BUZZ BUZZ, Yellowjackets hive! The latest season is dunzo, and there is MUCH to discuss.
I’ll be real with y’all — I don’t really watch this show with a critical and theorizing lens lol. As a viewer, I’m kind of like a non-himbo Jeff: I’m here for the vibes and along for the ride; I support women’s rights, but more importantly, I SUPPORT WOMEN’S WRONGS. Which is why I’m kicking off this open thread with my preferred FYA love language: POLLS POLLS POLLS.
(Major spoilers ahead! If you haven’t finished Season 2, be sure to (re)visit our earlier posts for non-spoiler-y Season 1 thoughts, our post-Season 1 open thread, and our reading round-up for book recommendations for fans of the show!)
Best New/Expanded Supporting Cast (1996)
The background players finally get their time in the spotlight! Although the likelihood of anyone from this poll surviving the wilderness is extremely extremely low.
Best New/Expanded Supporting Cast (1996)
- Akilah (38%)
- Crystal (25%)
- Javi (21%)
- Nugget (alive version) (13%)
- Mari (4%)
Loading ...Best New Supporting Cast (Present Day)
I’m loath to assign a year to the present day timeline, because I’m the resident hater of When Math and Numbers Make No Modicum of Sense.*
Best New Supporting Cast (Present Day)
- Walter (38%)
- Van (33%)
- Lottie (21%)
- Caligula (human version) (4%)
- Lisa (4%)
Loading ...*OK, let’s do it: The 25-year gap has always been prominent, and the plane crash was in 1996. The present day storyline picks up in 2021 — same as when Season 1 started airing. 25** would still be true from their rescue in 1998 to our real-life 2023. HOWEVER, two years have NOT elapsed in the present day timeline, so it would be 2021, maybe 2022 at best. Ergo, “present day” it is!
**The fact that 1998 was 25 years ago, like WTF.
Best Support System
Our Core Four has been through A LOT — but thankfully, they’ve all got (mostly) people in their corners. But which sidekicks will take the top spot?
Best Support System
- Misty: Caligula, Walter (48%)
- Shauna: Jeff, Callie, Randy lol (43%)
- Natalie: Lisa, Lottie, miscellaneous commune friends, Misty =| (9%)
- Taissa: Van, Dark Tai; Simone and Sammy (in absentia) (0%)
Loading ...Third Best Couple
Tai and Van are obvs OTP — even if, um, Tai is still married to a comatose someone else, but Van might appreciate the similarities to the Sandy Good While You Were Sleeping — and Ben and Paul might mostly exist as a figment of Ben’s imagination? In any case, those four are already Mom and Mom and Dad and Dad, so this poll is just for the bronze!
Besides, it’s 2023; we’re not pitting members of the LGBTQ+ community against each other!!! (But for realsies — Shauna/Jeff and Misty/Walter are better suited for a head-to-head battle, especially since those couples have more humour than angst.)
Better-o Heteros*
- Misty and Walter (58%)
- Shauna and Jeff (42%)
Loading ...*Fun fact: this pun is the entire reason why I decided that I MUST write this post. I am not even joking.
Most Magnificent Misty Moment
Oh, our resident diva of death herself. Not included: killing TWO BFFs lol, but that’s decidedly not magnificent anyway. (Also omitted: ruing the group decision to not make Jackie broth, and general cannibal lust.)
Most Magnificent Misty Moment
- 2.4 Matching bedtime routine with Walter (32%)
- 2.7 Isolation tank musical (32%)
- 2.3 Steel Magnolias monologue as a baby shower present (27%)
- 2.8 Sharing Shack murder confessions (9%)
Loading ...Horrific and Hellish
Normally, I’d choose only 1 option from an episode, but the last few episodes were SOMETHING.
Horrific and Hellish
- 2.9 Travis chomping on Javi's raw heart (29%)
- 2.6 Baby-eating hallucination (24%)
- 2.7 Shauna beats Lottie to near death (24%)
- 2.1, 2.2 Jackie snackie (19%)
- 2.9 Shauna butchering Javi (5%)
- 2.8 Nugget mummy (0%)
- 2.8 First hunt (0%)
Loading ...Wild(erness) Speculation
Now that the season is over and the wait has started for the next one, we can commence BASELESS THEORIES AND GUESSWORK! Here are my final thoughts on the season:
- R.I.P. poor Nat! No wonder she had such a tough life after the wilderness. She and Travis, both individually and together, are just so, so tragic.
