Yellowjackets: Burning questions we still have after season 2

Now that Showtime’s Yellowjackets has aired its divisive Season 2 finale, it’s time to dive into the show’s biggest unanswered questions.

Before moving forward, it should be noted that this article will obviously contain major spoilers, both for Season 2 of Yellowjackets and the entire series. We also won’t attempt to tackle questions that have already been answered (or mostly answered) by the show’s writers — like why Jackie’s diary has entries after she died.

This article will look at questions that arose during the Season 2 finale, but it will also cover mysteries that have lingered since the pilot episode — like the following:

Why did Flight 2525 crash?

In the series’ opening episode, we hear one of the pilots say that they’ll be taking a slightly more northward route to Seattle to avoid a storm. This would initially make it seem like the plane got caught in the storm anyway. If you watch the video linked above, however, you’ll notice that it doesn’t appear to be stormy at all when Shauna looks out the window during the plane’s descent.

It’s possible that the plane hit a bad storm at a higher altitude and crashed below it, but that still doesn’t hold much water.

It’s also worth pointing out that our only perspective of Flight 2525’s crash thus far is from Shauna’s point of view when she wakes up after taking the valium Jackie gave her. This means that in future seasons, we’re hopefully going to see the beginning of Flight 2525’s crash from other characters’ perspectives.

Where did Flight 2525 crash and why couldn’t anyone find the survivors?

Despite Misty destroying the plane’s black box (which also destroyed its transmitter), that still doesn’t explain why the Yellowjackets were stranded in the Canadian wilderness for 19 months. Even at the most remote points Flight 2525 could’ve crashed, an aggressive and long-term search would’ve eventually found them — or at least the plane’s wreckage.

The series even went so far as to produce an MTV News brief with Kurt Loder discussing Flight 2525’s disappearance three months after it happened:

And unlike Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Flight 2525 wasn’t over a large body of water when it disappeared to the rest of the world. The plane crashed in a part of the Canadian wilderness that was also relatively close to the United States. There’s no way that the wreckage wouldn’t have been found through two springs and summers unless something supernatural is afoot.

I’m not saying this is a Cabin in the Woods situation with the Yellowjackets trapped behind an invisible forcefield or something like that. But I do think Lottie isn’t as crazy as she sounds when she talks about the wilderness choosing them.

What does THE SYMBOL mean?

We’ve seen it in the 1996 wilderness and in the current timeline at Lottie’s cult — with its shape even forming the outline for a great overhead shot at the end of Episode 6. The show’s creators have also said how uneasy they feel about the fans getting tattoos of the symbol, although that could just be a bit of gamesmanship on their part.

Whatever the case, I still don’t buy the explanation of it being the alchemical symbol for “crystal” — thus explaining supernatural occurrences 25 years later via mercury poisoning from water runoff originating in an abandoned mine.

How many teenage Yellowjackets are left – and how many were there in the first place?

The picture above was created by Reddit user zoooeys for this fantastic post on the /r/Yellowjackets subreddit. The primary photo is from the wilderness funeral in Season 1 Episode 3. The inserts are of everyone at Doomcoming before things got all trippy/stabby.

Although there’ve been plenty of episodes since this chart was created, it still gives us our clearest look at all the initial survivors of Flight 2525 in one place. With this information, we’re able to fill in the blanks on a few characters:

• Yellowjacket #1 is Gen, who we’ve seen a lot more this season.
• Yellowjacket #2 remains unnamed and is portrayed by Princess Davis. She showed up quite a bit in the background during Season 1, but was conspicuously absent in Season 2. You can see clear pictures of Princess’ character here, here, and here.
• Yellowjacket #3 has likely been subbed in as Season 2 character Kristen/Crystal, who was not officially part of Season 1.
• Yellowjacket #4 has likely been subbed in as Season 2 character Melissa, who was not officially part of Season 1.
• Yellowjacket #5: ???
• Yellowjacket #6: ??? (She also did not appear at the Doomcoming).

That leaves us with potentially three Yellowjackets who haven’t been named and randomly disappear from time to time. Lest you think they’ve been forgotten by the show’s writers, Reddit user Kris_Winters caught a great screencap from Season 2 Episode 7, which clearly shows 14 Yellowjackets (sans Coach Ben).

I’ve lightened the picture below so it’s easier to see who’s who.

Van is the one holding up the card at the bottom of the picture and Akilah is standing to her left. To Akilah’s left are the three nameless Yellowjackets followed by Mari, Gen, Nat, Javi, Melissa, Tai, Travis, Shauna, and Misty.

So those three girls definitely still exist in the show…unless of course they died in the fire at the end of Season 2. In the screencap below of the Yellowjackets watching the cabin burn, we can see 9 survivors from left to right:

Melissa, Van, Tai, Nat, Travis, Misty, Shauna, Lottie, and Mari.

