Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 4.
After the fever dream-esque third episode of Yellowjackets Season 3, we were left on the edge of our seats in anticipation of the inevitable showdown between the team and Coach Ben (Steven Krueger). It was only a matter of time before Coach had to face the team, and Episode 4 puts him on the chopping block in the most brilliant way: a makeshift trial led by arguably his biggest ally, Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). In fact, the entirety of the wilderness timeline follows the trial, leaving Coach Ben’s fate in the air on more than one occasion. Meanwhile, the adult timeline is haunted by familiar ghosts and a twist ending that will change everything.
Tai and Van Decide to Make the Most of Their Time Together in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
In the Season 2 finale, after Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) death, Lottie (Simone Kessell) ominously said, “It’s pleased with us. You’ll see.” This line comes back in Season 3 when Taissa (Tawny Cypress) calls Lottie, asking what she meant by that. Lottie, however, says she doesn’t even remember saying that, and is rather quick to brush it off and hang up on Tai. We later see Tai and Van (Lauren Ambrose) sitting outside a café on a busy sidewalk, where Van groans that this “might be their stupidest idea yet,” to which Tai replies that it’s only a stupid idea if no one sees it, but if something happens and “It” chooses it, will be worth it. It’s unclear at first what they’re doing, but then they buy a deck of cards from a newsstand and pull out the Queen of Hearts before placing it on the ground and walking away. If someone picks the card up and takes it with them, they’ll consider that “It” choosing someone.
A woman steps on the card first, and it gets stuck to her shoe, but she pulls it off just as Tai and Van believe it to be a sign. Next, a little girl picks it up, but her mother makes her drop it. Finally, a man picks it up and pockets it, to the bewilderment of Tai and Van. They don’t have time to question it, immediately deciding to follow him. They end up following him into his building, but pause outside his apartment door, even though it’s unlocked, which Tai considers to be another sign. Van is feeling extremely guilty about what they’re planning to do to the man, but Tai says she wants more time with her, so they have to do it. But as much as Van wants the time too, she doesn’t want it like this, and asks Tai if they can just enjoy the time they do have. Reluctantly, Tai agrees, but she asks Van to meet her at the park in an hour.
That night, at the park, Tai asks Van to buy her a pretzel because, back when they were teenagers, Van said that she wanted to take Tai to New York one day, buy her a pretzel, and take her for a ride in a horse carriage. Said carriage is already waiting for them, but when Van pays for the pretzels, there’s a noticeable tremor in her hands that she tries to pass off as adrenaline. Tai doesn’t buy it, but decides to drop the subject in favor of Van’s earlier approach of enjoying the time they do have.
Shauna and Jeff Try to Change Their Karma in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
After her brakes failed in last week’s episode, causing her and Misty (Christina Ricci) to make a detour through a park of picnicking families, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Jeff (Warren Kole) take their van to an auto shop. Shauna assumes the brakes were cut, specifically by Misty, but apparently, the brake booster just failed and it’s an easy fix. Jeff calls it karma for all the things they’ve done lately and, when they get home, immediately dedicates himself to trying to counter it with good deeds. He’s donating things to Goodwill, he’s planning to track down a missing cat (despite it being missing for two years), and he’s also signed all of them up for volunteer work. Callie (Sarah Desjardins) immediately removes herself from the equation and says she doesn’t care about her karma, leaving it to Jeff and Shauna to fix things. Unbeknownst to Shauna, however, Jeff has signed them up to volunteer at the assisted living facility where Misty works.
As soon as Misty spots Shauna, the pair start arguing, with Misty asking if Shauna has come with her tail between her legs, ready to apologize. Shauna isn’t budging, even though she was wrong, and only ends up digging a deeper hole for herself because Misty just so happens to be in charge of their volunteer service. She decides to put Shauna on tapioca duty, claiming it’s “better than an apology” that she gets to boss them around like this. Unfortunately for Misty, Shauna enjoys making the tapioca, despite Misty making her do it in the hopes it would feel monotonous and boring. Later, in the facility kitchen, Misty tells Shauna that all she wants is an apology, and at first, it seems like she’s going to get it — but then Shauna says that she’s sorry for not knowing why she should be sorry, and Misty snaps. She spots a nearby knife and lunges at Shauna, stabbing her in the back. Of course, this ends up being a hallucination. But the fact that she imagined at all is enough of a warning sign for her that she’s getting too worked up and she needs to leave.
Shauna Is Haunted By a Familiar Face in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
After Misty storms out, Shauna is putting away food prep in the walk-in freezer when she knocks over a container of frozen burger patties. As she’s cleaning them up, the door shuts behind her, and while she initially believes someone just accidentally closed her in, it soon becomes clear it was no accident at all. The door isn’t budging and no one is standing on the other side to immediately let her out. She tries beating the handle with a big slab of meat — but it’s no use, she’s stuck in there, and she’s starting to get cold. That’s when she gets a startling visitor: Jackie (Ella Purnell), who greets Shauna with a chilling “Nice one, Shipman,” and watches with a laugh as Shauna repeatedly bangs on the door and screams to be let out.
