Episode One of “Yellowjackets” Season 2 is a continuation of how the last episode of season 1 ended. Shauna is still in shock over Jackie’s passing in the middle of the night due to heavy snowfall, and she is dealing with the trauma in her own way. She imagines talking to Jackie’s dead body, and many around her in the cottage find it weird. Vanessa and Taissa are dealing with Taissa’s sleepwalking gently. Van is a supportive girlfriend. Misty is an irritable woman who is unable to understand exactly what she is supposed to do now. The grown-up versions of Taissa, Shauna, Nat, and Misty are making sure to deal with their problems in their own way. Somehow, it seems the past is catching up with them. How will the women deal with the situation going forward from here?
Spoilers Ahead
Shauna’s Trauma
Shauna is having the hardest time dealing with Jackie’s death. The guilt of letting her friend sleep at night in the middle of winter eventually led to her death; Shauna will probably never get over this tragedy. She constantly feels responsible for her best friend’s death. The trauma of losing her best friend is making her act up in the weirdest way possible. Shauna, now with a visible bump on her, starts imagining Jackie’s dead body speaking to her. This time she imagines Jackie specifically talking about the piece of her ear that is missing from her body. Shauna is yet to admit to anyone that she ate it because that would mean she would have to admit to her cannibalistic side, which has developed lately during their stay in the forest. Shauna also imagines Jackie wanting to know more about why she and Jeff hooked up after knowing Jackie and Jeff were together. Shauna is processing all the information she has within herself about why she would do that to Jackie. Shauna accidentally ends up cutting the skin off Jackie’s hand. Her imagination, due to trauma, is on overdrive because she ends up applying makeup to Jackie’s face and braiding her hair. Shauna’s hormones due to her pregnancy, coupled with the trauma of the flight crash and Jackie’s death, are acting up, which she is unable to process because she is a young girl. With no access to any medical assistance, plenty of issues just fester which she won’t be able to deal with.
Lottie And Nat
Back in the current scenario, Natalie has finally confronted her kidnapper, which is her fellow survivor, Lottie. Lottie is now running a small commune where she helps people deal with trauma and accept the pain as a part of it. Nat is not in the mood to hear any lectures about how to deal with pain because she has been through enough of it, and, at this point, she has become numb to all things negative. Lottie confesses that Travis spoke to her before he killed himself, and he wanted to let Nat know that she was right. Nat is trying to decipher his last message because she and Travis had broken up before she went into rehab. Nat is still in a lot of pain from losing him the way he did. She wants answers about what led him to commit suicide or if he was killed by someone. Nat and Lottie are not the best of friends from school days, but because they share the tragedy and trauma of living through their post-crash days, they have a connection that is hard to break. Nat has no choice but to believe whatever Lottie has to say. Lottie has no reason to lie, for she has nothing to gain or lose from it.
Taissa’s Mystery Behavior
Taissa has been facing trouble after trouble. Simone, her wife of many years, along with their kid, have moved out of the house. Taissa, because of the stress of losing her wife and the job she has taken on, starts drinking a lot of coffee at home and at work. She is not dealing with the stress that is taking a toll on her health. Taissa refuses to take any help because she is aware that the news of her taking mental health counseling would mean she would become the talk of the town. Even with plenty of information at hand with the advent of smartphones and social media, talking about mental health is still a stigma and is considered a taboo topic. Taissa does not want anything that would jeopardize her work, and at the moment, she is only concentrating on that and hoping Simone and her kid will come back soon.
Back in 1997, while Taissa and Vanessa are stuck in the cottage, Van knows Taissa is struggling to keep up with her sleepwalking tendencies. One night, Van finds Taissa gone in the woods, and she ends up following Taissa in the middle of a cold winter. Taissa, on the other hand, has a vision of a man wearing a mask leading her to the cliff. This is the first time a vision such as this has appeared. Was this vision always apparent to Taissa? If it is the first time, it would be interesting to know what role it plays in the future. Van saves Taissa from jumping off the cliff, and Taissa is thankful to her girlfriend for being with her throughout this traumatic experience. Taissa, just like Shauna, is unable to figure out why such events are acting up in different ways. With no availability of medical attention, Taissa’s mind is also spiraling with no solution in hand. Her only support remains Vanessa.
Ending Explained – Will They Finally Cremate Jackie’s Body?
