Each week Terry and Joe discuss the most recent episode of Showtime’s serialized thriller, Yellowjackets.

Spoilers follow for episode 6, “Saints”

Plot: The Yellowjackets tangle with the birds & the bees, navigating love, lust, and DIY surgery. In the present: blackmail, bunnies, and an icy reunion. Misty (Christina Ricci) prepares for a surprise(d) houseguest.

JOE

Just when you think this show can’t get any more wild, Terry, Misty is kidnapping Jessica Roberts (Rekha Sharma), Tai (Tawny Cypress) is revealed to be the dirt-eating woman in the window and Yellowjackets nearly delivers its most horrific scene yet with a near DIY bra-underwire abortion back in 96. I’m prone to saying it, but this show is A LOT.

Like many of the episodes, “Saints” contains something of a fake-out: we see Jackie (Ella Purnell) and Misty (Samantha Hanratty) helping to deliver Shauna (Sophie Nélisse)’s baby, who is revealed to be a wailing piece of meat that Shauna immediately begins consuming. This is a dream sequence, of course, but for a moment we’re as disoriented as Shauna because it wouldn’t be out of character for Yellowjackets to catapult ahead to a time when Shauna is much farther along in her pregnancy.

The reality is more grim: their food supply is drying up, the only game Travis (Kevin Alves) and Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) catch is diseased. Add to this: the hormones around camp are running high.

That means our two couples - Travis & Nat, as well as Tai and Van (Liv Hewson) - are getting a little hot and heavy. The former, more publicly “out” pairing even attracts the attention of Coach Scott (Steven Krueger), who bequeaths Travis with a handful of condoms to ensure there’s no babies at camp (oh, if only Coach knew, Terry). This is played for ironic comedy, but there’s nothing less funny than the absolute horror show of watching Shauna and Tai nearly try to self-abort in the woods.

Shout-out to director Billie Woodruff for filming this in a completely horrifying way without resorting to exploitation: tight shots of Shauna’s pained and terrified face combined with hypnotic breathing on the nearly silent soundtrack are all that’s needed. It’s excruciating, so much so that I actually turned away a few times before Shauna finally abandoned her plan.

Technically this is Lottie (Courtney Eaton)’s episode because she gets the opening scene flashback, but I would argue that even with *some* clarity about her gift, it’s still completely unclear who this character is. It’s frustrating because Yellowjackets has done such a great job fleshing out so many of this deep bench cast, but Chantelle M Wells’ script barely scratches the surface of who Lottie is aside from her ability to predict the future.

With that said, the iconography of Lottie’s vision as Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) baptizes her, including a Freddy Krueger-esque boiler room hallway, a stairwell bathed in candle light and an eclipse-style blackened halo as Laura Lee raises her submerged body to the surface, is all incredibly striking. Alas, because we’ve known for several episodes that Lottie is connected to whatever dark, supernatural circumstances are happening in 1996, none of these scenes are particularly revelatory.

Striking? Yes. New to us? Not exactly.

The final key piece of the 1996 events is Tai’s plan to head South to find help. She’s convinced that they can no longer wait to be rescued and that they must rescue themselves and the maggot-infected stag with the bloody antlers is all the proof that she needs that the time to leave is now.

Terry, could this be the start of the rift between the girls that we’ve been anticipating? Or are all of these microaggressions, particularly Jackie’s seemingly constant spats with everyone but Shauna, simply beginning to add up? Should we infer that Tai has been eating the berries in her late-night, dirt-munching fugue state, and were you surprised that she’s Sammy (Aiden Stoxx)’s Woman in the Window? And what other present day events caught your eye?

TERRY

I said it last week and “Saints” seems to somewhat suggest I’m onto something, Joe: Tai is possessed. Whether she’s truly possessed in the demonic way that the show is seemingly hinting at or if she’s suffering some undiagnosed mental issues, Adult Tai is struggling.

