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Here’s What’s Different About the Yellowjackets Season 2 Opening Credits

Misty smiling with an open mouth, wearing a black turtleneck, in front of a red curtain, in the Yellowjackets Season 2 opening credits
Showtime/Screenshot

Yellowjackets Season 2 has answered my prayers to the ancient gods of the dirt and the sky with some changes to the opening title sequence. This should come as no surprise, as the credits to Season 1 contained a number of snippets from that season. I’m inferring it’s the same deal here, with a lot of the surrounding shots that remain the same being non-diegetic (teenagers partying and puking, etc.). Of course, I could be wrong about that or sorting some things improperly.

And the music didn’t change, but that’s fine because “No Return” is a banger.

I also want to note that I’m not going to lay out absolutely all of the differences between this sequence and the one from the first season, as some of them don’t seem particularly noteworthy. For example, the adult Van is played by Lauren Ambrose, we know this, and here she is in the credits. Makes sense.

Adult Van looks weary, sitting on a couch
Showtime/Screenshot

Other shots of characters that are sprinkled in also don’t seem particularly noteworthy, even if they are cool, and I further may have classified some things into this category that you think are more significant. For example, we see a hand holding a knife at one point, and I’m pretty sure it’s the adult Lottie’s hand. We also see her in visible distress. Neither of these things strike me as terribly surprising, so I just don’t have much to say about them.

And also, to be clear, I’m making no claim to have discovered absolutely everything in the Season 2 opening credits. There is a ton going on and a lot of the shots are quite quick. So if you note something I have missed or have thoughts about something I haven’t mentioned, please feel free to make a note in the comments. I’ll appreciate it.

One last note of preamble: If you aren’t as obsessive about this show as I am, and you’re concerned about spoilers, you may want to avoid what follows. I don’t know what’s going to happen any better than you do, as I’ve only seen the season premiere at this point, but some of the shots in this opening title sequence are very suggestive. I’m going to speculate about them.

If you care to join me, let’s get to the meat.

A bloody heart on a table
Showtime/Screenshot

OK, so this is just a bloody organ on a table of some kind. But whose? And what organ? I’m realizing that my knowledge of anatomy probably doesn’t warrant my immediate thought that this is a human heart.

Anyway, this probably isn’t all that significant. We know that the Yellowjackets are going to get into some cannibalism, after all. But this does suggest it’s going to be soon, or at least this season. And if that weren’t enough, we have Misty eating blood:

Misty licks blood off her fingers
Showtime/Screenshot

But I’m more interested in the ritual than anything, and the Season 2 opening credits do give us some substantial clues to work with in that regard. Also Twin Peaks references! Or, at least, I’ve decided they are Twin Peaks references; I’ll cash that out as I go.

First, let’s note this shot, which is something of a reprise of a shot from the Season 1 title sequence. That turned out to be Misty, Mari, Akilah, and Tai looking down at Van after she’d been attacked by wolves. Is something similar going on here? Are they looking at a body?

A group of Yellowjackets in a circle, looking down
Showtime/Screenshot

I note that Coach Scott and Travis are in this circle. Lottie’s eyes are closed and she looks like she might have blood on her. No one looks happy. Tai is looking away. Yep, I’m guessing they are looking at a freshly dead body here. I wonder whose.

Regardless, I promised you Twin Peaks references, so let’s get to it. One you might note is in the image at the top of this article, as Misty stands in front of red curtains. That’s pretty minor. But then we have a couple of shots of playing cards. Queens, to be exact, and this is very reminiscent of the cards Windom Earle taunted Cooper with in Twin Peaks Season 2. There’s also a note.

“I’m grateful for my friends,” it reads, and it seems to be in a stack or is the first page of a notebook that has been torn from its binding. It’s a book with the pages torn out. The queen of diamonds is being set on fire for some reason, whereas the queen of hearts has her eyes smeared out.

Having seen “Friends, Romans, Countrymen,” this might make us think about what Shauna and Jeff do to Adam’s paintings, but I feel confident that what we’re seeing is in the wilderness and not in 2021.

They’re playing little games, so Shauna playing MASH with Jackie’s corpse is probably the more relevant thing to think about. How is all of this going to develop? I have to think that these playing cards will somehow factor into determining who gets hunted and eaten.

Am I thinking too much about Windom Earle?

A group of girls, led by Taissa, charging with weapons
Showtime/Screenshot

Why is there a group of young women with weapons charging at something? Could this be a hunt (of either beast or human)? I’m not so sure; it has me thinking more about the possibility of rival factions fighting against one another.

