Yellowjackets' Warren Kole Worries That Jeff Is No Match For 'Dark, Savage Shauna'
It wasn't until the end of season 1 that a surprising fan favorite emerged from the sprawling "Yellowjackets" cast: Jeff (Warren Kole), Shauna's mysterious, somewhat distant husband. Throughout the season, we thought Jeff was cheating on Shauna, which makes sense considering their relationship first began with Jeff cheating on Jackie.
It was only by the finale that we discovered the truth: Jeff wasn't cheating at all. He was simply blackmailing the surviving teammates in a scheme to bail out his failing furniture store. That sounds bad, but it's harmless compared to the secret Shauna reveals. Not only was she cheating on Jeff with another man, but she also just stabbed the man to death and needs help covering it all up. Worst of all, she's been lying about book club!
Since then, Jeff's revealed himself to be a ride-or-die husband, someone who's on board with covering up his wife's gruesome crime to an almost implausible degree. Not only that, but he knows all about the dark, twisted things that happened during Shauna's 19 months in the wilderness, and he still loves her anyway. He's exactly the sort of man Shauna needs in her life, quite possibly the only one in the world (outside her surviving teammates at least) who can come close to understanding her.
But as the pressure of the criminal investigation ramps up, Jeff's loyalty has been tested, and Warren Kole himself wonders if there's a limit to what his character can take. "Does he have a breaking point, how much can we stretch the fabric of Jeff?," Kole said in a recent interview with Collider. "I think he gets pushed close to it by the end of season 2... The reconstituting of Shauna as dark, savage Shauna, real-time, is terrifying."
Scared of Shauna
"Loyalty is a strong bond," Warren Kole continued, "but he may have to start thinking about protecting his daughter and protecting himself to some degree. He can't stave off the darkness."
Jeff's fears were made very explicit in his recent nightmare, where Shauna has electric knives for hands and is trying to kill him. It's a broad, silly scene that the show only gets away with because it's never really treated Jeff as that serious of a character. But although Jeff's not a super complicated guy, the scene does at least point out the central, fascinating contradiction within him: he's scared of his wife, but that fear is also sort of the appeal. We appreciate Jeff's decision to unflinchingly defend his wife under extreme pressure, but realistically we also know that this is a terrible decision for both himself and his daughter.
After this latest episode, the foolishness of standing by Shauna is clearer than ever. Shauna doesn't just take part in fully pre-meditated cannibalism as a teen, but as an adult, she's seriously considering a return to the ritual sacrifices that supposedly helped the group survive in the wilderness. If one of the group dies and things get better, that'll only make it more likely that Shauna will kill again the next time things look bleak.
Still, we're hoping Jeff stays loyal throughout the upcoming season 2 finale. He and his daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins) have both proven themselves to be far cooler than they originally seemed back in season 1, and it would be a shame if a little thing like murder ends up getting either of them written out of the show. Jeff would be wise to start cooperating with the police, but for entertainment's sake, let's hope his fear of Shauna doesn't get to him anytime soon.