Yellowjackets season 2 has given its fans a lot of the scenes we’d been anticipating (and possibly dreading) the most. We witnessed Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) corpse being cannibalized, the introduction of adult Van (Lauren Ambrose), and now we’ve finally gotten to what we all knew was coming: Shauna giving birth. During the first season, Shauna’s pregnancy was a big source of drama after Jackie found out her boyfriend Jeff was the father, and a source of fear given the inherent danger of a starving teen girl having to carry and give birth in the freezing wilderness. That looming doom surrounding the pregnancy and inevitable birth carried into season two.
Young Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) went into labor during the final minutes of “Two Truths and a Lie” (season 2, episode 5). The last we saw in that episode was her screaming while the Yellowjackets gathered around her. What happened during the long-awaited birth episode? What happened to Shauna’s baby? I’ve got the answers for you.
Note: Major spoilers ahead for Yellowjackets episode “Qui” (season 2, episode 6).
Did Shauna’s baby survive?
**Content warning: Mentions of blood, death, miscarriage, and violent imagery.**
The chances of survival for the teenagers (who we haven’t seen as adults) and coach Ben (Steven Krueger) are already slim. And most of us already assumed this baby wouldn’t make it as Shauna (Melanie Lynskey as the adult version) only has one child, years younger than this baby would be in the present timeline. It all came down to how and when the baby would end up passing away.
During the flashback scenes in “Qui” (season 2, episode 6), we see young Shauna struggling to give birth. These scenes are incredibly stressful and difficult to watch, with Shauna going through complete hell. After an impossibly difficult labor (during which Misty has her own personal meltdown), Shauna gives birth to a baby boy. But the trauma isn’t over, as Shauna is unable to nurse the baby, and she becomes increasingly alienated and delirious until finally, she walks in on a terrifying scene, her teammates devouring her infant son.
Except she didn’t—and they didn’t. Shauna loses consciousness and comes to, demanding to know where her baby is, but her baby, it turns out, was stillborn. He didn’t survive the birth and everything after that was Shauna’s trauma-dream. The baby is wrapped up and already not alive when Misty (Sammi Hanratty) hands him over to Shauna, despite Shauna’s insistence she can still hear him crying. The entire episode is a devastatingly painful emotional rollercoaster.
(featured image: Showtime)
