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This post will be updated regularly to reflect changes or tweaks in our theorizing.
It now features analysis of episode 10, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, which aired January 16, 2022.
ShowtimesYellowjacketsnever lets you forget that teenage girldom is a brutal, thrilling, all-consuming (lol) experience.
Oh, and if it wasnt clear already,the girls eat each other.
When did they transform from human to, maybe, something else?
WithYellowjacketsapproaching its season-one finale and recently renewed for a second season, hooray!
Theres potential supernatural stuff, probable blackmail stuff, and definite hot-guy stuff.
Join me, but dont confuse the venison-stew pot for the menstrual-blood pot.
1.Who is the Yellowjackets victim, and who is their leader?
So, who is the Yellowjackets victim in the premiere, and who is their leader?
For the former, the easy answer seems like Jackie (Ella Purnell), right?
So does the gold heart necklace shown on that victim mean that its Jackie?
Did Jackie give it to someone else past that point?
This leads to another question: Who is the chainmail-wearing, antler-crowned person ruling over the girls feast?
Who would have brought two pairs of the same earrings?
But theres another element to notice as well: This persons hair seems to be RIDICULOUSLY long.
Look at that second picture, with the hair woven through the dress!
For that reason, Im going withLottie (Courtney Eaton).
I think Lotties connection with the spooky elevates her upward and maybe to her doom.
No adult Lottie yet, remember.
Updates afterEpisode 7, No Compass:Lotties ascension seems to have begun!
Oh, and the red smoke?
It certainly seems to refer to the flare gun Tai shoots at the wolf eating Vans face.
So everything Lottie has now said could be interpreted as coming true.
Meanwhile, poor were gonna get through this together Jackie.
On the one hand, she is basically useless in a life-or-death scenario.
Does this cause a schism in the group, which is already fracturing?
Is this revelation the first step in Jackie going from survivor to victim … or perhaps survivor totime traveler?
Shes successful at first, getting the plane to take off and soar over the lake.
In terms of Yellowjackets power rankings, shes definitely on the upswing.
Updates after Episode 9, Doomcoming:Well, well!
Lets check one of these mysteries off the list because Lottie as the Antler Queen isconfirmed.
We later see Lottie attaching earrings to the deer antlers from the cabin.
Then, while high on shrooms and slightly tipsy, she starts talking about how somethings coming.
It isnt clear, but Lottie is adamant, telling the girls, We wont be hungry much longer.
Then she leads a sexual assault of Travis followed by an attempt to eat him.
With my whole heart: poor Travis.
But also can this kid stop being a jerk to Nat for like, five seconds?
Nat doesnt deserve this constant crap, though.
And Im not sure what a continued Travis/Nat division means for the ascension of Lottie, if anything.
Now that shes worn the crown once, when does she put it on again?
As to who gets eaten in that first sequence?
For now, Jackie is still in the mix.
Jackie, though, in her new burn it all down!
ideology, got down with Travis (whom she didnt know was tripping) of her own volition.
that Shaunadoesnt even like soccer.
But for now,Im sticking by my guess that Mariis that first girl.
2.Whos Adam, really?
Probably because subconsciously, Shauna senses something is up!
But how does Shauna not know whether an adult Javi exists?
Maybe he dropped off the grid?
Updates after Episode 7, No Compass:Im sorry, but how is AdamnotJavi?
There are too many overlaps here!
It ends up being a carved wooden wolf for her, which is both cute and sort of clairvoyant.
Every single cell in your body wants to blow things up and see what happens.
Thats who you are.
So how does Adam know Shauna so well?
I am guessing its because heknew her before.
Adams handsomeness is a hindrance to pragmatism, and that I understand.
Javi seemed about 12 or 13, while the Yellowjackets were about 16 or 17.
Adam is not 24!
Actor Peter Gadiot is 35, and he looks that age.
This is getting complicated!
We still have not met an adult Javi, nor do we have confirmation of a dead Javi.
I refuse to believe his highly suggestive tattoo was for nothing!
Could Adam have been a stalker, or a Flight 2525 fanboy?
And note that Shaunas journals are in the safe when she gets home.
Did they actually disappear, or is something else going on with Shauna that we dont quite understand yet?
We see teen Shauna digging in the snow for what?
Does that mean we get winter in next weeks finale?
What did Shaunadoback then whom could she havekilledback then?
that shes reminded of when killing Adam?
And isnt it incredibly disconcerting how blase Shauna is about this?
I think her rawness at He was lying to me.
He was going to hurt me.
I thought that he loved me.
I trusted him is genuine.
But I think Shaunas overall ruthlessness during this whole ordeal hints at a lot simmering underneath her bored-housewife exterior.
Who knew that poor rabbit was only the first glimpse into Shaunas propensity for violence?
And if someone comes looking for Adam, what happens then?
He could be Javi (I refuse to let this theory go!).
Their family-dinner conversations were already awkward; this massive secret will probably just make them worse.
3.Is Taissa possessed?
Excuse me, then what the hell is this guy doing following you around?
He shows up outside your beautiful home, Taissa!
Looks like shes the lady in the tree terrifying her son.
Which leads me to ask: Is the wolf Taissa keeps imagining a sign of her divided selves?
