Taissa and Simone’s son in Yellowjackets, Sammy, gets relatively little screentime. However, his strange behavior is the creepiest mystery so far.
All the Yellowjackets characters have something a little out of the ordinary about them, but with his strange behavior in season 1 and his lack of presence in season 2, viewers are still left wondering what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets. Sammy, Taissa, and Taissa’s wife, Simone, are all introduced in Yellowjackets episode 1, “Pilot,” as a happy family. It is not until episode 2, “F Sharp,” that it becomes apparent something is amiss with Sammy. In Yellowjackets episode 2, Sammy (Aiden Stoxx) is revealed to have drawn a series of disturbing images and taped them over his window.
When Taissa (Tawny Cypress) asks him why, he explains that it’s so he can’t be seen by “the lady in the tree” who “watches him at night.” While this is later revealed to be Taissa, Sammy responds to another child insulting his mother by attacking him. Though some of the acting out seen by Sammy can be due to Taissa revealing her sleepwalking alter-ego to him, there are still a few moments that suggest something is amiss. Sammy’s actions are unsettling, but their potential connection to Taissa’s experiences in the wilderness and the Man With No Eyes adds another dimension. Here’s every theory for what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets.
Sammy Is Enacting Taissa’s Trauma
Over its two seasons, the series has revealed relatively little about what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets. His family life beyond his mother’s political ambitions, sleepwalking alter-ego, and storied past have been pushed to the wayside, and it is unclear how much Sammy knows about the full scope of his mother’s issues. It is unclear whether Taissa and Simone (Rukiya Bernard) adopted Sammy, whether he came from a past relationship, or was the result of surrogacy. With so little to guide the audience to a potential cause or origins for his behaviors, at least the story surrounding Taissa herself partially explains any strange behaviors.
Sammy’s drawings were disturbing, but the more that the viewer learns about Taissa’s own story, the worse they get. Looking back at the images after the Man With No Eyes is introduced, it becomes obvious that many of the figures in the drawings have their eyes blacked out, some with strange lines around them, and one image is a series of eyes. This suggests a concrete connection between Taissa’s trauma as a child and the experiences of her son, Sammy. Given that Yellowjackets appears to be rooted in grim reality, Taissa somehow passing her sleepwalking trauma on to the Sammy Yellowjackets character would make a certain degree of sense.
What’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets is that he could’ve very well inherited the Man With No Eyes, Taissa’s own sleepwalking specter, and begins acting out her trauma. Sammy has already identified Taissa’s alter-ego, even calling her “the bad one.” Some of his strange behavior is explained by Taissa’s sleepwalking, but his drawings, in particular, suggest that he could be similarly haunted, and not just by his mother watching him in a tree. While he could have overheard Taissa telling Simone about the Man With No Eyes and some version of what happened in the wilderness, Taissa has tended to behave in a more guarded way that makes this unlikely.
Simone Is Causing Sammy’s Behavior
If Taissa didn’t pass on her sleepwalking problem, what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets could also be tied in some way to Simone. Simone might know the details of Taissa’s various traumatic experiences and could have passed those along to Sammy somehow, though inadvertently as Simone is shown as very protective over Sammy in Yellowjackets season 2. The pictures that Sammy drew are taped high up on his window, and his doll, Manny, is retrieved from the top of a cabinet. While Sammy may be an agile child who moves things around to climb up high, this initially suggested that an adult was working with him somehow.
This adult “help” is, of course, later revealed to be sleepwalking Taissa building her altar, defacing her own house, and casually blaming her son for her actions in her waking life. Therefore, it’s safe to assume that this Yellowjackets theory can be debunked as there seems to be no motivation for Simone to do this. Her relationship with Taissa was relatively stable and caring until her alter-ego began taking dangerous strides and Simone discovered Taissa’s basement altar. While what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets could be related to Simone in some capacity, if she let Taissa’s past slip to him, it’s the least probable option.
Yellowjackets Is Taking A Supernatural Turn For Sammy
While Yellowjackets starts rooted in strictly realistic, the introduction of the wilderness as a spiritual entity, the antler queen spirit, and other strange goings-on open up the possibility of a more supernatural solution to what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets. The show has provided a lot of weight to the strange symbols in the woods and on the postcards, and the rituals that the survivors perform. However, with the appearance of the Man With No Eyes in season 1, a figure who recurs with relative consistency, ideas of hauntings, demons, and possessions became possible early on in the series.
When the young Taissa (Bailey Burr) sees the Man With No Eyes in Yellowjackets, it is only after the idea has been planted by her grandmother. This might mean that it is simply her imagination that haunts her, but the transfer to Sammy makes more sense if there is a supernatural aspect. The supernatural figure of the Man With No Eyes who guides teen Taissa to all the symbol trees would explain how Sammy has been able to draw such an image with those figures watching over his bed. If Yellowjackets moves into the territory of full possession, this could also explain some of the Sammy Yellowjackets character’s strange behavior.
The supernatural angle actually would make a lot of sense for Yellowjackets narratively and fall in line with the trajectory the series has taken in season 2. Throughout the show, there is a repeated question about how the Yellowjackets “really” survived out there. While they resorted to cannibalism, the revelation that they survived through cannibalism wasn’t a satisfying mystery solution. However, since their rituals and survival were in some way guided by a supernatural force tied to the Man With No Eyes, the antler queen, and the wilderness that has then “followed” the survivors home, it would make sense that Sammy is haunted by these spirits as well.
Did Yellowjackets Season 2 Explain What’s Wrong With Sammy?
Unfortunately, the sophomore installment never explained what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets. The narrative thread that followed Taissa’s family unit became severely fractured when Simone discovered Taissa’s basement altar in the Yellowjackets season 1 finale. Since this discovery, Taissa has been staying in their home alone while preparing for her ascension to the Senate, and Simone has taken Sammy with her to an undisclosed location. Sammy only makes two appearances in Yellowjackets season 2, and while the first one happened in real life, Sammy’s second appearance was a hallucination of Taissa’s.
Taissa gets a brief moment to talk to Sammy in the Yellowjackets season 2 premiere before Simone takes him away. However, in one of the most shocking moments of Yellowjackets season 2, episode 2, “Edible Complex,” Taissa imagines Sammy to have walked home from school to her house, only for Simone to later show up, receive a call from the school stating Sammy has been there the whole time, and outright prove Taissa’s instability. This is the last time Sammy is seen in Yellowjackets season 2, as Taissa’s plot thread then splinters into her reuniting with adult Van. Hopefully, season 3 will do more to explain what’s wrong with Sammy in Yellowjackets.
