'Yellowjackets' Season 3 Episode 3 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Shauna Isolate Herself? 

Yellowjackets season 3 keeps throwing us more wacky ideas to theorize about while the show progresses to a darker, more unhinged version of itself. Episode 3 confirms one thing for us, and that is that Coach Scott has started to deteriorate even further after spending time by himself. What we don’t know yet is who lit the cabin on fire, but my money’s still on Tai. At the same time, though, it’s becoming more apparent that the wilderness is still, to the present day, after the girls, which means there’s no way they’ve been imagining all of this, no? In episode 2, Ben helps Mari out of his kill hole but then ties her up in his cave because he’s afraid of what the girls will do to him. I mean, anybody in the guy’s shoes would feel the same way (he’d choose the bear too, eh?). On the other hand, the present timeline is what gives us reason to believe that what the girls experienced, i.e., the “Darkness,” is a real entity, and it’s hungry for more. But with that said, let’s jump straight into season 3, episode 3 of Yellowjackets.

Spoiler Alert

It seems Ben’s resorted to eating bats (much preferred to human flesh), and after having given Mari some hot chocolate in the previous episode, he’s now feeding her bat too. Mari is determined to get out of there, and she thinks of telling Ben that she is in love with him and eager to sleep with him despite the circumstances (or given the circumstances). Ben is completely unbothered by her confession and reminds her of the crazy rumors she spread in school about him; apparently  so that she could get rid of the competition. Ben then tells her to stop going down whatever trajectory she’s on because he’s gay, but he also describes a very violent way of dying, poking in his eyeball with a dull object, which he’d prefer over sleeping with her, if he weren’t gay, that is. Yikes. See, Mari just wants him to get close to her physically so she can steal the mace on his hip and mace him. This plan backfires because when he tries to take the mace back, she gets maced herself, leaving them both blinded in a cave that’s already too dark to see in.

Now, Ben begins to hear some strange noises in the cave, and he completely loses his mind, essentially admitting to Mari that he feels completely mad and doesn’t really get the point of being alive anymore. It’s true Ben’s lost everything, so what is pushing him to stay put when there’s something inside of him telling him to just let go? Mari then proceeds to tell Ben about her 4-year-old cousin who died of brain cancer and then relates that to how she thinks there are two versions of reality, and the darker version exists but is in hiding. I suppose this is just her way of saying please let me go; they won’t come after you. But it’s also her being earnest about feeling a sense of desolation from what’s happening. She then tells him that nobody’s looking for him and that everybody thinks he’s already dead, so she can just go back and pretend she broke her knee and got lost. Now Mari, being paranoid, believes that Coach Ben is gonna to kill her, but instead, he cuts her loose and let her go. It’s funny she’s still projecting her instincts on him, despite knowing he’s not “taken” by the Darkness. I suppose it comes from him being an adult? It’s definitely not the fact that he’s a man because Travis is too. Maybe his adult brain is just able to block it out; is that a good theory?

On the other hand, Melissa (Jeeves) tries to talk to Shauna about their kiss, but Shauna clearly doesn’t want to. Shauna definitely wants to continue doing the thing they started earlier. However, before they can talk, Mari comes back and everyone is now determined to find Ben, because Shauna knows immediately that it was Coach Ben who helped her. Interestingly though, the girls still believe he’s no good despite Mari being back, blame him for the fire, and also call the cave his “lair.” Also, Mari doesn’t really hold back; she just straight up tells them that he’s alive, so they just know they have to hand him over to the Darkness now. Speaking of, Lottie tries to connect with Akilah and asks her to listen to the Darkness, but Akilah doesn’t really want to. I suppose she has some sort of a conscience. 