- A lesser R.I.P. to Kevyn Tan. You were too hot for this world, but I’m glad to never have to spell your name again.
- He’s always been on the chopping block (an especially apt turn of phrase here), but I’m increasingly convinced that his being an obvious target is a red herring. Calling it now for the present day timeline — COACH BEN LIVES. I’ll be vindicated if someone like Jason Patric joins the cast in an undisclosed role. (If Coach Ben’s capable of mass murdering a cabin full of cannibal children, he can FOR SURE survive the wilderness!)
- Will Tai ever remember that she still has a wife, child, and brand new J-O-B?
- Lottie’s “you’ll see” to Van: does that mean Van’s cancer will be cured? Is this what Van’s been angling for all along? Has she never stopped being a true believer?
- Based on the final shot of the group outside of the burning cabin, these were the only people still alive in 1996: Van, Tai, Travis, Nat, Misty, Shauna, Lottie, Mari, and Jen (? the pink baseball cap girl) — plus Arsonist Coach Ben, obvi. WITHER AKILIAH? Did all the other unnameds die, like the headband girl?
- So Pit Girl is Jen or Mari? But based on how Adult Lottie was talking about ‘the way they used to do it’, it seemed like a VERY refined ritual for so few available, uh, offerings.
- Did they grab the poo bucket in the fire evac lol love the priorities.
- Shauna’s simmering jealousy over being passed over for wilderness leader is VERY interesting. It makes me think of the warring clans idea from the original premise that The Ringer podcasters (and some of my very faves) Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin often talk about.
What did y’all think of Season 2? Has this show jumped the shark, or are you still in for Season 3? Have your say in the comments below!
We published this review during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. This work would not exist without the labor of writers and actors, and we support their goals.
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LOVE these polls!!!!
So, yeah, this series kinda lost me in the second to last episode, with all of the wilderness girls (hey-o!) suddenly deciding they were going to viciously chase Natalie. It was just too extreme of a turn IMO.
But I’ll probably still end up watching S3 because WALTER!!! Goddamn Elijah Wood was a breath of fresh air this season. He and Misty are definitely OTP. To me, that subplot (his relationship with Misty; his arrival at the commune and fuckery with the cops) was WAY more interesting that the present day Yellowjackets ladies and their “do they are don’t they think Lottie is crazy” bullshit. BORING Y’ALL. I wasn’t even that sad when Nat died, womp womp.
Coach burning down the house was a nice twist, and I agree with you, Mandy, I think he totally lived.
Yay, glad you liked the polls! I’m having fun tracking how the voting is turning out, especially since I’m not sure how I’d answer for some of them myself. (Plus, based on past experience, I know lots of readers prefer leaving opinions via anonymous polls rather than written comments lololol)
I feel like, structurally, Nat’s sacrifice makes sense with the Javi/Lisa parallel. But for the viewer, Javi JUST died lol like we barely had any time to sit with Nat’s guilt, to the point that the show LITERALLY had to show us a flashback to be like, THIS IS NAT’S MOTIVATION RIGHT NOW. My instinct to rework the season would be to reveal that Present Day Nat feels guilty for Javi’s death back when Javi returns to the cabin, and then there’s that element of dramatic irony at work, and also maybe pulling more parallels between Javi/Lisa to make it more obvious.
Glad you’re trepidatiously still sticking with the show (for now lol)! Agreed that the commune stuff fell flat, plus also all the Adam stuff draggggged, even if the eventual Walter resolution was delightful. In retrospect, like…. what purpose did the commune even serve lol other than just an elaborate setting? Lottie wasn’t evil and holding anyone against their will etc. and people seemed to be genuinely into it?
Fellow COACH BEN LIVES truther!!!
Completely agree with your suggestion to have introduced Nat’s guilt over Javi sooner. And yeah, the commune was… just a commune, though seemingly an expensive one?!!