Well, I, for one, think that episode should have been titled “What the fuck?!?”, because, much like the mystery bespeckled man at the end of the episode, I screamed that at the screen upon seeing that there were real live people coming upon the camp. Who are they? Where did they come from? Why are they there? And is it possible that the woman’s voice on the tape was the other interloper? A lot to unpack this week and even though that cliffhanger of an ending is likely what folks will be theorizing about in the aftermath, we had some major movement in both the past and present.
Let’s stick with the past and talk a bit about the mercy killing of Ben. The hits really just keep coming for Teen Natalie, don’t they? Asked to do the right thing – and yes, killing Ben was, ultimately, the right thing, since they would have let him linger for weeks, force-feeding him and essentially torturing him – and yet it is still seen as a devastating error. She once again proved herself to be the best leader of the bunch, doing the thing none of them would do, putting someone out of their misery, knowing it wouldn’t be a popular thing to do. And yet, she was still punished for her actions. Stripped of her leadership (although I doubt Nat was all that cut up about that – she never wanted to be the leader, which is one. reason she made a good one) in favor of the aggro Shauna and her new acolytes (the segregation at the feast more or less laid out just who is one which side of things now, and it’s looking like it’s Shauna vs. the rest of the survivors) and also forced to kill someone she genuinely cared about. Oof. Yeah, her struggles post-wilderness are coming into much clearer focus each time Natalie makes a decision that robs her of a bit more of her humanity. And having to butcher Ben after? Yeah, Natalie might just be the most tragic character out of the entire series, and that is saying something.
The strangers’ appearance will almost certainly throw things for a loop. We know that there is a tape that makes it to the future, recorded by a woman (presumably the one we saw right at the end), but that she doesn’t make it out either. So, does she survive and live with the team for a length of time before dying? Is she chased and killed right away and the tape makes it back and into the hands of . . . someone else? The one interesting piece of information we learned about the survivors – and something that torpedoes a lot of theories about just who Hilary Swank will be playing on the series – was Van saying that the only people who would know about what was on that tape were them (and Misty) or dead. So, out of the past roster of characters, the only remaining survivors are Van, Tai, Shauna, and Misty now. But someone had that tape, understood what was on it, and sent it to Shauna as a warning. Which means there might be more tapes with more damning information. That’s pretty scary for our present-day ladies.
But they all have a host of other problems to work through at the moment. We got confirmation that Other Tai is now in charge of Taissa’s life – those instances of Real Tai breaking through were heartbreaking (although one assumes that Van and the phone were more Van’s subconscious trying to tell her just what is going on with Tai than reality). Misty is still trying to figure out who killed Lottie and had a nice chat with Lisa (who definitely had a point that none of these ladies seems to want to take responsibility for their actions – and that poor Nat was legitimately trying to heal but they just couldn’t let her). Tai saw Lottie before she died, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Other Tai killed her. I also wouldn’t be shocked if Shauna killed her. Heck, the only people I don’t think did it were Misty and Van. The tape, however, is the most pressing threat to them all. I’m betting their going to team up (the present arc is always at its best when the characters are all working together) to try and see just who has that tape and why they sent it to Shauna.
This was a hell of an episode. We got the death of a major character – albeit for kind reasons. We learned that the team wasn’t always alone out in the wilderness – but something tells me these new additions are only going to cause more issues in the end. And, since we know none of them make it out alive, well, they either join the team or they need to be disposed of. And then there’s the present day Lottie mystery, which seems to be deepening by the episode. Is it possible that she really just fell on her own? Maybe. But on Yellowjackets, it’s rarely that simple.
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