Mari leads the girls to the cave in the dark, but they’re clearly lost. Instead of heading back and returning in daylight, they decide to keep going and split up. Always remember kids, never split up in the woods, or there will be some damage. Is this just an anti-substance advert, though? Because, Van, Shauna, and Akilah end up having a terrible trip from some poisonous gas that they inhale looking for Ben’s cave. They dream of Jackie, and I suppose this is the first time we see an individual dream that then merges into one, almost proving to us that the girls are just victims of mass hysteria. Lottie’s also in the dream, and she writes an eerie message on a classroom board about death being the kindest way to lose someone. Surely, this is them defending the idea that they’re hunting their own friends to survive. Van’s dream sends her to a cabin where she sits by a fire, which eventually burns her; Shauna’s dream takes her to a lake, which she can’t get out of to get to her son; and Akilah sees a talking alpaca. I wonder if Van feels trapped in her relationship with Tai and she’s pretending that she doesn’t know that Tai set the cabin on fire. For Akilah, the alpaca says, “Everything will defend itself,” meaning it’s okay to let the Darkness in because it’s just self-defense? Shauna’s is, of course, the most obvious; she couldn’t save her baby, so she’s dreaming of not being able to reach him. 

At the end of Yellowjackets episode 3, Ben is calling for help because he’s found an unconscious Van, poisoned by the gas. Even in this situation, he wants to help the girls, but Nat saying “Sorry Coach” proves they’re going to hand him over to the Darkness real soon. Ben jerky coming right up, I guess. 

In the present timeline, Lottie and Callie get closer as time passes. In fact, Lottie is teaching Shuana’s kid all the wrong things, even getting her to steal at an expensive clothing store. On the other hand, Misty wants to meet Shauna so she can tell her exactly what happened the previous night. She asks her out to get scones, but it’s just an excuse to spend some time with her “friend,” which Shauna clearly doesn’t see Misty as. Misty then offers Shauna her help buying a present for the guys who Jeff wants to work with. He hasn’t returned home yet, i.e., he’s still super mad at Shauna for messing things up. Shauna reluctantly agrees to take Misty along.

Meanwhile, Van goes to the hospital and learns that her cancer has stopped metastasizing and she might be healing. The doctor says this is no less than a miracle, and in their 20 years of working, they’ve never seen such a thing. Already, Van’s mind is going places. However, when she gets home and tells Tai, Tai tells her about the dead waiter, showing her what’s really going on—the Darkness has definitely returned. Later, when they’re watching TV, Tai sees an ice cream ad where she sees “The Man With No Eyes.” She realizes it might’ve been something that she saw as a kid before her grandma died and associated it with death. She decides to break into the “Land of Make Believe,” the ice cream shop, and when they get there, they see a fox with a rabbit in its mouth. I suppose in this case, the girls are the rabbit, and the fox is the wilderness, the Darkness.

On the other hand, Shauna is unable to hit the brakes in Misty’s car, and when she manages to stop the car in the middle of nowhere, she lets her rage out. She claims Misty must’ve messed with her brakes and also been the person who left the phone at the restaurant. Misty gets mad too and tells her she did no such thing, but that Shauna doesn’t deserve a friend like Misty. It’s true Shauna’s overreacted, but this is how she’s always been, no? That’s why Ben’s going to be the next one burned at the stake. Misty returns home and burns up the photo from the reunion, which means we’re probably going to see the return of Walter. On the other hand, when Shauna returns home, Lottie and Callie are preparing a wonderful dinner for her, but Shauna notices Jackie’s necklace around Callie’s neck. This is when all hell breaks loose, and she throws Lottie out, telling Callie she doesn’t know anything. She also snatches the necklace from Callie’s neck. Lottie claims that the necklace didn’t mean what Shauna thought it meant. I guess she’s implying that it was never meant to go on those who were going to be killed next but on the chosen ones? I’m not really sure what else it could mean. Clearly, Lottie thinks Callie is going to save them all now or something along those lines. Or does it have something to do with passing it on to the next generation? We already know Tai’s son is a little bit messed up, but is Callie too? Also, here’s a reminder if you’ve forgotten about the tape too. We have no idea who sent it yet and what’s on it. Additionally, is Hilary Swank playing Melissa? Man, we need to know soon.