Melissa Hat

The scene starts with Shauna going to her baby’s grave and discovering that someone left flowers on it. For context, let’s remember that Shauna recently buried her baby there, away from the others so she could mourn him in peace. We know Shauna feels uncomfortable with how the group turned her dead child into an object of worship, preventing her from properly grieving him. The situation was so unbearable for her that she had to dig up her dead baby to rebury him somewhere secret so the others couldn’t have access to his body anymore. So understand, from her perspective, discovering that someone found her dead baby’s grave is her worst nightmare and something she desperately wanted to prevent. This just confirms her worst fear that she will never be allowed to grieve him in peace. Someone putting flowers on her baby’s grave isn’t a sweet gesture for her, it’s a violation, akin to a profanation. It would be an understatement to say this alone put Shauna in the worst possible mood imaginable, and it’s very understandable, given her past trauma and everything she went through.

Now, we also have to acknowledge what it’s like from Melissa’s perspective. I think it’s fair to assume she did not realize that her action came off that way for Shauna. To her, leaving flowers on her baby’s grave was a sweet gesture. There were no ill intentions (at least, consciously). And I think one of the reasons why she decided to do that is because of how Shauna reacted to Akilah’s “gift” (the makeshift crown thingy) earlier in the episode. This was a gift that highlighted Shauna’s motherhood, and given her child died, also a painful reminder of his death. It put the emphasis on her as the mother of this child they are now “worshipping” instead of allowing Shauna to mourn her loss, essentially turning her grief into a spectacle. Melissa might not have fully understood why this “gift” upset Shauna, but she isn’t clueless either. She can probably tell that Shauna is not comfortable with how they treat her baby, and it shouldn’t be hard for her to figure out it’s because they view him as an idol of worship instead of the tragedy he truly is: a dead baby. So it makes sense that Melissa would have wanted to do something that acknowledges that fact. After taking a stand by stepping on Akilah’s gift in front of Shauna, it also makes sense that Melissa would have wanted to give Shauna her own gift instead, something she assumed Shauna would have rather wanted: something acknowledging her grief. And in normal circumstances, leaving flowers on someone’s grave is the appropriate way to pay respect to them. But, unfortunately for her, those are not “normal” circumstances, resulting in her action not being appropriate.

However, despite Melissa’s intention being primarily good, we also have to acknowledge that it wasn’t entirely selfless. Yes, her sympathy for Shauna and her loss is sincere. She does feel bad for her and did this because she thought it would make Shauna feel better. But we also have to realize that, in order for Melissa to be able to leave flowers there, it’s because she was stalking Shauna. She followed her there without Shauna’s knowledge, and discovered something she was not supposed to know. Then used that discovery to her advantage, without Shauna’s permission. And let’s not forget, Melissa didn’t simply leave flowers: she stayed and hid. She wanted to see Shauna’s reaction. So not only did she stalk Shauna, there is something a little bit voyeuristic about what she did. And this does fit with how Jenna Burgess interpreted this scene. She described Melissa’s initial intentions as “pure” and “empathetic”, but accurately points out that the truly empathetic action would have been to leave the flowers and walk away, just to let Shauna know there’s someone who is acknowledging her grief. Melissa decided to stay and watch for a reaction, which Jenna describes as being “audacious”, a “power move" and “self-serving”, which I do agree with. By observing how Shauna reacts to her “gift”, she can more easily learn what works or doesn’t work with Shauna and prepare her next move. It’s important to keep in mind that Melissa didn’t plan that she’d get caught, so even if she wasn’t being purely selfless in her intentions, she wasn’t planning to take advantage of the situation to manipulate Shauna in any way. Everything that happens after getting caught was purely her improvising and trying to turn an unexpected confrontation to her own advantage, while being truthful about her feelings towards Shauna.

