It’s time to eat up. The first camper finally took a step toward cannibalism. As surprising as it seemed, Shauna’s choice to munch on Jackie’s ear feels like the beginning. There were certainly other choices that would have made more sense. After all, Jackie’s been dead for at least two months. Frozen, but dead. Luckily, we got to the repercussions of last week nice and early. Yellowjackets – “Edible Complex” not only gives us some excellent action in the past but introduces seemingly key figures moving forward. Rich Monahan and Jonathan Lisco write the episode for director Ben Semanoff.
Yellowjackets – “Edible Complex” Recap
1996
Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) sits in the meat shed, where Jackie ( tries to talk to her. Shauna tries to make herself believe that Nat and Travis will find food. However, the accusatory Jackie tells her not to lie to the baby. Jackie then asks what happened to her ear and calls out Shauna when she lies. To help cover up the missing ear, Jackie asks Shauna to braid her hair. They talk about better times.
The other girls sit in the cabin, wondering if Shauna is at the shack. Lottie (Courtney Eaton) tells everyone to let Shauna heal on her own time. They need to support her, which includes leaving her food. Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) realizes someone pooped in a bucket they use for midnight pees. However, they did not remove it, and the cabin stinks. When no one fesses up, Taissa goes to take it out herself. Now the second lantern is missing. The girls begin to eat.
Shauna keeps beautifying Jackie’s corpse. As Shauna puts makeup on her face, Jackie begins talking about Jeff. She then confronts Shauna about her hunger. Jackie uses a knife to take a chunk out of her arm, and when Shauna tells her to stop, Jackie points out the blade is in Shauna’s hand.
The Present
Callie (Sarah Desjardins) sits in her boyfriend’s bed, vaping. She thinks about her parents and complains. Her boyfriend thinks this opens up more time for them, and she’s frustrated by his answers. She breaks up with him and leaves.
1996
Van (Liv Henson) wakes up in the middle of the night, and Taissa is gone. She runs downstairs and sees Taissas footprints. Van races through the woods. Taissa follows a black-suited boy with long dark hair. She continues sleepwalking, and just before she walks off a cliff, Van leaps on her. Taissa wakes up, and they rush back to the cabin.
Back inside, Taissa wonders why she did not wake up. Van tries to figure out how Taissa got out of the restraints, but they have no answers. Taissa then voiced concern for Shauna as she talks to Jackie. Van reminds her that she’s acting weird, so she cannot judge Shauna too harshly. Van also suggests they talk to Lottie because she may hold the key to helping her with the sleepwalking issue. Taissa refuses, and they may back down.
Present day
Taissa (Tawny Cypress) drinks coffee to avoid sleepwalking. The last few months have caused her to ruin aspects of her life, namely her relationship. We watch Taissa work out, take extra pills, and struggle to keep balance.
1996
Taissa chops wood in the forest. Nat (Sophie Thatcher) watches from inside as Lottie comforts Travis (Kevin Alves). She remains unhappy with how close they’ve gotten since the panic attack. Nat and Travis embark on another hunting trip.
Travis asks why Nat missed the blessing. Nat gets offended by Travis’ new beliefs in Lottie. He points out they’ll need more than food to survive the winter, and this sets off Nat. She suggests they head south to find food, but Travis wants to continue looking for his brother. Nat only agrees to split up if they have a plan in place. She lays one out, he wishes her good luck, and they split up.
The Present Day
Lottie and Nat (Juliette Lewis) walk through the camp. Nat wonders how Lottie (Simone Kessell) took charge of a cult, and Lottie wonders why Nat needs rehab. They fight as they walk, and Nat asks why she was kidnapped. Lottie explains that she knew Nat would do something drastic after Travis’ death. Her men were only there to stop her from that. Her assistant, the one Nat beat up and stabbed, arrives with a drink. When Lottie first scolds her for not being what she asked for, she lets it go and keeps the drink. Nat tries to apologize, but the assistant walks away.
Callie sits in her room looking at what remains of Adam’s driver’s license. When there’s a knock at the door, she hides it. Shauna walks in and asks how Callie’s day was, and she responds with indifference. However, when Callie is hostel to her, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) displays honesty. She admits she wants to spend time with her daughter as she grows up.
