I often think I would do things differently when I watch a horror movie. For example, I would not run upstairs if the killer were chasing me, or I would “double tap” if I was the Final Girl. However, I think Yellowjackets was the first show; I simply could not do that. I cannot return to my teenage mindset and rationalize if I would do things differently. So, today I am excited to give you the season one recap of the show that has stumped me. If you have not seen the entirety of season one, please return when you have to avoid spoilers!
Cast
Below is a table of the main cast and the actors/actresses who played the adult and teenage version of their characters.
| Character | Adult Actor/Actress | Teen Actor/Actress |
| Shauna Shipman | Melanie Lynskey | Sophie Nélisse |
| Taissa Turner | Tawny Cypress | Jasmin Savoy Brown |
| Jackie Taylor | Not in Season One | Ella Purnell |
| Coach Ben | Steven Krueger | N/A |
| Jeff Sadecki | Warren Kole | Jack DePew |
| Misty Quigley | Christina Ricci | Samantha Hanratty |
| Natalie “Nat” Scatorccio | Juliette Lewis | Sophie Thatcher |
| Lottie Matthews | Not in Season One | Courtney Eaton |
| Vanessa “Van” Palmer | Not in Season One | Liv Hewson |
| Travis Martinez | Not in Season One | Kevin Alves |
| Laura Lee | Not in Season One | Jane Widdop |
There is also a table of reoccurring characters and their respective actors/actresses.
| Character | Actor/Actress |
| Jessica Roberts | Rekha Sharma |
| Mari | Alexa Barajas |
| Akilah | Keeya King |
| Callie Sadecki | Sarah Desjardins |
| Simone Abara | Rukiya Bernard |
| Sammy Abara-Turner | Aiden Stoxx |
| Adam Martin | Peter Gadiot |
| Kevyn Tan | Alex Wyndham |
| Javi Martinez | Luciano Leroux |
A Day in the Life of a Teenager in Yellowjackets
Pre-Crash
This season has a lot of time jumps, so we will start with the teenage timeline before jumping into the adult one. The story began in 1996 and centered around a high school girls’ soccer team, the Yellowjackets. Jackie Taylor is the captain and best friends with Shauna Shipman. As the girls prepare for a big party, Jackie tells Shauna she should date Randy, a boy Shauna deems gross. Shauna seems insulted by this comment. After the party, Shauna has relations with Jackie’s boyfriend, Jeff Sadecki.
Post-Crash
The team then boards an expensive private plane, thanks to Lottie Mathew’s dad, and heads to nationals! This includes Coach Ben, Coach Bill, and Couch Bill’s two sons, Travis and Javi. Unfortunately, as the plane approached the Canadian mountains, it suddenly crashed. Coach Bill died during the crash, and Misty Quigley, the team’s equipment manager, takes charge. She amputated Couch Ben’s leg and took care of the remaining survivors. Pleased to be of help and no longer made fun of, she destroyed the plane’s black box. She was prolonging this crazed adventure.
Leaving The Crash Site
After writing an SOS message on the side of the plane, the team finds a cabin in the woods. Here they also see an abandoned aircraft. Lottie has run out of medication for an undisclosed condition, and things get weird. She began having visions of possible future events and confided in Laura Lee. Laura Lee is the religious one of the group, concluding that these visions are from God.
Luckily, the cabin belonged to a hunter who left behind a gun. So Coach Ben held a competition to see who were the best shots. Travis and Natalie Scatorccio take home the gold! This triggers flashbacks for Natalie, where she threatened her abusive father with a gun. He subsequently shot himself after mocking her gun-handling skills. Travis and Natalie became an item, and the rest of the group blamed them for the lack of food. Taissa Turner and Vanessa “Van” Palmer also have a secret romance.
Misty had a massive crush on Coach Ben and attempted to poison him. He believes she is exhibiting Munchausen’s Syndrome as she cares for him. In an attempt to save his life, he leads Misty to think he feels the same way but cannot act on his desires. Later, Natalie learns that Coach Ben is gay.
The red tide made its way to the camp to all the girls except Shauna because she was pregnant with Jeff’s baby. She faked having her period putting deer blood on her makeshift pad. Taissa witnessed this but assured Shauna she would keep it a secret. Shauna attempted to abort the pregnancy herself, but Taissa stopped her.
The Yellowjackets Split the Party
Taissa, Van, Misty, Mari, and Akilah attempted to head South. Before their journey, Lottie warned Van of a vision. First, Lottie saw red smoke and a river of blood. Next, the girls encountered a red creek that was too toxic to drink, and the red smoke would be the flare gun. Finally, wolves overtook the party and mutilated Van’s face. The team returned to the cabin to stitch Van back up.
Jackie and Shauna encountered turmoil. Jackie felt her BFF was being distant. So, Shauna lied and said she was pregnant with Randy’s baby. However, Jackie did not like that answer and read Shauna’s diary. Here she learned that Jeff was the father. Upset with her best friend, Jackie then told Travis that Natalie had hooked up with his bully. This caused Natalie and Travis to break up. Shauna is then forced to tell the group about her pregnancy. After all this pot-stirring, Laura Lee decided after reading the plane’s manual she would attempt to fly it. Unfortunately, the aircraft exploded shortly after takeoff with Laura Lee inside.
After Laura Lee’s death, Mari shared that she had been fermenting berries. The team decided to have a Doomscoming since they will miss Homecoming. Taissa made matching masks for her and Van. They unveil their relationship during the party. Finally, Misty planned on poisoning Coach Ben with magic mushrooms. First, however, they make their way into the communal stew.