Back to Shauna. After discovering the flowers, she panicked because she realized someone managed to find where her baby was buried. Then, she heard someone moving and realized she was being observed. Her first instinct when that happened was to pull out her knife. This shows how frightened she truly was by the situation, and perhaps even expecting to be in danger. Shauna is in a state of panic and in “defense mode”, basically.

But when she sees no one “attacking” her, while still being aware that she isn’t alone, she demands whoever is hiding to come out. And I think it’s likely she could have attacked whoever showed up on the spot if it happened to be someone she wasn’t particularly fond of. For example, if it was Mari or Misty, Shauna might not have let them explain themselves and simply go on the offensive. But, the person who came out from the bushes was Melissa, someone she is mostly indifferent to and with whom she had a relatively “positive” interaction not so long ago. And I do think it could have contributed to Shauna not jumping on her right away, meaning if they didn’t have this interaction in ep1, perhaps Shauna would not have let Melissa attempt to explain herself and just attacked her instead. This would add an extra layer of importance to their first actual interaction this season, by affecting the way this scene ended up playing out.

Melissa could have attempted to run when Shauna caught her. Maybe she considered doing it. But I think she decided not to because if Shauna saw her run away and recognized her, it would not have been a good look for her. That wasn’t a risk she would take given she wants to get on Shauna’s good side. So she did show herself, which again, as Jenna mentioned, demonstrates that she is audacious. But also, Melissa didn’t realize how much her action had negatively affected Shauna’s mind. Once again, she viewed what she did as a nice gesture, while Shauna viewed it as a violation. So I think ultimately, Melissa didn’t run away because she wasn’t scared of Shauna, at least not enough to feel in immediate danger. Or rather, she underestimated Shauna and failed to realize how pissed off she made her. And unfortunately for her, one passively good interaction between them wasn’t enough to minimize Shauna’s anger.

Then, Melissa tries to justify her presence to Shauna. As I said earlier, I don’t think she was scared of Shauna, but she was definitely nervous. Just like anyone would be if they got caught spying, especially by their crush. And we can tell she was nervous by the way she’s rambling. If I’m understanding correctly what Melissa is saying, she is claiming she didn’t follow Shauna “this morning” (so earlier that day), she just couldn’t sleep because she was scared and then she saw Shauna going somewhere and decided to “keep and eye” on her because of how things are “crazy out there” (I assume this is about Mari’s disappearance and the weird screams they heard last night).

So when we saw Shauna go re-bury her kid earlier this episode, this is when Melissa followed her and found out about the grave. So, despite what Melissa claims… yes, she did “follow” Shauna. Maybe she is truthful about saying it was to keep an eye on her out of concern for her due to the recent events, but it’s also very possible she simply has the habit of following Shauna around, like a stalker. We saw Shauna bury her baby at the beginning of the episode, which seems to have been the morning, meaning Melissa was probably spying on her. Then we saw that quick scene between them after the group realized Mari had gone missing and Shauna angrily passed by Gen and Melissa. Given the chronology of events, it means Melissa already knew at that time where Shauna had re-buried her child. And seeing how on edge Shauna looked, might have thought that putting flowers on his grave would “help”. How wrong was she, huh.

While Melissa is rambling, Shauna is staring at her. I doubt she actually cares about whatever justification Melissa is giving. Shauna already made up her mind. They might have had one relatively “positive” interaction the other day, Melissa is still mostly a stranger to Shauna. The fact she only noticed Melissa having a “personality” recently is proof they were never close before. So even if Shauna didn’t attack Melissa right away, she is still unlikely to give her any benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shauna did not listen at all to what Melissa said and was too focused instead on her anger about having someone intrude on a place that is sacred to her. Melissa is essentially nothing more than an intruder in her mind, and Shauna had already decided that she was here to “take” her baby. Hence why she didn’t reply to anything Melissa said and instead told her that no one has a right to her baby, emphasizing how he is HER baby. So this really reinforced the crux of what Shauna solely has on her mind at the moment: her baby. And how someone, once again, from her perspective, is appropriating him. And nothing Melissa could have said would have changed her mind. This is the first thing she thought when she found the flowers, and it shaped how she continues to perceive the situation.