Misty (Christina Ricci) calls Taissa, but she’s not answering. Neither is Shauna, and Misty grows frustrated. She’s still searching for Nat and turns to the internet for help. When she goes online, the same user posing theories about Adams’s death offers to help her hack the CCTV of the hotel. However, she needs to stop bringing down his theories. She responds with hostility and slams the lid on her computer.
1996
Taissa continues cutting wood. She walks into the meat shack and sees the makeover Shauna gave to Jackie. It freaks her out, and she quickly leaves. She grabs Shauna and confronts her in front of the entire group. Shauna admits that she’s been hearing Jackie talk to her, and Taissa says she needs to stop for the good of the baby. Even Lottie seems to agree, and the group moves forward to cremate Jackie’s corpse.
The Present
Shauna and Callie are home when Kevin (Alex Wyndham) swings by. He came by to give Shauna a heads-up that the police are aware of her connection to Adam Martin. The police have records of texts between the two of them. He begins taking her down a line of questioning, and Callie steps in to push them to go to the mall. Kevin leaves, and Callie confronts Shauna about lying to the police.
Taissa walks downstairs and sees Sammy in the living room. He walked from school and is busy playing with Steve. She asks if Sammy’s other Mom knows he’s there, but she does not. Taissa immediately calls Simone (Rukiya Bernard), who angrily says she’s coming to pick him up.
At work, Misty finds herself busy with paperwork. She overhears a man asking questions and notices he’s oddly dressed. When he walks by, she makes eye contact and slyly grins. Startled, she grabs lunch and sees a letter addressed to her on top of her meal. She reads it and begins to look stressed.
1996
Nat and Travis meet back up in the woods. When they do, Nat has a pair of shorts that belonged to Javi. It appears she found them on this trip, but she actually stole them from his bag and ripped them herself. She even cut her own leg and rubbed her blood on the pants. Travis tries to go back, but instead, he breaks down crying.
The Present
Lottie blows out a match and begins talking about Travis (Andres Soto) to Nat. She admits she saw him the days before his suicide. He had started to see the woods again and believed that coming close to death allowed him to see more. Lottie refuses to help and struggles with his choice to relive the trauma. She helps him calm down like she did when they were younger. Lottie believed she got through to him. Nat asks why they did not go to her, but Travis thinks seeing her would make it worse.
While Lottie slept, Travis drove out to his ranch. She rushed out to stop him and saw him performing a ritual with the candles in the shape. He planned to hang himself until he saw something and then stop. He blackmails Lottie into controlling the crane, and the moment he goes unconscious, she’ll lower him down. However, she cannot get the buttons to put him down, and he dies.
Lottie begins revisiting her trauma. She sees the girl from the plane, who turns into a ghost and screams. She relives drowning, only to awaken and see Travis even higher on the crane.
Nat begins screaming at Lottie, who admits she’s why Travis is dead. She finds Lottie’s story convenient, especially with Lottie’s newfound wealth and followers. Nat wants to make her pay, but Lottie considers that a win because it will keep Nat alive. She tells Nat the trains are gone for the night, so she needs to stay one more night.
Taissa wakes up to Simone trying to get in the house. Taissa chain-locked the door and lets her in. They begin looking for Sammy, but he’s gone. The window of his room is open, and they go out to the neighborhood to find him.
1996
Shauna watches the group carry Jackie. The group wonders if they should take Jackie’s clothes, and Shauna starts pushing them off her. Lottie tells everyone to stop and give her space. She also notices the chunk of skin missing from Jackie’s arm. Shauna noticed as well and pulls the sleeve down to hide it. Lottie silently reaches for Jackie’s necklace and puts it on Shauna.
The Present
Callie and her friend sit at a bar/restaurant. A man sits at the bar, checking her out. When he friend jokes that Callie should go home with him, she gets up and walks to the bar. They begin flirting and telling each other about their lives. He introduces himself as Jay.
