Shauna is a Villain Protagonist, And Always Has Been
So the thing about Shauna...
The Yellowjackets fandom (or at least r/yellowjackets) seems to have collectively lost their shit over Shauna's misdeeds last episode. People saying they rooted for her before but can't now, that this is bad writing because no one's likeable any more, etc., etc.
But here's the thing: this isn't anything new. Shauna Shipman has always been on a villain arc. She's a character motivated by selfishness and rage that at times turns violent. The lady masturbated on her teenage daughter's bed to photos of said daughter's underaged boyfriend. She killed a rabbit and fed it to her unknowing family after a reporter implied she was a boring loser housewife. She had unprotected sex with her best friend's boyfriend behind her back.
And that's all just the first episode.
I could make a long list of Shauna's "sins." I could cancel Shauna, so to speak. She's, um, super problematic to say the least. But the point I want to make isn't that you shouldn't like Shauna--it's that maybe you should like Shauna for the right reasons.
The right reason being that she's villainous and always has been. That's why she's a good character.
She is narcissistic and cruel. She hurts the people who love her, whether it's poor old Snackie, that loveable dolt Jeff, or her own daughter. She thinks the world owes her and is furious that no one else sees it. Oh and she's also killed a few people. (Or maybe not. #CouchBenTruthers).
She's also smart but stifled. She's, frankly, hilarious. She has some soft spots for Bruce the Goat, and who doesn't? She's experienced a metric fuck ton of trauma out there in Creepy Acre Woods that would mess anyone up. She's never learned to take her broken wings and fly.
And all that makes her interesting. It just doesn't excuse her actions.
In the Teen Timeline, we're watching her villain origin story. In the adult timeline...okay, I'm not entirely sure where that's heading, but probably something tragic ala another famously misunderstood villain protagonist, Mr. White.
Male characters get to go really dark. They get to be sympathetic villains. No one says the writers ruined Breaking Bad because Walt did some mean things, or that the Sopranos sucks now because Tony killed (too many to name). Shauna's cruelty isn't Yellowjackets jumping the shark. It's like, the entire point of her character arc.
Shauna is basically if Breaking Bad and The Sopranos decided to make Skylar White and Carmela Soprano, the housewives of the show, just as complicated and dark as their infamous husbands.
I for one, can't wait to see what the little psycho does next.
