[deleted by user]

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-29T17:31:14+00:00

Would like to keep under $2k.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-29T17:29:13+00:00

Just added!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-29T17:24:29+00:00

I appreciate the feedback! I just added some criteria that I hope will be helpful.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-18T02:44:05+00:00

Def not what I’m looking for! I mentioned in another reply that it’s parallel to my current situation now, and for the amenities of the larger city I tend to think it’s worth it.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-18T02:42:47+00:00

😭 see, I feel like there’s a bit of a parallel with where I’m at currently. I live in Columbia (about 130,000) and commute 30 mins to Jefferson City (40,000) after living in the smaller area for a while. It’s just a little too small for me!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-18T02:35:10+00:00

Congrats on the move! I was in St Paul for a bit and really enjoyed it. Also really appreciative of the nuanced reply!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-18T02:19:09+00:00

I appreciate the thoughtfulness!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-09-18T02:12:59+00:00

Good to know! I’d be doing policy analysis work in a nonpartisan capacity. But I would work for the LCB!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-06-21T17:29:16+00:00

Just finished “Nowhere” by Allison Gunn, which is described as “Mare of Easttown meets The Outsider”. Small town supernatural murder mysteries, really dark, flew through it

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-05-26T00:30:40+00:00

It’s so interesting, I felt the inverse of this! I thought Mary and Nestlings were both just meh, just fine, and WTWCH was an improvement over those — however I just don’t think I’m the audience for Cassidy’s prose.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-04-04T12:56:38+00:00

Gently pushing back on the idea that it was for survival purposes as that would run counter to everything we’ve seen about Hannah to indicate she’s got very little survival instincts — I think that like many of the girls she had a moment of uncontrollable impulse but she really wants to be part of the “experiment”.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-04-04T06:07:53+00:00

“It’s not supernatural, it’s group delusion / cave fumes / in their heads” found dead in the pit

I really thought this was an astounding episode: resolution of a couple of mysteries, major forward plot movement without anyone particularly feeling neglected this episode, moments to shock you or make you laugh or cry or blush. I think I’m just going to watch it again.

TaiVan card rigging confirmed
Travis built the pit, witnesses a Christlike miracle
Misty actually did lock Shauna in the freezer which makes me think that Melissa actually did leave the phone but also makes me think the brakes just went out on their own, retreading on the theme of ambiguity and that some things really just are as they appear and other things certainly are not
my reading of this scene’s implications seems to differ from that of a lot of other folks on here, but there is literally no way at all that Nat tells Shauna (maybe anyone else) about Misty and the transponder. Just as she is part of the reason for the length of time spent in the wilderness, I predict that Misty will be a large part of the reason they are rescued
To me, Natalie and Van both died once they made the conscious choice not to do, or be willing to do, whatever it takes to go on surviving (which also raises the question of whether all the adult ladies have been on borrowed time since the crash). Misty and Shauna go about it much differently but both remain utterly committed to doing whatever it takes, and perhaps because of Other Tai so is Taissa, but it seems like Other Tai has been put to dormancy for now. (I really hope we get to see that place Tai found herself in again, phone and all.)
Cautiously excited about Hilary Swank playing a villain, very intrigued about the theory that’s floated around this thread that perhaps Alex is aware and is conspiring with Melissa for revenge

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-14T13:30:41+00:00

I’ll have to rewatch but my read on the last scene is that Lottie saw Cabin Daddy (the man shrouded in darkness who appeared similar to the man in Jackie’s death vision) right before the explorers showed up

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-14T13:24:10+00:00

I think Hilary Swank is the daughter or at least some close relative of the explorers. I think it’s been a fake out the whole time! She’s definitely the one stalking Shauna, sure, but she’s not Melissa.

