Yellowjackets: Our biggest burning questions and working theories – CNET [CNET]

Are you watching Yellowjackets? If not, you should be! This show has the best high concept ever…

A private plane carrying an elite women’s high school soccer team crashes in the wilderness, leaving a squad of teenage girls to fend for themselves. Chaos, violence and potential cannibalism ensues. 

Yellowjackets takes cues from Lost, bouncing back and forth between what took place before and after the crash. And much like Lost, this show thrives on intrigue and mystery. In short, we have questions. We also have theories!

Here are a few of our most burning questions. At time of writing, nine episodes of the first season have been released. We’ll update this after the 10th episode has been aired.

Who is the Antler Queen?

This is the ultimate burning question.

At first I was certain it was Misty, then I was certain it was Lottie. 

Now I reckon it could be absolutely anyone. Taissa? Jackie? Who the hell knows. Apparently not even the cast of the show knows who the Antler Queen is. I reckon this could be a mystery that remains unsolved for seasons to come (Yellowjackets has been renewed for a second season, but was pitched as a five season show.)

Who gets killed and ‘eaten’ at the start?

One of the first things I did after watching the end of episode 9 was rewatch the show’s opening sequence to see if I could figure out who gets spiked at the very start of the show.

After rewatching, and being familiar with all the characters, I’m convinced it’s Lottie. My working theory is the girls have banded against her and her witchcraft ways and decided to… eat her to make weird stuff not happen?

Look, it’s a working theory. 

What the hell happened to Jackie?

Well, she’s dead right? Shauna attended an annual creepy lunch with Jackie’s warped parents for her “birthday” so it’s a safe bet she’s dead.

But how? Or is Jackie the one orchestrating all the weird stuff taking place in the present timeline?

Jackie is the most central character in the show not taking part in the present day storyline. That in itself is interesting. The opening episode seemed to almost frame Jackie as a central character, so we can be sure her “death” will be a huge deal in the show.

Who is next to die?

I truly believe this show would be well served to kill off a major character soon to let the audience know that no one is safe. It needs a big Game of Thrones moment, essentially. I truly believe that Coach Ben’s days are numbered and there’s no way Javi is making it out of the wilderness.

What happened to Shauna’s baby?

In the past, Shauna is pregnant. In the present she has a daughter, Callie, who she constantly bickers with. Is Callie that baby? Those timelines don’t really match up, so…

What happened to Shauna’s baby? There’s no way they’re gonna eat the baby. That’s too much for a mainstream show like Yellowjackets. Will they try and pull off a “suddenly not pregnant” plot line? Probably not, since Midnight Mass literally just did that last year.

Not sure how this is gonna play out.

Shauna is bound to miscarry. No way she could carry the baby to term in such a stressful environment! Giving birth would be so risky… but so would miscarrying. Either way, it’s not going to be a good time.

Who was Adam really?

Adam was hilariously stabbed to death by Shauna, but is that the end of that particular mystery? It never sat right with me that Adam pursued Shauna so intensely and fell in love so quickly. Was he just a Yellowjackets fan boy that grew up with the mystery, or is there something more going on there?

Can Lottie see the future for real?

To be honest, I’m hoping things don’t go full-blown supernatural.

I think everything Lottie has predicted — the river flowing with blood, for example — does, as Taissa argues, have logical explanations (the river is apparently running red from concentrated minerals). Although, to be fair, Taissa also turns into a dirt-eating tree-climber at night, so she might not be the most reliable source.

What was Lottie taking her medication for?

Lottie is taking a medication called “Loxipene” which is most likely a reference to Loxapene, a medication for schizophrenia. In episode 3, however, Lottie runs out of her medication. Not long after, we see her behavior start to change — she’s getting paranoid, becomes quieter, and starts making pretty vague and unnerving statements. It’s worth noting that, as far as we know, Lottie hasn’t told any of the others about her illness.

Who died in the cabin? Is this a haunting/cursed/ghost situation?

There’s one theory doing the rounds that an abandoned mining operation is located up from the red river. Whoever died in the cabin might have some connection.

Why was that stag all maggoty on the inside?

I can’t imagine we’ll ever get an answer to this, but how was this animal up and walking around with its internal organs all hollowed out and covered in maggots? I NEED TO KNOW!

Who is the Man with no Eyes and why does Taissa keep seeing him? 

The Man With No Eyes appears in episode 3 — first as an apparition seen by both Taissa and her grandmother just before Grandma dies, and later in the woods after the plane crash. He appears just in the distance: pallid skin, dark hair and, of course, big gaping holes where his eyes should be.

At first, it seems like there could be a purely psychological reason behind this spectre. Maybe Taissa was traumatized from her dying grandma talking to “a man with no eyes” and her imagination filled in the blanks. However, coupled with Taissa’s son Sammy’s behavior — covering his windows with drawings of eyes and eyeless people, his doll disappearing from the top of the cupboard only to appear on the basement floor with its eyes removed — we begin to think that The Man with No Eyes actually lives in this realm and not just in Taissa’s imagination.

Old Eyeless Lad appears briefly in the opening credits and yes, every time, I get spooked. It’s a genuinely unnerving character and it’s a shock to see him first appear, especially when the first two episodes featured negligible supernatural elements. He’s yet to reappear, but maybe he’ll make a comeback in the finale. A reappearance or even potential clues that he’s a supernatural entity would open us up to more questions: If The Man with No Eyes is real, does that mean Lottie’s visions and spiritual connection to the forest are more than presentations of her schizophrenia?

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