Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3.
Now that Yellowjackets has made its long-awaited return, we’ll finally learn some of what’s in store for the characters in Season 3. While the wilderness always unveils shocking twists, the present-day timeline also offers its fair share of jaw-dropping moments. From the girls being blackmailed to Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) surprising return and Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) untimely death, each character faces a lot both in and out of the wilderness, but in Season 1, Taissa (Tawny Cypress) was arguably the most mysterious. Sure, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) had some wild family stuff going on, and Misty (Christina Ricci) was a confirmed stalker, but Taissa was quite literally leading a double life — and the most intriguing and frightening part was that she didn’t even know it.
In recent seasons, however, Taissa has become very one-note, with the show yet to address any of the biggest reveals about her character; instead, Season 3 has so far reduced her to playing house with Van (Lauren Ambrose). While it’s great to see Tai and Van happy and in love, this new version of Tai is so far removed from the one we once knew. It seems like the show has no idea what to do with her anymore, which is a shame — since there’s so much that was set up in Season 1 alone.
Taissa’s Sleepwalking Still Hasn’t Been Addressed in ‘Yellowjackets’
In Season 1, we learn that the present-day version of Taissa is married to a woman named Simone (Rukiya Bernard) with whom she shares a son named Sammy (Aiden Stoxx). Their marriage is fine, not overly exciting, but they all seem content as a family unit. However, when Taissa starts sleepwalking again, like she did while the survivors were in the wilderness, things start to become dangerous at home. It’s a terrifying subplot that involves everything from Sammy seeing “other Tai” outside his bedroom window to Tai even killing the family dog, Biscuit, as a sacrifice to win an election. Eventually, Tai tells Simone to take Sammy and leave until she can get her issues under control, but then Simone finds the twisted “shrine” to Biscuit in the basement crawlspace and all hell breaks loose. She refuses to let Tai see Sammy, cutting her out completely until Tai seeks the help she so desperately needs.
Yet Taissa never does. She goes to Shauna, which is progress, but after that, she doesn’t take any big steps to address her biggest issue. Granted, Season 2 does become more about Lottie’s return in the back half, but before that, Tai doesn’t attempt to help herself or bring her family back together. She eventually seeks out Van, but that just turns into them picking up where they left off — and by that point, Simone is in the hospital due to a car accident “other Tai” caused. Now, in Season 3, we learn that Simone is still refusing to let Tai have any contact at all with Sammy, and while she’s outwardly frustrated by this, Tai does nothing other than vent to Van about her problems. While the remaining survivors seem to have a resistance to pursuing any sort of mental healthcare, it’s not all that surprising Tai isn’t very willing to seek help for her sleepwalking. Beyond personal issues, though, even her political career has come to a standstill, as we learn through a brief exchange that she was impeached before she even took office.
Taissa’s Storyline Has Stalled Out in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3
Season 1’s version of Taissa was layered and nuanced all the way up until the finale, whereas Season 2 marked her downfall, and brilliantly so. She lost everything, her family, her career, her home. Now, the show has the opportunity to dig into her character and go back to the Taissa we first met, this time with Van by her side, but Season 3 feels like it’s spinning its wheels. So far, all she’s done is complain to Van, get takeout with Van, make out with Van, and take Van on a date. While it’s great to see these two in a somewhat happy place for a change, it’s just as important for the show to develop Taissa as a character outside of Van and their relationship.
By contrast, the younger version of Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) has been much stronger and more consistent across the seasons, and the show’s return hasn’t changed her in any way; if anything, it’s made her even cooler. Van (Liv Hewson) revealed that Tai was the one who built new shelters for the group after the cabin burned down, contributing to the efforts that allowed them to survive a harsh winter. We know what Taissa is capable of, so why is the show not allowing her older counterpart to embrace her full potential — or grapple with her darker side — right now?
Her life has quite literally fallen apart around her, so it’s understandable that she’s adjusting to the changes, but Taissa’s story arc still feels like one big question mark in Yellowjackets‘ latest season. There’s still plenty of time for the show to prove us wrong and offer a clear path for the character — but at this point, even just tying up the loose ends from the previous two seasons would be enough. Whether that involves wrapping up the Simone storyline so Tai and Van can move on guilt-free, bringing Sammy back to explore “other Tai,” or scrapping everything and starting from scratch, it’s past time for Yellowjackets to dig into everything that’s been left on the table for Taissa’s development.
New episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3 premiere Fridays on Showtime.
Yellowjackets
- Release Date
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November 14, 2021
- Network
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Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime
- Showrunner
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Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco
- Directors
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Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis
- Writers
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Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa
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