Melissa does seem taken aback by Shauna’s reaction, because to her, this was never about taking away her baby. To her, the flowers were something respectful. So I think part of her is confused about why Shauna is telling her this. And we can tell she doesn’t fully get it because she instantly “agrees” with Shauna, as if she just wants to get on her good side, and quickly move on to another topic. She can tell Shauna is on edge, and that trying to justify her presence here didn’t help.

So she moves tactic and instead, first by apologizing to her, for everything that happened to her out here. Actually acknowledging what Shauna had lost and expressing sympathy for her. Which I do believe is sincere. I think a big part of how Melissa’s infatuation with Shauna began was because she felt sympathy for her. Then, she decides to start complimenting Shauna. Telling her how resilient she is and how important it is out there (in the wilderness). Which that too, I believe Melissa is sincere. It comes off as awkward because she’s nervous, and I do think she is scared now. Not scared of Shauna, but scared of leaving a bad impression on Shauna. Once again, Melissa didn’t plan on getting caught, so she had no speech or monologue pre-planned. She didn’t rehearse any of this. I’m mentioning that because this does seem like something she does (as we will see in the next scene), so this really is just her trying to express how she feels on the spot and sounding clumsy.

And just like before, Shauna is simply staring at Melissa as she is basically glazing her. I don’t think Shauna is fully registering what Melissa is saying. She’s still very on edge and in the mindset that someone got too close to her baby. She doesn’t know Melissa very well, so it makes sense she wouldn’t trust her anyway. Shauna feels like the group as a whole doesn’t appreciate her (she was bitter they picked Nat as their queen and not her, despite what she did for them), so she does have reasons to be doubtful when someone she isn’t even close to is suddenly praising her. There’s probably no one who complimented her in a long time so this could also be confusing for her. Especially coming from someone who is essentially no different to a stranger for her. In other words, Shauna is not in the right state of mind to be hearing these kinds of praises, especially since she probably does not feel resilient, given how broken she feels, and neither does she think it’d be “important” out there given how unappreciated she thinks she is by the others.

Then, Melissa told Shauna that the others are “scared of her”, and declared that she is not. That’s a very interesting thing to say because of how wildly different Shauna interpreted that statement. From Melissa’s point of view, what she said was positive. She is letting Shauna know that she isn’t like the others, that she is on her “side”. She is presenting herself as an ally for Shauna. And also, by claiming she is not afraid of her, Melissa is telling Shauna she is someone she can rely on and can “match her freak”, so to speak. When asked about if Melissa was actually not scared of Shauna, Jenna said “yes and no”. So I do think part of Melissa was scared of Shauna, and she claimed otherwise to make herself look good in Shauna’s eyes.

But that’s not how Shauna viewed it. To her, Melissa basically telling her “I’m not scared of you” was a taunt. She was already on edge and not receptive to Melissa’s praises, so hearing that was essentially the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was as if Shauna had been waiting for Melissa to “slip up” so she could finally snap at her and have an excuse to attack her. Shauna was like a bomb just waiting for the right trigger to explode. And as soon as she heard Melissa claim she wasn’t scared of her, this was it. This was a threat to her, and Shauna had to show Melissa she should be scared of her. All that anger she had accumulated burst, and she reacted by pushing Melissa against the tree and putting her knife to her throat. She threatened to kill Melissa if she told anyone about her baby’s grave- because once again, to Shauna, that’s her primary concern and all she had on her mind. Keeping her baby to herself.

