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I mean, you make people feel like things are gonna be okay just by showing up and... being your dumb, hot, awesome self. At least you always did that for me.
Shauna to Jackie, "Blood Hive"
Jackie Taylor is a character on the Showtime original series Yellowjackets. She is portrayed by Ella Purnell.
Profile[]
Jackie Taylor is the charismatic, popular leader of the WHS Yellowjackets and Shauna's best friend. After the plane crash, the power dynamics and her position on the team are drastically changing.
Personality[]
Jackie is smart and talented, and she has a magnetic personality. On the surface, Jackie appears as an ideal person. She earns good grades, is nice looking, and has a pleasant personality. She is a generally kind person who cares and looks out for her friends and squadmates. Jackie refuses to bench a weaker freshman player to make the team stronger. She is sorry to learn that Taissa and other members of the team intended to hurt another team player (though they meant the injury to be minor enough to sideline her), but she is able to tactfully bring the team together. Nonetheless, she also shows some classic “Mean Girl” (a 2004 film by Mark Waters) qualities.
Jackie’s leadership quickly veers into commanding others, especially Shauna to the point where she dominates her making Shauna feel she has no control over her life. Flashbacks reveal that Jackie has a habit of unilaterally making decisions for Shauna. She frequently talks to Shauna about her college plans for them, only for Shauna to later reveal that Jackie had never questioned if she wanted to attend the same school. During a party, Jackie proclaims to Shauna that she's her best friend rather than stating a quality about Shauna she likes. Shauna even admits her disinterest in soccer, accusing Jackie of forcing her to join the team.
As the time progresses, it becomes apparent that Jackie is oblivious to what others are actually doing around her. She fails to notice clear signs that Shauna is unhappy with their relationship, and she becomes incredibly bitter when Shauna begins disagreeing with her decisions. Shauna eventually snaps at Jackie, pointing out that she rarely considers others, often acting like she is a movie star while the others are background characters.
After the crash and under the stress of survival it becomes clear that underneath Jackie’s flattering qualities is a youthful person who is more selfish and self-involved than she exhibits and is quick to put herself first when under stress. While most of her self-interests are hinted at before in subtle ways such as Jackie asking to be taken home first because of her curfew, though Shauna's house was closer and she had a similar curfew, the crash exacerbates this.
In the harsh wilderness Jackie's personality and position in the group take a steep dive as she fails to accept and adapt to their circumstances. From the beginning she starts prioritizing her own survival. She is quick to abandon one of their teammates to burn alive, despite Shauna's attempts to save her. Things really go south when she simply refuses to contribute to the group’s survival. She refuses to learn to hunt or participate in any of the other brutal but necessary tasks of their survival, whining that she is simply not made those sorts of things.
In addition to these negative qualities, Jackie exhibits a tendency to blame others instead of taking responsibility, while few people question or refute her decisions, and to her it seems that everyone agrees with her choices, she ignores or doesn't notice when people are uncomfortable with her decisions such as Shauna's clear disinterest in setting her up with a guy she has chosen or picking out Shauna's clothes. When Shauna finally snaps and points out how Jackie has been dismissive, controlling and selfish she quickly deflects blame to Shauna claiming she never made Shauna do anything and and implied that Shauna made herself the sidekick, instead of acknowledging her mistakes. However It's possible that if Shauna had actually spoken up about her feelings, Jackie would have listened. Jackie is not purposely malicious in her actions and truly does care for Shauna albeit she puts herself first. It's also possible she was unaware of her flaws because no one pointed them out to her.
Ultimately though what ends up taking Jackie's life is her refusal to adapt and accept that they must abandon normal societal conventions to survive. Jackie is the ultimate symbol of the girls tie to civilization with her death signifying the group's inevitable death of their human decency.
History[]
School days[]
Twenty-five years ago, Jackie was the team captain of the WHS Yellowjackets, a soccer team of talented teen girls headed for the nationals competition. She was a natural team leader and was said to possess influence, having what it took to guide the team when things got tough. Some describe her as magnetically charismatic and effortlessly popular. She was in a relationship with Jeff since her freshman year and had been making him wait before they had sex, wanting it to be perfect. But before leaving for nationals, she decided to move forward with things completely concerning Jeff and was progressing the physical aspect of their relationship. While riding to school, she told her best friend Shauna she felt that it was a mistake to show up to college as a virgin. She noted how Jeff and she had been together so long that if they were each other's first, they would be connected together forever. Presumptively, she informed Shauna about her ideas for when they would be college roommates the following year.
