{"id":1813674,"date":"2023-04-02T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/whos-on-the-rise-to-becoming-yellowjackets-antler-queen\/"},"modified":"2023-04-02T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T16:00:00","slug":"whos-on-the-rise-to-becoming-yellowjackets-antler-queen","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/whos-on-the-rise-to-becoming-yellowjackets-antler-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s on the rise to becoming Yellowjackets\u2019 Antler Queen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things are heating up in Yellowjackets<\/em> season 2 (or, at least, as much as they can amid a frigid winter in the 1990s timeline that\u2019s leaving the team starving and freezing). The new season on Showtime has it all: woo-woo cults, mysterious deaths, dogged law enforcement officers hanging out with teenage girls, and, of course, cannibalism. <\/p>\n

In conditions like this, it\u2019s easy for a hierarchy to form \u2014 especially one that yields the long-awaited reveal of the Antler Queen Yellowjackets<\/em> has been promising since the opening of the pilot. With mysteries piling up across the first two episodes of season 2, we\u2019re going to be running through the power rankings each week, exploring who\u2019s poised to lead and who\u2019s set to feed the cannibal cult. <\/p>\n

Of course, the criteria for this is a little loose; much like Yellowjackets<\/em>\u2019 first foray into frosty cannibalism, we\u2019re playing it by ear. Suffice it to say, those who show the fortitude to step up to the Antler Queen mantle (and whether they got closer, in each episode, to her and that title) will rise through the ranks. And since the Antler Queen seems to oversee the glimpse of cannibalism we get in the pilot, stepping up to the plate means also generally leading the charge to eat people. <\/p>\n

Who is on the rise in Yellowjackets\u2019 cannibal cult?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Lottie <\/span> <\/span> Photo: Kailey Schwerman\/Showtime<\/cite> <\/span> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Shauna \u2014<\/strong> Shauna took a huge step forward in the rankings this week by leading the cannibal charge and convincing the rest of the team that it really would be a shame to waste such a perfectly chargrilled <\/strong>Jackie. While Shauna\u2019s really never had leader vibes before this exact moment, this could easily be her first step toward Antler Queendom.<\/p>\n

Lottie \u2014<\/strong> The question of Lottie persists: Is she the Antler Queen, or more of a high priestess in the Yellowjackets hierarchy? There\u2019s not much to suggest her modern-day cult is cannibalistic, but she\u2019s clearly got something<\/em> happening in the way she can compartmentalize parts of her personality as a leader (and in the trippy vision she has of zombie Laura). She doesn\u2019t do a ton<\/em> in episode 2, but she is<\/em> already appearing to Travis in visions as a glowing religious icon. So it feels like that\u2019s potentially a hop, skip, and a jump to leading your friends to ceremoniously eating the corpses of your other friends. <\/p>\n

Taissa \u2014<\/strong> We know from present-day events that Tai is commanding, and clearly has some<\/em> sort of fucked-up remnants from her time in the woods. But aside from ordering the group to finally lay Jackie to rest, she doesn\u2019t do much in episode 2 (or, at least, not a ton aside from hungrily devouring the flesh of their teammate, which pretty much everyone does, so). She has some sort of freaky vision of a besuited weirdo, but that all happens while she\u2019s asleep; since Lottie seems to have the spiritual leader thing on lock, it seems unlikely (this week) that Taissa makes a play for the crown of horns. <\/p>\n

Crystal \u2014<\/strong> Crystal moves up the rankings slightly because she\u2019s clearly important, but that\u2019s exactly the problem: She\u2019s a new character for season 2. Do you really expect the Antler Queen to be some rando who didn\u2019t show up in the first season? Do we think the showrunners just forgot about her? Who do you think is steering this ship, Benioff and Weiss<\/a>? Anyway, Crystal\u2019s definitely got a role to play, and one that clearly ties in closely with Misty, but this definitely isn\u2019t her story\u2026 or her cult. <\/p>\n

Travis \u2014<\/strong> Travis never really seemed into the supernatural woodsiness of the crash \u2014 maybe because he was mostly distracted by Natalie \u2014 but he took a few strides so far in season 2 thanks largely to hanging his hope of Javi\u2019s survival on the vaguely psychic-seeming visions of Lottie. So he does get a very slight rise on the rankings; however, he is still a dude, which means his chances of gaining too much power in this particular teen-girl cult are slim to none. <\/p>\n

Who is falling down the Yellowjackets food chain?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Coach <\/span> <\/span> Photo: Kailey Schwerman\/Showtime<\/cite> <\/span> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Van \u2014<\/strong> Van\u2019s a great kid, and would be a pretty tremendous enforcer or right-hand woman to any aspiring bovidae-esque cult leader. So far, though, she doesn\u2019t seem like much of a leader herself, so she\u2019s falling this week. On the other hand, she is deep into the cult lore, which we know because she\u2019s one of the three girls who shows up and kneels at the heart altar at the end of season 1. <\/p>\n

Natalie \u2014<\/strong> Natalie is one of the few Yellowjackets that doesn\u2019t really change much this week, mostly because she\u2019s spent so much time uninterested in the rest of the team\u2019s general shenanigans. That being said, she does take a slight step toward cult-leader status by buying into the cannibalism, but she takes a somewhat more major step back by doubting Lottie and trying to give up the search for Javi. <\/p>\n

Misty \u2014<\/strong> Misty has lost even the lowliest tea-making privileges, so things aren\u2019t looking up for her leading any kind of cult so far in the second season. Now, that isn\u2019t a huge surprise, given teen Misty isn\u2019t much of a leader at all, but this is still about as low as her leadership stock has fallen so far.<\/p>\n

Gen \u2014<\/strong> Still mostly anonymous, Gen\u2019s chances of becoming Anter Queen aren\u2019t looking great. We\u2019re not definitively calling anything just yet, but it doesn\u2019t seem totally unfair to call her one of several Red Shirt Yellowjackets who seem destined to get sacrificed to the forest\u2019s cruel cannibal god (or worse). <\/p>\n

Coach Ben \u2014<\/strong> The only one who walks away from the Jackie feast and seems disturbed by what he sees. His stomach may be morally pure, but he\u2019s not climbing the rankings without a bit more nutrition. <\/p>\n

Mari \u2014<\/strong> Red Shirt. Sorry, Mari. <\/p>\n

Jackie \u2014<\/strong> Jackie gets an honorable mention just for showing up, but her chances aren\u2019t looking great considering both how dead she already is (and has been for months) and the fact that she was the main course for the first ever Yellowjackets forest banquet. However, since she\u2019s still around, at least physically, she does get a spot on the list.<\/p>\n

Akilah \u2014<\/strong> This girl got recast for season 2. That\u2019s Red Shirt shit for sure.<\/p>\n