"Hell is a teenage girl." That's what the opening line of Jennifer's Body, the 2009 horror-comedy directed by Yellowjackets executive producer Karyn Kusama, reminds us. But what about a group of teenage girls stranded in the Canadian wilderness as an unforgiving winter sets in, with death, hunger, and remorse hanging heavy in the air? What about them? Well, the second episode of Yellowjackets season 2 starts to form an answer to that question, with deliciously chilling results.
There's a lot of guilt in this episode, for one thing: pregnant Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) is overcome with guilt for Jackie's death in season 1, to the extent that it's consuming her day-to-day life in increasingly horrible ways, while Travis (Kevin Alves) is filled with regret as each day passes without finding his younger brother Javi. Both of them find comfort and support in Lottie (Courtney Eaton), who seems to see herself as a patron saint of the vulnerable in their makeshift home as she leans further into belief in the supernatural. As more in the camp turn to her for guidance, it feels like lines are being drawn amongst the group – those who listen to her and look to her for solace, and those, like Nat (Sophie Thatcher) and Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown), who do not.
