The 'Yellowjackets' Season 2 Finale Proves One Thing
This story contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season Two.
While the Yellowjackets Season Two finale, "Storytelling," leaves out the answers to plenty of the show's more puzzling problems, it does confirm one thing: we've been asking the wrong questions. The debate over whether or not the force that the girls encountered in the wilderness is a real entity that can only be appeased with sacrificial blood rages on. But this episode sidesteps that in favor of a much more uncomfortable and frightening truth. We've witnessed the very beginnings of belief, and how faith comes at a price. By the end of this season, all of our characters have "stories" to "tell"—and none of them is the truth. We're way past that.
In the wilderness, the team comes to terms with the violence they knowingly and willingly committed against poor departed Javi, whose body is the latest to fuel the girls' survival through the long alpine winter. Natalie feels guilt and disgust at the way she stepped back and allowed Javi to take her place as the sacrifice, and we now know that she will carry that with her for the rest of her life. Shauna, following the death of her baby, has totally shut down, taking on the role of butcher she otherwise would have recoiled from. Van is perhaps the only one who truly believes, worshiping Lottie and leading much of the team's spiritual discussions. Taissa sees all of this transpiring, but she merely observes, having not yet developed the political savvy of her adult self.
The most chilling scene occurs as Lottie finally reawakens, her body recovered from the beating Shauna gave her in Episode Seven. It's crucial that Lottie was kept out of commission during this crisis point, as she was the only one who might have tried to stop what was about to happen. Misty explains as much, revealing the Machiavellian depths of her scheming: the team built this spooky woodland adversary together, and whether they like it or not, the rituals they concoct to make sense of it all will keep them alive. "Lottie is pleased with the wilderness's choice," Misty tells the group after their confrontation. They're all irrevocably caught in their own trap.
In the present, the survivors find themselves at a similar nexus. Lottie has succumbed to her suspicions that her visions have been real all along, embracing again the force she believes followed them out of the woods, and is now demanding another sacrifice. The others—with the exception of Van, who has snapped back into disciple mode—think she's having a psychotic break, and attempt to stall, suggesting that they draw cards and put on another hunt. When Shauna draws the queen, she attempts to reason with the rest of them as they prepare for the hunt, seamlessly slipping back into old patterns as easily as putting on a mask. "You know there's no 'it,' right? 'It' was just us!!" Shauna pleads. "Is there a difference?" Lottie answers.
Meanwhile, Misty's conniving pal Walter pops in to wrap up the loose ends of Shauna Storyline B, killing Kevyn and framing him for Adam's murder, threatening to implicate smarmy Detective Matt if he doesn't play along with the cover-up. In the heat of the hunt, Natalie sacrifices herself to save Lisa, the cult acolyte she befriended after her abduction whom Misty tries to kill when she stumbles into their ritual in the woods. To the cops, it looks like a drug overdose. With Natalie's death, the entity may be at peace, according to Lottie: "It's not evil, just hungry. Like us."
It's that hunger that will drive the survivors forward into the next season—however many of them make it outdoors after the surprise fire Coach Ben sets on the cabin. He's comfortably holed up in Javi's toasty tree root cave (Empty Man vibes), but with the team on the hunt for shelter as well as food, we'll see how long that lasts. Now that Lottie has elected Natalie the new leader, it's not looking good for anyone who stands in their way. The Yellowjackets left peace behind a long time ago.
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