A wild ending to “Dislocation” pushed Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) into a difficult position. It’s unclear if a figure of her past is haunting her or if she’s hoping that Melissa (Jenna Burgess) returns to her life. Her unhappiness in her marriage bleeds into “Them’s The Breaks” — Season 3 Episode 3 of Yellowjackets. A bad dinner, a stalker, and a poorly timed dine-and-dash might be the least of everyone’s worries.
Yellowjackets — “Them’s The Breaks” — The Recap
Stuck in the cave with Coach Ben (Steven Krueger), Mari (Alexa Barajas) sings “I’m Too Sexy” to die in the cave. Ben killed a bat and cooked it for them to eat. She tries to hit on Coach Ben (unaware that he is gay) as a means to get him to let his guard down. Ben admits he’s gay, telling her he would never sleep with her anyway. She instead asks him to give her the rest of the bat but then tries to mace him when the opportunity presents itself. Instead, she maces herself in the face while macing him, leaving them rolling on the cave floor.
Adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) meets with her doctor about her visit to urgent care and hears that her cancer is no longer metastasizing. The doctor does not want to get Van’s hopes up, but she’s hopeful. Adult Shauna makes breakfast for Callie (Sarah Desjardins) and Lottie (Courtney Eaton). Shauna tries to get info from Callie and Lottie about the night before, but both leave in a hurry. Misty (Christina Ricci) calls, telling Shauna she has intel and they need to meet that afternoon.
In the past, Coach Ben pours water into Mari’s eyes to get the mace out. Ben admits he understands her frustration and laments the path that put him here. He begins to hear the growling from the woods, and Mari realizes she hears it too. She opens up to him as well, telling Ben about her cousin who died of cancer as a child. She believes there are two versions of reality, one where bad things happen to everyone and one where it lurks in the darkness. She asks Ben what his plan is and offers to keep his survival secret.
Lottie and Callie meet away from the house after Callie finishes her schoolwork. Lottie asks why Callie wants to hang out away from Shauna, and Lottie wants Callie to be vulnerable. Callie finds a dress she likes, and Lottie pushes the teenager to steal it. After pointing out the security, they head for the exit.
Shauna and Misty discuss the night before, with Misty filling in Shauna about Callie’s interest in their past. After Shauna asks why they had to do it in person, Misty admits she wants to spend time with Shauna and will help with any of her errands over the day. Van comes home to Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and tells her about the Oncologist appointment. Taissa then tells Van about what happened to their waiter. She then refers to the waiter as “the sacrifice,” and Van grows uncomfortable. Taissa then lights a candle, performing the Wilderness ritual.
Ben returns to Mari with a knife in his hand. He tells her to stand up now, and while Mari makes excuses, he eventually gets her up on her feet. She begs him not to hurt her, but he cuts her free. He tells her to go, and she shoves him to the ground before running away.
Shauna and Misty run the errands, but while they’re out, Shauna’s mini-van loses its breaks. They fly through an intersection and off the road, eventually stopping on a hill in the grass. Shauna yells at Misty, assuming it was something she did, and then blames her for the phone call in the bathroom. After throwing everything Misty has ever done back in her face, Shauna tells Misty to leave the van. Misty calls Shauna a bad friend and storms off down the hill.
In the past, Melissa walks up to Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) and asks to talk about what happened between them. While teen Shauna is initially antagonistic, she tells Melissa to stay and asks her not to be boring. They smile at each other when they hear the commotion of Mari returning to camp. Mari tells everyone about falling in a hole and pushing her knee back into place but eventually admits to Coach Ben helping her. Shauna pushes everyone to hunt down the Coach and finds support. Teen Lotti tries to get teen Akilah (Nia Sondaya) to join them.
Adult Lottie dances with Callie in Shauna’s kitchen. They made dinner for Shauna, who takes a bite but notices Callie’s necklace. It’s a reminder of their time in the woods, and Lottie asks Shauna if she can feel “it” happening again. Shauna angrily yells at both of them and tells Lottie to leave immediately. She tears the necklace off Callie’s neck in the process.
Adult Van and Taissa watch Pee Wee’s Playhouse on their couch. They joke about their past, and they embrace. However, the tap cuts to a commercial where Taissa sees the “no-eyed man” from her visions. She gets up and says they have to go to “Ozzy’s Ice Cream Parlor.” It’s closed, but Taissa thinks it means something that they saw the ad.
They arrive at the parlor, and Taissa breaks into the old shop, and Van follows her inside. As they wander through, they hear a snarl and screech from outside. A coyote has killed a rabbit, which Taissa and Van interpret as “It” wanting more sacrifices. At home, Misty remains angry at Shauna. She burns a picture of the Yellowjackets.
