Tag Archives: review

Squid Game Season 3

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Squid Game Season Three dropped on Netflix yesterday and I was able to binge it on Saturday and what an emotionally ragged trip this show took us on over the last six episodes of the acclaimed Korean series.

If we are really being truthful, season three of Squid Game really should be considered the second part of season two, as season two left us with a huge cliffhanger and very little to nothing resolved. Season Two Part 2 or Season Three is really semantics, so who cares that much?

Season two had spent a lot of time building the characters participating in the Squid Game up, so we had connections to them and that we cared about them (or despised them, as the case may be). I guess we should have known that they were building up these characters in order to rip our hearts out in the last season… because that is exactly what happened.

Honestly, there were a few characters that I believed would survive this season because I couldn’t believe that the show would be that cold hearted. Unfortunately, the show could be that cold hearted because practically every character that I thought “no way do they kill them off” got killed off.

Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) was the one I was sure would survive, but the show had a fate for him planned out. He was truly our hero of the show and he showed what an honorable man he actually was. His efforts to save the baby, as well as others along the way, made him the show’s breakout character.

Geum-ja was another character that I thought for sure the show would not kill off, and then she hanged herself, after stabbing her own son to prevent him from killing Kim Jun-hee moments after she had given birth. That round of hide and seek was just horrific and filled with tension and anguish. Hyun-ju was another who I was sure had a great chance of being safe, but she did not make it out of the hide and seek, despite the fact that she found the exit before anyone else. She returned to get Geum-ja and Kim Jun-hee, whom had been together the whole game, only to get killed from behind by Myung-gi, right in front of Jun-hee and his daughter.

The jump rope section was also just rough and showed the worst in the players of this game. In fact, the worst of them kept making it through and the characters that I cared about kept getting killed off. I felt satisfied by the end with the deaths of those rotten players though.

However, the VIPs arrived to watch the games and they all had zero accountability at all. Man, I really wanted those VIPs to pay some kind of price for their cavalier attitude toward the games and their downright cruelty and wickedness. Nope, they see the ending of the games when Seong Gi-hun threw himself off the large pillar to save the baby and the VIPs are just never seen again. I really wanted someone to burst into the room and blast them all with some automatic weapon.

Who would guess that Cate Blanchett would be involved in the recruiting for more Squid Games in the world? She made a cameo as an American recruiter playing ddakji with some guy in an alleyway.

The last ten-fifteen minutes was spent wrapping stories up, giving us some ideas on what the few surviving characters were doing, specifically those secondary characters, such as Seong Gi-hun’s daughter.

This was a rough final season as so many of the characters that we had bonded with are killed rapidly. As I said, I really wanted more of a final ending that does not make me think that the Squid Games could be brought back or continue on as the show outright implied. The VIPs needed some kind of comeuppance for me to feel completely satisfied. The sacrifice made by Seong Gi-hun was beautiful and packed an emotional wallop.

A powerhouse of a series.

Ghostlight

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June 7

This was another movie that I never would have heard of if not for Dan Murrell, online critic, who put Ghostlight on his best of 2024 list. After hearing that, I added it to the June Swoon list.

Thank you, Dan. This was a sensational movie, one of the best that I have seen over the last year or so.

According to IMDB, “When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.”

This script was beautifully constructed and the story told in a wonderful manner. Pieces of the story were given as the film progressed. We knew some of the things that happened, but they hold on to the overall events for the stretch. The writing was layered and worked so well that you could feel everything going on.

The performances were out of this world. Interestingly, the actors who played Dan and Sharon Mueller, Keith Kupferer and Tara Mallen, are married in real life, and their on-screen daughter Daisy was played by their real life daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer. All of this made this feel real and all three of them knocked this out of the park.

I had immediate connection to this movie because I know kids like Daisy, who came out immediately with curse words and anger. I wanted to know more about what was going on, and these characters were so well done that everything was awesome.

I watched the movie on Amazon Prime and, I am not sure if this was the way it was supposed to go, but the very end felt like Prime cut off too soon. Maybe that was how the film ended, which, if so, it felt like I needed one more scene.

That was the only problem that I had with this film. It is one of the best movies I have seen in awhile. The story was small and emotional with the feeling of reality truly cutting deep. Ghostlight was great. If I were giving star ratings for these June Swoon movies, this would be five stars.

