The Yellowjackets lastly did the factor. 

After Yellowjackets teased a descent into cannibalism for an entire season, the workforce lastly sinks their enamel into Jackie (Ella Purnell) in Season 2 episode 2, aptly titled “Edible Advanced.” The scene is as gruesomely chaotic as you’d hoped it’s, with the ladies succumbing to the scent of Jackie’s roasting physique in their very own twisted model of a final supper. Whereas Jackie’s demise was closely foreshadowed in Season 1’s finale and even Season 2’s first episode, attentive followers might have seen this coming from the present’s pilot episode because of a neat little clue — Jackie’s necklace. 

Jackie’s necklace was first seen on Pit Woman.
Credit score: Screenshot Hulu/SHOWTIME.

The present’s very first episode begins with a grim scene that gave us a glimpse of what the workforce would flip into after months within the wilderness. A faceless brunette lady, unofficially dubbed “Pit Woman” by followers, is proven operating — or maybe being chased — by the snowy woods, earlier than she falls to her dying in a pit of picket spikes. Her physique will get dragged off by figures in uncanny costumes to what can solely be described as a cult ritual led by the “Antler Queen” (whom we now presume to be Lottie (Courtney Eaton). Whereas we do not but know the identification of Pit Woman, the digital camera lingers lengthy sufficient on her physique to point out she’s sporting Jackie’s necklace. Contemplating Jackie’s munched-up destiny, it is potential her necklace has taken on an entire new that means. 

We first understand the necklace is initially Jackie’s when she lends it to Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) earlier than their fateful flight takes off, as luck appeal that’ll defend her. Effectively, the workforce’s aircraft crashed proper after the trade, so maybe it is extra of a hex than the rest. Plus, since Jackie was sporting the necklace when she died and we see Pit Woman later sporting that very same necklace, it is completely potential that it is grow to be an emblem of one thing rather more for the ladies. The necklace might additionally a strategy to establish their subsequent sufferer, not not like the way in which cows are tagged earlier than heading to slaughter.

We’re additionally seeing a brand new facet to Lottie’s spiritualism this season as she refines her totally different rituals and beliefs, in addition to getting the others to hitch in. And if we understood something from Lottie’s cryptic French declaration in Season 1’s finale — “Shed blood, my stunning mates, and let the darkness set us free” —  it is that blood should be sacrificed for them to outlive, and that the whole lot the forest offers them should be returned to it not directly. 

Understanding Lottie’s perception system is vital as a result of whereas Jackie’s physique was burning, one thing within the forest dumped an avalanche of snow in simply the fitting place to snuff out the pyre, slow-cooking Jackie’s flesh as a substitute. The scent of roasting meat and their ravenous our bodies’ response overrode any lingering disgust over this main taboo. The workforce takes this as an indication from the wilderness, justifying that it needs them to eat her, so utilizing Jackie’s necklace as a tag could possibly be one other side of the ritual Lottie cooks up (so to talk). Putting her necklace on every of their victims is also an honorary tribute that is half of a bigger sacrificial ritual. It is type of just like the Might Queen’s getup in Midsommar, a fancy dress you historically put on for a ceremony of passage. 

By marking every of their victims with Jackie’s necklace, the Yellowjackets aren’t simply figuring out who they’ll eat subsequent; they’re additionally concurrently honoring the wilderness for displaying them the way in which.

Whereas rather a lot remains to be unclear on the earth of Yellowjackets, one factor’s for certain: Whoever’s caught sporting Jackie’s necklace subsequent must be fearful. 

Yellowjackets Season 2 is streaming on Showtime, with new episodes streaming weekly on Fridays(Opens in a brand new tab). Episodes additionally air each Sunday on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET.