but that was just all part of the plan to create a diversion so Natalie could escape to use the phone. When she confronted Lottie in the cave with rock in hand, she let on that she is no longer a believer. I really thought she was going to attack/kill Lottie, but maybe she was just tasked with keeping Lottie at bay to help Natalie and Mari get away. I think they realized they needed to take drastic measures to get any type of free space to get away with the phone, especially after Shauna was accusing and searching Natalie’s hut at the beginning like a nazi. Hannah didn’t seem to be part of the plan from the start but was pleading to help when she ran into Natalie? Misty? near the phone. I had a really difficult time with everyone having their faces covered. I’m not sure who half the people were half the time. But I guess that’s part of what made the plan work since Shauna couldn’t tell them apart, either.

As for Caligula, no idea whether he’s dead! Misty was prying that nameplate off the cage and then put the screwdriver in her back pocket when she went to answer the door to Shauna, so I was more focused on Chekov’s screwdriver as a weapon…but that turned out to be nothing. I presumed she’s mad at Walter and removing anything that reminds her of him, and he gave her that nameplate.

Coach Ben, frog scientist, Kodi, and Mari—how are they even managing to eat all of these people?! I make a chicken and I’m like what am I supposed to do with this? They’re roasting up about 750 pounds of meat! Plus, all of the girls who were in on Operation Escape seemed to be just fine with going along with the gruesome death ritual—which is getting more gruesome with every kill—and eating Mari when presumably they shouldn’t even be hungry at this point. But I guess they were still distracting Shauna, decking her all out to really keep her preoccupied.

[Black Knight]

Tai most certainly wouldn't have known, and a few of the redshirt girls were pretty enthusiastic about the hunt. Hannah wasn't originally in on it and during the hunt convinced Natalie to let her help. The conspirators knew to be careful about who they took into their confidence. The more people who know, the likelier of the plot getting out.

I don't think Shauna is a cartoon villain. She's been through a lot and she was already rather sociopathic going into the wilderness, seeing as how she was banging her best friend's boyfriend when it was clear she had no affection for him. From S1 on it was clear she'd really enjoyed her time in the wilderness - there were small clues like her having a pine air freshener for her car, and big clues like getting really hot for Jeff after killing and skinning a rabbit. She killed Adam and experienced no remorse even after learning he was totally innocent, and this after telling Tai that he made her feel alive or whatever. She finally got power when Lottie made her leader and went power-mad. I think Sophie Nelisse has done a great job, but people's mileage varies.

[BitterApple]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

And now I’ve read over the posts. Guess I’m a party of 1 lol.

Oh I guess now I’m actually somewhat intrigued to see how Akilah/Hannah/Gen/Robin/Other girl die since it obviously won’t be the girls hunting them.

Yellowjackets is one of those shows where I've hated some of the episodes when they premiered, but they grew on me during a rewatch. 

I don't know how much time has passed since the researchers found them, but I'm curious as to how long it will be between Nat making the call and the first rescue team showing up. It seems like a pretty small window for Akilah/Hannah/Gen/Robin/Other to die. However I have to think Robin/Other don't make it out of the woods because the writers have done nothing to develop their characters. I'm half expecting them to die offscreen and we get a throwaway line about it when S4 premieres. 

[Chaos Theory]

I think the show is going with the whole yes Callie is a lot like her mother.  Her capacity for violence is high but then there is Jeff.   How much of Jeff’s himbo charm and overall goodness does Callie have?   

[Wicked]

Is Akilah ok? did she come out of the cave?

[millennium]

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Agreed, it's really unfortunate that JL found Natalie too taxing to keep playing, because if she were still alive then in the present day the endgame would probably be Shauna vs. Natalie which thematically makes the most sense. I've read that the Natalie role is the only one of the core group in which the teen was cast first, so casting Adult Natalie differently wouldn't have meant potentially missing out on Sophie Thatcher. Oh well.

You're right, it should have been Natalie vs. Shauna.

I keep hoping that in the end, we discover it was Jackie's ghost fucking with them all along.   I got a glimmer of hope tonight when Travis said he was linking with Jackie.

Please note, the camp was again referred to as "the village" in tonight's episode.

The hunt as shown in the pilot episode was more creepy and chilling than tonight's version.   And when did they all decide they should wear masks?  That seems to have come out of nowhere.   Surprised no one made masks out of Coach's and Kodi's faces.

On 4/11/2025 at 1:40 AM, Brn2bwild said:

The only ones who were bloodthirsty were Shauna and Lottie - the rest were trying to distract and give Mari more time to escape.

They get no hero points.  They're weaklings and cowards.   I'm so tired of having to suffer people who know better and have agency of their own doing the bidding of narcissistic leaders, even when they know it's wrong.

[Colorado David]

did i miss something? why did shauna do a bed check for nataliee? she doesn't know nat knows about what misty did as far as we know so what the heck was she looking for? or was she just being a buttpain to her.

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Yellowjackets is one of those shows where I've hated some of the episodes when they premiered, but they grew on me during a rewatch. 

I don't know how much time has passed since the researchers found them, but I'm curious as to how long it will be between Nat making the call and the first rescue team showing up. It seems like a pretty small window for Akilah/Hannah/Gen/Robin/Other to die. However I have to think Robin/Other don't make it out of the woods because the writers have done nothing to develop their characters. I'm half expecting them to die offscreen and we get a throwaway line about it when S4 premieres. 

