Yellowjacketsis a show that offers its audience a wealth of thought-provoking content.
Im not above picking my favorite cannibal and rooting for them until the end.
When a new queen hatches, the first thing she does is sting all the other unborn queens.
Custom Image by Nimesh Niyomal
There areonly three core Yellowjackets left: Shauna,Taissa(Tawny Cypress), and Misty.
The show winding down to one survivor makes sense for its current trajectory.
She’s always been positioned as an outsider, as she isnt even on the Yellowjackets team officially.
Image via Showtime
Instead, she serves as an assistant toCoach Ben Scott(Steven Krueger).
Think of Coach Ben as patient zero of Mistys test run of weaponized Munchausen’s by proxy.
Their dynamic is an escalation of the “Good Nurse” persona that masks her delusional and violent traits.
Image via Showtime
But this isnt enough for Misty.
She plans to drug Ben again and assault him.
I have no choice but to call a party foul.
Becoming a nurse is a continuation of Misty’s facade.
All of this is to say: Misty is always thinking at least three steps ahead.
It extends to her personal life.
Image via Showtime
Early on, Misty feigns car trouble so a bad date can continue with a ride home.
I was already physically and spiritually cringing as Misty tried on her ill-fitting flirtation persona.
But, classic Misty, she pushes it further.
A wildly talented high school girls' soccer team become the unlucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Canadian wilderness.
When Ben dies, Misty is without purpose.
She needs to be needed.
To Misty, this coercion translates to an unbreakable bond.
They share hobbies and interests.
They sing together, and Crystal even offers to be Mistys acting coach.
Misty knows (briefly) what it is to have a best friend.
(I would recognize the distinct mania of musical theater twin souls anywhere.)
As all best friends do, they share secrets.
But Crystal doesnt respond to Mistys confession about the transmitter in the way Misty expects.
With snowfall set to cover the body, Misty walks away.
Even when her sadistic tendencies get out of her control, she improvises.
Instead of Crystal’s death setting Misty on a different path, it emboldens her.
Misty lies better and faster moving forward.
In the adult timeline, she revels in kidnapping, murder, and hiding bodies.
The adult timeline could finally match the darkness that fans have seen in the wilderness.
Newly skilled in the art of acting, teen Misty pretends to have lost Crystal in the snowstorm.
Her relationship with Crystal bleeds into the adult timeline.
Misty is the accelerant in the chain reaction that kills Javi (Luciano Leroux).
When Natalie tries to save Javi, the other girls run forward to help.
It’s Misty who stops Natalie and holds the line.
She lies to the rest of the survivors, Lotties pleased with the Wildernesss choice.
She says Javi will save us.
With falsified authority, she re-confirms cannibalism as a path forward.
She even hands Shauna the butchering knife.
As a teenager and adult, Misty enjoys the idea of being a savior for the group.
WhenTaissas grief over Vanleads her to blame Shauna solely for all their suffering, Misty is happy to agree.
Through Mistys warped logic, helping the Yellowjackets hunt and even killing one another is the same as belonging.
She never needed the wilderness to believe that.
Misty is my worst nightmare and she’s thriving.
She’s thriving and I, for one, am scared.
Under stress,Taissa fractures, reflected in the existence of Other Tai.
With bitter irony,Misty will remain alone.
