Season 3, Episode 2: ‘Dislocation’
I’ll admit: I had to Google the name of the blonde Yellowjacket (Jenna Burgess) who starts making out with Shauna in this week’s jaw-dropping “Yellowjackets” conclusion. It’s Melissa.
Up until this point, Melissa has been one of those Yellowjackets whose presence seemed sort of pointless. She was almost a glorified extra, there just to fill out the scenes in the woods. (She also didn’t show up till Season 2, which we apparently weren’t supposed to notice — and mostly didn’t.)
Even the show acknowledged her lack of character development in the premiere this season. After Melissa cracks a mean joke about Mari to Shauna, Shauna says, “Wait, do you, like, actually have a personality?”
That’s just what we were all thinking.
But Episode 2 confirms that Melissa not only has a personality but is also set to become a major part of the woodland (and likely the present-day) narrative. The final moments set it all up with a sequence in which both timelines collide.
In the woods, Melissa follows Shauna with the aim of complimenting her on her resilience. Shauna’s reasonable response? To draw a knife on her. But instead of balking at that threat, Melissa goes in for a kiss. Shauna, shockingly, responds by kissing her back.
This is all intercut with a scene of the present day Shauna on a phone call to the manager of the restaurant where she accompanied Jeff to a disastrous work dinner. During that evening, Shauna retreated to the bathroom where, in truly “Yellowjackets” form, something freaky happens. Someone entered, turned off the lights and left a phone in an adjoining stall. The background on the device features a picture of some very familiar looking mountains. And the when the phone rings from an unknown number, it plays the song “Queen of Hearts” by Juice Newton.
So, back at home, Shauna reaches out to the establishment trying to figure out whether anyone came and picked up the mysterious phone. After some persistence — because that’s not a normal request — she finally learns that it was, in fact, retrieved. She asks what the woman who claimed it looked like, and her face drops. It’s at that moment we see the very intense, somewhat aggressive make out session, implying that the mysterious phone lady is probably Melissa.
All this means another adult Yellowjacket is entering the conversation. My guess is she will be played by the Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who was announced as part of the Season 3 cast. The fact that we don’t know much about Melissa makes this an intriguing proposition. Swank and Burgess will get to develop the character in tandem.
The writers have seemed to struggle with introducing new adult Yellowjackets thus far. Season 2 brought in Lauren Ambrose as Van and Simone Kessell as Lottie, but neither got a ton to do, remaining secondary to the travails of the grown-ups who were part of the original cast. When Ambrose and Kessell entered the fray, Van and Lottie were already well established in their teenage forms, so the mature versions felt lacking. We know nothing about either incarnation of Melissa, so it’s exciting to meet her.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Ambrose and Kessell to have their breakout moments. Episode 2 doesn’t really offer that up for Ambrose, though she does have the chance to sing Jamiroquai karaoke. The episode does allow Kessell the opportunity to show new sides of Lottie, though, who is still a bit cuckoo but also serene in her way.
Lottie emerges, having left the temporary psychiatric hold she was put under after she tried to kill Shauna at her wellness retreat. Her arrival is a little cartoonish. She simply arrives with a suitcase at Shauna’s door, asking for a place to stay. But for as easy a solution as that is to getting everyone in the same place again, it yields some very fun material.
Callie, it turns out, wants Lottie to stay, figuring she can use her to get information about just what is going on with her parents. Shauna, foreseeing disaster but not making good decisions, decides to invite Misty to make sure Lottie and Callie don’t get too close. (Poor Misty thinks she is finally getting an invitation from one of her old pals just to hang. Walter is correct: They never just want to chill with her.)
Callie has other plans, however, initiating a sleepover where she pours cocktails and starts a game of truth or dare. She drugs Misty and bonds with Lottie, who remains committed to her belief that the “wilderness” is asking for sacrifices. But she is also a nice hang who is down to watch reality TV and braid hair.
This fun side of Lottie has seemingly disappeared in the 1990s story. Younger Lottie (Courtney Eaton) is now entirely focused on her goal of getting Travis to communicate with the wilderness, pushing hallucinogens on him despite his trauma. (Can a guy who had to take a raw bite of his little brother’s heart last season maybe get some breathing room?) She convinces him to stay behind and do drugs while the rest of the group is out looking for Mari. Even though he loses his mind for a while and strangles her, she remains entirely focused on her goal.
On the subject of Mari: Mari, like Melissa, has transformed from a side character to a major player this season. Coach Ben hasn’t turned into a full monster — well, not exactly. After she falls into his pit, he instructs her on how to reset her broken leg and helps her climb out, But then he ties her up and brings her to his hiding spot, fearful that she’ll expose him. There, he hands her a steaming mug of hot chocolate from the stash he found.
The look on her face is utter bliss, but then it turns to horror.
Ben is out of view, communicating with someone or something. He is frustrated, chiding whoever is in his head, saying he can’t think. Looks as if the wilderness has gotten to him, too.
Mari is now trapped with a man who appears to have lost some of himself. If this episode hints that Melissa will see adulthood, it also suggests that Mari may very well not.
More to chew on
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“Joel, you painful little boner” is a great Shauna line.
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I feel so bad for Akilah (Nia Sondaya), who seems to be having a lovely time tending to her bunnies and ducks but is soon going to be the target of Lottie’s cockamamie theories.
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The Walter and Misty story line is too isolated for me right now. Walter isn’t wrong, exactly; Misty’s so-called friends do use her. But I’m also wondering where this is all going.
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Doing face masks with psychopaths seems like a pretty good time.
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Does Teen Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) really want to be queen? I suspect the reign of Natalie might be coming to an end soon, especially once word gets out that she knows Ben is alive.
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