WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets' season 3 finale!Adult Tai has officially left Shauna’s side afterYellowjackets’ season 3, with this dark twist of fate being emphasized by the fact that the finaleremakes Shauna and Tai’s first scene together from the pilot episode. When we first meetYellowjackets’ present-day survivorsin the series premiere, it’s clear that their relationships have become distant, though they’re forever bound by their teenage trauma and crimes from the wilderness. In both timelines, Shauna and Tai go on to provide each other with some of their only genuine moments of friendship and understanding, but that’s all gone afterYellowjackets’ season 3 finale.
Though adult Tai also went on a dark path throughout season 3 with “other” Tai taking over, her family refusing to see her, and Van dying, her return to her regular self led Tai to accept that aligning with Shauna was no longer viable. After Shauna killed Adam, mutilated Melissa, and continued to lie and put the survivors’ lives in jeopardy,Tai has finally turned her back on Melanie Lynskey’s character. Highlighting how drastically their perspectives have changed, Tai decided to ally with Misty instead inYellowjacketsseason 3’s ending, with their meeting putting a twist on a pilot episode scene.
Tai & Misty’s Diner Scene Repeats Shauna & Tai’s Meeting From Yellowjackets' Pilot Episode
Tai & Misty’s Season 3 Finale Scene Highlights How Drastically The Survivors' Dynamics Have Changed
At the end ofYellowjacketsseason 3,we see Tai in a diner booth talking about how disillusioned she’s become with Shauna, only to reveal that the person she’s talking to is Misty. Like the others, Tai was always suspicious of Misty in the present timeline, as the survivors felt like she was the most dangerous, unpredictable, and strange of the bunch. However, that’s clearly no longer the case, as Misty and Tai are now working together to keep Shauna from coming after them.
The meeting between Tai and Misty also takes on a deeper meaning given how closely itmirrors Tai and Shauna’s meeting at the same diner inYellowjackets’ series premiere. At that time, Tai and Shauna hadn’t recently seen any trouble regarding their past, but had to confront issues together when Jessica began questioning the other survivors. Of course, it turned out thatJessica Roberts was working for Tai, and she was making sure the others wouldn’t expose the truth and ruin her political campaign. Shauna didn’t seem to have much power back then, but that’s no longer the case.
While Tai had kept tabs on the other survivors,it was implied that Shauna was the only person she regularly kept in touch with, outside of helping Natalie with rehab. In that scene, we see Shauna quietly reassuring Tai that they’re going to be “fine, so long as nobody does anything crazy.” Ironically, of course, by the time Tai and Misty meet there inYellowjackets’ season 3 finale, Shauna has killed someone; Travis, Natalie, Lottie, and Van have died; Shauna mutilatedHilary Swank’s Melissaand incited the season 3 finale’s chaos; and Shauna decided to reclaim her power as the Antler Queen.
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Now, it’s Misty who Tai is going to about her fears related to Shauna. The Tai and Shauna who sat in that booth back inYellowjackets’ pilot episode are not the same people who they are in the season 3 finale.The fact that Tai would end up putting the most trust in Misty would be baffling to learn with only the context ofYellowjackets’ series premiere, and makes the road ahead of them that much scarier and unpredictable.
Both Yellowjackets Timelines Prove That Shauna Was Always More Dangerous Than Misty
Misty Isn’t Completely Innocent, But Shauna Is Much More Worrying
Back in the pilot, Misty was by far the most worryingYellowjacketscharacterin both timelines. However, as the plot has progressed, it’s come to light that the character who has posed the greatest danger is Shauna. The trauma andpain that Shauna experienced after the crash was used by the Wilderness to fuel her into a more angry, violent, ruthless person thriving on chaos, power, and fear. Shauna had “forgotten” that part of herself after theYellowjacketswere rescued, but killing Adam, surviving another “hunt,” attacking Melissa, and having everyone she loves leave her brought it all flooding back.
Misty has made some terrible mistakes in the wilderness and in adulthood, but not to the same extreme that Shauna has.
In the wilderness,Shauna’s reign as the Antler Queenis the most brutal stretch of time there yet, which is something that adult Tai finally alludes to in the season 3 finale.The worst that they went through often connected to Shauna, who started the cannibalism after eating Jackie’s ear, made Melissa slice Coach Ben’s achilles tendon and leave him unable to walk, enforced the need for another hunt in the season 3 finale, fueled discontent in the “village,” and tried to keep them from being rescued.
Yellowjacketsseason 4 still has not been officially renewed by Showtime.
WhileMisty smashed the black box/transponderthat kept them from finding rescue early on, arguably being the catalyst for forcing the teens to let this darkness and desperation consume them,Misty wasn’t intentionally cruel. Misty originally wanted to stay in the wilderness because she was a lonely, ostracized teen who finally felt needed and accepted out there, but after seeing what it had turned them all into, she helped Nat find a way to get back home. Misty has made some terrible mistakes in the wilderness and in adulthood, but not to the same extreme that Shauna has.
They’ll Have To Get To Shauna Before She Gets To Them
Image via Paramount+
Tai was Shauna’s closest friend beforeYellowjackets’ season 3 finale, and now she’s lost everyone, including Callie and Jeff. Since Tai and Misty are working to keep Shauna from being the “only one left,”they might have to form a dark plan to kill ShaunainYellowjacketsseason 4. They could just try to put her in jail, but then they would inevitably go down with her if she told the truth about the wilderness. With Shauna on her own, Tai and Misty together hopefully have enough power and resources to keep Shauna from fully becomingYellowjackets’ Antler Queen again.
