Recap / Yellowjackets S 1 E 4 Bear Down

Recap pages are Spoilers Off per policy and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned

Note: Scenes from the episode jump from 1996 to present and back. This recap groups them by year, more or less.

Flashback: Natalie's traumatic early life

Since this is Natalie's episode, the action jumps on several occasions from 1996 or the present to a time before the plane crash: a brunette Natalie and a pre-Goth Kevyn are hanging out at her home, talking about music. Natalie hears her dad's car and tells Kevyn to get out, but her dad still catches them together. Hell breaks loose as Kevyn flees and Natalie's dad starts screaming at her and calling her a little slut. Her mother tries to step in but he transitions to beating her for not supervising Natalie better. Natalie grabs a shotgun to defend her mother, but leaves the safety on. Her dad grabs it from her, mockingly demonstrates how to take the safety on and off and calls her stupid and useless. She yells back that he is the useless one. The man is so enraged that he accidentally shoots his head off.

1996

Natalie wakes up from a dream where she is back in the plane as it is about to crash, and her father, with half his head blown off, is there, mocking her and telling her, "You've already got blood on your hands." Lottie is still having bad vibes despite the girls having buried the dead guy from the attic.

Coach Scott endures having Misty keep him company while he takes a dump (complete with "help" like singing), during which she instructs him to "Bear down". When the indignity is over, he finds Travis messing around with a gun. The coach has experience hunting but since he is missing a leg, he sets out tryouts to find out who can handle the shotgun. Finalists Travis, Mari, and Natalie move on to next round, where they have five chances to hit five cans. There's a tense moment when Nat calls Travis Flex and he responds by pointing the gun at her. Eventually, Travis and Natalie emerge as the best so they are charged with going out to hunt and instructed to work as a team. However, Travis has other ideas in mind.

In the meantime, Javi finds Shauna, who skipped the tryouts, writing in her journal. "It's just my way of trying to make sense of what's going on, and... how I feel about it. Well, that probably sounds pretentious, but... hey, when I'm famous, they can go into the archives, right?" She offers him a page for him to try doing the same.

While foraging for edible plants, the girls come across a small airplane covered in dust. An excited Laura Lee gets in and turns on the engine. The plane moves forward and Jackie pushes Van out of the way. In return, she nearly gets a propeller to the face before Laura Lee can turn off the engine. Lottie claims that "It didn't want him to leave".

To Natalie's surprise, Travis has taken her to the crash site. She is mad at him for acting like a Jerkass. He reveals the story behing his Embarrassing Nickname Flex. In seventh grade, he had back surgery. When he got back to school, another boy, Bobby Farleigh, saw his scar and told everybody he had a rib removed so he could auto-fellate. Then he starts to dig in Coach Martinez's grave, intent on getting a ring belonging to his and Javi's great-grandfather. He wants to get the ring for Javi, but he becomes overwhelmed and has to stop. Natalie ends up retrieving the ring for him. Travis opens up and says that Coach Martinez was a "shit dad. He didn't even like me.". Natalie remembers her own father's abusive treatment of her and her mother and offers her own comforting words.

It doesn't matter how shitty they are. It still fucks you up when they're gone.

They finally go off and find a deer. Natalie aims and shoots. They return to the cabin with their prey and are received as heroes, with Travis giving her all the credit. Since the deer needs to bleed out before it can be eaten, Coach calls for a volunteer. Shauna steps up and slices its throat. Travis gives Javi their father's heirloom ring. Dinner is venison and they all eat with gusto.

Present

Misty calls Natalie to check on her and reassure her that Travis's death was not her fault. Except Natalie disagrees with the coroner's ruling of suicide, odd note aside. She is determined to find out who murdered Travis and Misty (of course) offers to help. She proposes a strategy meeting in the evening but Natalie got plans. First, Natalie goes to her mom's house and retrieves a mix tape that Kevyn made for her back in the day.

Simone and Taissa prepare to attend a party where many potential donors and contacts are going to be. Taissa is nervous given the nasty political ad from her rival but Simone tells her to be herself. When they arrive, Taissa mingles with the guests and makes small talk.

Natalie and Detective Kevyn Tan go out on a date. They laugh about Misty Catfishing Kevyn, but the conversation moves to a more serious subject: why were Nat and Misty breaking in somebody's home. Nat tells him that it was Travis's place and that they were worried about him as he had been off the grid for a while, and then they learned that he killed himself. In turn, he reveals how the Former Teen Rebel ended up a detective: his band was unsuccessful, he met a girl, and things didn't work out. Unknown to them, Misty is at the same restaurant with one of the patients from the nursing home as a reluctant companion, spying on them.

Shauna goes on a date with Adam where the main goal is making up for her misspent youth as a Good Girl. First, she bribes a stranger to buy cheap liquor for her, even though she is old enough to do it herself. Adam is curious as to how she missed "so much of the quintessential high school experience?" She tells him that she "got straight As and married young" but leaves it at that. Done with drinking bad liquor, Shauna and Adam play mini-golf and make a bet. If he wins, she has to reveal a detail from her life. But she wins, so he has to do what she wants, no questions asked.

Back at the party, Taissa chats to a couple of guests. They insist in asking intrusive questions about what happened in her 19 months in the wilderness. Just then, she sees a wolf in the mansion. She follows it and bumps into Diane, the woman whose endorsement she's been hoping for. They bond over their shared disgust for the roast pig that will be served.