“Saints” does give some knowing tells, though, that suggest it could be all in Tai’s head. She’s incredibly resistant to taking Sammy to see the child psychiatrist. Simone (Rukiya Bernard) is understandably angry and it’s obvious that Tai’s refusal to ask for help isn’t new. On the way home from the psychiatrist, Tai rails against the profession as one that doesn’t actually help as a means to keep their patients coming back. Simone states that Tai is resistant to asking for help. Tai’s wolf hallucinations (for lack of a better word) and her refusal to eat meat are signs of severe PTSD and trauma that she seems unwilling to face.

But we also get a striking image in 1996 that foreshadows the dirt-munching events in 2021. Lottie--who is looking rather gaunt and hollowed out--wakes up in the middle of the night and finds Tai shovelling dirt into her mouth like a feral animal. The next day, when she asks her about it, Tai responds with a rather hilarious, “the actual fuck? No!” but she’s too distraught looking for Shauna to really digest the information.

This set up to the episode’s ending payoff seemingly circles back to the idea of possession. In 2021, even Simone is shocked at Tai’s sudden reversal in “Blood Hive” to stay in the race, telling her wife, “I don’t even know who the hell you are right now. You lied straight to my face.” Regardless of its cause, Tai isn’t in a good place right now.

Back in 1996, I’m still struggling with what Natalie sees in Travis. She rightfully calls him out on his misogyny when he asks her what her “number” of sexual partners is. When Natalie talks about another guy who’s slept with a ton of women, Travis deflects by saying, “he’s a dude.” She hilariously follows up with a comment that their vaginas have monologues now (which might be slightly anachronistic...unless she’s a theatre nerd because it opened in the fall of 1996, but who’s counting). And she calms his fragile ego by telling him she’s only slept with two guys, but that doing it with Travis is really special.

Kick him to the curb, Natalie!

Their relationship does provide two comedic moments, though. First, when Natalie and Travis come back from their makeout session, Misty tells Natalie, “I have a secret boyfriend, too.” Then there’s the moment you mentioned above, with Coach handing a large wad of Trojans to Travis and Travis’s confused statement, “weren’t we going to be in Chicago for a week?” Comedy aside, I’m really ready for something to get in the way of their relationship because I’m not here for his continued internalized misogyny. Especially when we see Adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) hanging around Kevyn (Alex Wyndham) and his son. They have an easy chemistry together. I have a feeling it’s not going to end very well for them, but I’m here for their romance.

As for other present day events catching my eye, where do we start? You mentioned the ironic comedy of Coach not realizing that there is a pregnant woman among the survivors already and that irony continues in 2021 when Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Tai and Natalie discuss their next moves. Natalie smartly suggests setting up an ambush with Jessica Roberts and Tai shouts, “fucking put the phone down!” We know that Tai is involved with Jessica, but no one else does and it’s a quiet conflict that I think is going to come to a head because of Misty’s rash plans.

“Saints” does an excellent job of creating a creeping sense of dread, particularly in the way Misty slyly goes about preparing to kidnap Jessica. Her scenes are interjected throughout the 2021 storylines in almost a montage fashion. We see her leaving the hospital (she’s bringing cronuts tomorrow, by the way) with a duffel bag full of drugs. Later, we see her happily watching Natalie and Kevyn getting ready to screw while she uses a pestle and mortar to mash up pills. And then we get the payoff of the needle going into Jessica’s leg, followed by Misty’s Misery impression.

Small, almost wordless scenes that build to an ending that has the potential to really fracture the 2021 group. I can’t imagine it’ll take long before Jessica spills her guts to Misty. Also? Misty sitting in her car, listening to “The Phantom of the Opera” from the same play had me laughing at the almost sociopathic absurdity.

Music is so important to Yellowjackets. The needle drops (including The Phantom of the Opera, if I’m being honest) have been part of the soundtrack of my teen life and I’m here for it. But in “Saints,” the music is another way in which the show builds dread. The ominous score by Anna Waronker, who mixes in gasps and vocal sounds to create a discordant and upsetting, almost diegetic, sonic assault. It bubbles to the surface at key moments, like Lottie’s night time encounter with the dirt-eating Tai or Shauna’s almost DIY abortion.