There’s also at least one Yellowjacket who’s standing behind most of the group.

This shot doesn’t mean that Akilah, Gen, or any of the nameless Yellowjackets are dead. But the fire does give the writers an easy out if a few of the extras just don’t show up again.

Also, if you aren’t at least lurking on the /r/Yellowjackets subreddit, you’re really missing out. In addition to being a great community, the members do a wonderful job dissecting the show while maintaining a friendly and fun atmosphere. Also, user fruity_oat_bars came up with the name Javioli after Javi was selected as the next meal, which nearly caused me to spit out my drink.

Speaking of Javi…

What was Javi up to during the time he was missing?

One of the few words uttered by Javi after his return was when he told Coach Ben that “she” instructed him not to come back. When Ben asked who “she” was, Javi simply replied “my friend.”

In Season 2 Episode 7, Nat told Ben that she saw Javi bowing and praying to a tree with THE SYMBOL carved into it.

Then there’s the fact that he was able to survive for so long on his own. Putting aside the odd climate-controlled cave, Javi would still have to hunt/prepare food and have access to clean drinking water. It’s more than a little bizarre that none of this resulted in him crossing paths with the rest of the Yellowjackets without some supernatural interference.

What happened to Krystal/Kristen’s body?

I’ve seen folks speculate that she was buried by the blizzard or Misty just didn’t see her under the snow, but that’s way too easy. My guess is that Krystal/Kristen is going to end up haunting Misty (or the whole group) in Season 3 by singing show tunes in a minor key during the night.

What is the dripping sound that Mari keeps hearing?

The dripping sound might not only be a phenomenon centered around Mari.

Around 32 minutes into Season 2 Episode 3, the Other Tai wakes up and Van follows her. If you listen closely, you can hear a distinct dripping sound. It could just be part of the show’s musical score, but that would be one heck of a coincidence.

Who is the Pit Girl?

Now that we know how the teenage Yellowjackets choose their next meal/victim (and that the chosen person wears Jackie’s necklace), this question doesn’t feel nearly as big as it once did. The path to the teenage Yellowjackets becoming efficient hunters with a ritualistic bent is much clearer now.

That said, we’re all still curious.

Although most folks continue to think it’ll be Mari (or simply hope it is), but my money is on Gen. In addition to her matching Pit Girl’s description, the picture posted by the folks who made the Pit Girl prop (warning: very gory) is too close to her appearance to be a coincidence. Even though Pit Girl was portrayed by a stuntwoman in the pilot episode, Gen has been a visible member of the Yellowjackets since Day 1.

The company that posted the picture tried to backtrack and say they didn’t know who Pit Girl was and that it was simply a generic model, but the show’s writers and directors had to have given them at least a basic description of her. Also, if they took the picture off Instagram after it blew up on Reddit, that would’ve basically confirmed it was a leak.

Who is Skunkhead?

This is the question I’m really interested in getting an answer to.

Although we know the surviving Yellowjackets all end up going feral, Skunkhead appears to hold a leadership position in the group. Some folks have tried to point out that the Coed Naked Soccer shirt she’s wearing points to this being Van, but that shirt has been worn by multiple characters — same with the pink Converse shoes.

Just don’t try to figure out who this is based on the actors in the animal skins. Aside from Misty, they were all stunt doubles or stand-ins.

Who/What is the Antler Queen?

While Lottie was the obvious answer after Season 1, Season 2 has turned everything we know about the Antler Queen on its head.

I still don’t think Nat will end up being the Antler Queen we saw in the pilot, though. She has too much empathy to be the leader of what her teammates are doing — she’s just willing to do what needs to be done to survive.

I’m also starting to wonder if the Antler Queen is a manifestation of the entity from the wilderness instead of a costumed Yellowjacket. Considering how she/it appeared to Lottie (posing as her substitute therapist), that possibility can’t be ruled out.

And then you have the multiple shots of Ben with antlers pointedly placed behind his head.

This could just be the writers messing with us, but it probably means something more — especially now that Ben tried to kill girls and is hiding in Javi’s mystical Hobbit hole.

What’s going to happen with Coach Ben now?

Even if Nat hadn’t totally buried the lede about why the Yellowjackets were butchering and eating Javi, he was still headed down a path that pitted him against his former team. At this point, it seems likely that his residence in the mystical Hobbit hole will connect him with the evil entity in the wilderness, which will in turn make him a full-blown antagonist going forward.

It’s also worth speculating on whether or not he somehow survives. I know it’s a stretch, but stranger things have already happened.

What’s the backstory for the Hunter, aka Cabin Daddy?

Even though his cabin has been burned to the ground, there’s still plenty about this guy that needs to be explored:

• Why did he have THE SYMBOL carved beneath where he was sitting?
• Why did Lottie get an ominous premonition about entering the cabin, which was reinforced after she found the Hunter’s skeleton?
• Why did Lottie say “You must spill blood” during the seance where they allegedly connected with the Hunter?

