Yellowjackets

Yellowjackets Just Set the Stage for One Potential Future Tragedy

One dark twist may be just around the corner.

by Alex Welch
Sophie Nélisse as Teen Shauna in Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 2
Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME
Yellowjackets

In its third episode, Yellowjackets Season 2 takes a moment to catch its breath following the horrifying conclusion of its second installment.

The series’ latest episode, titled “Digestif,” follows its teenage characters the day after their cannibalistic feast as they all struggle to come to terms with their starvation-induced decision the night before. Over the course of the episode’s runtime, Yellowjackets’ stranded teenagers all grapple with the severity of their choice in their own ways.

Spoilers for Yellowjackets, “Digestif.”

Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), for instance, decides to take Jackie’s bones back to the crashed plane that left them all stranded in the first place, while Lottie (Courtney Eaton) decides to organize a baby shower for Shauna (Sophie Nélisse). Unfortunately, Shauna’s baby shower doesn’t just end with the inexplicable deaths of multiple birds, but it also subtly sets up one future tragedy.

We are, of course, talking about the presumably doomed fate of Shauna’s first child.

Yellowjackets Season 2 has officially turned its attention back to Shauna’s likely ill-fated pregnancy.

Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME

Up to this point, Yellowjackets has mostly chosen not to focus on the implications of Shauna’s teen pregnancy. That all changes in “Digestif,” though, which makes it explicitly clear that Sophie Nélisse’s teenage Shauna is going to give birth at some point in the near future.

In case Lottie’s repeated use of he/him pronouns when referring to Shauna’s future baby didn’t already make it clear enough, viewers should also know that whatever baby Shauna gives birth to in the wilderness is not Callie (Sarah Desjardins), her and Jeff’s (Warren Kole) present-day daughter. Indeed, it’s confirmed in Episode 6 of Yellowjackets’ first season that Callie is only 16 in the show’s present-day timeline. That means there’s no way she’s old enough to be the baby Shauna gives birth to in the winter of 1996/97.

Given the fact that this is Yellowjackets, it’s still entirely possible that Shauna’s first baby actually did make it out of the wilderness alive just like she did. However, the odds of that being the case seem extremely slim right now.

Instead, it seems far more likely that a tragic fate of some kind befell Shauna’s first baby. Assuming that’s the case, it’s hard not to wonder exactly what ended up happening to Shauna’s child. Did it merely die from natural causes, or is Yellowjackets preparing to take its cannibalistic edge even further than most viewers may be comfortable with?

As dark as Yellowjackets is, it’s hard to imagine any of the show’s ruthless teenage characters going so far as to include Shauna’s baby in any of their cannibal decisions. Lottie’s increasing interest in Shauna’s pregnancy does, however, raise some serious concerns about her child’s safety.

As innocent as their intentions may be, the Yellowjackets don’t do much good by throwing Shauna a baby shower in “Digestif.”

Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME

The Inverse Analysis — It’s impossible to know right now when Yellowjackets will reveal the full story of Shauna’s first pregnancy. That said, “Digestif” does a lot to not only put Shauna’s impending childbirth on viewers’ radars but also prepare them for the likely possibility that a dark and tragic twist may lie in store for both Shauna and her baby.

In case that wasn’t bad enough, Yellowjackets Season 2 has already given fans plenty of reasons to spend at least the next few weeks worrying about exactly how dark the fate of Shauna’s baby will turn out to be.

New episodes of Yellowjackets Season 2 premiere Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime.

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