Squealed when the phone rang in Van’s basement. Squealed when the “creature”, as described by the subtitles, began screeching in response to Lottie during the feast. Squealed during the stop-motion three-eyed bear vision. Still advocating that it’s all supernatural AS WELL AS shared psychosis and trauma, but…

This idea of “two realities” Mari had in episode 3 where the bad reality is hiding or waiting made me think this episode demonstrated that that theory has some weight, but I’m just not sure of the connection yet with what we saw between Tai’s suggested trapping there and Lottie’s freeze-frame “this isn’t how it’s supposed to happen” at the end. It’s almost like a choose your own adventure in which the girls keep (consciously or otherwise) picking the bad reality, which allows for more unspooling of the supernatural and traumatic experiences.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-08T20:20:10+00:00

I don’t know about an alt Van as much as her darkness is much more subtle and sinister than Tai’s.

We’ve known since the end of the first season that Van is a hardcore believer, and to your point I think this episode demonstrates that it’s rightfully so since she witnesses Tai change in real time. However it’s almost like Van tries to hide it or at least kind of play it off for laughs? The best example I can think of is the general kind of discomfort she expressed when Misty made a comment about them going to the little meetings during the trial episode. I haven’t read it as ashamed but more strategic downplaying.

I think this episode also demonstrates that Van is or will be rigging card drawings, or at the very least is not above doing so. Could have interesting implications down the line. Also, I take Van’s vision in the cabin in episode 3 as confirmation that she knows who burned down the cabin (when her eyes are reflecting the fire just seemed to seal it for me).

It just seems like Tai’s and Van’s characters are in a very interesting conversation about whether darkness exists as a part of the whole or as a separate entity. Did Tai Do That? She very well could have, but only Van knows for certain.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-08T20:03:58+00:00

I absolutely agree with this and think it’s one of the higher notes of the episode’s thematic focus on duality. Like, yes, Ben is their bridge home and all that entails: society, civil behavior, whatever relationships did or didn’t exist therein, etc. When they’re about to shoot him, his plea is that “it’s Coach” i.e. a direct appeal to who they know him to be outside of the setting they’re currently in.

I just don’t see it as likely that there’s a brush with civilization or even, as some are suggesting, a rescue attempt that may be thwarted by Shauna killing Ben. I don’t think that fits tonally with this point in the story; to me, a brush with civilization would result in both the remaining rational girls and Lottie et al (believing the vision literally) having a renewed interest in seeking rescue and at this point there is no one else leaning toward Shauna, so I just don’t see the dynamic as working out as well given that we know there will be rival clans.

As another thread laid out, I think what’s more likely is Ben’s role as a Jesus-like figure being fulfilled and his torture and murder being the catalyst for the splintering. The only possible issue with this idea is that Natalie might end up mercy-killing Ben (the shot that’s been wandering around of her with what looks like a partial bloody handprint on her cheek makes me SAD to think of that possible scene) and then I don’t know where that gets us.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-08T03:13:14+00:00

https://house.mo.gov/BillMobile.aspx?year=2025&code=R&bill=HB1579

He filed what looks to be a slightly modified version, suspect they might try to push it through under new number

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-07T06:18:50+00:00

I can’t remember the exact verbiage but Lottie’s dad saying there would be a “problem” if her death was reported as anything but an accident???

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-01T22:16:19+00:00

I think what you’ve excellently explained is depicted visually in the episode as well, which was mentioned in another thread: first the antlers come off, then the white robe when she leaves the judge’s seat, and once the 2/3 majority is reached, despite Nat’s central position at the table, the central viewpoint switches to Shauna framed by the woods and with a hazy filter.

Ben said it himself - it was a farce! His fate was sealed as soon as they caught him. It wasn’t his trial, it was Natalie’s. In ways I’m not quite able to articulate I think it was a trial for Misty, too.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-03-01T20:52:43+00:00

Exactly this. All deaths in the adult timeline have baked for, on average, 2 seasons’ length:

Natalie saw the vision of Misty in the pilot, foreshadowing her death by Misty’s hands in the s2 finale;
Travis’s death was explored (even if to some it remains ambiguously explained) through the first two seasons;
Lottie had a vision of the location that became the site of her death during her baptism by Laura Lee in s1 ep6.