Not only is it creepy, but it recalls the opening of the first episode, as the unknown woman runs through the snowy woods as the whooping, cawing, hissing and gasping sounds of women close in around her. The score perfectly foreshadows events to come.

And, yes, I think we are starting to see the start of the team’s eventual split. The microaggressions and snippy dialogue that have been simmering over the last few episodes is starting to boil over. Between the secret relationships (both real and imagined), the dwindling options for food, and the fight between Jackie and Natalie...I think all of the high school drama they took with them on that plane is going to start tearing the team apart.

Speaking of high school drama, I’ll throw it back to you, Joe, with a simple question: do you want to have some tuna quiche? I hear it goes well with fake birthday parties and even faker attempts at civility. I have to know what you thought about the brunch from hell between Jeff (Warren Kole), Shauna and Jackie’s parents. What are we to make of the relationship between Jeff and Shauna, two people who seem to care about each other but do hurtful things behind each other’s backs? And I have a bit of speculation...what if this Bianca that Jeff was seen with isn’t a fling and is something completely platonic? Finally, do you have any thoughts on this blackmail situation? I thought it interesting that Shauna says she never received a postcard…

JOE

The most interesting part about Shauna’s lack of postcard is that the other women didn’t immediately point the finger at her. Shauna even loudly speculates that it must be someone from the team doing it…so why don’t Natalie and Tai inspect her? (My guess: Shauna did get a postcard and either Jeff or Callie misplaced it).

While I do think Lynskey has been killing it as a comedy MVP for the series, this is a great showcase for her dramatic chops. The scenes with Jeff, particularly in the car back from the Taylors after Jeff defended her, is quietly heartbreaking. These two clearly have a deep affection for each other (Jeff even addresses the fact that they’ve built a life together and that’s not nothing), but they just can’t seem to get their wires connected. It’s obvious from the way Shauna ignores Adam’s texts throughout the day that she’s ready to give Jeff another chance, but then he lies to her about “night inventory” again and we’re back to square one.

It sucks to watch, but it’s suuuuuper realistic (not just about infidelity, but the idea that these two don’t hate each other). The problem is that they actually do love each other; that’s why they’re still sneaking around instead of just asking for a divorce or separating. Give me this over Randy, the acquaintance that Shauna meets in the motel parking lot who references his wife going through another “little divorce”.

At this point you’re right, though, I’d be most surprised if Jeff actually is having an affair because it seems more likely - given how Yellowjackets operates - that Shauna has misunderstood what’s going on with Bianca.

But that’s skipping over the annual birthday lunch for Jackie, which is…woof. I loved seeing Canadian character actress Gabrielle Rose (we saw her on The Stand as Judge Harris, the first Denver resident sent to infiltrate New Vegas); she brings equal parts WASP-y bourgeoisie and maternal warmth to her roles. Mrs Taylor’s passive-aggressive, backhanded compliments about Shauna not contributing financially, about how she hasn’t amounted to anything and about how great Jackie was are absolutely vicious - it’s the lunch equivalent of death by a thousand paper cuts.

What’s telling, however, is Shauna’s continued hallucinations of Jackie. For the last few episodes, we’ve speculated how Shauna contributed to Jackie’s (now confirmed?) death and what I liked about “Saints” is that there are no easy answers. The conversation between Shauna and Jackie could be referring to Shauna sleeping with Jackie’s boyfriend behind her back (as most of what we see in the 1996 scenes is Shauna struggling with the idea that her pregnancy will force the truth to come out). But the bedroom conversation between adult and apparition could also be referring to Shauna’s own internalized guilt about the fact that she’s still alive and Jackie is (presumably) not. Yellowjackets is definitely having its tuna quiche and eating it, too. <barf>

Terry, I’ll turn it back to you: what do you make of the power dynamics among Natalie, Taissa and Shauna in the present day scenes? Any other insights into Lottie’s baptism vision? And will teen Taissa actually leave camp to head South in search of rescue?