Screamboat

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June 4

When I saw this for rent on Vudu, I expected it to be another film in the same vein as Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. It had two movies and both were in the top 5 worst movies of their respective years. Taking the Steamboat Willie cartoon from public domain felt like the same kind of sad and pathetic attempt.

Make no mistake, this is a terrible movie….

But…

I don’t know… I guess I came in with the expectations of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, but Screamboat was better than that. It’s not good. Just better than Blood and Honey.

According to IMDB, “A seemingly routine late-night ferry ride in New York City descends into chaos when an ordinary mouse undergoes a terrifying transformation. This mutated creature unleashes a reign of terror upon the unsuspecting passengers, forcing them to fight for their survival. As the body count rises, the remaining survivors must band together to find a way to escape the deadly vessel and confront the monstrous threat“

The piece that felt better than Blood and Honey was this had a satiric side to it. The Steamboat Willie character itself had some funny parts. He would whistle just before killing his victim, much like Mickey would in the original Steamboat Willie animated movie. I kind of liked the backstory of Steamboat Willie, involving the man known as Walt. Some of the kills were sufficiently gross. There were a couple of characters that I wanted to survive the trip on the ferry.

What was bad about the film? Oh, let’s see… the acting, the dialogue was horrendous. Most of these characters were one-dimensional and there were these “bad girls” that I really wanted to get killed by the mouse. I was cheering for Willie when they did. The characters did some really stupid things and made some really stupid choices. Plenty of the choices made no sense. Of course, stupid characters are not uncommon for some horror films, especially the slasher ones. A couple of the deaths of our main characters felt underwhelming.

If I am being honest, there are some funny moments in the movie and they actually felt like they were intended it to be funny. There was one line of dialogue that made me laugh out loud. One character fired a flare gun at Willie and said “Say cheese, mother f@#$%.” I thought that was exceptionally funny.

This is nowhere as bad as either of the two Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey movies and if you want a stupid movie to watch that has some dumb laughs and a murderous version of Mickey Mouse, you could do worse than this movie. Just know what kind of movie this is and do not expect much, and you might even have a passable time.

2.1 stars

Ender’s Game (2013)

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With the school year coming to an end, we decided to show a movie at the end of the most recent unit we have been working on. It was a sci-fi/space adventure unit and it actually had a possible “long” read offered of Orson Scott Card’s novel, Ender’s Game. We decided to show the movie to the seventh graders.

I hadn’t seen Ender’s Game since it was in the theaters back in 2013, so I was excited to get a chance to see it again. I remember liking it, but not loving it.

The cast of this film was extraordinary, starting with Asa Butterfield as Ender and Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff. These two had tremendous chemistry and carried much of the film. The actresses that played Valentine and Petra drove me nuts at first because I knew I recognized them but I just could not place their youthful faces. After a check on IMDB, I realized that Valentine was Abigail Breslin and Petra was Hailee Steinfeld. They were both great. The movie also included Ben Kingsley, Nonso Anozie and Viola Davis. Great actors in this film.

The special effects and the shots were spectacular as well. It looked beautiful and stunning at every moment. The animation of the mind game was a little uncanny valley, but it was supposed to be, showing the difference between this game world and the real world.

I did have some problems, basically with the script. It felt like there were too many moments that were rushed, as if they needed to cut things out to fit it in the film, and because of that, some scenes which were meant to be more impactful, ended up less so than it could have been.

One example was a scene between Ender and Sgt. Dap (Nonso Anozie) where Ender was being a particularly annoying child. Dap screamed at him to shut up and that he would never salute Ender. Then it felt like ten minutes later that Dap was doing that very thing. It was meant to be a powerful moment, but Ender did not seem to have earned that salute in any way, so the powerful moment felt a bit flat.

The conclusion of the film is sensational and Asa Butterfield is excellent at this moment. The eyes of Butterfield were remarkable, constantly right on the verge of being filled with tears while reflecting the light perfectly. The close-up visuals of Ender always worked.

The message is not ignored in Ender’s Game and, in fact, could be argued that it is as important to the film as anything else.

The students of my class seemed to enjoy the film, as every class that I showed this to asked if there was a sequel. I pointed out the book series while telling them that this was the only movie. One girl told me that she wanted Ender and Petra to get married… that she shipped them.

