Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Yellowjackets season 3.The fate of Mari Ibarra (Alexa Barajas) creates a new mystery in the Yellowjackets season 1 finale. As one of the survivors of Yellowjackets‘ plane crash in the wilderness, Mari has been in the show since season 1. She has only been featured as a teenager in Yellowjackets‘ 1990s timeline, with her role becoming increasingly more prominent, especially in season 3 as her feud with Shauna Shipman (Sophie Nélisse) intensifies, and when she crosses paths with Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger), and shares where he is hiding, which leads to his trial, torment, and eventual death.
The Yellowjackets season 3 finale reveals that Mari dies in the wilderness and is the Pit Girl who was teased in the show’s first episode, with her fate being sealed after she draws the Queen of Hearts card for the group’s hunt. This explains why Mari has been absent from the present-day timeline and rules out the possibility of her being another surprise adult survivor. However, Mari’s fate in the wilderness does raise new questions about the Yellowjackets’ high school reunion in the season 1 finale.
Why Wasn’t Mari Featured More In Yellowjackets Season 1’s Reunion Video?
Misty, Natalie, Taissa, & Shauna Attend The Reunion
During Yellowjackets season 1’s ending, the adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Taissa Turner (Tawny Cypress), Natalie Scattorcio (Juliette Lewis), and Misty Quigley (Christina Ricci) attend their high school’s 25-year class reunion. Part of the reunion is an in-memoriam video that heavily features Jackie Taylor (Ella Purnell), who died in the wilderness, and had her body cannibalized by her teammates. With the season 1 finale also being the episode where Jackie’s death happens in the 1990s timeline, the reunion video’s focus on her makes narrative sense.
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From an in-universe standpoint, though, it seemingly does not make sense for the video to mostly focus on Jackie. She was the captain of the soccer team, the homecoming queen, and a popular student, but it stands to reason that the video would also commemorate the other Yellowjackets who died in the wilderness. With Mari now confirmed to be among those who die in the wilderness, her absence from the reunion video feels strange. Mari did not have the same social status as Jackie, but her high school would presumably still want to honor her memory.
Mari Might Have Been Younger Than Jackie & The Survivors
She Could Have Been A Junior
One possible explanation for Mari’s absence in the video may be that she was younger than Jackie and the survivors who attended the reunion. It is confirmed that Jackie and Shauna are both seniors when they talk about going to college the following year. Taissa, Natalie, and Misty are all implied to be seniors as well, since they attend the reunion with Shauna. It is possible that Mari was a year younger than them and was a junior in high school when the plane crashed, which would explain why she is not prominently featured in the video.
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Yellowjackets Season 3’s Deaths |
|
|---|---|
|
Character |
Death Episode # |
|
Van & Taissa’s waiter |
1 |
|
Lottie |
4 |
|
Coach Ben |
6 |
|
Edwin |
7 |
|
Kodiak |
9 |
|
Van |
9 |
|
Mari |
10 |
With it being a 25-year class reunion, the video may be specifically honoring the seniors from the graduating class, which gives more credence to the focus on Jackie. During the following year’s class reunion, there may be a new video that more so highlights Mari and other members of the team who were juniors and who did not come back from the wilderness. Shauna being a senior and Mari being a junior would also add another layer to their feud and to Shauna’s belief that she was superior to Mari.
Yellowjackets’ Rescue Timeline Can Finally Explore More About How The Town Honored The Dead Characters
The Dead Can Be Honored In The More Immediate Aftermath Of Being Rescued
The high school reunion in the season 1 finale shows one way that the town of Wiskayok, New Jersey has honored Jackie. The awkward brunch scene between Shauna, Jeff Sadecki (Warren Kole), and Jackie’s parents in season 1 shows another way that Jackie has been remembered. Now that teenage Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) has made contact with the outside world, Yellowjackets season 4 is poised to explore the immediate post-rescue timeline in the 1990s, which can show other ways that Wiskayok has honored the other dead Yellowjackets.
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So far, the immediate post-rescue timeline has only been shown in the opening of season 2, when teenage Lottie Matthews (Courtney Eaton) and her teammates shield their faces from the media, board a plane, and Lottie lets out a chilling scream. Once the Yellowjackets are rescued, season 4 can explore this time period in greater depth and without having to worry about spoiling which characters died in the wilderness. Season 4 can reveal how Jackie, Mari, Laura Lee (Jane Widdop), and the other dead Yellowjackets are commemorated, long before the 25-year class reunion.
|
Characters Confirmed To Survive The Wilderness |
Teenage Actor |
Adult Actor |
|---|---|---|
|
Shauna |
Sophie Nélisse |
Melanie Lynskey |
|
Natalie |
Sophie Thatcher |
Juliette Lewis |
|
Taissa |
Jasmin Savoy Brown |
Tawny Cypress |
|
Misty |
Samantha Hanratty |
Christina Ricci |
|
Lottie |
Courtney Eaton |
Simone Kessell |
|
Van |
Liv Hewson |
Lauren Ambrose |
|
Travis |
Kevin Alves |
Andrés Soto |
|
Melissa |
Jenna Burgess |
Hilary Swank |
There will likely be funerals and memorials for the deceased players and other individuals associated with the team who died in the wilderness. The surviving Yellowjackets will have to sit through these events, all while knowing how Jackie, Mari, Laura Lee, Javi Martinez (Luciano Leroux), Crystal (Nuha Jes Iman), Coach Ben, and Coach Martinez (Carlos Sanz) really died. This may contribute to Melissa (Jenna Burgess) feeling like she is no longer one of the Yellowjackets, which her adult self (Hilary Swank) mentions after her present-day survival is revealed in season 4.
Dead characters like Mari affecting Melissa and causing her to break away from the group is a way for the deceased Yellowjackets to still play a role in the 1990s timeline during season 4.
Melissa may struggle with concealing the role that she and her teammates played in many of these deaths, from hunting and eating Mari to Jackie freezing to death and later having her corpse eaten. This also does not include other Yellowjackets character deaths that the public does not know about, including those of Edwin (Nelson Franklin) and Kodiak (Joel McHale). Dead characters like Mari affecting Melissa and causing her to break away from the group is a way for the deceased Yellowjackets to still play a role in the 1990s timeline during season 4.
Yellowjackets season 4 has not been renewed yet.
It will also be difficult for Travis Martinez (Kevin Alves) to lie to everyone, especially his mother, about what happened to Javi. He does need to lie about what happened to his father, as Coach Martinez’s death was simply part of the plane crash, but Travis definitely will not tell the truth about Javi being sacrificed to the wilderness and the group eating his heart. This is one of the many storylines that can be explored by honoring the dead characters in Yellowjackets season 4’s post-rescue timeline.
7/10
- 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
