Written by Zoe

Recently, I have had the pleasure and honor of convincing friends and family to binge-watch Yellowjackets before the third season comes out (February 14th). Yellowjackets is a refreshing, (currently) two-season show following the horrific story of a soccer team of cannibalistic teenage girls struggling to survive in the Canadian wilderness after a devastating plane crash.

I wish I could say it isn’t as intense as it sounds, but it gets so much worse (in a good way) than you would ever think. Conflict within the show flips between juvenile arguments over who slept with whose boyfriend to fights over who has the misfortune of becoming the next sacrifice.

Today I’d like to take a mini deep dive into the relationship between two characters, Jackie Taylor and Shauna Shipman. Jackie and Shauna are two female characters with perhaps the most complex, toxic, borderline-codependent friendship I have ever seen.

You have Jackie, the team captain, and all-around ‘Queen Bee’, a girl who quickly loses her purpose (and will to live) once faced with the reality of surviving in the harsh climate of the wilderness. Then, you have Shauna, a girl who once lived in the shadows of her best friend’s glory, now acting as the team’s “Butcher” of wild-life (or unlucky people) post-crash. From the beginning, Jackie and Shauna’s bond is evident in every act they take. Pre-crash, their bond is similar to teenage-girl friendships I have had before. Passive-aggressive comments, conversations with snide undertones, questionable fashion advice, and worst of all, an irrelevant boyfriend wedged right between them.

The aforementioned boyfriend, Jeff, is revealed to be having a fling with none other than – you guessed it – Shauna Shipman. The affair between the two is not portrayed as romantic, with Shauna looking irritated any time he opens his mouth. However, during the act, she asks (demands) for Jeff to tell her he loves her. This struck me as strange, considering it was clear she held no love for him.

It isn’t until later that we learn that before the crash (and the day after the affair), Jeff told Jackie he loved her for the first time. From a distance, we can assume that Shauna’s persistent role in Jackie’s shadow has caused her to develop a complex in which she wants to be Jackie.

Once the plane crashes and they all end up in the middle of nowhere with little to no resources, such petty instances begin to have large consequences. The viewers learn that Shauna has become pregnant, only further adding to the insane scenario these girls have found themselves in. Inevitably, the truth about the affair comes out, and Jackie is rightfully heartbroken and losing more of her fighting spirit day by day.

One detail I noticed was the lack of fury or care that Jeff, her boyfriend of an undetermined amount of years, cheated on her with her best friend. No, Jackie’s hurt stemmed from the fact that her closest friend betrayed her trust and had resented her all along. From Jackie’s perspective, the same girl she ripped from the flaming wreckage of their plane, the same girl she slept next to every night, had never cared for her the way she had thought. This comes to a head the night after a drug-induced wilderness party in which Jackie shares an intimate moment with the only teenage guy in the wilderness (poor Travis). In response, Shauna brings him into a kiss in front of Jackie, only furthering the idea that she wants everything Jackie has.

The next night, Jackie finally confronts Shauna about the affair in front of the team, resulting in an argument that ends with Jackie sleeping outside on the first night of winter. This, of course, has the end result of Shauna waking to find Jackie buried in multiple feet of snow, frozen in death. Shauna is understandably distraught and already mentally unwell, and we watch her character spiral at the loss of her best friend and the burden of pregnancy.

Shauna spends months talking to Jackie’s frozen body in a meat shack, putting makeup on her corpse, and finally having the conversations that could’ve saved their friendship (and Jackie’s life). Eventually, Shauna becomes the first person in the wilderness to commit an act of cannibalism, with her devouring Jackie’s frozen ear.

The culmination of their physical relationship ends with Shauna (and the rest of the team) devouring Jackie in the middle of the night. Before this, Shauna has a tearful speech for Jackie, stating that she “doesn’t know where [Jackie] ends and [she] begins”. While this is a clear sign of toxic codependency, many viewers read that quote in a more intimate light.

The cannibalization of Jackie is almost poetic, with Shauna finally having some twisted sense of power over her best friend, consuming her physical body as one last act of control. However, this could also be read as a metaphor for love, as Shauna eating Jackie (passionately, might I add) could be representative of her overall desire to have some part of Jackie with her.

As twisted and depraved as their relationship was, the show adds obvious emphasis on the hate and love these two girls held for each other. This brings us to our main question and theory; did Shauna truly want to be Jackie? Or did she want to be with Jackie?