That last item might be the first and only time that being French Canadian would implicate someone in being connected to the occult.

What did Jackie’s pre-death vision mean?

File this one under yet another reason why the Hunter still has a part to play in the story.

Right before Jackie died, she had a vision of walking into the cabin with everyone still alive and being super nice to her. The good vibes came to an abrupt halt when her vision became distorted and the Hunter’s silhouette appeared.

We then hear him say “So glad you’re joining us. We’ve been waiting for you.” Jackie goes from looking happy to terrified and dies — presumably with something awful happening to her soul, as well.

What did Lottie’s Hatch Hallucination mean?

The vision could’ve simply been a result of Lottie being cold and hungry while giving the show’s writers a chance to through some shade at Lost.

But the scene also felt far too significant to be a hypothermia-induced fantasy. It also feels like this moment could be connected to the vision Lottie had in Season 1 of her lighting candles. I’m not sure how, but that’s what my gut’s telling me.

Where do the Yellowjackets go now that the cabin has burned down?

My theory: the Yellowjackets are totally overtaking the mystical Hobbit hole from Coach Ben and making him the first meal in their new home.

There’s also a good chance Nat knows where he is. Even if the maps she made burned up in the fire, Ben still told her about Javi’s hideout, which was the last place on the map she had to mark to create THE SYMBOL.

It’s probably a good bet that she leads her teammates there early in Season 3.

How are the surviving Yellowjackets eventually found?

After 19 months, you’d figure most folks would assume the Yellowjackets were all dead. So what was it that helped someone or some government agency finally locate them and how did they do it?

One theory being batted around online is that the cabin fire alerted them, but we still have close to a year in the wilderness until the girls are found.

Also, were the Yellowjackets rescued right after the Pit Girl scene from the pilot? If so, that’s going to be absolutely brutal.

Are there any other teen Yellowjacket survivors who are still living in the present timeline?

Much as I hate to admit it, the preceding picture (and the one below) have me convinced that Mari might still be kicking around somewhere as the head of an HOA board.

Over on the /r/Yellowjackets subreddit, user Koala_Sleep55 went frame-by-frame on the post-rescue scene from the Season 2 premiere and found a disheartening image.

I mean…that’s gotta be her, right? And all joking aside, Mari would make an incredible villain for the series going forward.

Why did teenage Nat hallucinate seeing Misty at the party in the pilot episode?

Was this simply a foreshadowing of who would end up killing her 25 years later, or is there still something more to this moment?

Either way, this scene gives me the willies.

UPDATE: The show’s creators have confirmed that Nat’s hallucination was a foreshadowing of Misty’s involvement in her death.

Who/What is the Man With No Eyes?

If his presence in the opening credits weren’t enough, the show’s writers have confirmed that the Man With No Eyes plays a very important role in the story.

He first appeared to Tai as a young girl when her grandmother saw him right before she died. In the 1996 timeline, he appeared to be guiding Tai toward a tree with THE SYMBOL when she was her Other Self. In the present timeline, he appears to Tai during a Senate campaign speech where she refuses to drop out of the race.

Since he’d been a part of Tai’s life since before the plane crash, that makes it much less likely he was manifested by the entity in the wilderness. It’s also worth noting that during the scene where Other Tai is following his directions, she tells Van that “he” guides her. Van then asks if that’s who she follows in her fugue state. Tai responds that it’s only when “she” lets her do so, implying that the Man With No Eyes and the wilderness entity are separate beings.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Man With No Eyes has had Tai marked since childhood for all the spiritual awfulness she’s experienced since then.

What is Tai’s Other Self and what does it want?

Unless we see more of Tai’s childhood and teenage years before Flight 2525, we can assume that Other Tai didn’t start manifesting until the Yellowjackets’ time in the wilderness.

While all of her teammates were obviously affected by their horrific ordeal, Tai appears to be the one who’s being directly attacked the most by a supernatural force — even more so than Lottie. Perhaps it’s because she brought an entity with her into the woods…

…like the Man With No Eyes.

What is Sammy‘s connection to Other Tai and the entity?

Sammy seems like a super sweet kid in Season 1 until Tai’s spiritual issues coincide with him creating some creepy drawings. We eventually learn that he’s still a super sweet kid who was just being tormented by Other Tai.

The little dude is definitely weird, but you’d be too if one of your parents was a high-profile, potentially demon-possessed politician.

I couldn’t find a definitive answer on whether Tai or her wife Simone is Sammy’s biological mother, but that might not matter. When you factor in Tai’s extensive hallucinations, it appears that the entity is using Sammy to tighten its control over her.

What was the entity that the Yellowjackets brought back and what does it want?

