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Welcome to our Yellowjackets Sting Meter. We’ll measure the erratic, unexplainable behavior of the show’s main lineup, ranking them according to how dangerous, deadly, and certifiably insane they appear in each episode. Who’s a whacky worker bee, and who gets crowned Mad Queen of episode eight’s “It Chooses”? Let’s find out.

“Does a hunt that has no violence feed anyone?”

It’s the question left lingering in Lottie’s brain at the end of this season’s seventh episode, and one that finds its answer in episode eight’s “It Chooses.” We’ve seen Yellowjackets‘ group of teenage castaways go to great lengths in order to survive. They’ve killed animals, feasted on a dead teammate, and invented deities to pray to. But until now, their choices were passive and reactive. They made the most of what little luck they had and picked the best of some bad options.

What happens though when these girls wield their sacrificial mysticism and starvation-fueled depravity against each other? In this week’s episode, we find out. And while the survivors go on their first group hunt in the past, their adult selves are unearthing some harsh truths in the present — in Lottie’s sharing shack of all places.

Queen Bee — Lottie Matthews

Charlotte Matthews is not well, in the past or in the present. After inviting Shauna to use her face like her own personal punching bag, Lottie’s tenure as the group’s sole woo-woo witch doctor is in jeopardy. She’s peeing blood and rambling about making use of her corpse should she die. She doesn’t; obviously, but her sorry state forces the rest of the girls to embrace the darkness that’s been lingering just outside the cabin walls all winter. In the present, Lottie’s gone full Jim Jones. She’s ignoring her own problems — vivid hallucinations and imaginary therapists — and instead, offering a deadly solution to the issues plaguing her old friends, though Shauna, Van, Tai, Misty, and Nat aren’t super receptive to her methods. (We can’t imagine why.)

Nat

Juliette Lewis still feels a bit lost in the present timeline. Her older Nat seems to be a more devout follower of Lottie’s cult than even Lottie herself at this point, but to what end, we’re still not sure. Perhaps Adult Natalie will be the one to make the shocking decision to drink the Kool-Aid, thus completing the sacrificial cycle she started in the past. We’ll let that chilling thought rest and instead praise Sophie Thatcher’s performance in this episode. Nat’s been stuck in limbo as an antagonist to Lottie’s spiritualist leadership and as a love interest for a sidelined character but in “It Chooses,” she finally breaks free of both. Forced to sacrifice herself for the good of the group, she escapes into the wilderness, finds help from Javi, and ends up offering his life in exchange for her own. It’s a brutal twist made all the more heartbreaking because of the bond Nat and Javi shared, not to mention Travis’ early-in-the-episode declaration that she’s a good person.” Is anyone a good person on this show?

Shauna

In the present, Shauna’s understandably spooked about the whole “police found the dismembered body of my ex-lover” development and her paranoia triggers a sharing shack confessional that upends the careful truce the adult Yellowjackets have struck. There’s an epiphany that happens in this episode: Shauna isn’t a very good criminal. Sure, she can butcher a body like it’s her business, but everything that comes after — the secrecy, deception, and evasion necessary to get away with a crime isn’t her strong suit. She’s all pent-up rage and spontaneous decision-making and her sloppiness is endangering the people she cares about most. In the past, the physical manifestation of her anger has cost the group its leader and tempted them to embrace their own sinister natures. Someone cue up Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” because hi, it’s her, Shauna Shipman is the problem.

Akilah

So much happened in this episode. Teen girls went hunting one of their own. A young boy tragically drowned. A cult leader invited her friends to play Russian Roulette with freshly-brewed euthanasia medication. And yet, the revelation that poor Akilah has been carrying a dead mouse in her pocket all season still felt like the most shocking bombshell of the night. This is what Ratatouille would look like as a horror movie.

Misty

You can either give specific instructions for how deep to dig a grave in order to bury the body of a friend’s f*ck buddy, or you can pick up a shovel and do it yourself. Misty learned this week which option is guaranteed to keep her out of jail. While she’s dealing with the incompetence and performative morality of her fellow murderers in the present, in the past, Misty is nursing Lottie back to health. It’s not her fault Lottie suggested cannibalism as a means of survival, thus setting the group on their current path of eating each other in order to survive. But, it’s not not her fault either … What was that? Javi’s death you say? Yeah, that was all her.