Shauna, as a mother, is having a hard time connecting with her daughter Callie. Callie also finds it hard to admit that her parents aren’t dealing with the issue at hand in the right way. She is not coming to terms with the fact that her parents have forgiven each other and are trying to make their marriage work. She hoped there would be some argument or altercation between her parents owing to what transpired between Shauna and Adam. Callie is unable to process that her parents have been married for a long time and that they have their own way of dealing with their conflicts. Kevyn, the police officer who was also Shauna’s classmate from school, visited to learn about Adam. Shauna admits she was in touch with him, but she stopped conversing with him when she found out that he was a creep. Kevyn is not sure if he should believe Shaun’s words. Callie heads to a bar, where she notices an older gentleman trying to check her out. She approaches this man, and they both start flirting. It is revealed that the man was planted by Kevyn to learn more about Shauna and Jeff. There is no better way to learn about them than from their only daughter.
The older Taissa sees that her son Sammy has come by to meet her. Taissa, being a responsible mom, informs Simone about it because she does not want to be in trouble. Simone reached Taissa’s home only to notice Sammy was nowhere to be seen. Simone soon receives a call from the school informing her to pick up Sammy because he has been waiting for her in the school for the past two hours. Taissa still has no clue who she saw when she claimed she saw Sammy. This is either her too much coffee acting up or the fact that trauma-induced hallucinations are taking over her, thanks to her stressful work and her past catching up with her.
Lottie reveals that Travis had gotten in touch with her a day before he died when he spoke only about how the forest and their past were catching up with him. On reaching Travis’s place, she sees him almost ready to hang himself as per the instruction he has received. Lottie is confused about what to do, but Travis insists. Lottie agrees to bring him down once the noose renders him unconscious. The problem arises when the button on the crane stops working, and Travis ends up dead. Lottie also has a vision of Laura Lee, who has helped her become a spiritual person. Lottie is wondering if Travis came across any vision of Laura Lee as well, which made him take this step, but with him gone, he has no clue what he was talking about. All she could claim was that the trauma was something that was coming up, and he should have learned to deal with it.
A young Taissa, back in the cabin, is horrified to see Jackie’s face being plastered with makeup. Taissa is shocked to see what Shauna is doing in the name of dealing with trauma. Though Lottie understands that Shauna’s behavior is a reaction to losing her best friend, Taissa, being the logical person in the group, cannot come to terms with what Shauna is doing. Shauna does not want to be labeled a freak at this moment, so she remains silent about Taissa’s accusations. Taissa’s behavior is reflected in the adult version of herself, which is not dealing with trauma and the things that are happening to her because of the trauma.
Taissa decides that it is better to cremate Jackie’s body before Shauna’s mind spirals from here on. All of them agree, including Shauna. As they prepare for her cremation, the girls are contemplating taking away Jackie’s yellow jacket because they need more warm clothes for winter. Shauna refuses to strip Jackie naked for the cremation, and the group respects her decision. As they begin the cremation, Shauna finally says goodbye to the only best friend she ever had and the only person she betrayed. She will never be able to get rid of this complexity and this pain, but she can only hope that even in death, Jackie will be able to forgive her.
Cremation begins with Shauna lighting the pyre on fire. In the middle of the night, a big chunk of snow falls on the pyre, which shuts down the fire slowly. People from the cottage wonder what exactly happened to the pyre. They notice Jackie’s body is completely charred but has not turned into ashes. All of them, at this moment, are confused and enticed. Shauna has tasted human meat, and all she can think about is devouring the burned human flesh in front of her. She proclaims that Jackie wants them to eat her up. The entire group is hungry, and since winter has come, the amount of meat they get from hunting has also decreased. They are tired and hungry, and all they can think of is starting to binge. All of them start eating the meat in front of them as they are out for a fancy dinner, and a delicious meal has been served in front of them. The hungry youngsters have no option but to resort to cannibalism to survive the cold weather. As the second episode of the “Yellowjackets” Season 2 concludes, all of them have become people who enjoy eating human meat, not out of love for the flesh but out of desperation.
What To Expect From Episode 3?
Episode three of “Yellowjackets” Season 2 will take us through what the group would feel and wonder now that they have eaten up Jackie’s flesh. Will they be okay with killing each other, is that what it will come down to? It will be difficult for everybody to be with each other anymore, and it will be hard to forget the fact that they ended up resorting to cannibalism. Adult Shauna and her daughter Callie will again find it difficult to communicate. Misty will surely find a breakthrough in finding where Nat is. Nat will also find Lottie helpful after all. There should be an answer to why many of them were hallucinating. Is their trauma acting up?
