Yellowjackets episode 6 recap: [SPOILER] is the lady in the tree

Returning after the news of its renewal, Yellowjackets episode 6 is a great example of what makes this breakout Showtime series event TV and one of the best new television shows of the year. I’m thrilled that we’ll get to spend more time with these characters in the future.

Yellowjackets episode 6, titled “Saints,” begins with a flashback to Lottie’s childhood. Her parents put her on medication to suppress her ability to see the future. Now that Lottie has run out of pills, she’s starting to have visions again in the wilderness, which would explain her strange behavior.

She foresees the rotting deer that Natalie and Travis will later deliver to the cabin, maggot-ridden and shedding its antlers. Later, Lottie seeks help from Laura Lee, who is only too happy to baptize her in the lake in the hopes she might “cure” her visions with assistance from God.

Yellowjackets episode 6 recap: Shauna tries to end her pregnancy

It’s actually the sickly deer that motivates Taissa to put a new plan into action: leaving the safety of the cabin to go searching for help in the wilderness. For all they know, there is an outpost or town not far from where they’re located. It’s impossible to know without a map or technology. Taissa believes it’s worth the risk to go exploring rather than stay put and hope for the best. It’ll be interesting to see if Van goes with her now that they’re a couple (still in secret) or if this might create a rift between them.

Shauna tries to end her pregnancy using a barbaric tactic involving a hot piece of underwire pulled from her bra. As the only person who knows about Shauna’s circumstances, Taissa immediately realizes what she’s done when she finds the discarded bra on the ground and rushes to help her in the woods.

But the pain is too much for Shauna to bear. It’s a really emotional scene that parallels with the real-world circumstances where our abortion rights are being slowly stripped away. Situations like these are going to become more common in the near future, and it’s heartbreaking. Jasmin Savoy Brown and Sophie Nélisse are excellent here. The timeline does not work for this baby to be Callie, so it seems likely that Shauna’s baby is going to die somehow, or she might miscarry during her time in the woods.

Yellowjackets episode 6 recap: Who is the lady in the tree?

In 2021, things are getting worse for just about every survivor. But the biggest reveal comes from Taissa’s storyline. Yellowjackets episode 6 confirms that Taissa is the horrific “lady in the tree” that has been terrorizing her son outside of his window. Interestingly, Taissa and Simone take Sammy to get a full psychiatric work-up, and the psychiatrist notes that Sammy is experiencing dissociative amnesia and maybe entering a psychogenic fugue state. That diagnosis actually fits Taissa quite well.

Something happens to Taissa at night, both in the past and the present, causing her to regress into a primal state where she eats dirt and even bites herself. Poor Lottie experiences it firsthand in 1996, catching sight of Taissa crawling across the forest in the middle of the night shoveling dirt into her mouth, and Sammy is bearing the brunt of it in 2021.

Elsewhere in the modern-day storyline, Natalie, Shauna and Taissa must drum up $50,000 to appease the blackmailer, so they don’t expose whatever they know about what happened during their time in the wilderness. Taissa, “the rich one,” as Natalie puts it, tries to withdraw money from her joint account with Simone, but she needs her wife to co-sign.

Considering Simone isn’t thrilled with Taissa right now after she lied during the press conference last week and her increasingly distracted and erratic behavior, Taissa can’t get the money. Natalie is forced to sell her beautiful car to make it work.

Yellowjackets episode 6 recap: Who is blackmailing the survivors?

Apart from the blackmail mess, Shauna is forced to attend an annual brunch to celebrate Jackie’s posthumous birthday with her parents. It quickly becomes apparent why Shauna hates going to this particular function because Jackie’s mom repeatedly spouts rude, passive-aggressive remarks at her comparing her to her daughter.

Jeff actually steps up for once in defense of his wife and is especially sweet to her on their way home. Shauna ignores Adam as he blows up her phone with text messages in favor of her husband, at least until Jeff slips out that night for “work.” Is Jeff really cheating on Shauna? What if he’s the blackmailer?

Finally, we have Misty, who steals pills from the nursing home where she works to concoct a sedative and kidnap Taissa’s investigator, Jessica Roberts, before shackling her to a bed in the basement. What on earth does Misty have planned for this poor woman?

Odds & Ends from Yellowjackets episode 6

• Shauna confirms that there are other survivors from the Yellowjackets team out there. It’ll be interesting to see who else is alive. I’m assuming we will see them by the end of this season or by season 2.
• This episode reminds us all that these are just teens in the woods with the safe sex talk Coach Ben gives to Travis as things are heating up between him and Natalie.
• Is Adam a stage five clinger or just hiding his real identity from Shauna?
• I loved seeing a lighter side of Natalie while attending Kevyn’s son’s soccer game and giving him advice!

New episodes of Yellowjackets air Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET on Showtime.