Now, Melissa is actually scared. Which yeah, makes sense. She did not expect Shauna to react this way because as I said before, what she said was a positive thing in her mind. She did look confident that it would win Shauna over but instead, she is getting aggressively threatened with a knife under her throat. And not only did Melissa look scared, it seemed like she was panicking, we can hear her hyperventilate as Shauna is telling her that she will “gut her”. I don’t think she can process why Shauna is that angry at her. All she can think of is how she might be killed and had to think fast to find a way out of this situation. And turns out, her way was to kiss Shauna. She was terrified and in a moment of desperation, she kissed her. Yes, she does have a crush on Shauna, and it’s part of why she kissed her. But also, because she had nothing to lose. If Shauna was potentially going to kill her, then that was her last chance to show her how she felt about her. And also, according to Jenna, this was an act of self-preservation. This was Melissa’s only way left to let Shauna know that she meant no harm, and that she actually liked her. Because Shauna was clearly not listening to words.

The first kiss didn’t last long, and it looked mostly like a peck on the lips. It caught Shauna off guard and it looked like it instantly softened her. She doesn’t look angry anymore, just surprised. And for a moment, it looked like Melissa was worried about her reaction. Which is understandable when we take into consideration that it is the 90s, where homosexuality was still a taboo. It is possible that Melissa suspected Shauna wasn’t straight due to her relationship with Jackie, but it’s not like she knew for a fact Shauna was into girls. So she did take a huge risk by kissing her, especially when Shauna was holding her at knife point. When Jenna called Melissa "audacious", she wasn’t kidding. This was a bold move. And thankfully for her, Shauna “reciprocated” by kissing her back. And this time, it was more than a peck. They were full-on making out against that tree, while Shauna kept the knife to Melissa’s throat. And they both seemed into it.

Now, why did Shauna kiss Melissa back? Obviously, it’s not because she reciprocates her feelings. Shauna barely knows her. But the kiss was impactful enough to soften her and get her to calm down. And I think it’s because it awakened something in Shauna that she was never able to fully admit to herself, which is her sexuality. More specifically, her attraction to girls. It is obvious that Shauna had feelings for Jackie that she was never able to admit. And part of Shauna would have wanted to explore those, but unfortunately couldn’t because Jackie died. So Melissa is giving her an opportunity to explore those, in a way. And also, after everything she went through, this is also a way to unwind. The way Shauna is kissing Melissa does show a certain level of desperation, like she’s been craving that kind of physical contact for a long time. The kiss is hungry, passionate and even feral. Shauna is even seemingly "dry humping" Melissa as they make out. She also kept the knife the whole time, as if she still wanted to keep that power over Melissa and feel in control. For Shauna, the kiss isn’t about Melissa at all, but about herself and her desire.

I think it’s important to point out that this kiss, despite the fact Melissa did initiate it first, is very much in the category of “dubious consent”. Not only did Melissa kiss Shauna first without her consent, it was done under duress. As said before, this was partially done out of self-preservation. Melissa’s life was being threatened and she was scared of being killed. Even if she did have a crush on Shauna, even if she kissed Shauna first, she most likely wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for Shauna threatening her life. Then, when Shauna chose to kiss her back, she kept the knife under her throat the entire time. It made it impossible for Melissa to refuse if didn’t want to. And even if it did seem like Melissa was okay with it, it still shows that Shauna didn’t really take Melissa’s consent into consideration. If anything, she might have considered that Melissa kissing her first was her giving her consent, ignoring the fact Melissa did so because she was scared of dying. So the point remains, the kiss was of dubious consent, somewhat on both sides but mostly Shauna since she was the one in control in this situation and had power over Melissa.

Something interesting Jenna mentioned in an interview is that Melissa only “succeeded” in getting with Shauna because of how broken Shauna was. She stated that she played Melissa as if she didn’t have any game. It only worked because Shauna was so broken by everything that happened to her, so she essentially had nothing to lose and all to gain from this. This relationship started due to their circumstances, and it would probably not have happened if it wasn’t for the crash.

Another interesting detail is how this scene is juxtaposed with another one happening in the adult timeline. Adult Shauna has been taunted with a telephone left in the bathroom of the restaurant she was in with Jeff, seemingly for her, given the phone had “Queen of Hearts” as a ringtone and the wilderness as background.

