Warning: Contains spoilers for Yellowjackets season 1, episode 9.
Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey defends Shauna's reaction to Adam's death, which some viewers felt was overly cold or callous. Lynskey plays the adult version of Shauna Shipman, one of four main characters who star in Yellowjackets' present-day storyline. The series–equal parts supernatural mystery, survival epic, and coming-of-age story–also unfolds in 1996, when Shauna and her soccer teammates are stranded in the northern wilderness following a devastating plane crash.
In the present day, Shauna, Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Natalie (Juliette Lewis), and Misty (Christina Ricci) deal with their unresolved trauma from the ordeal, as well as resulting feelings of anger and paranoia. The latter rings especially true for Shauna, who's been enjoying an illicit affair with a mysterious man named Adam (Peter Gadiot). Shauna becomes increasingly paranoid about Adam's true identity as their relationship progresses. This culminates in Episode 9 when Shauna plunges a knife into Adam and enlists her fellow Yellowjackets to help dispose of the body.
In an interview with Indiewire, Lynskey addresses the audience's reaction to the murder. Some fans were troubled by Shauna's seemingly unremorseful response, says the actress, leading them to believe that the character is a sociopath. Lynskey, however, defends her character's chilly demeanor as "a trauma response." She says, "I felt like this is somebody who's just not processing anything." Read Lynskey's full response below:
"It was like, ‘Oh, how interesting that some people don’t understand a trauma response. Or understand PTSD and how somebody can just be going through the motions and just putting one foot in front of another. I wanted to be crying my eyes out. So much terrible stuff was happening and it was so intense, but I felt like this is somebody who’s just not processing anything. Certainly not as it’s happening."
Lynskey goes on to pick her character's brain, even more, lending some sympathetic analysis to Shauna's situation. "I think as an adult, unresolved grief can attach itself to you in some really weird ways," says Lynskey. "I don't think she feels like she deserves to really mourn or process the life that she lost." Yellowjackets fans have certainly seen that grief manifest and fester in the other surviving characters. Taissa is still dealing with the sinister, occult-like effects of her sleepwalking, and Natalie still struggles with substance abuse. (Misty, meanwhile, is content kidnapping, spying, and Munchausen by proxy-ing her inner circle, but her actions require the work of a whole psychoanalytic team.)
Regardless of Shauna's reaction to killing Adam–whether it was appropriately numb or disturbingly blasé–his death will surely factor into Yellowjackets' much-anticipated second season. The four surviving characters are now inextricably linked by their cooperative corpse disposal for better or worse. It could spell trouble for soon-to-be state senator Taissa, who has what looks an awful lot like a human heart in her basement. Adam may have suffered a tragic fate, but his death will unleash a new Pandora's box of paranoia come Season 2.
Source: Indiewire