Yellowjackets Season 3 is Telegraphing a Vicious Taissa Twist

Taissa Turner’s sleepwalking has been one of the most unsettling elements of Yellowjackets since the series began. In the 1996 wilderness timeline, teenage Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) would unconsciously wander the woods following the Man With No Eyes. In the present day, adult Taissa (Tawny Cypress) suffered similar episodes that escalated to killing the family dog and creating a disturbing altar in her basement. These nocturnal activities revealed a stark duality: while the conscious Taissa remained rational and skeptical, her sleepwalking persona appeared drawn to ritualistic behavior and violence. However, Season 3 has notably shifted away from this storyline, with no sleepwalking incidents shown in either timeline. Episode 5, “Did Tai Do That?”, subtly suggests this absence might not indicate resolution but rather something far more disturbing: the possibility that in the present timeline, Taissa’s darker self has permanently seized control.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 5

In the 1996 timeline of Episode 5, teenage Taissa faces a moral crucible when randomly selected to execute Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger), whom the survivors believe attempted to burn their cabin. Despite her certainty of his guilt, Taissa cannot pull the trigger during target practice. “Declaring someone should die is different from actually killing them,” she confesses to Van (Liv Hewson), revealing that her moral compass remains intact despite their desperate circumstances. This prompts Van to suggest summoning Taissa’s sleepwalking persona, which she defines as “fearless.” Though their efforts initially fail, the execution scene at the end of Episode 5 shows Taissa’s demeanor shifting, as her trembling hands steady, her expression hardens, and she assures Van “everything will be alright” in a noticeably altered voice. Dark Taissa is back to the past timeline, and this persona has no qualms about taking a life.

[RELATED: Yellowjackets: What Happened to the “Bonus” Season 2 Episode?]

The fact that Episode 5 of Yellowjackets Season 3 takes time to mark the striking difference between both Taissas in the past timeline could be the key to interpreting a present-time development. In the present timeline, adult Taissa experiences a devastating reunion with her son Sammy (Aiden Stoxx) at a park. During their brief reunion, Sammy asks Taissa if she’s still his mother, which carries significant weight considering Season 1 established that Sammy was the first to recognize “the lady in the tree” was his sleepwalking mother. Despite Taissa’s assurance that she’ll “always be his mommy,” Sammy retreats, clutching his dog protectively and visibly frightened by her presence. So, what led Sammy to be so afraid? What did she see in Taissa during the park scene? Could Sammy know that the sleepwalking persona has now taken the helm of Taissa’s body?

Did Taissa Darker Self Took Control of her Body in Yellowjackets Season 3?

To entertain the idea that Taissa is now a different person in the present-day timeline, it’s important to remember what we know about how the sleepwalking persona acts. In Season 1’s wilderness timeline, this alternate Taissa abandoned Van during a wolf attack, climbing a tree while the others were left vulnerable on the ground. When Taissa awoke in the tree branches, she had no recollection of how she got there. Later, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) found Taissa sleepwalking in the woods, crouched in a defensive position while eating dirt, behavior that would reappear decades later when adult Taissa spent the nights perched in a tree outside her own home.

The present-day manifestations of Taissa’s sleepwalking grew increasingly disturbing and complex in Season 2. Her alter-ego manufactured an entire hallucinated day with her son, complete with conversations and interactions that never occurred. Furthermore, when Simone was hospitalized after their car accident, sleepwalking Taissa drew the Yellowjackets symbol on her hand,  an action conscious Taissa hurriedly tried to erase upon awakening. Perhaps most revealing was when her alternate self ransacked Jessica Roberts’ (Rekha Sharma) apartment searching for information on Van’s whereabouts, showing physical capabilities like driving and research and independent goal-directed behavior. This event suggested an evolution beyond mere sleepwalking into something more akin to a fully-formed alternate personality with its own agency and agenda.

The most alarming aspect of Taissa’s sleepwalking persona has always been its apparent connection to the Wilderness. For example, in the past timeline, Van discovered that sleepwalking Taissa had been unconsciously mapping the Yellowjackets mystery symbol throughout the forest, creating patterns that conscious survivors couldn’t perceive. That, allied with the darker Taissa’s disposition to murder, could help explain the character behavior in Season 3’s adult timeline.

Through Season 3, Taissa has embraced the Wilderness, slowly pushing Van to recreate the sacrificial rituals they once held in the woods, decades before. While this behaviour could be explained by Taissa’s desperate attempt to keep Van alive, since the Wilderness supposedly helped cure her cancer, it could also be a carefully executed manipulation from the sleepwalking persona. The darker Taissa could pretend to be her rational conscious self when she needs to, disarming Van and making her more vulnerable to immoral suggestions. After all, Van almost agreed to kill an innocent person in Episode 4 of Yellowjackets Season 3. So, the sleepwalking persona could be using Van’s fear of death and love for Taissa to get what it wants: to honor the Wilderness with bloody sacrifices.

It’s also curious that episode 5’s title is “Did Tai Do That?”, raising suspicions about Taissa killing Lottie. Even Van is not convinced of her paramour’s innocence, as there’s a one-hour gap in the day Lottie died where Taissa could have done anything. Taissa is obviously hiding some sort of sordid secret. However, Sammy’s reaction at the park encounter teases that the truth is even worse than we expected.

New Yellowjackets Season 3 episodes premiere Fridays on Paramount+.

Do you think sleepwalking Taissa is playing some vicious game in the present timeline? Is this dark persona just a psychopath or is he genuinely connected to the Wilderness? Tell us what you think in the comments!