Yellowjackets: The Absolute Best Part Of Season 2 Was A Newcomer
Contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" Season 2 Episode 9 — "Storytelling"
Introducing a brand-new character into the already stacked cast of "Yellowjackets" during its second season was a pretty big gamble — especially when the actor behind said character is the face of one of the most beloved fantasy trilogies of all time. Somehow, though, the series pulled it off, and Elijah Wood's Walter Tattersall is, without question, the best part of the show's second season.
Introduced as a companion — and eventual romantic interest — to the perpetually cheerful and quietly homicidal Misty Quigley (Christina Ricci), Walter is, right from the start, a delightfully strange person. A self-described "citizen detective" who trawls through Reddit threads about local true crime, Walter first encounters Misty while he's trying to dig up dirt on the murder of Adam Martin (Peter Gadiot)... which is kind of perfect, considering that Misty helped dispose of Adam's body after Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) killed him. (Adam and Shauna were involved and she thought he was blackmailing her, and honestly, it was just a whole thing.) Wood plays him with a calm, happy demeanor with just a hint of something darker lurking beneath, and it's a pitch-perfect performance for every minute he's on screen.
Walter has quite the arc throughout Season 2, and by the time it's over, there's a whole world of possibilities as to what he could do next. Season 2 had its ups and downs, but Walter is the best addition to the show without a doubt.
Walter is delightfully weird — and insanely creepy
Walter is pretty interesting throughout all of Season 2, even with limited screen time. When we do see him, he's interrogating people on a boat while pretending to work with the FBI, driving Misty around and playing showtunes, and, in one of the season's best and weirdest scenes, drinking milk from a snifter while listening to Stephen Sondheim and doing an enormous jigsaw puzzle. (He's specifically listening to the solo version of "Not While I'm Around" from "Sweeney Todd" sung by Barbra Streisand, a choice which carries a ton of weight on its own.) To add to that, Walter's boat and enormous-looking house indicate that he potentially has a ton of money, which is an interesting avenue the series hasn't fully explored quite yet.
In the Season 2 finale, though, Walter emerges and joins the A-plot with nothing more than some hot cocoa and phenobarbitol. After sneaking into a wellness compound to help Misty, Walter runs into Kevyn Tan (Alex Wyndham) and quickly disposes of him with some poisoned cocoa, much to the shock of Shauna's husband Jeff (Warren Kole). Walter, cool as a cucumber, gets Jeff to help him with the body and engineers a situation wherein Kevyn's slimy partner Matt Saracusa (John Reynolds) is able to frame the late detective for corruption and Adam's murder, which helps Shauna, Jeff, and, indirectly, Misty get off scot-free. Walter does all of this with a big smile on his face and an affable air about him; it's extremely funny.
What role could Walter play in Season 3 of Yellowjackets?
As of this writing, Elijah Wood may or may not return for Season 3 of "Yellowjackets," but we can only hope that he does. Again, it feels important to mention that Wood has an incredible read on Walter Tattersall and plays him with an unsettling yet convincing sweetness; yes, he's a murderer who seems completely comfortable around dead bodies, but he's also there for Misty when she needs him, like right after she accidentally kills her best friend with a syringe full of fentanyl. (Truly, these two are a match made in heaven, or probably hell.)
It also feels important to note that, in helping Jeff cover up the truth behind Adam's murder by murdering Kevyn, Walter now has information on several major players within "Yellowjackets." He knows Misty was involved, is perfectly aware that Jeff didn't kill Adam, and has all of these secrets at his disposal now; Jeff also knows Walter killed Kevyn, so the two could easily take each other down if they wanted to. Wood fits in so easily with the excellent "Yellowjackets" ensemble that it's hard to imagine he hasn't been on the show since the very beginning, and thanks to his amateur detective work and his casual murders, he's a part of it now.
What happens to Walter next is anybody's guess, but one thing is for sure: Walter Tattersall was a major highlight of Season 2 of "Yellowjackets," and fans are undoubtedly excited for him to return in future seasons.