I have seen a lot of people argue that they would rather all the Yellowjackets going insane than the current version of the show, and they feel Shauna and Lottie are being used as scapegoats by the show.
I don’t necessarily agree, I think while Shauna and Lottie are the extremes, the show presents this “darkness” well. The rest of the girls may be more “sane” in an essence but a lot of them are also passive to the actions of Shauna. I think in traumatic situations, the psychosis takes different forms. It can go to the extreme yes, but it can also teach helplessness.
I think it’s far scarier to think that some of the girls developed such helplessness that they don’t challenge those who appear on the more…violent side. If all the girls had been as “scary” as Shauna, the show would feel unrealistic.
Also! I think the girls don’t respond as badly to Shauna and “kill her” initially as many people argued should have, is that they see in her the girl they knew, it’s hard to detach from having seen everything she went through. What are your thoughts?
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The extra jackets weren’t passive they tried to murder Shauna and Lottie. They even went so far as to destroy their food sources to force a hunt. I really don’t understand where people are getting this belief that the girls aren’t feral enough or are passive.
Oh no you are right! They were doing whatever they can to leave, the girls were desperate feral. I meant in other respects, during the trial many of them took a more passive attitude even during coach ben’s time in the animal pin, they finally reached a point in the finale, but I more meant that while they may not actively contribute to each “cruel” act, their lack of resistance (with a few exceptions like Natalie or taissa), allowed for much harm. And im not blaming them! I defend my girls endlessly! I hope this helped you get where im coming from!
Well I’m glad you’re talking about the trial and punishment of coach Ben. To me that is the worst thing they have done (so far) and it’s something that they are all complicit in and is made worse by the fact they had so much time to reflect on it over the days or weeks or months (unclear passage of time) coach was in the pen. I’m not sure I’d call it passive id describe it as varying degrees of complicity in his torture but I get what you’re saying.
Great points. Coach had the worst outcome of all of them and I felt like he knew something worse was coming his way since day 1 which made it even sadder to watch his story.
Hmm good point, I keep forgetting they organized the hunt on purpose as a ploy to escape
But they don’t know about Natalie and the radio so it to me at least seems much more like a revenge plot than an escape plot.
Actually yeah I can see that, or they figure once Shauna and Lottie are dealt with then they can escape so for them it's kinda both, whereas Natalie's plan didn't involve the revenge aspect
i think they were going to kill tai, too. tai agreed to keep them there and gen was trying to get her alone before van found them
I thought they wanted to separate her from Shauna, it felt like they didn’t have as much disdain towards taissa
i can definitely see that, but gen led her pretty far out and looked terrified when van caught them, and taissa was another one who fully agreed to keep them there, so i can’t imagine they were pleased with her. it’s just my interpretation, but it came across to me like taissa was also a target for refusing to let them leave and siding with shauna, especially since they had four girls in on the plan before mari got picked
This is interesting. I definitely agree with you in the case of Nat, Van, Mari, and "the extrajackets" but if you're including all the girls minus Shauna and Lottie, then I disagree. I think Taissa and Misty are just as scary as her and Lottie, but Taissa hides behind "Other Tai" and Misty's brand of crazy isn't as outwardly violent. She's calculating, she'd plot to poison her enemies, whereas Shauna would just lose control and stab someone lol. She's calm, Shauna's chaotic. But they're both dangerous and willing to commit crimes to protect their secrets XD The only reason Shauna's the biggest threat in the wilderness, imo, is because after losing the wilderness baby and Jackie, she became super cold and detached and, in order to feel something - anything - again, decided to unleash her reign of terror on the rest of them. And I agree that's a huge part of why the other girls couldn't/wouldn't kill her. I personally don't believe any of these girls are/were evil (especially Lottie seemed to have a genuine mental illness whether that was schizophrenia or something else), but I do think - at this point - Shauna's beyond redemption by virtue of the fact that she believes she is. She's convinced herself that she's unlovable and undeserving of forgiveness/help (self-fulfilling prophecies are kinda her thing). Misty could potentially redeem herself because she's at least taking accountability for her actions/mistakes and I think Natalie's death played a part in that. Taissa I'm not sure yet but she was power hungry even before the crash and even her adult actress has called her a "selfish woman"... so we'll have to see if, in the end, who wins - Other Tai or Regular Tai.
Anyways, I guess what I'm getting at is I disagree in the sense that I don't think Shauna is the only one who's gone insane, she's just always been the emotional one who experienced the biggest losses (of the girls, nobody come at me about Travis haha) which is why she's acting the most unhinged in the adult TL.
I hope my rambling makes sense XD
No I agree with a lot of what you said!
There are varying degrees of psychosis and “insanity” happening in the show which is fascinating, I think my issue lies in people wanting everyone to be as violent or as angry as Shauna. Because to that point, not everyone responds the same.
You are right to say that some other YJS are scary too, I mean Lottie is a victim of her mental illness but she also can be heavily manipulative in a scary way. Taissa as you said is power hungry and Misty has issues with empathy and boundaries that lead her to violence.
