Yellowjackets’ Idea of “A Normal, Boring Life” Involves Cannibalism Ultimatums

Shauna brings teeth to a knife fight for her awkward reunion with adult (and very alive) Melissa.

Recap

Picking up where we left off—well, the next morning, after weird nightmares in her car—Shauna approaches the house where Hannah’s daughter Alex lives. Only, the adult Alex is married to a woman she calls Kelly, who’s actually Melissa, played by none other than Hilary Swank. Dun dun dun! The fans guessed it from the start, the show held out as long as it could, and now it’s all out in the open. Or, as out in the open as you can be with fortysomething exes prowling around one’s idyllic kitchen with their respective knives unsheathed.

After determining that neither is going to go unarmed, they sit down for a wary catchup of the past 25 years. Melissa reveals that she faked her death (via a suicide note that apparently removed the need to find an actual body) but also pursued Alex. Initially she had intended to spill everything that they did to Hannah, but she claims she genuinely fell in love with her. Now they have a happy marriage and a kid, and Kelly is blissfully unburdened by what the Yellowjackets did in the woods.

Except she’s not, since she’s soothing her guilt by sending Hannah’s tape to Shauna—plus whatever else she explained in the note, which is either a lie or Callie hid from her mother. But Melissa is also adamant that she didn’t leave the cell phone playing “Queen of Hearts” in that bathroom, cut Shauna’s brakes, or shut the walk-in freezer on her. In fact, as the proudly therapized Melissa peels apart Shauna’s layers, she brings a harsh reality check: “You create your own problems,” she taunts Shauna, pointing out that she would rather make everyone share her self-loathing than face reality.

What, you may ask, are some of those problems? In the Wilderness, the Yellowjackets capture Kodiak (thanks to Akilah leaving a trail) and coerce him into showing them the way out. But when the time comes for everyone to leave their home of the past year-and-change, Lottie refuses. Still covered in crusted blood, she gives a poignant speech about how “if I go back, I won’t be well; I won’t be the me who was made here.” Her hesitation inspires Shauna to claim that something is wrong with the rescue they’ve engineered for themselves, and then Tai (who’s afraid of her and Van’s relationship not being accepted back in the real world) jumps on the bandwagon.

When Nat puts on her Antler Queen voice and first urges them to join, then spitefully decides to leave them, Shauna surprises everyone by pulling the current Queen card: “No.”

At the hospital, Misty mostly spends the episode chasing after people—first leaving voicemails for Shauna, then rather ineffectually trying to stop Tai from smothering some poor man in palliative care to buy Van more time. She’s obviously in denial from the doctor saying that Van is the one who should be considering end-of-life care, but it’s curious that it seems as if it’s good Tai who can’t go through with it, then the next scene shows that Tai locked away again by Other Tai taking back over.

Back at the Jolly Hitcher, Jeff and Callie find comfort in the discomfort that neither believes that Shauna is actually being stalked by someone; instead, they’re both pretty sure that she’s imagining a lot of this or outright intentionally making it up. Jeff also redeems himself in the eyes of the Joels, mostly by throwing Shauna under the metaphorical bus by blaming her for messing up their business dinner, yet also puffing himself back up as man enough to marry an unhinged women. Whew, that is a whole toxic sandwich, but Callie actually looks proud of her dad.

And listen, there may be a seed of truth in what Jeff’s saying, since Melissa tries to grab Shauna’s knife, Shauna overpowers her, and then takes a bite out of her arm. Mouth smeared with blood, she dangles the piece of flesh over Melissa (it felt very shitty teen dangling saliva over someone’s face) and orders her to eat it, or she’ll tell everyone who she really is.

Commentary

Of all the emotional and moral leaps that Yellowjackets has taken us on, trying to convince us that fortysomething Melissa would wear the exact same backwards baseball cap ranks high up there. Where they did immediately hook me, however, was the logic that the moment they got home, Melissa didn’t feel as if she were part of the team anymore, and she was “fucking terrified” of the rest of them. I’m curious if that means the group splits into factions and she’s part of the side that doesn’t participate as often in the hunts.

But the fact that Shauna pulls rank and orders everyone else to stay is downright audacious. She loved being mistaken for the captain by Kodiak, and she is going to challenge the team’s power hierarchy by finding out just how absolute the leader’s control is. It’s not as if a six-day hike out of the woods would be easy for any of them—it’s been quite a while since the days of Nat and Travis attempting to map the area—but the real barriers are mental and emotional.

After all, what does a teenage Shauna think she has waiting for her back in New Jersey? Her best friend is dead, the boy she was fucking wouldn’t want anything to do with her, their baby is dead, and as far as she can tell, her parents have already mourned her and started to move on. The revelation from Hannah that yes, their plane crash was a news story, but it’s old news, hits everyone hard. Even if we don’t see them talk about it, they must all think that their families and friends have been holding out hope this entire time; to hear that they searched for a few months but then stopped is gutting.

And now, even if they emerged triumphant from the woods, they would have to either confess to the horrors they agreed upon for their survival, or remain tied in the same complex, careful lies for the rest of their lives. Any future partners and children, any existing parents and siblings, could never be privy to the truth of the Wilderness. Yet the Yellowjackets would always be dogged by it; as Tai desperately tries to explain to Van, “This place will follow us for the rest of our lives.”

It’s a shame that adult Tai and Van’s plotline just doesn’t carry the same emotional weight as their teenage selves’. Tai’s fear about having to go back in the closet is so compelling, but so too is Van’s near-tears frustration and anger at Tai joining the “stay in the Wilderness” contingent. After everything they’ve done to survive out in nature against the elements, Tai can’t fathom overcoming the societal obstacles, not least because there’s not the same room for ingenuity and creativity against 1990s social mores. (I’m sorry, but the shot of the Man With No Eyes looming over a dead-eyed teen Tai was just way too cheesy for me.)

What did work tonally was the Yellowjackets’ shared montage (set to Supergrass’ “Alright”) imagining creature comforts from home in the Wilderness. These poor girls. I’m glad that Travis finally came clean to Akilah, though it seems as if that only served to make her stubbornly double down on her loyalty to Lottie and the Wilderness. And what’s up with that vision she had, of all of the animals dying? Perhaps it’s a portent for the group’s decision to stay in the woods. Also! Her prior vision, of the village flashing between empty and full, involved a three-eyed bear—a Kodiak bear, maybe?

Melissa’s intent in sending the tape to Shauna to offload her own guilt makes me wish that Yellowjackets had gone full FORWARD THIS CHAIN LETTER OR YOU’LL DIE, but ah well. Though maybe we’ll get some of that vibe with Shauna’s fleshy ultimatum, which was the perfect WTF moment to end on.

Fingers and Ears

• Lines of the week: Shauna’s “We can both keep our knives” and Tai asking “Does that count?” about the guy flatlining.

• Aw, the vulnerability of teen Melissa asking Shauna if she’s going to bring her handmade knife sheath back home.

• Poor Misty spent an entire night alone in the Wilderness without her glasses? That gives me so much more empathy for her.

• Those are Silence of the Lambs moths, right? It came out in 1991, so no doubt Shauna and Jackie snuck into an R-rated screening as preteens.

Interestingly, I can’t find a promo for next week… Wonder if they’re trying to play the rest of the season close to the vest? Two episodes left!