Flight of the Bumblebee
Episode 8 of Yellowjackets begins back in the woods. Torchlight dances over Tai’s face as she prepares to burn Van’s body. Only, Van is actually still alive! The kids scramble to save her from the fire, eventually heading back to the cabin. Van is in a rough way, and with a bandaged face and a limp leg, her life hangs in the balance. Through some brief flashbacks, we learn a little more about Laura’s ties to religion. As a child she dived into the swimming pool and smacked her head; a thin dribble of blood oozes out her open wound. Close to drowning, she’s saved by a lifeguard wearing a gold cross. Looking up at him, the lifeguard smiles and tells her it’s the Lord who saved her. From this moment on, it appears Laura turned to God for guidance. Still in the wilderness, Natalie catches up with Coach and talks about his connection with Misty. She’s not stupid and realizes this is all a big show. Given he doesn’t look at any of the girls, she realizes that he’s actually gay. She promises to keep this a secret, but is also worried that Travis may be gay too, especially after he failed to perform. Coach reassures her that this isn’t the case. Down by the lake, Travis ends up talking to Jackie, who spills the news about Nat sleeping with Bobby Farleigh. This is enough for him to think differently of Nat, and after confronting her back at the cabin, he ends their lust-fueled fling. Of course, with Jackie lurking in the distance, Nat realizes that she’s to blame. Eventually Van arrives back at the cabin, where her muffled cries pierce the air. This is enough for Laura to set to work putting her plan into action. After studying the flight manual for the past two weeks, and knowing the gas tank is full, she’s going to fly the plane south and get help. Given Van needs serious medical attention, Jackie suddenly speaks up and forces Shauna to tell the others she’s pregnant. There’s some definite hostility growing her, and some of that stems from Jackie’s meddling in personal issues. Then again, knowing who Shauna has been sleeping with gives her an incentive to ruffle some serious feathers. Everything here looks like it’s going to blow up in a big way. In the present, Callie confronts Shauna about her affair with Adam. Shauna hits back, pointing out that Jeff has been “doing inventory” for way too long and is just as much to blame. Only, Callie brings up a bigger problem here. She can’t find any trace of Adam online. Callie implores her to be careful, pointing out that he could be a conman wanting to sell a story about the Yellowjackets. So naturally, Shauna does some research and realizes Callie may be right. She’s interrupted by Jeff though, who shows up with some clothes for her. They’ve got their reunion coming up and he wants her to look the best. That night at dinner, Taissa shows up. Heading out with Shauna, Tai admits she’s been having some problems. Between sleepwalking and Biscuit the dog going missing (which she believes she’s responsible for) she’s losing control. With Callie out, Shauna encourages her to stay the night, where the pair discuss Shauna’s affair and Tai not feeling “it” with Simone anymore. In the morning, Shauna heads over and confronts Adam, determined to know more about his past. When he admits to lying about school, he promises everything else he’s told her is real. He even invites her out to a weekend break at a cabin in the woods, where he promises to tell her everything. Although Shauna buys his story, later on in the episode she starts to have her doubts. They say love is blind (lust is blind?) but it takes finding flakes of glitter in the closet, the one Adam was hiding in, to begin suspecting the most outwardly suspicious man in this show may actually be suspicious. Meanwhile, Misty hurries over to Nat’s house when she notices her about to score some coke. $300 worth to be precise. As they talk, Nat finds the hidden camera and questions what Misty is doing. Misty points out how they’re friends, and friends look out for one another. Nat though doesn’t see it this way and forces her out. Nat continues to spiral, even blackmailing a face from the past who she used to run with. This is Suzie, a former sponsor from rehab whom she assaulted a decade earlier. Nat has some pretty juicy leverage over her though, given she used to sell customer data to fuel her habit, and with this knowledge, forces Suzie to find out who took money out of Travis’s account. The attention soon turns back to the wilderness, as we finish off this episode. Laura Lee manages to fly the plane. At least to begin with anyway. While in the air, a fire sparks up, eventually leading to the whole plane exploding.
The Episode Review
After several episodes of development, Yellowjackets slows down considerably this week. There’s some drip-fed information about time on the island, and specifically the issues surrounding the girls, but mostly the present-day lives for these three women – Shauna, Tai and Nat – is where most of the episode spends its time. While interesting, the time on the island is far more engrossing. The slow descent into madness in the wilderness is where this show is at its strongest and this week’s chapter almost loses some of that in favour of its present day shenanigans. Don’t get me wrong, Yellowjackets is still a good show but it also feels like the plot is being dragged out a bit now. This could potentially be a deep breath before the inevitable plunge into an action packed conclusion to this season.
