Who's Stealing The Bear Meat In Yellowjackets? An Investigation

This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Yellowjackets" season 2.

"Yellowjackets" is a show that thrives on mystery. At any given moment, the show is juggling about a half-dozen lingering mysteries, from the identity of the no-eyed man to the sinister French whispers in Lottie's ear to the fate of Shauna's baby. The show would be great even without loading up on mysteries — it's an excellent coming-of-age story, survival saga, and horror show.

Yet "Yellowjackets" is enriched by its mysteries, and at this point, there are so many to keep track of that new ones can get lost in the shuffle. Case in point: this week, in one of the show's '90s-set scenes, we learn that someone's been sneaking extra bear meat. "So who's the thief?!" Shauna (Sophie Nelisse) says with accusatory passion. "I guess they think they deserve more than the rest of us, which, at this point is pretty f***ed." A conversation about possible culprits doesn't get anywhere, and the team is soon distracted by what they consider a more pressing issue — a test of Lottie's (Courtney Eaton) mysterious abilities.

That's all well and good, but who did steal the bear meat? As rations get more scarce and winter grows harsher, the only way the team will avoid eating more of their own — or dying of malnutrition — is if they have enough meat to go around. Plus, whoever did steal the bear meat is more and more likely to get iced out if they don't confess, and we know how that worked out for Jackie. The girls might be distracted from the bear meat mystery, but we're not: let's take a look at the suspect list, shall we?

Poor Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) is the only person who didn't eat any of Jackfruit Jackie when the group's dead teammate was inadvertently smoked by snowfall a few episodes ago. In fact, he doesn't seem to be eating much of anything at all lately, instead spending his time in what might be hunger-induced hallucinations about the boyfriend he had and lost back home.

Ben is the only person who gets outright accused of taking the bear meat in this episode. "It's probably him," Mari (Alexa Barajas) whispers to Akilah (Nia Sondaya). "He thinks he's so much better than us." This is a reference to Ben's refusal to partake in cannibalism, but he has a good defense. "In case you forgot, I'm not exactly nimble in the snow," Ben says, insisting he's innocent. I believe him, but he does have a motive: Coach Ben has to get calories somehow or he'll starve and end up roasted on a spit. If he didn't take it himself, maybe one of the girls took mercy on him and swiped some rations for him.

Food theft sounds like the kind of crime that comes from desperation and impulse, but what if it's actually being done without any conscious awareness? "Yellowjackets" has tried to convince us that Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) has been bringing Van (Liv Hewson) with her on all her sleepwalking excursions this season since the pair are tied together at night. But it's become unnervingly clear that night-time Taissa is, on some level, a whole other person capable of making distinct decisions of her own. Could she be untying herself from Van in the night and stealing rations to satisfy some primal hunger?

There's actually some evidence to support this. For one, we just saw that Taissa is certainly capable of sleep-eating; she was apparently totally out of it when she chowed down on Jackie's face. For another, there's actually another mini-mystery that parallels the meat theft. In episode two, we learn that someone pooped in the group's bathroom bucket during the night, and also stole the lamp. No one fesses up, and it seems like a random thing to do by choice. Is it possible that night-time Taissa is the bear-swiper, bucket-pooper, and lamp-stealer all in one? It seems likely, in which case, I'm curious to see where that lamp could turn up.

The final moments of this week's episode revealed a wild twist; Javi (Luciano Leroux), who ran for his life during "Doomcoming" and seemingly never looked back, is still alive! The boy returns from the wilderness silent and seemingly memory-less. He's seemingly deeply traumatized if not entirely feral from his time in the forest. It's been an extremely harsh winter already, so how did Javi survive out there?

"Yellowjackets" loves to offer up both logical and belief-defying explanations for its most unsettling moments, and let audiences dwell in the ambiguous middle ground. Javi's survival already feels like another example of this. Everything we know about this creepy place makes it easy to believe that Javi was kept alive by the sinister spirits of the forest, but is it possible he got some human help?

In the season premiere, Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) and Travis (Kevin Alves) see a surprisingly lush stump with signs of melted snow around it but don't investigate. Javi may have been living there, and either stealing rations himself or getting them delivered to him by a member of the group. It's unclear if this is the same stump where Lottie, Van, and Misty (Samantha Hanratty) left the bear's heart as a sacrifice at the end of last season, but if so, Javi could've made a meal of that, too.

Speaking of Lottie, if anyone has a penchant for doing some wild nonsense and feeling exactly zero need to explain it to anyone else, it's her. This episode is frank about Lottie's history of mental illness, as the adult version of the character (Simone Kessell) speaks to a psychologist about upping her medication in the wake of her returning visions. This scene comes soon after the bear meat dilemma is presented, but we also don't need much convincing that Lottie would do something over-confident and eccentric like repurpose bear meat without asking.

If Lottie were to get caught red-handed, it seems likely that the more superstitious girls would use this as more evidence that she's creepy and manipulative. Yet it really does seem like Lottie is just trying to protect the group in her own way, and the neo-pagan rituals she's been employing seem a lot more related to blood than flesh. I imagine that if she were to steal food, it would be to help someone who needs it — like Ben, Javi, or Shauna.

Of course, there's also the age-old "you smelt it, you dealt it" defense, which points the finger directly back at Shauna. There's nothing overtly suspicious about the way Shauna delivers the news that the bear meat has gone missing, but she does have means, motive, and opportunity. As the only pregnant person in the group of starving teens, her daily calorie intake surely needs to be more than it is, and I wouldn't fault her for dipping into the rations on the side.

While Shauna's accusations may seem counterintuitive if she's the thief, we've seen that as a grown-up, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is great at deflection and manipulation. When it comes to covering up her affair with Adam and his eventual murder, she always tells everyone just a little bit more of the truth than you'd expect her to, and that honesty hides a false wall behind which more lies are hidden. Shauna may be the least likely culprit on this list, but if she did steal the bear meat, then turn around and report its theft, she may have pulled off the perfect crime.

Alas, it might be a while until we see the culprit in the great bear meat caper unmasked, as Javi's return, Van's investigation of the hunter's symbol, and Lottie's increasingly trippy visions have all taken center stage. In the meantime, though, we'll keep an eye on these suspects — this back-burner mystery might eventually get someone cooked.