If you’re still reeling from the finale of the first season, you aren't alone. Honestly, it was a lot. The Yellowjackets season 1 episode 10 recap isn't just a list of plot points; it’s a post-mortem of a descent into madness that we all saw coming but weren't quite ready for. Titled "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," the episode basically serves as a bridge between the trauma of the 1996 wilderness and the paranoid, blood-stained reality of 2021.
People are still arguing about the "Antler Queen." They're still dissecting Jackie’s death. Was it murder? Was it negligence? Or was it just the inevitable result of a group of girls who had finally, truly, lost their grip on the civilized world? Let's get into it.
The High School Reunion from Hell
In the present day, the surviving Yellowjackets—Shauna, Taissa, Natalie, and Misty—finally show up at their 25th high school reunion. It’s awkward. It’s tense. You’ve got these women who have spent decades burying the most horrific secrets imaginable, now walking through a gymnasium filled with people who only know them as the "cannibal girls" from the news.
The social dynamics are fascinating. Shauna is trying to act like a normal suburban mom, but there’s that scene where she confronts Allie, the girl whose leg was snapped in the pilot. It’s brutal. Shauna doesn't just shut her down; she exerts a kind of quiet dominance that reminds us she survived something Allie couldn't even fathom. Jeff is there, too, playing the supportive husband despite knowing his wife just murdered her lover, Adam Martin.
The cover-up is messy. Misty, ever the terrifyingly efficient cleaner, helps the group dispose of Adam’s body. There’s a specific kind of dark humor in seeing these middle-aged women casually discussing dismemberment while wearing sparkly cocktail dresses. It highlights the show’s core theme: you can take the girl out of the woods, but you can’t take the woods out of the girl.
What Happened to Jackie?
This is the big one. The 1996 timeline ends with a gut-punch that changed the trajectory of the entire series. Jackie and Shauna’s friendship has been the emotional backbone of the season, and it finally rots away.
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Jackie finds Shauna’s journals. She learns about the pregnancy. She learns about the betrayal with Jeff. The confrontation is explosive, but it’s not just about a boy. It’s about the fact that Jackie is the only one who refuses to adapt to the wilderness. She still wants to follow "rules" and maintain social hierarchies that don't exist anymore.
Lottie is becoming a shamanic figure. Van is a true believer.
When Jackie tries to assert her authority, the group turns on her. They don't attack her physically—at least, not yet—but they exile her. Shauna tells her to leave the cabin. Jackie, thinking she’s making a point, tries to start a fire outside. She fails.
The dream sequence is what haunts most viewers. We see Jackie coming back into the cabin, being welcomed by everyone, including dead characters like Laura Lee. It feels warm. It feels like forgiveness. Then, the camera cuts to reality. Shauna wakes up, looks out the window, and sees the snow.
Jackie is dead. She froze to death just feet away from the cabin.
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The grief Shauna feels isn't just for her friend; it’s for her own lost humanity. When she screams over Jackie’s frozen body, it’s the loudest sound in the wilderness. It’s the moment the last tether to "normal" life snaps.
Lottie Matthews and the Cult of the Bear
While Jackie is freezing, Lottie is ascending. Earlier in the episode, Lottie kills a bear with a single knife strike. It’s framed as a spiritual event, not just a lucky hunt. The girls are starving, and Lottie "provided."
The final shot of the 1996 timeline shows Lottie, Van, and Misty offering a bear heart to the forest. Lottie says, "Versat l'oscurité, mes sœurs. Entends-nous." Basically, "Spill the darkness, sisters. Hear us." This is the official birth of the cult. They aren't just surviving anymore; they are worshipping the wilderness.
In the present day, we see the ripple effects of this. Natalie is about to take her own life in a motel room—the guilt and the loss of Travis finally becoming too much—when her door is kicked in. A group of people wearing gray sweatpants with a mysterious symbol (the same one from the woods) kidnaps her.
Sucheta Chakravarty, a prominent TV critic, noted that this cliffhanger recontextualized everything we thought we knew about the survivors. We thought they were being blackmailed by a random person. It turns out, they are being hunted by their own past.
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The Taissa Reveal
We can't talk about the Yellowjackets season 1 episode 10 recap without mentioning the basement. Taissa wins the state senate election. She should be happy. But her wife, Simone, finds a secret crawlspace in their basement.
Inside? A shrine.
It contains the decapitated head of their family dog, Biscuit, a human heart, and a doll. Taissa has been "sleep-walking" again, but it’s more than that. The "Bad Tai" persona is doing blood sacrifices to ensure her political victory. The terrifying smile Taissa gives when she hears she won the election tells us everything. She knows what she did. Or at least, the part of her that rules the night knows.
Final Takeaways and Insights
This episode confirms that Yellowjackets isn't a show about a plane crash. It’s a show about the monsters we become when the lights go out.
- Jackie's death was symbolic. She represented the "old world" of prom queens and social etiquette. Her death was the wilderness literally killing off the past.
- Misty is the most dangerous person. In both timelines, she is the catalyst for chaos. Whether she’s destroying the flight recorder or poisoning a private investigator with cigarettes, she is the ultimate survivor because she has no moral compass to lose.
- The Symbol is a Map. Fans have spent years trying to "solve" the symbol. While some think it’s a mathematical equation, others believe it’s a ritualistic map of the area.
- Lottie is alive. The reveal that Lottie Matthews emptied Travis’s bank account in 2021 changed the stakes for Season 2 immediately.
If you're looking to understand the deeper lore, pay attention to the background characters in the 1996 scenes. There are still "extras" in the cabin who haven't been named yet. In the world of this show, if you don't have a name, you're probably dinner.
Moving forward, the best way to process this finale is to re-watch the pilot. The "Pit Girl" scene at the beginning of the series now carries so much more weight knowing how Jackie died. It wasn't just a hunt; it was a ritual that had been brewing since the moment they landed.
The next step is to track the transition of the "Antler Queen" mantle. While Lottie seems to be the leader now, the power dynamics in the woods are fluid. Keep an eye on Shauna’s journals in future episodes; they hold the key to what was actually eaten during that first winter.