Recap / Yellowjackets S 1 E 8 Flight Of The Bumblebee

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

Flashback to a happier, simpler time in Token Religious Teammate Laura Lee's life before the events of the series. She is at Bible Camp. All the kids are having fun at a swimming pool. Younger Laura Lee dives into the shallow end of the pool, cracking her head against the bottom. Knocked out cold and bleeding, she floats unnoticed in the crowded pool. Cut to Laura Lee lying on the deck, coughing up the water she swallowed and regaining consciousness. She looks at the lifeguard who rescued her and whispers in gratitude and wonder, "You saved me." The lifeguard refuses to accept any credit for lifesaving even though that's his job. Instead, he tells Laura Lee that "God saved you" and smiles beatifically.

1996

The failed expedition. Misty, Mari, Akilah and the guilt-stricken Taissa prepare to burn Van's body. Just as the flames catch on, they notice that Van is Only Mostly Dead. They pull her out and extinguish the flames. Despite her massive injuries, Van still manages to deadpan: "R... really? Fire?"

At the cabin, Laura Lee prays for a sign. She believes that her teammates are in God's hands and that all she and others can do is have faith. Natalie invites Travis to go for a walk and maybe hunt, but he sends her away, saying she's better at it. This time, Natalie cusses him out. She goes out where the Coach is soaking his foot and asks if they can talk about Travis. Natalie wonders how the Coach got Misty to join the expedition and laughs when she learns that Misty went on the expedition on her own:

"Ouch. Dumped by Misty Quigley? That is... that's rough, man."

The Coach stresses that there was never anything between him and Misty. Natalie never thought they did, since she has figured Coach Ben is gay. She asks if he has a boyfriend, and after getting over the shock of someone knowing, he admits that he did, a guy named Paul who had wanted Ben to move in with him. Natalie asks Ben if he thinks Travis might be gay, given that the last time they tried to be intimate, Travis was unable to get an erection. The coach attributes it to nerves and also reassures her that Travis is crazy about her. He advises her to be chill about it and that most likely, if she wants to give Travis another chance to be with her, he'll be happy. Agreeing not to tell the others that he is gay, Natalie walks off.

The girls out on the expedition have bandaged up Van as best as they can and are on their way back to the cabin. Despite Taissa helping her walk and her words of encouragement, Van is too badly hurt to keep up and begs for them to just leave her behind. Finally, Taissa has the others get back to the cabin as fast as they can and get help. In the meantime, she tells Van she is staying put until the other girls come for her.

At the lake, while Travis checks fish traps, he talks to Jackie and tells him he feels he messed things up with Natalie. Jackie offers some unorthodox advice about relationships being BS and says Nat will get over whatever he did. "Let's face facts, Nat's standards are pretty low." Travis laughs off at the implied insult. Jackie then tells him about Natalie and her history of scumbags, including "that Bobby what's-his-face she was hooking up with before we left." Suddenly serious, Travis insists on having the guy's last name. Jackie tells him it's Farleigh, wondering why it matters to the agitated Travis.

Natalie tries to get Travis to talk to her. He ends the silent treatment with two words: Bobby Farleigh. He is angry at her for lying about only having had sex with two guys. She says that she only did it because she knew he would hate her for it, and that it was from before she met him,and that she had no idea at the time that Bobby had been the one who gave Travis the loathed nickname of "Flex". She says that it was a mistake but he breaks up with her. Shocked and hurt, Natalie goes for the jugular: "Then I guess it's a good thing you couldn't get it up. This would've been a lot harder if we'd actually fucked." Travis walks out. Natalie realizes that it was Jackie who ratted on her and tells her to fuck herself.

The girls at the cabin are surprised to see that Mari, Akilah, and Misty are back minus Van and Tai. As they catch their breath, they get the others caught up on what happened. The group sets back out to look for their missing teammates and eventually find them. They work together to bring Van back to the cabin. Akilah has the thankless job of stitching up Van's severe wounds. With Taissa next to her and other girls holding her down, poor Van endures this round of Roadside Surgery without any pain relief. The rest look away or plug their ears against Van's muffled cries of pain.

Later on, Van is resting, her face covered in fresh bandages. In the cabin attic, Taissa confesses to Shauna that she let the fire die down, fell asleep and found herself waking up on a tree when she was supposed to be on watch. She blames herself for Van getting hurt because Van only joined the expedition to be with her and because the wolf attack would not have happened if she'd stayed awake. She's scared to go to sleep. Shauna offers to stay awake and watch out for her.

