In the season 2 finale, “Storyteller,” a deranged Lottie continues to push her plan to perform another ritual sacrifice to appease “It,” the It that, to her, was always out there, demanding blood for sustenance. The rest of the women sense Lottie’s volatility and play along with her so as not to upset her. Things go on, and on, and on in the direction of a serious re-enactment of their old hunts, in which the hapless Yellowjacket who lures the ominous Queen of Hearts is hunted down, killed, and cannibalized by the rest.
Van and Taissa were supposed to have called psychiatric services to pick up Lottie, but out of guilt (“She’s like this because of us,” Van says), they cancel the call, deciding to help her themselves. But things escalate faster than anyone can control, and when Shauna brings out the queen, the rest don masks, pick up knives, and assume their previous position. “You know there’s no ‘It’, right? It was just us!” Shauna cries in fear. Lottie replies, “Is there a difference?”
This is the most clarity we’ve gotten so far on the debate between the supernatural and the sadly natural. What happened in the forest so deeply traumatized these women that questions about the cause have become moot. Survival became such an intense act of self-annihilation that a word like “supernatural” actually loses its meaning. Of course it was supernatural. Having to murder and eat your friends to stay alive is beyond the bounds of “natural” which makes an antlered-crowned murderous queen dictating all the terrible things you do seem downright quaint. In fact, it is a preferable alternative to picking out irreparable violence.
The surviving Yellowjackets have finally come face to face with the ultimate truth: they were the monsters all along.
