After watching the second-last episode of Yellowjackets, it is safe to say that this season is a massive failure. Shauna murdered Adam Martin last season, and after seven episodes of beating around the bush, the police finally found his remains. Meanwhile, the spirit of the wilderness continues to be a mystery. The second season of Yellowjackets needed more than cannibalism to make it worth watching. By now, it is established that the wilderness psychologically affected the characters to an extreme extent, and yet every episode is fixated on proving that over and over again. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and expected the next to be equally mind-boggling, but in all honesty, season 2 was absolutely frustrating. The dialogue keeps getting worse, and Jeff’s dream in episode 8 is laughable.
Shauna was visibly tensed after receiving Jeff’s phone call in episode 7. While she wanted to return home, the group believed that only by discussing the problem could they overcome their deep-seated trauma. In the wilderness, the girls struggled to maintain their sanity. Hunger leads to hallucinations, and in Yellowjackets episode 8, we witness the savagery of the girls once again due to a lack of food. Meanwhile, Ben headed out of the cabin once again, but this time he had a plan in mind.
Spoilers Alert
The Confession: Why Did Shauna Confess The Truth?
Val figured that Taissa, Natalie, Misty, and Shauna were hiding a secret after she sensed the tension in the air. Val threw away Shauna’s car keys to stop her from returning home. She wanted answers, and the four were forced to discuss the Adam Martin case. Initially, they tried to lie about their involvement, but Val and Lottie had lived through the same experience, and they knew what the four were capable of. Shauna admitted that she had murdered her lover for stealing her diaries, in which she wrote about her wilderness experience. Misty, Taissa, and Natalie helped her get rid of the body. The discussion also brought to light how Tai had used illegal means to get Val’s address. Misty disclosed that Tai had sent the fake journalist, Jessica Roberts, to spy on her teammates and test their loyalty. Misty admitted to killing the journalist to protect the group. She was proud of the risk she took to save the lives of the people she loved. She added how she and her “boyfriend,” Walter Tattersall, faked being FBI agents to extort information from Randy, who lived in the same motel Natalie did. While thinking about Randy’s confession, Misty realized that he knew something about Shauna and Jeff.
By putting the pieces together, Tai, Natalie, and Misty concluded that Jeff might have been the blackmailer. He knew what Shauna and the rest had lived through, and he was also aware of the journals Shauna wrote. The girls interrogated Shauna, and she finally admitted that her husband was the blackmailer. She was afraid that the group would murder Jeff once they found out the truth, just like they did with Jessica Roberts. She hid the truth to protect her partner, and she did not feel guilty about it. But Shauna was scared of the woman she had become. Instead of taking care of her problem, she took steps that made it worse. The group admitted that they all did horrible things that they were guilty of, and they hoped that by confessing the truth, they could somehow cleanse their souls.
Will Jeff Admit The Truth To The Police?
Jeff was repulsed by the pictures of Adam Martin’s dismembered remains. The details of the entire process horrified him, but nonetheless, he continued to protect Shauna. Since it was quite impossible to get through to Shauna, Kevyn targeted Jeff and reminded him that he and his daughter, Callie, could escape the mess if they chose to disclose the truth to the police. While Jeff was in no mood to confess the truth, he, too, had started to fear Shauna. By now, he knew that his wife lacked remorse and could go to any extent to protect herself. In his dream, Jeff imagined Shuana had replaced her hands with deadly weapons and that he was her next target. He woke up from his sleep and found Callie in the living room. She, too, struggled to sleep. The entire situation was equally haunting for her. By admitting the truth to Callie, Shauna had made her an accomplice. Instead of focusing on her life and education, Callie too was stuck in the loop, and as a teenager, it was far too much for her to handle. Jeff tried to soften Shauna’s image by discussing how she was forced to live a certain life in the wilderness. She did whatever was necessary to survive, and during that time, she lost the two people she loved the most. Callie had always heard about Jackie, but she did not know that her mother was pregnant at the time. She was emotional, thinking about the trauma her mother, as a teenager, had to live through. Jeff surely had good reasons to admit the truth to the police, but he could not imagine betraying Shauna. He knew what she had been through in the wilderness, and he wanted to protect her from further harassment.
What Happened To Javi? What Was Lottie’s Solution?
When Natalie discussed the trees with symbols in the woods with Ben, he was intrigued. Javi did not utter a word after returning to the cabin, and Ben was interested in finding out the reason behind Javi’s faith in the tree symbol. It is possible that Ben wanted to distance himself from the group and was in search of a plan to survive alone, or he was trying to find a way out of the wilderness. He copied the map that Natalie had painstakingly created. He located the tree on the map and started to walk towards it. He noticed the symbol upon reaching the tree; it looked exactly like the sketch Javi had drawn. Ben observed that beneath the foliage, there was a hole. He entered the hole and realized that Javi had been hiding in the cave all along. The fire pit and small bones indicated how he must have survived during the winter months. If every marked tree had caves underneath it, it could possibly mean that there are others existing underneath the surface or that there is a possible escape route through them.
Javi disappeared on the day the girls were high on mushrooms. Maybe he noticed how they had turned wild and were ready to tear Jackie apart. It is possible that he hid to protect himself from the rest of the group, though whether or not the Antler Queen helped him survive remains a mystery. Meanwhile, the group decided it was time to make a sacrifice to the spirit of the wilderness. They were all hungry, and Lottie was unwell. Natalie was selected for the sacrifice using play cards. The girls were ready to slit her throat, but Travis jumped in to protect her. Natalie ran for her life, and the rest followed her. Travis was surprised to see Javi join the hooting crowd, but he did not know that his brother was trying to save Natalie in his own way. Javi stopped Natalie, promising to help her escape the furious crowd. As Javi was leading Natalie to his escape place, he fell into the frozen lake. He screamed for help, but the crowd stopped Natalie from rescuing him. Natalie was consumed with guilt, but saving Javi meant that she could lose her life. Episode 8 of Yellowjackets ends with Natalie choosing to protect herself and letting Javi freeze and die. The group was satisfied with the result; they added that “it” had chosen Javi for sacrifice.
After listening to the problems of her teammates, Lottie concluded that reconnecting with the spirit of the wilderness was the only answer. She believed that therapy could not fix the mess they were in. The spirit had brought them together once again after twenty-five years. Even though she tried to ignore its calling, she eventually realized that there was no escaping the greater power. Lottie stated that it was time for them to give the spirit of the wilderness what it wanted. They survived the odds by making blood sacrifices, and maybe the spirit wanted the same sacrifice from them once again. She brought six glasses, stating that one consisted of phenobarbital solution. The solution would result in a painless death, and it would allow the spirit to choose its victim once again. While Shauna tried to protest, Lottie reminded her how pathetic their lives were. She believed dying was better than living their miserable lives, and her argument seemed convincing to the rest.
In episode 9 of Yellowjackets, we can expect the group to make another sacrifice as adults. Meanwhile, Walter Tattersall seems to be interested in working with the police on the Adam Martin case. He has Misty’s confession, and he knows where to locate it. It is also possible that Walter is as quirky as Misty, and he might end up helping her escape the police by misleading them with false information. In the wilderness, things will possibly get all the more disgusting, to put it lightly, with Travis consuming the flesh of his beloved brother.
