After waiting and wondering since the pilot episode, "Full Circle" has finally brought the timeline back around to the events of Pit Girl's chase through the Wilderness and the reveal as to who was ultimately killed in that moment. Season three has been filled with several ups and downs, from devastating deaths to huge plot twists and revelations that began teasing some of the show's biggest questions introduced early on. "Full Circle" not only tackles an opposing perspective of the original hunt but it also finally answers who was responsible for Lottie's death. Yellowjackets delivered a season finale that answered many of the season's bigger questions while still showing that, at this point in the narrative, many of the survivors still have more of their humanity left in them than what the original pilot implied.
The pilot had originally presented the hunt by creating the impression that this pursuit was a ritual that the group had long ago normalized. The cannibalistic element was just another everyday occurrence, and one of the biggest questions going into the show was how this group of soccer players went from being so excited about Nationals to becoming a potentially rabid group of survivors. "Full Circle" tells a different story. The group has begun to unravel in terms of what they are willing to do, but with the exception of Shauna, who seems to thrive on the chaos and violence, no one else appears to be as thrilled to participate in the hunt as Yellowjackets originally gave the impression they would be. This is not to say the group has not undergone more particularly violent and chaotic tendencies. The survivors are more than willing to hunt Natalie through the woods in season two when they are all desperate and starving, which is a layer they never reach in season three, having been more prepared for winter. They show similar tendencies in howling when they chase Hannah and Kodiak through the Wilderness in an earlier episode. "Full Circle," however, shows a more mindful hunt, with Natalie, Misty, and Van having ulterior motives as Shauna becomes the main member of the group who is actually looking to hunt and kill Mari, who was officially confirmed as Pit Girl. Yellowjackets also revealed that Shauna was the Antler Queen.
These choices are fairly predictable, given where the show was in the narrative at that point, but that is one of the things that makes confirming them even better. Yellowjackets does not attempt to make a last-minute switch to trick the audience or make the revelations of either of these characters a surprise. Instead, allowing Mari and Shauna to take on those respective roles gives even more merit to where the show and characters are at this point in the series and offers both revelations a stronger payoff than if Pit Girl had been someone who had not been a significant part of the show previously or if the Antler Queen was a random leadership change. Especially when portraying the amount of animosity between Shauna and Mari at the beginning of the season, season three strongly teases this to be the end result.
The decision to alter the perspective of events of the hunt also adds more layers to the characters and allows Yellowjackets to continue to be a show about a group of teenage girls growing into young adulthood in a heightened and dangerous environment rather than showing a fully altered mindset into rabid survivors. They are still human, even if their morals have been drastically changed. Shauna and Natalie continue to act as the two opposing sides of the spectrum, sitting at the most extreme level of violence and aggression versus a desperate desire to return home. Their placement at opposing sides of the narrative makes the season finale ending even more exciting, as while Shauna, in an enraged state, questions where Natalie had mysteriously disappeared to following the events of the hunt, Natalie is seen putting the plan she had made with Misty and Van into action. Natalie takes advantage of Hannah's desperation to survive by allowing Hannah to help Natalie execute the plan by switching disguises. This allows Natalie the opportunity to slip away and reach a high point on a cliff where she finally, successfully, calls for help and gets an answer on the other side of the phone line.
Natalie's success at reaching somebody may finally be the moment that gets the Yellowjackets out of the Wilderness, but given that their 19-month stay is not up yet, there is still plenty of time for things to continue to go horribly wrong, especially as winter remains the primary season they are stuck in. The Wilderness timeline continued to push the survivors, offering a few deaths and finally utilizing the masks that were originally introduced in the pilot episode. It was a season of questioning how far they would go to survive, as well as the question of what it would take to finally get them back home, seeing as a potential rescue attempt was cut abruptly short with the murders of two of the members of the frog scientist team. Ultimately, "Full Circle" devoted an action-packed storyline for the Wilderness timeline that set up massive questions about what the group dynamic looks like in a potential season four, especially seeing as now there may be a real chance for the group to be rescued, even though it is unlikely to happen right away.
As for the adult timeline, the events are significantly calmer, even though it does involve the gruesome act of Taissa fully embracing Van by eating her heart. Melissa's escape in the previous episode goes without consequences, as Taissa and Shauna show no interest in attempting to track her down again. Granted, there are still plenty of questions surrounding Melissa's character, which include how she would fit into season four. "Full Circle" also finally offers the truth surrounding Lottie's death, which finds Callie responsible after confronting Lottie in a desperate plea for answers in better understanding Shauna.
The season 3 finale also sees Callie and Jeff leave Shauna, as well as Shauna embracing their disappearance as she starts to recall how alive she felt in the Wilderness and a desire to return to that mindset. Shauna's life has been fairly boring since marrying Jeff and, later on, having Callie, and it appears that she has reached a point where she is ready to revive the version of herself that took a violent lead and thrived in the chaos she caused. Meanwhile, Taissa and Misty have teamed up in a decision that would see them doing something that would prevent Shauna from being the last one standing. The adult timeline has been known to struggle with keeping the main characters together, often placing them in their own separate corners until the narrative calls for their reunions at the conclusion of the season. Season three was slightly better about it, but if Taissa and Misty are planning to work together, then season four may have the opportunity to ensure the remaining group's connection even further.
As a finale episode, "Full Circle" fulfilled the promise of finally returning to the point in the pilot that had first shown the level of violence that the survivors had reached. As a season, the third installment of episodes provides stronger insights into the group's mentality as individuals and in terms of how they handle things as a team. Even when divided, they still live together and share resources. The growing understanding of the group's relationships sets a stronger foundation for better comprehending some of their adult counterpart's relationships or individual arcs. However, there are still questions that Yellowjackets eventually has to answer regarding references to the timeline that had already been discussed, such as when and why Melissa feels disconnected from the group after rescue, why Misty is outcasted after the group's return home, the events that lead to Van and Taissa's break-up, how Natalie and Travis enter such a dysfunctional dynamic, and in what ways Shauna finds herself still having connections to the group after rescue when she had been at the center of thriving in some of their darkest moments. Season three pushed the characters forward in many ways, but their journeys are not over yet, and there is still so much left to explore about their time in the Wilderness and how their adult counterparts will move forward with the continued tension that exists between them.