While practicing for the nationals, Taissa's intentional injury to a fellow team member resulted in a shocking compound fracture, deeply rattling the squad. Amidst the chaos, Jackie, adorned in her iconic Teen Jackie varsity jacket, uncovered a hidden plot among some team members. They had conspired to sideline the less athletically promising player, a scheme they kept secret from Jackie, fearing her disapproval. The revelation added an unexpected layer of drama to the already intense competition.
Uneasy after the incident at practice, the team attends a time-honored pre-nationals party that night. However, while readying for the party, Jackie suggests Shauna dress more flatteringly, offering her a dress she had brought instead of the somewhat plain outfit she had chosen. Shauna grows frustrated with her. Jackie also tells Shauna that a boy had asked if she would be at the party; when Shauna seems irritated, Jackie says she thought she would want to know if someone asked about her. Shauna snaps at her, saying she isn't interested in hooking up with him.
At the party, Jackie enjoys herself, drinking a little bit, hanging out with her boyfriend, and dancing. She tries to get Shauna to loosen up and join her, but a drunken Shauna angrily confronts Taissa about incapacitating their player at practice. An argument ensues, with other team members getting involved. Jackie breaks it up, demanding they gather together and makeup. She insists each player share something positive about one other. They resist, so she leads, going to several team members and telling them something she loves about them. Others reluctantly humor her, which seems to work. Shauna approaches Jackie telling her she hasn't said anything nice about her. Jackie jokes that she has terrible taste in music but is the best friend she has ever had.
After, Jeff drives the two of them home, and despite Shauna’s house being closer, Jackie asks to go home first because her parents are stricter about her curfew. Shauna reminds her that she also has a curfew, but they let her out, and Shauna hugs her, telling her she loves her. Shauna gets into the front seat with Jeff as Jackie walks away, smiling back at her.
Plane crash[]
The following morning, Jackie and Shauna board the private plane that would fly them to nationals. Jackie notices Shauna seems nervous and comforts her. She reminds her of how she had cried the whole flight when she had gone on vacation with her family in second grade and offers her some Valium she took from her mom to help her calm down. She also gives Shauna her necklace as good luck.
Something goes wrong during the flight, leading to the tragic crash. Jackie wakes Shauna amidst the chaos as the plane plummets into the Canadian wilderness. Jackie survives, trying to escape the burning wreckage and making sure Shauna does also. When Shauna goes back in the plane to help a teammate, Van, who was trapped, she struggles to free her and Jackie insists Shauna get out. Jackie manages to pull Shauna away, just as the plane rocks from an explosion and flames burst out towards them. Luckily Van makes it out of the fiery plane, but she holds a grudge against Jackie for leaving her to die.
As the team' supplies begin to dwindle, Taissa Turner discovers a lake some distance from the crash site and proposes journeying to the lake to have fresh water access and other potential resources. Jackie is adamantly against the idea, feeling it better to wait at the crash site in the event a rescue team arrives. Taissa, however, suggests that if a rescue team was coming, they would have already found them. Jackie puts the issue to a vote, and the team decides to venture to the lake. Jackie is shocked that Shauna votes for Taissa's plan over hers. Later, after reaching a lake, they find a nearby cabin. They raid it for supplies, but the canned food that Jackie discovers is rancid. Tossing it out, she shouts that they should have remained at the crash site. She leaves the cabin, calling it a “nightmare.” Shauna exits the cabin and apologizes to Jackie for voting in favor of journeying to the lake, saying that she felt it was the best decision. She says that she's indeed scared and needs her best friend. The two hug, and Jackie tells Shauna that the worst is over; after all, they survived a plane crash.
The team discovers a small, abandoned airplane in the woods, close to the cabin, and Laura Lee enters it to see if it runs. After fiddling with some controls, it starts unexpectedly and begins rolling forward, the front propeller spinning. The plane thrusts forward while Laura, in the cockpit, fumbles to prevent it from heading directly toward Van. Jackie steps in the plane’s path to shove Van aside. The plane halts inches from Jackie’s face with its propeller still spinning.