Back at the restaurant, Natalie and Kevyn see Misty spying on them. Natalie stalks over to confront Misty, who tells her that alleged reporter Jessica Roberts is also at the restaurant spying on them and then excuses her own actions by saying she's been having Natalie's back. A furious Natalie tells Misty, "I hate to break it to you, but we're not Rizzoli & Isles" and them orders her to go home. Mrs. Singh, Misty's reluctant companion and an observer to all this, offers her opinion after Nat leaves:

Mrs. Singh: You remind me of my granddaughter. No one really likes her, either.

Misty goes off to confront Jessica to let her know she's aware of Jessica's actions, if not her motive:

Jessica: Hello, Misty. Tell me, how did your little road trip go?

Misty: I know when you look at me, you don't see someone you should be afraid of, but, uh... you're wrong.

Taissa continues to talk to potential donor Diane, who finds Taissa refreshing and full of genuine positivity. She is willing to endorse Taissa, in exchange for one confidence, "I'm like a well you whisper your secrets into. So... tell me, what really happened out there?" Taissa first tries giving the standard "we scavenged and starved" version, but eventually gets fed up with kissing up.

Taissa: Why? Why do you get to have that? Just because you're rich and powerful?

Diane: Are you really this naïve, Ms. Turner? Those "changes" you were talking about? You have me to thank. All I've done for women's causes, for Black causes, for Black women's causes. So, if I were you, I'd watch my tone.

Taissa: Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'll perfectly calibrate my tone as I tell you to go fuck yourself.

Natalie gives Kevyn the mix tape. He's touched: "Last time I saw you, you were getting out of my car, saying you'd call me tomorrow." Apparently, Natalie totally missed the memo that Kevyn was like totally in love with her. She opens up about about her relationship with Travis, and not knowing what happened or if she could have done something. He offers to get her the toxicology report. They kiss.

Back to Shauna and Adam; what does Shauna want to do? Jump off a bridge. They strip to their undies in preparation. Just before jumping, Shauna sees a ghostly Jackie telling her, "How about that? Somebody's gonna get hurt." It doesn't stop them from jumping.

When Shauna returns from her rendezvous with Adam, she gets a call from Misty. This irritates Shauna. "I thought I told you never to call me." Gleefully, Misty tells her Travis is dead, leaving Shauna speechless. Just then, Jeff arrives, asking about Shauna’s book club.

Examples of Tropes in this episode

• Ammunition Conservation: Discussed and ultimately averted.
  Mari: Um, just a thought. Shouldn't we be saving bullets, you know?
  Coach: Uh, yeah, in theory, but lucky for us, the nutjob who lived here before was apparently hoarding for the apocalypse.
• A Day in the Limelight: This time it's Natalie's turn. We get a flashback to her abusive father’s death, her becoming partners with Travis in hunting for food, and how she copes with Travis's death in the present.
• Call-Forward:
  • Bobby Farleigh, the boy who gave Travis the hated nickname Flex.
  • Van's mention of poisonous mushrooms. Mushrooms will come up again in "Blood Hive" and "Doomcoming"
• Does Not Like Guns: The reason why Shauna does not participate in the shotgun use tryouts.
• Know Your Vines: The girls are out foraging for food. Akilah has some knowledge about what is safe.
  Akilah: Don't eat that kind! It's poisonous.
  Van: Like, "kill you" poisonous, or like, "trip your balls off" poisonous?
  Akilah: What? I don't know. My Girl Scout troop leader didn't get all that specific about it.
• Moment Killer: Shauna to Adam, in response to all the questioning he is doing about her misspent youth: "Has anyone ever told you your obsession with biographical minutia is the opposite of a turn-on?"
• No Social Skills: While on the phone Natalie, Misty is seen reading an article on how to talk to a person who is grieving, as if she has no clue how to empathize and needs instructions. She ends up sounding very artificial:
  Misty: I would never want to presume to say that I know exactly what you're going through, but-but I wanted to make sure that you know that this was not your fault.
  Natalie: Why the fuck would Travis' murder be my fault?
• Not With the Safety On, You Won't: Nat's dad mocks her for trying to shoot him with the safety on. He mock-reassures her mother that "It's perfectly okay to keep a gun in the house, if your kid's too stupid to know how to use it." He blows his head off shortly after.
• The Reason You Suck: Natalie to Travis when he drags them to the crash site: "I know that you're messed up right now, but it doesn't give you a free pass to be a dick all the time! We're supposed to be a team."
• Reckless Gun Usage: Travis hates being called Flex. When Nat calls him that, he points the loaded gun at her. Most likely he was not serious about harming her, but the Coach sternly tells him to never do that again.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the flashback, Kevyn and Natalie discuss Nirvana and how they liked them more when it was "their" thing.
  • Simone suggests Taissa do her Tina Turner and Hooch joke if all else fails.
• Slut-Shaming: Natalie's dad calls her a little slut for having a boy over, even though all they are doing is paint Kevyn's fingernails and talk about music.
• Tragic Keepsake: Instead of immediately going off to hunt, Travis goes back to the crash site and starts to dig up his dad's grave to retrieve his heirloom ring for Javi. He becomes overwhelmed and Natalie takes over.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After being a general dick to everyone in the vicinity for three episodes, 1996 Travis finally mellows out and opens up to Natalie after she helps him get his father's ring and bags a deer, even telling the rest of the group she deserves the credit for the kill. And it turns out he wanted the ring so he could give his little brother something of their dad's.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Natalie's father catches Natalie and Kevyn together hanging out innocently and starts screaming at her, calling her a little slut. Natalie's mother tries to stop him, and he starts beating her instead. Natalie tries to protect her mother with a gun, but forgets to take the safety off. He grabs the gun and mocks her, calling her more useless than her mother. When she shouts that he's the useless one, he turns on her and ends up blowing his head off by accident.