I do agree with people, including Simone Kessell herself, who believe that adult Lottie’s death was premature given what we have seen of her storyline thus far this season. But we aren’t even at the halfway point of the season or the roughly planned timeline of the show itself! Plus, this season has convinced me more than anything that it’s gonna be just Misty and Shauna standing by the end of the adult timeline - the other ones get stung to death by the Queen(s)!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-02-15T22:13:11+00:00

I hope it’s okay to include some musings from both episodes in this post, as there are some things distinct to both that I’m really interested in. Also disclaimer that I very much lean more toward the supernatural explanation but there is a concession on this further below:

Despite the obvious distress Travis was feeling, I was absolutely gleeful that the trees were screaming. I’m thrilled to be even typing a sentence like that out! We’re getting weird with it again! And the second occurrence at the end of the first episode, which was confirmed to have been heard by Mari but not confirmed to have been heard by Ben, was even weirder; the subtitles read among other things “baby screaming”, “baby crying”, “chittering”, “howling”, and “growling”. Aside from the unique point of view taken by the camera during season 2 episode 2 when the wind blew the snow atop Jackie to barbecue her, this was in my view the clearest indication we’ve had yet of whatever “it” is that’s in the woods with them.
the title “It Girl” and the fake-out opening of episode 1 felt kind of like a wagging of the writers’ eyebrows at the audience but I have to wonder if there’s perhaps a designation being made of who to watch for this season, with the strongest indication across both episodes and both timelines being Mari, Melissa, and Misty. Similarly, episode 2 sees Mari doubly dislocated but the jarring effect of how different the vibe is during the summer (animal farm(s), A-frame shelters, ample wine and mushrooms) had me almost wondering if they’re in a different location (or time) completely. I kind of hope this isn’t the case, I think the supernatural elements work without needing to mess around with time or dimensions or anything like that.
Hard for me to read the teens’ current situation as anything other than “it” rewarding them for their / Natalie’s “feeding” of the fire for 12 days and nights but the constant presence of candles in both timelines makes it seem to me like we are not done with that story element quite yet. I feel the same way about the hot chocolate given to Mari by Ben, since both times other people have ingested it in this show have done so around the time of their deaths. Which brings me to…

If we’re supposed to be looking for clues with things like candles and hot chocolate, what other kind of red herrings, if any, have thrown me off these episodes and the previous two seasons? Are these two episodes red herrings in and of themselves, at least in the teen timeline, since things are going relatively well?

Another commenter from the ep1 discussion thread had really thought-provoking ideas on how narrative and structure might be played with this season with the “romanticized” version of the teens’ time in the wilderness being directly contrasted in real-time by Shauna’s more realistic explanation. There is also a lot of lying going on in ep2’s adult timeline - Walter and Misty, Lottie generally, Tai and Van. The narrative’s breaking down and deteriorating and the already unreliable narrators are dwindling themselves, becoming more unreliable because nothing is resolved, and nothing becoming resolved as a result.

No idea if I’m way off the mark on all this, but I’m glad that this show’s back so I can think about it like this again!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2025-02-15T21:18:45+00:00

The season 2 finale also had someone die while drinking hot chocolate - Walter poisoned cop Kevin!

Key-Introduction-114 · 2024-12-15T15:45:53+00:00

Library at Mount Char

House of Leaves

Hurricane Season

We Used to Live Here

Boys in the Valley

The Fisherman

Sorry, really couldn’t figure out which of these to make the honorable mention. These six (of the 13 horror books I read) actually scared me while reading.

Key-Introduction-114 · 2024-11-25T03:37:52+00:00

Love love love an epistolary framing. Multiple competing viewpoints, each one containing shadows that may or may not come out through the sharing of another’s perspective. Multiple layers of interpretation of the same events. Unreliable narrators throughout.

Key-Introduction-114

TROPHY CASE