'Yellowjackets' Episode 10 Review: Showtime's horror thriller is just getting started
Spoilers for 'Yellowjackets' Episode 10 'Sic Transit Gloria Mundi'
When Showtime greenlit a Season 2 for 'Yellowjackets', what they didn't reveal was how they intended the horror-thriller was going to be a multi-season series. And with that news breaking days before the Season 1 finale, it's painfully clear that the first installment was going to be a lot of world-building. Not just did the season set context, but it did so meticulously and in detail. This sets the tone for a more action-packed and gripping second season due to arrive sometime at the end of the year.
'Sic Transit Gloria Mundi' reveals startling truths, but it also leaves a lot that needs to be answered. It's been a while since we saw shows that have multiple cliffhangers and 'Yellowjackets' for better or for worse, leaving the audience asking for more. This review attempts to break down the plot points and try to figure out the direction the show is headed. For starters, Jackie (Ella Purnell) is dead. It's cold-blooded (literally) murder in a way as Shauna and the rest of the band of survivors shame her for sleeping with Travis and then spurn her.
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Jackie decides to spend the night outside only for snow to engulf the wilderness as she dies in her sleep. And realization dawns only the following morning as Shauna hugs her best friend and sobs bitterly. Her death also answers the question of "Who was the mysterious girl who died a gruesome death in Episode 1?" It certainly isn't Jackie. There have been enough theories doing the rounds on Reddit and most. believe it is Lottie (Courtney Eaton), but safe to say, it isn't her either. Not at least by the end of Season 1.
Who would have thought that Lottie Matthews was alive and kicking and then decide to exact revenge on the remainder of the survivors in the present? From the start of the season, Shauna (Melina Lynskey), Natalie (Juliette Lewis), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) have been the survivors in focus. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that Lottie is orchestrating the threat on the survivors in the present, and that marks the starting point for Season 2. But not before a suicide-attempting Natalie is being hauled off by a bunch of cult members.
There are also minor plot points that make for fillers in an episode that packs in a lot more in the finale. The reunion party thrusts the survivors in the limelight much to their chagrin, and Taissa wins her election. On the subject of discussing the latter, it does appear that she and Misty are in cahoots with Lottie, especially after Simone finds some voodoo and black magic evidence in the basement. The spine-chilling scene is when Misty and Van kneel alongside Lottie who is shown as the Antler Queen just throws more light on the fact that Misty was aware of the plan all along.
The finale, as promised, will go down as one of the best episodes of the series (yes, it's better than shrooms-influenced teens seducing Travis). The intrigue factor reaches the crescendo when it shows Lottie as the criminal mastermind and that just means one thing — 'Yellowjackets' is just getting started.
'Yellowjackets' has been renewed for Season 2 and will return on Showtime.