So I have a million thoughts on this scene. You understand.
BUT one thing I haven’t seen discussed too much is how Travis and Shauna hold jealousy for each other, specifically.
A lot of ink has been spilled about the slumber party makeouts and whether that should be considered canon, but when Travis talks about “jealousy and betrayal” he’s probably also referencing something real and specific: he and Jackie sleeping together.
Lest we forget, Shauna quite literally almost slit his throat after that, only drawing back at the last second after drawing blood. Sure there were other factors at play - they were all on shrooms, Lottie was goading her on, she was half convinced he was a deer and the girls were hungry, but I do think her jealousy over Jackie was playing a larger role in her anger towards Travis than the group’s “he cheated on Nat” agenda.
Shauna is angry at herself for letting a man get between her and Jackie again, and angry at Travis for getting what she so badly wants. And squandering it! He doesn’t choose Jackie over Nat, and he lets her die along with the rest of them. Now Shauna has lost her chance forever. Travis will always be the only person Jackie ever slept with, and it doesn’t even seem to matter to him.
(Putting aside the question of whether Travis fully consented for this post, because I don’t think that’s something Shauna really thinks about)
Meanwhile, Travis’ dad died protecting Shauna. Putting her air mask on during the crash was the last thing he ever did.
Coach Martinez also clearly values Shauna as a player. In the scene where he tells Jackie why he chose her to be captain, hyping up her “influence” over the other girls’ superior skills, he mentions right away that Shauna is the fastest.
I’m sure Coach Martinez talks about the team a lot at home, and Travis is sick of hearing it. Travis himself mentions having extensive back surgery in middle school, and (I’m definitely not the first to say this) he probably feels like he let his father down by not being an athlete himself. The only reason Travis is even in this situation is because his dad believes in the girls 100%. Does he ever wonder whether his dad would’ve gotten on a plane to support him?
Plus, Shauna immediately bonds with Javi. He thinks her journaling is super cool and he makes her a little wolf statue! She is able to be there for him in the wake of their father’s death, while Travis upsets Javi by making him spit out his gum and telling him that their dad was a jerk. (Not blaming Travis here, it’s hard to be there for others when your own grief is so present, but I’m sure he feels bad about it)
And then Shauna is the last person Javi sees before he disappears for months. It’s kind of a haunting moment where Shauna seems to morph into something inhuman. I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to be experiencing it from Shauna’s perspective or Javi’s. She’s present and herself enough to warn him that he needs to get out of there, but affected enough by the drugs and the violence of the group’s behavior to terrify him.
She sends Javi running into….who knows what? Javi hardly speaks after returning, won’t say where he was, alludes to a “friend” he met. He’s never really the same after that. And soon enough he dies trying to lead Natalie back to the caves the girls chased him into. And then Shauna slices him to bits for them to eat.
I think Shauna and Travis both see the other as someone who had something they desperately wanted, and didn’t really care enough to keep it.
