Yellowjackets S2.04 — The hunt

Spoilers below for Yellowjackets S2.04 — Old Wounds

We already knew tonight’s episode was going to be chock a block because the “previously on” lasted for about 5 minutes! They showed everything, and I mean everything, that had happened up until this point (including the teddy bear in the cockpit with the Christian girl in the plane crash timeline). Let’s get into it!

The plane crash timeline

The girls are starting to crumble in the wilderness….

Teen Nat and Lottie

The girls are starving. No doubt about that. Plus, someone is stealing the very limited bear meat reserves. First the girls blame Coach Ben, who quickly denies it due to his inability to get around the snow easily. Though, he does seem a bit worried that the girls will eat him at some point soon (rightfully so, I still think he’s the next course).

Then, the girls turn the blame onto Nat. They say that because she isn’t accepting Lottie’s blessing, she’s not catching any game. Hey girls, haven’t you heard of hibernation? The animals are sleeeeeping, that’s why Nat isn’t catching anything.

But, I digress. The girls suggest a hunt off: Lottie vs Nat. Lottie’s lackey, who I’m sure has a name but I don’t know it, says that Lottie doesn’t need the gun. She can just will the animals out and kill them with the knife, like she did the bear. Lottie doesn’t seem to sure about this, but she agrees.

Both girls head out. Nat sees a moose frozen into the top of the lake and runs back to the cabin. The girls and Travis try to help her get the moose out, but he’s way too heavy (obviously). Nat gets dunked in the freezing water and rushed back to the cabin for a warm bath. Lottie is not doing well either. She finds herself back where they found the plane and cuts her hand to try to summon an animal.

It doesn’t work and instead she has a vision where the plane is still there, the teddy bear still on the seat. She finds the Christian girl’s cross necklace on top of a hatch. She goes down the tunnel and ends up in a mall. She finds the girls eating Chinese food and chatting. The Christian girl tells Lottie if she doesn’t leave soon, she’ll die. Lottie is found by the girls on Team Lottie and brought back to the cabin to get the same treatment as Nat.

Teen Tai and Van

Van insists that Tai’s nighttime wanderings have a spiritual impetus. Each tree she visits as Sleepwalking Tai has a symbol on it. Van maps the trees and lays it over Coach Ben’s map that he has been making with Nat. She does a little Charlie-level “where does the mail come from” string action and voila! A symbol appears.

Van ventures that there is one spot missing — the bottom of the symbol. She and Tai head out to that spot and don’t find any trees with symbols. But, they find a spot where there is dirt instead of snow (like what Nat found when she and Travis were out and we didn’t really know what it meant but we thought it might have meant Javi was there). The girls look around and see Javi! They chase him down and he doesn’t really recognize them. Then, when they get him back to the cabin, he doesn’t recognize Travis either.

However, this is a big win for Team Lottie and I’m sure the girls will not let Nat and the others forget it. Van tells everyone that, actually, it was Tai and her weird nighttime stalking that led them to find Javi. Now the girls will have to wrap their heads around having two magical teammates.

Not sure why Javi doesn’t recognize anyone except I’d assume extreme malnourishment and a little bit of magic. Hopefully, we can learn how he survived the winter. Maybe he knows where they can get some food. That will be helpful since now the girls have another mouth to feed.

The present day

Things are coming together in the present day…

Shauna

Shauna runs into Callie’s friend’s mom and she confirms that Callie has not been spending the night with her daughter recently. Shook, Shauna searches Callie’s room and finds the piece of Adam’s ID. She picks Callie up from school and takes her out into the fields for a heart-to-heart. She decides to be truthful and tells Callie that she killed Adam and Jeff blackmailed her friends. She doesn’t go as far as telling Callie about what they did in the wilderness, but Callie understands it’s bad.

Callie promises not to tell anyone what Shauna told her. When they return home, Shauna tells Jeff that Callie knows everything and he’s upset (which makes sense). But, then Callie comes downstairs and asks to help with dinner, which makes him happy (also makes sense I guess).

The problem is that Callie has been seeing Jay, the undercover cop, for the past few weeks and who knows what she has been saying to him? Plus, who knows what she will say now that she knows everything? Also, Jay is playing with fire because she is certainly underage. How doesn’t he know that?

