I Need Him …..

we talk a lot about shauna losing jackie and her baby boy and yes those are major traumas. however, i think the moment that truly changed her fundamentally was butchering javi. that moment is truly symbolic of what shes sacrificed for all of the others. she let him die to save nat and then his blood was literally on her hands because no one else could handle the burden of butchering him. this is a kid she LIKED. that she had some small bond with. she had to pull her headband over her eyes because she couldnt bear to look at what she was doing. and the others just left her alone out there cutting up his body because none of them could bear to even watch it. so shauna shoulders it alone. how does the human brain even cope with that experience? especially since every single time gen brings back a kill, shauna has to butcher that animal and relive that moment in some way again and again

and whats crazy is yes shauna resorts to violence easily, shes impulsive and deeply angry, but she doesnt enjoy killing. when she threatened the carjacker her words were much more about the power she felt over him, enjoying the fear of someone who'd wronged her, than actually threatening his life. shes willing to kill for power and control, but her relationship with the actual physical act is complex. sometimes trauma can become strangely familar and soothing, maybe thats why shauna butchers the rabbit in season 1. its like a fucked up coping mechanism based in her need to feel a level of control. and it was okay in her mind, because the rabbit had wronged her, ruined her flowers. but when gen comes back from a hunt with nothing, dont you think shaunas the one who chooses which innocent duck or rabbit has to die so that everyone can eat? like why do you think she cried over the goat? It was probably the first time in her life she was handed something innocent and told, very explicitly, that she was not going to have to hurt it.

essentially what im saying is you dont have to agree with shaunas actions to see her point of view. all she does is feed them. she told them it was what jackie wanted. she told them to wait for javi to drown. each time shes shouldered the actual burden of the choice. and all whilst not even having any faith, in the wilderness or otherwise, to alleviate her guilt. pregnant and starving and she never took extra, she makes sure everyone eats to the detriment of herself, and what does she get in return? shes left alone. in pain. she lashes out at anyone who comes near her and because of it they give up on her, like she isnt what they made her. reliving her trauma every time she peels the skin off a stag. her baby is turned into a diety for a faith she doesnt even believe in. jackie and javi too. the others take her real, human losses and make them mythology, stake a claim on them before shes even had a chance to properly grieve. and ofc these are just kids in an impossible situation needing something to believe in, so you cant even rly judge them for it. but that doesnt make shaunas rage any less understandable

Thinking about how every main character on Yellowjackets has lost their other half—the person they were so deeply intertwined with that they built their identity around them, and losing them feels like losing a part of themselves.

“I don’t know where you end and I begin.”

they have never once been normal about each other

rip to this canonically absolute fucking dumbass (picks fights with the deranged butcher, gets dumped for the guy's cousin, is too sexy for this cave, falls into a pit TWICE)

for anyone expecting to talk to a normal human being for at least the next month this is who you are actually talking to!

he is doing WHAT during his breaks

prints

Never forget.

i want to talk about how crazy this line "brown like the gaze that sought jean out in every room" actually is. because what does this mean????

jean has noticed that whenever jeremy walks into a room he immediately does a scan to find jean. so what? these boys are so attuned to each other already that jean actually notices jeremy looking for him?

nora are you trying to say that there's a shift in jeremy once he finds jean in any given place?? does his body relax? do his eyes soften or shine a little brighter? you're telling me it's a physical visible thing that jeremy walks into a room and his first thought is "where is jean?" and then what?? when he finds him he goes "ah there he is" and there's a shift??? in him??? when he sees jean?? and jean can see that? he's aware of it?? he's noticed it?? it makes him feel safe enough to associate jeremy's searching brown eyes (searching for him. for Jean.) with everything else that brings him peace??? like are we hearing this???

or am i crazy? am i deluded?? am i losing my senses???

i feel like shauna being the butcher and the antler queen….is kind of starting to make a lot more sense to me. shauna is angry and resentful because the rest of these girls (and travis) have made her the butcher. she butchers because she’s the only one that can do it, and she feels like all of the other girls owe her for the work thats she’s done. she’s angry that natalie gets the praise she wants and deserves because she had to cut up javi, she had to give the okay for the rest of the girls to eat her best friend. so when natalie fucks up and lottie says shauna should become leader, she twists her role as the leader to create fear and push her unspoken resentment about the rest of the group not having to experience the things she has. she makes natalie cut up coach, and dismember mari.

i think we all know that shauna is angry, the butchering and the trauma have pushed all levels of actual humanity out of her. death and destruction dont phase her anymore. yet what i really think a huge part of everyone following shauna’s orders is pure guilt. they didn’t know what it was like for her, to lose her best friend and baby and having the butcher javi because none of the rest of them couldn’t. she is scary to them because they have had to watch this girl at the lowest moments of her entire life. they watched her shake jackie’s corpse and talk to it for months. are they really scared of her? or are they guilty? i’m thinking it’s a bit of both idk i hope this made sense

in akilah's vision: ben was the bridge — his death caused the scientists to find them.

and civilization was just a cliff away.

so judging by this string of too good to be true coincidences, unknowingly to them, their escape is literally moments away here beyond the point they are on. beyond that person.

there's also a huge location reveal in this scene where callie is searching up the disappearance of the researchers. it tells us that the "canadian rockies" they were going through was actually mount robson (a place that borders bc and alberta). it is the area that has the highest point in the rockies...

from a little research (as I'm not canadian, so please correct me if so!) — mount robson is a brand new popular spot for scientists in the 90s, as it became a new protected place (in the world heritage site) to study the landscape and many endangered species, so there was a lot of science activity around that time (the resources ben found in the cave were from an old research group) and full mapping needed to be done still.

mount robson's terrain also has many lime caves which generate "foul air" — inexperience cavers usually pass out from long exposure to it due to lack of oxygen as they don't understand the signs of deprivation (and toxicity potentially in the caves too...)

but most importantly, mount robson is also next a highway — a highway known as yellowhead.

and akilah sees something like a highway in the distance with all the lights...

(there's also a lake/parkland area named after yellowhead too...fucking hell it's all so connected).

also...

the fact they stayed for a second winter despite them having a map of how to navigate the wilderness too (which tai picks up and doesn't inform van...)

— and jeff revealing the rough distance from the location of the last recorded scientists' camp to the yellowjackets rescue site being 100 miles apart... oh lord.

they truly were closer to home than they thought.

that's what adds onto more of the horror now as the endgame unfolds.

and because we are entering the endgame with the possibility of escape... the threat that has been with us along has finally developed too — the wilderness — lottie matthews. who will actively seek to keep them here one way or another as shown by akilah's other vision.

the second winter didn't need to happen — the losses they went through should not have happened. what was an accidental unfortunate tragedy has transformed into something more darker, a different kind of tragedy now.

this is yet again yellowjackets double reality... what happened in one reality, didn't happen in the other. if certain decisions were not made, how different would everything be...