The next morning, Laura Lee wakes everybody at the cabin with her announcement: "In light of the expedition ending as it did, I have decided that I'm going to take the dead guy's plane and fly south. I'm going to find us help, and I'm going to get us out of here." She has been studying the flight manual for weeks, the plane has a full gas tank, and she has plenty of second-hand experience thanks to her pilot grandfather. She is confident in her ability to fly, and with Van being injured, getting her medical attention is a priority. Jackie takes that as her cue to have Shauna tell the rest of the group that she is pregnant. Jackie shuts down the others' questions about when did it happen (and who got Shauna pregnant) by reminding them that what matters is getting both Van and Shauna some medical attention.

Coach Ben: Laura Lee, you can't do this. No. I-it's not even close to safe.
Laura Lee: There is no "safe" anymore, Coach Scott. It's going to be winter soon. If I don't do this, we're... We're all gonna fucking starve.
Coach Ben: All right, well, I'm still the only adult here, so, no. I'm not gonna let you do it.
Laura Lee: What are you gonna do to stop me, Coach?

Everybody works on clearing a path for the plane to take off. Shauna is upset that Jackie had her tell everyone about her pregnancy before she was ready. But Jackie tells her that she had no choice and that what matters is getting Shauna and her baby out of there. "It's not really the time to be keeping secrets," she tells Shauna, sounding very earnest.

Once the makeshift runway is ready, Laura Lee hugs everybody good-bye. They all wish her well, except for the Coach, who begs her one more time to not do it. More determined that ever to save her team, Laura Lee boards the plane and with her teddy bear Leonard as co-pilot, she takes off while everybody cheers for her. She flies out over the lake but without any warning, Leonard ignites. Laura Lee can only watch helplessly as flames spread through the cockpit. With the group staring in horror, the airplane blows up into a giant fireball, along with their hope for a rescue.

PRESENT

The Sadecki residence. After spending the night at a friend's home, Callie comes in to change and finds Adam’s wallet on the living room floor. She confronts Shauna on cheating on Jeff on their own home. Shauna apologizes for her actions but rationalizes that Jeff is not an innocent victim, since he is cheating too and covers it up with a lame excuse about an inventory database. Callie brings up that she cannot find any information on the alleged starving artist or any indication of Adam promoting his work on social media. "I'm saying that everything is on the Internet... except for your boyfriend. What if he's conning you, Mom? Sleeping with a Yellowjacket so he can turn around and sell the story?" Callie leaves for school. With doubts planted by Callie, she calls Pratt University, pretending to be from another university and needing information on incoming student Adam Martin. She learns he didn't attend. Jeff comes in with a bag from a fancy boutique where he bought an outfit for Shauna to wear to next day's class reunion. (Shauna: "If this is an anniversary present, you are three months and my entire personality off.") The dress is short, tight, and not really something Shauna would wear. Jeff figured that since he had been homecoming king, as his wife she should look the part. He just thinks of her as that sexy.Shauna then goes online and realizes that there is plenty of information out there to link her to the plane crash and her time in the wilderness.

Jessica hears a phone other that hers or Misty's ringing. Misty tells her that what she is hearing is a live feed from Natalie's room. Jessica has come to accept something like this ("All right. Naturally") as normal for Misty. While spying on Natalie, Misty catches her buying drugs. She just says no a lot and storms out.

Right before Natalie inhales the coke she just bought, Misty bursts into her room - still sputtering disappointed "no"s, and shoves Natalie away from the coke. Natalie yells at her to "Get off my coke, you.." but Misty snorts the coke herself ("Oh, it burns. Is that normal?") Natalie is not appreciative of Misty's attempts to protect her, going as far as physically preventing from inhaling airborne bits of cocaine and ordering her not to breathe in. Natalie is mad with Misty for wasting $300 worth of cocaine. Misty, frantically trying to take her pulse, justifies her actions with "I couldn't just sit there and watch you destroy your life." The word "watch" makes Natalie realize that Misty was spying on her. Enraged, she accuses Misty of being a perv and getting her kicks from watching her and Kevyn have sex.

Misty: Friends watch out for each other.
Natalie: Not with hidden cameras, they don't. What the fuck is your problem? What do you want from me? I knew I couldn't trust you.
Misty: You know what? I just saved you from relapsing. Who else was gonna do that, Natalie? Huh? I'm pretty much the best friend you have right now. And that's not much of a competition, is it?

Misty points out all the work she's done to find out who killed Travis. She finally reveals what she learned from Jessica: Travis's bank account was emptied out the day after he died. Natalie still does not trust Misty and accuses her of being "full of shit". Done with the lack of appreciation, Misty tells off Natalie:

Misty: Okay. You know what? Fine. Next time, I will just let you zonk your brains out. You know that I have never even tried cocaine before? Oh, which is what I hope that was, because, oh, if that was PCP, or bath salts, or-or heroin, or, fuck, fentanyl, then I-I will probably be dead in a few minutes. But... but you know what? I was willing to take that risk for you.

