Yellowjackets – Season 1 Episode 4 “Bear Down” Recap & Review

Bear Down

Episode 4 of Yellowjackets begins back on the plane, this time with our focus shifting across to Natalie. She sees her alcohol father in the seat next to her, claiming “it’s been waiting for us.” This, as it turns out, happens to be a dream but when she awakens in the cabin, Lottie is sitting up and staring at the corner. She’s convinced that something bad has happened at the hut.

In the morning, the kids all decide to start using guns to try and hunt for food. Of course, because Coach is down to one leg, it falls to one of the kids to pick up the weapon and become the new hunter. Given we’ve seen Nat with a hunting rifle already, any guesses over who comes out on top? Yep, obviously it’s Nat so the tension sorta stagnates here. Although to be fair there is a nice moment where Nat antagonizes Travis, prompting him to turn a gun on her. It’s enough to motivate Nat to hit the cans lined up on an overturned log, one after another, which soon silences Travis.

The kids also find a plane in the forest too, which appears to still work but is also stuck and tangled up in the vines. Lottie is convinced that forces are at work keeping them in the forest.

Interestingly, Javi winds up growing closer to Shauna, as it seems to me that Adam is actually Javi in this present-day timeline. Speaking of which, in the present Shauna is glowing after hooking up with Adam the night before. As she applies her makeup, she clearly can’t help but think about their lovemaking.

In the present, Natalie receives a check-up call from Misty. Following Travis rocking up dead, Misty tries to calm her but Nat remains determined to find out who killed him. She also wants to work alone too, blowing off Misty’s attempts to work together.

Instead, Nat hangs out with Kevin, letting him know about Travis passing away. What she wasn’t banking on though was Misty watching the two from afar, texting Nat to let her know Jessica is nearby. Nat is not happy when she finds out, telling Misty to leave her alone and go home.

Instead, Misty approaches Jessica and tells her to leave. She also confirms that she’s a dangerous woman and really shouldn’t cross her. Jessica is amused but refuses to budge on the matter.

Instead she visits her mum, who’s living in squalor, with clutter everywhere, watching the TV and with an oxygen mask. There’s certainly no love lost between them, given some of the trying times they shared in the past. One of which happens to involve Kevin, Nat’s best friend, who was run out the house by her father. In a fit of rage, Nat actually grabbed a gun and threatened her father. When he snatched it from her, an accident results in him shooting himself in the head.

Back in the present, Taissa attends a party but she struggles to hold it together. When the subject of her time in the wilderness is brought up, and what she did to survive, Taissa winds up seeing the white wolf once again, lurking about in the shadows of this house.

It doesn’t take long for her to be approached by Diane, the political donor. She tries to coerce Tai into confessing her dark secrets from the forest. Realizing what she’s doing, Tai instead tells Diane to, in no uncertain terms, “go f*ck yourself.”

Now, one of the other characters here who has had a rough time of it is Natalie. She winds up kissing Kevin on the lips after their meeting during the present but back in the forest, it’s Travis she ends up romantically linked with. After heling him get a ring off Coach Martinez’s hand, cutting his finger off after digging up the grave, the pair talk about how bad their fathers are, which is something the pair both have in common.

Meanwhile, Shauna and Adam decide to get a little crazy, stripping off and jumping in the water from the bridge above. Just before they jump, Shauna winds up seeing Jackie’s ghost, telling her that someone is going to get hurt.

That night, Misty rings Shauna and lets her know that Travis is dead. When she hears the news, her face drops completely. Misty though, smugly hangs up as the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Well, what a filler that was. I do appreciate slow burn episodes but this is the “Jack gets a tattoo in Lost” episode of Yellowjackets. It teaches us absolutely nothing new about any of these characters. The hunting trials are pointless because we already know that Nat is proficient with a hunting rifle. We already know that her father is abusive and we already know that Taissa won’t talk about her time in the forest. So the whole episode essentially retreads familiar territory, drip-feeding character development that doesn’t really add anything new to the show.

This is the first big misfire of the season and hopefully it’s just a momentarily blip. It’s certainly disappointing, given how strong the first 2 episodes were, but hopefully next week’s chapter will pick things up.