TERRY

Let’s start with your question about Lottie’s baptism, Joe, because it seems central to one of the core questions Yellowjackets has been teasing us with. While it doesn’t come out and bluntly say it, “Saints” plays with the idea of coincidence and fate or the natural world and the supernatural one. The opening scene of the episode posits two ways of looking at the way Lottie saved her parents from certain death. Lottie’s father resides on the coincidence wagon while Lottie’s mom angrily yells at him, asking why he can’t accept the possibility that there are things in the world that can’t be explained. The father, meanwhile, wants to take Lottie to a psychologist because he thinks she is sick and needs help. This is the same push/pull that plays out between Taissa, Simone and Sammy.

So far, everything in Yellowjackets could be explained with rational thought. Tai, overcome by stress and her limited diet and suffering from severe PTSD is reverting back to her 1996 self. Eating dirt is a compulsion that, mixed with sleepwalking, could explain her situation. The fact she’s thrust into the public light and has to face a past she obviously wants to forget could easily do a number on her mental health. Travis’s murder/suicide, as well, could be one of the group playing with them, preying on their superstitions that their time in the forest manifested through trauma.

Which leads me to Lottie’s baptism. It’s true that the things happening to Lottie in 1996 truly do suggest something supernatural in origin, her vision while underwater could also be oxygen deprivation which causes hallucinations. It’s not obvious how long she was held underwater and she is already malnourished and gaunt...not exactly up for any kind of physical exertion. The light she sees could be that “light at the end of the tunnel” pop culture says we see when we’re dying. Or, Yellowjackets could be slowly laying out the supernatural element and the vision is a harbinger of Laura Lee’s impending doom.

This question of natural/supernatural elements continues in Taissa’s plan to find civilization. First of all, I had a good laugh when she tells them that there has to be people out there…“It’s not like we’re on an island!” It’s a small, throwaway line but it seems pointed to me, as someone who’s been cataloging the ways in which Yellowjackets seems influenced, at least in part, by LOST. But onto more pressing matters, episode 7 might further cement that there is something supernatural going on. In episode 4, when they discover the prop plane, our ever-reliable Lottie makes the comment that the forest wouldn’t let whoever owned the plane leave. That figurative specter has been lingering ever since.

I do think Taissa will try to go find help but the episode is entitled “No Compass,” which seems to be a jokey hint that the scouting party will Blair Witch themselves in circles until they find themselves back at the cabin. She obviously doesn’t find help because otherwise they wouldn’t be stuck in the forest for 19 months. So either the scouting group gets discouraged and returns to the cabin or the woods run them in circles until they’re forced back to the cabin. Either way, they aren’t going to get far because I don’t think Yellowjackets is ready to say goodbye to the creepy home in the woods.

Also, another prediction: At some point, I’m wondering if Yellowjackets will do a complete flashback of the man who shot himself in the cabin as a way of filling in some of the wilderness’s backstory. We’re in the back half of the show now and I expect some mythology to start trickling in. It’s obvious, given how little of the 19 months we’ve covered so far, that Yellowjackets is playing for the long game. So I don’t think it’ll spill too many details of the larger mythology. But, filling in the history of the man who lived in the cabin seems likely to be in the cards this season.

Back at the end of “Pilot,” we discussed how the power dynamics between Taissa and Shauna indicated that Shauna was in control of the situation. She seemed to be the de facto leader. And while Taissa seems to have found her backbone (or is possessed) in the scene between her, Shauna and Natalie, Shauna still seems to be the one calling the shots. They seem to quickly fall back into their old routine with Shauna leading the way with a concrete plan, Tai backing her up and Natalie adding her snide commentary. It’s also obvious that Natalie might grudgingly respect Shauna, but she doesn’t like her as the two of them trade barbs back and forth before getting down to business.

So many lingering questions and things to explore, Joe! In the meantime, I’ll just help myself to another serving of tuna quiche while we wait for “No Compass”. Join us next week back at QueerHorrorMovies when we tackle episode 7.