WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets season 2, episode 9!The darkness of the wilderness appears to be passing on to the next generation, as indicated by Shauna’s daughter Callie’s ominous smile in Yellowjackets’ season 2 finale. While Callie began the series resentful of Shauna, the mother and daughter became much closer before Yellowjackets season 2's ending as Callie began defending and lying for Shauna during Adam's murder investigation. Callie’s questionable decisions ended up finally winning Shauna’s approval and acceptance, with their twisted bond culminating in Callie shooting Lottie in the arm to protect her mother. After so many moral compromises and family secrets uncovered, Yellowjackets’ season 2 finale hints Callie’s transformation into Shauna is just beginning.
In Yellowjackets season 2’s ending, the present-timeline characters watch as Lottie is taken away to a mental health hospital, adult Natalie’s death is labeled a drug overdose, and Detective Matt Saracusa corroborates Walter’s story about Kevyn’s role in Adam’s murder. Just like her mother, father, the surviving Yellowjackets, and those helping to cover up the team’s sins, Callie has committed brutal acts with no repercussions, later smiling at the fact that she got away with them. Not only did Callie get away with shooting Lottie, but she’s also proud of herself for saving Shauna’s life and helping her family evade legal consequences for murder – despite the desperately wicked lengths she had to go to. However, Callie repeating the survivors’ dark descents means the wilderness’s influence is far from gone.
Callie's Smile In The Yellowjackets Season 2 Finale Hints At A Wilderness Connection
Yellowjackets continues to leave whether the “wilderness” is a supernatural force or manifestation of the characters’ desperation and internal darkness ambiguous, with Callie’s season 2 ending adding evidence to both interpretations. In Yellowjackets’ season 2 finale, Callie outsmarts the detective and saves Shauna from being sacrificed by the other survivors, leading the wilderness-attuned Lottie to call Callie “powerful” after the teen shoots her. As Jeff and Shauna’s daughter joins the group of present-timeline characters aware of the survivors’ killings, criminal coverups, and secret tragic pasts, the Yellowjackets season 2 finale’s ominous shot of Callie's slight smile teases the wilderness’s dark influence has seeped into the next generation.
The wilderness may be pleased with Natalie’s sacrifice after the finale, but Callie’s soft smile means the mysterious force isn’t done corrupting the humanity of the survivors yet. Lottie teases that the wilderness is just as present as ever in Yellowjackets’ present timeline, and after Callie’s forceful show in the woods, the wilderness may have chosen her to take over from where the Yellowjackets team left off. As Callie smiles at the chaos and corruption around her in Yellowjackets season 2’s final moments, it seems the wilderness may have found its new Antler Queen.
How The Wilderness Is Causing Generational Trauma For Yellowjackets' Survivors
As was expressed by Travis’s note about Natalie being right, Callie’s arc in Yellowjackets season 2 and acceptance of their continued “survival” tactics confirms that the survivors brought “it” back with them. The darkness inside them didn’t go away when the Yellowjackets team was rescued, but rather manifested in their home lives, children, denial strategies, and power dynamics. Shauna’s response to seeing Callie’s smile indicates as much, as she fears that her own actions and continued moral depravities have now been instilled in Callie, sending her down the same dark path she took 25 years prior. Callie is now charged with protecting the secrets of her parents and is at a much higher risk of submitting to the corruption of the “wilderness,” whether that be the supernatural force or internal darkness.
Callie isn’t the only child of a Yellowjackets survivor who appears to be impacted by the “wilderness” and their parents’ vile actions, as Yellowjackets season 1 hinted that Taissa’s son Sammy may have inherited similar problems. Sammy was shown being violent toward other children, had similarly seen Taissa's “man with no eyes,” understood the difference between the “good” and “bad” Taissa, and made disturbing drawings that seemed to be influenced by the wilderness. While it’s unclear if Sammy is Taissa’s biological son, Yellowjackets’ generational trauma hints the power of the wilderness is being passed down through the survivors’ blood.
The Wilderness Could Explain Why Lottie Called Callie "Powerful"
When Lottie is shot in the arm by Callie, she senses that Shauna’s daughter is “powerful.” Lottie shockingly says this with a look in her eyes that recalls her teenage self's ability to sense the dispositions and powers of the survivors, as well as the wilderness’s feelings about them. It appeared that through Lottie, the wilderness sensed that Callie was strong, damaged, and impressionable enough to become its new conduit. Teenage Lottie revealed that the wilderness already had an obsession with Shauna’s children in the past timeline, which could mean that Shauna’s bloodline possesses a certain power or susceptibility to influence that would create the perfect Antler Queen. As such, with adult Lottie’s influence, Yellowjackets season 3 could see Callie become more powerful and corrupted by the wilderness than Shauna ever was.