Jackie later muses that “Maybe this is how it was always meant to end for you. Frozen and left for dead, just like me.” It’s a terrifying thought, especially since Shauna has been haunted by her guilt surrounding Jackie’s death from the very beginning. But then Jackie throws in another interesting tidbit, telling Shauna that someone is trying to hurt her for what she did in the wilderness and what she did when she got back. Shauna asks why Jackie can’t just leave her alone, but Jackie points out that she doesn’t actually want her to because she’s still the most interesting thing about her. Their conversation is cut short when Randy (Jeff Holman), who’s also volunteering that day, walks into the kitchen and overhears Shauna banging on the door, letting her out and effectively getting rid of Ghost Jackie for the time being.
Shauna immediately marches to the front desk so that she can accuse Misty of locking her in the freezer, but the woman working there tells her Misty has already left for the day, which puts everything into perspective. Suddenly realizing Jeff might have been right about their karma, Shauna makes her own attempt to earn some good karma by driving all the way to Manhattan and adopting a cat. She plans to bring it to the owners of the missing one, even though she’s pretty positive the actual cat is most definitely dead by this point. Jeff points out that lying to the family is pretty twisted and doesn’t exactly help their karma, but he does agree that it’s thoughtful, so maybe she still gets some points.
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Court Is in Session in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
After finding and kidnapping him at the end of the last episode, the team leads Coach back to their camp. It’s there that Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) brings up the inevitable: how they’re going to punish him. Shauna wants him dead, but Natalie is more apprehensive. Lottie (Courtney Eaton) is the one to pipe in and remind them that life and death has always been something “It” decides. Believing that Coach should be allowed to tell his side of the story, Nat decides they will hold a trial, and that they must reach a two-thirds majority for a verdict. She then pulls Misty (Samantha Hanratty) aside and suggests that she defend Coach as his best shot at a fair trial. If Misty can make everyone sympathize with him, she will save his life. Misty is apprehensive, though, as he’s not the same person she believed him to be, so she has a moment alone with him where she cries and slaps him out of anger. But Coach is adamant that he didn’t burn down the cabin and says he wouldn’t hurt her. She asks him to prove it, and he knows there’s no way he can, but he says that he knows he’s already lost the trial, so he has no reason to lie to her now. It’s enough for Misty to believe him, if only a little bit.
Natalie, as Antler Queen, is also the judge presiding over the trial, with Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) acting as prosecutor to Misty’s defense. Tai is up first and calls Mari (Alexa Barajas) to the hot seat. They swear her in on a deck of cards, in true Yellowjackets fashion, and make her promise to tell the truth. Tai then proceeds with her questioning, asking Mari if her time in the cave was traumatic, to which Mari responds in the affirmative — mostly because he made her eat bat and was always talking to someone she couldn’t see. Tai asks if she thinks Coach is deranged, and though Mari falters for a moment, she settles on “Maybe.” She goes on to add that Coach held her captive because he didn’t want her telling the rest of the team where he was hiding so they wouldn’t come and get payback.
Misty jumps in to grill her and asks if Coach said what the payback was for. Mari says no, but that she assumes it was for the cabin. Misty points out that Coach could’ve killed her, but he didn’t — so why did he bring her to the cave and not just leave her in the pit? Mari says it’s because he didn’t want her to die in there, which is a good enough answer for Misty to believe she’s won over the crowd.
Accusations Are Flying Around in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
After the initial questioning of Mari, both Tai and Misty begin calling up others. Misty calls up Shauna and accuses her of starting the fire since she was the only one awake when it happened, and it just so happened to be the same night Natalie was chosen as group leader — something that clearly deeply upset Shauna. Misty then continues to list off all the things Shauna has done for them during their time in the wilderness, driving home that she wasn’t even considered to be the new Antler Queen and suggesting that she started the fire so she could promptly save them all and be seen as a hero. Tai jumps in with her belief that Shauna is a hero, then asks if Shauna believes Coach is a hero, to which Shauna immediately says no. Tai brings up Shauna’s labor, and how Coach didn’t help during it, which only seems to set Shauna off further, as her pregnancy and subsequent birth experience are still a very sore subject. Shauna says that she believes Coach burned down the cabin because he judges them, and is upset he’s not one of them.
Lottie is the next to be called to the stand, and Misty asks her if she thinks everyone is on board with her belief in the wilderness, and Lottie says no. Misty then brings up examples from history where people who didn’t possess the same faith burned those believers’ houses to the ground, using it as the foundation of her argument that anyone who didn’t believe in the wilderness could’ve burned down the cabin. This could include Coach, but it also extends to Shauna, Nat, Melissa, and even Tai. Misty also suggests that maybe Lottie could’ve burned the cabin down as a result of not finding herself the leader anymore. The fact of the matter, Misty says, is that if it could have been any of them, is it really fair to convict Coach Scott? Lottie doesn’t think so.
