Yellowjackets Season 2 Is About Girl Issues, But Also Melanie Lynskey Talking About Ripping Skin Off
This piece contains spoilers for season two of "Yellowjackets."
Remember last year when we all began to realize that, yeah, "Yellowjackets" is legitimate prestige television with the awards recognition to back it up? I certainly do — I remember being shocked during last year's Emmys and finding the show secured several nominations, including Best Drama. One of the people most recognized for their impact on the show was Melanie Lynskey, who rightfully received tons of praise for her performance as Shauna.
If the latest episode of the show's second season has anything to prove, it's that these accolades were more than well deserved. In fact, her performance in "Digestif" proves that Lynskey should be getting even more praise as the adult Shauna (Sophie Nélisse portrays the character in flashbacks). After getting carjacked by a petty criminal, Shauna tracks her trusty minivan down to a repair shop, where she gives arguably the best monologue this show has provided us so far. And yes, it is all about how she has killed before and will kill again.
It's not as easy as you might think
If you recall, Shauna monologues to some poor guy about how difficult it is to pull a piece of flesh off of someone. Considering what we saw at the end of its second episode, you know she's telling the truth. The way she delivers the monologue as well as the empty stare she gives her hostage has him believing her 100%. The dude is scared, and he absolutely should be. As we recently saw in her guest stint on "The Last of Us," Lynskey is arguably at her best when combining her naturally kind demeanor and a sinister darkness.
This monologue, where she describes the effort one needs to exert in order to actually pull the skin off of a dead body, needed a specific type of person to deliver it, and it's clear that very person had to be Lynskey. Nélisse could have probably delivered it well, but her version of Shauna is currently stuck in perpetual childhood, still unaware of just how bad things are going to get for her and the team. Speaking of the team, these lines wouldn't fit the other survivors either, as Shauna specifically embodies a simmering rage underneath her mask of normalcy. That's what makes her such a compelling character, even if in both the flashbacks and the present day, we're in pain over the decisions that she makes. These moments of her true self emerging really are some of the best this show has to offer, and Lynskey deserves even more credit than she already gets. That's saying a lot.
Hell is more than a teenage girl
Even if no other character could deliver Lynskey's monologue, it's hard to argue that its sentiment isn't an important part of "Yellowjackets" as a whole. What Shauna describes in this scene is something the core cast actually did, an act that nobody would associate with promising young women. Cannibalism is barbaric, yes, but the sort of primal desperation that comes with it inherently feels gendered. You would expect that out of men in the same situation, but it feels strange to think of women and girls having to resort to it.
That, however, is the beauty of "Yellowjackets." The concept of female rage might seem like just a social media buzzword associated with a very basic and broad meaning, but it's more complex than just women being mad at society. It's about the complicated emotions and actions women have to take in extreme circumstances. Sometimes, this manifests in holding a car thief hostage with a gun or eating the corpse of your best friend. If anyone ends up saying that they don't understand the point of "Yellowjackets," just show them the monologue from Lynskey in all its glory. There's nothing that sums it up better than that.