I think this is terrifyingly real, and I do appreciate how each of the girls have been portrayed, so it hurts me to see Shauna distilled into insane. She isn’t, she is just handling an intense amount of trauma differently than the others have. Her redemption especially with the adult storyline is its own beast now, but I do like that. I do not think she is meant to be redeemable and that makes young Shauna utterly tragic rather than insane.
Absolutely and it makes sense that - given everything Shauna went through - she is the way she is now. Like you said, "not everyone responds the same." That doesn't excuse her crimes, ofc, but it does help us understand her. I will never hate her and always sympathize with her as a tragic character, the wilderness baby arc was especially soul-crushing imo, but it's understandable why she's become controversial!
Yes!! Of course I understand people disliking her, it just shocks me to see her being described as a “cartoon villain,” she is a very real fleshed out a character and I appreciate her writing in both timelines
Oh 100% agree she's not a cartoon villain at all the clues have been there since the pilot episode! It was a slow build up as the layers of her trauma were pulled back throughout the seasons and now that we've seen everything that's happened to her, ofc she's batshit like how could she not be XD And again I'm not condoning her behavior but I can't hate her, I feel too sorry for her like teen Shauna slept with Jackie's bf but she also did a lot of good things like comforting Javi, trying to save Van from the burning plane, even comforting Allie on the soccer field when Taissa injured her!
Exactly, I always think of the girls we first met whenever we watch them in the young time line, it’s so easy to forget they are children.
Right! Like I cannot imagine surviving something like that, especially as a teenager, and when people hate on these fictional women it's like "but how can you be so sure that wouldn't be you in their shoes???" Haha
No no im with you! Whenever Shauna is brought up, her hands shaking as she cut up Javi flashes in my mind. like she was a BABY. and assuming you would know how you would behave in intense trauma is wild to me since it’s so unpredictable.
Yep yep yep! Shauna was a morally gray teenage girl, capable of both good and bad things. The wilderness experience gave her an opportunity to unleash her darker impulses then add her insane amount of loss/trauma on top of that, and you get Bisexual satan XD If not for that traumatic experience, I doubt she ever would've unlocked that part of herself. I like to say that, at worst, she might've been a "Karen" but also capable of being nice/loving
A Karen at most is the best way to put it! I could talk about the girls forever, each of their stories has been uniquely unraveling and interesting. Especially being primarily female led? That makes it more fascinating to me, the many facets that are explored.
If this makes any sense, I’ve found the key to remembering they are children is reminding yourself Ben is canonically early to mid 30’s. Take his behavior and compare it with theirs. Then again, I think the girls & Travis eventually flourished out there (as much as they could) the more that time went on, whereas Ben became more and more useless until Nat finally just ended the patheticness parade that was Ben Scott. The hatred and coldness a lot of this fandom has for Shauna I reserve strictly for Ben.
Ben was around 30 years old minimum. We find this out during his trial when Misty says he’s been working at WHS over/almost a decade. Considering they probably didn’t hire an 18 or 19 year old to teach high schoolers, he’s more likely 33-35. The girls & Travis are 16-17. Javi is 12.
It becomes a little easier to hate Ben when you crunch the numbers.
Javi is supposed to be 12 years old.
I get your point, he was an adult. I still find it difficult to blame him, and I like his character a lot. I do think he also represented the difference between the girls interacting with a patriarch and how the patriarch interacts with the girls(vs a matriarch later such as Hannah). But Ben as a character also breaks my heart (I think I like everyone in this show hahaha).
Her approach is a bigger threat than shauna
I would argue her approach is jesusy
I love the way Cyprus talks about Tai. She’s so unapologetic that Taissa is a selfish bitch that will do anything and everything she has to do to get control and stay in control. Tai gets to be an irresponsible mother, she gets to try to murder her wife, she gets to eat Van’s heart, run up her credit card debt, keep her manicure polished, eat extra bloody steaks!! S1 Tai couldn’t even stomach a piece of bacon. I love how much of a monster she gets to be and be celebrated even more for it
Agreeeeed! Minus the heart eating cause that felt very intimate and loving to me (in a twisted way).
My hot take - Lottie letting Shauna lose it on her after the stillbirth was the wrong move. It opened the door for that level of violence against each other, inviting it and making it permissible for them to hurt each other. Did Shauna need to let her pain out? Yea... but... point her to a tree dude. Not a person.
I also love Shauna. She was my favorite character pretty much right away. She is fierce and fucked up and the more fucked up she gets the more I love her. I hope she has a good end.
That scene was one of my favorites in the show. And maybe you’re right, there is a lot of room for violence after that, but I think even more so, it proved how much the girls are willing to sacrifice and take for each other. Was there more to it for Lottie? I believe yes. But I think the overall lean into violence fell into effect when the first hunt was decided, desperation is not an easy feeling. And yes!!! We love ms shipman
Another excellent point. I got shivers over Lottie willing to take on her pain. I dont think it was wise but it was a powerful moment.
Lottie has a lot of guilt I believe over much of who she is in season 2, and she will do a lot for the girls, her choosing of Shauna as leader to protect Natalie is just another example too. But I think she also thinks she deserves some sort of pain, because I don’t think she believes she has went through as much. Taking on Shauna’s punches and wanting to be picked for every hunt. (This is not to say Lottie can’t be manipulative)