The return of a Yellowjacket sparks a vengeful frenzy in the team. Lottie's rendition of Cool Aunt Without Kids leaves Callie with an open door to answers about her mother's twisted past. Tai and Van receive a substantial karmic payout for their dine and dash.
Ben was a normal guy trying to figure his life out. He was afraid to come out to his parents. That shame led him to hide his identity. He has learned several things about himself in the wilderness. It took tragedy for that clarity to arrive. He still feels trapped. He stood firm in his decision to walk away from the Yellowjackets. They saved his life. He then saw them turn against Javi. They killed in order to survive. He didn't want to become the next victim. His mobility limited how far he could go. Moreover, his absence allowed him to become a boogeyman in the eyes of the team. They feared him. He was the latest monster they had to face. They survived winter. They haven't been rescued. They are tormented by screeches. It's not limited either. All of the characters who survived the plane crash can hear it. A gunshot stops it. Yet no one knows what it is. It could have a rational explanation. However, Lottie builds it up as the wilderness trying to communicate with the Yellowjackets. She is desperate for Akilah to answer its calls. She has a connection. She just has to nurture it. She seemingly can't escape it either. She has to embrace the responsibility completely. The wilderness changes everyone. They remain haunted by their past actions. They can never let them go. That's true even decades later.
Ben finds himself holding Mari prisoner. He never imagined he would be in a situation like this. He needed time to think. Unfortunately, that only allowed the fear of him to get worse. Mari is a terrible liar. She tries to seduce Ben. It doesn't line up with her past behavior. At school, she labeled him a pervert with gonorrhea. Ben was aware of those slanders. He's willing to call Mari out now. It's all rather performative. These two are capable of having an insightful conversation about the reality they are stuck in. They have both been injured by the wilderness. It has been cruel to them. The other survivors demand so much from them too. They can't escape. They have chosen to survive so far. They've resorted to eating bats in a cave. Ben found supplies to help survive. He has the skills to adapt. He struggles because he lost his leg. That has always been his biggest obstacle to overcome. Right now though, he has to decide whether to let Mari go. It's funny when she maces him without having a plan. He doesn't know what to do either. He frees her. She immediately alerts the group to his location. They pick up their torches ready to kill the person they blame for losing the cabin. It's a false narrative. One where Ben hasn't been able to plead his case. He knew the girls wouldn't listen to him. And so, he ran.
Ben also returns to save the Yellowjackets when they are in danger. It's a dizzying experience once Mari returns to the cave. She directs the rest of the group back to Ben's location. The environment has already shifted. It's perilous terrain. The team goes separate ways. Shauna, Van and Akilah are tasked with exploring one potential road. They lose their light. Then, they lose their minds. It places Akilah on equal footing with the characters the viewer knows are important. In order for the show to keep killing characters off in the past, it has to put in the investment for the audience to care when they are sacrificed. Akilah has a connection to animals. That was true last season. However, she was often on her own not connected to the other characters. When she was involved, it was as part of the group overall. Here, she is singled out alongside Shauna and Van. They are each exposed to poisonous gas. Ben knows what is happening to them. He rescues them. He's still vilified. He must return to answer for his crimes. Meanwhile, the latest victims are meant to question the extent of the torture they've already faced. They see the doom. It's written all over this environment. It wants to kill them. They have escaped certain death previously. It's still coming. It's absolutely relentless. It won't stop until it eventually catches them.
That plays into the overall mentality of the Yellowjackets consistently making sacrifices to appease the wilderness. They have to offer death in order to be given life. That connection is apparent when it comes to cannibalism. That's the only source of meat the group could obtain during winter. However, weird things happened in the wilderness before the seasons changed. That continues even though everything has come back to life as the temperature rose. The Yellowjackets believe they have a stable base now. Things always get worse. It's futile to try to escape. That's the brutality of life. They endure as much pain and misery as they can. And then, they die. That was true of Natalie and Travis' lives. They remained stuck even though they were rescued. Everyone wants to place some deeper meaning onto the situation. They want to believe their friends issue threats just to be relevant. Shauna was let down by Misty. Misty tries to make up for it. Shauna believes Misty cut her brake line to spend time with her in a dangerous situation. Misty is betrayed by the accusation. She starts to see Walter's perspective about her friends only reaching out when they need something. They don't care about her. They dismiss her as weird. They don't connect with how she sees the world. It doesn't align with their sense of normalcy. And yet, all of the main characters are broken. It's simply a matter of who is willing to admit it.
Callie wants to know what happened in the wilderness. Shauna believes she must run interference to prevent secrets from being shared. Only the people who survived know what happened. They will carry that with them until they die. Lottie isn't going to slip up. She's still intrigued by Callie. She wants to know what drives her. Callie wants this clarity about her mother. It may actually be her crying out to determine who she is in this world. Lottie flips the script. A new bond is forged. It remains fragile. Shauna doesn't understand. In fact, she hates when symbols of the past are given attributions as something else. Jackie's necklace was a gift passed from victim to victim. It memorialized those who were killed so the group could live. Lottie views that as a blessing. Shauna only sees the horrors. She can't cope with anything else. Meanwhile, Lottie doesn't see it as something to hide. It must be embraced. The same applies to Taissa and Van. The waiter died chasing them. And now, Van's cancer has stopped growing. That's all the evidence Taissa needs to acknowledge the wilderness is communicating with the group again and demanding sacrifices. It is never satisfied. Everyone must continue to give it what it wants. Taissa gets more time with Van. She also receives a clue as to where the vision of a man with no eyes came from. But again, it's all in pursuit of giving random things deeper meanings. The narrative suggests something more could truly be happening. But it's also all about the power that comes from those who are willing to believe it. They see things that aren't really there. Some evidence can't be overlooked. Yet it's the people themselves who are the most dangerous to those around them. That's been true ever since the plane crash.
