REVIEW: ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Episode 9 — “How The Story Ends”

There’s a major divide happening in Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9, both within the story’s context and in how it’s being delivered. In many regards, “How the Story Ends” highlights a consistently uneven season due to its tonal immediacy and the danger these characters, past and present, face. A standard, happy ending for the survivors has never truly been in the books, and yet, in the Season 3 penultimate episode, that fact gets driven home with brutal urgency.

Humanity and cruelty are on display in Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9. That humanity is necessary. We’ve seen the wilderness, and the team’s experiences have eroded their empathy. Which is why it’s so refreshing that some of them retain a core kindness that pushes them forward. Most notably with Van (Liv Hewson) and Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). With the potential of home on the horizon, both are fighting to regain control from Shauna (Sophie Nélisse).

Teenage Van gets one of the best, most vital scenes as she argues with Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown), who, inexplicably, doesn’t want to return home just yet. There’s sense to her explanation at first. She tells Van that returning home could sentence them, as the scientists saw what they did to Coach Ben. But any understanding vanishes when Van reminds her of the horrors of winter. Smug, Tai says, “We survived,” to which Van bites out, “We killed a ****ing kid.” Tai doesn’t care what happens to the others as long as she and Van survive, and it’s this distinction that makes Van a much more likable character, even if her goodness screws her in the end.

Natalie is perhaps the most heartbreaking character in the series, considering that we know in which direction her life will take after her rescue. Throughout Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9, we watch how, in desperation, she looks to escape with those who want to leave. And she very nearly succeeds after giving Hannah (Ashley Sutton) a knife to cut herself and Kodi (Joel McHale) free. But Shauna, of course, realizes what’s happening, and to save herself, Hannah kills Kodi, saying she wants to be involved in their rituals.

Sophie Thatcher breaks our hearts when all seems lost. 

The entire sequence is depressing, even though Sutton is a weak link as she tries to convey a sturdy resolve that is flimsy. Yes, they all agreed not to talk about what happened to them, but it’s another one of those moments where you wonder how Natalie could even be in the same room with Shauna as an adult. Thatcher is absolutely incredible. Natalie’s broken sobs as snow begins to fall, bringing with it the memory of the brutality of their first year there and the methods by which they had to survive, are wrenching and hopeless. It’s a wonderfully shot sequence as the sound around her gives out, leaving only this seeming unending pain and isolation.

We’re given a slight reprieve, however, right at the end. Natalie spots Misty (Sammi Hanratty) and learns, to her horror, that Misty has had the transponder the entire time. This key realization could help the girls get home after all, even without Kodi’s help. It helps establish the shift between the past and present, too. Misty’s actions in the past are reprehensible and doomed the team to endure the violence born from those 19 months in the woods. And yet, somehow, she’s the most likable character in the present.

It’s a low bar. Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) has completely lost it in her interrogation of Melissa (Hilary Swank). Melissa escapes, but it doesn’t last long as she runs into Misty (Christina Ricci), Tai (Tawny Cypress), and Van (Lauren Ambrose.) They bring her back to the house, arguing about what to do with her. The scene highlights two interesting moments. The first, Melissa, calls attention to the fact that Tai always seems to take Shauna’s side, which speaks to what we’ve seen since Season 1. Despite Shauna being a prickly character, we’ve seen her in the past and present as vulnerable in front of Tai.

The second is when Misty decides that Shauna can clean up her mess, something she’s threatened all season. Shauna has treated her terribly, and Misty’s walking away is a monumental step forward in character growth, especially as the rest of the women continue to circle past mistakes and habits once she leaves.

A major death sours Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9. 

But once again, the series uses death for the sake of cheap plot contrivances. As was the case with Natalie’s death and then Lottie’s, Van’s holds little weight beyond our affection for the character. To escape, Melissa closes the chimney to fill the house with carbon monoxide. Van is able to drag Tai and Shauna out, and in one of the more unsettling moments of the episode, we realize that whichever Tai has woken up might not be the version of her that Van wants. Cypress is wonderful at this moment when she wakes up, going, “It’s me.” In the chaos unfolding, the series doesn’t dwell on it, leaving it up to our interpretations of who embodies Tai’s body.

But for every strong performance, there’s a weaker one. While Hewson shines, Nélisse stumbles, uncomfortable with her character’s hostility. And, in the present day, Swanks fails to deliver a performances that lives up to the other formidable actresses. It’s a lifeless performance, and it is not helped that Melissa remains a frustratingly vacant character. In the past, we watch as she stands up to Shauna and is publicly humiliated for it, but that doesn’t give her agency or a personality. And, with how intent she seems to go home in the past, it makes her current descent and embracing of the mysterious “It” come out of left field.

Van can’t bring herself to kill Melissa even though the latter tried to poison all of them. And her comeuppance is for Melissa to turn the knife on her. Melissa says she does it because she wants to subscribe to the wilderness’s higher power, believing she’ll be important if she makes the sacrifice. But she’s such a hollow, thinly drawn character that it lacks impact.

Van’s death is sad, and her conversation on the dream plane with her younger self is a reminder that surviving wasn’t ever a reward because of what they did to stay alive. But it feels lazy. Based on how many players come back after being rescued and how many are still alive in the past, there’s no doubt going to be plenty of violence and murder. Killing Van when she was already dying is cheap.

Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9 delivers an engaging penultimate that focuses on the festering divide widening between the characters. With a fantastic cliffhanger, “How the Story Ends” might not fix the rest of the season’s problems, but it promises the potential for a strong finish.

Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 9 is out now on Paramount+.

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