The Year the Nuns and the Gays Took Over SXSW

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The Yellowjackets moment that broke me.

Grateful for the Real Housewives, always.

A shocking event took place on Broadway.

Why we’re obsessed with the Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial.

A fairy tale moment.

Yellowjackets Is Wild for This One

When given 60 seconds to speak with Melanie Lynskey—star of Yellowjackets, candid whistleblower about what Hollywood is really like for women, and beloved LGBT ally—how much of that time would you spend discussing Y2K-era hard rock band Papa Roach?

The indelible (and perhaps infamous) group is permanently stitched into the “cringe nostalgia” portion of the brain for those who spent their early teenage years wearing JNCO jeans with legs the circumference of overpass support pillars, pretending to enjoy music that amounted to a cacophony of construction sounds and tuneless screaming. (Just me?)

But during a drive-by encounter at the Yellowjackets Season 2 premiere red-carpet event on Wednesday, Lynskey didn’t wince at the mention of the band. Instead, her eyes actually lit up, as she started to nod her head in a groove motion, as if she were imagining listening to—and perhaps even liking—the song “Last Resort.”

The first episode of Season 2 of Yellowjacketsis now available to stream and will debut linearly on Showtime Sunday night. The horror-thriller-drama-mystery series, a portrait of friendship, survival, and light cannibalism, returns in great form. Watching the premiere, I gasped twice, groaned in surprised disgust once, whispered, “Oh, that’s juicy…” after one reveal, and, in reaction to a particularly grotesque moment, reflexively blurted, “Oh my god, no, no, no, nope, absolutely not.”.

“It really delivers on the more gruesome elements. It’s shocking. I mean, the first couple of scripts, I audibly gasped a few times,” star Christina Ricci told me on the red carpet, which was actually—and appropriately—black. (The Daily Beast’s Obsessed produced the fan experience at the show’s world premiere in L.A. Our little baby is glowing up, y’all!)

But the moment in the episode that elicited the biggest reaction from me involved Papa Roach, in what might be the most unexpected and hilarious music needle drop in a TV episode that I’ve seen in a long time. I burst out laughing and started applauding. “It’s just so good,” Lynskey said, speaker of the truth, purveyor of unimpeachable opinion and endless wisdom.

This is the only thing I’ll spoil from the episode, and I promise it’s not a huge plot point—just a delightful one.

If you recall from the end of Season 1 (and, for the love of God and Antler Queens, stop reading if you didn’t), Shauna (Lynskey) revealed her affair with artist Adam (Peter Gadiot) to her husband Jeff (Warren Kole)—after she accidentally killed him. She and Jeff are now not so much in forgive-and-forget mode (Jeff had been blackmailing the other Yellowjackets survivors) as they are in “forgive-and-work-together-to-cover-up-this-murder” mode.

At first, Jeff seems to be OK and even relieved by this. But then, after a series of unexpected twists in their pursuit of destroying evidence, he is alone in his car. It seems like we’re going to glimpse his true, raw feelings about the gravity of what is happening in his life and his marriage. We start to wonder what moody, introspective ballad might accompany such an emotional moment, especially given Yellowjackets’ impeccable taste in music cues.

But no. “Cut my life into pieces,” the radio starts blaring. “This is my last resort.” It’s Papa Roach. Jeff isn’t going to be staring out a window and contemplating. He is losing his shit, thrashing around his car, banging on the dashboard, and just fully letting loose.

“We knew immediately it was going to be this song” that played in this scene, showrunner Jonathan Lisco told me. “We needed a way for him to expurgate all that rage. He's obviously being very cool trying to get over the fact that Shauna had an affair, but we needed a very terse, intense way to show that he is not OK. That song popped into our minds right away because of that really intense, anthem-like quality of it.”

Perhaps more shocking than any moment in the Yellowjackets premiere itself was how few people on the red carpet were familiar with the song. “That’s my favorite moment from the first episode, but I actually didn’t know the song,” Kevin Alves, who plays plane crash survivor Travis, said. “Now it’s on my playlist.”

Even Kole, who plays Jeff, had never heard it. It was released in 2000, the same year he graduated college. “So use your imagination as to how that one was jarred out of my memory,” he laughed. He estimated that he listened to it about 50 times to figure out how he wanted to play the scene, which wasn’t exactly the most pleasant experience of his time working on Yellowjackets this season: “I hate it. Terrible song. A perfect song for the scene. But oh, I can't stand it.”

The rest of the cast all had their own dream picks for which song from that era they’d want their characters to listen to during a cathartic rage/rock-out moment, similar to the one Jeff has. Tawny Cypress (Adult Taissa) is a massive Jane’s Addiction fan but “I don’t know if Taissa would be listening to that music,” she conceded. “So maybe some En Vogue.” Liv Hewson (Young Van) said, “I’m dying for a Fiona Apple needle drop on the show. That’s my wish upon a star.” Lauren Ambrose, who is joining the cast as Adult Van this season, said “something from the Hole canon,” a response that my colleague Coleman Spilde noted needs to become a meme immediately.

Lynskey almost made me do a spit take when she nonchalantly explained, “The only songs I feel [like rocking out to] are, like, hip-hop songs or rap songs. Sometimes if I’m mad, I will sing, “I Don’t Fuck With You.’” As I guffawed in shock at the song title, she gave a coy glance. “I don’t know if I can say that,” she said, before offering that it’s by Big Sean. Helpful! I will give it a stream!

But if the theme of this piece is “things that made me have a wild, full-body response,” a la the Papa Roach needle drop or Lynskey calmly saying the words “I don’t fuck with you” while inches from my face, then I must mention one answer from Ricci. She gave it when I asked how she feels about being outdoors in real life now, after appearing on this traumatizing show.

