Yellowjackets Season 2 Brings Back A Plot Point With Major Friday The 13th Vibes
This post contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2 episode 1.
The first season of "Yellowjackets" produced enough speculation and wild theories to rival any television series since HBO's "Westworld." Fans devoured the first episode of the hotly anticipated second season (reviewed in incredible detail by /Film's BJ Colangelo) making it the most-watched premiere in Showtime's history. As the timeline continues to jump back and forth between the survivors of the plane crash in the nineties and their present-day selves, more dark secrets are starting to come out into the light.
So far, the adult versions of Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis) have been the main focal point of the show, but if the season premiere is any indication, that attention is shifting to Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and her increasingly disturbing behavior. It's already been established that Taissa falls into some type of sleepwalking trance where she eats dirt, bites herself, and climbs trees in the middle of the night in her quiet suburban neighborhood. Worst of all, she appears to have sacrificed the family dog, Biscuit, in some sort of bizarre ritual in a hidden basement.
Out of all the characters, Taissa is probably the one most tied to the horror genre, as she hides the monster within her and commits ungodly acts, connecting her to Lottie's cult that comes out into the open in the season 2 premiere. When the shrine is revealed showing Biscuit's poor shaggy head surrounded by candles, the reference to the dysfunctional Voorhees family from the "Friday the 13th" franchise is undeniable and shows that "Yellowjackets" is firmly planting its horror roots in the ground. Taissa's terrible act comes back to haunt her in this season's new episode and threatens to upend her life which appears so perfect on the surface.
Did Taissa make a shrine or an altar?
Towards the end of "Friday the 13th Part 2," Ginny (Amy Steel) — the main protagonist and ultimate final girl — discovers a shack where Jason has built a hideous altar to his mother Pamela Voorhees, the killer from the original who still rules over her son. His mother was decapitated in the final minutes of "Friday the 13th," leaving Ginny to discover her head and sweater that she quickly wears to try and trick Jason into letting her live. The art direction in this scene also homages Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but, in the first season of "Yellowjackets," Taissa's shrine is an obvious nod to this "Friday the 13th Part 2" scene that horror fans were quick to point out.
While Jason is obviously building a shrine to his mother, it's a little unclear what Taissa was intending. Biscuit was her son Sammy's dog and a doll belonging to him is also seen, along with a marking of the same cult symbol that Lottie created drawn in blood. What appears to be a heart is clearly visible and the theory put forth by ScreenRant that the organ probably belongs to Adam (Peter Gadiot) is one I happen to agree with. With all that in mind, was Taissa making a sacrifice to Lottie who is assumed to be the eventual Antler Queen?
Most likely, the reference to "Friday the 13th Part 2" isn't too telling, but it is interesting how Taissa's hidden sacrifice is a total inversion of the shrine that Jason conjured up. Here, instead of the son creating a shrine for his mother, it's a mother making an altar for her son.
How much power does the cult have over Taissa?
It might be too macabre (even for this show) to have Taissa sacrifice Sammy to the Antler Queen, but Taissa's wife Simone (Rukiya Bernard) may be in some serious trouble after discovering the altar and confronting Taissa in the season 2 premiere. In a very public scene, Simone refuses to allow Taissa to pick her own son up from school. Taissa planned to surprise Sammy with a new dog named Steve she picked up from a shelter. After Simone reveals to Taissa that she discovered Biscuit's head and the secret altar, she demands that Taissa gets some kind of help and, more importantly, that she resigns from the state senate seat she won back in the first season.
Simone grows even angrier when Taissa tells her she has no idea what she's talking about. Clearly, Taissa has no recollection of decapitating Biscuit which leads her to face the truth and discover the altar for herself. She's justifiably horrified, and assures the new puppy Steve, saying, "It'll be different with you." (Famous last words if I've ever heard them.) Steve better make it until the end of this season! However, Simone may be too much of a threat to Taissa's new political power. Although Taissa isn't in control of her actions, it may turn out that Lottie's cult is able to activate her in some way that could lead to more killing or at least some more incredibly weird behavior.
Taissa's old flame Vanessa is also returning in adult form, played by the magnificent Lauren Ambrose. Grown-up Van should have a crucial role to play in either helping Taissa control her monstrous tendencies or, perhaps, she will wind up having a connection to the cult that could turn Taissa into even more of a dangerous foe.
"Yellowjackets" episodes air Sundays on Showtime.