Tensions rising[]
When all the girls' menstrual cycles sync up, tension builds between them. Jackie notices Shauna doesn't seem to be as bothered and asks about it, to which Shauna replies that she is late, likely due to the stress. Jackie says it's a good thing she was a virgin, so she didn't need to worry too much, Shauna later presents Jackie with a bloody rag, claiming she had "jinxed" her. Some of the other girls get frustrated with Jackie for not contributing as much as the rest of them. Shauna pulls her to the side attempting to show her some ways she could be useful, like preparing parts of the deer Natalie had recently killed. Jackie confesses to Shauna that she is not suited for the life they are having to live and isn't sure how long she can continue. As they walk together in the woods, she talks about how much she misses Jeff and that she regrets making him wait to have sex, complaining that he would move on from her and someone else would be his first now. She also fantasizes about the foods she'd like to have, complaining how hungry she is, but notices Shauna clutching her stomach looking ill and gives her the last bit of food she has been saving from her pocket.
A while later, when morale is low, Jackie suggests they have a séance like they used to do when they were younger, and they set it up in the attic. It starts off innocent and lighthearted, with the girls asking questions like rather or not they would have won the nationals game. The questions are answered by the swinging of a pendulum crafted from a knife and fabric, held by a blindfolded Shauna. The séance turns darker after Javi asks if they're all going to die. Lottie begins acting strange, speaking in French and seemingly possessed. Jackie attempts to translate using her high school French class knowledge but can't understand much beyond, "it wants blood." Lottie smashes her face into the attic window in a manic state, and despite blood pouring down her face, is only stopped by Laura Lee throwing a Bible at her. The girls are all freaked out and huddle together downstairs to sleep. Taissa, insistent they are all being ridiculous, decides to sleep upstairs to prove it. Shauna says she feels like they should go up with her, but Jackie refuses and Shauna goes alone.
After a while of noticing Shauna being distant and avoidant with her, Jackie confronts her demanding to know what she is hiding and why she no longer wants her to be her best friend. Shauna reluctantly admits that she is pregnant. Shocked and confused, Jackie asks when and to who Shauna had lost her virginity, and why she didn't tell her. Shauna claims it was Randy, the boy she was disgusted by previously, and that it had happened after a party Jackie and Jeff had left early. Jackie questions this as the information doesn't add up. Later, Jackie secretly reads Shauna's journal, discovering Shauna had actually been having sex with Jeff behind her back and gotten pregnant.
The beginning of the end[]
What appears to be months after being stranded, and Taissa's failed attempt to look for help that resulted in Van being savagely mutilated by wolves, the girls have all but accepted their imminent death. They decide to have a party with the fermented berry wine Mari made, a Doomcoming, to celebrate life one final time. Jackie tells Shauna she isn't going to die a virgin and plans to sneak away with Travis while everyone is distracted. Shauna acts offended as Travis and Natalie had been involved, but Jackie asserts that they had "broken up" and were barely speaking. Jackie insists that if Shauna likes Travis, she will refrain from pursuing him, as she "would never want them competing for the same man." but Shauna is speechless. Jackie doesn't consume any of the berry alcohol, or the stew the others eat which has been accidentally and unknowingly drugged with shrooms by Misty. She leads Travis back to the cabin and attempts to seduce him. He is hesitant, claiming that he may be in love with Natalie, which she tells him is cute. She says she had thought it mattered who your first was and believed it should be special. But, upon realizing her best friend was sleeping with her boyfriend, understood that she was naïve. She further laments that none of it mattered, and they are all going to die soon. Travis grabs and kisses her, and the two of them lose their virginities to each other on the floor of the attic.
Afterward, they hear screaming and howling from outside and quickly get dressed. The other girls, minus Nat and Misty, now in the midst of an intense mushroom-induced trip, attack Jackie, locking her in a closet and descending upon Travis. The girls turn their attention on him initially in a sexual manner as if they were intending to have an orgy, ripping off his clothes, rubbing and kissing his neck and chest. When he tries to escape, they begin chasing him through the woods, hunting him with the intent to kill him. Natalie hears Jackie's cries for help and lets her out of the closet, the two of them run after the group. They find the girls having captured Travis in the woods, with Shauna in the act of cutting his throat. Jackie and Nat manage to stop them just in time.
A broken friendship[]
The next day, the girls discover that they were all poisoned by shrooms. They try to dismiss the event, but Jackie confronts them about what happened, refusing to let it go. Things come to a head when Lottie kills a bear, and they prepare to feast on the meat inside the cabin. Lottie says a blessing to the bear and the spirits. Jackie, however, doesn't join in, something which Misty is quick to point out. Jackie asks if they're really not going to talk about what happened the night before, confronting Shauna in particular about the fact that she was about to kill Travis. Shauna tells her to shut up, that none of it would have happened if not for her, but Jackie reveals Shauna's secret to the group: that she had been sleeping with Jeff behind her back and is pregnant with his child.