Van

In the past, the cracks start showing when Van (a seething, almost rabid-looking Liv Hewson) leads the charge to hunt and kill Natalie. In the present, Van’s pissed no one told her about the murder party – although to be fair, she hasn’t sent out her terminal cancer invitations yet either – so she tosses Shauna’s keys into the woods which kicks off this whole Jonestown reenactment. Lottie might be right. Something is broken in Van and she probably doesn’t have enough time to fix it, so doing what she can to help the friends she’ll leave behind is the next best thing.

Tai

Tai’s sleepwalking episodes are back and personally, we blame the belt soup.

Coach Ben

Coach Ben goes on a walkabout at just the right time and manages to find a cave system Javi likely used to stay alive during the coldest months of the winter. Whatever you do, Ben, stay there!

Jeff

Poor Jeff. He took one look at Adam’s dismembered body and hallucinated Shauna with electric carving knives for hands musing about grating someone’s skin off like a rind of pecorino. He’s too soft for this world.

Citizen Detective Thread

• Is Walter going to help Misty, or turn her into the police? To that end, how much are we betting that Walter becomes the group’s next sacrifice to the wilderness?
• Is the cave system natural, or some kind of man-made structure?
• The hunt’s definitely going to end up splitting the group into factions, right?
• Just how deep did Natalie dig that hole?

In a truly wild twist this week, it turns out that Ukraine’s social media manager for their Defense account is a huge Busta Rhymes fan. The new update gave people a breakdown of how they’re handling the Russians in their ongoing war — taking down three new tanks, twelve armored combat vehicles, thirteen artillery, and 520 more “eliminated personnel.”

“‘Woo-hah, got you all in check!’ -Busta Rhymes,” the post read. “Total combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 2022, to May 16, 2023.”

While the majority of those in the replies were others from Ukraine following the updates, some scattered fans tagged Busta to get his attention for the reference to his 1996 song, also called “Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check.” It was also the rapper’s debut solo single, which could possibly add to why the country chose that reference… Like, there’s more defense to come, or something?

Others pointed out that it was also interestingly timed. “Should have waited a few more days for @BustaRhymes birthday,” another user wrote.

Upon a deeper dive, the account usually accompanies their updates with some sort of pop culture quote. They’ve recently included everything from How I Met Your Mother‘s “Legendary” line to Babe Ruth. There’s even one of “Now I have a machine gun ho-ho-ho” from Die Hard.

Check out Ukraine’s Busta-themed post above.

Andy Rourke, the former bassist of The Smiths, has died at age 59 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Guitarist Johnny Marr shared the news to social media today, May 19.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer,” he wrote. “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time.”

Rourke played with a handful of iconic acts, recording with Sinéad O’Connor and The Pretenders as well as performing on some of Morrissey’s solo material and joining the supergroup Freebass alongside Peter Hook, Gary Mounfield, and Gary Briggs.

Fans are reacting with sharing the legendary musician’s best bass lines, whether that’s the jaunty flourish on “This Charming Man” or the intense ripple in “How Soon Is Now.” A fan-favorite is “Barbarism Begins At Home,” which sheds light on the way The Smiths’ music, despite often being labeled as stereotypically depressing and glum, has an unmatched element of effervescence that balances beautifully with the dismal content of the lyrics. Videos of them performing on stage in the ’80s, all looking fully immersed in this gleeful sound, is proof of that magic.

If there is one thing that we love here at Indiecast, it is festival posters with absolutely chaotic energy. So Steven and Ian were psyched this week to see the lineup for Riot Fest in Chicago, which is topped by big-time bands like Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie and Queens Of The Stone Age. But the real action takes place further down the list — where else can you see Ani DiFranco, Mr. Bungle and Insane Clown Posse in the same place? Also, apparently Corey Feldman is also appearing at this festival? Simply incredible.

From there, Steven asks Ian about the state of music in 2023. Specifically, is this a weak year for consensus album of the year candidates? Caroline Polachek and Boygenius are early contenders, and there are artists on the horizon (PJ Harvey, Rihanna, Jenny Lewis) who might contend. But this year feels like we might be at the end of something. What is it, though?

After that, there’s a discussion about the legacy of The Cure, who are back on the road this month. (Steven also wrote about them this week.) Why is this band so central to the history of modern indie and alternative rock? What is their best work, and where should a newbie get started?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the British post-punk band Mandy, Indiana, while Steven stumps for two other British acts, the soft-rock singer-songwriter Westerman and the art-rock combo Bar Italia.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 139 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Disney is removing dozens of TV shows and movies from Disney+, including Willow, which has been on the streaming service for less than six months, and Howard, the documentary about one of the key figures in the Disney Renaissance, Howard Ashman. Some Hulu shows are affected, as well, so if you were planning on watching Y: The Last Man, now’s your chance.