First off, let’s shut down all that “there’s no supernatural element” talk right now. Trauma certainly plays a huge/crucial part in the narrative, but there are far too many unnatural things that have occurred for everything to have a rationally grounded explanation.

As far as the entity is concerned, it appears that it can be appeased despite Lottie’s insistence that it can’t be bargained with. Once a sacrifice is made (willingly or unwillingly), it gives something in return. For example:

• After Shauna killed Adam, Jeff‘s furniture sales picked up considerably.
• After Tai killed Biscuit (and destroyed her family), she won an election that her campaign had pretty much tanked.
• After Misty killed Jessica Roberts, she found a potential love interest in Walter.

I would not be surprised one bit if Nat’s death resulted in Van’s cancer going into remission.

Why did Van and Tai split up after being rescued?

Maybe it was because being together reminded them too much of the awful trauma they went through.

But teenage Van’s refusal to give up on Tai despite the unknown and dangerous force she was fighting is one of the show’s most enduring and hopeful plotlines. It’s sad to think that their love didn’t last after they made it out of the woods together.

That said, the strife that tore them apart could also make for a powerful and fascinating plotline.

How did adult Lottie end up running a cult?

The simple answer is a high level of charisma, a pinch of supernatural sensitivity, and a lot of family money.

Still, it’s quite a path to go from being institutionalized to being the beloved ruler over a group of people. While the post-wilderness stories of all the Yellowjacket survivors are worth exploring, Lottie’s appears to be the most bizarre.

What did Nat’s “We Didn’t Make It” vision mean?

In Season 2 Episode 5, Lottie hypnotizes Nat and takes her back to a near-death experience she had during a drug-fueled bender with Travis. In her vision, she saw the wreckage of Flight 2525, but with all their charred corpses on the plane. After saying “We didn’t make it,” Nat goes on to explain that “We weren’t alone out there” as a vision of the Antler Queen shambles toward her down the aisle.

After being brought back from the brink of death by paramedics, she tells Travis that “…we brought it back with us.”

I don’t think this means the survivors are in Purgatory or something stupid like that. But Nat’s vision does possibly indicate that the Yellowjackets all cheated death somehow, which made a manifestation of death itself come after them.

Why did Nat only see Javi, Lottie, and her teenage self before she died?

At least Jackie got to have a few seconds of bliss before things got scary and something awful happened to her soul.

Poor Nat had to be stuck in coach on an airplane and didn’t even get to see Travis. Instead, she had to face the teen version of Lottie, an undigested Javi, and herself as a teenager.

No wonder she screamed before it was all over.

What’s the deal with Walter?

Aside from him being an even more ruthless version of Misty, there’s no way he isn’t hiding a secret far worse than anything we’ve seen thus far.

For proof, look no further than Season 2 Episode 3, when he refers to himself as a “bored Moriarty looking for his Sherlock.” In case you aren’t up on your Sherlock Holmes mythology, Professor Moriarity was a criminal mastermind who was obsessed with the detective.

Is Walter’s plan to help Misty actually going to work?

In a series with as many twisted plotlines as Yellowjackets, we as the audience are willing to handwave certain things:

• Tai going missing for multiple days despite recently being elected to the Senate.
• Allie developing a severe New Jersey accent in the years since a broken leg kept her off Flight 2525.
• Nat’s roots taking forever to show up.

But Walter’s master plan to get Misty & Co. off the hook for Adam’s death isn’t as ironclad as the show appeared to be presenting it.

Even if you accept the Techno Wizard, troupe-laden hacking Walter did to set up Detective Saracusa, there’s still a lot that has to fall into place or be outright ignored for it to work:

• Detective Kevyn Tan was found in the trunk of a car (with multiple gunshot wounds) in the same location as Shauna, who was the prime suspect in Adam’s murder.
• Unless they don’t do a toxicology test, law enforcement will have some questions about the lethal dose of phenobarbital in his system — which also happens to be what they’ll find in Nat.
• Law enforcement will also have to figure out why Lottie was shot in the arm during all this by a different weapon than what fired the bullets lodged in Detective Tan.

Let’s hope the show’s writers don’t let Adam’s murder get tied up with a neat bow after this.

Are we getting a tenth episode?

https://twitter.com/ashannlyle/status/1637041109800206336

In addition to that little nugget from showrunner Ashley Lyle, Jason Ritter was definitely on set filming stuff for Season 2 — we just never saw him.

jason ritter (melanie’s husband) was announced to be in this season a long time ago & here’s photos of him on set as cabin guy, plus ashley lyle tweeted about bonus eps so it’s basically just putting the pieces together lol & there was originally 10 episodes slated for the season pic.twitter.com/k818J3aRcF

— ken (@originalgoth) May 19, 2023

I may be setting myself up for major disappointment, but I’m wholly convinced we’ll be getting a 10th episode later this year showing the backstory of the Hunter with Ritter playing the role.