Yellowjackets S2.07 — A goat named Bruce

Spoilers below for Yellowjackets S2.07 — Burial

There are only 9 episodes in this season, which means we have 2 left, and we have not seen nearly enough magic in the wilderness. I’m sure they will do a third season, but I want more now! Let’s dive in.

The plane crash timeline

In the aftermath of losing the baby, the girls (and Coach Ben) are spiraling. Everything happens within the group, so there’s no need to split it up.

As the snow continues to fall, Shauna is despondent, laying in bed with her bundle of not joy. When it finally stops, the girls head outside to breath fresh air and start melting snow for water. Shauna buries the baby under a cairn, but she is still not doing well. She tries to get help from the ghost of Jackie, but Jackie is no longer open for business.

Meanwhile, Misty overhears a couple of girls gossiping about how weird she is. Not only was she so clearheaded during the delivery, but she doesn’t even care about her missing friend. Misty realizes her mistake and tells the girls they need to go looking for Crystal. A group sets out and Misty breaks off to try to find Crystal under the cliff. She can’t find her in the snowdrift and returns to the top of the cliff.

Unfortunately, she’s walked into Coach Ben attempting suicide. He even goes so far as to ask her to push him. Distraught, especially because she must know that if she is connected to another death on the team the girls will certainly suspect something, Misty throws everything at Ben to see what sticks: He impregnated Shauna, he loved Misty, he tried to sleep with all the girls, he’s gay. Finally, it seems like just her screams and pleas were enough to take him off the edge. For now. He won’t survive much longer (which I know I say every recap. He’s like the king in House of the Dragon).

When the girls return from searching, Shauna returns from unsuccessfully communing with Ghost Jackie. She walks into the cabin and hears Misty humming “Lightening Crashes” by Live (famously about a young mother who gives birth to a stillborn baby). Shauna freaks out and punches Misty. Lottie gets in between them and Shauna punches her. Van tries to hold Shauna back but Shauna bites her. Then, Lottie says that they need Shauna and tells her to let it all out on Lottie. Shauna punches Lottie in the face over and over. When she’s finally done, it looks like Lottie is dead, but she spits out a bit of blood. Damn dude.

The present timeline

Everyone is finally together in this timeline, too!

While Van, Shauna, and Tai are not really that interested in joining Lottie’s community, they know it’s what they need to do right now to stay together and figure out what is going on. At first, it seems like Nat is being sarcastic with her interest in the wellness center, but I actually think she was being sincere. Of all of them, she seems to really be on the upswing since joining the community.

Shauna, Van, Tai, and Misty are asked to pick “treatments” for new members. Shauna picks “self care” and is tasked with taking care of a baby goat named Bruce. Despite traumatically losing Bruce for a bit, she realizes the connection between taking care of the kid (baby goat) and her actual kid (Callie….and before that the baby that didn’t survive). Shauna explains that she has always been so scared that Callie would die (or was dead the whole time!) that she couldn’t even feel comfortable being her mom. Yeah, that makes sense based on what we saw in the wilderness.

Misty chooses “guidance”, which means she has to go in a sensory deprivation tank. In the tank, she sees a stage where her African grey parrot is doing a musical number while sitting in what looks like the Red Room from Twin Peaks. There’s a lot of weird other stuff flashing about and she has a Morse code conversation with Walter. After she gets out of the tank, she calls Walter and leaves a long voicemail. Looking forward to his return next week (I assume) and hopefully he will help the women out of the predicament they find themselves in at the end of the episode.

Tai chooses “renewal” and ends up having to paint a building with a makeup brush. She gives up on that pretty quickly and tries to make an offering of her wedding ring to a rock. She’s interrupted by Van who chose “forage” and foraged in her truck for a bottle of tequila.

Nat brings the women together to talk about their feelings and treatments, but it quickly goes downhill when they reveal they have been drinking. Lottie joins them quickly after realizing that all of her recent therapy sessions have been hallucinations (I TOLD YOU!). Lottie tells her “therapist” that she has a deep and primal feeling when all of the women are together. The “therapist” asks why that is so bad before morphing into the antler queen and asking if a hunt without violence feeds anyone. Good point, but also, you’re in danger Lottie!

As the women drink, they realize it’s snowing and head outside to dance in the snow. They intersperse scenes of them dancing and laughing in the present with Shauna beating the ever loving shit out of Lottie in the past. The dancing is interrupted when a lackey tells Shauna her husband is on the phone.

Knowing that he’s likely being wiretapped, Jeff tells Shauna in plain English with no affectation that the man with which she was in an automobile accident is dead and his remains were found in the park. RUH ROH! I’m pretty sure Walter will have to help them get out of this but I truly don’t know how!

Final thoughts (all timelines)

• When reminiscing, Misty said “that first summer” which means the girls were there for more than a year and we have a lot more plane crash timeline to get through.
• In the plane crash timeline, Lottie wants to Tai to tap into her Sleepwalker Tai persona to help find Crystal. Tai explains that since coming to Lottie’s prayer circles, ST hasn’t returned. Lottie knows that ST isn’t gone for good though and tells Tai that’s a good thing. I’m assuming when all of the magical sacrifices start, ST might be useful to Lottie.
• I was into the acoustic version of the theme song! Much more palatable than the original.

Originally published at http://lizziekreitman.wordpress.com on May 15, 2023.