In the end, the film was pretty good. Yes, I think some of the writing needed some work and some of the moments did not feel as earned as it should have, but Ender’s Game was still a fun time among sci-fi films made for both kids and adults.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #15

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“24/7”

John Dee-centric episode took quite a turn.

With John having the dream ruby, he stops off at a diner for some coffee and truth-telling, bringing along everyone with the misfortune to come inside the diner.

This did not feature much Sandman. Outside of a shot of him still unconscious with Matthew trying to wake him, we do not see Morpheus until the final act of the episode. What we get is a tour de force from David Thewlis as John, just sitting back and observing the scenario he put into place about truth telling. There was something funny about John Dee watching everything unfold as he dug into a big container of ice cream.

The show provides a powerful theme about truth and lies, showing, I believe, the fact that we cannot survive by being honest all the time about everything. It reveals the darker side of human nature and destroys the idea that “honesty is the best policy.” At least in part.

The unfortunate people in the diner have to face their unhappy existences because John Dee has created a situation where they are going to tell the truth about everything. Even for one of the sweetest characters that we have seen so far, waitress Bette Munroe (Emma Duncan), who seemed to be engaging and friendly to everyone.

The show does a strong job of introducing these secondary characters quickly and providing enough details that make us intrigued, if not interested, in their lives and their eventual downfall.

There was a lot of darkness in this episode, and Morpheus is anything but a hero. He is just finally here to retrieve the power of the ruby, which he does in the final showdown. I was unaware that John Dee was the kid of the man who had captured and imprisoned Morpheus in episode one, and that made the story all the more interesting. John Dee seems to have found his own fate at the end of the show.

Is it just me or is Matthew the raven a better person than anyone else on the show?

There are six more weeks of The Sandman in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Light & Magic S2 E2

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“There Must Be A Better Way…”

The second episode of the second season of Light & Magic on Disney + featured heavily on the transition from practical effects to that of digital recording and the way in which ILM lead the way in the field of digital special effects.

It started out talking about the elephant in the room, Jar Jar Binks.

Jar Jar is one of the most hated of Star Wars characters among a certain section of the fandom, but the doc looked at the creation of the character. They spoke to Jar Jar actor, Ahmed Best, who was not taking the criticism and anger of the character well. The comments of Jar Jar being a racist character or filled of racist tropes was difficult for him to hear. It got so bad that he told a story about him going on a bridge in New York with the intent of “showing them” how much it affected him. This story of a man having suicidal thoughts over the creation of a movie character was very powerful as was the resolution of the story. It made me think about my own feelings toward Jar Jar.

I was impressed with how much of the negative thoughts and criticisms this doc dealt with. They could have easily brushed that under the rug, but the doc still showed the push back ILM received for its motion capture and digital film from the movie society in general.

The doc spent some time showing how they were involved in the creation of digital tornados for films such as Jumanji and Twister as well as the massive wave from A Perfect Storm.

They spent a good deal of time telling about how they transitioned from Yoda being a puppet as he was in the original trilogy to more of a digital character and then eventually to a point where Yoda could have a lightsaber fight with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. One of the more fascinating parts of that section of the show was seeing how Frank Oz, who was puppeteering and voice Yoda, went through so much trouble and challenges with this extremely heavy puppet that he had to hold up with his right arm.

There is one more episode of season two to go. My guess is that it will focus in on Revenge of the Sith.

The X-Files S8 E21

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“Existence”

After so many years of me screaming for Mulder to shoot Cigarette Smoking Man in the head and not getting it, it was incredibly satisfying to have Skinner shoot Krychek in the head. Finally! This character was long overdue to meet his maker, and the fact that it was Skinner who got to do it really paid off the torture that Krychek put him through recently.

Baby William was born in this finale of season 8, and, after a lengthy chase and dangerous situation after situation, the Billy Miles led group let the baby alone and left without him. I suppose the baby did not come out like an alien as we had seen in some other births over the last season.

The final scene with Mulder and Scully sharing a kiss with the baby in her arms was excellent and felt very much like an ending. I know there is much more with these two, even if they are stepping back in season 9, but had they not come back, this would have made a very welcome close to the pair.

I did enjoy Doggett standing up to Kersh. It was clear that Doggett and Reyes were going to be the next generation of the X-Files at the FBI and that Kersh will be a major antagonist for them. I am still not necessarily looking forward to the ninth season, but we’ll give it the same chance that I gave this season.

