It’s always those we discredit that we adore. It’s always those that we hope fly but then are floored. It’s always those in which we hope. It’s. What. We. Hope in. Is. Nope. Welcome to the eighth episode of Yellowjackets (Showtime) titled “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
To believe that nothing is forever, forever takes the truth, and if that is forever…
What is drawn from the youth?
She emerges! After tearfully placing Van (Liv Hewson) on the pyre, there is a faint buzz. Are we to prematurely say phoenix?
To be fair, she wasn’t dead… or just not dead enough. After the switch of trekking south, going back into the cabin isn’t such a bad idea, and who wouldn’t? Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) isn’t giving up on her goalie and as an erstwhile sweeper, it’s her goal to protect. The rest of the team can easily toss the ball of life around, but the woods just kicked an upper 90 and told them to fuck the hell off.
Floundering across the terrain, Van only wishes for death. To be fair, a goalie is the last bastion a squad lives on. This time, it’s with less protecting her ticking clock against a win and more for an inevitable loss. This is where the swarm pairs down to a duo. Van feels the end is nigh and holding her team back is the opposite of her directive. Sometimes you have to take an L just to gain the W.
On a brighter note, we go to more blissful days, when Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) was wading at the pool in Bible Camp. Her choosing to dive in the shallow end is only a portent. Her miscalculation and blood, stain the water, as does her teammates’ faith in her farther along the path. We’ll come to that later.
As she’s resurrected, the poor girl only sees a Jesus cross upon a hot body. This is lust masked as fate, no faith. No. Fate.
At the cabin, Laura Lee wants a sign from a higher up, but she knows, whatever is going to be is going to be.
In her own homestead, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is confronted by her daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins), who found Adam’s driver’s license. This isn’t a good look for her, but attempting to tamp down her daughter’s ire is a futile attempt. This is especially a clusterfuck when her daughter’s digging came up with nothing on him. I guess that’s one more empty grave to dig up.
And just when she thinks she had been on the trail of her daughter’s snot-nosed, sorry, snub-nosed sleuthing, hubby (Warren Kole) arrives with a gift: Reunion Digs!
Back in the cabin, Travis (Kevin Alves) rebuffs Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), as he’s still embarrassed from duty performance wasn’t standing up, shall we say. This leaves Nat in a bid of a bind.
We’ll just transition to Natalie (Juliette Lewis) making herself up for a special date. Now that all she’s loved had left her there’s only one thing to do…
At the one river that isn’t blood-tinged, a younger Natalie meets up with Coach Scott (Steven Krueger), soaking the only foot he has left into the only source that is constant.
Speaking of which, Natalie only has one foot, so to speak, in the river. She knows Coach is gay and his secret is under lock and key with her. What she’s more interested in is Travis is… and he’s not, he’s just “shy.” Coach gives some of the most meaningful lines out of this scene and Steven plays the hell out of it.
Meanwhile, as Taissa dreadfully attempts to forge forward with a worse for ware Van, the half-dead protector basically pleads for the rest to go and seek help. She only wants to die. Tai won’t let that happen, but despite the pushback, they run for the cabin. It’s a hard scene to watch because you want someone to survive, but as you know, fresh meat can only last for so long.
Speaking of eating, as Jessica Roberts (Rekha Sharma) finishes the last of her meal, Misty (Christina Ricci) is getting a call. Oh, no, it’s not a phone call. It’s a call for help.
At the lake, as Travis disrobes to check the fish traps, Jackie (Ella Purnell) catches him. Knowing now what she does, it looks like baby-girl is wanting to spill the tea. Any tea… or more like just black water, which is just called bile.
Natalie’s hook-up for a ‘snowy day’ is there and Misty will have none of her backslidings. Nat’s not someone to fuck around with… and neither is Misty. Homegirl busts into the motel room and snorts up all of the cocaine, saving her from FUCKING UP THIS ENTIRE OPERATION!
It matters to none concerning Travis, who knows the truth. Jackie told him while checking the fishnets. The romance is cut as is Nat’s alliance with the team captain.
As Misty now tries to monitor her BPM’s, Natalie has a new soundtrack to go on. She is now privy to Travis going on the lam and his bank account emptied out before the ultimate demise. Misty was willing to take a bullet, in just. Sorry to say, Natalie took a bullet in the same way, under different circumstances.
At dinner, though the air is tense with Shauna’s family, an angel rings. It’s Taissa (Tawny Cypress) stopping by. I guess all constituents do this, right?