The content culling — which will happen as soon as next week — comes after a recent earnings call where Disney CFO Christine McCarthy told investors, “We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation.” It’s a cost-cutting move for Disney; McCarthy said the company expects “a write-down in the June quarter of $1.5 billion-$1.8 billion from removing content from its streaming platforms,” according to Variety. “By writing down the value of the content assets, Disney can remove that from its balance sheet and reduce its tax bill.”

Here are the shows and movies being removed from Disney+:

America the Beautiful
Among the Stars
Artemis Fowl
Be Our Chef
Better Nate Than Ever
The Big Fib
Big Shot
Black Beauty
Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)
Clouds
Diary of a Future President
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings
Earth to Ned
Encore!
Foodtastic
Harmonious Live!
Howard
It’s a Dog’s Life With Bill Farmer
Just Beyond
Magic Camp
The Making of Willow
The Mighty Ducks
Marvel’s Hero Project
Marvel’s MPower
More Than Robots
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The One and Only Ivan
Own the Room
Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays
Pick of the Litter
The Princess
The Real Right Stuff
Rogue Trip
Rosaline
Shop Class
A Spark Story
Stargirl (2020)
Stuntman
Super/Natural
Timmy Failure
Turner & Hooch
Weird but True!
Willow
Wolfgang
The World According to Jeff Goldblum

And on Hulu:

Best in Dough
Best in Snow
Darby and the Dead
Dollface
Everything’s Trash
Little Demon
Love in the Time of Corona
Maggie
Pistol
The Premise
The Quest
Y: The Last Man

(Via Variety)

Rihanna has had a strong past few months. Just the possibility of her presence stopped Pedro Pascal in his tracks, she’s climbing her way up the RIAA ranks, there’s a great new wax figure of her, she made the Forbes billionaires list, and it was announced she’s starring in a new Smurfs movie. Yes, times are good, and now they’ve gotten even better: Rihanna’s currently getting a lot of attention for her revealing new maternity shoot, much of which is topless.

In an Instagram gallery shared yesterday (May 18), Rihanna wrote, “here’s a little series I call ‘Rub on ya titties.’ in honor of my first pregnancy, embracing motherhood like a g, and the magic that this body made! Baby RZA… he in there not having a clue how nuts his mama is, or how obsessed he was bout to make me #maternityshoot2022 #tobecontinued.”

The photos were taken in a tropical-looking environment and feature Rihanna in a barely-there bikini, topless in some shots but covering her breasts with her hands in all of them. As Rihanna noted, the pics are also from 2022, when she was pregnant with her and ASAP Rocky’s first child, RZA.

As of this post, in the approximately 13 hours since the gallery was shared on Instagram, it has racked up about 9.9 million likes.

Check out the photos above.

Earlier this week, TMZ premiered a new documentary, TMZ Investigates: Britney Spears: The Price Of Freedom. The doc made a lot of claims, which Sam Asghari addressed, and now Spears herself has spoken up, too, via a new Instagram post.

The post features a photo of a reflective-looking woman with the text, “Thinking about when I was a teenager and I’d ride in the trunk of my friends car to a party at a gravel pit, sleep just fine on a hard floor and eat McDonalds whenever I wanted, and now I have a 13-step skincare routine, get to bed by 9:30, work out daily and eat mostly plants.”

Spears’ caption starts, “Considering what happened to me during the conservatorship and how hard I work everyday to be a better person since it’s been over !!! The concern and just effort on TMZ’s part of being the trashiest news channel for news !!! Damn I’m flattered !!!”

She continued, “These men who I have no idea who they are, are talking about me as if they have any right at all to do so !!! My girlfriend called me and said ‘because I know you I was laughing at these men and what they were saying’ !!! But she also said it was really disturbing how incredibly conniving and foolish it was !!! The media has always been cruel to me and most people probably wouldn’t even comment on it but I do think some people might believe this and I care !!! I almost feel like my life in the business has always been that girl at school who was bullied and laughed at !!! But in my case there is no superior person to set it straight !!!”

Spears also gave an update on her upcoming book, writing, “I think some people are wanting to hear my story … either through a book or what have you ??? I’ve had to stop a couple of times !!! It may take me a year, maybe longer who knows … to share my story !!!”

Find Spears’ full post below.

