#yellowjackets speculation

“Maybe there’s two versions of reality, most of the time the other one… the bad one, is just hiding - or waiting - but it’s always real.”

Oh they are definitely hallucinating that cutesy idyllic little summer camp with an animal farm and perfect little shelters.

The entire group has two things in common. First; they lost all societal structure. The set of norms, rules and values they’ve been raised with is progressively disintegrating. Inevitably and perhaps inadvertently, this process is happening inside every single one of them. The wilderness is the new real world. They are forcefully disconnected from what their past life once was. And second thing; they are teenagers. Which means they are at higher risk of being influenced by any outside factor. Literally any factor can alter them in some way (and obviously landing in the middle of a gigantic forest is a monumental shock). Their mental stability and psyche are inevitably fragile. This is the essence of what it means to be a teen. They all had their issues and weaknesses and messes before the crash. It only makes sense for all this to persist. We could even say that the logical conclusion is for it all to get worse. Much worse.

And we sort of have those glimpses that make us believe that. But yet, here we are with this not-so crazy hunt considering the only people actively approving were Lottie and Shauna.

To me, the message it passes is the following: the one and only villain in this story is Shauna Shipman. She is your ultimate cruel, cold and rotten-to-the-core bad person.

Because here’s the thing, the one and only other person standing beside her, soaked in this insanity, blood and madness, is Lottie. But Lottie isn’t even intrinsically bad! Lottie is sick and has been off her medication for an incredibly long period. Mental illness is backing and explaining her behaviour. Her coping mechanism is the wilderness and everything it entails.

That takes us to our last one standing: Shauna. Our true evil outcast. She’s completely alone, everyone against her. Nobody understands her anymore. Only Jackie ever did. So what does that mean? Only Shauna was deeply affected by the events and was wholly absorbed in them? She completely lost her way? Became an animal? Yeah, sure. But why is she the only one? How does that make sense. They are on survival mode 24/7. Witnessing terrible things. This doesn’t mean I was hoping/expecting every character to be unhinged. Simply more characters. Feeling ambivalent at least. And not just out of fear for their leader. But by pure and effective influence and severe shared trauma. Teenagers are mimics, echoes of each other. They copy and learn from each other. On the other hand, I like the idea that some of them are holding on strongly to their convictions regardless, such as Van and Nat. But the fact that it’s one person versus the rest of the group feels a tiny bit odd.

Why is Shauna so isolated?

Why is she the only one salivating from the thrill and excitement of a hunt?

In a way, they were all mocking her. Pretending to chase while covering tracks. There’s some massive dissonance. They’re all different people on an individual level, yes, but Shauna is not the only one who committed horrible acts beforehand. They all (or almost) had their moment in which they reveled into something brutal. And what else can we expect really? They lost all guides in this world, they have nothing to hold on to. But ultimately, they find the light at the end of the tunnel and reach the surface of sanity once more. There is also something very beautiful about this concept also however. But the endgame remains. It’s everyone except Shauna, of course. She simply cannot see the light anymore.

All the girls. Dead, one by one final destination style (Shauna being the last one to die)

And then after all of them have their plane scene they all wake up at that campsite they had when they crashed where they started telling eachother secrets, but instead of the rest of the girls there are only the survivors back to their teen self sitting on a circle and who's on that circle too? The antler queen

The antler queen who after taking off her mask reveals herself to be Jackie, who then smiles and says something like "Hello Shipman"

Hm, that sounds an awful lot like-

As much as im delighted and surprised by the end of S3E2, I do not think there is going to be much romance between the two considering how mentally unstable and vicious Shauna is, and how I think the power dynamic is going to play out between Shauna and Melissa. They both have something to gain from being ‘together’, and while i think Melissa probably does actually like Shauna (just look at her she’s a dyke), it’s still very transactional because they are insane teenage girls in the wilderness.

What does Melissa have to gain? Melissa was previously unnoticed. Not present in s1 and barely heard from in s2, Melissa was a JV player and not at all close with the Varsity soccer team, which consists of the ‘main girls’ so to speak.