Shauna left the phone at the restaurant and is now calling to see if someone came to pick it up. She learned that a woman did and she asked what she looked like. This is shown at the same time as Shauna and Melissa kissing. A not-so-subtle clue that the person who is seemingly stalking Shauna in the adult timeline is none other than Melissa. To this day, I am still confused about how so many people were in denial about adult Melissa when it was this obvious from the start. Oh well.

Interestingly, some of the dialogues between the two timelines mirror each other, too. Even in the way the two scenes are cut, it's almost as if the dialogues are meant to resemble each other- and it was probably on purpose.

This is the first major shaunahat scene and it does foreshadow the dynamic for their relationship. A big part of this interaction is the miscommunication. Both Shauna and Melissa had completely different perspectives of the situation and they both critically misunderstood each other, and it led to a violent confrontation. It did up “well” this time, showing that under the right circumstances these two can somewhat work, but it also shows how easy it is for their relationship to turn violent. They both aren’t on the same wavelength, they do not have the same desire and expectations. And in the end, this miscommunication is what caused the downfall of their relationship later on. This scene also illustrated the power imbalance, showing how Shauna wants to remain in control and hold power over Melissa, something that is at the center of their relationship, but also contributes to its downfall when Melissa no longer lets Shauna have this control over her.

In conclusion, this scene established not only the foundation of shaunahat, but also foreshadowed its downfall, when they ultimately break up, in similar circumstances as how they got together in the first place.

Among the 11 extras, 6 of them are seen in the team pictures. We have Crystal in between Laura Lee and Lottie, then YJ #15 and YJ #17 next to each other, with Melissa (as YJ #18). Then we have Gen next to her, and in front of her, Robin.

Most of the extrajackets we see in the wilderness are introduced in the first episode, on the plane. Here's a collage of the extras we saw on the plane:

From left to right: Yellowjackets #15 and #17, Melissa, Robin, Crystal, redhead girl, Britt and Not Melissa. Interestingly, Gen is the only extra who was in the team photo who is missing from the plane. Other absents are Green Shirt Girl, Also Not Melissa and Redhead Girl.

However, Not Melissa was known on the plane in the second episode, during the crash. The other missing extras were also introduced in the second episode, after the crash.

Throughout the season, the number of extras we see diminishes as some of them stop appearing altogether. Most notably, YJ #17, Redhead Girl, Green Shirt Girl and Also Not Melissa disappear after episode 3. Technically, so does the proto-Crystal, but given Crystal's inclusion in season 2, it's a bit different from the other four, who simply stop existing. If we want an in-universe explanation, I'd say maybe they got lost in the woods between ep3 and ep4. My headcanon is that they got killed by wolves off-screen. RIP to these four.

Regarding group dynamics, most of the extras seem to stick together. There is a popular theory among fans that the extrajackets are JVs, while the mainjackets are Varsity. This isn't 100% confirmed, but some of the former extrajackets (Melissa, Gen and Crystal) have been referred to as JV by the cast and crew, so this is a likely possibility. That would explain why most of the extras would stick to each other almost as a separate group, since JV is essentially a different team. They wouldn't necessarily be close to the Varsity players. Interestingly tho, Gen and Britt are often hanging out with the main cast.

We have a good example in s1ep3 of those two groups:

In the "main" group, we can see Shauna, Jackie, Natalie, Lottie, Akilah, Mari, Laura Lee, Taissa, and later Gen and Britt.

Meanwhile, in the other group, we can see YJ #15, Melissa, Redhead Girl, Crystal, Robin and YJ #17.

In season 1, Gen and Britt were credited as "Yellowjacket #1" and "Yellowjacket #2", the only extras who were credited. They were also the extras with the most appearances, sometimes even the only ones who appeared. But from an in-universe perspective, it's interesting that these two were the closest to the main group, especially given the latter seasons where they were portrayed more as outsiders (Gen in s2, Britt in s3).