Doomscoming Gets Wild
The mixture of mushrooms and strange berry wine turns the girls animalistic. Natalie did not partake in the wine and went to make amends with Travis. Instead, however, he slept with sober Jackie. Word got back to camp that Jackie “took something that didn’t belong to her.” The girls go nuts. Shauna seemed ready to kill Travis. Luckily, Natalie stopped it from escalating. Javi then ran away, terrified of the situation.
The camp is full of anger at this point. However, that changed when a bear walked up to the group. Lottie took a knife and took it down, securing food for a while. Then, Travis and Natalie made up while searching for Javi. Here, Travis told Natalie he loved her.
Finally, Van suggested the group pray for whatever led the bear their way during dinner. Jackie is over everything and goes outside to sleep after telling the group Shauna is pregnant with Jeff’s baby. Shauna contemplated going to retrieve her but decided against it. Upon waking up, the forest is covered in snow. Jackie froze over the night. Seemingly unfazed by this revelation, Lottie, Van, and Misty place the bear’s heart in a hollow tree stump.
Yellowjackets in 2021
Now we meet some of the modern-day Yellowjackets. It starts with reporter Jessica Roberts offering Shauna a book deal. Jessica wants the scoop on what happened during the 18 months the team was in the wild. Shauna explained that the group told the press everything to know, and she no longer keeps in touch with anyone else. Shauna is married to Jeff, and the pair have a teenage daughter Callie. She also keeps her journals and contact information for the other survivors in a safe.
Taissa is now married to Simone, and the pair have a young son named Sammy. She is running for Senator of New Jersey. Shauna reaches out to Taissa sharing news about the reporter. Taissa is also helping care for Natalie. She paid for the rehab Natalie was recently discharged from.
Natalie finds Misty and confronts her about a postcard. It has a picture of the Rockies with the strange symbol in the woods. Misty explains that she received one and has no clue where it came from. So, the two team up, albeit against Natalie’s wishes. They decided to pay a visit to Travis.
Mysteries
As the new detective team investigates, the pair runs into Natalie’s friend Kevin. He is a real detective and hopes they can catch up sometime. The following day, they head to Travis’s home only to be taken in by the cops for trespassing. After Kevin bails them out, they go to Travis’s work. Unfortunately, they find him dead, and a note saying, “Tell Natalie she was right.”
Jessica was working for Taissa the whole time. She was ensuring the other survivors would not talk about their experiences. Simone and Taissa begin fighting because Sammie displays concerning behavior. He began covering his window so the “lady in the tree” could not see him. The word “SPILL” is painted in red across their front door. The paint can is later found under Sammie’s bed.
Shauna and Adam
Shauna gets into an accident involving Adam. He flirts with her a bit, but she is in love with her husband, Jeff. That is until she finds a text on Jeff’s phone from a woman named Bianca. Assuming the worst, she follows Jeff and sees him leaving a hotel with an attractive woman. This is where her affair with Adam begins.
On Halloween night, Shauna lied to her family, saying she would attend book club. However, she went to an actual club with Adam. Callie spots the couple and is disgusted. She believes Adam is only interested in her mom because of the Yellowjackets.
Blackmail
Natalie is convinced that Travis’s death was not a suicide like the police claim. Kevin shares that the tox report showed that Travis was sober at death. Natalie was then able to get the crime scene photos. After reviewing them, she sees candles where placed to mimic that symbol. Afterward, Natalie and Taissa get texts demanding $50k in cash.
Natalie gets the money by selling her car, and another text arrives saying to drop off the money at 2 am. After a romp, Natalie stole Kevin’s gun and met up with Taissa and Shauna. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Taissa is the “lady in the tree.” She sends her family somewhere safe because her trances prove to be dangerous.
Shauna, Taissa, and Natalie meet up and place a tracker in the money bag. After they begin tracking their blackmailer, they fall into some glitter. Natalie fires two shoots at the crook, but they miss. After their misadventure, Shauna finds Adam in front of her house. The two sleep together, and Adam must hide in the closet upon Jeff’s arrival home. Additionally, Kevin wakes up to find two shots missing from his gun and breaks things off with Natalie.
Misty goes off the deep end and kidnaps Jessica. This is when Misty finds out that Taissa hired Jessica. Getting deeper into her serial killer phase, Misty laces chocolates with fentanyl and threatens to send them to Jessica’s dad. Instead, the two “bond” and Jessica reveals that Travis’s bank account was drained after his death. Fearing that Jessica will go to the police upon her release, Misty drugs her cigarettes. As Jessica drives away, she overdoses. Misty then gives this information to Natalie, who blackmails her old sponsor, who happens to be a banker, to tell her who drained the account.
The End of Adam
Shauna finds glitter in her closet and thinks Adam left it there, making him the blackmailer. Her safe is also empty, so she calls his old school. Unfortunately, he was never a student at the university he claimed to attend. Then, she goes to his apartment to confront him, where she finds magazines about the Yellowjackets. Assuming he is a fanatic, she grabs a knife and stabs him.
After returning home, Shauna finds out that Jeff is the blackmailer. He needed money to give to his loan shark Bianca. Shauna, obviously feeling guilty, spills the beans to Jeff. After he says he will take the fall, the two pin the blackmail on Adam. Misty, Natalie, and Taissa help clean up the crime scene.
The four go to their high school reunion and look stunning. Taissa wins her election, while her wife discovers Taissa killed the family dog. Natalie then believes that Travis’s death was no suicide and decides to end her life. However, before she can do so, she is kidnapped by three unknown assailants. Finally, Suzie, Natalie’s old sponsor, calls to tell her someone named Lottie was the one to drain the account.
Odds and Ends
If you made it down here, congratulations! This was an extensive recap full of details we may need for season two. If you want to rewatch the episodes, be sure to hit Showtime. New episodes of Yellowjackets airs Sunday nights at 9 pm EST.
