Tamal Kundu
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets‘ tells the story of a New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team whose plane crashes in the Ontario wilderness. Facing harsh conditions, the survivors eventually resort to cannibalism. Twenty-five years later, those who have made it out of the wilderness alive still carry the scars — both visible and invisible.
In season 2 episode 3, titled ‘Digestif,’ the survivors decide to throw Shauna (Melanie Lynskey as adult and Sophie Nélisse as teen) a baby shower, while Nat (Juliette Lewis as adult and Sophie Thatcher as teen) visit the plane to deposit Shauna’s bone there, and Coach Scott (Steven Krueger) hallucinates about how things could have been if he made different choices. In the present day, Misty (Christina Ricci as adult and Sammi Hanratty as teen) tries to solve the mystery of Nat’s disappearance with the help of her new friend, and Shauna lets her inner monster out. Here is everything you might want to know about the ending of ‘Yellowjackets’ season 2 episode 3. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 3 Recap
If episode 2 was all about hunger, the third episode of the second season focuses on reflection. It turns out that Taissa (Tawny Cypress as adult and Jasmin Savoy Brown as teen) had one of her episodes while they were feasting on Jackie and now doesn’t remember anything. While the others seem to have resorted to a mixture of denial and acceptance, Taissa screams in horror.
The only survivor that didn’t partake in the feast is Scott, and now, being hungry and food depraved, he starts having hallucinations. Scott imagines himself back in the apartment of his boyfriend, Paul (François Arnaud). It is revealed that Paul asked him to move in with him, but Scott was unsure, so they had a falling out. Scott envisions returning to Paul’s apartment, accepting his request, and learning about the missing plane from the news.
As the girls arrange the baby shower for Shauna, Misty, with the encouragement of Crystal, performs a Sally Field scene from ‘Steel Magnolias.’ It takes the others some time to warm up to what is unfolding before them. Travis notices something is wrong with Scott but doesn’t seem to figure out what it is.
In the present day, Taissa sees increasingly more disturbing images. The mysterious Symbol makes appearances multiple times in the film. Taissa, during one of her episodes, heads to one of the markings in the past with Van following her. In the present day, Taissa gains consciousness after the crash to find that she has drawn the figure on Simone’s hand.
We are finally introduced to Elijah Wood’s character in ‘Yellowjackets.’ A citizen detective just like Misty, Walter is deceptively smart and resourceful. They meet under the pretext that he has a witness, but when it turns out to be Randy of all people, Misty has no choice but to hide and feed him questions. Afterward, Misty seems unprepared for the attention Walter is showering her with. It’s an unexpected experience for Misty, who had to drug people in the past to convince them to pay attention to her. And there is this man: openly admiring her and her abilities. She doesn’t necessarily know how to respond to it, but what she does know is that she wants more of it.
After their family car is stolen, Shauna tracks it down and confronts the man who has it. This man makes the same mistake that people generally do around any of the Yellowjackets. He sees Shauna as a typical suburban mom, nothing more, and believes that she is not capable of pulling the trigger of the gun she is pointing at him. But then, Shauna removes her carefully constructed mask and lets this man see the carefully hidden monster within, terrifying him. He realizes he is staring at his death and barely convinces her to leave with the car.
Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 3: Why Did the Birds Die?
This episode, especially the scenes involving the past, is filled with animal imagery. While visiting the plane to leave Jackie’s bones there, Nat encounters a moose. She tries to shoot it but fails, prompting the animal to charge at her. However, it vanishes in the same thin air it appeared out of, leaving Nat to question whether she saw the creature at all.
After she has returned to the cabin and during Shauna’s baby shower, the girls argue when Lottie gives Shauna a blanket with the Symbol stitched on it. She adamantly believes that it’s a force for good, whatever it is. While some of the girls agree with her, especially those who have come to see Lottie as the spiritual leader of the group, others, such as Taissa and Nat, are skeptical. Soon, there are sounds as if things are hitting the roof. The girls come outside and discover the dead birds.
It’s another mystery added to the ever-expanding list in ‘Yellowjackets.’ Misty posits a theory that the birds got confused because of the high iron content in the ground, affecting the birds, which seems like a possible explanation. Either way, it sets up an eerie scene where the girls pick the dead birds up and place them on Lottie’s feet, effectively claiming her to be their leader.
Why does Lottie hallucinate about Death?
In the present day, Lottie is one of the two characters plagued with visions, the other being Taissa. But where Taissa’s visions are internal, bringing forth the other person occupying her psyche, Lottie’s is external. Even after 25 years, she sees herself as the leader of the group — the queen bee. So it stands to reason that her vision of dead bees and blood honey in the hives she has on her property indicates more deaths among the Yellowjackets.
Lottie seems to have grown fearful of the very thing she once considered a force for good — the entity she believes she and the others encountered in the wilderness. After 25 years, it has come after the remaining survivors, with Travis being its first victim. It’s either that or the visions are warnings from that entity about a possible future.
Read More: Who Plays Akilah in Yellowjackets Season 2? Why Was She Recast?