He wont let go of Taissa, and Im gonna go ahead and assume thats a problem.
But when she falls asleep, something else seems to take over.
Is that self-preservation from Tais subconscious, or the actions of something possessing or haunting her?
Does eyeless guy have a secret communion with wolves?
Is this aWheel of Timecrossover thing?
If Van dies, Im sure Taissas guilt will be immense.
Updates after Episode 8, Flight of the Bumblebee:There is nothing in this episode that disproves possession!
Maybe an effect of the contacts that actress Tawny Cypress wears for the role, or maybe aclue.)
Is that because there are two Taissas, or because of what happens to the people she loves?
That was her wearing the Coed Soccer shirt in the pilots opening cannibalism scene, right?
Final thought: Did Biscuit the dog really go missing, or did Taissa … you know?
Updates after Episode 9, Doomcoming:Yes, Taissa is possessed by something this episode:love!
The part of me that remembers the traumaBrienne of Tarthwent through in George R.R.
But also, I demand a medical professional comment on this.
Um, guys, kindly remember that Shaunas baby is not actually a cheeseburger or a roast chicken!
I am very concerned you will forget this,Snowpiercerstyle!
4.Is a Yellowjacket doing the blackmailing?
Whos behind all this?
(RIP to Jessica; I dont know how you make it out of this one.)
But my real answer is Shauna.
Shauna is smarter than most people think, and also increasingly spontaneous.
I could see it.
Updates after Episode 7, No Compass:Im going to pivot here!
(Christina Riccis array of smirks is truly life-affirming.)
So that leaves Shauna.
(I will not complain about having longer to listen to the Prodigys Firestarter, but still.)
We already know hes lying about furniture deliveries, and there is no way fixing an inventory database takesthatlong.
Could Javi-as-Adam kill his own brother, or are we looking at someone else entirely?
Im going with the latter, for now.
Updates after Episode 8, Flight of the Bumblebee:Jeff!
So Jeff as a blackmailer: firming up!
Jeff as a husband: still not great!
Sir, hey.)
Could I see Shauna wailing about Jeff, as Nat does about Travis, Do you believe in love?
I could not; I do not understand the current incarnation of this relationship.
Sadecki has been doing the blackmailing!
This was a surprisingly funny episode ofYellowjackets, and a lot of that humor came from Warren Koles performance.
Theres no book club?!
All of that is a breach of trust, but it also feels a little too tied up.
Will Jeff pick a new career?
Is he going to get over Shaunas cheating so quickly?
If he spills about Shauna and Adam especially now that Adam is dead that would be very bad!
So you guys ate each other.
I mean, that is what happened, right?
Lottie in that Antler Queen headdress was terrifying; adult Misty is somehow even scarier.
Misty hadnt been doing the blackmailing, but now she knows about Adams death.
Can she be trusted to keep that information to herself, too?
I cannot tell!
Misty is such a live wire!
Bless Christina Ricci, truly.
5.Whos this guy?
But there is someone I dont recognize: Whos this guy?
That doesnt look like adult Travis (Andres Soto).
Could it maybe be Assistant Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger)?
I dont really think they look alike, either, but maybe I have brunette-man facial blindness?
I suppose it could be adult Javi, but that blows up my Adam theory!
Maybe this is Coach Scott, and the shorter hair is just throwing me off.
Was Ben taking too many condoms to Seattle for someone with a boyfriend in New Jersey?
Updates after Episode 9, Doomcoming:No, we still do not know who this man is.
But, where are we?
Am I even here?
And when the other girls get to the cabin: None of us are here though, are we?
On the one hand, the ramblings of a man tripping out in a post-sex haze.
On the other hand, what if that cabin attic is some kind of weird portal?
It does have all those symbols carved around it!
It did invite whatever entity during the seance!
That old man did die up there!
Im reaching far here, but … is this a we have to go back introduction to theYellowjacketsuniverse?
This dude is spooky, right?
What caused his death?
Did he carve all those symbols?
Why didnt he ever venture to fly out of there?
But at least now we know why he got that prominent opening-credits placement!
6.Is Jackie a time traveler?
Shout-out towriter Marya Gatesfor this question, which relates to Jackies list of favorite movies released in Saints.
Doesnt the 1996 story line take place in the spring of 1996?
So how did Jackie already seeThe English Patient, which wouldnt come out until November 1996?
Is one of her annoying milquetoast parents actually a movie pirate?
OR: Is Jackie a time traveler, and future and past Jackieare the same?!
(I am only being about 60 percent sarcastic on this.)
The guilt of Jackies death has sat on Shaunas shoulders for a long time.
Does this explain the journals?
Maybe a clue has always been that Shauna is the journal writer, not Jackie.
Maybe what we assumed were Jackies journals werent hers at all.
I could see the Shauna or Jackie?
question lingering into season two.
7.Who signaled the girls from the cabin?
Wouldnt that imply the girls are being summoned?
Is the forest itself sentient, and did it call the girls back from the lake?
VERDICT after Episode 10, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi:No strong answer on this one by seasons end.
But what the Hunter says to Jackie in her death dream is curious:So glad youre joining us.
Weve been waiting for you.
Is that we who signaled the girls from the cabin?
