Teenage drama. Kidnappings. Supernatural occurrences. Cannibalism.
“Yellowjackets,” the Emmy-nominated Showtime series that is equal parts coming-of-age, survival and horror story, is back for a second season. The show centers on a high school girls soccer team that gets stranded in the wilderness after surviving a plane crash, and it alternates between flashbacks and present day, showing how the survivors cope with the trauma from the event. The supernatural elements add twists to the story, blurring the line between illusion and reality.
In the latter episodes of Season 1, several plot points emerge. Present-day Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) kills her lover, Adam (Peter Gadiot), and cleans up the mess with the help of some of the Yellowjackets and her husband, Jeff (Warren Cole). The finale also has big revelations: We learn how Jackie dies in the wilderness; Taissa wins her New Jersey State Senate race, and her wife finds a gruesome altar in the basement of their home; and adult Natalie is hauled away by a mysterious group of people dressed in purple.
Viewers were left with several cliffhangers and unresolved issues, so here we ponder six questions that we hope are answered in Season 2.
(Kailey Schwerman / Showtime)
Where is Natalie and who kidnapped her?
Last we saw Natalie (Juliette Lewis), the messiest of the soccer team’s alum, she was sitting alone on the edge of her bed, ready to pull the trigger on the shotgun under her chin. Then boom! Her motel room door is kicked open by a band of intruders, who kidnap her, adding yet another mystery to the “Yellowjackets” pile. The dramatic abduction of Nat, which closed Season 1, harkens back to the spooky, fishhook-like symbols the teens found carved into random trees while they were stranded in the wilderness back in 1996. The emblem also appears on a medallion worn around the neck of Nat’s present-day abductors, and below the body of her lifeless ex, Travis (Andres Soto), whom she found dead amid a ritualistic scene. The mastermind behind it all can’t be Jackie (Ella Purnell) because she’s headed into Season 2 as a frozen corpse. The natural conclusion is that Lottie (Courtney Eaton), who appears to have supernatural powers that can make bears lay down their lives before her. Could she be communing with Misty’s (Christina Ricci) bird, Caligula, commanding him to kidnap and kill? — Lorraine Ali
Is anyone held responsible for Adam’s death?
Adam Martin was introduced in a seemingly random fender bender, but he went on to prompt suspicions in the swirl of mystery that surrounds the present-day survivors. After a minor car accident leads Shauna to exchange information with the artist and auto body shop owner, the pair eventually begin an affair. But it isn’t long before questions about who he really is begin to surface. And after a tryst at her home results in Adam hiding in the closet to avoid being discovered by Jeff, Shauna notices specs of glitter on the floor and realizes her journals are missing, which leads her to believe he’s the one who has been blackmailing her and the other Yellowjackets. Distressed over the perceived threat he poses, Shauna kills him. It leads to one of the season’s most jaw-dropping moments: Natalie, Misty and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) help to dismember him in a bathtub, electric saw at the ready — something, Shauna points out, they’ve done before. And when Adam’s disappearance makes the rounds on TV news, Shauna’s daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins), who had been aware of her mother’s affair with him, is on alert. Adam’s backstory has spawned a number of questions and theories, and his true identity and the ramifications of his death will likely come back to haunt the women in Season 2. The storyline has certainly been a reminder of what not to do after a fender bender. — Yvonne Villarreal
What happened to Shauna’s baby?
One of the most disturbing questions hanging over Season 2 of “Yellowjackets” is just what happens to the baby Shauna is carrying in the 1996 timeline. He or she who would be 24 or 25 years old in the present day, but there has been no clear indication about the baby’s fate so far. By the end of Season 1, we know that roughly four or five months have passed since the plane crash, meaning Shauna is roughly halfway through her pregnancy.
Assuming she can even carry the pregnancy to term — hardly a given for someone whose prenatal care consists of occasional furtive conversations with Taissa — Shauna will likely give birth in the dead of winter. The outlook for this baby’s survival isn’t great. But even grimmer, on a show about teens dabbling in cannibalism and the occult while surviving 19 months in the wilderness, is the thought of what might happen to the baby if it dies. — Meredith Blake
Has teen Lottie (Courtney Eaton) become adult Lottie? That remains to be seen.
(Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME)
We’ve only seen Lottie as a teenager. Will we see her present day?
So far, these are the people we know survived the time in the wilderness: Shauna, Natalie, Taissa, Misty and Travis. Teen Lottie, however, plays a major role throughout Season 1. She sees visions, she’s possessed by the spirit of a French-speaking man, and she is seen wearing a crown made out of deer antlers. Yet, we haven’t seen her as an adult. There are hints that she’s still alive, namely from Natalie’s former Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, a banker she blackmails into finding out who drained Travis’ bank account after his death. She leaves Natalie a voicemail asking, “Who is Lottie Matthews?” We would all like to know that, and where she is. — Maira Garcia
The series begins with someone being chased into a spiky pit of death. Who was it?
Season 1 opened with a terrified girl being chased like prey through the snow, her feet bleeding as she fled from her off-screen perpetrators. Frantic and panting, she was herded toward a camouflaged pit in the ground, where she fell and was impaled by spikes. After she was hung upside down and drained of her blood, the Antler Queen and her masked followers convened around a campfire and chowed down on freshly roasted meat. The identity of the victim (or should we call her the main course?) is still a mystery heading into Season 2, but we do know she wore a necklace that once belonged to Jackie (Ella Purnell) and then Shauna (Sophie Nélisse). Was it Van (Liv Hewson)? Mari (Alexa Barajas)? Or does it even matter at this point? With so many unanswered questions, the identity of the pit girl feels like a cold case at this point. But if we can solve the mystery, perhaps it will unravel other unknowns, like who is the man in Jackie’s vision, is he related to the eyeless man seen by Taissa — now a New Jersey state senator — and is he why she is still sneaking out to eat dirt? — Lorraine Ali
Christina Ricci as Misty in “Yellowjackets.” Misty is fiercely protective of her fellow survivors.
(Paul Sarkis / Showtime)
Is Misty good crazy or bad crazy?
Misty, Misty, Misty. A mystery wrapped in an enigma topped in a frizzy blond perm and librarian glasses, Misty is one of the most intriguingly inscrutable characters in “Yellowjackets.” Is she an awkward but mostly harmless eccentric, a manipulative psychopath, or something in between? Let’s consider the evidence. It’s clear the soccer team equipment manager turned nurse (played by Ricci in the present day and Samantha Hanratty in the 1996 timeline) has done some unforgivable things — most notably, destroying the plane’s black box after the crash because, as social outcast, she enjoyed feeling needed by her teammates for once. She also has a bird named Caligula, after the famously debauched Roman emperor, and a rather-too-keen interest in true crime.
But it’s also obvious she is fiercely protective of her fellow crash survivors and the secrets they carry with them from their time in wilderness. When a “reporter” (who is actually private detective hired by Taissa) starts digging into the Yellowjackets’ past, Misty does what any true friend would do: She feeds her drug-laced chocolates and holds her hostage. The jury is officially still out on Misty, but I’m a fan. — Meredith Blake