April 15: Yellowjackets 3x10

[kinetic_elaboration]

Have finished Yellowjackets s3. I... am of mixed feelings to be honest. I found the finale pretty underwhelming. I feel guilty about this to a degree--like it would have been more impactful if I hadn't been systematically spoiling myself the whole way through, even though I also believe that if something is worth watching, it's worth watching twice and/or if spoiled. Or perhaps guilty because I'm just not Getting the vision, as some people seem to be.

I don't know.

My biggest issue is Shauna. I am still Team Shauna Forever because honestly if you're watching the lesbian cannibal show and not willing to stan the Chief Cannibal I'm not sure what you're doing. Like reading reactions and analyses this whole time, esp on Reddit, has been deeply frustrating because there are so many people out there acting like Shauna is a real person and she really killed their dog and made it into stew or something. You're watching the Fucked Up Acts show, hello!

But by the end of the season it became hard for me to ignore that the creators seem to be actually pushing viewers to hate her, and so maybe all those 'ugggh Shauna is the WORST' people were in fact right. I hate to say it. Like I don't think she's meant to be the anti-hero as much as the antagonist. Everything is kind of coalescing around her as the Big Bad, setting up this situation where everyone else bands together to take her down, and like I get it: as Dollhouse proved, it is WAY easier to finish up your story and tie up your loose ends when there is one bad guy to take down. Instant resolution. Of course Dollhouse barely eked out 2 seasons and YJ could probably have 5 if it wanted so it has less of an excuse. But it's so dissatisfying to me as a concept. They're all fucked up and they're all feral and they all do messed up shit! That's the point! That's what I signed up for! I really do not want everyone to be absolved of everything because at least they're not Shauna. That is so simple and so boring and honestly a little distasteful. And it feels like a bait and switch.

Similarly, I was in fact let down by the big reveal of the 'pit girl' hunt. I don't mind it was Mari--I think it was fairly obvious this whole time it was her because, even though I know none of the actors were the same for that scene, there's really only one person of roughly the same demographics as that girl. Duh. But the more general concept: a rigged hunt, an accidental death, no one really into it but just manipulated by Stalin Shauna--that doesn't feel like a twist or a revelation but like a cop out. I've been watching for 3 seasons to find out HOW they got to this point, not that they never actually did and I was misinterpreting the original event the whole time. Especially when there actually has been build up that could conceivably lead them, all of them, or at least most of them, to the sort of ceremonial but frenzied hunt that's initially depicted. At least, in my opinion. The cold-blooded nature of it is difficult to fully square with everything else, but like... not impossible. Not impossible. And they had 3 seasons and over a year in universe, and they used that time to build up to fucked up shit like everyone eating Jackie in a mass frenzy, or Ben's trial, or the feast after his death.

I really wish they had not brought in the frog scientists. This twist feels silly as hell to me. It breaks the illusion that they are in their own Otherworld out there, makes everything they're doing look 100x stupider, not more deranged. And it breaks the spell for them too! Most of these girls are not going to willingly engage in a hunt like the one that killed Javi after being reminded that home exists and it's quasi-plausible for them again. Also Hannah is a complete non-entity and the men even lesser entities.

I know there's some amount of time between now and rescue and some more hunts could occur. But like... each one so far has been a pretty unusual circumstance, and yet in the future they talk about these events as if they were in some way regular, with set rules and patterns. That's not really gelling for me either.

And back to Shauna. I love feral Shauna and I liked most of her diary entry at the end. But everyone else closing ranks against her? Misty suddenly being all badass? Her family leaving her--even ride or die himbo husband Jeff? Tai turning on her? TAISSA? Just when I start shipping them? Girl, you decapitated your own dog and put its head on an alter in your basement. And you can blame 'other you' for that but not eating your girlfriend's heart over the grave you just dug for her. Be realistic!!

Anyway. I still have ideas for my Tai/Shauna piece and I would like to continue that but otherwise this interest is probably going back into hibernation soon.