Mari leads the teenagers into the woods with torches. She struggles to remember the path, but Shauna supports Mari as they go. Mari eventually finds the cave, but Nat (Sophie Thatcher) tries to get them to stop from going into the cave. However, Akilah says they should, and suddenly, they hear the screeching echoing through the woods.
Nat leads the group down until they find a fork in the cave, and Shauna leads Akilah and Van’s (Liv Hewson) group down a separate path. They lose one lantern in the cave water but make it through. Once in the cave, Shauna goes missing from the group, quickly followed by Akilah. Van’s light goes out as well, but she eventually finds a door in the cave. When she walks through it, she appears back in the cabin, where she sits next to a fire.
We then jump to Akilah’s vision, where she wanders through the woods and finds dozens of berries to eat. However, she’s interrupted by a goat baying, and she walks over to her animals. Suddenly, she hears a man’s voice telling Akilah to be careful. A llama speaks to her and tells her that everything will bite, while the woods continue to call her.
Shauna’s vision features her swimming in the lake when her son waves to her from the shore. She cannot make progress as she swims and instead finds herself stuck in the lake. Suddenly, each of the women finds themselves getting attacked in their visions. Hands grab Van through the chairs, the Earth swallows Akiliah, and something drags Shauna underwater. The Llama tells Akilah, “It’s gonna get what it wants,” as she disappears.
Out of nowhere, the three girls are back together and find themselves in “one dream,” according to Lottie. She writes, “Of all the ways to lose a person, death is the kindest” on the board as the no-eyed man walks past the classroom. Jackie (Ella Purnell) plays with a slap bracelet in the corner. She asks the other girls if they want to try, and while Akilah does it correctly, it hurts Van. Suddenly, Jackie puts it on Shauna’s throat, where it tightens and causes her to bleed. Lottie tells Akilah if she does not help, everyone will die.
The girls suddenly wake up in the cave. Coach drags them out of the spot where their hallucinations began, but when he finishes pulling Van out of the hole, Natalie holds him at gunpoint. He’s coming back with them.
Is “Them’s The Breaks” worth watching?
While the tone and visuals are nothing alike, the events at the end of “Them’s the Breaks” recall the best moments of Twin Peaks to perfection. The trippy dream not only forces characters to dig into the pain they’re feeling but also feels necessary to expand the lore. The no-eyed man appears, the word “it” continues to echo off the walls, and talking animals chill to the bone. This is the kind of insane magical realism that has made Yellowjackets an incredible experience to follow, and once again, it passes with flying colors when the opportunity comes.
Additionally, Ella Purnell’s return was wholly unexpected. Her return is perfect, giving us just enough of Jackie’s attitude while also remaining in opposition to Shauna. The two women continue to fight, and the bloody events in the dream feel like a premonition. Even if none of it comes to pass, it’s a disturbing sequence that strikes at the mystery of the series.
Another great narrative reveal for Yellowjackets and “Them’s the Breaks” emerges from Coach Ben. Not only has he continued to live outside of the rituals of the women, but he’s isolated himself. He understands aspects of the mysterious woods but reveals that he cannot explain everything. Independent of the girls, he hears the screaming. Additionally, the “poison” in the cave below likely caused his own hallucinations. Despite his fear of the women, he put his life on the line to save Shauna, Van, and Akilah. Will he have the opportunity for forgiveness?
This also puts us on a collision course with the big question: “Who caused the fire?” We know that Ben did not even realize the fire had occurred when he ran away. Additionally, the teens have not fully talked about it, using Ben’s disappearance as evidence of his guilt. However, despite his fear of them, he’s now saved four of the girls from death. If he wanted them dead, he could have left them to their fates and instead intervened. That does not sound like someone who lights a cabin ablaze with the girls inside.
Clearly, something supernatural is hunting the women. The return of images from Yellowjackets episodes past proves as much. Can the women keep their tribe together, both in the past and future? Yellowjackets is hitting its stride by having the events in both timelines tie together so well, allowing the narratives to stand up independently. “Them’s the Breaks” is another great episode, and for the final fifteen minutes alone, it makes a case for one of the show’s best episodes yet.
Watch Yellowjackets on Showtime and Paramount+. New episodes are released on Friday mornings on Paramount+. “Them’s the Breaks” first streamed on February 21, and airs on Showtime on February 23.
Yellowjackets — “Them’s The Breaks” — Season 3, Episode 3 Spoiler Review and Recap
