‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 8 Recap And Review

Here’s what’s happening (almost) every time I watch an episode of Yellowjackets in Season 2: I enjoy the episode a lot while watching it and then afterwards I start to think about what happened and get annoyed. This episode was really gripping and intense, but after taking a few steps back . . . I’m mostly just irritated by a lot of the choices the show’s writers are making.

Outside of a couple episodes this season, it just feels like the quality has slipped. I watched Season 1 three times but I don’t have any intention of watching Season 2 again. That says a lot.

So what didn’t work in ‘It Chooses’? This is the episode where we get to see how the group goes about picking who will die and who will live and yet they put the whole thing on fast-forward. There’s no deliberation or debate. Nobody even discusses how they’re going to choose who’s dinner.

At no point does anyone say, “Hey, let’s eat Coach Ben because he’s the only one of us who didn’t eat and he’s not going to eat which means he’s going to die anyways.” Or “Hey, since Coach Ben isn’t here we could just vote on eating him and kill him in his sleep or something so he wouldn’t be afraid.” Or “How about instead of killing someone who is (relatively) healthy, we see if Lottie pulls through or not. Sucks to lose her, but she’s already said she wants us to eat her if she dies and that would be a pretty fitting way for her to go!”

Other things not discussed:

• They all talk about how they need Lottie to survive, but does nobody mention that Travis and Nat are the only capable hunters in the group? Shouldn’t both of them be just as exempt as Lottie?
• Maybe somebody could have offered up alternatives rather than everyone just agreeing.
• Or here’s one: “Crystal is probably dead since she never came back, maybe we should go look for her body before we kill somebody!”

I mean, while they all look scared to draw the Queen, they don’t really deal with the implications of what they’re doing at all. And then things get . . . weird.

Nat draws the card and it’s certainly a frightening scene as Shauna places Jackie’s necklace around her neck (the one Pit Girl was wearing at the beginning of the series) but we know Nat doesn’t die. So that definitely robs the scene of some of the tension. When Travis tackles Shauna and Nat runs, the girls start going feral again—howling, acting like they did on the mushrooms. This felt a little forced. I get that they’re starving, but they’re not on drugs and they’re hunting down one of their best friends.

Who, yeah, is their best hunter also.

Javi shows up to save her. He’s going to take her to the cave beneath the tree that he found, where coach Ben is currently. I assumed they’d get there, and the hunters would come across Ben as he returned and kill him instead, but Javi is the one to die. He falls through the ice in the lake and here I must stop and point out that this is a pretty egregious example of the writers using convenient nonsense to progress the story.

It is nonsense that they would cross the lake in plain view of the people hunting them. Then there’s the ice itself, which only broke where he was and didn’t break anywhere else. If ice is thin enough to break like that, it’s going to keep breaking. You get an ice-fishing hole by breaking through ice thick enough not to keep breaking. So sure, maybe this was the Wilderness “choosing” to take Javi by only having it break for him, but it still feels a little lame. Nat just agreeing not to try to save him also feels lame and very out of character for her. I’ve said for some time now that she’s the only truly heroic figure in this show, and now that’s been sullied in a way that I simply do not buy for her character at all, both because she cares for Javi and because she knows what this will do to Travis.

Speaking of which: Maybe somebody should have pointed out that if one of the brothers is chosen, they’ll have to eat their own family member. Or starve. Misty, would you like to remind the group that Crystal is out there, preserved and ready for cooking?

While all of this was intense and gripping television, thinking about it for even a minute makes you see all the little cracks in the story and how rushed it all is. Chock it up to starvation making them crazy and impulsive, but even starving people aren’t going to just go straight to killing and cannibalism like this.

In the modern storyline, the women finally talk about everything and Misty figures out that Shauna was lying about Jeff. A lot of much-needed exposition takes place, which is good, but even this felt a little rushed after a lot of wheel-spinning all season long. Then Lottie goes straight to “We have to give It what It wants” and tells them that the only way to stop the bad stuff from happening is if one of them is killed as a sacrifice.

Right, Lottie. Sure. She’s coming across as more stupid than crazy. This also felt like a jumping-the-shark moment to me. Lottie has been all worried about the visions and things starting to get worse, but then she does a complete 180 and has poison ready, totally fine with one of them dying. And then how would that even be enough? Travis died recently and that didn’t stop the bad crazy from happening. Maybe someone should point that out! The adult storyline continues to be my least favorite part about the show, which is a real shame after being so strong in Season 1. It’s like they just don’t know what to do, and so we get the cop stuff that is mostly pretty dreadful and we get Walter, who is certainly an enigma, and we get Nat acting totally out of character at the cult. It’s kind of a bummer all around.

Scattered Thoughts:

• I thought Jeff’s dream was both scary, sad and funny. Jeff continues to steal the show every episode even when he has super short scenes. But tonally . . . I dunno. It was weird.
• Ben finding the cave under the tree was cool. Using Javi’s drawings to find it was also cool. Not going with anyone or telling anyone he was going? Very stupid, both for Ben and for the show. I just can’t imagine why he’d go out there alone. And not tell anyone of his theory. I mean, what if he finds the tree and then doesn’t make it back? Nobody gets to know that there’s potentially an answer to their problems out there?
• And why didn’t they show him crossing the lake? If he didn’t go that way, why did Javi? Oh right, just because they wanted to write a scene where he falls into the ice water and freezes to death.
• It’s also very convenient that Ben isn’t there when they come to this monumental decision in the span of two seconds. Bleh. I’m getting more annoyed as I type.
• There were some good bits: Akilah’s mouse actually being dead. The water “dripping from the ceiling” turning into Mari’s blood vision. Teen Tai seeing The Other One. It’s either starvation causing these visions or it’s Lottie being out of commission that’s doing it. Or both?
• I’m very much in the supernatural camp but I know a lot of people want all of this to be explained by something real. Maybe there’s some underground research facility. Maybe this is actually a sequel to Cabin In The Woods. Or maybe the Antler Queen is a Wendigo and there really is something that’s come back with the survivors. Some dark presence that can only be held at bay with blood offerings.
• Liked the song choice. Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins. One of my favorites off of Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Also, “despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage” is a fitting lyric for Nat’s flight from her teammates.

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