Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched the latest episode of Yellowjackets, so be warned!
With all the dangerous threats, the unspoken secrets and the massive trauma shared by its core survivors, Yellowjackets isn’t exactly teeming with elements that would easily transition into the real world for fans to take part in. I doubt any major fast food restaurants would readily embrace campaigns geared to either cannibalism or starvation, and the cabin setting isn’t exactly ideal for an all-ages theme park experience. But with the latest installment, titled “Burial,” the Showtime hit gave audiences a new kind of experience by way of the Sunshine Honey quasi-cult, in the form of a phone number that not only works, but also offers a fun easter egg that plays off of the ep’s big reveal for Simone Kessell’s Lottie.
As fans saw in Episode 207, all of the known adult survivors reunited at the cult’s compound, initially taking Lottie by surprise before things got genuinely chummy for the former teammates. Everyone had to give their cell phones up as part of the wellness journey, and the newest recruits were shown a landline phone number to be used in case of emergencies. Amazingly enough, fans can call the number on the screen to hear a recorded message from the show’s most mystical-minded character, and it isn’t without some of Yellowjackets’ mysterious glitches. Check out the number below, in case anyone missed it, and then read on for the message itself.
While I can’t think of any way for this phone number itself to be an easter egg tied to Lottie’s childhood or anything, the message itself provides an easier route for speculation, given her psychologist sessions were confirmed to be happening opposite a completely hallucinated physician. (Which definitely made sense, given the awful medical advice being offered.) Check out the message in full below, split up between Normal Lottie and Possessed Lottie, as it were.
- Normal Lottie: Hello, wanderer. You have reached Sunshine Honey's Wellness Community, proudly located at the former site of Camp Green Pine in majestic northern…
- [Phone beeps and glitchy noises]
- Possessed Lottie: It's not...real.
- [Glitchy noise]
- Normal Lottie: Do you ever wonder where you are? Are you somewhere feeling lonely wandering between the who and the when, or flirting with the why? If so, hello. We are here and ready to believe you.
- [Phone number speed-dialed and glitchy noises]
- Normal/Possessed Lottie: We're still here, and we're still listening. Don't be afraid to say the words that move the winds. We'll hear you if you hear us.
For such a short message, there are quite a few details worthy of obsessing over. First, the use of the descriptor of "wanderer" to refer to whoever would be calling. And then there's the purposeful glitch right when Lottie is sharing the camp's central New York setting. (It's filmed in British Columbia at the actual Camp Howdy.) Seems a bit odd to get weird about that location's specifics, considering all of the survivors clearly knew how to get there. But then that leads into the fairly haunting moment in which she says that things aren't real. Was she only referring to the episode's reveal, though, or is the implication there that nothing about Sunshine Honey's compound is legitimate?
Not a lot to misunderstand about the notion of somebody not knowing where they are, since that fuels the entire stranded timeline in the past. I'm intrigued by the wording of "flirting with the why," but will try not to think too hard about it. What I will think too hard about, however, is the way the message ends with her saying 'We'll hear you if you hear us," which recalls the weirdness that played out in Episode 205 as Tai and the overly pregnant Shauna were maneuvering their way back to the cabin through the snowstorm that followed Crystal's (assumed) death. Is Lottie's cult still taking part in such behavior?
As it turns out, even just texting the Yellowjackets phone number will earn a response that directs fans to call while also sharing the general mission to "unplug to hear the wilderness." There's also a note about message frequencies varying, making it appear as if viewers can expect to get more updates from Sunshine Honey as the season continues.
Beyond giving fans this new way to explore the show’s mysteries, Yellowjackets’ latest episode also seemed to support the theory that the survivors are rewarded in certain ways whenever blood is offered up to the earth around the cabin, tying back to why the still-unidentified Pit Girl had her throat slit in such a brutal way back in the pilot. It may not all center on sentient tree moss like I’d want it to, but there’s some kind of entity affecting things, and I have to assume that it’ll play a big part in Lottie’s face healing up after Shauna nearly beat her to death.
Yellowjackets has a few episodes left to go in Season 2, which can be streamed on Fridays with a Showtime add-on to one’s Paramount+ subscription, though work on the already anticipated third season has been stalled due to the WGA writers strike that’s currently shaking up the entertainment industry.