There’s also a shot of Taissa skulking about in the woods with a facial covering on, which I think feeds into something like this theory. Plus, Nat and Travis do the hunting, with a gun, but there’s nothing out there for them to kill.

A finger with their face covered hunching in the snowy woods
Showtime/Screenshot

In S2E1, Nat brings a map back to Coach Scott and they piece it together with maps from previous days. That’s all well and straightforward, as they are working to map the territory and wondering if there’s something out there to help them get rescued.

Pieces of paper placed on a table with what appears to be the symbol on top of them
Showtime/Screenshot

Is this the same map, and is that the ominous symbol on it, for some reason? We see Lottie draw that symbol on the window in the season premiere, and her group wears it around their necks in 2021. It was already there in the wilderness when the plane crashed, on a tree and in the cabin.

But the thing this image makes me think of the most is when, in Season 1, Misty and Nat laid out photos of where Travis died and connected the lines made by candles.

And then there’s this one:

A map with a number of fuzzy circles on it
Showtime/Screenshot

Reminiscent (to me at least) of the map in Owl Cave in Twin Peaks, I’m guessing that the area with fuzzy circles corresponds to where the compass went wonky in “No Compass“—some strange spot out in the woods.

Maybe this is where Javi is—somehow outside of time. Maybe it’s a portal. Maybe when he comes back he’ll be the Man With No Eyes.

The Man With No Eyes walking in the woods
Javi, is that you? (Showtime/Screenshot)

There are some indeterminate images of people in the opening credits to Season 2, and I definitely didn’t grab them all because there is so little to work on.

A reclining figure, smoking, with a hooked nose
Showtime/Screenshot

Here we have a figure reclining, smoking, with what looks like a feather boa, and their nose seems to be noticeably hooked, like a bird. My guess is that this is someone associated with Lottie’s group in 2021, but it seems to me to indicate a whole path that we haven’t even begun to explore.

There’s a passing resemblance to this shot I took of Nat, but I mostly just thought this one looked cool.

Nat holding a cigarette and a set of keys near her face
Showtime/Screenshot

There is also this weird shot of someone wearing a mask that I’m not sure what to do with. Probably more Lottie 2021 business, but the mask is really nondescript compared to the animal masks we see people wearing in S2E1.

A figure in a plain looking mask
Showtime/Screenshot

And lastly, I am worried about the Sadeckis. As the season premiere came to a close, Callie found Adam’s charred license in the family’s grill, and we’ve seen her confronting Shauna about the murder in the Season 2 trailer.

In the opening credits, there is a nice shot of a family photo of Jeff, Shauna, and Callie. Then it gets splattered with blood. WHOSE BLOOD IS THAT?

Jeff, Shauna, and Callie in a family photo, spattered with blood
Showtime/Screenshot

For whatever reason, my mind put it together with another image of blood in this title sequence, though I realize it might be totally unrelated except for the blood of it all. It’s the wood of the frame that’s making me connect them. And here there is A LOT OF BLOOD.

Blood oozing from a wooden frame
Showtime/Screenshot

I don’t know if I’m in a minority in really liking Callie, but I do. She’s whip-smart and gives me hope for the future. I hope she doesn’t die. I hope Jeff doesn’t die. I hope Shauna doesn’t die.

Maybe they murder someone in their house. That would be better.


So that does it for my analysis of the Season 2 opening credits. Is there anything I’ve missed? Let’s talk about it constantly. I’ll be back each week to break down every new episode as it airs. I hope you’ll lend me your ears. Buzz!

Written by Caemeron Crain

Caemeron Crain is Executive Editor of TV Obsessive. He struggles with authority, including his own.

Caesar non est supra grammaticos

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5 Comments

  1. The hooked nosed could be trans? smoker with the Mohawk and feather boa. Now we see the birds in there also also feathery with the hooked nose. Who knows! but they find the warm spot by the tree, something is either warm under there or sat there warming it up for a very long time. The mask the plain wooden mask..blinds are behind him has to be present day..looks like it may be our friendly hobbit or a bewildered police officer. I’m thinking infiltration into Lotties cult? Lotties expression is from the scene with dead Laura Lee. Blood is from beehive not picture. I think Seana or Callie may have to kill the menacing cop, hence blood on photo? All guesses of course but it is fun to look at!

  2. Regarding the Queen card, if I’m remembering correctly, in a Season 1 episode, Travis was playing solitaire and Nat came in and stated do you know there’s no Queens in that deck? Don’t know if that’s significant