Review:
Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) has been sleepwalking in the woods again. Van (Liv Hewson) is by her side, however, and even hopeful. Tai’s found a new glyph and Van’s convinced the knowledge lying dormant in her beloved can be unlocked. Tai wants naught to do with consulting Lottie, who seems already in tune with her surroundings.
Adult Tai (Tawny Cypress) isn’t doing any hotter. After facing her alternate self, powerless, she finds herself in the middle of nowhere with an empty tank with nothing but her Yellowjackets dossier. She instinctively does have a plan, though.
At the homestead, Jeff (Warren Kole) and Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) ain’t out of the woods yet. The police know about the affair, which gives motive.
Lottie (Simone Kessell) ought to watch her back too. Natalie (Juliette Lewis) asks for her keys. Turns out she wants a bit of bonding time with Lisa, most likely to bleed some answers from her. Bleed. When it comes to Lottie, that will be something soon taken literally.
On their road trip, Misty (Christina Ricci) grows from impatient to suspicious when Walter (Elijah Wood) offers her a distraction and a choice of music to pick. Turns out his liking musicals has little to do with her liking them in high school. I love the fact he has it all on cassette, though it is a little odd.
Morale takes a hit though when Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) calls out the cabin for stealing what little bear meat they have left. Mari (Alexa Barajas) accuses Ben (Steven Krueger) which only leads her to ultimately blame Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) for missing Lottie’s blessings. Akilah (Nia Sondaya) backs her up on this. Misty (Sammi Hanratty) seems onboard as well because if the birds were diseased, the whole squad would have gotten sick from consuming them. Van feels that Lottie was responsible for the bear as well.
Natalie’s fed up with starving, having only Travis’ (Kevin Alves) assistance, so she proposes a contest betwixt her and Lottie (Courtney Eaton). Looks like the sides are drawn and I think a little competition will bring the group together in the end.
On their car trip, Lisa (Nicole Maines) seems to have forgiven Natalie. It turns out that even with the probing, the denizens of the compound can go as they please for as long as they like. People are a part of the community of their own volition.
Lottie asks her new psychiatrist to up her meds. The visions have returned for the first time in decades, and with the life she’s built herself and others, she can’t afford to go back. I mean, who can goddamn blame her? That is unless she knows something we don’t…
Misty lays down the ground rules of the competition. Mari’s faith in Lottie is ironclad, so Natalie gets the only gun. The two bundle up and head out. Armed with only a hunting knife, Lottie catches the energy of one of the glyphs on a tree. She knows something’s about to go down. Natalie finds moose tracks leading to a frozen lake.
In the parking lot, Shauna finds Alanna’s mother whose house Callie should be staying at. The truth comes out that this hasn’t been true for weeks, leading Shauna to raid her daughter’s room, happening upon Adam’s last piece of evidence. Looks like she and Callie (Sarah Desjardins) are going on a road trip!
At a cafe, Misty is determined to cull information through a direct approach, despite Walter’s protestations. She does hit paydirt and Walter is impressed. Meanwhile, Taissa trudges along the lonely road until a trucker picks her up. Her luck seems to be looking up as well and despite her former fugue state, she’s on a mission.
Mari hears the dripping again and implores Akilah to suss out the source. What Akilah finds instead is a little rodent friend, which she pockets. Out there ain’t better, as Lottie comes across the tree stump altar, the grave of the person they found in the house, and lets a bit of blood. She seems to have some understanding of this spirit of the woods but isn’t letting on with the team. Natalie, however, has hit the jackpot.
Lisa reroutes to make a stop home to see her goldfish and her mother, in that order. The commune’s therapeutic approach has been helping her with depression, but her mother Sybill isn’t accepting it. In fact, her “pep talk” to her formerly suicidal daughter culminates in Natalie going off on her. Sybill has nothing more to say and to make sure she never has to go back, Natalie sneaks Lisa a consolation prize.
Out in the middle of nowhere, Shauna does something that was due to happen: she reveals it all to Callie. Though, visibly upset, Callie seems to take it all in stride. Her mother does hope to one day wholly divulge the entire story of what happened out there in the wilderness, but for now, mum’s the word.
