Yellowjackets Season 1 Ending Explained: Iced Out

(This article includes major spoilers from the "Yellowjackets" season 1 finale, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.")

Well, "Yellowjackets" hive, the show's first season has come to an end, with an emotional finale that showcased its ensemble cast's talents and left us with a whole host of tantalizing cliffhangers. Its final episode confirmed a couple of fans' most popular theories while upending several more. Yes, it appears there are other survivors of the plane crash out there. No, Jackie (Ella Purnell) isn't one of them. Yes, there was some fallout from Doomcoming, but that wasn't what pushed the group over the edge into full-blown cultishness. Leave that to Lottie (Courtney Eaton) and her bear. Let's get into it!

In 2021, Misty (Christina Ricci) is obviously thrilled to be involved in an activity with the rest of the group, even if it's disposing of Adam's (Peter Gadoit) body. She gets cleaning supplies from the nursing home she works at, because "12% of all killers are caught buying cleaning supplies," duh! When she gets to Adam's apartment, she divides the group up, with Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Nat (Juliette Lewis) on dismemberment duty while Misty and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) clean up. The women ask Shauna if she remembers how to do this, adding further credence to the theory that the girls did engage in at least a smidge of cannibalism while trapped in the wild.

Citizen Detective Misty's foolproof plan for the body involves burying the torso, which she says can't be traced back to them, at Hacklebarney Park. She chirpily explains that she'll pack a bag to make it look like Adam went on a trip, then says she'll take care of the head and hands. Right after, we see her at the funeral of one of her patients, making small talk with the deceased's daughter while a biohazard bag containing Adam's spare parts burns inside the coffin during cremation.

Misty's enthusiastically deranged decision-making streak continues when she lets reporter Jessica (Rekha Sharma) — who has now admitted she's actually a fixer — go after holding her captive for most of the season. Jessica asks Misty for her cigarettes back, so she digs them out of the trash, but Jessica only gets a little way down the street before things start to go foggy and she blacks out, slurring "f***ing b****" in the process. It seems Misty laced her pack of smokes, though it's unclear if she's been poisoned or merely drugged. Classic Misty!

Of all the jaw-dropping "Yellowjackets" finale moments, I think Lottie killing a massive grizzly bear with a small knife like some kind of god is the one that no one had on their theory bingo card. The teenager, who has a diagnosed mental illness but has also been known to have visions, hears the bear coming. Instead of running from it, she asks her teammates for a knife, and delivers a calm killing blow to the bear without any resistance. Some of Lottie's prior miracles have been a little bit suspect, but it's hard not to be a little bit in awe of this one.

The team clearly thinks so too. Van (Liv Hewson), still wearing her bone talisman necklace, tells Taissa (Jasmin Savoy-Brown) that maybe she does believe in whatever magic the woods have going on. It's clearly really personal to her, so Taissa chooses to embrace her instead of arguing. And although Taissa seems to be a skeptic at this point in the 1996 storyline, we soon learn that is not the case in 2021.

When Taissa's wife Simone (Rukiya Bernard) stops by the family home to pick up a few things, she stumbles upon a small basement doorway with what looks like blood at its entrance. There's a shrine inside, featuring some candles, a doll, and the poor family dog, Biscuit, whose severed head and bloody heart make up the center of the tableau. The symbol from the woods is etched in blood on the wall behind it. This is a sickening reveal, one that's made all the more stunning when coupled with the news that Taissa somehow won her bid for senate after all. One of our Yellowjackets is about to be more in the public eye than ever, but she also appears to be sacrificing the family pet in her sleep.

The episode's title is a Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world," and it's traditionally spoken when coronating a new Pope. If Lottie get the glory in 1996, Taissa seems to be inheriting it in 1996.

Meanwhile, in 1996, the first snow falls, and with it comes tragedy. We see Jackie huddled by a small fire in the night. Shauna comes to apologize and invite her back in. When she gets there, everyone stands in a line to welcome her back, and Lottie passes her a warm cup of ... is that hot chocolate? Shauna tells her she loves her. In fact, everyone does. It all starts to feel a little unreal, and we see this finally register on Jackie's face as she hones in on a blurry image of Laura Lee (Jane Widdop). "It's not as bad as you thought," she says, smiling, and suddenly, this feels like a death scene. The scene is still somewhat ethereal at this point, but it's corrupted at the last moment by a shadowy male figure in a doorway, who says, "So glad you're joining us. We've been waiting for you."

Shauna jolts awake. The cabin is freezing cold. She looks out the window, then whispers "no" and rushes downstairs. There, covered in a thick layer of snow, is Jackie's frozen body. Literally iced out by her peers, she died in the night, alone. It's brutal, and the silent morning is pierced by Shauna's screaming cry. Taissa holds her as she shrieks and sobs over Jackie's body. 

Later that morning, Lottie, Misty, and Van bow at a hollowed out tree trunk, placing the bear's heart in front of it as if in offering. Lottie says something in French that sounds like, "Versez le sang, mes beaux amis" — "Shed blood, my beautiful friends." Then she speaks again in English. "Now let the darkness set us free," Lottie intones, as ominous music kicks in and the camera moves away from the trio and into the snowy sky. Winter is here for the "Yellowjackets," and it looks to be a whole lot more bleak than anything they've faced before.