As a young adult woman who has a deep interest in psychological thrillers and has watched almost every season of the show Survivor, it was only a matter of time before my Yellowjackets obsession began. The show Yellowjackets is inspired by the true story of the soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes and in order to survive had to sadly cannibalize each other. But this story is with a hoard of teenage girls, the Canadian wilderness, and may or may not involve a supernatural entity compelling them to eat each other for funsies. Yellowjackets is split between the past, the girls stranded in the 90s, and the present, the survivors as adults dealing with the trauma. The show is full of cliffhangers (literally RIP Crystal aka Kristen), unanswered questions, and twists and turns that make viewers’ stomachs literally twist and turn. With the amazing details and storyline of the show, comes a large fanbase who loves coming up with theories surrounding each episode. Reddit, Tik Tok, Youtube, and many other social media platforms are flooded with fans’ thoughts on how the show will play out now that season three is finally out. Fans have even been able to predict real storylines that come in fruition, like hikers showing up at the girls camp in the fall and the Yellowjackets ruin their chance at rescue. While all theories are valid, there are some that I personally believe are more likely than others to be true. So here are my opinions about the Yellowjackets theories from most to least believable.
Crashing near a mining site
The first theory that I wholeheartedly believe is that the Yellowjackets team’s plane crashed on an illegal mercury mining site. There have been multiple clues throughout the show that this theory is in fact a huge possibility. In season one, when the girls are hiking to find some sort of civilization they come across a “river of blood” (as Lottie’s vision predicted). Fans think that this could be toxic runoff containing mercury or other heavy metals, which could also explain how the compass wasn’t working correctly. The girls have been drinking this water and eating animals who also have been drinking this water, causing them to get mercury poisoning. The symptoms of mercury poison include irritability, excitability, insomnia, mental confusion, and emotional disturbances. This could explain the girl’s actions like Taissa’s sleepwalking or the girl’s hallucinations. Mercury poisoning also causes strange behavior in animals, explaining the birds randomly falling out of the sky and the bear walking up to them slowly. Van’s cancer could be from mercury as well. Also, it is thought that the infamous symbol is a map of the mine shaft. Overall I think this theory is the most logical out of the ones I have heard online, don’t tell Lottie.
Taissa started the fire in the cabin
Another theory that I think is a huge possibility is that the suspected person who burned down the cabin at the end of season two leaving the team homeless, was in fact the “Other Tai”. Throughout the series, Tai has struggled in the wilderness with sleepwalking and completely personality switching into the “Other Tai”. This other side of her would do strange things in the night like consume copious amounts of dirt and walk, the woods finding trees with the unknown symbol carved in them, and even leading Van to find Javi after he had been missing for months. Yellowjackets fan’s theorize that despite the team thinking Coach Ben lit the cabin on fire, that Tai did it while sleepwalking and somehow Van knows. This can be seen through all the imagery around Van and fire. She hallucinated the cabin on fire while in the gaseous cave and her younger self lighting her hospital bed on fire while she was hospitalized for her cancer. This could also be why Van voted Coach Ben guilty during the trail they held about the fire, so she could protect Tai.
Hilary Swank is Melissa
When Hilary Swank was announced to be a part of the cast of Yellowjackets, there was a lot of discourse about who she was going to play or how she was going to fit in the storyline. After the second episode, the background character Melissa was becoming more relevant in the story with her new relationship blooming with Shauna. Her new angry and intense personality intrigues Melissa and they have a heated makeout where Shauna holds a knife to her throat. Needless to say, the lesbian fanbase was happy about that one. Shauna in the present day gets anonymously sent a tape with the symbol on it and a phone that plays the song “Queen of Hearts”, which had fans pointing fingers towards Melissa. It was widely accepted that Hillary Swank was going to end up being Melissa because of her making more of an impact in the storyline, but in the most recent episode “Croak”, Shauna thinks she was getting harassed by one of the hiker’s (frog scientist Hannah) daughter Alex making Swank her character, but I and other fans have doubts. I personally believe that it is still Melissa because of the guilty face Shauna makes when Tai says she has been dead for years. In the rescue scene not only can you clearly hear a reporter say the name “Melissa”, but you can see her iconic pink hat in the background. What I believe is the “terrible thing” the girl’s keep hinting they did when they got back, was try and kill Melissa. I think Shauna somehow lets her live without the other’s knowing. I think she brought the tape back because , as Tai states, she was close with Hannah who hid the tape and probably told her where it was so Melissa can take it back to her kid. We know that Hannah died in the wilderness, so the only way the tape could make it back is if someone else knew where it was, vis-à-vis Melissa, her bestie.
There is a Supernatural Element aka “IT”
The biggest debate surrounding Yellowjackets is if there is some supernatural force compelling the girl’s (and Travis) to spill blood and obey the ways of the wilderness or “It”, so they can survive. While there are some elements of paranormal activity like Lottie’s connection to the force like her possessions during the seance or how when they spill blood they seemingly are “rewarded” by the wilderness in some way shape or form. This could well be a possibility, but I personally believe that Shauna was right when she said “you know there is no ‘It’ right, ‘It’ was just us.” I think that the Yellowjackets have experienced an immense amount of trauma that they all share, which is why could cause shared delusions of there being an entity. I believe that everything they have endured and their actions are a result of psychological coping mechanisms and distress. I think this also makes a more interesting narrative than an unexplainable supernatural force. While I love watching the team do cult rituals and listen to animalistic the ways of the wilderness, my logical mind says “they crazy”
Callie is Pit Girl
Lastly a theory that I have yet to be able to get behind is, Callie is “Pit Girl”. In the beginning of the whole Yellowjackets series, we see a scene of a girl with long black hair in a white silky dress running through a wintery forest. It’s clear she is running from something, judging by the cries and animal noises coming from behind her. She runs for her life, but sadly not for long. The girl falls through a trap into a pit full of fashioned spears and spikes. Overlooking the girls is an ominous masked figure, in pink converse. Flashes of the “Pit Girl” are shown, the golden heart necklace around her neck, her being strung up and butchered, and a group of masked figures surrounding another figure known as “Antler Queen”. They viciously grab at chunks of meat, alluding to the fact that they have been harvested from “Pit Girl”. The identity of the “Pit Girl” is still unknown, but fans have had many theories on which one of the girl’s it could be. It has bounced from Lottie (but she survives #futurecultleader), Mari, Gen, and a lot of people think it could be the frog scientist Hannah. One of the characters I have yet to picture down in that pit that some people have speculated is Shauna’s daughter, Callie. Signs leading to Callie is that she fits the physical description and Lottie gifted her the golden heart necklace “Pit Girl” wears. I believe the necklace was a red herring to the audience because logically Callie doesn’t make sense. Callie truth sayers have been saying that the “Pit Girl” scene is split between present and past, but I don’t believe this to be true because of the number of survivors. The day of the hunt was the day they were rescued because there were eight survivors around the fire, Shauna, Tai, Nat, Misty, Van, Lottie, Travis and one unknown. This leaves characters like Akliah, Gen, Robin, Mari, Melissa, and Hannah either a seat at the table or the fate of the pit/ a death before. In order for there to be eight at least five girls need to die, so logically it has to be one of the Yellowjackets in the role of “Pit Girl” and not Callie.