1996
Taissa watches Shauna as they prep the pyre. Nat and Travis return, shocked by the makeup on Jackie. They see the bloody clothes from Javi, and everyone begins to worry. Lottie believes she can feel Javi alive, but Nat attacks her. However, Shauna breaks up the fight by lighting a torch and saying a eulogy for Jackie. The group begins to walk into the cabin. Travis puts Javi’s shorts by the fire. Taissa and Lottie stay by Shauna as they watch the fire.
The Present
Nat goes through her clothes and tries to sleep. She begins to remember her last overdose. As the EMTs worked on her, a boy moved in the background.
Misty finished cleaning her birdcage. As she uses a UV light, something clicks in her head. She rushes over to the letter, and the pages appear blank. She shines a UV light and can now read the words. The man (Elijah Wood) reveals the camera was a dummy, but he will interrogate the motel’s owner. He invites her to join.
Kevin sits at his desk in the police station when a man walks up with a coffee. It turns out it’s Jay/Detective Matt Saracusa (John Reynolds) who confirmed that Shauna cheated on her husband. He admits to having drinks with Callie for two hours, but they should have enough to question Shauna. Kevin tells him to slow down, and Jay wonders if they’re taking it too easy on her.
1996
Travis and Nat sit together, holding hands. They begin to kiss and touch. As they do, Travis starts to blur the lines between Nat and Lottie, imagining each of them sleeping with him at times while the other watches. Only Nat and Travis actually sleep together. As they do, a force travels through the woods and dumps snow on the burning pyre for Jackie.
Present Day
Taissa and Simone look for Sammy. Instead, they get a call from the school, who say that Sammy’s been with them for two hours. Simone begs Taissa to get help when the car gets hit.
1996
Suddenly everyone in the house wakes up. The smell of burning flesh wafts through the cabin. Slowly, each person walks outside and sees Jackie’s corpse is “cooked.” They all look at each other, and Shauna says, “it’s what she wants.” The montage between the group at a feast in the woods and the group eating Jackie. Only coach Ben stays back.
Yellowjackets – “Edible Complex” – Episode Breakdown
The spookiest episode of the show yet embraces the supernatural. This goes beyond Lottie and whatever she appears to be up to. The lines between the living and the dead seem more blurred than ever. Even the lines between the living have descended into complete acid trip sequences.
Yet despite the darkness, Yellowjackets courts, it also finds moments of levity. Hearing adult Lottie worry about what’s in her cult drink and distinguish between purples (“It’s Heliotrope, not purple.”) is quite funny. Lynskey remains deadly with a quip, and Ricci continues to steal the season. Even when reading a note, she’s creating laughs. That’s talent.
As hunger sets in, Director Ben Semanoff does an excellent job selling it. He starts with distrust. The glances between characters signify worry about each other’s well-being, and they’ve begun to wonder if more drastic steps are needed. While no one ever says, “let’s eat Jackie,” the vibes are there.
The lies are beginning to open the doors for potential battles. Lottie lies for Shauna by not telling everyone what she saw. Nat lies to Travis to get him to move on. Van lies for Taissa to ensure no one else knows about her walks. There’s danger brewing, and if there are going to be different camps, this is why.
When do you want to talk about Callie? She’s entering the long line of teen actors that can mess up a show. It’s unclear why Callie scenes are so tough to sit through, especially considering how good the scenes in 1996 have been so far. Still, the frustration with her bad choices continues to mount. I hope they can right the ship before the end of the season.
How Travis handles his psychic visions is up to him. However, he seems rather torn about which girl he wants. Considering their relationships will extend far into the future, there’s strong reason to suggest this is a real love triangle. They hurt each other regularly, and if Travis discovers his brother is not dead, oh boy.
What are the chances you’re eating your two months dead best friend? Honestly, mine would have been fried up on a skillet weeks ago. You know you’d do the same, do not judge me. Lucky break that the snow fell, but let’s be honest, something spooky is happening in the woods. This truly felt like the episode that confirmed this series will get weird. Boys with no eyes, strange wind gusts, and psychic visions are par for the course now.
Last but not least, we know Jackie was the first to go. Who’s next? Sorry Coach Ben, you were once ve-gone, but soon you will be-gone. Expect the one to hold out from the last supper of Jackie to be the next one on the chopping block. They’ll have to split the leg, though.
