Current Events > anyone watch Adult Swim's Yule Log (the Fireplace)

(+) Yeah! (+)

holy smokes guys.. that was a thing.

https://comicbook.com/anime/news/what-is-adult-swim-yule-log-explained-fan-reactions/

if you missed it will be on HBO Max starting Monday.

I liked it.

It was better than it had any right to be, honestly. It was like Cabin in the Woods x a cheesy/fun 70s/80s style horror movie x Too Many Cooks.

Really shocked it was as entertaining as it was.

I might have to catch it, the hints I've seen are intriguing.

dotsdfe posted...

Really shocked it was as entertaining as it was.

Agree. Plus I had no idea it was coming on .. I had really just tuned in to watch the Rick and Morty finale (which to be fair was better than most of the other season 6 episodes).

Thought it was funny they had a Yule log so I left it on while I was deciding to play a game or write a computer program.

.. and then ended up absolutely on the edge of my seat for two hours. Hats off to Casper Kelly.

shironinja posted...

Agree. Plus I had no idea it was coming on .. I had really just tuned in to watch the Rick and Morty finale (which to be fair was better than most of the other season 6 episodes).

Thought it was funny they had a Yule log so I left it on while I was deciding to play a game or write a computer program.

.. and then ended up absolutely on the edge of my seat for two hours. Hats off to Casper Kelly.

Did I miss something? Does an alien come out of the fire?

indica posted...

Did I miss something? Does an alien come out of the fire?

From the hints I've seen, it becomes kind of a horror movie.

pegusus123456 posted...

From the hints I've seen, it becomes kind of a horror movie.

no shit? I might have to try and watch it for more than five minutes...

I'll check it out on HBO Max. One of the Too Many Cooks guys made a like lowly viral YouTube channel that seemed super real at one point that was very interesting. Slow burn shit. Somethingbwith a yoga mat and a blue chair. Very weird shit. If you can find it and dedicate the time to watch it it's really good lol

indica posted...

no shit? I might have to try and watch it for more than five minutes...

Oh you have no idea. xD

I see it on HBO Max now. Only 59 min after they trimmed out the commercials. Lulz..

I will probably force a family member to watch it over Christmas and see what they think.

Watching it now. Pretty wild lol.

Goddamn, this is good. [as] is underrated.

Yeah, I'm glad I watched that. Thanks, TC.

It's an interesting plot.

The central theme is what the Little Man talked about at the end and what Alex talked a little bit about at the start: time privilege. As much shit is happening in the world right now, it's probably still better to be alive in the present that at most any point in the past.

• Isaac and Rosa could have been together and raised their son.
• There's a lot more body positivity and access to mental healthcare these days, so the suicidal girl might have been able to get some help.
• LGBT issues are far more accepted, so the crossdressing teen might have been able to be out and proud.
• If he'd been born in more recent times, Pleatherface might have been able to get access to the help he needed as a kid to avoid being a murdering hillbilly racist.
• Esther is the odd one out. Originally I thought she was just superfluous fluff, but then I realized that we just haven't hit the privileged time that would have helped her. If she'd lived in the year 2897 or something, maybe she wouldn't have had to deal with the aliens because we'd have our own advanced technology and would be able to keep them off our planet.

I feel like that's all more-or-less confirmed, so now I'm going to get a little weird.

I think there are two supernatural things happening at once: ghosts exist and the tree is magic. The ghosts are typically too weak to do anything; maybe they're more like psychic impressions of their deaths than actual ghosts. When Alex burned the log, it opened a conduit for them to interact with the material world. .

The tree has the ability to rewrite time. When they go into The cult worships the tree and were planning to ritually sacrifice the renters to try and use the tree's power to fix the world.
When the ghosts and the tree's power meet, it traps the ghosts inside of the log. They're trapped in a dream scenario where they could have lived the life they could have had if they'd been born outside of their own time, but it doesn't stick (no pun intended). Their grief and their rage causes them to lash out, murdering innocent people.

The only thing I'm stuck on is the topless woman and the Little Man. One or the other is the spirit or avatar of the tree. My inclination is that the Little Man is not the avatar, his speech at the end seemed decidedly human, but I wouldn't know what he would be then. I have the idea that he's Isaac, taking control of the tree's power and taking petty vengeance, but he's trapped in the log's nightmare at the end.

Also there are aliens cuz sure.