As I have said in previous season 8 write-ups, this turned out to be a better season than I remembered. I bonded more with Doggett than I did the first time around, and while I am still not fond of Agent Reyes, I am willing to give her a chance.

So there are one full season left and two shortened seasons in this rewatch. I believe the count was 36 remaining episodes of the X-Files. I may have to do rewatches of the two feature films from the franchise too before the end of this rewatch.

The X-Files S8 E18, E19, E20

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“Vienen”

“Alone”

“Essence”

With just a handful of episodes remaining in season 8 of The X-Files, I wanted to get them churned out. I have been doing this re-watch of the X-Files since September of 2023 and I am down to one more episode for this season, leaving just season 9, 10, & 11.

My memory of season 8 during its original run was that I did not like it much, but I have to say that this season was better than I had remembered. I have made this speculation before, but it seems obvious that my original thought on this season was the lack of Mulder and what seemed like a replacement in John Doggett. John Doggett has won me over during this re-watch as I was not angry at Mulder not being there.

Of these three episodes, they all had that old X-Files feel to them. With “Vienen” featuring the final appearance of the Black Oil and the ultimate firing of Mulder by Deputy Director Kersh, the whole alien conspiracy felt like it was back, even though it was different and no longer being directed by CSM.

“Alone” was a pretty decent monster-of-the-week tale that had Mulder truly put his trust in Doggett, in a life and death moment. It was a stress-inducing episode where I was reminded of Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard, from Amazing Spider-Man. Oh, those pesky scientists.

“Essence” is a part one of the season finale where we focus in on those people trying to get to Scully’s baby. It reclaimed the old days of the conspiracy as we learn about a baby/alien cloning program and how Billy Miles is like the unstoppable Terminator (ironic since Robert Patrick is on the other end of that). This one was pulling in the old guard too as, of all people, Alex Krychek showed up to help out the good guys team. I still would have loved to see someone put a bullet in Krychek’s head, but I guess he did help things out.

I hope to finish off season 8 either tomorrow or some time early next week. Season 9 has 20 episodes. Season 10 has six episodes and season 11 has 10 episodes, meaning that I am down to 37 episodes remaining in this re-watch of the X-Files. As I said, it has been going since September 2023 so we will be done with this under two years.

Adolescence TV Mini-Series E1-4

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Whoa.

The new Netflix series Adolescence was a British crime drama that really packed a punch.

It was a four episode limited series that explored the story of a 13-year old boy accused of murdering a female classmate and the effects that this had on the boy, his family and others at school.

The third episode was the most stunning of the four, as it featured the boy Jamie Miller and Psychologist Briony Ariston having a session where she was trying to assess Jamie’s understanding of the case. This hour of TV was as thrilling and anxiety-ridden as you will ever see, with two amazing performances from these two actors, who spent nearly the entire time alone in a room. Owen Cooper played Jamie, and Erin Doherty played Briony.

The four episodes are shot in a one take (although there are a few moments where there are hidden cuts in the filming). It was an amazing accomplishment of acting and staging of a TV program to make this one take even remotely possible.

The show was created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. Graham also starred as Eddie Miller, the father of Jamie. His performance in episode four was all kinds of heartbreaking, ranging from anger to total rage to regret and grief. The show did not shy away from the after-effects on the family, showing how the parents were forever damaged by their son’s actions.

The show uses the term incel, which is a mostly online subculture of men who are unable to find a girlfriend and who use this as an excuse to blame women for it. It is a type of misogynistic tendency that has been more active in the last few years. The show name dropped Andrew Tate during one episode.

Owen Cooper was exceptional as the Jamie Miller. His performance was both emotional and chilling. I wanted to believe his denials right up until the fourth episode when he calls his dad, on his father’s 50th birthday, to tell him that he had decided to plead guilty. Even after Jamie nearly admitted that he had done it in episode three and the implication that they had him on CCTV footage actually stabbing the girl, I wanted to believe that there was going to be a twist. I wanted to believe that there was something else going on. In the end, it was exactly what it looked like the whole time.

