‘Yellowjackets’ Reveals Who Really Sent the Tape in Major Twist

Yellowjackets just solved one of the biggest mysteries of Season 3: who sent the tape to Shauna.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3.

The mysterious tape – a recording kidnapped frog researcher Hannah (Ashley Sutton) left for her daughter that also contained audio from Edwin’s murder (Nelson Franklin) – first made its appearance in the Season 3 premiere when it was sent to Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) in an envelope labeled “Shauna Shipman” with the symbol from the wilderness. After spending the entirety of Season 3 slowly unraveling the mystery of that DAT tape, Season 3, Episode 8, “A Normal, Boring Life,” finally gave fans an answer to who sent it.

Believing the tape was sent to her by Hannah’s daughter Alex, and after abandoning Tai (Tawnee Cypress), Misty (Christina Ricci), and a sick Van (Lauren Ambrose) at a hospital, Shauna traveled to Virginia to confront Alex. However, the show left viewers and Shauna shocked when it was revealed that Melissa, played by Hilary Swank, is alive and well, despite the other survivors believing she had died. Now an adult, Melissa is living under a new identity and married to none other than Hannah’s daughter, whom she has kids with – and she’s the one who sent the tape.

According to Melissa, who explains that she faked her own suicide to allow herself to start a new life, Hannah gave her the tape to give to her daughter. Although Melissa, now going by the name of Kelly, was never able to do so, she still held onto it as leverage in case the other remaining survivors came looking for her. She kept the tape locked away for years before deciding to send it, as well as a note, to Shauna after Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) death.

Melissa also denies having any involvement in the apparent numerous attempts on Shauna’s life throughout Season 3 – including issues with her van’s brakes and her being locked in a freezer – but Shauna doesn’t believe her, leading to a violent, bloody showdown between the two women that ends with Shauna taking a bite out of Melissa’s arm and demanding she eat it, perhaps proving Melissa’s statement that Shauna is the problem in her own life.

“I don’t think she thinks Shauna is going to kill her, and if she’s going to try and kill her, she’s going to give it a good fight back,” Swank told The Hollywood Reporter of that intense confrontation. “I don’t think she’s goading her on purpose, I think that Shauna is trying to take these jabs at her and then Melissa is like, ‘Really. You want to talk about it? It’s pathetic what you’re doing.’”

New episodes of Yellowjackets drop Fridays on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. Episodes also air on Showtime Sundays at 8 p.m. ET. The 10-episode season is set to wrap with the Season 3 finale on April 11.