Gen is also seen hanging out with Robin, and went to Doomcoming with her and Britt.

Melissa is mostly seen hanging out with YJ #15, who seemed to have been her "bestie" in s1. This is interesting because, although YJ #15 appears until the last episode of s1, she is nowhere to be seen after that season. Perhaps this extra died in between s1 and s2. Melissa also losing a close friend could add more depth to why she started gravitating around Shauna in s2 and later developed a crush on her in s3, as she can actually relate to Shauna's loss.

Speaking of bestie, Melissa and Gen actually never interact with one another in s1. We don't see them hang out with each other at all. This is interesting, given how close they seem to be in s2. This would mean they became friends between s1 and s2. Jenna Burgess and Mya Lowe both decided that their characters became close friends after the crash while portraying their relationship, so this does make sense. Perhaps after the loss of YJ #15, Melissa befriended Gen instead. I can only think of three instances where Gen and Melissa shared the screen, and in none of those they were interacting. (see below)

However, despite not being shown to be friends, Gen and Melissa do seem to have friends in common in s1. Even if Gen is mostly seen hanging out with the main group (including Britt), we also see her hang out with YJ #15, as well as Redhead Girl and YJ #17, who were part of the same group Melissa was seen with previously.

Speaking of Melissa, it's unclear when the proto-Melissa extra stopped appearing in s1. I do think the latest appearance for this extra was technically s1ep5, but I don't think it was "Melissa"'s last appearance. We do see a blonde extra in episode 9, during Doomcoming. She does resemble the extra who plays Not Melissa (and probably is), but her hair is significantly blonder now. So, for continuity's sake, given she is the last remaining blonde extra, she is "Now Melissa". So s1ep9 is the last time we saw "Melissa" this season.

Regarding Doomcoming, other than Melissa going with YJ #15 while Gen went with Robin and Britt, another interesting detail is how the only extra who hunted down Travis with the main group is Melissa. Gen, YJ #15, Robin and Britt are nowhere to be seen after everyone got high. None of the extras assaulted Travis either. Melissa was in the cabin when it happened, though, and only joined when they started chasing him down.

No potential Melissa extras appear in the last episode. The only extras we see in ep10 are: Gen, YJ#15, Britt and Robin. We see all four of them at the end of the season, when they discovered Jackie's body. And among those, the only one we won't see in a later season is YJ#15.

Also, in season 2, there are three unnamed extras we see from time to time, and while it'd make sense for two of them to be Britt and Robin given we see them in s3, a lot of fans assume the third one might be YJ #15. But that's more something I'd get into if I decide to do an Extrajackets season 2.

So, to summarize: season 1, we started with 11 extrajackets out of 24 survivors. Five of them disappeared after ep3 (one of them being proto-Crystal, so only 4 that are permanently gone). Then, we have proto-Melissa and Not Melissa merging into a single character (Now Melissa) in ep9 after also disappearing past this episode, while the proto-Melissa actress technically stopped showing up after ep5. Then, in the finale, we are left with 4 extrajackets, 3 of which will be seen in later seasons (Gen in s2 and 3, Robin and Britt in s3). Then we have Melissa and Crystal, who aren't shown in the finale but will be formally introduced in s2 (played by new actresses while Gen is the same in s2). So if we include these two, we have 6 remaining extrajackets still alive at the end of s1. And with Laura Lee and Jackie's death, a total of 17 survivors.

Other notable details before I end this post: Melissa and Gen seemingly not being friends in this season. Instead, Melissa is mostly hanging out with her fellow extrajackets (especially YJ#15), and among those extras, there are Crystal and Robin, whom we see her hang out with in later seasons. Meanwhile, Gen, alongside Britt, is mostly seen hanging out with the main cast. Although, Gen is also seen being friends with YJ#15 and Robin, something she has in common with Melissa. Even if this wasn't done intentionally, it is still interesting in retrospect, given their relationship later.