Nat

Nat has, I guess, decided to stay at the cult commune indefinitely (and wear that same outfit indefinitely as well). She obviously knows Lottie is up to something and it’s not like she has much else going on in her life, so she’s down to stay and figure it out. She goes with Lisa, the girl she stabbed with the fork, on farmer’s market duty and we learn a bit more about life at the cult. They “have no rules” but a lot of suggestions from Lottie on how to live their lives (basically, stay on the cult grounds except to go to the bank and the farmer’s market and don’t see anyone outside of the cult. Sweet).

Lisa and Nat pull up to a house and not a farmer’s market, though. “Shitty farmer’s market,” Nat says. It turns out it’s Lisa’s mom’s house and Lisa wants to see her fish. Lisa and Nat sit down with Lisa’s mom and the conversation is rough. Her mom tells Lisa that she can see she’s still depressed and that she can’t take care of herself. Lisa says she weened herself off her meds and she’s doing better, she hasn’t had a suicide attempt in 3 months.

Every so often, Nat interjects, telling Lisa’s mom that if Lisa is happy, she should butt out. Lisa’s mom tells Nat to give them privacy and she does, but then she bursts back in and continues to yell at her mom. The 2 of them storm out and get in the car. Nat then spits the fish out of her mouth and into the water bottle. Lisa is excited and they go to a bar to celebrate. They continue to discuss their suicidal tendencies and Lisa asks Nat if she still wants to die. Nat says, “Not today” and pushes the shot away. Go Nat! That’s growth!

Lottie

Oh boy. Adult Lottie is not doing well. Her visions seem to be coming back with a vengeance and she goes into town to see her psychiatrist. Unfortunately, he took a leave of absence so she has to talk to someone new. Lottie wants her medication increased and the new doctor asks why. Lottie explains her visions are back and “what happened last time can’t happen again.” What happened last time? We want to know! The doctor wants to know why Lottie isn’t thinking about what the visions are trying to tell her (um, because she is mentally ill and needs them to be gone!?) and Lottie answers that they aren’t real so why does it matter (good answer!).

Later, Lottie returns to the compound and starts going through gratitude cards from members. She keeps seeing a Queen of Hearts with the eyes scratched out. The first time she sees it, it’s a vision. The second time, we’re not so sure. She leaves her room and goes to a stump on the grounds. She cuts her hand like she did in the plane crash timeline and lets the blood fall. She says, “Can this just be enough?” Oh booooooy, we’re in trouble here.

Misty

Misty and Walter are catching up to Nat (and Lottie). They arrive in the town where the cult is and ask their waitress where they can find the purple people. She directs them to the farmer’s market, but we know Nat and Lisa didn’t make it to their shift today. At the farmer’s market, the vendor next to the cult’s stall directs them to the compound, but Misty and Walter decide to wait until the morning.

They check into a BnB (separate rooms) and complete the same post-checkin ritual. They look for cameras, microphones, etc in the rooms and then both do face masks and try to fall asleep. They are a match made in heaven!

Tai

Sleepwalking Tai (ST) is completely at the wheel now (literally — get it?!). She drives her assistant’s car until the gas runs out and then starts walking. A truck pulls up and the trucker asks if she needs a ride. Don’t worry, even though he as one of those pens with the naked woman when you turn it over, he voted for her, so he’s alright. He takes her where she needs to go and she ends up in a small town.

I thought she was going up to the same town where the compound is, but now I’m not sure. She sees a small movie theater called While You Were Streaming (incredible name) with a Pride flag outside. She walks in and…it’s Adult Van!! YAY!

Final thoughts/comments (all timelines)

• Physically, how did that moose get in the frozen lake like that? I’m not sure it really makes sense, but whatever.
• Cults love farmer’s markets. It must be the best business opportunity besides taking all of the money from their members.
• It would be awesome if the town where Adult Van works is the same town with the compound because then we’d have so many characters in the same place, but I’m not sure. In the plane crash timeline, Van seems on Team Lottie but also, and more importantly, Team Tai, but there is so much more to be discovered in that timeline.

Originally published at http://lizziekreitman.wordpress.com on April 16, 2023.