Yellowjackets – Season 2 Episode 2 “Edible Complex” Recap & Review

Edible Complex

The Past Timeline (1996)

We begin episode 2 of Yellowjackets season 2 with a visual of Shauna talking to Jackie in the shed. Among other things, Jackie says that the girls are running out of food and jokes about Shauna burying her clipped-off ear. She braids Jackie’s hair because Jackie feels that would successfully cover up her disfigured ear.

The girls in the cabin are worried about Shauna. Lottie and Tai are the only ones who feel that Shauna should be allowed to grieve in her own way and process Jackie’s death. Tai is pissed off when she discovers the rancid smell and sees that someone has used the pee bucket for defecating.

When no one comes through, she throws it herself. Shauna’s conversation with Jackie gets even stranger and more ominous when supposedly Jackie starts to cut off the flesh of her hand to satisfy Shauna’s “hunger.” It turns out that Shona is the one holding the knife.

Jackie then asks Shona to put makeup on her body. That night Van suddenly wakes up and notices that Tai is gone. We see that Tai is sleepwalking and has another vision of the man without eyes just like her grandmother. If not for Vanessa Tai would have fallen off the cliff but Van saves her just in time. Tai cannot explain what happened to her and why.

In the morning Natalie sees Travis once again talking to Lottie. When they go off to hunt and find Javi, Travis designs to go in another direction opposite to the one that leaves as they should go in. This is quite uncharacteristic as Natalie has led the way until now. She asks him to meet him at a rendezvous point when the sun is about to set.

Tai sees the dolled-up Jackie with makeup and publicly confronts Shauna. Lottie tries to protect her but she too sees Tai’s point: this is not healthy. Tai announces they need to cremate Jackie’s body which makes Shauna even more anxious and twitchy. Natalie uses a piece of Javi’s clothing, smears it with her own blood, and presents it to Travis to make him accept that his brother is dead.

As they go to bury Jackie, Lottie asks the other girls to give Shauna space. She sees the knife mark on Jackie’s arm but doesn’t say anything.

Shauna bids an emotional goodbye to Jackie and lights up her pyre. Lottie sees Javi’s piece of clothing but claims she can feel he is Alice. Natalie shuts her up. Travis tries to reconnect with Natalie that night. But as he begins to kiss her, he has an out-of-body experience where he imagines Lottie near him.

Travis’ insides seem to be glowing and we see a lump of ice fall right on the burning pyre and extinguish the fire. It is all too weird to make sense presently.

Another extremely disturbing and full-blown cannibalism display follows. Jackie’s body hasn’t turned into ashes but has been perfectly roasted into edible meat. The girls wake up all at once and walk up to the pyre. Shauna says Jackie wants them to eat her and they all proceed to do so around the pyre. Ben is horrified to see them and returns to his bed.

Present-Day Timeline

Callie is distressed and concerned about her parents’ neglect of her and indifference over Adams’s death. She feels that there is something fishy with their involvement. That is why she has started to distance herself from her parents and has taken to vaping more and more. In her anger, she also breakups up with Kyle who fails to console and comfort her.

We then turn our attention to Tai, who is having another one of her hyper-energetic episodes. Lottie says that she had to send her people after Natalie when Travis died. She was worried that Natalie would do something to herself.

Lottie also says that she does not run a cult but a community of people who are intensely interconnected by a strange energy. Sona understands that Callie might be feeling neglected and isolated, hence offering to take her to the mall and have some fun. But Callie is not interested.

Misty has been trying to reach Shauna and Tai to discuss her findings about Natalie’s abduction. The same internet expert whom we saw in the last episode tracking the disappearance of Adam comments on Misty’s post bringing up the same subject.

Kevyn, Natalie’s best friend from high school, asks questions about Adam to Shauna. She is surprised by it but Callie overhears them and saves the day. She confronts Shauna about telling the truth but Shauna lies once again, saying she is trying to protect Jeff.

Sammy shows up at Tai’s house unannounced. She quickly informs Simone who rushes to pick him up. At the caregiving facility, Misty sees Walter for the first time. Elijah Wood is playing this new character, who is, in all probability, the internet expert pressing the case of Adam on the public forum Misty often frequents. He seems to know her and exchanges a wry smile as he passes her by. He even leaves an empty note for Misty in the fridge.

Lottie says Travis called him before his death. “The wilderness had come back to haunt him,” Travis told Lottie. She panicked and drove to him, and like she calmed him in the forest, Lottie does it again, and Travis falls into a night of quiet sleep.

When she fell asleep, he left and committed suicide. He also asked Lottie not to tell Natalie. Travis had placed candles in the shape of the strange symbol and hung himself on a crane, saying that he “wanted to talk to it” and for that, he had to be dead. Lottie even had the remote for the crane to pull Travis back the moment he went unconscious… but the buttons got stuck.

Lottie then had a haunting vision of Laura, whom she pressed underwater and saw a deviant figure. By then, Travis’ body had further ascended into the air, making it even more shocking. Natalie doesn’t believe it and leaves.

When Simone comes home, she finds that Sammy is gone with the dog. Callie meets Jay, a charming stranger at a bar and seems to relate to his predicament of being stuck in his parents’ shitty marriage.

Misty puts UV light on the note and discovers an invitation from Walter to interrogate a man in connection with Adam’s disappearance. They will be posing as FBI agents.

It turns out that Jay is actually Matt, a police officer who works with Kevyn. Callie confirmed that Shauna was cheating and the partner could be Adam, but Kevyn says they need more evidence.

Simone gets a call from school saying that Sammy is waiting to be picked up but he never left it. Simone calls Tai sick and in need of help. She ominously looks at Simone as the car picks up speed, and smashes into a nasty accident at the intersection.

The Episode Review

Even though Yellowjackets’ first depiction of cannibalism was not as gory, it certainly lived up to expectations. Jackie’s body turning into roasted meat also happened with a touch of surrealism. That also means, by the way, an end for Ella Purnell in the show.

We still might get glimpses in flashbacks if the creators want her to come back but she is no longer in the main storyline.

We do not have clear answers, yet, about what exactly went on. But one thing is certain – the magic is quite powerful. Whatever it is, it helped the girls survive the wilderness. At what cost is yet to be determined.

Simone Kessell has seamlessly taken to Lottie. Her portrayal isn’t as mystical as Courtney Eaton and that is surely because of how much time Eaton has spent with the character. But Kessell brings more calm and maturity to her – the perfect façade for chaos?

The biggest introduction was our very own Frodo, Elijah Wood, as Walter. The investigation is a new tangent to the storytelling.

With Kevyn, Matt, and Walter – and unwittingly, bits of Misty – that element is destined to be interesting. Hopefully, it constantly keeps tugging at the main storyline to give us some reprieve, because the unravelling of the past and mysteries is bound to get even more stressful!