Taissa surprises the Sadeckis by showing up at their home with the excuse that while in the middle of canvassing, she decided to drop by. Shauna makes a wisecrack about it being "a nice surprise after 20 years". Taissa makes to go away since they are having dinner but Shauna insists she joins them. When they are alone, Taissa confesses to Shauna that she has been sleepwalking for a few weeks due to the stress from the campaign, being blackmailed, and her marital issues. On top of that, Taissa thinks she is responsible for their dog Biscuit missing. And Sammy has seen her sleepwalking,

Taissa: He thinks there's some other version of me. He calls it "the bad one." I'm afraid to go to sleep. I spent the night pounding espressos, just so I can stay in control. I don't know how bad it's gonna get this time, but you... you know how bad it can get.

Shauna invites Taissa to stay with them tonight (Callie is staying with a friend) and she will stay with Taissa.In Callie's bedroom, Taissa and Shauna wonder out loud what their lives would have been if their plane had not crashed. Shauna's alternate future: she would have attended Brown, written papers on Dorothy Parker and Virginia Woolf, fallen in love with a poet boy who was her literary rival until he fell in love with her, broken up with him for a year abroad and met a mime named Francois. Taissa's alternate future: study pre-law at Howard, date many beautiful women, make first string on the soccer team, graduate first in her class, Columbia University for law school, and finally "land an internship in one of the biggest firms in the city." She did do all of that but none of them felt real.

Shauna then reveals to Taissa that she's having an affair. "Sorry. I don't know why I told you that." Taissa pumps her for details hoping it is not Chew Toy Randy Walsh or else "I am gonna burn this whole fucking town down." Shauna describes Adam as younger, an artist, and really earnest. And while sex is great, Adam makes Shauna feel "it". Taissa admits that Simone doesn't make her feel "it" anymore but she is content with what they have which she finds stable and safe. "It's like if someone made me feel "it"... it wasn't gonna be good for anybody, you know?" Shauna gets it.

Natalie's motel room. She is on the phone with Travis's bank, trying to find out more, but the bank is not cooperating:

Natalie: No, I don't have his account password. That's the thing, because... Well, please, could you just talk to your manager and, um, and just tell them that I'm-I'm not his family, but I'm pretty much... You're not listening. Can you just help-help me? Please? No? Can you fucking help me?! What the fuck!? Talk to your manager! You fucking bitch! Do you believe in love?! Talk to your fucking manager!

She hangs up and proceeds to lose it, screaming and crying, until she notices a bit of coke that fell on the ground earlier on, and she snorts it right off the carpet.

Misty's basement. Misty comes down and finds Jessica, Caligula in hand, threatening to wring his neck unless released right away. Misty acts blasé: "Fine. Go ahead. I'll just get another one." One squawk later, Misty hurls a can at Jessica, forcing her to release the parrot. As he flies away, Misty starts crying and begging forgiveness from her "poor little boy" and swearing she didn't mean a word. Jessica looks concerned and asks Misty if she is OK. Misty says that she is fine, just having a bad day, and offers to make food for both of them.

Since the bank won't help her, Natalie attends a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous and corners Suze, one of her old sponsors who just happens to work at the bank. Suze is not happy to see her ("Oh, Jesus Christ, not you.") but Natalie gets her to agree to meet the next day. At a café Natalie compliments Suze on getting promoted at the bank. Suze wants to know why Natalie, who hasn't seen her in ten years, all of a sudden wants to see her. Natalie gets to the point. She thinks that the authorities' ruling it a suicide is wrong. He would never have killed himself due to a promise he made to her once. "And when I was on the brink... he, um... He made me swear that I would never do that, and then... he promised me the same. And even though my words don't mean much... I-I know I'm a liar. He always kept his word. Always. I know he didn't kill himself." Suze finds herself believing that for once, Natalie is telling the truth. Natalie asks Suze to find out who closed Travis's bank account after his death. Suze refuses because disclosing personal financial information to an unauthorized party would get her fired. But Natalie was prepared for a refusal and goes for Plan B: blackmail. Suze can either give Natalie that information, or else Natalie will inform the bank about how the two of them used to sell customers' personal information to identity thieves to fund their drug habits. Since this is An Offer You Can't Refuse, Suze ends up agreeing, telling Natalie on her way out, "I wish I'd never fucking met you."

The Abara-Turner home. Taissa confesses to Simone about her sleepwalking, and how the stress of the campaign has brought it up again. She even admits she may have been the one to let Biscuit out of the house. Simone goes back to being Super Supportive Spouse and says that it's OK and they will get Taissa whatever help she needs. Taissa does not want help. She wants Simone and Sammy to go stay with Simone's mom for a bit. Simone is not having it, because family sticks together. An emotional Taissa finally has to spell it out: it is not safe for them to be in the house with her: "You don't understand. I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you... or Sammy."