Out in the cold nowhere, Van shows Tai the map she’s constructed and confronts her about where the next symbol may be. It looks like they are hoofin’ it. Ben tries for a distraction, picking up The Magus and immediately putting down the postmodern fiction for imagining a happier life with Paul (François Arnaud). This is his only escape.
At the farmer’s market, before Misty’s impatience gets the better of her as daylight is being lost, Walter’s logic manages to win her over with a stay at a local b&b.
At the cabin, Natalie has massive news. She found a moose frozen in a lake. Not all hands are on deck, however, with Mari and Akilah being left behind. Mari is absolutely certain Lottie’s safe. The only problem is she ain’t, finding the hunter’s plane with Laura Lee’s necklace uncovering an entrance leading to a mall. There, she encounters her teammates at the food court, including Laura Lee (Jane Widdop). Charlotte’s not exactly over her death and just as nature has claimed a life, Laura Lee’s able to knock Lottie back to reality before another one is claimed.
The team chops at the ice, but their one shot at hope is spent, as the moose is far too heavy for a group of teens and a couple of ropes. It sinks, giving everybody that sinking feeling but nobody more than Natalie as she sees life in death merely floats away.
At the bar, adult Natalie gives Lisa the pep talk she really needed. Hey, a vote of confidence can mean the difference between life and death. This is exemplified by Natalie pushing her shot away. I mean, at one point, it was a shotgun, so progress is progress.
In the b&b, two rooms are booked at Misty’s insistence. With Sparks’ “Angst In My Pants” serving as the montage exemplifying how truly alike they are in room preparation, we finally see them bed down, restless.
Jeff admits to not entirely being over the affair. It was a bombshell for him, but the even bigger bombshell isn’t Shauna admitting to telling their daughter everything, it’s Callie being honest with her parents and wanting to take an active role, starting off with dinner.
The one who isn’t exactly being fed is Natalie in the cabin. She’s being warmed up with a hot bath, but she isn’t exactly alive. However, the one who is feeling less alive is Lottie, being escorted in. Natalie wants her in the tub, and though neither came up with anything and I like that Natalie is a good sport about all of it.
Adult Lottie looks at her gratitude entries from the day. Among them is the queen of hearts with her eyes blotted out. This prompts Lottie to go out to the property and do something she hadn’t done in 25 years. She entreats nature for the offering to suffice enough.
In the wilderness, Van and Taissa scope out the location of the next tree but come up empty. Van does notice the base of a tree has melted snow. Blood spilled would make sense, since it runs hot, even if in spirit. Tai does notice something, however. She and Tai chase after it until they have him. (Now the melted makes sense.)
That night, Natalie notices Lisa so happy with her acquisition, and now, with the keys in her possession, something’s cooking in the ole’ noodle.
Everyone is shocked to see Javi alive (Luciano Leroux), none more than Travis. The poor kid seems not to recognize anybody though. This does mean that Lottie was right in her assuring Travis he was alive, but Tai found his location. This is irrefutable proof Taissa as well has something inside of her tethered to something bigger.
Once dropped off in town, there’s only one building Taissa has eyes for and what’s contained therein: adult Van (Lauren Ambrose).
Takeaway:
This episode brilliantly offered a few surprise answers as it also rose a few significant questions.
Finding out Javi was still alive only makes me think that someone is about to die. How did he even survive on his own? If he was still alive, why was Travis so afflicted as an adult enough to seek Lottie’s help? With Lottie and Taissa being the supernatural lynchpins of the team’s tie-in to nature, was it all in the service of the team and Javi’s survival?
I’m glad they wrote in Shauna’s confession because I don’t know how much longer they could have gone on with the secretive lives of each other in the Sadecki household. My question is how long Callie can hold out before she’s guilt-stricken, or if she’s ride or die for the ‘rents.
Adult Natalie’s nature is still the most fascinating to me and the most flummoxing. Juliette’s performance is still as quizzical (in a good way) as possible, as we know she’s been traumatized as much as the rest, but she’s also the most distrustful.
Nature’s best recording devices are trees. Nature also needs balance. Restoration can be a bitch, huh?
5/5 Stars.
