In this post I will briefly go over why I believe pointing the blame towards one person for the bad things that happen in Yellowjackets is reductive as well as how I feel that goes against Yellowjackets themes as a show, I’ll also explain the different variables from the adult timeline that lead to Natalies death and how Misty was involved but ultimately not to blame alone, and how Natalies death relates back to her past trauma in the wilderness, as well as why I personally think her death makes sense for her character.
Yellowjackets is a show full of characters who are very interesting and at the same time obviously flawed. And it explores the different ways different people change and process the trauma they collectively went through as teenagers. I believe that for Yellowjackets blaming a single character for things such as the death of others (in most cases) is incredibly reductive. For most of the bad things that happen in Yellowjackets, it’s a combination of multiple different characters as well as the survivalist situation they’ve found themselves in/ the trauma that they have because of surviving out in the wilderness.
Okay now onto some of the factors that led to Natalie’s death in the present timeline. So pretty obviously the first BIG event that led to Natalie’s death was Lottie’s insistence on the wilderness needing another hunt/sacrifice. Plus everyone who agreed to it, wether their intentions were genuine or not. Then Lisa coming across them during the hunt, because that led to Misty attempting to kill Lisa, finally leading to Natalie sacrificing herself for Lisa. (there could be a couple more factors in the present timeline that I missed, I haven’t rewatched the finale in a bit) But my main point here is that, there are multiple different connecting factors that eventually lead to the death of Natalie in the present timeline, not even mentioning everything that happened in the wilderness. I could see how someone who doesn’t understand Natalie’s death would feel better to have a single character to blame and hate because of that. But that relates to why I think it is reductive when people do that. People could blame Lottie for Natalie’s death because she was the main one who brought up the topic of performing another hunt for the wilderness. Someone could blame Lisa for getting in the way of the hunt. But most people I’ve seen blame Misty because she was in a way, the end of the road that led to Natalie’s death. But that’s exactly it, she was just the final puzzle piece. Without the other factors that came before hand, Natalie’s death wouldn’t have happened.
For my final point, I will go over why Natalie’s death makes sense to me (at least in a way that relates to how the writers ended season 2). Now, I know that we still don’t know the full of what Natalie had to do in the wilderness to survive, but I do know that a significant event that happened to her character was the death of Javi. There are obviously many different factors that lead to Javi’s death as well, but to me it’s quite clear that Natalie holds the guilt of Javi’s death and feels responsible for it. Javi was trying to save Natalie from getting killed by the others, but Natalie couldn’t save Javi. She chose to live, but at the cost of Javi’s life. I feel like the guilt of sacrificing another, especially someone like Javi who she feels a sort of protectiveness over, to save her own life. To me, this is such an obvious parallel to Natalie and Lisa. Throughout season 2 Natalie shows how she’s become protective over Lisa multiple different times. So when Lisa interrupts the hunt, and Misty tries to save Natalie’s life by killing Lisa, Natalie makes a split second decision. She lets herself die in order to save someone else. Something she couldn’t do when she was a teenager, something that left her with so much guilt, she was able to do as an adult. She saved Lisa at the cost of her own life. She chose to jump in front of Lisa! She had agency! Misty did not lethally inject Natalie on purpose, but Natalie purposely jumped in front of Misty to save Lisa.
Now, when I say that, I do not mean to say that Natalie killed herself on purpose and that Natalie’s death is solely her fault. That’s like 100% against the points I’ve been trying to make this whole post.
IN CONCLUSION… Natalie’s death was the result of the trauma she and everyone else went through in the wilderness as well as the presence and actions of multiple different characters in the present timeline.
i like to think that lisa did the sensory deprivation tank when she first joined. whenever it got too much for her, i bet she just thought of gilly swimming around in his tank. then she felt nice and calm
I love when Lisa kills the chicken in front of Nat, and gives her a look like, see what I can do? I'm not afraid to use an ax on this animal.
I'm just thinking, girl, you do know Nat's backstory, right? Or at least enough to know they were in the wilderness almost two years. Do you honestly think you can intimidate Nat by killing a chicken? 🤣🤣🤣 They had to eat something in the wilderness, which means killing, which means slaughtering animals is nothing new to her.
That’s the theory that could be plausible. Someone pointed out Nat doesn’t have a storyline or loose ends like the other adults. Nat has reached peace as of now
I also read that Lisa could potentially drink the poison or be sacrificed instead, like how Javi was sacrificed instead of Natalie. It would make sense because Natalie has had a lot of scenes with Lisa this season.
