Thrown into survival mode, the Yellowjackets face the dangers of the woods and the reality of their shifting loyalties to one another.
The pressure of high-school responsibility and social drama is enough to test anyone's loyalties, let alone a crash in the middle of the Canadian wilderness that kills several of one's peers. The Yellowjackets characters face formidable challenges both physical and personal as they attempt to survive until help can arrive.
The changes the characters undergo during their time stranded in the woods affect their relationships with each other, destroying the bonds between some and building them between unexpected pairs. The thread of distrust grows as the likelihood of rescue diminishes by the week. When the chips are down, which Yellowjackets character is the most trustworthy?
Lottie sustains the most change of any character from the beginning of the season to the end. While she is introduced as a quietly witty person with the cleanest footwork on the team, Lottie's underlying ferocity is activated as the situation becomes dire. Although Lottie before the crash was a reliable friend and teammate with good intentions, her evolution into the Antler Queen makes her one of the most unpredictable characters and therefore the least trustworthy. If Lottie is indeed alive and responsible for killing Travis and emptying his bank account, there's no telling what else she is capable of.
Jackie's status as queen bee is threatened by the new hierarchy developing over their time in the woods. Without the desire or wilderness skills to properly contribute to the effort, her teammates begin to exclude her, forming a new chain of command led by Taissa and eventually Lottie.
Unable to exert control over her team and surroundings, Jackie weaponizes the secrets she's acquired from her teammates to regain some semblance of power. Jackie's trustworthiness as a friend seems to be dependent on her own sense of security and dominion over those around her.
Misty is surprisingly trustworthy given her frequent attempts at prolonging their time in the wilderness and penchant for criminal offenses. Her dark sense of humor and desperate need for affection often keep people at bay, but Misty's exceptional intelligence and first aid knowledge allow her to become a central figure out in the wild. Once Misty considers someone a friend, she will go to any length —even covering up a murder, no questions asked — to protect them. On the other hand, anyone that crosses Misty or her fellow Yellowjackets can expect a fentanyl-laced cigarette on their way out.
From the beginning, the audience's perception of Jeff is not the most favorable. Jeff repeatedly cheats on Jackie with her best friend, goes into Shauna's safe to read her private journals, and neglects to tell her that the family business is suffering. As Jeff mentions to Shauna, "Secrets have always been a part of us."
The only thing keeping Jeff from ranking lower on the trustworthy scale is the merit of his intentions. Jeff may lie about taking money from loan sharks and blackmailing the former Yellowjackets to pay off his debt, but his love for (and fear of) Shauna keeps him relatively in check.
Arguably the bravest of the Yellowjackets, Taissa quickly becomes the de facto leader once Jackie's authority over the group diminishes. Her calm demeanor and rational thinking make her better equipped to handle the problems the team encounters, such as finding the first source of water after the crash. After discovering Shauna's pregnancy, Taissa keeps the secret and offers support when needed. Taissa's loyalty to her team and desire to keep their past buried clouds her judgment in the present timeline as she consistently lies to her wife and ignores her son's cries for help. Though she is a devoted protector of her friends and their secrets, Taissa's sleepwalking fugue states make her unpredictable and dangerous to trust.
Shauna conceals her affair with Jeff from Jackie, frequently lies to her husband, and often buries her true feelings until they come bubbling to the surface in a fit of rage. Shauna's ability to be easily swayed by the opinions and suggestions of those around her as a teen follow her into adulthood where she allows her daughter to walk all over her until pushed too far. While she has proven to be a human vault of secrets that poses no threat to the surviving Yellowjackets', Shauna's tendency to bottle up her emotions until they inevitably explode has led to the death of both Jackie and Adam. Although she may have convinced herself of her innocence, her behavior reveals that Shauna may be an unreliable narrator in Yellowjackets when it comes to the truth.
Ben Scott may not have signed up to be stranded in Canada with a group of teenage girls and have his leg amputated, but he proves his merit time and again. No stranger to keeping a secret of his own, Coach Scott tactfully addresses Travis and Nat's relationship without lecture or judgment. Although his life is frequently threatened by Misty's misguided affections, Ben attempts to let her down easily by claiming the only things keeping them apart were the legal and moral issues. In most cases, this would be the wrong course of action, but the imminent threat of abuse from Misty leaves him no other option. Coach Scott may be one of the more trustworthy characters, but now that Misty knows the truth, he may not last long.
Despite being left for dead by Jackie, Van never explicitly reveals the events to the team, a choice that could have quickly turned the team against Jackie. Out of all the Yellowjackets, Van is the most passive-aggressive, however, she never uses her knowledge as leverage. Although Van clearly wants her relationship with Taissa to be public, she doesn't push her into doing something she may be uncomfortable with. After yet another near-death experience, Van's strict belief in rational thought wavers, leading her to seek comfort in a higher power, in the hopes that she'll receive the explanations she's looking for. Van's journey in season two may very well follow a similar path to Lottie's decline in trustworthiness.
Laura Lee's firm belief in God and doing what's right makes her one of the most trustworthy characters. Her faith drives her to act morally, never betraying her teammates. When Jackie forces Shauna to reveal her pregnancy, Laura Lee remains determined to fly the plane and get them rescued without a second thought about what her beliefs might say about Shauna's situation.
While Laura Lee may not have had a chance to continue proving her trustworthiness, her openness with Lottie and determination to save her team make it clear that she would carry on seeing the best in everyone, protecting the team's secrets, and perhaps keeping Lottie from becoming the Antler Queen.
While her home life could have turned Natalie into a cruel person who would continue the cycle of abuse, she actively tries to do the right thing, making her the most trustworthy character in Yellowjackets. Her refusal to ice out Allie during practice and protection of Coach Scott's secret shows Natalie's kind nature. Even after being shamed by Travis and watching him with Jackie, Natalie never becomes vengeful, insisting on staying out all night to help him find Javi. Natalie's cold, stern outward appearance is merely a disguise that hides the vulnerability of a person who trusts just as easily as she loves.
