Beware spoilers.
Natalie sure has been having a hard time of it, both in the wilderness and in Lottie’s retreat.
Back in the penultimate episode she drew the dreaded Queen of Hearts in a Russian roulette-style game of cards, leading to a bloodthirsty chase and the tragic icy drowning of poor, sweet, innocent Javi.
With the decision to leave him in the water in order to switch her fate with his now on her conscience, it has become clear that our younger Natalie has succumbed to the mindset of the rest of the team – survival above all else.
This switch had long been teased by Yellowjackets actor Sophie Thatcher, who has drawn a very clear through-line from this moment to the haunted and troubled older version of her character, plagued by her time in the sorry woodland.
With this added context, the toxicity of her relationship with Travis, her struggles with substance abuse and her attempt on her own life all hit a little different.
The final episode of Yellowjackets season two provided Natalie with two contrasting but life-altering moments.
Her younger self is fully embraced by the group; after a nod from Lottie and a read on the night framing her as the ‘chosen one’, the team bow down to her as their new leader.
In many ways, this marks a new chapter for the girl who’s previously been viewed as the outcast. Coach Ben singled her out as being different from the others (in the best possible way, mind due), and let’s not forget that the group was fully prepared to slit her throat and eat her only moments before.
In a stark and brutal contrast to this new beginning, adult Natalie’s epilogue starts to unfold.
Under cover of darkness, Natalie, Shauna, Lottie, Taissa and Van recreate their sacrificial game. In a bid to appease Lottie and her increasingly disturbing visions (or delusions, depending entirely on your perspective), the Yellowjackets took their places in a circle around the fire, with a deck of cards and a selection of knives just out of reach.
This time it was Shauna that pulled the cursed card and, after realising that they were in fact really going to do this, the scenes began to mirror the frantic chase from their earlier years.
But when Lottie’s disciple Lisa showed up, pulling them back to reality, a tussle ended up seeing Misty (it’s always Misty) accidentally injecting her best friend with a lethal dose of phenobarbital.
As devastating as it was to watch, it was also a moment of redemption for Natalie.
Instead of allowing another to die to ‘save’ herself – not so literally this time, but Misty was only taking care of Lisa to protect the group’s violent secret from coming to light – Natalie chose to take the hit, in order to save another.
In typical Yellowjackets fashion, we were taken directly to a dream sequence. While Natalie lay in the dirt, a sobbing Misty arched over her, her consciousness (or whatever you’d like to call it) was inside a plane. She had a young Javi, still blue from the cold, by her side, along with the version of herself that was stuck in the wilderness – a stark confrontation of her own past.
“This is exactly where we belong,” young Natalie tells her. “We’ve been here for years.”
Natalie was forever changed by the events of the wilderness and had been battling them internally ever since. With the new knowledge that she was given the throne as the Antler Queen, leading the group into whatever horrors are yet to be shown, her death now comes with a sense of acceptance.
Tragically, adult Natalie has come a long way from the woman that had made an attempt on her own life earlier in the season. Her act of protecting Lisa felt decidedly like a sacrifice to save her, rather than a choice to die.
Natalie had gotten to know her and saw a hope for her future, one that she never had, and in doing so had reconnected with a caring and nurturing side of herself that she’d perhaps lost from the moment she’d decided against saving Javi, all those years earlier.
When faced with a poetically similar choice, Natalie’s instincts were different. Her journey came full circle, and her story ended on a note of redemption.
What this means for Misty – who is absolutely a serial killer at this point – and the rest of the Yellowjackets, remains to be seen. But we’re sure it won’t be good.