Jackie demands to know how Shauna could do that to her, and Shauna calls Jackie obsessed with herself, saying she's amazed she's even aware others exist. She tells Jackie she never even asked if she wanted to go to Rutgers, only assumed it. She says that Jackie tells her what to wear and who to hook up with, and that Jackie is the star and the others are extras in the movie of her life. During her rant, Shauna shouts "I don't even like soccer!", as if Jackie had forced her to participate in it as well. Jackie, shocked, insists Shauna wasn't forced to live in her shadow. She tells her that she is a sidekick, a cliché who's so jealous that she can barely breathe. Shauna tells her that she's not jealous, that she just feels sorry for her.
Caught up in the heat of the moment, Jackie tells Shauna to get out of the cabin, and that she can't even stand looking at her anymore. Shauna replies that maybe she should get out instead. Mari agrees that maybe Jackie would be better off outside, since Jackie thinks that they're all 'so crazy'. Coach Ben Scott is adamant that no one leaves the cabin, but the girls are in agreement that Jackie should leave. Admonished by the group, Jackie goes outside, saying that she doesn't even know who Shauna is anymore. "Or maybe you never did," retorts Shauna. Outside, Jackie struggles to even light a fire.
That evening, as Shauna goes to bed, Taissa suggests that Shauna should go talk to Jackie, but Shauna simply goes to bed. Later, however, Shauna goes outside and talks to Jackie. She tells her that it's all stupid and she's really sorry. Shauna pleads with her to come in and they head inside together.
Jackie says she was freezing outside. She sees all of the others lined up and sits down in a chair facing them, saying she's so tired. Lottie hands her a mug. "Hot chocolate?" Jackie asks in wonder, asking how it's possible. Shauna asks if it matters, saying that it'll all be fine, that she loves her. The others all chorus that they love her too. Shauna tells Jackie that she's her best friend, asking if she knows that. Then, Jackie suddenly turns and sees Laura Lee, who died in an exploding plane. Laura Lee asks, "It's not as bad as you thought, is it?" She goes and stands with some of the others and a shadowy male figure in the doorway tells Jackie, "So glad you're joining us. We've all been waiting for you."
Shauna wakes up in the morning and jumps up, running to the window to see that the first snow had fallen overnight. She rushes downstairs, waking up the other girls as she flings open the door. and races to Jackie. She races over to Jackie whose body is frozen and blanketed in snow. She begs for Jackie to wake up, then breaks down screaming and sobbing in horror. Taissa rushes to her side, pulling her away from Jackie's body and holding her as she cries.
Haunted[]
Nearly two months later, winter has firmly set into the wilderness. Shauna spends much of her time in the meat shed by the cabin, sitting together with the corpse of Jackie, which she has refused to bury and which has, to some degree, been preserved by the cold. She imagines Jackie as she once was, filled with life and still having conversations with her. In one such conversation, Jackie comments to Shauna that her future is decided, that she is going to live as a stay-at-home mom with one million dollars married to Jeff. "So basically I'm gonna be my Mom," comments Shauna and Jackie notes that her mother definitely doesn't have a million dollars.
Shauna states that she doesn't want to talk about this, that she prefers to live in the moment. Jackie asks her how it was that things started between her and Jeff, saying that if she doesn't want to talk about the future, then maybe they should dig into the past. Shauna asks if she remembers when they were both at a party together, that the cops raided. Jackie jumped into Jamie Hoffman's minivan, with the cops rounding up everyone, and she and Jeff fled into the nearby woods to escape.
At the time, Jackie and Jeff had just had their millionth fight and Jeff told her that he wasn't sure he wanted to be with someone anymore who didn't want to have sex with him. She told him she felt the same way. Jackie asks Shauna what happened next, if he kissed her. Shauna pauses. "You kissed him?" she realizes. She asks her why and Shauna says that she doesn't know. Jackie, however, tells her that she does know, and she wants to hear her say it. Shauna ends up shaking Jackie's corpse in her anger and, in the process, accidentally breaks off one of her ears. Unable to reattach it, she pockets it instead. Later, she eats it.
