Season 3, Episode 3 “Them’s The Brakes” delivers paranoia, revelations, and bad decisions across multiple timelines. Between supernatural omens, toxic gas, and a brake failure straight out of Walker, Texas Ranger, this episode proves the wilderness never stops demanding payment.
1996 Timeline: The Gas Face Hits Different
Mari finally discovers Coach Ben’s not-so-secret hideout. He considers going full Wilderness Enemy #1, but kidnapping Mari isn’t a long-term survival plan. He lets her go, and she immediately snitches to the group—because you escaped a 20-foot hole, really Mari? Shauna, still grieving and looking for an outlet, leads the hunt for Ben.
Meanwhile, Van, Shauna, and Akilah take an unexpected psychedelic trip after inhaling toxic cave gas:
Shauna sees her lost baby calling to her across a frozen lake but can never reach him. Very sad. Very Rosemary’s Baby.
Van is restrained by ghostly hands in a burning cabin, belonging to Javi, Laura Lee, and the Dead Cabin Guy. Twin Peaks meets Nightmare on Elm Street meets Evil Dead. Classic Van.
Akilah gets life advice from a talking llama (voiced by The Sopranos' Vincent Pastore), because if you’re hallucinating in the wilderness, might as well go full prestige TV crossover.
By the time they snap out of it, the girls are rattled, Ben is cornered, and Natalie is holding a shotgun. Coach might be running out of time.
2021 Timeline: The Necklace Nobody Wants
Shauna and Lottie’s fragile truce explodes when Lottie gives Callie Jackie’s necklace, the accessory of doom. Shauna kicks Lottie out and makes it clear that whatever hold she has over Callie is ending.
Meanwhile, Van gets news that her terminal cancer is no longer terminal. Taissa, instead of celebrating, believes it’s because the Wilderness was fed and now wants more. Van dismisses it, but Tai is locked in—especially after spotting the Man with No Eyes in an old ice cream parlor commercial from their childhood.
That leads to one of the weirder field trips in Yellowjackets history. Tai and Van break into Ozzie’s Homemade Ice Cream Parlor looking for answers but instead find a dead wolf, blood dripping from its mouth, watching Tai like it’s waiting for orders. As if that weren’t unsettling enough, Ozzie’s old voicemail menu includes flavors like Smashed Pumpkins, which, much like Smiling Politely, may or may not exist. And if you order Hot Dog Water, does it come with a side of Limp Bizkits?
Meanwhile, Shauna, already on edge, loses control of her minivan as the brakes mysteriously fail. She barely avoids a disaster before crashing into an empty field. When the dust settles, she immediately blames Misty—not the craziest accusation, considering her track record. Misty, however, is genuinely shocked and betrayed. Later, in an act of pure symbolism, she burns an old group photo, because if there’s one thing Misty doesn’t handle well, it’s being underestimated.
By episode’s end:
Shauna thinks Misty cut the brakes (she didn’t, but it’s not a bad guess).
Misty, betrayed once again, burns an old group photo (cue ominous foreshadowing).
Tai and Van might be about to make a blood offering.
Callie is getting a little too comfortable in Lottie’s orbit.
We break it all down in this episode of the pod, available wherever you get your podcasts… or on a bootleg VHS taped over TGIF, a LimeWire MP3 with a misleading filename, or a mix CD with Eiffel 65 burned onto it five times.
New episodes of Yellowjackets drop Fridays at 12:01 AM ET on Showtime/Paramount+, and we’ll be here every week to guide you through the madness.
Email us your theories and questions at [email protected].
Follow us:
Glenn (@GlennRubenstein)
Isa (@NYCDemonD1va)
Twitter/X: @YellowjacketsBz
Instagram: @yellowjacketsbuzz
Buzz buzz buzz.
For those needing a refresher on how unhinged 80s commercials could be, we recommend diving into the 80s Commercial Vault: https://www.youtube.com/@80sCommercialVault
