Yellowjackets season three, episode eight, “A Normal, Boring Life,” sure was anything other than normal and boring. In fact, this episode was as unhinged as we’ve seen Yellowjackets to date. As we start to get into the endgame of season three, we get some answers about the mysteries of this chapter. However, we also receive many major new questions. Here is our recap of Yellowjackets season three, episode eight, and all the big revelations and new quandaries we have after watching.
Revelations From the Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 8—“A Normal, Boring Life”
Past Timeline: Travis Admits He Doesn’t Believe in It and Just Made Up That Akilah Was a Prophet
As we suspected, in episode eight of Yellowjackets season three, Travis has fessed that he doesn’t really believe in It or the Wilderness powers. He tells Akilah that she isn’t a prophet and that he just made it all up. “It’s not real,” he says, noting they were drinking mushrooms or huffing gas fumes not communing with forest powers. Travis has seemed like the consummate wilderness believer, so it’s interesting that he’s finally come clean that it’s all been a show. Even more interesting is that he does so when finally in the presence of an external masculine force.
Past Timeline: Tai, Lottie, and Van All Want to Stay in the Wilderness Instead of Trying to Find Rescue
Akilah leads the team to Joel McHale’s Kodi and they take him back to camp. Kodi says he can help them escape and for a time, the team seems very excited. But reservations emerge. Lottie feels it’s not right to leave, that they wouldn’t be safe back in civilization. And she’s not fully wrong. Tai feels that if they leave the wilderness, she and Van can’t be together, and she is definitely not wrong. Shauna has “a bad feeling” and she’s probably just worried she’ll end up with a boring life and not in charge anymore.
Tai, Lottie, and Van refuse to leave with the team when the time comes to start heading toward the rescue point. Nat says they’re leaving anyway, but Shauna intends to stop them.
Present Timeline: Adult Melissa is Alive and Is Played by Hilary Swank
Suprise! Even though we were told Melissa was dead, it turns out that she’s alive. On Yellowjackets season three, episode eight, we get to meet adult Melissa, played by Hilary SwankOpens in a new tab. Melissa, now going by Kelly, has married the daughter of biologist Hannah, and they have a child together. Melissa claims her life is boring, totally normal, and absolutely amazing. Too bad Shauna has arrived to ruin it.
Present Timeline: Melissa Did Not Die in the Wilderness, but Faked Her Own Death After Rescue
If Melissa is not dead, how come all the adult Yellowjackets think she is? Well in “A Normal, Boring Life,” we learn that Melissa actually was rescued from the wilderness. It was only after rescue that she faked her own death, leaving a suicide note and running away. She claims she wasn’t part of the Yellowjackets team after they returned to civilization, and she was truly scared of Shauna. Shauna is curious if Melissa is still in love with her, and we’re pretty sure that’s a hard no.
Present Timeline: Melissa Sent Shauna the Tape as a Way to Deal with Her Guilt
It turns out that Melissa did send Shauna the mysterious tapeOpens in a new tab that’s been plaguing us all season. But Melissa claims that it was not meant as a threat. Instead, she reveals to us on, that she actually sent a note explaining the tape to Shauna. Did Callie miss the note? Or did she hide it? Or could Melissa actually be lying about sending the tape to Shauna with good intentions? It’s hard to say.
Regardless, according to Melissa, she sent Shauna the tape in order to unburden herself on the orders of her therapist or therapist-adjacent figure, Barbara. Melissa claims that after she saw the news about Lottie’s cult and Nat’s death, she was getting nightmares and feeling guilty all over again about what the Yellowjackets did in the wilderness. And she needed to do something in order for them to end. For Melissa, that something was sending Shauna the mystery tape.
Present Timeline: The Yellowjackets Killed Hannah
Shauna refers to Hannah as “a woman we killed,” while talking to Melissa. We guess it’s bad news for Hannah in the wilderness.
Present Timeline: Tai Wants to Kill in Order to Save Van
We kind of already knew this, but Tai is really into her belief that if she kills someone, Van will live. We’re not sure this belief will hold up to scrutiny. Tai doesn’t kill anyone, but they die as she hesitates about whether she should or not. Very mysterious, but at this point it feels coincidental.
Present Timeline: We Learn Other Tai Has Locked Away Normal Tai
We also suspected this, but confirms for us that evil/other Tai has locked Tai away in her mind. Tai begs to be let out saying only she can save Van, but evil Tai does not release her.
Present Timeline: Shauna Is Flat-Out Insane (And Tries to Feed Melissa Her Own Skin)
Uhmmmm. We receive an important revelation in “A Normal, Boring Life.” Shauna is flat-out insane. We had inklings of this before, but it is totally apparent now. At the end of the episode, Shauna straddles Melissa and tries to feed her a piece of her own skin? What. We’ll need a minute after this.
Questions From the Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 8—“A Normal, Boring Life”
Past Timeline: How Will Shauna Stop Natalie and the Rest of the Survivors From Leaving?
Shauna intends to stop Nat, the rest of the team, Hannah, and Kodi from leaving to hike to the rescue point. But how does she plan to do this? We suppose if she killed Kodi, everyone would be stuck. But it seems like a bit of a difficult thing to do, considering that Nat and Travis are armed. We felt like the team might break off into factions at some point. Is this the splitting point?
Present Timeline: Who Is Barbara?
Melissa can’t really clearly identify who her therapist is, which does raise some flags. Her therapist Barbara isn’t a doctor, or really a therapist, she sounds more like a life coach. And that’s kind of a risky friend to confess all your dark and sometimes criminal secrets to.
Present Timeline: Is Anyone Trying to Kill Shauna?
Throughout Yellowjackets season three, it seems like someone has been trying to kill Shauna. But this episode casts some major doubt on that. Has Shauna just been imagining bad things happening to her? Did she set them up for herself? Or is there really someone out there trying to kill Shauna and now we’re being gaslit by the show.
Present Timeline: Did Shauna Kill Lottie?
Misty thinks Shauna killed Lottie. And after witnessing Shauna’s bout of rage in, we feel like she really might have done the deed. She was furious at Lottie after all. And the DNA matched.
Present Timeline: Will Shauna Now Kill All the Adult Survivors?
Shauna seems to arrive at a terrifying conclusion at the end of the episode. That the only way to really be safe from secrets spilling is to be “the only one left.” It sounds kind of like Shauna wants to be the only one left at that. Are the other adult Yellowjackets safe? Will Shauna kill Melissa? Anything seems possible.
YellowjacketsOpens in a new tab season three only has two more episodes left, who knows where the story could go.
Previous Recaps: Premiere/Episodes One and TwoOpens in a new tab, Episode ThreeOpens in a new tab, Episode FourOpens in a new tab, Episode FiveOpens in a new tab, Episode SixOpens in a new tab, Episode SevenOpens in a new tab
