Does Van Still Believe In The Wilderness Entity In The Yellowjackets Season 2 Finale?

This post contains spoilers for the "Yellowjackets" season 2 finale.

Wouldn't it have been funny if this article was just me writing "Yes" and nothing else? Alas, I love, honor, and respect the "Yellowjackets" fandom hive too much than to write a joke post under such a provocative headline, and if you've followed me at all as a "YJ" recapper, you already know that I feel a kinship to Vanessa "Van" Palmer (Liv Hewson/Lauren Ambrose) in some eerily specific ways. Simply put, there was no way I wasn't going to meticulously dissect every last morsel left behind of the season 2 finale to try and get to the bottom of what the hell is going on with Van.

In the '90s timeline, Van has had a bit of a complicated journey. She was initially all-in on Lottie's woo-woo tree-worshipping magical thinking, but after Shauna's baby dies, she starts to approach things more realistically. "I just think it's time we woke up," she told Taissa, who had just begun to buy into the supernatural possibilities of their circumstances. Van continually cheats death as a teenager, and it's difficult for her to understand or process why that keeps happening. The human mind hates ambiguity or uncertainty and will constantly try and seek out the answers to "Why?" If there isn't a concrete explanation, we become susceptible to anything or anyone promising answers. It's why so many people in their most vulnerable states "find God."

Or in the case of Van, worship the whims of the Antler Queen.

If you've been fortunate enough not to be bombarded with a series of traumatizing events that should have killed you by now (LOL CAN'T RELATE), getting into the mind of Van Palmer might be a little difficult. For those keeping score at home: Van's oxygen mask wouldn't fall from the ceiling in the plane crash; she was on fire post-crash; she was on fire again as a wolf tried to make a treat of her face; she somehow avoided infection as her gnawed face healed; she has yet to be hunted for sport in the sacrificial lottery; she was the last one out as the cabin came crumbling down after (presumably) Coach Ben set it on fire; and she's now been diagnosed with terminal cancer as an adult.

This doesn't even factor in the systemic and social struggles she likely faced as a lesbian or any of the impending nightmares she'll surely face in future seasons. Hell, the character wasn't supposed to live beyond the first season but Liv Hewson's performance was so brilliant the showrunners decided to keep her alive.

Van has been through some s***, and without any answers as to why she's not been wiped out yet, she's got all the makings of someone who would willingly join a cult. While Lottie's "intentional community" in the adult timeline has all of the obvious signs of being just that, the wilderness whisperers of the teen timeline are just as cult-like, but a lot more barbaric. At the end of season 1, teen Lottie makes an offering to the wilderness in the form of a bear heart, and Van is right there behind her. She's always been Lottie's star acolyte and often serves as her mouthpiece. As the saying goes, old habits die hard.

Before the hunt of the season 2 finale, adult Taissa, Shauna, Misty, Natalie, and Van are all seemingly in agreement that Lottie is deeply unwell and needs psychological help. They call a mental health facility to come and pick her up, but as Van and Taissa work on making masks for the group (with theirs resembling the ones they wore as teenagers during the Doomcoming celebration), she admits to having second thoughts. The others have grown up and tragically accepted that, as Shauna later says, "There's no 'it.' It was only us." Van, however, doesn't seem convinced. "We have all felt 'it' in our own way," she tells Taissa. Her words get through, and Taissa calls off the pick-up.

During the call, Van watches on with encouraging eyes. Lauren Ambrose says so much with her face without saying a word, an acting choice that Liv Hewson has been adopting with teen Van as the character becomes more tribal. As Taissa hangs up the phone with the mental health facility, Ambrose's eyes get wide and she nods with approval.

As Shauna shuffles the cards before the hunt, Taissa asks Lottie if they can all talk about what's really going on, and looks to Van for support. But Van is laser-focused on the task at hand. She's not going along with the hunt because they're perpetuating their cycle of enabling Lottie 25 years later, but because she seemingly still believes in it. When the hunt concludes and Natalie is tragically, accidentally killed by Misty, Lottie is whisked away to a mental institution, but not before looking up and telling Van, "We gave it what it wanted. It is pleased with us. You'll see."

Lottie's words to Van, and Van's overwhelmingly relieved reaction, are vital. Van told Taissa that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but the rest of the group has no idea that she's dying. For Lottie to indicate to Van that she'll soon see the results of the wilderness entity getting what it "wants," Lottie was either informed of Van's diagnosis before the rest of the group or she really is attuned to the unexplainable.

Considering "Yellowjackets" is consistently subverting puzzle box show tropes by allowing the supernatural and the tragically ordinary to exist as one and the same, there are multiple directions the show could go with Van's story. Maybe Lottie is a conduit for the wilderness entity, or maybe she really is sick in the head. Maybe Lottie knew Van was dying because she had previous knowledge, or maybe she gave her the final look because Van has a history of being one of Lottie's most loyal followers and she wanted an ally before she was shipped off to a psych ward.

Regardless of what is really happening, it doesn't change the fact that Van still very much believes in Lottie and the power of the wilderness. This has birthed the very popular fan theory that it was Van who sent the postcards to all of the survivors in the hopes of a reunion, possibly working in tandem with Lottie to get them all together once again. When Van tells Taissa that she only has months left to live, making a sacrifice certainly sounds like a last-ditch effort by Van to cheat death once again.

Is Van a villain or someone still operating in survival mode? I guess we'll have to wait until next season to know for sure.