Tai confesses to sleepwalking and whether she chalks it up to nerves around the campaign or trauma, she’s afraid to hit the hay. To quote Morrissey, “This night has opened my eyes, and I will never sleep again.”
Shauna gives up Callie’s bed for Taissa, promising to keep watch over her.
Sleep is good. Sleep is essential… until you’re sleeping on somebody.
The bedraggled rest find nest back at the cabin. Tai and Van are gone and but a flare can survive them.
After one of the worst cheek stitching scenes that can rival Guillermo del Toro’s best, Van is sedated and Laura Lee knows her purpose.
Fixing up Callie’s bed, Shauna and Taissa get to gossip. They fancy on about their lives, where the things that happened didn’t happen. For all we know, Shau would’ve been in Brown University, writing and dating a French mime. For all we know, Tai… would have been exactly where she is at that very moment. Howard and Law School be damned… instincts are instincts.
Accomplishing goals and crushing dreams seems to be the modus operandi of these five, and so-
Given the knowledge that Misty dropped, Natalie goes apeshit without an answer to her question nary a tether to her lead. What friends does she have? These are called withdrawals… until she sees a bit of energy lain out on the carpet. That’s when the addict divorces from the rehabilitated…
Speaking of, coked-up Misty isn’t having any of Jessica’s ransom. You see, she, handcuffed to the bed, still was able to get hold of the Parrot that Misty holds so dear, named Caligula. Misty calls her bluff from snuffing it out, but before push comes to snap, a barrage of shit comes flying her way. With Jessica nearly dodging death and the bird leaving for life, the journalist sees that Misty is in a bad way. As Rick James once said, “Cocaine is a helluva drug.”
In the attic, Taissa tearfully tells the tale of what happened that fateful night to Shauna. Sleepwalking is a bitch. I used to do it. Never to this extent, but I was accused of doing it as a kid. Her guilt keeps her up now and the only rest is Shauna, cuddling her, vowing to keep watch.
With the present Shauna and Tai in bed, looking at each other, prices are made and are due to be paid. Shauna reveals she’s been stepping out, or rather, now, he’s been stepping IN. He makes her feel special, but the same can’t be said of Tai and her wife. It’s been one-sided, and this can only lead to…
…Shauna bringing Adam (Peter Gadiot) a coffee. Oh, this isn’t eggs and bacon either, though the grilling will be swift. He skirted by the Pratt Institute lie. He flirted with the association of being a free spirit. He proposed a getaway with a cabin in the woods. This will either bring out the sleeping beast or bring out the best in her. Either way, aren’t those really two sides of the same coin?
In the cabin, as the rest, well rest, Laura Lee doesn’t. She has a statement and GODDAMMNIT if the birds don’t hear.
She’s going for help from the dead dude’s plane. She’s read the manuals like a Bible, front to back. If a mission were a Mission, this is the time.
She wants Van to get immediate attention, but after reading her journal, fucking Jackie throws Shauna under the bus, spilling the beans on her preggo. Is it petty? Very. Is it smart? Very. Betrayal is in the wings and sadly, those are the only ones that can truly take flight.
Despite Coach Scott’s protestations, with a hellacious fire in her eyes, it’s now Laura Lee’s time to fly.
Just in time for thoroughly modern Natalie to crash in on Narcotics Anonymous. Oh, she didn’t sniff the sweet stuff, or did she? All we know is she wants her former sponsor to deep dive into Travis’ bank account or else they could get into their own shady past dealings. Taking notes, Jessica? That’s called leverage.
At base, the girls thwomp away at the vines that will make a runway, Jackie’s seeming kind of sketchy, and though Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) knows it, it’s all for the greater good.
Which is where we land with Taissa and her wife, Simone (Rukiya Bernard). There are things that are divulged and passes that need to take hold. She shoos her wife and son off for their safety.
Meanwhile, as Shauna gets ready for the big ball, she finds flecks of glitter in her closet. The person that ran away with the bag fell into a bit of glitter. Hmmm…
As Laura Lee embarks on her journey, this will be the closest to God she’ll ever fucking have, as the plane takes off, high into the sky, but despite their high hopes and blue skies, all must turn red and firey while Lottie (Courtney Eaton) goes in the lake and shouts to the heavens. I guess if she had to go out on ablaze, it was of His Glory.
Homecoming? So much for coming home.
We’re on the cusp of the penultimate. Having experienced our first true death in the squad, the stingers are coming out. It was fucked up for Jackie to spout Shauna’s shit under the guise of ‘looking out for the baby’ but it was also shitty for Taissa to keep Van alive in such a cold world… and it’s only about to get colder.