This was a devastating four episodes of TV, with unbelievable performances from everybody and a plot that was absolutely gripping and crushingly real. It is not an easy watch, but it is a powerful one.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

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I do love the Looney Tunes. However, to be fair, Bugs Bunny is my favorite character. I was wearing my Bugs Bunny shirt when I went to see the new WB Animation movie The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. I knew that Daffy Duck and Porky Pig were the leads of the flick, but I was still hoping for a Bugs Bunny cameo. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Despite the disappointment over the lack of the rascally rabbit, I had fun with the feature-length animated film. There were some moments that I did not love, but, for the most part, this was a good time and the Looney Tunes remain a classic cartoon.

According to IMDB, “Porky and Daffy, the classic animated odd couple, turn into unlikely heroes when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot. Against all odds, the two are determined to save their town (and the world!)…that is if they don’t drive each other crazy in the process.”

The early years with Daffy and Porky being raised by Farmer Jim were wonderful. The way the movie presented Farmer Jim was something special. I found every minute of Farmer Jim to be hilarious, and the different animation style on the character was perfect.

The film really is of two parts. The first part is dealing with the dangerous chewing gum, and the second part switches things up and has to deal with a planet wide emergency, both situations featured Daffy and Porky smack dab in the middle.

The voice acting was solid from a group of voice over actors that may not be known names, but who had plenty of experience to bring great work. They include Eric Bauza (both Porky and Daffy), Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Fred Tatasciore, Laraine Newman, Wayne Knight, Ruth Clampett, Kimberly Brooks, Keith Ferguson, and Peter Browngardt.

The Looney Tunes certainly have a place in today’s animated films and this should show that. I want Bugs Bunny next time, though.

3.75 stars

The X-Files S8 E10

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“Badlaa”

So I have mixed feelings about this episode of the X-Files.

On one hand, I really liked the way Scully responded in this episode. It has been one of the questions I have had about the season 8 episodes. Scully has been doing the believer part, replacing Mulder and Doggett took the role of skeptic. It felt as if Scully really switched places quickly, without any trouble. Here, two things finally happened.

First, they mentioned Mulder’s name again. I am not sure when he was last mentioned, which felt weird for such an important character. Secondly, Scully admitted that she had been struggling to see things the way Mulder did and that she was not having much success. Both of these truths have been long time coming, and I assume it means that the writers are trying to put Mulder’s name back into the show because David Duchovny would be returning soon.

As for the other side of this episode, I have to say that the monster-of-the-week here, what was referenced as a fakir, was laughable in appearance and would climb into its victim’s body though his butt. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, the antagonist was being dubbed “Butt Munch” by a critic and “Butt Genie” by fans. Gurdeep Roy, aka Deep Roy, was a noted stuntman who wound up playing the fakir in the episode and he made me laugh immediately. Whereas I think it was intended to be creepy, the creature was silly.

That was a major drawback immediately, and the whole butt stuff did not help that out. I am not sure they ever really gave a motive for what the fakir was doing, or why he was killing those people that he was killing. Why he went after the boys in the end is unclear, unless it was just a response to them being able to see him.

The entire story, except for the Scully character parts, was a joke and lacked any real tension. Gillian Anderson brought her best in the episode and made some great material out of the weakness.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #7

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“The Breaking Point”

This was one of my favorite episodes of Band of Brothers so far. I’m not ready to anoint it as my favorite, but it is certainly in the argument.

There was so much character development throughout the entire episode, narrated by Lipton, that it provided me with more feeling toward some of these characters that, to be honest, blend together for me at times. Lipton. Speirs. Dyke. Compton. Malarky.

I have to say, there were two visceral moments for me in the episode. The first was when Joe Toye lost his leg in the shelling. It was such a shocking moment and the shell that then shredded Bill Guarnere, who had rushed out to help Joe, was unthinkable.

And the second moment was during this entire barrage, the soldiers kept jumping into their foxholes and I kept thinking how are these foxholes supposed to help against these shells? I mean, I understand how it can provide shelter to gunfire, but these shells were coming down from above, right? Then the show proved me right when it showed Corporal Penkala and Sgt. Skip Muck getting blown to bits while they were inside their foxhole, begging for George Lutz to get in it with them. I literally cried out when that happened.

The show dealt with the incompetent leadership provided by Dyke and continued to enhance the legend of Speirs. Buck Compton was not injured during this episode, but it showed that he had reached his own “breaking point” after seeing so many of the people he had been close with over his time with Easy Company dying. Part of the theme of this episode was that wounds were not all physical injuries and that the path of war took a toll on the soldiers’ minds as well.

