Review: Yellowjackets, “No Compass” | Season 1, Episode 7
Two long nights, 25 years apart, raise the question of what makes someone a villain
Are there any true villains in Yellowjackets? That’s a question I thought about as I watched “No Compass,” an episode that foregrounds the (still unresolved) mystery of who is blackmailing the survivors. The culprit sure seems like a bad guy, especially if it’s the same person who murdered Travis. But at this point, it’s not like Yellowjackets to peg any character as all bad. Or all good, for that matter—there’s certainly nothing heroic about Misty kidnapping Jessica Roberts and threatening to kill her father with a box of fentanyl-laced chocolates if she refuses to spill.
Most of the time in this show, there’s no such thing as “good people” and “evil people,” because everyone has both within them. If the blackmailer is a major character we know—probably Adam or Jeff, both of whom become more suspicious by the episode—I doubt they’ll be framed as an unambiguous villain. Still, it’s a framework these characters find productive in speculating about whom they can trust…