I think we could find out ine or more is alive? But something else that could kill them is illness, we haven’t seen a lot of that. With some new people, new germs. 

[JenE4]

52 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

did i miss something? why did shauna do a bed check for nataliee? she doesn't know nat knows about what misty did as far as we know so what the heck was she looking for? or was she just being a buttpain to her.

I don’t think we got a reason. (Though also curious if anyone else caught it.) However, I just took it as showing how controlling, paranoid, and dangerous the “Shauna Regime” was that that’s why the opposition had to go to such great lengths of setting up a hunt as a diversion to get Natalie and the satellite phone out of there as their only hope of being rescued. It didn’t make sense in the beginning of the episode, but in retrospect it shows how scared they all were to cross Shauna to her face, but secretly didn’t want to support her. So it was also interesting that none of them (aside from Lottie, maybe Tai) wanted Shauna as the leader, yet they went to the great spectacle of bestowing her as the Antler Queen (bedecked in Mari’s hair!) as a (false) showing of their deference. As for why Natalie was targeted, I think it was simply because she was the last leader, so Shauna was using her power to punish her “political enemies.” And it set up why Natalie decided to take action to save them from Shauna as well as the elements.

Edited Saturday at 12:22 PM by JenE4

[SeanC]

Great choice of music for the final sequence, though that unavoidably also makes me think of the Weird Al parody (though "Livin' in the Fridge" arguably also fits the girls' circumstances).

Sophie Nelisse clearly had a blast this season just getting to go full heel, which from her interviews is clearly what she wanted all along.

[peachmangosteen]

12 hours ago, BitterApple said:

I'm half expecting them (Robin/Other Girl) to die offscreen and we get a throwaway line about it when S4 premieres. 

The writers love to just skip over pretty big things so I could see this. It'd be kinda funny.

37 minutes ago, SeanC said:

Sophie Nelisse clearly had a blast this season just getting to go full heel, which from her interviews is clearly what she wanted all along.

That shocks me. She seems so uncomfortable playing it to me. Or just not very good at it. She gave it no nuance but I guess we maybe aren't supposed to see any. Apparently Shauna was always a sociopath with no capacity for love or empathy, which doesn't jive with what we saw in seasons 1 and 2 at all but OK lol.

I guess we're supposed to now assume the original scene of the hunt in the pilot was Shauna's memory of it. Because it was quite different then to how it was shown here. Which means we can't actually believe any of the wilderness scenes we've gotten because they could all just turn out to be someone's false memories. I hate that so damn much.

Edited Saturday at 02:02 PM by peachmangosteen

[peachmangosteen]

12 hours ago, BitterApple said:

I don't know how much time has passed since the researchers found them, but I'm curious as to how long it will be between Nat making the call and the first rescue team showing up.

I was just thinking about this again and I figured it wouldn't take too long but we also have to see Melissa/Gen get close to Hannah so there has to be a pretty significant amount of time for that to happen. I guess maybe the phone will give out before Natalie and the guy on it can really talk, which might mean it takes the rescuers a longer time to get there or something.

And speaking of Melissa, what the fuck lol. So she was actually being honest with Shauna. She even told her to forgive herself in the letter. So then why did she gleefully murder Van? I was annoyed we didn't get any Melissa followup in this episode.

[AstridM]

7 hours ago, millennium said:

They get no hero points.  They're weaklings and cowards.   I'm so tired of having to suffer people who know better and have agency of their own doing the bidding of narcissistic leaders, even when they know it's wrong.

[BitterApple]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Which means we can't actually believe any of the wilderness scenes we've gotten because they could all just turn out to be someone's false memories. I hate that so damn much.

Me too. I hate that the adult characters made it a point to reiterate they can't remember the Wilderness. It feels like a ploy to give the writers a lifeline. If they can't figure out a way to wrap up the story, they'll just retcon everything and chalk it up to unreliable narration. 

I particularly don't buy it in Teen Shauna's case because she loves being out there. Why would she repress memories of her glory days? If anything she'd want to relive them in her mind, given she got stuck with the boring life she never wanted. 

[Affogato]

2 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Me too. I hate that the adult characters made it a point to reiterate they can't remember the Wilderness. It feels like a ploy to give the writers a lifeline. If they can't figure out a way to wrap up the story, they'll just retcon everything and chalk it up to unreliable narration. 

I particularly don't buy it in Teen Shauna's case because she loves being out there. Why would she repress memories of her glory days? If anything she'd want to relive them in her mind, given she got stuck with the boring life she never wanted. 

Remember when she skins and chops that rabbit. It is like she’s triggered. Yeah. But whether she wanted her current life or not she is constantly on edge and danger and drama is the inly way she releases the tension. So no, mostly it wasn’t fun for her. 

[SeanC]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

And speaking of Melissa, what the fuck lol. So she was actually being honest with Shauna. She even told her to forgive herself in the letter. So then why did she gleefully murder Van?

They took her hostage (and in Shauna's case, want to kill her), clearly she decided it was them or her.

[peachmangosteen]

It didn’t play that way to me. She was almost gleeful. She made a snide comment to Van that seemed pointed. I guess more could come from it but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just never brought up again tbh.

Also, I’m really gonna need Walter to be more than a rich guy obsessed with Misty. They’ve already done ‘guy obsessed with Yellowjacket’ with Adam. I get it writers, I like Elijah Wood too, and there’s been a lot of fun Walter scenes, but to waste precious seconds of the final ep of the season just showing him stare at Tai/Misty in the diner like come on lol.