“Considering what happened to me during the conservatorship and how hard I work everyday to be a better person since it’s been over !!! The concern and just effort on TMZ’s part of being the trashiest news channel for news !!! Damn I’m flattered !!! These men who I have no idea who they are, are talking about me as if they have any right at all to do so !!! My girlfriend called me and said ‘because I know you I was laughing at these men and what they were saying’ !!! But she also said it was really disturbing how incredibly conniving and foolish it was !!! The media has always been cruel to me and most people probably wouldn’t even comment on it but I do think some people might believe this and I care !!! I almost feel like my life in the business has always been that girl at school who was bullied and laughed at !!! But in my case there is no superior person to set it straight !!! My dad was supposedly the one who was supposed to protect my mind and heart from things of this matter but he was the main one who was secretly loving it !!! I think some people are wanting to hear my story … either through a book or what have you ??? I’ve had to stop a couple of times !!! It may take me a year, maybe longer who knows … to share my story !!! My great grandmother told me two things that I will never forget !!! People come here for two reasons … either for a lesson or a blessing and she said ‘Dear sweetheart the real key to happiness is to forget every fucking thing that ever happened ‘ !!! It’s a new day y’all !!!”

The Los Angeles Lakers, as a team, had an awful shooting night in Game 2 against the Nuggets, as their inability to knock down shots from deep played a big role in allowing Denver to come back and take a 2-0 series lead on Thursday night.

As a team, the Lakers were 8-of-30 from three-point range, but were only that successful from long range thanks to Austin Reaves. The second-year guard has been L.A.’s most reliable three-point shooter in these playoffs and continued that with a 5-of-9 shooting night in Denver, making him the only Laker with more than one make on the night. Reaves finished the night with 22 points, tied with LeBron James for the team-high in scoring — Jamal Murray, on the other side, scored 22 in the fourth quarter to lead Denver to the win.

Given he was tied for the team lead in scoring on the night, Reaves was asked to go to the podium after the game to talk about the loss and what happened. Reaves did so after snagging a quick shower, but hadn’t gotten his hair fully dried which meant he rolled up to take questions looking, well, like this.

Reaves looking like he was from a mid-2000s rock band gave NBA Twitter enough fodder to have some fun late into the night.

There were also some who went a different route from the many band references to note he looked like Todd from Wedding Crashers.

https://twitter.com/PintOfJack/status/1659415355553456128

A Lana Del Rey fan-favorite track has finally been made available for streaming. Tonight (May 19), Del Rey has given her song “Say Yes To Heaven” an official release on streaming platforms.

On the song, Del Rey encourages a special someone to take a chance on love and make an escape with her.

“If you dance, I’ll dance / And if you don’t, I’ll dance anyway / Give peace a chance / Let the fear you have fall away / I’ve got my eye on you / I’ve got my mind on you / Say yes to Heaven / Say yes to me / Say yes to Heaven / Say yes to me,” she sings over smooth, gorgeous guitar strings, as a pounding drum beats in the background.

Versions of “Say Yes To Heaven” have appeared online for years on platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud, but until tonight, the song had never been officially released. The song is rumored to date back to the sessions for Del Rey’s third studio album, Ultraviolence, which was originally released in 2014.

Recently, the song had gone viral on TikTok, which is likely what prompted a release of the song in both a studio format and a sped-up version.

You can listen to “Say Yes To Heaven” above.

For much of Thursday’s Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets were stalled in the mud offensively. After scoring 132 points in the Game 1 victory, Denver had just 76 points through three quarters, while Murray followed up his own 31-point performance with 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting before the fourth frame. Then, Murray and the Nuggets caught fire. They scored 32 points in the final period, including 22 on 6-of-7 shooting from Murray. Denver outscored Los Angeles 32-24 in the fourth quarter to win the game 108-103, and now holds a 2-0 lead in this Western Conference Finals matchup.

During his fourth-quarter explosion, Murray went 4-of-5 beyond the arc. As he hustled his way back down the floor following his fourth triple, he pointed toward ESPN’s Mike Breen on the broadcast desk and yelled “bang!” — a nod to Breen’s signature call commemorating key shots at key moments of games.

Murray’s rarely played as someone short on confidence, and this is a sensational show of awareness to know who’s calling the game and what he’ll say after a big three. He certainly didn’t seem to lack it in Game 2, despite the slow first three quarters. Denver needed him to keep firing and pull the offense out of its massive slog. Murray accomplished exactly that, powered the Nuggets to a 2-0 series advantage and provided everyone with an enjoyable moment amid his dazzling scoring stretch.