Shauna Shipman is Just A Girl
Frankie Colao-Piñeyro
She/Her
Arts and Entertainment Editor
4/28/25
With the season finale of “Yellowjackets,” a lot of fans have recently begun to really hate Shauna Shipman, even ones who previously defended her. While I’m not here to defend any of her actions, I just can’t manage to hate Shauna Shipman.
“Yellowjackets” was initially pitched to be a ritualistic cult-type show, displaying the loss of humanity, and giving in to your most brutal and animalistic tendencies; so far Shauna Shipman is the only one matching that energy. If anything, the other girls need to get crazier. While, yes, Shauna’s actions are horrible in both the adult and teen timeline, she is the only one who is truly exemplary of the show’s meaning.
After losing her baby in the wilderness, it is clear that Shauna is experiencing postpartum psychosis. Even in situations where the baby is not lost, postpartum depression/psychosis can be very prevalent with hormones running wild post birth. However, with stillbirths, especially in traumatic situations such as being stranded in the woods, and furthermore being a teenage girl, the baby is meant to regulate the hormones. With no baby, the hormones go completely unchecked. While this does not excuse her actions, it does explain why she is acting the way she was.
Shauna, out of all of them, has likely experienced the most trauma, at least at this point in the show. First, with the loss of her best friend, Jackie Taylor, which she continues to blame herself for; then with the grappling with the loss of her child after experiencing a hallucination where the baby ends up being okay. In regards to Jackie’s death, where she decides to sleep outside due to a fight between her and Shauna and inevitably freezes to death; I think Shauna’s actions are, in part, her perpetuating an image of the villain who killed her best friend. In reality, it was just a regular fight between two teenage girls that resulted in an untimely death. Shauna feels that she is this villain who killed Jackie, so she must perpetuate the image of a villain.
Yes, Shauna has done terrible things. She’s partly the reason they don’t go home at the first chance of rescue, and is entirely responsible for Mari’s death. Like I said, I’m not here to defend any of this, but I just can’t find it in my heart to hate my doe-eyed brunette bisexual with rage issues because she’s just a teenage girl going through extreme trauma, just like the rest of the girls.