“The group dynamic changes, because girls who were formerly keeping to themselves are making their presence more known” — Jasmin Savoy Brown (‘Inside Yellowjackets Season 3’)

In the new dynamic established in spring where we see more of the JV girls being treated as teammates rather than side characters, there comes an opportunity for a new power struggle. In this, Shauna is not trifled with despite her lack of respect for Nat’s authority which everyone else seems to follow, making Shauna valuable to stand alongside for Melissa, who may not align herself to Nat or Lottie’s beliefs, as Melissa was one of the last to start following Lottie’s influence (around s2 ep 6 or 7 I think, in the wake of Shauna’s stillborn baby- I could be wrong though).

When Melissa says “Do you feel that right now? That’s fucking power” in ‘Inside Yellowjackets Season 3’, I believe that’s Melissa egging on Shauna’s influence and behaviour. Melissa will be an enabler, someone in Shauna’s corner who campaigns for her and also uses it as an excuse to rise with her into the ranks of leadership that Nat, Tai (and Van), and Lottie (though Lottie doesnt seem to be actively pursing it, she did pawn off her control to Nat) seem to have broken or are in the process of getting into.

What’s in it for Shauna? Not only is Shauna extremely emotionally unstable after the death of her best friend and baby, Sophie Nélisse also said about Shauna in a Deadline interview,

“[…] I think Shauna is so in shame of what she’s done. I think she has no love for herself and no empathy for herself. And so, you can’t love other people until you love yourself, and so I don’t think she’ll be able to give Melissa what she wants in return. And I think, on the contrary, she’ll just see her as another pawn on her chessboard to play with.”

Going off the fact that presumably Shauna is going to try to break into a role of more power and influence, either because Melissa is advocating for her or because she finally feels she has the means to do so, this ‘relationship’ will probably have little to do with romance for Shauna, and more about manipulating people and gaining numbers. What might be a ruthless rise to power and disposal of those who love her comes from the fact that Shauna has nothing to lose, and hates herself too much to let anyone actually love her in any way that matters, much less love someone in return, as Sophie Nélisse highlighted in the interview.

The bear represents Jackie. The way that it gives itself over to death so easily. The same way that Jackie just accepts her fate. The bear is also one of the first major pieces of wilderness found food that they have. The same way that Jackie represents the beginnings of what will one day be their hunt. Jackie also refuses to eat the bear. Which in a way kind of seals her fate.

WARNING: there will be a BUNCH of spoilers in this, so if u don't wanna see that, scroll away!

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okay, i don't know how to write an introduction for this, so i'm gonna cut right to the chase.

the first time we see the queen of hearts card in yellowjackets is when javi brings it back with him from... idk, wherever he was hiding. okay, got that? javi had the card first.

now fast forward to the first hunt, and nat is the one to draw the queen card, yet javi is the one to die. he is the one the wilderness chose. now fast forward again to the adult timeline, during the hunt, shauna is the one to pick the queen card, and, whaddaya know, nat is the one to die.

you don't pick the queen card, the queen card picks you. but it might not kill you immediately. javi didn't die immediately, and nat died years later. but it will catch up to you.

now almost everyone who has had the queen card has died (javi, nat, mari, hell, even van if we're going there). everyone, except for shauna. shauna pulled the queen of hearts during the adult timeline hunt! and, if we're going there, tai had the card too when she going to use it to sacrifice people with van.

that leaves, in the adult timeline, assuming they don't die from other causes, misty and melissa. meaning they could be the last two final girls? not sure, but i think that melissa is going to become a lot more important.

in 2x01, during the rescue sequence (where we see all the girls at the airport), a lot of names are called out, specifically nat, misty, and melissa. that means that melissa was always planned to be a survivor, and more importantly, she was always supposed to be more than a background character (because if she was supposed to be a background character they would've just casted her in s1, but instead they waited). i think that in s4 and the potential s5, teen melissa is going to become a LOT more important and integral to the story.

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woah what a yapfest, okay, tl;dr:

anyone who picks the queen of hearts card will die, one way or another

melissa is going to become a lot more important