The next day, Shauna drops by Adam's place. She tells him she wants to know more about him, and he is more than willing to tell her anything. Shauna immediately starts asking about his art school days at Pratt. He gives her an evasive "pretentious, mostly", but she digs in further, inquiring about his classes and professors. He realizes she caught him and admits to lying about going to Pratt because he wanted to impress her. She has him give her all sorts of biographical information (grew up in Houston suburbs, has a colorectal surgeon for a brother). Adam apologizes for lying and then invites her to go away with him for the weekend to the Poconos. Promising he will share everything about himself, he sends her home to pack and then come back.

Back at her house, Shauna finds glitter on the floor of her closet. She remembers that a) the blackmailer got covered in glitter at the warehouse, and b) she had Adam hide in the closet until he was able to get out without Jeff noticing. Furthermore, she checks the safe where she stores her journals and finds them gone. Next, she is back at Adam's place, banging at the door. When he opens, she has just one question:

"Who the fuck are you?"

Tropes present in this work

• A Death in the Limelight: We get a flashback to Laura Lee nearly drowning at Bible Camp. In the cabin, she announces she will fly out and get help. Her plane explodes shortly afterwards.
• Face Death with Dignity: When the cockpit is engulfed in flames, Laura Lee simply grasps her cross necklace and waits for the inevitable kaboom.
• Gasoline Lasts Forever: The fuel in the plane's tank lay dormant for at least long enough for the body dead guy in the attic to reach the stage of mummification. Still, Laura Lee manages to turn on the ignition.
• Glitter Litter: The blackmailer escapes the warehouse but in the process ends up covered in the stuff. The next morning, Shauna finds glitter in her closet, presumably the same kind. This leads her to suspect Adam is the blackmailer.
• Hope Spot: The group watches Laura Lee fly out over the lake and they cheer. The possibility of rescue disappears when the airplane explodes.
• Insult Friendly Fire:
  • Callie points out that Adam could be trying to exploit Shauna's experiences for his own purposes. Shauna resents the implication that Adam could not find her attractive for herself.
  • Jackie is chatting with Travis about his relationship with Natalie and the latter's low standards on men. Before continuing to drag down Natalie for her sexual experience, Jackie has to clarify that she is not talking about him.
  Jackie: Relationships are bullshit anyway. Trust me. Let's face facts, Nat's standards are pretty low.
  Travis: Cool. Thanks.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Van, bleeding profusely and in unbearable pain from half her face being torn open, really just wants to lie down and die. Tai disagrees but sends the others ahead.
• Lima Syndrome: Jessica threatens to kill Misty's bird unless Misty releases her from captivity. Misty says she will just replace him but still forces Jessica to release him. Misty is crying and begging forgiveness from her pet parrot for saying she would just get another one. When Jessica shows concern for her, Misty is touched and offers to make them both something to eat.
• Morton's Fork: Callie calls out her mother for cheating on her dad. Shauna feels that given that things in her marriage are bad (she suspects Jeff is cheating), Callie is being too judgmental:
  Shauna: First you judge me for looking the other way, and now that I'm doing something about it... admittedly, not the best thing, not... just a bad thing, but fucking something, okay, you're judging me even more.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Natalie is talking to her old sponsor about why Travis is so important to her, Suze is flabbergasted that Natalie is being honest, since she has never witnessed it.
  • Laura Lee defends her plan to fly out the plane and get help. The Precision F-Strike comes from an official Gosh Darn It to Heck! girl who says "Cheese and rice!" in all seriousness.
  "If I don't do this, we're... We're all gonna fucking starve."
• Replacement Goldfish: Invoked and ultimately averted. Jessica threatens to kill Misty's beloved pet bird unless Misty releases her. Misty bluffs by saying that she'll just get another one. However, she still intervenes before Jessica harms Caligula and cries out to him that she didn't mean it.
• Shout-Out:
  • While preparing to fly out, Laura Lee addresses "copilot" Leonard, her teddy bear: "We need to get to 55 before we take off. Kind of like Back to the Future, remember?"
• Sugary Malice: Instead of calling out Shauna for her betrayal and lies, or telling everyone what she did, Jackie outs Shauna's pregnancy to the group but stops them from asking too many questions. Later, she tells Shauna (who was taken by surprise) that she did it for Shauna's sake and the baby's, finishing with, "This is not a good time to be keeping secrets."
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A plane that's been in the woods for who knows how long being flown by a teenager whose only "experience" is reading the flight manual and watching someone else fly? It's amazing Laura Lee got as far as she did before it crashed.
• Wham Shot: Laura Lee's plane flying over the lake and then exploding into a fireball.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Van is not happy about being lit on fire for the second time this season.