I’m going to paint the entire quote as a mural in my apartment. I’m going to create a series of throw pillows with these words on them. I’m going to print it onto business cards and hand them out to strangers and passerbys, hoping to enlighten and brighten their day. Here it is:

“I always feel strange going outdoors. I don’t like wind. I don’t like the sun. Wind makes me gag until I vomit. I prefer an indoor, controlled environment.”

The Real Stars of Real Housewives

I’ve learned in my [redacted] years on this cursed Earth not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Given that it’s seemed recently that said horse had either lost my address or completely retired, I’d nearly forgotten that lesson. Thankfully, my most trusted spiritual advisors, the Real Housewives, arrived to remind me.

The new season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip premiered this week, debuting amid a fair amount of skepticism on the part of fans. Season 3 of the Peacock series was filmed in July 2022, a full seven months ago. Not only has another season of UGT already been filmed, but full seasons of Potomac and Salt Lake City, both of which had cast members on the trip, have aired in full.

That means that the drama happening during those seasons, on the trip, and in the respective shows’ reunions were all shown to fans out of order. The relationship dynamics between the stars have already shifted so many times and so extremely that watching UGT would likely be at best baffling if not entirely annoying.

Praise be, then, for my trusty gift horse. Yes, everything I said above is absolutely true about the new episodes. But as I devoured them with the same gusto I did with the free bag of SunChips on a Delta flight after not having eaten all day (I’ve been traveling a lot lately), I felt foolish for my doubts. Those qualms are mere quibbles—a sentence that made me giggle to myself. These are eight Real Housewives from across Bravo Nation making television in Thailand. Even a slightly confusing season is a miracle.

What surprised me most about the premiere is who emerged to be the breakout stars. There’s blatant jockeying for pole position when franchise veterans all get together like this. Yet the Housewife to receive the most attention was the one who was not even on the trip, as now-imprisoned Salt Lake City star Jen Shah dominated the lion’s share—or elephant’s share; this is Thailand—of the conversation.

Salt Lake City’s Heather Gay had been in the villa for mere minutes before being grilled about her support of Shah, who just days earlier pleaded guilty for crimes she had spent a year and a half claiming her innocence over. As we watch now, we know that Shah is in jail and Gay has spent months answering for her “ride-or-die” stance, making this relitigation slightly exhausting. Given how long ago all of that drama seems now to viewers, it was a surprise—and a detriment to UGT's much-delayed debut—to see it dominate the episode. But at least it was juicy TV, especially to see how fascinated Housewives from other cities were by the whole scandal.

There were two other delightful breakout stars of the episode. The first is Pepsi, the concierge at the villa, who can’t seem to disguise how simultaneously tickled and perplexed he is by these women and their behavior. This is all while they exhibit an infectious enthusiasm while interacting with him.

The other is Miami star Marysol Patton’s stomach issues, which are second in mentions only to Shah. They are even affecting her ability to consume “cockies,” which, if you know Patton, is a big deal.

I can’t wait to see and hear more from these three—and from the actual Housewives who are on the trip.

Broadway’s Twisted Turd—I Mean, Turn

The camera roll on my iPhone is a carefully curated combination of blurry sunset photos, pictures of food so poorly taken that chefs should ban me from their restaurants, and screenshots of tweets and memes that I forget to delete. That latter category may be the most important one.

Sometimes you take a screenshot of something, and when you scroll through the photos on your phone, you see it again and erupt in the kind of uncontrollable fit of laughter that restores portions of that will to live that escaped with your soul, as you went through the hell of your week.

There is a new, very important entry into that personal canon, with the screenshot of this tweet of a Page Six story.

The thumbs up! I can’t! This apparently did happen. What a time to be alive.

GOOPed and Gagged

There is currently a trial happening in Utah, in which a man claims that Gwyneth Paltrow recklessly crashed into him on a posh Deer Valley ski slope, skiing away after the impact and leaving him gravely injured. Paltrow is counter-suing, claiming he is exaggerating and exploiting her celebrity.

Look, there are people who were hurt and real stakes involved here that shouldn’t be made light of. That said, this tweet made me laugh and laugh and laugh. (It’s also in the camera roll’s screenshot hall of fame.)

Impossible? Things Are Happening Everyday!

If you watched the Whitney Houston and Brandy version of Cinderella as a kid, or a teenager, or as a [redacted]-year-old man on a recent Sunday afternoon, then the following photos will mean a lot to you. Even if you don't know what the hell the words “Descendants: Rise of the Red” mean.

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

Simon Rex gave one of the most entertaining comeback performances with 2021’s Red Rocket. He’s back with a pair of SXSW standout turns—and this great interview. Read more.

Daisy Jones & The Six finished up its season with a spectacular Riley Keough performance, juicy Fleetwood Mac-inspired romantic entanglements, and one helluva rock show. Read more.

Succession finally returns on Sunday. Yay! I have no recollection of what the hell happened last season. Boo! Luckily, there’s a catch-up guide for that. Read more.

Succession: TV’s greatest show continues to be very great. Who’d have thought!? (Sun. on HBO)

Yellowjackets: TV’s buzziest shows continue to be worthy of buzz. That’s a bee joke. (Now streaming; Sun. on Showtime)

The Big Door Prize: This was described to me as Ted Lasso-meets=Severance, which I can’t quite compute but am intrigued by. (Wed. on Apple TV+)

Great Expectations: Maybe it’s time to lower them! (Sun. on Hulu)

Love Is Blind: This was a fun lil’ experiment that is now just exhausting. (Now on Netflix)

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