Spoiler Alert: E! Unpacks that Shocking Yellowjackets Murder
Well we're certainly buzzing about this murder.
After Yellowjackets fans spent months trying to de-bunk the seemingly too-convenient affair between Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and too good to be true Adam (Peter Gadiot), the jaw-dropping Jan. 9 episode abruptly left us scratching our heads.
Spoiler: Adam is dead. Yep, cold, hard, dead thanks to Shauna's expertly-honed knife skills. Following the botched blackmail heist, Shauna confronted Adam about his shady past (he didn't go to Pratt!) and why there was glitter in her closet. Turns out, the true thief is Shauna's husband, Jeff (Warren Kole).
So where does that leave Adam, besides six feet under?
"Like everyone, we had a lot of questions about really what was the motivation for Adam," Gadiot exclusively told E! News. "There's a lot of speculation about all of these different potential scenarios, but as far as I can tell, no one has actually guessed what the truth is: he is actually just who he says he was."
Gadiot admitted that Adam "in a way is a red herring" and anticipates fans may be "disappointed" in the reveal that there "isn't some elaborate plan" behind Adam's genuine love for Shauna.
"When the showrunners [Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickelson] pitched me this character and what his arc was, they basically said, 'He's the most important element in the lead characters' world,'" Gadiot reflected. "Obviously it's an ensemble piece and there's so many characters to service, but it would be very impactful."
Part of that impact was Adam embodying the deep-seeded distrust and trauma that Shauna suffers from surviving a plane crash 25 years earlier.
"It was really interesting how they did it in terms of the flashback with young Shauna as well doing the actual stabbing," Gadiot noted. "I think the real kind of thrust of it was to show that Shauna is still really traumatized by her past. I think that's one of the big themes of the show is, how do we escape past trauma? Can we move on?"
Gadiot continued, "I think one of the things that they were playing with this Adam character was that he was trying to present himself as being genuine and honest and earnest, and no one believes him. I think that is actually quite a clever way to demonstrate that our own trauma can project itself on others and, obviously, Shauna killing him a combination of it. She cannot believe in goodness anymore. She cannot believe in honesty anymore, and she goes so far as to murder an innocent man."
