1 Year Later, This Yellowjackets Twist Is Still the Show’s Biggest Mistake
It is rare to see a quality television series that is also popular, but Showtime’s Yellowjackets fits the criteria. Premiering originally in 2021, the dramatic survival series is reminiscent of the real-life tragedy of the Uruguayan soccer team that crashed in the Andes, as well as fictional works such as Lost and Lord of the Flies. Yellowjackets follows a high school girl’s soccer team from New Jersey that charters a private jet that gets stranded in the Canadian wilderness.
With the use of two timelines, the show follows the events of what the girls did to survive and the current timeline of what they are doing 25 years later. Yellowjackets amazingly dramatizes the viciousness of teenage girls while weaving a mysterious tale in the present day. Season 1 introduces fans to the world and the complex characters that populate it. It whetted the appetite for further seasons and fans’ bloodthirst to see the girls commit the highly anticipated taboo of cannibalism. Cannibalism sure does occur in Season 2, but it is not the last crime that the series is party to. While Yellowjackets continues to pick up steam, there are still some events that soured the trajectory of the series. The Season 2 finale shows the shocking death of adult Natalie, who is accidentally killed with a lethal injection dispensed by Misty. This event was impulsive and shocking, but that had more to do with the fact that it wasn’t in line with the mythos the show had set up until that point,
Natalie Is the Best Character in the Series
Underdog characters are always a large crowd pleaser in ensemble fiction and Natalie filled that role exquisitely. Though part of the Yellowjackets team, Natalie feels like an outcast. Unlike the perfectly put-together Jackie or the ambitious Taissa, Natalie has no trajectory. She comes from a broken home and medicates that pain with alcohol, sex, and drugs. Many of her teammates look down on her, even though she has no control over her circumstances. When they crashland in the wilderness, Natalie quickly becomes one of the most useful parts of the party. Jackie may have been the team captain in the real world, but she fails to adapt when stranded. Natalie has fired a gun before and joins Travis in hunting for game. Through their excursions, they fall in love in the worst location possible.
In the present timeline, Natalie holds onto these emotional wounds. She and Travis still have an unbreakable bond, which is destroyed upon his death. Though staged as a suicide, Natalie never believes it and goes on a vendetta to find out what happened to him. Fresh from rehab, she joins up with other Yellowjackets who seem to be blackmailed and try to make sense of it all. All the teammates are deeply fleshed-out characters, but Natalie always had the most potential for character development. Like many of her teammates, Natalie used different mechanisms to cope with her trauma. For her part, she indulged in addiction, but when she gets out of treatment, some things are more important. Finding Travis’ killer consumes her and hints back to the things she was capable of in her teenage years. Natalie’s darkness was a compelling drama to watch but was tragically cut short at the end of Yellowjackets Season 2. Even though Natalie was built up to be a major player, she dies suddenly, and her demise does not push her character forward. In fact, it hinders her.
Natalie’s Death In Season 2 Makes the Character Stagnant
It isn’t a secret that Juliette Lewis, who plays the present-day Natalie, left Yellowjackets in Season 2. Although she only spent two years on the series, she told Variety that she was aware of what was to come.
“I very much knew,” Lewis said. “I think I’m good for a series for two seasons. It’s a different kind of work. So what do I want to say? I can’t wait to see the third season. I think the writing team is so phenomenal. They had many storylines that were always to be realized, and so that’s what they’re doing. For me, there’s so much in our industry with series that’s exciting, but in my creative DNA, I like moviemaking. It’s something I thoroughly understand with a single director, a finite period of time, and knowing beginning, middle and an end. And I really relish those confines.”
Lewis never explicitly stated what was the reasoning behind Natalie’s major Yellowjackets death at the end, but she has historically been very supportive of the series. Creatives continued to gel with the actor off-screen, but onscreen, writers had to find a way to write the character off in a seamless way. Try as they might, Natalie’s death was a tragic end to a character who had so much promise. She spends the entirety of the season infiltrating Lottie’s cult, but while she is there, learns many things about herself. In particular, she connects with Lisa, a convert who has a difficult home life. Even though Natalie is suspicious of Lottie, she becomes more interested in helping Lisa. But for all the progress they make in the season, this is all destroyed in the final moments of the last episode. Lisa draws a shotgun on Natalie, believing her to be dangerous in the older woman’s final moments.
