Saints
Episode 6 of Yellowjackets Season 1 begins with a closer look at Lottie, and boy is this girl weird. As a child she begins screaming while waiting at a red light, avoiding a car crash. However, this perceived premonition is rejected by her father though, who decides she needs to go to therapy. Back in the wilderness, Lottie continues to experience weird visions. This time of a deer with bloodied antlers. Now, this is an ominous foreshadowed sign of what occurs at the end of the episode, but we’re getting a big ahead of ourselves here! During one of their late night rendezvous, Tai wants to leave the group but Van convinces her not to. When she heads back in the cabin, Shauna awakens after another nightmare. It’s here we find out that Shauna’s baby is actually fathered by Jeff…who’s currently dating Jackie. Oof. Shauna is worried about Jackie finding out and contemplates taking drastic measures to hide this. The guilt though is overbearing. That reaches fever pitch though when Jackie talks to Shauna about Jeff. After gushing over how good a boyfriend he is, she reveals that he actually told her he loved her the day before they left. Speaking of loving, Nat and Travis wind up kissing passionately inside the wreckage of the plane. When they head back to the cabin, most of the girls ooh and aah over their newfound relations. Jackie though, is not happy. She calls them out for a lack of effort on the hunting front, bubbling up the tensions in camp. I mean, this is the same Jackie that hasn’t been pulling her weight; anyone else smell a new world order on the horizon? Anyway, Lottie’s earlier vision with the deer sees her head up to see Laura. Now, as she’s the spiritual rock on the island, it makes sense that Lottie going to her for advice on what this means. “If you accept Him into your heart, he’ll help you discern the true from the false.” Lottie takes her down to the lake and carries out a makeshift baptism of sorts, gently dropping her into the water. In doing so, she once again sees that same vision of the deer. As she lights a couple of candles, she flashes back to the present, where Laura believes she’s seen the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, Travis asks the one question that every single guy seems to ask, and it always ends up in tears. He asks how many guys she’s been with. Nat immediately takes offence and begins lashing out, until she finds out that Travis is actually a virgin. Nat though isn’t but honestly, who cares right? She convinces Travis it doesn’t matter but rustling outside distracts them both. It’s an animal, and the perfect opportunity to hunt presents itself. It’s a deer and as the pair bring it into camp, Lottie notices it has bloody antlers – the same deer from her visions. When they cut open the deer, maggots are crawling all over. It’s the final straw for Tai, who takes the initiative and decides to try and find some help. Our time in the present picks up with Shauna. She makes it over to Natalie’s place where Taissa steers the conversation to Travis and the weird symbol. Interestingly, Shauna never actually received one of the envelopes. Now, Nat believes it could be Jessica but instead off bringing her over, Shauna comes up with a counter-plan. She wants to throw a tracker in the bag of 50k for whomever this blackmailer is, that way they can find who it is – and where they’re going. Now, if Shauna’s issues on the island were wracked with guilt, so too is her time in the present. We’re on the anniversary of Jackie’s death and everything is a reminder of the betrayal she engaged in. All of this crescendos with Jeff admitting that he and Shauna were having an affair behind Jackie’s back. Meanwhile, Tai takes Sammy to a therapist who confirms that there’s definitely something going on with him. It could well be overwhelming stress but Tai scoffs at the idea. Now, while Kevin and Nat grow closer together, hooking up at the hotel, Misty continues to act incredibly shady. She rings the reporter, Jessica, while surrounded by pills (and her laptop screen showing the camera feed from Nat’s hotel room) and organizes a meet later that night. As they talk, Misty taunts the reporter, telling her that “her plan isn’t working.” In reply, Jessica scoffs and retorts “My Plan?” Remember those pills? Well, Misty has concocted a particularly nasty knock-out juice which she uses in a syringe to knock Jessica out that evening. She takes Jessica over to her apartment, ties her up to a bed in the basement and wishes her a good night. As the episode closes out, we finally get some answers over who the woman in the tree is that Sammy has been seeing. It’s Tai. She awakens with a bloodied hand, that same strange sigil from before and a confused, panicked reaction over what’s going on. She’s also up in the tree too! Her phone rings with Nat telling her to meet, as the unknown blackmailer organizes a meet for 2am. It’s game time.
The Episode Review
Yellowjackets returns this week with a more spiritual chapter, leaning into the visions and just what’s going on with Lottie. Seeing her close to Laura and tying things into religion is a nice touch, and it adds an extra layer of mystery to proceedings. Interestingly, this episode also allows for more answers to drip-feed into the narrative. We learn the extent of the ties between Jackie, Shauna and Jeff as well as confirmation over who the woman in the tree is. The fact that it’s Tai is a nice surprise, and we know she’s been suffering pretty badly from wild visions so it does add up. It’ll be interesting to see just what direction this takes next and exactly how the kids managed to get off the island. There are a lot of questions still to be answered but Yellowjackets has done well to keep everything at arm’s length and tease out this tantalizing mystery every week. I’m still not convinced Misty is the big mastermind behind all of this though. It just seems way too convenient. Personally, my money is on Jackie. I know we’ve heard about her dying on the island but if there is an insurrection that takes place, it gives her plenty of incentive to hit back against them all. We shall see!