The beginnings of madness[]
Shauna continues to talk with the imagined Jackie. Jackie asks her what she did with her ear and she lies and says that she buried it. Jackie laughs over the idea of an "ear coffin" and suggests that Shauna braid her hair and this way nobody will see what happened. She later suggests that Shauna do her makeup as well. Shauna tells her that she doesn't have any, but this is a lie as well, so she ends up applying makeup to the dead Jackie's corpse. Jackie tells her that she only had sex with Jeff so she could imagine being her. Shauna shouts at her to be quiet, but she tells her that she's hungry, and not for bear meat. She takes a knife and cuts into her arm, telling her that it's okay, she doesn't need it anymore. When Shauna shouts at her to stop, she points out that it's Shauna holding the knife.
Soon after this, Taissa discovers what Shauna has been doing with Jackie's corpse, although she does not notice the missing ear. She goes to the other survivors, telling them about it and saying that it is not healthy and it has to stop. She declares that they're getting rid of Jackie's body. Though there is some argument, they ultimately build a funeral pyre to cremate Jackie. There is an argument over what to do with Jackie's jacket and Lottie removes the heart-pendant necklace that Shauna gave to Jackie, returning it to her.
That evening, there is a strange wind that causes snow to blanket the funeral pyre. It stokes the fire, causing Jackie's body to be perfectly roasted. The Yellowjackets wake up, wondering what the scent is. Outside, they discover the roasted body. Feeling her increasingly pregnant belly, Shauna declares "she wants us to." They then all feast upon Jackie's body, all except for Coach Ben Scott, who briefly seems to consider the possibility before backing away in horror. The next morning, they are left to consider what they have done. Taissa, in particular, is horrified, apparently having been asleep and possessed by her alternate self the entire time they were eating Jackie. At Coach Scott's suggestion, Natalie takes Jackie's corpse to the crash site to be buried with the others whenever the ground thaws enough for them to do so.
Following the stillbirth of her baby, Shauna returns to the meat shed and the spot where she had been keeping Jackie's body propped up. She addresses Jackie, pleading that she really needs her right now. "Please?" she begs, but gets no response and is unable this time to conjure up the hallucination of Jackie. She breaks down sobbing.
The aftermath[]
25 years later, Jackie's death hangs over the remaining survivors of the tragedy, though they seem keep the exact details of her death a secret. Jackie's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, hold an annual dinner on Jackie's birthday, normally attended by Shauna and her husband Jeff. Neither of them apparently have any idea what truly happened to their daughter in the wilderness. Shauna slips off to her room which is kept as it was when she was alive, to flip through journals and reflect on their friendship. She is occasionally haunted by visions of Jackie as she was. Meanwhile, at reunions, Jackie is remembered as the homecoming queen who was tragically lost. Shauna has kept Jackie's uniform as a reminder of her and it is later discovered and worn by her daughter, Callie, who believed it to be hers.
Trivia[]
- In "Saints," Shauna looks through a journal in Jackie's room, ostensibly written by Jackie, but contains references to films and other media which were released after Jackie's death. Showrunner Jonathan Lisco stated that this wasn't a mistake and viewers will later learn why, and that it involves "seeking some kind of reconciliation with the past." He also stated that the show's writers and creators were torn because they love Ella Purnell and want her to continue, but the manner in which her death was presented was almost impossible to abandon, that it felt right and so emotional. Despite this, he indicated that the character will likely still appear, such as the "ghost" which Shauna interacted with "Saints."[1] Ella Purnell also appears as Shauna's hallucination of Jackie in the first two episodes of the second season.
- Jackie died around the age of 18. She was a senior in high school at the time of the crash which occurred in May, meaning by the time she died (by mentions of homecoming and rush week, likely in September/October) she had to be at least 18, and could have been 19 if she was among the oldest in her grade with a birthday in September.[N 1]
- While Jackie is a common nickname for the name Jacqueline, it has yet to be confirmed if that was her full name, or if she was simply named Jackie.
References[]
- ↑ Aurthur, Kate (January 16, 2022). ‘Yellowjackets’ Showrunner Jonathan Lisco on Cannibalism, the Death of (Spoiler!) and That Shocking Ending. Variety. Retrieved on January 17, 2022.
Notes[]
- ↑ Jackie is a senior in high school in "Pilot," which takes place in May 1996. This means she was between 17-18 years old in the first episode. Students are usually 17 years old at the start of senior year (for the Yellowjackets this would have been September 1995) therefore they had to have been born between September 1977 and August 1978.