that assumes one has DNA on file, right? Which presumably could happen since the friends/family are now looking for him.  There must be some hairs etc in his apartment

Was it not clear that we’re supposed to assume that the pagan ritual in the secret basement room is why she wins the election? That definitely felt like what the show wants us to think. I’m still not 100% positive about the supernatural explanations (although the bear bowing to sacrifice itself was definitely more…

Did anyone else notice on the tv report about Adam, it was said “He’s been missing for several weeks.” He just died that day. So maybe he was part of Lottie’s cult after all? Absolving Shauna of his murder?

I was very nervous about Natalie. I could see them killing her off in such a spectacular fashion just to let the audience know we can't count on anyone being safe. But god am I relieved because I can't handle losing Juliette Lewis on this show!

I didn’t even think of it as Jackie’s dream; they distinctly showed Shauna waking up right after.

Exactly. Jackie’s death was perfectly set up, the payoff to a whole season of her holding onto her pre-crash self/view of the world. This is actually why I could never understand all the theories of her being AQ, or her leading a rival tribe or whatever. Her main defining feature was that no one would ever look to her…

I personally read it as Jackie’s dream, her dying thoughts, and the cut to Shauna wasn’t meant to imply it was her dream, so much as it signals her passing, and Shauna’s awakening to realize something is gravely wrong.

Spot on.  Jackie had real trouble getting a fire going (which I found almost sadder than her actual death, that after 5 months, she still couldn’t start a fire), and when she did, it was woefully inadequate.  You certainly can survive outdoors in frigid weather, but you need a big fire, and you have to keep it fed.  

...playing it like a trump card as if that would somehow elicit great sympathy to a group that has watched half of their friends die horribly.

I never read any of those women as awful (aside from the big things like murder), but otherwise just complicated and real.

I wonder if this isn't just in reference to her being the erstwhile butcher of the group; not necessarily of humans. 

Travis is pretty on-brand for a 90s troubled teenage guy. I don’t think he’s the “best” or “worst”, he’s an accurate portrayal of a dude from the era who’s not internally enlightened enough to know how to fix himself and doesn’t have outside sources guiding or forcing him to improve.

How this connects to everything is anyone’s guess as much of what is going on with Shauna seems to pre-date the plane crash.

I just go back to the idea of the car crash being orchestrated as being too much of a stretch. And I think it would be a mistake to make this cult to have that much reach. I think they should be really small and isolated. Talking Heaven’s Gate, just a few dozen members living in a rented mansion small.

Yeah I read it as him shutting down because yeah, he’s been through a lot of trauma: He saw his dad fall to his death (twice), he had to exhume his dad once, he was sexually and physically assaulted, and his brother is missing.  I’d be an emotional blank slate.

There is more to Adam. He is likely part of Lotte’s cult. He has the symbolic tattoo. He talks about taking Shauna to a cabin in the woods to meet his “friend”. The “loan sharks” are part of the cult and made Jeff give them copies of Shauna’s diaries. This led to them knowing the type of guy to send to seduce Shauna.…

I don’t even like Travis but I don’t think you’re being empathetic enough here. He was needlessly cruel to Natalie but he was clearly putting up a front to deal with the trauma of being sexually assaulted and almost killed and eaten. He’s not handling it well but would you?

It’s good pizza, but boy they come off as real shits in that press release statement - trying to imply that they speak for the entirety of Chicago, and that it was in poor taste because they made the joke during COVID?

Oh, I have no time for the broader implication that quiche (or deep dish pizza) is bad. That’s some bullshit. But I find that specific Chicago pizza chain mediocre and overrated, and I have time for hyper-specific digs against it.

That dig against Lou Malnati’s is pretty solid though. Their pizza is fine, but it’s no Art of Pizza or Giordano’s or Exchequer (at least ten years ago, I think that place is a sports bar now).