With Misty seemingly having won the trial, Shauna makes a last-ditch effort and privately tells Tai that Nat has known where Coach was hiding out the entire time, prompting Tai to call her as a witness. At first, Nat plays it cool, but she stumbles when Tai asks her about the last time she saw Coach. Initially, she says it was when they drew the cards, but corrects herself and then says it was after the wilderness chose Javi (Luciano Leroux) and Coach looked like he was leaving. Despite Nat’s attempts to keep the conversation on track, Tai is relentless and eventually calls her out for knowing about Coach’s whereabouts, ultimately deciphering that Nat and Coach spoke after Javi’s death and that he told her where he was going. She then claims that the trial was a desperate attempt to let him off the hook. Natalie admits that she knew he was out there but that he didn’t want anything to do with them, so she let him live in peace because he wasn’t a threat — but Shauna points out that it wasn’t her decision to make on everyone else’s behalf.
Coach Scott Is Sentenced in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
After Tai grills Natalie, Misty calls Coach Scott to the stand. She asks him why he wanted to be a coach, but he says that he actually didn’t, and he doesn’t even particularly like kids. Misty rightfully calls him out on this because he’s held the job for nine years. He reasons that the Yellowjackets were the best in the state and he figured that he’d get offered a better gig in the meantime. He also says he didn’t initially think he’d like teaching but he actually did — and ended up caring about them as well. He liked coaching them because they were annoyingly relentless and underdogs like himself. Coach adds that if he wanted to hurt them he would’ve done it in other ways long before now. He would’ve turned them all in for getting drunk before their first away game. He would’ve turned in Tai and Van (Liv Hewson) after catching them in the back of the parking lot after a practice. And he would’ve put Misty on the team instead of just hiring her as equipment manager so that she’d get hurt and bullied when she wasn’t good enough. But he looked out for them, because he saw himself in them, and wanted to care for them in a way no one ever did for him.
When Misty asks why he left them, Coach says that although he loved them and cared for them, they stopped listening to him after the crash or even caring about what he had to say. Now he’s on trial when he didn’t even do anything except try to get away. After Javi, he was scared he was next, and they didn’t need him anymore. He also apologizes to Shauna for abandoning her when she was in labor when she needed him the most. By the time Coach is finished telling his side of things, almost everyone on the team is shedding a tear, and Natalie calls the vote into action, pointing out that she, Misty, and Tai will sit out the vote since they were a part of conducting the trial.
Van, Shauna, and Melissa (Jenna Burgess) find him guilty, while the rest of the team votes for his innocence. But because it’s not two-thirds, they have to vote again until someone changes their vote. They do it countless times and the vote never changes, so finally Shauna snaps and reasserts her belief that Coach tried to kill them and burned down their only shelter with them inside of it. With some gentle nudging from Melissa, Gen (Vanessa Prasad) puts her hand up, and a few more follow suit. Lottie has a vision of sorts and then puts her hand up, followed by Travis (Kevin Alves) swapping his vote as well as Akilah (Nia Sondaya). Finally, they’ve reached a majority and a tearful Natalie announces that Coach has been found guilty Coach Scott — even if it’s clear that wasn’t originally the case at all.
Another Yellowjacket Falls in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 4
Early in the episode, when Taissa calls Lottie, she has just come out of a bank, and we don’t see her again until midway through the episode. This time she’s standing in front of a mirror practicing an apology. She repeatedly practices the phrase “I understand that I hurt you,” and eventually settles on “I have a lot to apologize for.” However, we have no idea who she’s planning to talk to or why she is saying this at all — and it looks like it may be difficult to find out the truth now.
At the very end of this week’s episode, Misty is scrolling through the Citizen Detective boards when she comes across a blurred-out post about a body that was found. At the same time, a text comes through from Walter (Elijah Wood) that says, “I heard about Lottie. Are you okay?” Confused, she clicks on the link and discovers that the dead body found was, in fact, Lottie. We then switch to that scene, and see Lottie lying at the bottom of some stairs next to candles in what looks like a basement. Her eyes are wide open, but she’s unmoving; she’s dead, and tragically so. But who killed her? She was hardly around this week, and when we did see her it was in suspicious little glimpses. All we know is that the pool of surviving Yellowjackets is getting smaller and smaller.
New episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3 premiere Fridays on Showtime.
Yellowjackets
Episode 4 of Yellowjackets Season 3 holds a wilderness trial to decide a character’s fate, while another meets their demise.
- Release Date
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November 14, 2021
- Network
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Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime
- The wilderness trial is brilliantly done.
- Jackie returns to haunt Shauna.
- Potential justice is served for the burning of the cabin.
- Coach Scott’s monologue is emotional and perspective-changing.
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