Natalie’s Death Isn’t Just Wrong, It’s Devastating
Season 2 had already foreshadowed the disappointment that was to come. For the most part, the characters were separated until the latter half of the season, when they all reunite at Lottie’s commune. Natalie’s death culminates in the last episode when Lisa finds them in a suspicious gathering. Misty goes too far in her typical way, viewing Lisa as a threat, and arms herself with a lethal syringe. Natalie sees Misty rushing towards Lisa and, in a moment of self-sacrifice, throws herself in front of her. Misty, who sees Natalie as her best friend, is horrified by the outcome. This reaction pales in comparison to what Natalie goes through.
In the end, all of Natalie’s character development means nothing. She feels responsible for Lisa and guilty about everything she has done in the wilderness. But instead of using this pain to become better for it in future installations, Natalie continues to suffer, even in the afterlife. It is horrifying to see a character who has struggled so much to do so after death as well. In a kind of fever dream, as she dies, Natalie finds herself on an empty plane, accompanied by Javi and the younger version of herself. Natalie has always blamed herself for Javi’s death in the Wilderness, carrying that pain with her until the end of her life. “This is exactly where we belong,” Young Natalie tells her in the terrifying moment. “We’ve been here for years.”
Natalie not learning to forgive herself and torturing herself in her final moments is almost too much to bear. It shows a nihilistic view of Natalie’s journey, essentially saying that no one gets better, and your worst decisions define you for the rest of your life. It was enough that Natalie had to die, but pushing her even further into darkness is heartbreaking. Even worse, Natalie’s final legacy is defined by her addiction. She has lived her entire life ruled by drugs, and the world will always see her as an addict. Even though she didn’t die from a drug overdose, that is all anyone will ever think of her as the women cover up the truth of her death. Sophie Thatcher, who plays the young version of Natalie, is still committed to the series and has taken on a leadership role in the flashbacks. But now that her ending as an adult is so permanent, it takes away the meaningfulness of the character.
It Doesn’t Make Sense to Make Natalie the Antler Queen
Yellowjackets Season 2 further explores the idea of The Wilderness being deified. A sect of girls tries to appease the entity, believing that it will keep them safe. But after some of the girls attempt to kill Natalie, Lottie becomes convinced that The Wilderness has chosen the outcast as the leader of the group. It seems to them that the force of nature took Javi instead of Natalie. Natalie has also been responsible for being the huntress of the group, killing animals to make sure everyone survives. If The Wilderness values strength and the survival of the group, that means Natalie should lead them. They all agree that they will follow Natalie, making her the mysterious Antler Queen in charge of the cannibalistic sect of the survivors. Viewers understand that in the 18 months that the girls are stranded, they resort to brutal tendencies to survive.
Season 2 answers the main question of the identity behind the Antler Queen, but this revelation curdles by the end of the episode. The reveal that Natalie becomes the leader is quickly followed by her heartwrenching death over two decades later. Yellowjackets picked the one person out of the group that had a decisive end. While Natalie may get up to all sorts of shenanigans in the past timeline, her status as the Antler Queen has no bearing on the current story. Her death is made even more meaningless by the fact that the Antler Queen cannot affect her in the next season. If The Wilderness really has followed the soccer team into adulthood, what meaning is there in the Antler Queen being dead?
At the end of it all, Natalie’s death is a waste and puts an end to the most interesting character in the series. Even so, some credit should still go to the writers. If Juliette Lewis truly had decided early on that she had a two-season maximum, there was only so much the creatives could do behind the scenes. Natalie becoming the Antler Queen subverts the expectation that honor would have gone to Lottie. Natalie makes sense as the leader of the faction, especially taking into account the violence she has been responsible for to ensure the girls survive. With that in mind, the writers were boxed into a corner. Writing Lewis off the show meant Natalie had to die, and there are only so many ways to do that gracefully. As disappointing as it is to see the ending of Natalie’s life, there were few options given to the Yellowjacket’s creative team. Lewis herself has said that she is open to returning to the series at some point, and hopefully, that will rectify at least some of the anticlimactic nature of her death.