Jackie should not have ended her life as frozen meat. Worse, a midnight snack.
What happened to every member of the traveling soccer team in the Showtime series, Yellowjackets, was terrible beyond measures we are yet to fully realize. However, the dreadful fate of one particular character stands out from the group: Jackie, their captain, who met a horrid end after standing up for the truth.
The opening scenes of Yellowjacket’s pilot introduce us to Jackie, the “it girl” in this mixed-genre series. her confidence, magnetic aura, and leadership traits grant her influence over the rest of her teammates on and off the field, as revealed by her principal and several scenes before the plane crash that changes everything. Before the accident, Jackie was the glue that bound the diverse personalities within the squad and made them function as an effective unit.
One would assume that Jackie’s leadership would rise after the crash, considering their collective survival in the woods depended on it. Instead, she crawled into a shell, unable to adapt to their new reality or accept the dire situation she and the other yellowjackets loomed in. Jackie’s dissociation led to her being sidelined by her teammates, and her authority as team captain was questioned.
The other yellowjackets perceived Jackie as self-obsessed and proud, like she was above everyone else. Nonetheless, that is no justification for how they treated Jackie moments before her demise or, worse, what they did to her body months after. This is how the blonde-haired captain had the most brutal fate and why she deserved better.
Jackie-Snackie (& Why She Deserved Better)
It is hard to keep a straight face when going through memes and comments on Yellowjacket Tiktoks referring to Jackie as “Snackie.” On a serious note, how did Jackie’s ghost feel seeing her teammates in robes, eating her grilled body, like a Thanksgiving turkey, without leaving crumbs? Come on. At the end of the day, Jackie was just a kid. All of them were. Just teenagers who didn’t deserve to go through a traumatic experience. Like every Yellowjacket, Jackie dreamed of attending college and seeing adulthood’s fullness. Sadly, it was cut short.
After Laura Lee was killed in the aircraft explosion, Jackie was the only one who still had her humanity intact, while the rest of the team leaned toward cannibalism and paranormal absurdity. Jackie was still in touch with civilization while the rest were giving in to the darkness of the wilderness. Just as Coach Ben represented rules and order, Laura Lee symbolized hope and faith for their rescue, while Jackie embodied the yellowjackets’ connection to logic and humanity. And when she died, they all lost it without realizing.
Jackie was a good friend who cared deeply for Shauna; even though their friendship was toxically co-dependent, their love for one another persisted, extending to every character. Jackie was the team’s heart, always pointing to the bright side and unifying their bond when things got rough. If she were still alive, she would likely be the least traumatized adult, as she would be quick to put the crash in the past, as she proved capable of when she told Shauna after the crash, “The worst is behind us.”
Jackie was not without her flaws, and that’s the peak of her tragic arc. She never had a chance to evolve as a character. She arrived in the wilderness as the queen bee, however, no one cared about high school dynamics in that situation — it was all about survival. Jackie should have been given a chance to adapt to their new reality and hone skills to aid the teenage girls’ survival. While Natalie became a huntress, Shauna a butcher, Misty a cook, and every other character playing stole or another, Jackie could have been made to be a better team player in the woods while also maintaining her innocence and unique attributes. As proven in earlier episodes, she was capable of such growth. Instead, Jackie never found her place or lived a life outside of soccer and high school.