The mood of the show was downtrodden, depressed. The cold weather played right into that as well. There was little joy in this episode. Even when the company felt safe and were singing, they were interrupted by a sniper.

There are three more episodes remaining in the first series of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Paradise S1 E7

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“The Day”

Holy $%^$

Flashback episode and WHAT A FLASHBACK episode. Man this was tense. The show finally showed us the day when everything changed. We learned what happened to the earth that sent the Americans into the plan to go inside the Colorado mountain.

And man, was it powerful.

I mean, this was something else.

Not only the flashback, but the bookend scenes with Xavier and Sinatra was absolutely jaw-dropping. I found myself hating Sinatra almost as much as I used to hate the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files. I was yelling for Xavier to put a bullet in her head, just like I used to want Mulder to do to CSM.

Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden are absolutely tremendous in this episode. Both of them gave amazing, Emmy-worthy performances in this episode as they dealt with the crisis of the earth’s downfall and the President’s drastic decisions prior to entering the mountain.

The tying of the events of The Day with the Cuban Missile Crisis is a stroke of genius and amazing writing. The determination of President Bradford in his decision to set off the huge EMP instead of launching the nuclear armory from the nuclear football is stunning. Could he have save the world with his choice?

Hearing Teri’s voice at the end was shocking and made me just hate Sinatra (aka Samantha all the more).

Plus, Sinatra told Xavier that the DNA found at the President’s murder site did not match anyone from inside the mountain, meaning that the murderer came from outside. I am not sure I believe her, but it is a massive twist if true.

This was the best episode of the season so far in a show that is chocked full of amazing episodes. Such a great hour of television on Hulu (or Disney +).

The White Lotus S3 E1

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“Same Spirits, New Forms”

I wanted to have season one and two pf The White Lotus completed before season three kicked off, but I found out that the first episode had debuted last week and I was still in season two. So this week, I made it a goal to get through season two so I could follow along with season three as a weekly show.

I did complete the second season earlier this week so today I watched the first episode of season three.

The White Lotus for this season is set in Thailand and the exteriors and the surroundings are absolutely stunning. They have always looked great, but there is something both beautiful and mysterious about the set up for this season.

The opening of the season is as dramatic as always, with gunfire breaking up a young African-American’s one-on-one meditation session. We learn that he was at The White Lotus with his mother, but we do not have any ideas whom that is. However, I did have an idea whom that MIGHT be. I knew coming in that Natasha Rothwell would be resuming her role as Belinda Lindsay from season one, and so I could assume that this was her son. Maybe I am wrong, but I am fairly certain that is the case.

I do have more of a connection to this new group of characters in the first episode than I did in the season two introduction. That’s not to say that these characters aren’t rotten jerks, because clearly they are, but I have more of a connection to these. Why? I am not sure.

Actors in this season, along with Natasha Rothwell, include Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Lalisa Manobal, Tayme Thapthimthong, Lek Patravadi, Christian Friedel, Shalini Peiris, and Jon Gries.

New episodes are on MAX every Sunday night at 8 PM CST.

Yellowjackets S3 E3

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“Them’s the Brakes”

The Showtime series continues to ramp up the strangeness and the tension in both time frames with some weird events (a talking llama?) in the cave that the Coach had been living as well as the troubles between the survivors back in the present day.

The wild and psychedelic events in the cave caused by some poisonous gas (maybe?) was one of the weirdest segments this show has sprung on us in any of the three seasons, and that is saying something. In the end, the girls were able to capture Coach despite going through some bizarre situations (again.. a talking llama?)

In present day, Shauna had a blow up with Misty when her brakes go out on her mini van. Shauna blamed Misty, but it seems clear that someone else is stalking Shauna. Shauna also blew up at Lottie. While Van’s cancer seems to be in remission, Taissa thinks it is because the restaurant worker died chasing them… you know, as a sacrifice to “It.”

I have to say that there are still a ton of moments where this feels like LOST. This episode had a big one as we heard Mama Cass’s song  “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” which played in one of the most iconic scenes in LOST’s second season with the Desmond reveal. Add to that the potential connection of The Wilderness in Yellowjackets to The Island on LOST, well, it is clear that the creators of this show were inspired by LOST.

The Man with no Eyes made a couple of appearances this episode too, including a potential explanation of where he came from. The show continues to give two potential explanations, one supernatural and one normal for the main mysteries of the show. I’m not sure which one I prefer.