Tamal Kundu
There are two main timelines in ‘Yellowjackets,’ the thriller-drama series on Showtime. One timeline depicts the events immediately after the plane crash in 1996 that leaves the eponymous soccer team stranded in the Ontario wilderness. The other is set in 2021 when the survivors have built separate lives for themselves. Suddenly, a threat looms large on the horizon, and the survivors must find a way to deal with it before it’s too late. If you are wondering who from the original group from 1996 are alive in 2021, this is what you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who Are Alive in Yellowjackets?
In 1996, the protagonists are students of a school in New Jersey. They are called Yellowjackets after the school’s mascot. After winning the state championship, the Yellowjackets earn the opportunity to compete in a national tournament. They board a private plane belonging to the father of one of the students and leave for Chicago. However, the plane crashes in the Ontario wilderness, immediately killing the two pilots. Several others perish in the crash, including the team’s head coach, Martinez.
The initial survivors of the crash include Nat (Juliette Lewis as adult and Sophie Thatcher as teenager), Taissa (Tawny Cypress as adult and Jasmin Savoy Brown as teenager), Travis (Kevin Alves), Shauna (Melanie Lynskey as adult and Sophie Nélisse as teenager), Jackie (Ella Purnell), Misty (Christina Ricci as adult and Sammi Hanratty as teenager), Coach Scott (Steven Krueger), Akilah (Keeya King), Javi (Luciano Leroux), Van (Liv Hewson), Laura Lee (Jane Widdop), Mari (Alexa Barajas), and Lottie (Courtney Eaton).
This group of individuals spends the following 19 months trapped in the inhospitable environment of the Ontario wilderness. As their food supplies start to deplete, they have no choice but to forage and hunt. When the situation worsens, they form small warring tribes and resort to cannibalism. In the pilot episode, the group under Misty’s leadership hunt down one of the other girls, who the series heavily implies is Jackie.
After returning to civilization, the survivors have collectively decided to maintain silence about what happened during those 19 months. In the pilot episode, it is revealed that Nat, Taissa, Shauna, and Misty are four of the survivors. Travis also survived the horrific ordeal, but he dies in episode 3. The audience is told that there are other survivors, and like Travis, almost all of them are living their lives in obscurity. In fact, it seems that only Taissa has actively sought a public life.
While the show wants us to believe that Jackie is dead and not one of the survivors, this can very well be a misdirection. We think that the girl Misty’s group kills is Jackie because we see the necklace with the heart-shaped pendant on her. While that necklace does belong to Jackie, she could have given it to someone, just as she gives it to Shauna in the first episode. So, it’s possible that she is still alive, living in some remote town.
We know that Taissa thinks that one of the survivors is supplying information to her political rival. They likely want her to stop to preserve their own anonymity if this is true. If Taissa’s campaign continues, there will be more scrutiny, which can unearth things that none of them wants the world to know. One of the survivors can potentially be Van. Teenage Taissa was romantically interested in her. It’s possible that they both made it to the civilization alive but later had a fallout. And now, Van probably has returned to stop Taissa before her campaign inadvertently ends up exposing them to the world.
Read More: Is Yellowjackets Based on a True Story?
