The 7 Hardest-to-Watch Moments in ‘Yellowjackets’ So Far

“The worst is behind us, okay? We survived a f**king plane crash.”

Oh, Jackie (Ella Purnell), if you only knew the horrors, trials, and tribulations that awaited you and your Yellowjackets teammates in the wilderness after that fateful plane crash. Throughout two seasons of “Yellowjackets,” there have been many shocking, gruesome, and terrifying scenes much worse than that plane crash. Below, we've painstakingly chosen the seven hardest-to-watch moments of the series so far. Brace yourself: We're starting small and working our way up to the most devastating.

See all our picks in the video below. 

We learned very early in “Yellowjackets” that Misty Quigley (played by Samantha Hanratty as a teen and Christina Ricci as an adult) is her own caliber of crazy. It became very clear that we weren't dealing with the most normal of people when she destroyed the plane's black box in the show's second episode. Overcome with joy at finally feeling like she fit in somewhere despite all the tragedy and chaos surrounding her after the plane crash, Misty smashed the transponder to smithereens, an act that no one witnessed but one that potentially had deadly repercussions.

The fact that she was willing to risk the group's possible rescue spoke volumes about Misty’s headspace. However, through research, we've learned that the black box likely wouldn’t have led to their rescue anyway. Regardless, her intent was sinister, and that made this incredibly hard to watch. Fast forward to Season 2, and it was almost as hard to watch when Misty told Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman) about her actions, bizarrely expecting her pal to see humor and excitement in the tale. Perhaps, needless to say, Crystal did not have a supportive reaction, and the consequences for her were fatal. We don’t foresee Misty making that same mistake twice, so is this a secret she’ll now take to her grave?

Seasons 1 and 2 of “Yellowjackets” gave us glimpses into the night of Travis’ (Andres Soto) death. Both instances were heart-wrenching to watch. In Season 1, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) tragically found a dead Travis hanging from a piece of farm equipment. The sight was as shocking for her as it was for us, even as we were just getting to know Travis's character.

The Season 2 scene showcasing Travis’s death provided a new perspective. Recounting what happened, Lottie (Simone Kessell) claimed to Natalie that Travis called her in an absolute panic, convinced the same darkness from their years in the wilderness was now coming for him. She alleged he wanted to hang himself and come close to death in hopes of communicating with this mysterious force.

Using the farm equipment, Lottie was supposed to lower Travis back down at the proper moment, but a horrific vision of a demonic Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) distracted her. Instead of lowering Travis’s body, the button she pressed raised him even higher, choking him to death. However, all Lottie told Nat was that the button broke. So, how much of her story was true? Whatever the circumstances, Travis's death remains a gut-wrenching loss and watch nonetheless.

Fewer characters on “Yellowjackets” met a crueler fate than poor, innocent Biscuit. It was apparent in the Season 1 finale that “dark” Taissa (Tawny Cypress) had been up to something she thought would guarantee her victory in the state senatorial race, but nothing could've prepared us for the big reveal. Viewers were shocked when Simone (Rukiya Bernard) stumbled upon Tai’s sacrificial altar in their basement crawlspace, with Biscuit’s head front and center.

As we pieced together that Taissa likely murdered her family pet, we realized just how serious her sleepwalking and fugue states had become. As Season 2 progressed, we were clued into the fact that Tai had no recollection of creating the altar at all, making Biscuit's death all the more stunning. When she saw the altar herself, she was utterly horrified at what she had done to her son's beloved pet. We were right there with her.

We’ve got to give them credit for trying. Throughout the course of Season 1, the girls tried to find help a few times, but each attempt resulted in disastrous consequences. Eventually, the meekest of the bunch, Laura Lee, decided she would step up and try and save the group in her own way: She would “take the dead guy’s plane and fly south” in search of help. Her overflowing optimism gave us a sliver of hope, but only for a brief instant.

When Laura Lee actually managed to get the old plane off the ground, our jaws hit the floor. It had to be too good to be true, and it was. It gutted us to the core watching that plane burst into flames, but the real gut punch was what the explosion signified. With Laura Lee’s death, all hope of rescue for the group went out the metaphorical window. The devastation on Lottie’s (Courtney Eaton) face alone was soul crushing.

Although we knew from the very beginning of “Yellowjackets” that at some point one of the characters would get eaten, the way things unraveled with Jackie’s fate was a multifold shock. First, it was shocking that Jackie froze to death, then it was shocking that Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) hid her body, and then it was shocking that the group's attempt to cremate Jackie's corpse failed. After a pile of snow fell on top of Jackie's body but didn't completely subdue the fire started for the attempted cremation, she was essentially slow-cooked.

Then the biggest shock of them all came: Shauna suggested Jackie “wanted” them to eat her. And eat they did, with everyone but Coach Ben (Steven Kreuger) taking part. The pure animalistic energy the teens showed as they tore apart Jackie's body made this a genuinely terrifying and surreal scene. Given the circumstances, it made sense not to waste Jackie’s body, but we don’t think anyone in the fandom expected the group to turn to cannibalism this early on. Coach Ben’s horrified reaction to the teens chowing down on “Snackie” accurately depicted how we felt watching at home. It was highly disturbing to watch.

While there has already been plenty of death to go around on “Yellowjackets,” the hardest to watch was definitely the way we lost poor Javi (Luciano Leroux). In the penultimate episode of Season 2, the group came to the consensus that one person would be sacrificed in order to save the rest from starving. After drawing cards, everyone set their sights on Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), but knowing full well she made it to adulthood had us speculating that someone else would end up dying in her place. Sadly, we were right.

When Javi ran after Natalie in hopes of leading her to safety during the climactic chase scene, his bravery backfired horribly. The second Javi plunged through that ice and into the freezing-cold water below, his fate was sealed. Natalie tried to pull Javi out of the frozen lake, but her attempts were futile. The rest of the girls simply stood back and watched it all unfold, recognizing that they could simply eat a dead Javi instead of hunting and killing Nat for their meal. The look on Van’s (Liv Hewson) face at that moment was horrifying, not dissimilar to the looks on our faces as viewers, and we felt the same heartbreak and disbelief as Travis (Kevin Alves) when he discovered what happened to his little brother. Knowing that Natalie was never able to forgive herself for Javi’s death makes it sting all the more.

While every moment on this list was hard to watch in its own way, nothing was more difficult to see and no one’s pain was more palpable than teen Shauna, still grieving Jackie's death, realizing her baby was dead. When Shauna went into active labor without, obviously, proper medical supplies or training, the group relied heavily upon Misty and her first-aid knowledge. What followed was a confusing fever dream with Shauna on the brink of death. It took us a bit to catch on to the fact that what was unfolding following the birth wasn’t real. Viewers were first led to believe Shauna’s baby boy was born perfectly healthy, only to later be eaten by the rest of the group. That was horrifying enough, but the true horror was still to come.

Shauna awoke from what we now realized was a horrible dream to the utterly devastating reality that her baby didn’t, in fact, survive being born. A distraught Shauna kept insisting otherwise, swearing to everyone that her son was crying out for her. It was only when the dead infant was placed in Shauna's arms that the awful truth began to sink in. Months after this moment aired, we still can't get Shauna's sobbing (and Nélisse's incredible acting) out of our minds.

Although we only highlighted seven scenes here, there were plenty more moments scattered throughout Seasons 1 and 2 that were tough pills to swallow. We can only imagine what's in store for Season 3 — this list of the hardest “Yellowjackets” moments to watch may need updating when the time comes.