Yellowjackets S2.06 — A mother of an episode

Spoilers below for Yellowjackets S2.06 — Qui

What an episode! It really was the Shauna show tonight. This episode explains a lot about Shauna as a person and a mother.

The plane crash timeline

This is one of the most absolutely heartbreaking episodes for the plane crash timeline. At the end of last episode, the girls invoke the wilderness to bring Tai and Shauna back in the storm because Shauna is in labor. This episode is all about the actual labor, birth, and what comes immediately after.

Shauna is struggling through labor and the girls on the team know only as much as what Coach Ben showed them in the Miracle of Life VHS in Health class. Which is to say: Not a lot. Misty is supposed to be the one in charge of the delivery, but she’s spiraling because she basically murdered her friend a mere hour before.

The new for season 2 girl who has a niece and loves her pet mouse takes over. Shauna is losing a lot of blood and things are not looking good. Lottie calls her warriors together and starts a prayer and sacrifice circle. Travis cuts his hand and puts the blood on top of a bear skull. The rest of the girls add items and they all start chanting. Even Tai joins in.

Unfortunately, Shauna passes the placenta first, which is not a good sign. Misty snaps out of her misery and comes to help. Shauna passes out with her final push and awakens to find a perfect, healthy baby boy. The girls are excited and Shauna is, too.

However, Shauna is also coming to terms with the fact that she has a newborn baby in the middle of the wilderness and she’s starving. The baby won’t latch and won’t stop crying. Once, she wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Lottie nursing the baby. We were all…extremely confused watching this. But, it makes sense in the end.

Shauna finally gets the baby to latch! It’s a beautiful bonding moment and she knows it’s just her and her baby against the world. Nat delivers her a mug of tea and then we cut to a bleary Shauna waking up in the middle of the night with no baby next to her. She stumbles out, seemingly drugged, and finds all of her teammates and Coach Ben eating her baby.

Horrible, right? Well, it’s not that bad because then Shauna actually wakes up from passing out during labor and it turns out the baby was stillborn. In an absolutely heart wrenching scene, the girls explain that the baby didn’t make it and Shauna tries to get them to remember what happened in her postpartum, full fever dream. The episode ends with Shauna holding the bundle and saying “I can still hear him crying, why can’t you hear him crying?”

So…Shauna is DEFINITELY going through a lot of shit right now and the rest of the time in the wilderness will be a very tough transition for her. For her sake, I hope they get rescued soon so she can see a therapist.

The present timeline

In the present, we also spend a lot of time with Shauna. Plus, we gear up for an epic reunion!

Misty, Nat, and Lottie

Misty arrives at the center and asks to join at the end of last episode. In the beginning of this one, Misty has to give all of her belongings to the center. This includes her phone, which Walter is still blowing up. Also, I guess she’s just giving up her job for the moment? This seems more important. Misty is trying to just tread water at the center until she can talk to Nat, but she realizes her connection to Lottie makes her a minor celeb. She doesn’t mind that and so she’s fitting right in.

Nat is once again upset with herself. She thinks that she’s poison and the reason why Travis killed himself. Her fish-loving friend and former stab victim is trying to make her feel better, so she gives her the fish to take care of for a bit. Nat tries to kill the fish, but at the last second, lets him live. She even feeds him a bit. Go Nat!

Lottie is still seeing visions and having trouble discerning reality from her dreams and nightmares. She returns to her psychiatrist and explains that now she is not even sure if she was ever sick. She so strongly believes in the demon or devil or whatever it was that was with them in the woods. Like Nat and like Travis did, Lottie now believes that they brought it back with them.

Tai and Van

Tai gets Van to rehash what Sleepwalker Tai (ST) said the night before. Then, she tries to get Van to ask her for help keeping the store in business. Van doesn’t bite. Tai receives a call from an unknown number and it turns out to be Misty, who explains that Lottie is out of the institution and running a wellness center. When Tai hears Misty and Nat are already there, she recruits Van to drive her up.

Shauna (and Callie)

Shauna gets a call from her old pal Kevyn. He’s requesting interviews with her and Callie down at the police station ASAP. Jeff is stressed and Shauna is too. She tells Callie it would have been better if she had just slept with Jay because then everything would have been thrown out.

Upon arrival at the police station, Shauna and Callie are greeted by Jay’s smug face. He takes Shauna for questioning and Kevyn takes Callie. Jeff sits in the car blasting “Fuck the Police” with the windows open, until he hears Shauna’s phone buzzing. He answers a call from Tai, who explains that a reunion is imminent at Lottie’s commune.

In Shauna’s interview, Jay accuses her of being a bad mom. If only he knew the half of it! Shauna admits that she didn’t even want Callie…or Jeff…but now she has them both and she has to love them. She also admits to having an affair with Adam, which was definitely not the best thing to do but she was in a very sticky pickle. She obviously doesn’t admit to anything else and clearly they don’t have anything substantial to charge her, so she gets out.

In Callie’s interview, she takes Shauna’s advice and says that she and Jay slept together. Kevyn doesn’t believe her, but she doubles down and talks about his “weird ass balls.” She gets into the car and tells Shauna and Jeff that the cops are scared. Jeff encourages Shauna to get out of town and meet the rest of the women at the commune.

The reunion

Van doesn’t want to go in and right before Tai gets out to walk the rest of the way, they see Shauna’s minivan barrel past them and through the gate. Van puts the car in gear and follows. Misty is in outdoor basket weaving class and Nat is nearby. When the cars pull up and Shauna, Tai, and Van exit, Nat goes to hug Shauna and Misty goes to hug Tai. But Van is frozen in place.

Across the grass and on the lake’s edge is Lottie. She turns around and sees her old teammates lined up. As she crosses to them, we get an aerial shot of the grounds and see that all of the benches and the gazebo are organized in the sign of the wilderness.

Final thoughts and comments (all timelines)

• Something very weird is going on in the scenes when Lottie is with her psychiatrist. I thought it was weird last time when the doctor was asking her why she didn’t believe her visions (uh because they are wild?) and this time, they didn’t even show her face. I think these might be imagined meetings or it’s going to be some other type of hallucination or weird connection in a later episode.
• When will Coach Ben die? He is hanging on barely by a thread and he is truly of no use, so I think it’s about time that they cook him up so they can start thinking straight.
• After the storm and the death of the baby, will the girls retrieve Crystal’s body and eat her? Or are we over Crystal?
• Isn’t it a little fishy that Shauna is leaving town in the middle of an active murder investigation? Will they have to drop everything now that Callie accused Jay?

Originally published at http://lizziekreitman.wordpress.com on May 8, 2023.