Tamal Kundu
Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’ tells the story of the members of a New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team who get stranded in the Ontario Wilderness after their plane crashes on its way to Seattle in 1996. The survivors are forced to take drastic measures, including cannibalism, as the weather worsens and resources run out. 25 years later, those who eventually made it out of the Wilderness alive are still traumatized by their experience.
In season 2, the audience is introduced to a new Yellowjacket, Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman), whose real name is Kristen. She seems to suffer a tragic fate in season 2 episode 5, and falls to her death. However, when Misty returns to the location of the accident, she can’t find the body of her late friend. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Crystal’s Body Vanished, Leaving a Mystery Unsolved
Crystal is a theatre kid whose singing and humming initially irritate everyone, including Misty. But the two girls grow close over the course of the episodes, and they start to share secrets. For instance, Crystal reveals that her real name is Kristen. On her first day of practice, one of the other girls called her Crystal the Pistol, and that nickname stuck. She didn’t actively seek to change that perception because she never had a nickname before. Crystal also reveals that she was supposed to have a twin but devoured them while they were in their mother’s womb.
Feeling at ease around Crystal, Misty ends up revealing that she destroyed the plane’s emergency transmitter. Realizing that the person she considers a friend is inadvertently responsible for much of the deaths and misery they have endured, Crystal is horrified. When Misty threatens her, Crystal falls down a precipice. Misty makes her way down to the other girl and tries to revive her with chest compressions, but it appears Crystal is already dead.
In episode 7, after the snow stops falling, Misty overhears other girls speculating about whether she killed Crystal. She later announces that she is heading out to find her friend, and a few others join her. However, she makes excuses, claiming that she is not feeling well, and goes to where Crystal’s body should be. She knows that if the other girls find the body, they will eat it. But much to her surprise, the body seems to be gone.
Crystal’s Fate in Yellowjackets
There are only a handful of things that could have happened to Crystal’s body. One possibility is that it is still where it is supposed to be; Misty didn’t dig enough. We know it had been snowing for a while, so the body can still be under a few feet of snow and will not resurface until spring. Another possibility is that some animal took it away — maybe a wolf or a bear. Although bears generally hibernate during winters, there are exceptions, and this can be one such case.
The third and most unlikely possibility is that Crystal is still alive. In episode 5, we see Misty trying her best to revive Crystal and failing, so her death was pretty much confirmed in that episode. Although characters like Van have survived direr circumstances, one of the reasons that the incident had such an impact on the narrative is its uniqueness. If this plot device is employed more than once, it negatively impacts the story.
Despite her brief stay, Crystal leaves a long-term effect on the narrative. In an interview with W Magazine, Izman explained that she relied on her memories of high school to portray Crystal. “I would mirror my friend groups because I wanted them to like me so I wanted to be more like them,” the young actress explained. “I was like, oh that’s a really cool way to play it because then the audience doesn’t know, does she mean something evil behind this imitating Misty or is she just trying to find a way to fit in?”
Read More: Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 7 Recap and Ending, Explained
